Fire-Keepers

it’s the same as being conned… by someone in a nicer suit.

Each of us is an individual and all have our reasons… however we decide to vote. I haven’t actually decided beyond knowing that I am de-registering from the Democratic Party and registering as either undeclared or Independent.

But if you want some straight up honesty… if I had to choose between only McCain or Obama I *would* vote for McCain. Let’s see if I can explain this to you (why I’m trying I don’t know because I’ll likely just get more of your negativity towards ‘us people’). I’ll try to keep this short but I can guarantee that’s not going to happen. You’ve been warned; I wonder if you will really read it all.

I differ with McCain on more than a few issues… reproductive rights, gay marriage rights, desire to make Bush taxcuts permanent, his hawk reflexes need to be curbed with the correct military and non-military advisers and he needs to listen to them. I clearly understood his 100 yr. comment as it was meant, not the reactionary-left spin. Simply look at Germany and our relationship there.

I agree with Obama on some issues… getting out of Iraq, his take on educational reform , investing in green industry. I strongly disagree with him on talking to leaders of countries that are busy killing Americans or supporting those that do. I see absolutely no need to discuss anything until *they* make serious concessions… like laying down their weapons, cease and desist before *ANY* discussion. I disagree with his understanding of the international oil market and his proposed solutions to the obscene, extortionary price of oil; you cannot go after IOCs that only control 6% of the world’s oil reserves and expect to have any affect other than to the shareholders, of which the majority are just average Americans. Most of all I vehemently disagree with him, beyond any issue and any candidate, about even thinking or, heaven forbid, suggesting (domestically or to allies and non-allies) that we would in any way shape or form compromise our national defense systems. For me, he damned himself forever with *his own words*. One of his more serious supporters tried to tell me that was just hyperbole, trying to explain to voters his desire for world peace. No dice; go ahead and pander for votes at a bowling alley or dancing in the streets of Puerto Rico but never… never… never… use our vitally important defense system to convince people you are serious.

That leads me to why I would choose McCain if I had only the choice of him or Obama. I simply do not trust Obama with national defense, international relationships or the deepest threads that run through our economy including the oils markets and the countries that actually do control them. Those three things are intrinsically tied together and you cannot affect one without understanding this. I have come to honestly believe he does not. I also think that his far left solutions and actions will cause a down-ticket backlash eventually and we could very well lose our Democratic majorities.

As far as McCain’s negatives… if worse comes to worse I have to have faith that voting McCain as PotUS and following up with working for and voting to elect Democrats 100% down-ticket will maintain the Democratic majority in House and Senate and will effectively neutralize his more conservative desires; we have checks and balances and a president not a dictator. On that point I also feel he is far less conservative than his party hopes; and hopefully once his base hardens he will loosen up, show his centrist heart and go after the Independents and undecideds.

[shrug] You asked!

So now the new whine seems to be that counting the Florida vote would disenfranchise the ones that did not vote. WTF?

Are you paying attention. Ok… here are some cold, hard facts.

Year - Dem votes - population - % Dem votes
2000 — 594,955 - 15,982,378 - 3.72%
2004 — 712,846 - 17,397,161 - 4.09%
2008 - 1,875,559 - 18,680,367 - 10.04%

2004 to 2008 7% increase in population
2004 to 2008 163% increase in Democratic voters

Getting it yet? Two and half times as many Florida Democrats voted this year as in 2004. Between 2004 and 2008 there was only 7% increase in FL population but a 163% increase in Democratic voters. Tell me again about these *millions* that did not vote.

Face it, the FL vote was fair and legal and more people than EVER before went out and voted. Jesus wept, how many more could there have been? Most of the relatively few that didn’t bother, and are whining about it now, likely wouldn’t have bother to vote in any case.

Next whine?

Political deals, voter fraud, voter harassment, caucus hijacking, biased market-driven MSM, Howard ‘no spine’ Dean, Donna ’secret agenda’ Brazile… shall I go on?

Sadly, the reality is that the powers-that-be chose this ‘gotta have it’ gimmick of a candidate right from jump. And this whole charade has nothing to do with anything that even resembles Democracy. We kill hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in our quest to spread Democracy to unwilling and uncooperative nations but we spit in the face of it here at home. What part of ‘fair play’ and ‘fair elections’ does the DNC and Obama&Co find so offensive that they’ve had to weigh the scales so completely right from the beginning.

Obama’s arrogance and belief in his own entitlement, in a race that is split 50-50 (ok, 48.3-47.7), astounds me on a daily basis. And that arrogance, along with his repetitive belittling, discounting and demeaning much of the 50% he’ll need in November, has alienated voters in unprecedented numbers. That could very well end his single-minded, self-serving and premature presidential aspirations. He’s an untried, over-reaching, inexperienced junior politician that has done nothing to repair the divide that he created for his own benefit. He better hope and pray that his free pass doesn’t expire any time soon. That mansion back home will still be waiting though… maybe he can just paint it white and plant a Rose Garden.

Answering an intelligent and noncombatative comment/question from Nina on Sodahead:

beadfulheart, what other position do you have in mind? Not being combative. Hillary 08, but in the alternative, if need be? Supreme Court sounded pretty good to me. A chance to shape our laws with fairness and intellect.

She is not and never has been a constitutional lawyer or jurist. Her specialties, talents and strengths would be wasted. Other position? hmmm Other than SCOTUS… not Senate Majority Leader, too many others are waiting in the wings for that position and it really is a thankless job with no real hands-on ‘work’. I hadn’t seriously thought about other positions she might consider, that are genuine and matched to her skills. I have a feeling (no offense) that he has already bargained for most, if not all, positions that he would have to fill… if elected.

Honestly though… and I absolutely cringe to even think it but, getting past those knee-jerk reactions, VP seems a workable solution on many levels. Wait, hear me out! It’s workable *beyond* what people are thinking about now, so caught up in the ‘game’ going on; they need to look further down the road. The least discussed and most important, IMO, being that Hillary is and can be a dedicated fighter for domestic policies and programs.

Obama, with Richardson or [fill in the blank] attached to his hip as Secretary of State can and should be focused on foreign affairs and rebuilding our leadership in the world. Trial by fire, and using the Buddy System with competent advisors, let him show he can walk the walk and DO the work! And let her be a ‘working’ VP, not a salve to the righteous anger of her supporters (myself included).

People are looking at VP as some kind of consolation prize but I really think they need to look beyond that to what is best for the nation. The pair could turn the work of winning the GE into a cake walk and after that get to work. Domestic policy and programs are her strengths; they are her life’s work and can be her real legacy. A healed party needs to go far far beyond November.

(And of course park Bill in her Senate seat or somewhere else with real work to do; not a consolation prize or pacifier either but REAL work that uses his strengths and talents.)

Added - 05/22:

Also… My serious reservations about Obama would not disappear but with Clinton, Richardson and Edwards in his immediate circle I would feel a lot more confident about it.

I missed this on Sunday but the illustrious Riverdaughter does it again… so listen up ’sweeties’!!!

F^*) that s%$*. Listen, “cate” and all you other sweeties, we’re not just women. We’re working class (yes, I consider myself working class even though “cate” couldn’t even understand what I do if I took a whole day to explain it to her), we’re GLBT, we’re old, we’re young, we’re rich and poor, hispanic, asian. We’re Heinz 57. But the thing that sets us apart from the Obamaniacs is that we’re cold-blooded pragmatists. We are grounded. We’re not buying the hopey-changey unity shtick. We know that Obama is a smart man with a ruthless campaign manager but he is about as ready to run the country as I am to command the USS Nimitz. We don’t have any patience for your assumptions.

Here’s the thing you Sweeties should understand and get through your thick skulls: Hillary Clinton is still in this race. She will be in this race after the Presumptuous Nominee makes his little acceptance speech on Tuesday (BTW, I *highly* recommend that he not do this for his own sake. Bad things happen to tragic heroes who celebrate too early. They usually live to regret it.). We still have a choice. It’s Hillary or no one for us. There is no compromise between the highly competent Hillary Clinton and the highly unready Barack Obama. We don’t care if she doesn’t have a dime by August. We are not giving in. And if the balloons drop in Denver and she is not at the top of the ticket, YOU will be to blame if the Unity Pony flames in November. We are not obliged to enable you in your pursuit of some transfiguring fantasy.

We all have choices.

Check this out… from someone called dday on digby:

"There’s nothing shadowy about this - it’s an extension of what the Obama campaign has been doing since he entered the race. He’s building a new Democratic infrastructure, regimenting it under his brand, and enlisting new technologies and more sophisticated voter contacting techniques to turn it from a normal GOTV effort into a lasting movement. The short-term goal is to increase voter turnout by such a degree that Republicans will wither in November, not just from a swamp of cash but a flood of numbers. The long-term goal is to subvert the traditional structures of the Democratic Party since the early 1990s, subvert the nascent structures that the progressive movement has been building since the late 1990s, and build a parallel structure, under his brand, that will become the new power center in American politics. This is tremendous news."

Now I know that to most of us this reads as just hyperbole but for his supporters to think or believe this *and* think it is "tremendous news"… that’s insane.

Bat shyt crazy and scary as hell.

Again… with many thanks to Steve Corbett

It’s A Turndown Day

Steve Corbett Reporting
corbett@wilknewsradio.com

Monday, May 19, 2008

“Operation Turndown” has no headquarters or mailing address. We offer no coffee mugs, bumper stickers or T-shirts for sale. You cannot contribute cash or deduct your investment in tomorrow from you federal income tax.

But “Operation Turndown” is no mirage.

The voice of a movement that got underway last week on WILK News Radio belongs to all Democrats who refuse to do as we’re told and vote for Barack Obama if he receives the party nomination for president.

If Obama’s the chosen one, we’re turning him down.

Count us out.

Countless Democrats, men and women alike, have come to the realization that Hillary Clinton is the best candidate to receive the party’s nomination. The senator from New York is the strongest Democrat to face Republican John McCain and his well-oiled war machine in November.

But too many good old boy bosses don’t see it that way. They expect loyal party followers to do as they’re told. They expect the mostly women who voice outrage at the abuse leveled at Hillary by mostly male political bosses and mostly male media motor mouths to just shut up and vote.

Women have betrayed Hillary as well.

A whole new generation of young women who have no sense of the sacrifice that took place before they were out of diapers have signed on to the anti-Hillary assault as well. Sadly, even some of them sneer at the sexist portrayals of this woman who sacrificed for them and did her best despite harsh odds to bring equity to the workplace, the home and the country.

Last Friday women from all over the nation called “Corbett” to share their anger, their frustration and their commitment to fight absurd accusations hurled by some Obama supporters that they’re racist if they do not vote for Obama.

They called to enlist in the movement to stand on the very principles that sent them into the streets as organizers and activists for Democrats in election after election, year after year after year.

Now, like Hillary, they, too, feel abused.

And they’ve had enough.

If Democratic bosses believe they can win in November without Hillary, they have to do it without countless Hillary supporters who have made the Democratic Party the true party of change it is today.

This is dangerous territory for bosses who usually expect women to do as they’re told. After all, many women have been content in the past to follow their dream that one day their turn would come. Their turn has come. It’s here and the moment is long overdue. Hillary is their one-and-only Democrat.

Hillary is my Democrat, too. I’m with her to the end. If she wins the nomination, she wins the White House. If party bosses don’t agree, they’re on their own.

When I left the station last Friday night, I had received well over 200 deeply personal and well-thought-out emails. I received calls on the air from all over the country and calls off the air from as far away as New Delhi, India. The mostly women callers wanted to know how to join Operation Turndown. They wanted to know where they could contribute. They wanted to know how to spread the word that we will turn down Obama.

Some powerful people even suggested that I head up a national movement with a web site and an address and appearances all over the country. But although an organized and unified voice that Democratic Party bosses ignore is very much needed, I must humbly decline.

I’m just a news talk radio guy from Scranton. I’ll continue to do what I do as best as I can for as long as I can. But I hope that somebody among the many clear, strong voices of the mostly women whom I heard last week picks up the “Operation Turndown” banner and raises it for the whole world to see.

You have my blessing and my support.

Organized or not, “Operation Turndown” lives in the heart of anyone who sees this elegant political hustle for what it is – a dangerous maneuver orchestrated by the party elite to take care of themselves at everybody else’s expense. Operation Turndown will continue in every town and every city where women are taken for granted.

Nowadays that still means everywhere.

The wisest Democrats know exactly what I mean.

Those who don’t get it are in for a big surprise.

Like the 60s radio song says, “It’s a turndown day.”

And I dig it.

With many thanks to Steve Corbett

Why I’m Turning Down Obama

Steve Corbett Reporting
corbett@wilknewsradio.com

Friday, May 16, 2008

“Operation Turndown” has deep roots in my own personal radical politics.

If Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee for president, I will not vote for him.

I will turn him down.

Judging from callers to “Corbett” yesterday, so will many other Democrats.

Democrats must follow their hearts and their heads.

I’m part of an impromptu movement born of outrage and frustration to which Democratic Party leaders need to pay very close attention. I’m a radical Democrat and proud of it.

Radical politics is one reason why I majored in “Community Development” at Penn State in 1970, after showing up there in September of 1969 with an open mind and a head loaded with ideas – not all of them good.

By November I was on the street in DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C., getting tear-gassed by National Guard troops during an anti-war protest. The next day I watched the attack on the Justice Department. The next year I watched my state cop father show up on my campus in riot gear.

I spent the next 30-some years developing my perspective and my honor as a daily newspaper columnist and broadcast commentator on television and radio.

I’ve learned from it all. I’m still learning.

And all these years later I still value my community development education and my degree from the counterculture school of hard knocks. The lessons of Kent State, My Lai, and the mean streets of Chicago under the first Mayor Richard Daley remain a part of my pledge of allegiance to real change I can believe in.

I’m not some bizarre social isolationist who’s stuck in the past, either. I value lasting friendships with a wide array of people who hold extremely different political beliefs.
I’m even friends with some conservative Republicans.

But in my heart I’m a radical Democrat.

Yet I’m a model citizen who advocates non-violence and negotiation.

Although I would have likely joined the Molly Maguires back when coal barons oppressed my Irish miner ancestors in Northeastern Pennsylvania and I publicly supported the IRA against British tyranny during my visits to Belfast during the war, I’ve evolved into a principled person who values the power of the ballot over the bullet.

That’s why I’ve decided not to vote for Barack Obama if he wins the Democratic nomination to run for president. I’m with Hillary Clinton until the end.

If she loses and Obama offers her a spot on the ticket as vice president, I’ll consider endorsing the ticket. Still, I offer no guarantees and encourage Hillary to decline the VP spot even if she’s offered the job.

Hillary is the strongest, best candidate. Hillary can beat John McCain. Hillary is my Democrat.

Even if party bosses tell me that we must get behind the nominee and that the nominee will be Obama, I have a choice. Even if family, friends and colleagues tell me I’m wrong, I have a choice. Even if you hate my decision, I have a choice.

And I will use it. To do otherwise would violate the principles I work hard to uphold. I’ve made a decision – a well-thought out, reasoned and rational decision.

Besides, I’ve been here before. I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 and endured the scorn of others who blamed me for the Democratic loss. Don’t blame me, I said. Blame yourselves for not being able to convince enough people to vote for the Democrat.

The same argument holds true today.

Don’t blame me if Obama runs and loses because too many rogue Democrats, independents and Republicans do not have faith in his ability to lead during some very tough and trying times.

Ralph’s running again today.

So are many other candidates you’ve likely never heard of.

America is caught up in a two-party madness that offers voters too few options. The same well-heeled donors contribute cash to both parties and conspire for access that most Americans can’t even dream of having.

What we do have is a choice.

And I’ve made mine.

I’m turning down Obama.

Found this by RiverDaughter this morning. Just a little encouragement for any of you that need it!

One other thing: Some of you are getting a little PO’d about Obama’s use of the past tense when it comes to Hillary. How many times do we need to go over this? They are playing mind games, people. Even if he does stupidly go in front of the cameras tomorrow night and crown himself king, he has to wait out the next three months because nothing is official until the balloons drop in Denver. In the meantime, he’s going to be sweating bullets because *we* have something the DNC desperately wants. And they are not going to get it by continuing their bad behavior. We all have choices. You have a lot more power than you think. Now, turn off the news, re-register as an unaffiliated voter, send your old torn up registration card to Howard and Donna and send Hillary a ten spot. Don’t make me come over there. :-||

I can manage a decent flame for the O’Borgs once in awhile but I really love reading the real writers… the ones that support Hillary and have the eloquent words to prove it! Ck out her site and lots of folks at correntewire; also Anglachel’s Journal, Shallow Hal at SavagePolitics and DonnaDarko.