Clipmarks | dulios's 'democrats' clips

Alaska About to Eat its Own

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:30:33 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: Another failed McCain gamble.

Some weeks ago, the McCain team devised a plan to have Palin file an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board, arguing that it alone was capable of conducting a fair, nonpartisan inquiry into whether she fired Monegan because he refused to fire Wooten

Some Democrats ridiculed the move, noting that the personnel board answered to Palin. But the board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin's 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel's report could be released soon after. "We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board," said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin "has nothing to hide," it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.

Tags: palin, go home

The Dumbing Down of the GOP

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:23:16 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Clip Source: www.salon.com

The dumbing down of the GOP

Why aren't more conservatives disgusted that their party nominated a person devoid of qualifications for the vice presidency (again)?

Why should we pretend not to notice when Gov. Palin's ideas make no sense?

Why should we ignore her inability to string together a series of coherent thoughts?

Why should we give her a pass on the most important issues of the day?

Palin's phony populism is as insulting to working- and middle-class Americans as it is to American women. Why are basic diction and intellectual coherence presumed to be out of reach for "real people"?

There was a time when conservatives lamented the dumbing down of American culture. Preservation of basic standards in schools and workplaces compelled them -- or so they said -- to resist affirmative action for women and minorities. Qualifications mattered; merit mattered; and demagogic appeals for leveling were to be left to the Democrats.

Not anymore.

Tags: palin, lightweight, go home, conservatism, anti-intellectualism, anti-feminism

First Two National Polls on Palin: Men Approve, Women Don't

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:36:53 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: .

Clip Source: www.editorandpublisher.com

Surprise? First Two National Polls Find Palin Gains LESS Support from Women

NEW YORK The first national polls on John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin yesterday came out today from Rasmussen and Gallup -- and contrary to what the GOP probably hoped, she scored less well with women than men.

Among Democratic women

9% say Palin makes them more likely to support McCain, 15% less likely.

From Rasmussen: Some 38% of men said they were more likely to vote for McCain now, but only 32% of women. By a narrow 41% to 35% margin, men said she was not ready to be president -- but women soundly rejected her, 48% to 25%.

Only 9% of Obama supporters said they might be more likely to vote for McCain.

Overall, voters expressed a favorable impression of her by a 53/26 margin, but there was a severe gender gap on this: Men embraced her at 58% to 23%, while for women it was 48/30.

And by a 29/44 margin, men and women together, they do not believe that she is ready to be President.

Tags: palin, rasmussen, gallup, men, women, democrats, obama

Single-Digit Approval? Not Exactly

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:12:04 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: Rasmussen did not ask if voters "approved" or "disapproved" of Congress, but rather to rate Congress' performance as excellent, good, fair, or poor. A total of 45% answered excellent (2%) good (7%), or fair(36%).

Clip Source: www.politico.com

Single-digit approval? Not exactly

Matt Drudge blew the ram’s horn early Tuesday morning: “Congressional Approval Rating Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever.” Within minutes, the conservative group Freedom’s Watch was blasting the news out to reporters. And by afternoon, Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida — the No. 3 Republican in the House — had welded it into a cudgel with which to beat the Democrats.

The only catch: The news wasn’t exactly the news.

Rasmussen didn’t ask respondents whether they approved or disapproved of Congress; it asked respondents to rank Congress’ job performance as excellent, good, fair or poor.

Just 2 percent rated the performance as excellent, and 7 percent rated it as good.

Add those up, and you get 9 percent.

But 36 percent of Rasmussen’s respondents said they consider Congress’ job performance to be fair. Is that approval or disapproval?

Tags: congress, polls, rasmussen

Gut Check Time for White Americans

Thu, 01 May 2008 05:58:31 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks:

The Wright affair has such resonance in this campaign because Wright has shown himself to be the kind of black person that white people don't like. He brings out our prejudices. Yes, I said "our" prejudices.

Part of it is Wright's ignorance and part of it is his arrogance and part of it is that he talks louder than white people would prefer and part of it is that he uses the sing-song cadence they associate with other black ministers they have grown to hate over the years such as Jesse Jackson.

Obama is none of those things (OK, maybe a little arrogant at times), so Wright has been brought to the forefront as a substitute punching bag.

Clip Source: www.suntimes.com

It's gut check time for white Americans

Obama's in trouble because Wright brings out our biases

A lot of whites freaked out by Wright

You can see the situation developing, and it doesn't look pretty from where I sit. Obama is likely going to lose the Indiana presidential primary, giving another huge lift to Hillary Clinton.

And then what?

Is the Democratic party going to take away the nomination that was almost in Obama's grasp, that remains almost in his grasp, mainly because a lot of white people are freaked out by Wright and what they have convinced themselves it means about Obama? That seems to be a growing possibility, which to my mind would be an even bigger disaster for Democrats than John McCain handing Obama his lunch in November.

So at the risk of repeating myself, let me repeat myself:

Barack Obama is not Jeremiah Wright.

We've never heard Obama say any of the things that got Wright in trouble because Obama doesn't believe those things.

Tags: obama, wright, racism

Felony Disenfranchisement Aids Republicans

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:28:38 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: I can think of no logical reason why someone should have their right to vote taken away after they've served their time.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Felony Disenfranchisement Aids Republicans

Restoring the right to vote for felons is essential to our democracy and could dramatically change election results.

Since felony disenfranchisement disproportionately affects African-American and Latino men in the U.S., and since these groups overwhelmingly vote Democratic, the laws bolster the position of the Republican Party. The statistics are shocking. Ryan King, policy analyst with The Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., summarized the latest:

About 5.3 million U.S. citizens are ineligible to vote due to felony disenfranchisement; 2 million of them are African-American. Of these, 1.4 million are African-American men, which translates into an incredible 13 percent of that population, a rate seven times higher than in the overall population.

Tags: disenfranchisement, felons, republicans, democrats

F#@k You Romney

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:03:57 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

F#@k You Romney
Posted by Richard Blair, The All Spin Zone on February 8, 2008 at 5:26 AM.

According to Mitt 's bailout speech yesterday, a vote for Hillary or Barack is surrendering to the terrorists. Message to Mitt: STFU and get the hell out of my country, you whiney, scared little man. You failed to mention that George Bush's GOP is the greatest terrorist enabling organization in the history of the planet. BTW, where's OSAMA?

This is short. I am not usually a profane man in my public writing, and think that I keep my political emotions fairly well in check. Not today.

I am goddamned outraged. And you should be, too.

Who in the FUCK does Mitt Romney think he is that he can implicate either Sens. Clinton or Obama as terrorism enablers? Or if I support the Dems, that I AM, BY IMPLICATION, A TERRORIST SUPPORTER? What level of hubris is he exhibiting by saying that if the Democratic Party nominee wins in November, the people of the United States have "surrendered to the terrorists"?

Tags: romney, obama, clinton, democrats, terrorism

Give Them Death

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:44:33 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Give Them Death: Three Leading Democratic Candidates Support Capital Punishment

Opposing the death penalty used to distinguish Democrats from Republicans. Now, across party lines, death is just another day at the office.

As opposition to state-sanctioned killing becomes more and more mainstream, however, the Democrats should be able to muster the courage to come out against it too. But there's no sign that that is a "moral challenge" they are ready to take on. Rather, the pro-death penalty, pro-"reform" stance occupied by Obama, Edwards and Clinton is little more than a gift to capital punishment supporters who claim the machinery of death just needs some fine-tuning.

NO FREE TRADE Deal With Colombia!

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:13:19 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Rice Lobbies for Colombia Trade Deal

Rice's visit Friday is the latest, most high-profile one in a coordinated campaign by Colombia and the White House to win over skeptical Democrats and revive the trade pact, which was first signed in 2006 but has not yet been passed by Congress.

Colombia is the world's most dangerous country for labor organizing. Rice and nine Democratic lawmakers met in Medellin with union leaders who oppose the deal to hear complaints that President Alvaro Uribe has failed to stamp out the violence, including murder.

More than 700 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia since 2001, according to the government. The number murdered annually has fallen sharply since Uribe took office in 2002, but the 25 killed in 2007 was still more than in any other country in the world. Only a small fraction of the killings have been solved.

Tags: free trade, colombia

How Bashing Hillary Backfired

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:24:23 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Clip Source: www.salon.com

The overwhelmingly negative press corps may have rallied voters to Clinton's side and turned her narrow victory into a resurrection.

Jan. 10, 2008 | Everybody has a theory about the remarkable resurgence of Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. She "cried her way" to victory. Or she had a better vote-pulling operation. Or she benefited from a "Bradley effect" of white voters reluctant to actually pull the lever for an African-American candidate. But what seems just as plausible as any other explanation is also the most ironic: that New Hampshire Democrats -- and especially Democratic women -- were sick of the corrosive hostility and naked slant of the mainstream media against her.

Tags: hillary

Obama is "a Black Man"

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 06:27:17 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: Thanks, Bill.

Clip Source: salon.com

For sheer awkwardness Thursday night, conservative radio host, moralist and gambler Bill Bennett -- who has previously gotten in trouble for insensitive racial commentary -- surely took the booby prize. You could almost feel CNN's producers and hosts cringing along with the audience when Bennett said this:

"Barack Hussein Obama, a black man, wins this for the Democrats.

Tags: obama, bill bennett, race

2007: Women's Rights

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 05:16:21 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Reproductive rights. It's been a roller coaster of a year for women's repro rights. Just a few weeks into the new year, conservative South Dakota legislators reintroduced a bill banning abortion within the state, except in life-threatening cases and DNA-supported instances of incest and rape. Soon thereafter, South Dakota introduced a bill forcing women to "review" an ultrasound image of their fetus before having an abortion.

Sex education. Veronica Mars' writers received a much-needed lesson on the difference between Plan B and RU-486; so did Reuters. The ACLU took on abstinence-only education, we learned that an overwhelming percentage of Americans support comprehensive sex ed, Democrats abstained from renewing abstinence-only funding, a House Appropriations Committee subcommittee approved a multimillion-dollar boost to abstinence education, while a growing number of states told the federal government to, please, just keep their abstinence-only funds.

Tags: women, backlash, 2007