What's the Alternative?

"I agree completely, but the first question is how to stop the momentum before more damage can be done. Then the question becomes cleaning up the messes."
Posted by: casey morris at April 16, 2005 06:33 PM

Stopping the momentum is key.
We keep thinking that if we just deliver every true fact to the public, they will see the light and vote accordingly. Alas, from what I have seen, it just ain't so. All the facts in the world don't seem to make a dent in the blind faith of average Republican voters. They're making their decision based on emotions.

It seems that what needs to be done is a counter-manipulation of the emotions of middle America. How do we do that? We need to exploit in the same ways that the Rovians did - using photos, etc. to show America what these people have done. And of course, with the neocons having the media all tied up, it's hard to get images of, say, the 100K+ innocent Iraqis we've slaughtered in Bush's name.

Zacly right, Amy. I just had this exact same discussion iwth two people yesterday about the best way to stop the momentum.

Stop the momentum?

Quit hiding the bodies

This is from the guy from Oxford who stayed at my house this summer while working against Bush.

Empty your bladder before viewing.

Hi DiAnne

Sorry I havent been able to get back to you as quick as I might like, we are all working like dogs for the election.
I thought you might like this though http://www.gbjab.com/ - the guy at the end is Charles Kennedy the leader of the lib dems.

Will email properly soon,

Bestest Kit

This is from another British guy - the UK election is 4/26.

It's election tyme in Merrye Olde England

And it's got to be the lowest key election I've ever seen. By now most
houses would have a sign in the garden saying "vote Labour" or whatever,
usually the streets would have been a blaze of colour, but not this time.
Hardly anyone is talking about the election and it's really hard to see
which way it's going to go.

If you're interested though, here's a summary of what's going down in my
area, Norwich south

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/html/437.stm

Andrew Aalders-Dunthorne Liberal Democrat
Vandra Ahlstrom UK Independence Party
Don Barnard Legalise Cannabis Alliance
Roger Blackwell Workers Revolutionary Party
Charles Clarke Labour
Christine Constable English Democrats
Anthony Little Conservative
Adrian Ramsay Green

Only one can win and it's probably be Charles Clarke, the present MP and
Labour front bench Home Secretary

Riviting stuff...

Derek

We keep thinking that if we just deliver every true fact to the public, they will see the light and vote accordingly. Alas, from what I have seen, it just ain't so. All the facts in the world don't seem to make a dent in the blind faith of average Republican voters. They're making their decision based on emotions.

-------------
Cognitive Dissonance. It's scary. I know two incredibly intelligent people who are both wingers. There is just no breaking through the fog of Faux. That I think is a huge issue.

when the whole Terri Schaivo thing was happening, (and these folks are both lawyers, and have both been law guardians, appointed by the court in matters to render impatial opinion on behalf of another's welfare, usually a child or children), all I heard was, "the husband is a scumbag. This never would have happened in NY..." They both agreed that the only reason that it happened the way it did, was that it was in Florida law that way. In NY, Terri Schiavo would have had a guardian ad litum immediately.

So, I sent them the article with Michael Schiavo being cleared of all accusations. it also contained the financial disclosure that ALL of Terri's money from BOTH of the malpractice cases was managed by the court. ALL of it. The court had to approve ANY expenditure.

Do you think I have heard anything back from them? Nope. Do I think they will keep getting their information from Faux? I have no reason to believe otherwise.

Here's another thing...they are both governement employees. If it weren't for the federal protection of Worker's Comp, a DEMOCRAT piece of legislation, oneof them would not have a job. And they both work. If their party had their way, she would be staying home with the kids.. She tried it. Drove her nuts. So thanks to women's lib, brought to her by democrats, she wouldn't bepracticing an awful lot of law, or perhaps not been able to get into law school.

Parents with cancer on medicare. Brought to you by Democrats. Parents have social security in addition to pension and savings. Live nicely. Much better than without it. Brought to them by democrats. She didn't have babies til late in life. Birth control, brought to you by democratic judges. For goodness sakes already...the list goes on and on.

So the way I see it, what kind of cognitive dissonance has to be going on to enjoys the fruits of the democratic party and them go about hacking at the tree of democracy that allowed these things to happen?

OMG DiAnne, ROFLMAO! That is damn funny. Thank you.

Hey guys! Sorry to be off topic, but I just got back from Austin where John Kerry had a town hall meeting about Kids First and I wanted to write about it!

I had never gone to see him before, so this was especially exciting for me. There were about 3,000 or 4,000 people there, which filled up the whole place, and everyone was very energetic. Kerry looked great. He was walking completely fine and without crutches (he had knee surgery a week or so ago). He made a lot of jokes on the word ‘DeLay’– “we can’t afford to delay...” or “bush has caused the delay...” etc. People laughed; many were wearing their anti-DeLay gear.

I personally broke into applause when he mentioned johnkerry.com, but the things that got the most applause/standing were when he said “People are sick of politicians in Washington telling them what God wants them to think,” also when he said, “We put so much effort into bringing democracy to Iraq. Well, we need to focus on improving our democracy here at home,” later when he said that he wasn’t deterred by Nov. 2, but rather “more motivated and more determined,” and then finally when he remarked how proud he was that anyone could get into this rally- no screening - and anyone could ask a question on the spot.

In their questions many people had moving stories about not having healthcare, or knowing people who don’t. There were nurses, teachers, college students- a man even stood up and said he was an immigrant from Iraq who had admired Kerry for many years, since Kerry had responded to a specific concern of his when he lived in Massachusetts. The man said that in Texas, none of the Republican senators and congressman respond to him– but of course Kerry had.

I was- as always- impressed with Kerry, especially when a woman asked about the problem of illegal immigrants getting healthcare while others don’t. That got boos from the crowd, but Kerry calmed them and gave a response that left everyone understanding. That was really great.

I also thought about something that I hadn’t considered before. I know Kerry has talked, and at the DCP we talk a lot about changing the language we use to talk about our positions, or how to explain things so that people understand what it means to them. I usually thought of this mainly with issues like abortion, or the war on terror... but Kerry said that the word “environment” has almost become a pejorative, and reminded us to make sure people know that protecting the environment is about health: clean water that doesn’t give you cancer to drink, and fish that you can actually eat if you catch.

Finally, he talked about the kind of things we do here with the DCP. He said that we have to create accountability in Washington so that senators and congressman can’t vote against our interests (both Democrats and Republicans, like with the Bankruptcy Bill) and not feel any consequences. He said we had to start talking to people about our values- like giving kids healthcare- at a grassroots level. Even before we have a particular candidate or a particular election. He really stressed the grassroots and said that we could build a movement. Overall, I was impressed with how focused he was, how much he made this about US and not HIM, and how inspiring it was when he said he knew we could make a difference and make the history of this country what we want it to be!

So to sum up: Kerry is doing great, he never ceases to impress me, and he urges us to continue building the grassroots and contacting our elected officials.

Oh and a tip: if you go to one of his town hall meetings and want him to call on you to ask a question, wear a Boston Red Sox cap. It helps.;-)

RAW RADIO GOES ON THE AIR!

THE BRAD SHOW: TONIGHT 7-11 PM ET, REPEAT: SUN: 12-4 PM ET

It's official—Raw Story Media has just launched its own radio show and it will go on air tonight. We just got confirmation today!

Raw Radio brings you Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com, the investigative blogger who first unearthed the claim of a Florida programmer who alleged that a now-sitting congressman asked him to develop a vote-rigging prototype. He'll have that programmer—Clint Curtis—on the air with him tonight. Also on air will be Andy Stephenson, who has investigated alleged e-voting fraud; Raw Story Deputy Managing Editor Larisa Alexandrovna, who's covered Ohio's electoral irregularities and the troubled Baker-Carter 'election reform' commission; and Robert Koehler, a columnist and editor for Tribune Media Syndicate.

http://rawstory.com/contact/support_raw_radio_416.php

Help keep this on the air!

Voting reform activists have just returned from the conference in Nashville & an important story will be published tomorrow in the Washington Spectator.

2nd Voting reform conference will be held in PA in July.

Lakoff is speaking in Seattle in June & Wellstone training is taking place here in June as well. The Wellstone training has three different tracks so it's good if your organization/cell has some people going to each one. Check their websites for dates near your area.

Spinnaker
Our Dem Cell retreat today was heavily represented by women. We were trying to figure out why. For one thing, it's made up mostly of volunteers and maybe more women volunteer, vs more men expecting pay. One of the token men, who was not born in this country, offered his take on it. He said, "Maybe if you had not had the right to vote since the beginning of democracy, you would tend to become more active when democracy was under threat."

Native Texan .. I was waiting for that!!
I think this should be a blog topic on its own!
There is nothing like seeing John Kerry in person. The MSM does not begin to do him justice and, being a tool of the state, has actually done as much as they can to counteract him - such as ignoring him (& Teresa) in Time magazine's "100 Influential People of the Year" while including someone like Anne Coulter!

One more for now:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/

WASHINGTON - The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered

They never cease to amaze me.

Bush Administration Covers Up Rise in Terrorism
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041605A.shtml

Posted by: DiAnne at April 16, 2005 08:57 PM

Of course, the worst terrorist of them all is Bush himself.

Posted by: NativeTexan4Kerry at April 16, 2005 08:13 PM

That's an amazing report there, NativeTexan!

I am very pleased that Kerry had an answer for everything and left everyone happy - including the Iraqi man's concerns and the illegal immigrant healthcare.

He should have been our President. Unfortunately he was too good for this country.

Ally

He actually IS our President, as was Gore - read top article - hot off the press. http://www.washingtonspectator.com It turns out you have to be a subscriber (which means not enough people will read it). I also have it in pdf form & it's a little long, so I've posted it at the end of the topic preceding this one.

Great report Native! I got the chance to see JK & JE together in Orlando and he was very good with the crowd. Very relaxed and funny. DiAnne is right, our state-controlled media never really gave him props for his performance down the stretch.

Do you know I just stumbled across a Newsweek article from last year (thought I had read everything election-related but apparently missed this one) and buried in it is a mention of how over the years JK purposely took his name off of pieces of legislation he worked hard to pass so retiring colleagues could get the credit. Apparently it drove his staff crazy, but according to them JK would say "But it means so much to them." And so how is this thanked? He is accused by Dean and later the attack dogs in the RNC of being ineffective. ARRRGGGH!

I was at the Austin Kerry event, also. I wish I had been able to identify nativetexan! Kerry was terrific. He was very witty, relaxed and positive. He talked a lot about how he was focused on 2006 and that we should be also. Also, that we need to get the grassroots going in all 50 states - Dean's idea of campaiging on the ground now in 50 states. He really made us feel that it was all up to us to change things. He gave examples of how people in the past have organized to affect change. Another tip if you go and see him. Sit on his left (the audience's right). I sat on that side of him and he talked in that direction almost the whole time. He is very, very good with a crowd! It was simply awesome to see him in person. The last song as we were leaving was Evis' "A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action."

What do YOU want? Please comment.

Posted by Casey Morris at April 16, 2005 06:15 PM

It is not enough to say, " I want change." I believe we can endlessly present the truth and it will make little difference in the general public's perceptions of how our government is hurting many Americans. Rather it is only until "true believers" feel the sting of the administration's policies that they will reconsider their support of Bu$hco. I wish no ill will on anybody, but I believe that until those who support Bu$hco experience the negative effects of the adminstration's policies, whatever that experience may happen to be: an affront to their religious principles, loss of health care, death of a friend or family member in Iraq, higher taxes, or having their civil rights trampled upon will we see a change in public support for Bu$hco.

The best way for Americans to experience these thing is to have a media which is willing to present the cold hard truth. Therefore what I want is a media that is not a propaganda machine.

Florida Dem

JK is a class act all the way & so is THK.

Muse /Native: Sorry I couldn't make it to Austin, saw Kerry in Houston and in Boston at Fanuel Hall during the primary and really enjoyed it. Funny, Indy constantly told us last summer how much Kerry needed to come to Texas. Indy, better late than never. Its too bad that the Republican Senate will ignore his Kids First Proposal b/c they are too busy protecting the top .03 % with their estate tax protection plan.
Curious if Kerry dealt with issues of religion and politics and how he would deal better with it if he is given a second shot.Its going to be a real challenge to get the nomination a second time unless he adopts some of Wallis' language like his quoting the Bible " Be Not Afraid". Would have been an interesting reparte to Bush's drumbeat of be afraid.

Would very much like to discuss Thomas Friedman's editorial how he worries that the administration is neglecting our economic engine pursuing misguided ideological goals. Slashing the National Science Foundation and technological research by 20%. How tax cuts rather than keeping the US in the forefront of internet innovation. How Japanese have access to high speed broadband 16x faster than US and while US was way ahead of Japan in 2001 in the broadband race 3 years later Japan has more developed braodband and more homes with broadband than US.

Friedman: " Its as if we have and Industrial age presidency catering to a pre-industrial ideologogical base, in a post industrial era." b/c the Bush Administration according to Friedman has ignored these studies.

This is not a racey story but a really serious study by the National Innovative Initiative that I thinks deserves serious discussion here (other than comments about the internets).

Apparently we have fallen behind South Korea, China and Japan in the broadband area which will effect our tecnological innovations and America's standards of living.

How the US is losing its industrial international competitiveness.

Ira
I think the US is definitely going to experience a "brain drain" - we're already losing students from other countries. We have to "outsource" some of our medical analysis even - suppose you have an x-ray or other diagnostic procedure & someone from India is interpreting it remotely over the internet. It's happening. Bill Gates and others like him love it that there are so many skilled techies & engineers abroad - no reason they have to be in the US. It can all be done over the internet. Asia has such a younger demographic than we do here, eager to learn new skills & move ahead. Add to that our recent ideological bias toward trusting in the supernatural rather than science and we're losing ground; we're moving backward.

I appreciate the seriousness and responses, we must organize and mount offense. Playing defense in politics is a no win situation.

This white house governs using fear and fervor, as tools to divide and conquer. It is not personal, it is politics. Obscene as this strategy is, it works. It has worked for thousands of years, from Ceasar to Napolean to President George Bush.
There is only one avenue to win against this strategy, An organized grass roots campaign to remove fear and fervor, replace it with education and knowledge. Nothing else has proven sucessfull in History.

Senator Frist is stating that "People of Faith" are under attack by the courts, and democrats. This is a direct lift from the Kerry - Edwards 60 minutes interview, where Senator Kerry stated "We are men of Faith" (quotes used to highlight).
Senator Frist took this line, modified and turned it around to bring the considerable money and labor of the Christian Coalitions and Family council to bear on politicians.

We can play the same game.
The Constitution is under attack by the senator, who has sworn to "preserve and protect it", He must be called on the carpet to defend statements and actions, by the people that are governed, OURSELVES.

Lay out the truth for people to see for themselves. History is Full with examples of Political / Religious alliances, None of which worked out. Usually one group destroyed the other as soon as possible.
Does the Christian Coalition truly wish to have Government deciding what is Christian, and what isnt? Do Americans want their senators deciding what constitutes a "person of faith"? These are serious issues that must be brought to the attention of every god fearing American.

They need to see what they are about to bring upon themselves. When the Christian Coalitions no longer serve Political purpose, they will be tossed aside. But the Damage to their Faith and their religion will have been done. They will become what they were fighting against.

The DCP is a powerfull tool to organize, to promote, to fundraise, We are a conduit directly to the candidate. The DCP will be more powerfull as a result of technology that will be out shortly. We will be the single most powerfull aspect of the campaign, Kudos to the people that put this together.
BUT, only if the candidate and the campaign use it. There are people on here that have reason and creativity to rival any National strategist. USE THEM. Or, lose them. Its up to the Campaign.

"Let kerry be kerry"
This was discussed in the Kerry-Edwards site, Had the campaign followed this sage advice, we would be signing trade deals instead of begging foreign nations to buy US debt. We would be arranging peace and trade deals, instead of watching them from the sidelines. We would not be watching the world ARMING itself to the teeth, President Kerry would not be feared and Give reason for suspicion as president Bush is.

Fight the Good Fight.

Posted by: Ira at April 17, 2005 12:57 AM
Posted by: DiAnne at April 17, 2005 01:11 AM

Yes, we are turning away people who could be a huge asset to us. Why? Because of the post-9/11 hysteria. Just because a few terrorists were in the country on fradulent student visas, we decided that ALL foreign students were potential terrorists, and decided to treat them accordingly. Strictly enforcing existing immigration laws would have done a far better/more friendly job of keeping America safe. Instead, we have a police state for foreign students, and it could be extended to the rest of the American population easily.

Foreign immigration has changed for the worse as well. My experience with the large Korean community here in SoCal tells me that the only Koreans who still want to come to America are far-right Christian fanatics who love the Reagan-Bush agenda. Saner ones have decided that the superior education and social fabric of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand would beat the US anytime. Heck some are even putting SOUTH AFRICA ahead of the US.

And now thanks to the reckless tax cuts and ideology over quality of life (i.e. lack of healthcare), fine AMERICANS will be fed up and will end up leaving the country for greener pastures. Count me in this bunch.