The ABC's to Blocking the Future

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 10 October 2008 02:32:38 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

The various fossil fuel industries have been spending hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars to influence the national discussion this year, from campaign contributions to Santa Claus giving out 'clean coal' at the Metro exits closest to[...]

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Provisional Ballots, the New Hanging Chad

post from Firedoglake on 10 October 2008 02:32:37 PM. © Firedoglake

A federal judge on Thursday ordered Ohio's top elections official to verify the identity of newly registered voters by matching them with other government documents. Big woop. HAVA ain't the only law on the books.[...]

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Big GOP Pollster Behind Oregon Calls

post from TPMMuckraker on 10 October 2008 02:31:00 PM. © TPMMuckraker

So yesterday we reported on a possible push poll being conducted in Oregon by a company called Western Wats. A caller told one Oregon woman we spoke to about tax increases being supported by Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley, then asked whether the information made her less likely to support Merkley -- who's in a tight race with Republican incumbent Gordon Smith.

Western Wats had told us yesterday that its client was NMB Research, who did not return our call. But today, Stacey Jenkins of Western Wats called back to say that, after speaking again with their client, Western Wats had been authorized to tell us that the client is in fact Public Opinion Strategies (POS), a well-known GOP polling firm. POS, Jenkins said, had asked Western Wats yesterday to give us the name NMB Research as the client.

Jenkins could not answer why POS had directed Western Wats to give what appears to be misleading or incomplete information to a news organization.

A representative for POS did not immediately make available to TPMmuckraker anyone who could provide more information, or clarify the relationship between POS and NMB Research, but pledged to do so.

POS is a major GOP polling firm, founded by respected veteran pollsters Bill McInturff, Glen Bolger, and Neil Newhouse. Its involvement may indicate that the call was not part of a push poll, but rather an effort to test negative messages with a sample group of voters, for research purposes -- a possibility we suggested yesterday.

We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

Late Update: Public Opinion Strategies sent the following statement to TPMmuckraker this afternoon:

NMB Research is a separate legal entity with a separate office set up by the members of Public Opinion Strategies. It was established to comply with coordination rules of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. NMB is retained by a number of clients involved in public policy research, issue advocacy, and independent expenditure campaigns. The establishment of NMB ensures compliance with the coordination rules of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
Neither Public Opinion Strategies nor NMB Research engages in push polling, voter ID, or GOTV programs.

We've contacted Neil Newhouse, a founder and senior pollster with the firm, to ask specifically about the Oregon call we reported on yesterday, and as always, will keep you posted.

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Rachel Maddow Show: John McCain's Terrible Record
on Veterans Issues

post from Crooks and Liars on 10 October 2008 02:30:43 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Rachel Maddow: Rieckhoff on McCain's Vets Record icon Download | Play icon Download | Play

Paul Rieckhoff of IAVA sits down with Rachel Maddow to discuss his group's 2008 report card on how members of Congress voted on Veterans issues. John McCain: D. Barack Obama: B.

RIECKHOFF: There were 53 original co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle [for the new GI Bill]. Eventually, right-wing folks like Senator Warner got involved with folks on the left like Senator Webb. Every major veteran services organization in the country supported it, more ¾ of the House. So, this was kind of a legislative locomotive. And one of the only blocks along the way consistently was Senator McCain.
So, it's not a partisan issue here. The G.I. bill had tremendous support. And he was just really behind this legislative issue. Now, he's made attempts to go back and say he was holding out for transferability. Transferability, being able to transfer your G.I. bill benefits to your family members. It was already in the law. It was at the discretion of the Department of Defense.

So, it's kind of a red herring there. But the reports are out there now. Everybody can check the vote. Go to VeteranReportCard.org, you can check their votes and everybody else who's up for reelection this year.

I know Senator Obama didn't serve in the military or endure years of torture thirty years ago, but isn't it time everyone acknowledge that John McCain simply doesn't own the veterans issue because of his history? His service is certainly admirable, but in order to claim that you support the troops, you actually have to, you know, support the troops -- not be one of the only "road blocks" standing in the way of the most important veterans bill of the past 40 years.

Full transcript below the fold:

MADDOW: To a significant number of veterans, John McCain does appear to be the preferred candidate of the choice between Barack Obama and John McCain. What boils my blood here is the prospect that voters' assumptions drawing from John McCain's biography and his legislative record are too very, very different things. And in the end, what I need to be talked down about, is the idea that John McCain is getting credit that he really is not due.

Here to attempt to Talk Me Down is Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Hi, Paul. Nice to see you.

PAUL RIECKHOFF, IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA: Hi, Rachel. Great to be with you.

MADDOW: The new report card that you had put out on the legislative record on veterans' issues for 2007-2008 congressional year, gives John McCain a "D." How do Barack Obama and Joe Biden do?

RIECKHOFF: Barack Obama gets a "B," Joe Biden also gets a "B." But 50 folks in the Senate did get "A's." Overall, it was a very good year for Congress. They passed a largest funding increase in 77 years and they passed the historic G.I. bill.

But for McCain and for Obama, the most critical issue here was attendance. McCain missed six of nine of our key votes. And Obama actually missed four of nine. Senator McCain missed more votes than Tim Johnson who was in a coma, OK? Senator Obama and Senator McCain both missed more votes than Senator Ted Kennedy who had a brain tumor.

So, it's about showing up. You can't support vets if you're not there to vote on their key issues. And unfortunately, Senator McCain was absent for six of those nine key votes.

MADDOW: And talk about a key issue, one of the votes that he

missed, that Senator Obama did not miss, I should point out, was the new

G.I. bill. Senator McCain had a sort of unusual role on the formation of the G.I. bill this year. He did, in the end, try to take sort of credit for it. He was thanked at the outset at the signing ceremony, but he was not involved as an original co-sponsor on this legislation, isn't that right?

RIECKHOFF: Correct. There were 53 original co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle. Eventually, right-wing folks like Senator Warner got involved with folks on the left like Senator Webb. Every major veteran services organization in the country supported it, more ¾ of the House. So, this was kind of a legislative locomotive. And one of the only blocks along the way consistently was Senator McCain.

So, it's not a partisan issue here. The G.I. bill had tremendous support. And he was just really behind this legislative issue. Now, he's made attempts to go back and say he was holding out for transferability. Transferability, being able to transfer your G.I. bill benefits to your family members. It was already in the law. It was at the discretion of the Department of Defense.

So, it's kind of a red herring there. But the reports are out there now. Everybody can check the vote. Go to VeteranReportCard.org, you can check their votes and everybody else who's up for reelection this year.

MADDOW: Paul, I know that IAVA is a totally nonpartisan organization. You guys do not make endorsements. You don't make political contributions.

But I have to ask you, politically, looking at this presidential race, when you see things like John McCain going over and touching that man on the shoulder, sort of ostentatiously in the audience last night.

RIECKHOFF: Right.

MADDOW: When you see him talked so frequently about his love for veterans and you know, their painful experience, the distance between the way he talks about them, sort of the symbolism that he wraps himself in around veterans' issues and what he has done as a politician, do you think there's any hope of bridging that gap in people's minds, to making people recognize that he hasn't actually been that great on veterans' issues as a politician?

RIECKHOFF: I hope so. You know, that's why we created this report. And not just for Senator McCain but for everybody. There's a lot of empty rhetoric in Washington about people who support the troops. And looking through these records, looking through Defense appropriations votes, looking through votes on the G.I. bill, it's not a sexy thing.

But we kind of done the hard work and made it completely transparent and let the votes speak for themselves. But being a veteran alone doesn't mean you are strong on veteran issues. You can be Dennis Kucinich got a good grade and he's been against this war as much as anyone. It's about the votes, not about your veteran status. And we made it entirely transparent.

MADDOW: Paul Rieckhoff from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, it's nice to see you.

RIECKHOFF: You, too. Thanks so much.

MADDOW: I should mention, as a programming note, just to be fair that Paul appears weekly on my radio show on Air America Radio. And I never get to see his pretty bald face.

So, it's nice to see you, Paul.

RIECKHOFF: You, too.

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OR-Sen: "Senator, I know Arnold
Schwarzenegger..."

post from Daily Kos on 10 October 2008 02:30:02 PM. © Daily Kos

The pressure must be getting to Gordo. From last night's debate:

video details and more

"I've met Sarah Palin once. She's a lovely person. She's a great Governor of California. She is a strong executive. No doubt she has a learning curve. So does Barack Obama. He has about the same experience in Government as Sarah Palin."

And making that comparison? I guess he's decided pretending to be BFFs with Obama just wasn't working for him.

On the Web:
Jeff Merkley for Senate

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"MAIN STREET."

post from Ezra Klein on 10 October 2008 02:26:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

Last week, I was complaining about the proliferation of the terrible term "main street." Today, linguist Geoffrey Nunberg offers a look at the genealogy of the term, and we learn that it's long been a fraud: "As it happens, 'Main Street' was published in[...]

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John McCain and Hatred

John McCain isn't the first Presidential candidate to seek votes by appealing to hatred, racism, and fear. He won't be the last. But almost always that has been a surefire way to obtain less than 40% of the votes. The McCain-Palin approach increases the possibility that the Republican Party will be defeated down to the bottom of each statewide ticket, as most Americans find repugnant these blatant attempts to plumb the depths of the human soul.

For those who choose this walk on the wild side of politics, the usual result is electoral disaster and a lifetime gig as a talking head on the rightwing cable shows. Governor Palin, even if she is caught short by Troopergate or the Taxman, can count on television as her ticket out of Alaska. I see her going from an interview by Greta von S to a seat on Greta's side of the table. And watch out Katie Couric, the Governor may not have shown a big heart but I'm sure it's filled with revenge. Doubtlessly, Sarah Palin will play Tina Fey on SNL. Probably she will fill in for Pat Buchanan on the Rachel Maddow show -- indeed she is more or less following in that nativist's political footsteps, although she was a mere child when Buchanan began his own long odysssey through the Heart of Darkness. (Nixon and McCain have proved to have a great deal more in common than anyone would have thought.)

I suppose Americans could conceivably fall for the McCain-Palin brew of rabble-rousing, racism, and revenge. I doubt it. If that happened, we'd have reason to fear for our democracy. But we are not mere bystanders. With three weeks and change to go, we can each in our own way aim for some orderly approach to our national decision-making. In that vein, I would encourage every television station, cable show, and newspaper to give serious consideration to the need to retain balance, calm, and decency in our national discourse. This is an election, not an out-take from the Jerry Springer show. Even if the McCain-Palin ticket is bent on destroying their own honor and the chances of others on their ticket, the media can do us all a big service by dialing down the heat and refocussing the contest on the issues that voters actually do want to hear about.

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David Brooks, come on down!

David Brooks finally gets it. If the United States is a meritocracy based on reliable democratic beliefs which embraces its role in the world and knows that in these tumultuous times we need to lead, then Barack Obma is the only rational choice:Obama has the great intellect. I was interviewing Obama a couple years ago, [...]

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The "Senator" from Colorado

Wayne Allard is the current, retiring, Senator from Colorado. Along with, of course, Ken Salazar, who is staying.

A US Senator earns $165,200/year, or $13,767/month.

Wayne has decided that for this salary, he will no longer be accepting e-mail from constituents.

Phone and snail mail are okay. He's asked that e-mail be directed to his successor.

Maybe help his successor: you can e-mail through the site. Or just make a donation: http://www.markudall.com/

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http://www.demconwatchblog.com/2008/10/senator-from-colorado.html

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Michelle Obama and Other Delights

I got a double-shot of Michelle Obama last night night before last. She was on the John Stewart Show and then she was on the Larry King Show. Larry King may be one of the most useless interviewers in history. Michelle Obama, however, is simply an incredible person. King tried to pin her down and [...]

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