Via No More Mister Nice Blog:

Karl Rove. Ed Gillespie. They’re Bush cronies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, they’re shills for big business. And they’re stealing our democracy, spending millions from secret donors to elect Republicans to do their bidding in Congress. It appears they even taken secret foreign money to influence our elections. It’s incredible, Republicans benefiting from secret foreign money. Tell the Bush crowd and the Chamber of Commerce, stop stealing our democracy.

The Democratic National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

Cue republican cries of victimhood in three, two, one…

“Have these people no shame?” Rove said of the attacks leveled at him and the Chamber. “Does the president of the United States have such little regard for the office he holds that he goes out there and makes these kind of baseless charges against his political enemies? This is just beyond the pale. How dare the president do this?”

“This is a desperate and I think disturbing trend by the president of the United States to tar his political adversaries with some kind of enemies list, with being unrestrained by any facts or evidence whatsoever.”

Fascist putz – the lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Republicans lost on health care and the Missouri GOP has responded with predictable temper tantrums in order to impress their Tea-Party addled constituents:

–Republican Governor wannabe, Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, is planning to (maybe) file a pseudo official lawsuit against the Obama health care reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

–Rep. Todd Akin (R-2), man of action that he is, isn’t waiting around like Kinder, but has just signed on to an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit against the PPACA that the Republican governor of the State of Virginia has filed.

–Roy Blunt (R-7) has announced his support for legislation to “repeal and replace” the “onerous” PPACA by bringing back the much ridiculed earler GOP “alternative,” and repackaging it as a new Republican proposal.  HR 5424, the Reform Americans Can Afford Act, which is cosponsored by Todd Akin and Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-9), would cut access to health care, drive up the deficit, reduce the life of the Medicare trust fund by 10 years, and reopen the “donut hole” for prescrption drugs. (As far as reform goes, a bit unclear on the concept perhaps?)

–Not to be outdone by the GOP federal congressional delegation, the state’s GOP dominated lege wants Missourians to vote to opt out of health care reform this August.

Just the usual political games you may be thinking – but perhaps not, after all, such smart political moves as some GOPers thought a month or so ago. As Slate reporter, William Salatan observes:

Tales of death panels and warnings about losing your doctor can now be falsified. (That’s what happened to the early scare stories about Social Security and Medicare.) And Republicans who denounce the program and promise to repeal it will no longer be bashing an abstraction. They will be proposing to take away existing, tangible benefits… .  

… why assume that lockstep Republican opposition will discredit the health care program? Maybe the opposite will happen: Lockstep opposition will discredit Republicans.

Apparently the Democratic National Committee not only agrees with this assessment, but has enough confidence in it to go on the offensive.  Which brings me to a great new DNC ad that will soon begin airing:

Update:  Speaking of tangible benefits, my husband just forwarded a message from his employer detailing the changes in our health care coverage that have resulted from passage of the PPACA, and needless to say, it’s all good. Now just let the Republican try to take it away.

Part 1: A blogger conference call with Howard Dean: “…the next state on my list is Texas.”

Part 2:

…Question: Hi Governor Dean. I was just wondering, you know, as you’re preparing to move on from the DNC if you, you know, have any preferences as to who you’d like to be as the next chairman, and, and the advice for that person, and, and also what you see as the future of the fifty state strategy under your successor and your own personal plans for [crosstalk]…

Howard Dean: Well, you know, I, I’ve done a transition memo for the Obama folks, so I know I’m not going to publicly say what’s in the transition memo, but I think I can broadly outline. First of all, the Obama campaign used a fifty state strategy in order to win this election. He, he had an office in places like Utah, which everybody knew we weren’t gonna win. So it’s extraordinary what he has done, not just for the country, but the Democratic Party. And I have no doubt that that will continue with the new chair. I don’t have an advice for a specific person for the new chair. I do believe that the party gets run differently when you have an incumbent Democratic president. I think he ought to have a person who’s very loyal to him as the executive director, because that’s where the decisions are really going to be made. And he will run the party, through his people, for the next four years, and hopefully the next eight years. And I think I guess that’s about all I can say, but I have every confidence that the fifty state strategy will continue and the map will be expanded even further in 2010 and 2012…

…Question: Hey Howard.

Howard Dean: Hi.

Question: Hey, I, I blog out of New Orleans and we have a kind of special difficult circumstances here. And we’re in a deep red state. I’m curious as to how the fifty state, state strategy over the next couple years may make inroads in red states where Democratic Party infrastructures have been a hindrance.

Howard Dean: Well, in, the, the, in New Orleans, in Louisiana we don’t think the Democratic, there are some states where the Democratic party structure is a hindrance, but Louisiana is not one of them. The problem with Louisiana is because of Katrina. We basically had to support their party in ways that we didn’t have to do for anybody else. And, that, their, their difficulty, again, with Democratic poli..Party politics in Louisiana is it’s very hard to get the capacity to run the party without having, having a governor, and without having the ability that you have when you’re, in, in sort of a stable situation. I don’t think politically Louisiana has been a particularly stable situation since Katrina. What with the huge population changes and, and the change in the political climate because of the reaction to Katrina. That doesn’t mean we’re gonna give up on Louisiana. We’re not. I actually took a bus tour through Louisiana before we even decided which states were gonna be in the mix and I…Louisiana and Mississippi were two states that we thought might be in the mix. So, we’ll, that is, but you’re right, Louisiana is a special circumstance which is gonna require some special attention and we’ve done some of that but clearly there’s gonna have to be more of that from the next DNC chair…

…Question: Governor Dean, here in New Mexico we had a big swing this year and in votes, in votes, especially among Hispanics. I was wondering what kind of outreach you guys did specifically for Hispanics [crosstalk]…

Howard Dean: We had the largest Hispanic outreach in the history of the Democratic Party. I think we spent twenty million to start with, and more than that, reaching out to Hispanics all over the country. And a lot of it was the thing that you expect, Spanish language TV and newspaper and radio. Interviews. But we had an enormous number of Latino organizers on the ground in these key states making contact with, with prospective voters. Florida was the other place where we just spent enormous amount of money, time, and effort in the Hispanic population. Organizing in the community, in ways that I think have never been done before. We started, actually, before we knew who the nominee was gonna be. A couple of years ago I reached out to Hispanic evangelical ministers, Protestant ministers, who had been meeting with Bush, partly because of the faith based outreach. But immigration allowed us the opening to begin to talk with them and some of them have become our friends and they worked very hard for the Democratic ticket within the bounds of their tax exempt requirements. And that was a huge help to us. And so we did get big assist from the Republican immigration language. It wasn’t so much the policy but the language that they used to discuss American citizens who were Hispanic, let alone immigrants…

…Question: Hi, Governor Dean, happy birthday by the way.

Howard Dean: Thank you.

Question: How frustrating is it for you as DNC chair, with West Virginia, where every office from the governor on down is pretty much controlled by the Democrats, but we’ve lost the last three presidential elections. And what can be done about that?

Howard Dean: Well, actually, it’s much better to be in a position of West Virginia than it is, say, in Alabama where you have a Republican governor. We’ve got a great Democratic governor and Democratic office holders and now we’ve just got to figure out how to translate that into winning the presidency. We came back. We were way behind, we came back, hey Joe Biden made a last minute visit to West Virginia. So West Virginia is one of those states like Texas we just got, we can, we can keep working at it and we can win it again. And when we do, the whole political dynamic will have changed. This is it again, a generational shift that’s going on in West Virginia and, and other parts of Appalachia. And I think we just gotta work our way through it and keep working hard. But I don’t, I don’t, it’s not, West Virginia is not the least bit frustrating to me. I, I was very pleased by what happened in West Virginia. We didn’t win, but we really closed the gap in the last couple of weeks. And that means that the momentum will be with us in the next election…

…I just want to say thank you all. Look forward to, hopefully, seeing you all in person one of these, maybe at the convention, the Netroots convention next year…

I participated in a blogger conference call with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today. He made brief opening remarks and then proceeded to take questions from bloggers in on the call:

Kombiz Lavasany: Hi guys, this is Kombiz Lavasany with the Democratic National Committee. I’ve got Governor Howard Dean here. I’m gonna go ahead and put him on and we’ll take your questions right afterwards.

Howard Dean: Hi guys. Which is the generic term, of course, meaning guys and gals. Let me just say, thank you for your incredible commitment to change. And your incredible commitment to making sure that ordinary Americans are empowered by empowering the grassroots. It was a great campaign, for a lot of reasons. And, as you may remember, there was a guy who ran for president in 2004 who had the slogan “you have the power”. Well, you really do have the power and you exercised it well. And I, and you helped a lot of people in the grassroots exercise it which is even more important. So I just wanted to say thanks. I am happy to take comments, questions, and field rude remarks. There are a couple of things I’m not gonna talk about, but you’ll find out what those are if you ask me any questions about ’em. So, with that we’ll just open…

…Question: Hi Governor Dean.

Howard Dean: Hi.

Question: This is Amy Morton down in Georgia. Hope you’re well. We’re not quite done with elections [crosstalk] in Georgia…

Howard Dean: No, you’re not. How’s the early voting going? The early voting reports were pretty good.

Question: Early voting is okay. It’s not uniform across the state, though. It did not begin at the same time.

Howard Dean: Uh huh.

Question: But I wanted to ask you about what the DNC’s efforts are regarding our senate race.

Howard Dean: We’ve got folks on the ground. The Obama people have kept all their offices open. There’s a fair amount of money going in. I think you, you’ve seen that in the ads. And this is a test for us. And it’s a difficult test. Because, it’s you know, this, as you know, this business of runoffs is really crazy. Everybody gets worked up and then they, there’s a let down. And, but, business is not over in Georgia.

Question: Right.

Howard Dean: So, we clearly need to energize the same voters that went out and voted for Barack Obama, to vote for Jim Martin. Now, Jim Martin, in my view is a wonderful, wonderful candidate. He’s a great human being. And anybody who voted for Barack Obama should be very proud to vote for Jim Martin. But, you know, this is a turnout game and there’s lots of work to be done. And this is, this is a test for us.

Question: Yes, and, and for us, too. And we certainly appreciate all the help the, that we’re getting in terms of field, from not just the DNC, but from volunteers all over the country. And just want to encourage everybody to encourage their readership to keep the good thoughts and volunteers and phone calls and all that coming to Georgia.

Howard Dean: And they’re knocking on doors, which is really…if we can get out the big vote that’s gonna make all the difference in the world.

Question: Yes, I agree. It’s what it’s all about. But thank you.

Howard Dean: Thank you…

…Question: Hi, Governor Dean. I have a question about the fifty state strategy. Comparing the electoral math from 2008 to 2004 and 2000, it’s evident that Barack Obama over performed, out performed John Kerry and Al Gore in most states. But, there, there are regions in Appalachia and the inland south where he significantly under performed. I was wondering if you think that is any way a failure of the fifty, fifty state strategy or if that’s the result of not enough commitment on, on Senator Obama’s part, to campaign in those regions or what you think about that.

Howard Dean: The truth is we don’t know. Until we dissect all the exit polls we’re not gonna know. I, let me just tell you about my own experience in this is. People always want to dissect campaigns after they’re over, whether you win or lose. People did this when I ran my campaign. I, I hadn’t really figured it out until about eighteen months later, what the real problems with my campaign were. So, you know, clearly we would prefer to do better in the Appalachian regions. But the win in Florida, which is the most complex state in the country, to win in North Carolina and Virginia, and to win in the west is a huge, huge improvement over our position and playing defense in those states in 2012 is going to be very, very good for the Democratic Parties in those regions. So, again, I don’t know why we didn’t do better in the Appalachian regions, but I, over time we’ll figure that out. And, and we’ll try to go back in and do better the next time. But, again, I think the real story, at least for me, were, were Florida, the, the crack in the Confederacy, for the first time in a long time, other than a couple of states with Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. And, and the most importantly of all to me, not from a sort of a morale point of view, because the south is incredibly important that way, was, and so is Florida, but, was the west. Because we started out four years ago with a strategy that the road to the White House leads through the west and that you could win without Ohio or Florida if you had to if you could take those western states. We took all of the ones we intended to take except for Arizona, for obvious reasons. And we added Iowa to make up for that. And, and that’s very, very important. I think we can be a permanent presence in the west and I think we can be a permanent presence now in Virginia and North Carolina. And I tell you what the next state on my list is Texas. We’re getting closer and closer there. I think we can win there, too…

Part 2 of our transcript will follow.

I don’t think so. But I’m willing to listen, if someone can make a good case for McCaskill as DNC chair.

[Update] An apparent lookalike of Fformer Missouri Senator John Danforth (r) is occupying blogger space at the DNC in Denver. It’s irritating a few bloggers:

Why is DNC Turning Bloggers Away from Blogger Area When Former GOP Sen. Jack Danforth is sitting there?

Submitted by Nick D on Tue, 08/26/2008 – 9:41pm.

Okay, so DNC personnel is now turning bloggers away from the designated blogger seating area in Section 244 of the Pepsi Center. However, my sharp camera has caught two seats in the blogger area being filled by former GOP. Sen. Jack Danforth of Missouri. Why doesn’t the DNC escort the Senator to better seating then we have, and allow two more bloggers to sit in seats with dedicated Cat 5 drops, which were designated Blogger seats?

(with photo)

MyDD

Update [2008-8-26 21:56:32 by Todd Beeton]:NickD has a picture of Danforth over at Buckeye State Blog. You gotta see the picture, he’s looking right at the camera. Come on, Danforth, what do you expect, you’re sitting with bloggers, man.

Uh, doesn’t John Danforth bear some responsibility for the current mess we’re in? You, know, by enabling right wingnuts and their apologists all those years? Just asking. Is he going to repent? Just asking.

Columbia Journalism Review

January/February 1992

The Clarence Thomas Hearings

Why everyone — left, right, and center — found the press guilty as charged

by William Boot

…why wasn’t more done to explore allegations that Thomas had breached conflict of interest standards? In one case, he ruled in favor of Ralston Purina, rather than recusing himself, even though his mentor and patron, Senator John Danforth, had a big interest in the company. In another case, Thomas was accused of delaying release of one of his controversial appeals court decisions, possibly to bolster his confirmation prospects. (Thomas denies any delay.) I was able to find fewer than ten stories devoted to the Ralston Purina issue and only a few focusing on the delayed ruling controversy…

Uh yeah, remember Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia’s ideological pal? Thanks for that, Jack.

Losers!

We tried, but they didn’t want us.

I hate blogging meta.

When we started this clean, well lit place previous experience showed us all how to deal with it (you know, meta).

But, just so you (our dear readers) know that we all aren’t a bunch of slackers you should be aware that we did apply in January for blogger credentials to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. We filed all the required and requested paperwork in a timely manner. In case you haven’t noticed we have yet to post a triumphant diary with a headline screaming “We’re going to Denver, nyah, nyah, nyah!” That’s because we didn’t get any credentials. Twice.

And here’s what they told us on On May 29th (the second time):

Hi there.  I’m writing regarding your application to the 2008 Democratic National Convention’s General Blogger Pool.

As you may know, we’ve had overwhelming interest in the credentialed blogger program this year. Several hundred great blogs submitted applications. But we have very limited space. Unfortunately, your blog will not be credentialed at 2008 Democratic National Convention…

Rough translation: “Losers!” And what’s with “Hi there?” I’d much prefer “Dear loser ‘D’ lister”.

I think it’s probably because our coverage of the Missouri State Democratic Convention wasn’t up to the scope or standards of the other bloggers who covered it…oh wait…

Democrats, Unite!

Heh.

Rumor has it that a dead trees media political reporter was asked why they didn’t bother to attend and cover the Missouri Democratic Convention. The alleged answer?: “There was no news to cover.”

Oh yeah?

Ike Skelton at the Missouri State Democratic Convention

Claire McCaskill at the Missouri State Democratic Convention

Wanted: More Trippes

We’re all having a lot of fun and doing something we all believe in. There’s far too much political news for us to cover in Missouri and the Show Me Progress corporate headquarters cloning project can’t keep up with the demand.

Heh.

Don’t count us out for anything. Collectively and individually, we’re devious.

Did I mention that I hate blogging meta?

Heh. Received the following press release from the DNC:

DNC Launches McCainpedia

Groundbreaking Online Tool Puts McCain’s Record In the Hands of Millions…

WASHINGTON – The Democratic National Committee today launched McCainpedia, the latest in a series of powerful and groundbreaking online tools designed to further engage the American people in the political process this election by providing greater access to information and resources and making them easily accessible. McCainpedia is an electronic encyclopedia that provides the opportunity for anyone, anywhere to review the raw facts and research of John McCain’s record and then use it or share it in any way they choose.

By visiting http://www.mccainpedia.org, people will be a mouse-click away from the DNC’s research on John McCain. Users can easily find and share information on a specific issue or use the data to create flyers, blog posts, or YouTube videos. McCainpedia follows FlipperTV, a unique online video tool launched in November of 2007 that allows users to watch, download, and use video taken by Democratic trackers of John McCain directly from the campaign trail.

McCainpedia is launching with an extensive collection of articles divided into broader categories such as domestic issues, economy, ethics, security, and social issues. Its wiki interface cross references topics, making it possible for users to search and explore inter-connected subjects easily and quickly, for example clicking through to detailed articles on “disclosure” when the word comes up in an article on the economy. McCainpedia also integrates FlipperTV and YouTube video alongside the text-based research.  The library of articles will continue to grow and will be updated throughout the campaign in real-time.

“While the base of the Republican Party continues to shrink, Democrats are growing our ranks by trusting the American people with the facts of John McCain’s own record,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. “McCainpedia provides the kind of transparency that John McCain would rather avoid and empowers millions of people to review McCain’s inconsistencies and make up their own minds about Senator McCain.  Whether he’s promising to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years, embracing lobbyist advisors, or going back on his own principles, McCain’s own words and his own record make it clear he’s the wrong choice for America’s future.”

###

McSAMEpedia

Remember folks, use our Internets resources wisely. Heh.

I had the opportunity to speak with Leila Medley, a member of the Democratic National Committee, at the Missouri State Democratic Convention in Columbia on Saturday during a break in the activities as we waited for ballot results:

MB: …Serving on the Democratic National Committee [and] as a super delegate you’ve obviously been contacted a lot by the two campaigns about endorsing either one of them as a super delegate – and, to date, you haven’t. Is that correct?

Leila Medley:  That’s true. That’s true. I’m still uncommitted.

MB: Have those phone calls been continuing?

Leila Medley: There are a few phone calls, but I have a good secretary and so she screens calls for me. And if it’s not the…someone from the inside I don’t, I don’t take the call is what it amounts to. But the letters have picked up. Right now I’m getting a lot of letters for Hillary from California.

MB: Have you communicated why you continue to stay, at least, neutral in this nomination race?

Leila Medley: I told a number of reporters a couple of months ago that I felt like since I did not jump in the very first part of this campaign on the side of either candidate that I was going to wait until the people had voted. I felt like everybody that’s entitled to vote should vote before I cast a second vote.

MB: And so that would mean that you’ll consider what happens then through the end of the primary, after the primary process is over, which I believe is, is that Puerto Rico?

Leila Medley:  Yes, it is. Puerto Rico is the last one.

MB: The beginning of June?

Leila Medley: Right.

MB: Then you’ll make a decision at some point?

Leila Medley: Then I will make a decision at that point in time.

MB: Is there, have you been given any time line or deadline?

Leila Medley: Not really. It’s a self imposed deadline. I, I know that Howard Dean wants us to make a decision after the primary.

MB: After the final primary?

Leila Medley: After the final primary. Yes.

MB: How long have you been on the Democratic National Committee?

Leila Medley: I was elected four years ago in this same location. So, I only served four years. I decided not to run again…

…MB: So, in your four years on the Democratic National Committee, you’ve been there through the election of Howard Dean as national chairman.

Leila Medley: Yes.

MB: And the implementation of the fifty state plan.

Leila Medley: The fifty state plan, I think, was, was marvelous. He’s a good organizer. To be a doctor, he’s a good organizer. And I think he had the right idea in mind. And I think he will turn the country blue in November.

MB: Do you see the fact that this…do you think the fifty state plan has something to do with the kind of interest that’s been generated, maybe the fact that so many people are participating in the nomination process?  Or is it a complex number of factors?

Leila Medley: It’s, it’s a number of factors. The fifty state plan simply put some parties back together after the election in 2004, where we were all so darn broke. And so that infusion of money went into those fifty states simply put those parties back together. I think the reason that there’s so much excitement and so much involvement this year is because of the candidates that we have, not necessarily because of what the party has done in any state, actually.  But it’s the enthusiasm of the two candidates and the fact that it’s a historic election…[Obama and Clinton], now that is historic.

MB: Somebody told me, they said they thought whoever the next president is, they’re going to put on Mt. Rushmore. [Leila Medley: laughter] because, by comparison, they’re going to be considered, no matter what, if they’re mediocre, they’re going to be considered one of the greatest presidents in American history.

Leila Medley: I had not heard that. [laughter]

MB: I wonder about that and I hope that everything will be okay.

Leila Medley: Oh, I do, too…We have to take the White House back. We can not take another four years of the path that John McCain would lead us down. He’s too much like George Bush, he’s not totally a George Bush, but he’s too much like George Bush, that he would, we wouldn’t recover. Our economy would sink further. And our working families, our middle class would be disappearing completely. And never to come back…

Phyllis Sheakes of Cass County and DFAGKC reports:

Since I was the only Missouri person present at the DNC American Majority Partnership Summit last week, I want to give you a few highlights of the three days in Las Vegas.

The first day was devoted entirely to the Women’s Political Caucus. The dynamic speakers all day were women. I cannot convey how powerful they were in their passion, message, and delivery, but  I can say the essence of the message is: All issues the Democratic Party cares deeply about are women’s issues. Since women make up more than half of all voters and heavily influence the rest, we need to be  stronger in our activism and organizing, plus run for office.  As the United States laws and practices affect people around the world, from family planning, to hunger relief, to war and genocide, we must be strong in standing for careful and caring laws and regulations.

On Friday, the African American, Hispanic, and LGBT Caucuses met separately to discuss issues particularly concerning their groups. I sat in on parts of the Hispanic and African American Caucuses. They were strong in their representation from other states and are especially interested in matters such as quality education, fair and considerate immigration, universal health care, and seamless integration into the Party.

We had a  very nice banquet at day’s end. Howard Dean introduced the guest speaker,
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie of the 13th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church. We had heard powerful speakers previously, but Bishop McKenzie was the epitome of powerful speaking. If you ever have the opportunity, she is worth traveling far to hear. She can raise any roof going. She certainly raised our enthusiasm for getting ourselves into the action and making a difference.

Saturday we heard Parag Mehta tell about the new VAN and plans for getting our Democratic Party better organized in all the states. I hoped that someone else from Missouri might have learned about this in other meetings, so we could be further along in getting it together than starting from scratch.

Governor Dean gave the keynote address at lunch.  One thing he said was that the DNC 50 State Strategy worked in 2006 to gain seats for Democrats at all levels. Now we have paid workers in all states and a newly invented VAN, we should have great tools to make more gains in 2008, including taking the presidency. The Governor had many supporters of his prior candidacy for president in the audience. We appreciated his mention of the ice and snow duty some of us did for him in Iowa, but he did not give us the afternoon off. We went back to work and practiced organizing a community precinct.

I think all who attended the summit are highly energized and ready to get busy.
If we do not have a working coalition of minority groups in the Democratic Party in Missouri. someone needs to put one together. If we have a structure going, we need to publish the message about who, where, and when so we can find the wheels to put our shoulders to. Let me add that Mark Jones is doing great work with his new daily message bulletins.

  Some states have a well organized structure already in place. Missouri is better than when I first tried to find a piece of the action, but, from my viewpoint, we are not as coordinated as we need to be to get the job done efficiently and perfectly. We need lots more organization from the top to the bottom to cover the blank spots and eliminate duplication. When we build one, it needs to be permanent so we do not have to re-do it every four years. Get ready everyone.

“WE ARE THE PEOPLE WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR!”

Phyllis Sheaks
Cass County Democrat
Precinct Committeewoman and Captain
DFA Group Organizer