Counterpoint 2004

Recent SCOTUS Ruling sends Cold Chill Down Senator Frist's Back - Is the Extreme Right THAT Paranoid About Gay Unions?? Senate Majority Leader Calls for Constitutional Amendment Banning Gay Marriages.

Apparently so - according to Reuters. Sometimes is is quite entertaining to put oneself in the shoes of our political opponents and imagine what freaks them out. Is it Homeland Security, the possibility that the economy will NOT turn around just in time for the '04 election, or just WHAT is it that sends cold chills of fear down their spines.

Well, Senate majority leader Bill Frist lifted his skirt just enough to let us have a peak.

It is the frightening prospect of Gay Marriages which they see as the "threat to our nation's Western values" - but that is not PC-speak. So, instead, the HMO doc ran a different flag up the flagpole - concern that the 'privacy bubble' which the US Supreme Court validated indeed does exist inside the bedroom walls of two gay Texas men engaged in consensual sex, could ultimately bar authorities from interdicting other illegal activity, like prostitution, illegal gun sales [abortion, anyone??]- perhaps even terrorist conspiracies.

It is proper concern, but not even remotely connected to the US Supreme Court ruling - but even if he doesn't quite grasp that concept, the good Doctor nonetheless had the perfect remedy. Leave the Fourth Amendment intact, and instead organize a Constitutional Amendment banning gay unions.

What a non-sequitur!!

As though banning gay unions will maintain the ability of authorities to make reasonable searches.

If you see the nexus here, please let em know.

(June 20, 2003 -- 9:42 AM EST // link)

Coalescing the Left - Election Issues.

I am worried about Digby - he hasn't published for over a month. As the watch noted, Digby has written an inspirational, uplifting editorial singing the praises of the Strength of the Democratic Party - I sincerely hope he is right.

But looking back to the past two elections ('00 and '02) - if there is one lesson I have learned, it is this one: you should never be too confident that your position, from the moral high ground, invariably will lead you to victory.

My own commitment to the '04 campaign is this: work damn hard, and incessantly, even if you get to the point where you think we are ahead. DONT STOP, keep running.

I am in the process of writing an outline for a position paper, in Four Chapters, and I would like to solicit your comments/feedback, in the hopes that a cooperative effort can broaden and sharpen the impact of the message we, the bloggers, can lay on the democratic candidates, our fellow Bloggers, our readers, and our community at large.

This is an outline, only, and far from being ready to publish. I sincerely hope that we all can strengthen it by providing more 'meat' to the skeleton, and publish it across the entire web, as an example of the cooperative thought effort of the Bloggers' Initiative for 2004.

• Air Force One
  Incumbent President gets unfettered use of Air Force One, and accompanying press corps, at taxpayer expense.
• Abraham Lincoln
  As the sitting Commander-In-Chief, the president can pull publicity stunts like this with impunity. Arrange for Navy to fly him 39 miles to flight deck of a US aircraft carrier returning from action in the Persian Gulf, bringing half his cabinet plus his bullet-proof limo aboard, and entire WH press corps. Cost, happily underwritten by taxpayers: at least $15 million.
• Sit Ubu Sit Press Corps
  Helen Thomas shunted aside, and rest of them cowered into submissive behavior modification
• News as a Venture for Profit
  War and Gory are good for bottom line
• TCA Appropriates and Gives New Twist to ABC Sports Slogan
  • Old slogan: Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat
  • New Slogan: Thrill of Victory Abroad, the Orchestrated Brainwashing of the American Public Through Whispered Threats of Boogeyman Assaults on Homeland Security
• The Convenience of Terror Alert Orange, the Latest Political Tool
  GWB uses it like a thermostat - set your own [un]comfort level

• American Electorate Assumes Prone Position at Whim of Commander-in-Chief
  Self-explanatory
• Democratic Candidates Assume Fetal Position as Pavlovian Response to Bush Calls for Patriotism
  Self-explanatory
• Campaign Finance
  Self-explanatory
• The Unintended Elevation of the Artificial Person To Status of US Citizen
  Corporations are considered "Citizens" - this never was the intent of the Founding Fathers - We need to re-empower the ordinary citizen and deflate the power of the corporations to govern our nation, as they currently do
• The One Day [out of 1461] When the Solitary Citizen Counts
  Election day is the only day in four-year cycle when the voter counts more than the corporate bigwig or lobbyist
• Patriotism for Whiners
  "To question the President when our Nation is At War is Tantamount to Treason"
• The Timing: 2004 RNC and 9/11 anniversary
  See separate article

Date: May 1, 2003

Scenario: Fast Forward about 530 days from now:

Setting: The United States Presidential Election of '04

Screenplay: Here is How it will Play Out.

• GWB still basking in glory of the triumph of 'Victory in Iraq'
• GWB starting to suffer some political setbacks due to pesky Iraqi 'freedom cells' continuing to take potshots at US occupation forces
• GWB trying to deal with stagnant economy but promises 'better things' after the election
• Polls still run in favor of GWB over his democratic challenger, but his lead is slowly diminishing.
• The single [taped] debate which GWB reluctantly is cornered into accepting, does not go well for GWB.

Then, it happens.

From the Department of Homeland Security comes the urgent clarion call, approximately two weeks before the election:

America goes into a funk. Renewed stampede for duct tape, Cipro and gas masks.

Electorate assumes fetal position and succumbs to paranoid browbeating.

Campaign Ad Repeated Incessantly Only your current administration has the knowhow and the experience to root out these evil-doing terrorists. TRUST US. To change administration now, at this fragile moment, would be dangerous. And it would be unpatriotic. (Flag waving)

Last Minute Slogan: Vote Republican for Domestic Bliss and Tranquility.

Result: Bush by relative Landslide.

In the post-mortem, of course, there will be a showing that the 'chatter' was either non-existent, or at least 'subject to interpretation' and Bush will be shown to have stolen yet another election.

In '00, it was the US Supreme Court which saw to it that GWB was selected President.

In '04 it will be the Department of Homeland Security which will see to it that GWB will get selected President.

There may be sub-plots which alter the dynamics one way or another, but the Code Level: ORANGE will be the main predicate of the outcome

The Line in the Sand

The ideological Schism between Republicans and Democrats

In no particular order of importance, here are [some] issues

The War in Iraq - which interpretation

International Relations

Women's Reproductive Rights

GunLobby/Gun Control

Evisceration of Environment

Longterm Energy Policy

Boundary between State/Religion

Boundary between Judiciary/Executive Typical: Appointment of conservative judges to Appellate and US Supreme Court

Universal Healthcare

Public Education

Boundary between SuperRich/MiddleClass or Poor

I purposely put this last, because it is the only one where the population segments representing the pro/con divide is heavily skewed towards the Democrats. In most of the other debates, the divide is too close to the 50/50 line for comfort.

The single most important issue, therefore, is for the Democratic candidate to attain the backing of the Middle Class/Poor, based on a purely economic/employment level basis.

The Democratic Contender needs to pound the issue shown in the graph contained within this blog archive from Calpundit

The Democratic Contender needs, in order to be successful, to compel the MiddleClass/Poor voting majority that THEY are paying for GWB's tax cuts, that the money is flowing out of their pockets, and into the wallets of the SuperRich, that they, the MiddleClass, are, indirectly, financing Bush's campaign.

And we, the Blogging Community, need to point this fact out to anyone within shouting distance, again and again, until it becomes a mantra.

There is a lot of work to do - but if we, the intelligent electorate, help the candidate develop his platform and campaign issues, there is [some] light at the end of the tunnel.

But the frustrating thing is that Bush, even if an acknowledged moron, has a strong backing from people who essentially say: Nobody ever brought up the issue of Jesus Christ's IQ, either. You can have a strong leader without formal schooling, as long as he has good ideas, carries no skeletons in his closet, is a moral role-model, and is capable of performing miracles.

Paul Helgesen
Centerpoint weblog


(June 5, 2003 -- 9:40 AM EST // link)

This is for Bloggers Only - for now at least.

I am going to start a "Race for the White House - '04" - Blog - dealing with Election Issues '04.

Some of you are aware that I have started an initiative aptly named Bloggers Initiative 2004 which is an effort to unite the liberal political bloggers and attempt to encourage us [them] to speak with a united voice. Central to that concept is the effort to get every participating blogger to exhibit the 'yellow ribbon' of the movement, shown as the graphic embedded within this paragraph.

This single page OUTLINE (at present) will eventually grow into an entire website, with separate pages for each "Issue".

The wonderful aspect of bloggerdom is that is is somewhat like prospecting for gold. With arduous work and patience, a surfer can unearth a nugget here, find a pure gem there, a diamond in the rough a further ways, and at the end of the day, a gemstone buried there.

Very time consuming - worthwhile if you have several hours, but if you only have 15 minutes, it is very frustrating.

We intend to do the mining of nuggets for the casual browser - and assemble the wisdom of the collective Democratic political bloggersphere in one place, easy to look up, and excellent for getting the broad overview. In fact, the principal raison d'etre behind the blog is to attract NEW readers to blogs - namely those who do not have the time to spend two hours or more surfing among 25 different sites to make sure they catch it all. Kind'a a push filter for anyone interested only in a 'political feed' coming from a liberal (democratic) position.

No emphasis on [our own] original content, but huge amounts of nuggets mined from 1000 different places.

See its humble beginning at the ISSUES blog of the Bloggers Initiative.

It uses a beta version of Bloggers new software, and there are formatting issues. However, the text portion comes through ok.

The issues I threw up were simply the ones I myself had commented on in the recent past. I am looking for hints and assistance from all of my liberal bloggers. For instance, Natasha's Veteran's issues (scroll down to the third post) will be added, as will - I am sure - dozens and dozens of others.