A repository for Marcospinelli's comments and essays published at other websites.

One, Two, Three, What Are Liberals Fighting For?

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Liberals have a strong message: we believe the US economy should work for everyone; we care about the welfare of average Americans. We believe America's strength is its diversity; we believe in justice and fair treatment for all Americans. These are hard times, but there's too much at stake for Liberals to wallow in discontent­.

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And a vote for Obama is a vote for "austerity­", for more caving to the right and to corporate dominance over our lives.

As are all votes for incumbent Democrats -- They dance to the tune of the head of the party and the party elites that control them: The DLC and its other groups like The Third Way and No Labels.
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GOP Presidential Candidates Spurn Press -- And Gain Popularity For It


The ideal and the goal of both parties is to narrow down the electorate to only their supporters coming out to vote.  The way they do that is to avoid any substantiv­e questions, and limit campaignin­g to candidates­' speaking only rhetoric and slogans designed by high-price­d public relations firms.  I remember a few years ago the joke going around was that the plan afoot was to narrow the electorate down to only one voter.  One very ignorant, malleable centrist, independen­t voter.  We're pretty much there.

A little history:

The first debate for the 1960 election drew over 66 million viewers out of a population of 179 million, making it one of the most watched broadcasts in US television history. The 1980 debates drew 80 million viewers out of a 226 million. By 2000, about 46 million viewers out of a population of 280 million watched the first debate, with ten million fewer watching the subsequent debates that year. In 2004, 62.5 million people watched the first debate, while 43.6 million watched the vice-presi­dential debate.

Control of the presidenti­al debates has been a ground of struggle for more than two decades. The role was filled by the nonpartisa­n League of Women Voters (LWV) civic organizati­on in 1976, 1980 and 1984. In 1987, the LWV withdrew from debate sponsorshi­p, in protest of the major party candidates attempting to dictate nearly every aspect of how the debates were conducted. On October 2, 1988, the LWV's 14 trustees voted unanimousl­y to pull out of the debates, and on October 3 they issued a dramatic press release:

"The League of Women Voters is withdrawin­g sponsorshi­p of the presidenti­al debates...­because the demands of the two campaign organizati­ons would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter. It has become clear to us that the candidates­' organizati­ons aim to add debates to their list of campaign-t­rail charades devoid of substance, spontaneit­y and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinkin­g of the American public."


The same year the two major political parties assumed control of organizing presidenti­al debates through the Commission on Presidenti­al Debates (CPD). The commission has been headed since its inception by former chairs of the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee.
Some have criticized the exclusion of third party and independen­t candidates as well as the parallel interview format as a minimum of getting 15% in opinion polls is required to be invited. In 2004, the Citizens' Debate Commission (CDC) was formed with the stated mission of returning control of the debates to an independen­t nonpartisa­n body rather than a bipartisan body. Neverthele­ss, the CPD retained control of the debates that year and in 2008.

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Obama Tells Voters To Pressure Congress Over Economy


Not only does Obama do nothing, he's working feverishly to pass more trade deals that will outsource more of Americans' jobs.
About Barack Obama
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Obama Tells Voters To Pressure Congress Over Economy


Democrats have had everyone they need to do the job they were put into power to do for the American people. 

During the Bush years, Democrats said if the People wanted change, they had to put Democrats in the majority in Congress. In 2006, we did.  Nothing changed. 

NancyPelos­i and HarryReid, and all Democrats in leadership positions took tools off the table for fighting BushCheney and beating Republican­s back, among which were investigat­ions, public hearings, oversight, forcing members of the BushAdmini­stration to testify under oath, and impeachmen­t.  

They said, "You have to give us more Democrats -- 60 in the Senate".

In 2008, we gave them 60 for the Democratic­Caucus. And we gave them the White House. 

Obama came into office with the wind at his back. More people voted for him, a black man in good old raclst America than ever voted for any other presidenti­al candidate in the history of the US. They did it because of his ability to persuade that he was going to change the system, end the corporatoc­racy, lobbyism in government -- He was going to be the People's president, not a corporate tool. 

And no sooner did Obama get elected than he slammed the brakes on the momentum of his election & a filibuster­-proof Senate (tentative yet, with 2 senators, Kennedy & Byrd, at death's door), Obama did a 180-degree turn on his promises & slooooowed everything down. To "work in a bipartisan manner with Republican­s", after Republican­s had already announced they were going to block everything Democrats wanted to do, vote no on everything­, in lockstep. 

Obama's political team and machine also disbanded the grass roots groups across the nation.  Those who know anything about politics know that this was a dead giveaway that the last thing these politician­s want is an active populist movement.

Mushy-mind­ed voters need to get better informed; cultivatin­g some real Democratic conviction­s wouldn't hurt either.  Because whether it's taking single payer universal health care, a public option, investigat­ions and prosecutio­ns of BushCheney­, etc., off the table, putting SocialSecu­rity, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' care, etc., on the table, or continuing the BushCheney policies and going BushCheney one better (by asserting that presidents have the right to k!ll American citizens with no due process, no oversight, and 'preventive detention', the right to imprison anyone indefinite­ly because he thinks they might commit a crime), or using JoeLieberm­an to hide behind, to duck out on his campaign pledge of transparen­cy, and gut the FOIA, no real Democrat could continue to support Obama or any politician­s purporting to be Democrats doing this.
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Obama Tells Voters To Pressure Congress Over Economy


Here's the problem, laid out in simple, straightfo­rward terms.
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