Friday Fact Check: Another Misleading Attack Ad

The Policy Department is back again to debunk another false ad on Obama's tax policy, the third in three weeks. Once again, Deputy economic policy director Brian Deese breaks down the McCain attack ad, step by step:

You can watch the first two response videos here and here.

Check out http://www.barackobama.com/taxes for more on Barack's tax plan.

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The choice is Joe Biden!

The Huffington Post has scooped the emails and text messages thanks to an Obama insider who chose - for obvious reasons - to remain anonymous. According to the authors of the piece - Liz Sodoti and Nedra Pickler:

Barack Obama selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware late Friday night to be his vice presidential running mate, according to a Democratic official, balancing his ticket with an older congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues.

Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues.

In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses.

The official who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, preferring not to pre-empt a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning.

Obama's campaign arranged a debut for the newly minted ticket on Saturday outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Hundreds of miles to the west, carpenters, electricians, sound stage gurus and others transformed the Pepsi Center in Denver into a made-for-television convention venue.

Tucked away in one corner were thousands of lightweight rolled cardboard tubes, ready-made handles for signs bearing the names of the Democratic ticket _ once the identity of Obama's running mate was known.

I've had a feeling for a long time that Biden would be the choice. I knew that Hillary Clinton's actions and words during the primaries precluded her from even a short list. While Tim Kaine might have helped Obama in Virginia, there were more measures in play. Evan Bayh shouldn't have even been in the running - and I know I'm speaking heresy to many other Hoosiers - because he was a poor match for the fiery oration Obama is known for. To be honest, Bayh is too damn bland. Besides, he wasn't very kind to Obama while he was on the campaign trail for Hillary.

Biden on the other hand is also a gifted orator and a bit of a bulldog who will chew McCain and his running mate to bits between now and November. That is the job of the running mate, to make the hits and leave the head of the ticket in the clear.

McCain has been tenacious in his attacks on Obama and it hasn't been until the last week or two that Obama started to fight back. The campaign needed a hitman and they got the best in Joe Biden.

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Obama Reaches Out to Rural America

The Obama campaign launched its Rural Americans for Obama webpage today.

Rural Americans are struggling -- whether it's farmers and ranchers working to make ends meet, rural communities being left behind, or families being squeezed because of today's economy. Barack knows that we cannot continue current Washington policies that work against America's family farmers and America's rural communities.

And all across the country, rural Americans are coming together to support Barack and help elect him president.

The Rural Americans launch kicked off with a Rural RV Tour across America’s heartland. The Obama RV is making its way through small towns, highlighting ways in which rural Americans can bring change to their own communities. The RV is currently in Missouri, where 36 Obama campaign offices have just opened up.  

The Associated Press reports that “Obama has opened up more offices in rural areas than any other Democratic presidential candidate in years.”  This means 43 offices in Ohio, including in small towns like Middletown and Troy, and rural Perry County,  and ten offices so far in rural Iowa.  

The campaign in Iowa is holding a series of roundtable discussions across the state, discussing rural economic development, energy independence and farm policy.  Local officials and Iowa leaders including Senator Harkin, Senator Nelson, Lt. Governor Patty Judge and  Obama policy advisor Mike Dunn will hold discussions with Iowans about Senator Obama’s plan for rural America.

“Most Washington politicians think rural America is a place you fly over on your way from New York to California,” said Gary Lamb, a farmer from Chelsea, Iowa, at a recent roundtable.  “Senator Obama understands the challenges facing families in rural Iowa because he is from the Heartland and has held more than 100 town hall meetings across the state.   Senator Obama is the only candidate who will truly fight to strengthen our family farms and rural communities, and bring real change to Washington.”

Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin said recently, “To me [Obama] could be a really good friend of ours in the White House to those of us who farm or live in rural communities.”  Harkin said Obama has been supporting Midwestern agriculture since his election to the U.S. Senate, as well as during his career in the Illinois State Senate.

The campaign reached out to rural Minnesotans recently at Farm Fest in Redwood County, Minnesota. Farm Fest volunteers addressed agriculture issues  and Barack’s new energy plan to help revitalize rural communities.

Senator Obama himself will be visiting voters across rural American, from Virginia to Indiana to Ohio to listen to the concerns of rural voters and explain how his policies – such as the 2008 Farm Bill – support rural Americans. Obama recently unveiled a new rural plan, providing support for rural economic development and improving quality of life in rural areas. Read more about Obama’s plan for rural America here.  

If you are a rural American, visit our new page and join the community. You can learn where Barack stands on rural issues, meet other supporters, and keep up to date with the happenings of the campaign.

Visit the Rural American page today and let your voice be heard.

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Is Bayh Obama's VP Pick

Bumper stickers have been spotted with Obama/Bayh printed on them. Watch the news clip here.Personally, I would much prefer Biden. Obama needs an attack dog if he's going to keep playing the...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

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Statement of Senator Barack Obama on Loan
Guarantees for Domestic Auto Manufacturers

"Breaking our oil addiction requires helping our auto industry re-tool to make fuel-efficient cars and trucks, which is why my energy plan includes $4 billion in the first year for this purpose. As I have said repeatedly I also support providing additional assistance to the companies in future years to ensure that advanced fuel-efficient vehicles will be made here in the US. Unfortunately, John McCain has shown how out of touch he is with the struggles of everyday people and the needs of autoworkers by consistently saying no to loan guarantees for our domestic automakers. Why would auto workers trust John McCain to protect their jobs and provide much needed help for America's auto industry?" said Senator Obama.

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Press confirms Joe Biden as VP Pick

The Associate Press, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News are all confirming that Sen. Joe Biden will be Sen. Barack Obama's pick for VP running mate claiming unnamed Democratic sources. If true, this would preempt the text messaging surprise promised by the Obama campaign.

Secret Service have reportedly been dispatched to pick up Biden, but media coverage shows the house surrounded by reporters.

Biden is one of the most experienced senators with expertise in foreign policy.

More analysis later. However, we should note that no official announcement has been made yet.

Paul Kekai Manansala is a freelance author and blogger from Sacramento, California.

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Altering Obama's 'Centrist Dynamic'

Now That We?re
Behind, Turn
Things Around

By Tom Hayden
Progressives for Obama

The only good thing about downward spiral of the Obama campaign is that?s happened so quickly, which means there is a window of time to turn the race around.

It will depend on independent outsiders ? progressives for Obama ? able to change the dynamic within the centrist Obama campaign. An encouraging example this week was the video by Robert Greenwald?s Brave New Films on ?McCain?s Mansions?. When it was disseminated across the internet, the mainstream media turned it into a question for McCain, who stumbled badly. Then the Obama campaign jumped all over McCain as an out-of-touch elitist.

That?s the model. Accepting the fact that this is a centrist campaign, the boundaries of the center must be altered through pressure. If the anti-war movement is not strong enough, if the fair trade movement is not strong enough, the center will drift towards the right. We have to carry the fight to McCain and the Republicans, leave our comfortable enclaves for the arena of persuasion, and gamble on that Obama can do the rest.


Show me a nominee, however, whose convention goal is to prove that he is a patriotic American, and I will show you a defeat in the making. Show me a candidate who calls his opponent an American war hero, and I will show you a candidate who is conceding the central qualities look for in a president.

All summer Obama has offended his most ardent supporters, and lost countless others, while spending too much time ingratiating himself with people who will never vote for him in November.

The result, according to the Zogby poll, is telling: McCain surged ahead by five points this week, a gain of fifteen percent. Obama suffered a reversal of nearly 20 points in his favorable/unfavorable ratio. The primary reason, Zogby, said is that Obama flip-floppng move to the center was perceived by his supporters as a move to the center.

The magic is tarnished.

No vice presidential nominee will bring it all back.

No mass rally in Denver will bring it all back.

The strength of the Obama campaign lies in its volunteer power and ability to mobilize both high turnout and new voters by the millions. Motivated by ideals and energy, they can be lost to disappointment like leaves off a tree. It appears that many of them withdrew support, at least for the moment, by Obama?s FISA vote, according to Zogby.

Only the renewal of a progressive spirit and platform can bring those voters back, and equally important, raise their volunteer energy. The next phase requires two separate prongs, outside and inside, and two messages, one that renders McCain unacceptable and another which draws Obama towards progressive stances that will help him win the election.

Progressives need to make crystal clear that Obama?s move to the center looks too much like a move to the right. It?s a good move to come out in favor of small Main Street businesses, for example, but not a good move to reverse a promise to filibuster FISA.

More important at the moment, progressives have to shake off their obsessions with Obama?s imperfection, and turn to the main challenge during the next 70 days, defeating John McCain, the Trojan horse for neo-conservative and Republican recovery.

The most important step that can be taken now is an independent progressive insurgency from the Netroots, YouTube, MoveOn, and the broad peace, justice, women?s, and gay/lesbian environmental movements, to the energizing of 527 independent committees to educate and identify voters by door-knocking, paid radio and television ads, funded with millions of dollars by unions and wealthy Democratic donors.

For his own campaign reform reasons, Obama has cast something of a pall on independent expenditures, leading to a drying up of funds for those committees and the channeling of most contributions to the campaign itself. At one point last year, for example, there was hope that tens of millions of dollars would flow to anti-Iraq organizing. In August, 2007, $12 million was invested in anti-war work in Republican districts, but the hope for permanent funding dried up shortly afterwards. Now the anti-war movement is mounting a ?Million Doors for Peace? door-knocking campaign in September, a promising effort which will carry the anti-war message and build up a massive voter list. But it lacks the funding needed to maximize its scale before November.

An independent campaign would be best positioned to criticize McCain for his war-whooping support of the Iraq invasion since 2002, the three trillion war in war costs that could have been spent on health care and education, and the mega-profits won by the oil corporations as a result of the war. Obama?s narrower task is to build public confidence in his foreign policy experience by strengthening by arguing for a timetable while chiding Bush and McCain for dragging their feet on deadlines.

Obama should not retreat one more inch on Iraq, the principle issue that won him the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton. No one, including Obama, should be fooled by the long-standing White House plan to pacify American voters with a peace promise at election time. Obama and the Democrats should take credit for this turn of events, and show Obama and Bush as offering a false promise.

Obama should tie his anti-war stance to our economic crisis, not follow the advice of those who prefer to forget Iraq and focus only on the economy. It is far better that Obama blend Iraq to the economic crisis by talking about an Iraq recession. If war costs are cut in half in 2009, that alone would mean $70 billion for public works and health care. If wartime tax loopholes for the rich were closed, instead of following Bush?s mad path of waging war while lowering taxes, that could bring in another $70 billion or more. If the US simply stopped burning oil in Iraq to drill for more oil to burn at home, our energy policies would be moving in the right direction.

There are several other issues where an inside/outside strategy can work:

- on energy, the priority should be on conservation and renewables first, and only then will a new president and Congress be able to assess the actual need for fossil fuels and plan accordingly. People freezing in their homes under rising gas prices need weatherization, not offshore drilling. Only an energized and funded environmental movement can be trusted to make the case against the oil agenda while Obama twists in the center over drilling.
- On labor, the need for populist themes stands out. Labor and its citizen-action allies can campaign for greater democracy and safety in the workplace, tax loophole closures and the protection of Social Security, all measures dependent on a President Obama?s signature though not his passionate daily support on the campaign trail.
- On women?s rights, while Obama appears ?thoughtful? over the moral dilemmas, only a powerful women?s movement can attack McCain for wanting to criminalize abortion and cater to the extremist anti-abortion movement.
- On the Supreme Court, while Obama muses over ?balance? and ?reason?, only independent social movements can make the clarion case that McCain has promised to stack the courts with more like the current right-wing majority.
- On foreign policy in general, progressives need to make the case for a greater commitment to Latin America as well as the Latino community here at home. The greatest democratic currents flowing in the world today are in Latin America. But the grinding poverty ? 40 percent are born poor ? causes the immigration crisis in which Latino migrants are exploited as cheap labor and economically as scapegoats for our economic problems. Bush and Cheney support ?democracy? under American occupation and free-trade agreements in the Middle East and countries bordering Russia. They are cool at best, and hostile at worst, towards Latin America?s democratic revolutions because the region is opposed to the one-sided policies of the WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA, and the FTAA. Progressives and Obama have an opportunity to cement a coalition of the middle class, working class and the poor around protecting jobs here against sweatshops, and by promoting the best of FDR?s ?good neighbor policy? towards Latin America.

These are only sketchy suggestions, but the point the way along sometimes parallel, sometimes overlapping, but never antagonistic paths for the progressive movement and the Obama campaign for victory in November and a more unified progressive agenda beyond.


http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com

Read The Full Article:
http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com/2008/08/altering-obamas-centrist-dynamic
.html

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My American Prayer - Dave Stewart

video details and more



Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/zgdF/~3/372348223/my-american-prayer-dave
-stewart.html

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Obama Delegates in the News, Part 1

Across America, Obama delegates are busy preparing for the trip to Denver for the Democratic National Convention. We’re excited to meet them when they get there! Meanwhile, here are some of their stories as they prepare for the journey to the convention.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia):

Next week [Quentin] Howell will witness Barack Obama accept the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in front of 75,000 people at Invesco Field in Denver.

... Howell is one of 132 members of the Georgia delegation that began gathering in Denver this weekend. Howell, the Georgia Democratic Party’s vice chair of the 12th Congressional District, is an alternate delegate, meaning he will only get to cast a vote if one of the regular delegates can’t make it. But that isn’t putting a damper on the trip, his first to a national convention, he said.

“It’s going to be loud and full and very exciting,” he said.

From Time Magazine:

Anton Gunn is a first-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention from South Carolina, and he has never so much as watched a political convention on television before. Even Barack Obama's famous keynote address in 2004 didn't grab his attention (he sheepishly admits he still hasn't listened to it). In fact, until two years ago, when Gunn ran for a state house seat in Columbia and lost by 298 votes, he'd never been involved in electoral politics.

Obama's candidacy has brought a wave of new voters and volunteers into the Democratic Party, but even among them, Gunn, 35, stands out. In addition to being a Democratic delegate and a candidate once again for the state legislature, he now has a line on his political résumé few can match: political director for the Obama campaign in South Carolina, the state that more than any other launched the Illinois Senator's successful candidacy.

From the Times-Herald Recorder (New York):

As the Democratic National Convention nears, our local delegates prepare to head to Denver to cast their ballots. Unifying the party and positioning themselves for a victory in November are two key things that lie before them.

"We're going in and we're going to back Barack Obama," said Vanessa Tirado, an alternate Clinton delegate from Newburgh in the 22nd Congressional District.

The convention begins Monday, and there are five delegates in our region who are slated to attend.

Sonia Ayala, an Obama delegate from the 19th Congressional District, was also a delegate in 2004. Ayala, of Monroe, said she's looking forward to Obama's speech.

"I'm just grateful to be a part of the convention," Ayala said. "I never thought I'd be a part of something like this. It's amazing."

From Milwaukee’s TMJ Channel 4 (Wisconsin):

A young man from Milwaukee will be the youngest superdelegate at the convention.

Jason Rae is en route to Denver Thursday. He made national news this past winter when the superdelegates were being wooed by the Clinton and Obama campaigns for his vote.

“I am excited to be out there. It will be a great time,” Rae said.

He says attending the convention will be the icing on the cake in what he can only describe as a fantasy political year.

… “I have loved this experience. It has been something that I could not have anticipated. Being 21 and getting to go to the national convention, being on the floor,” Rae said.

From the Tri-State Defender (Tennessee):

A number of other Memphis-area folks will be [at the convetion].

Lexie Carter, an Obama delegate, will be among them. … Carter is a veteran from the Vietnam era. She is originally from California and is married to a retired U.S. Navy man, who also did a tour in Vietnam and served on the USS Enterprise.

A delegate to the 2004 delegate, Carter has served on the executive committee for the Shelby County Democratic Party.

From the Washington Daily News (North Carolina):

Ed Booth is more than excited about Barack Obama. And he’s nearly beside himself to be going to the Democratic National Convention in Denver next week to support him.

“I’m going to be Barack, Barack, Barack. No matter what happens, I’m going to be Barack, Barack, Barack,” he said.

He said the Illinois senator’s clinching of the Democratic nomination — the first time a black candidate has done so — was a momentous event in the nation’s history.

“It showed us that America is really, really trying to come to her promise — that we can do things together,” he said.

From the Daily Record (New Jersey):

The extent of self-confessed "complete political novice" Diane Zitek's involvement in politics was casting her vote on Election Day.

That changed when the 61-year-old Harding resident began campaigning for Barack Obama -- even hosting a meeting in her home -- and now is a delegate alternate who's leaving for Denver Saturday to attend the Democratic National Convention.

Zitek is one of five delegates or alternates from Morris County, and one of 174 from the state.

"I really liked Obama going all the way back to the 2004 convention," she said. "I was so upset when Bush won the second time. I said next election I'm going to do everything I possibly can ... to elect a Democrat. Obama was the perfect candidate for me. ... That was all the energy I needed to get involved."

From South Florida’s NBC 6 News (Florida):

As Democrats begin heading to Denver for the Democratic National Convention next week, a South Florida delegate is pondering how different his 10th convention will be from his first.

"I am excited about going," delegate Preston Marshall said.

Marshall said he has never looked forward to a convention more than he is the 2008 DNC, and he has been to every one since 1972. That was the year Democrats met in Miami Beach to nominate George McGovern. Marshall was not originally part of Florida's nearly all-white delegation.

"We went over there to demonstrate and protest," Marshall said.

… Nine conventions later, Marshall prepares to help nominate a candidate of color.

From the Orange County Register (California):

Erik Sjobeck has never been active in politics.

But Obama's message got to him. He went to the Web site, signed up, heard back from the campaign and has been volunteering for the Illinois senator ever since.

For Sjobeck, change is more than swapping a Democrat for a Republican in the Oval Office. And it goes beyond the positions a politician takes on the economy or foreign policy.

"Change is getting the American people and American voices involved,'' says the 47 year-old clothing designer who has been sidelined from his career by AIDS.

… Sjobeck, who grew up in Orange County, says he is noticing friends and neighbors looking at their own political patterns differently.

"You see Barack Obama stickers in the windows of homes on Balboa Island where my mom lives,'' he said. "I can walk down the street in Newport Beach with an Obama T-shirt on and people will give me a thumbs up.''

We'll be highlighting our delegates all weekend. Check back later to learn more about the Obama supporters across the nation who are making their way to Denver this week.

With three days to go until the start of the Democratic National Convention, excitement is building in Denver and across America. Soon, delegates from all fifty states will convene in the Mile High City to cast their ballots for Barack Obama and witness his acceptance of the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States.

Thursday, August 28th will be the biggest night of the campaign so far. Even if you can’t be in Denver, you can be a part of this historic convention by attending a Convention Watch Party in your area.

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Road to Denver: Julia in Colorado

Julia, 59, of Westminster, Colorado has been involved in Democratic politics just about as long as she can remember. She first got involved in 1960 when she was 11, walking precincts in North Carolina with her grandfather and passing out literature about JFK.

My grandfather only had a ninth grade education, but he always believed in democracy and getting people involved and voting. He believed that was the only way we were going to change things. This was in the segregation era, so he couldn’t join the Party, but he could hand out literature. So that was my introduction to politics, and I’ve been involved ever since.

Julia has moved around a lot since, but “every time we moved, the next day I would call the local Democratic Party and say, ‘I’m here – what do you need me to do?’ And then I get back involved.”

And Julia has certainly been involved. Even with four children and eight grandkids, she has been everything from a precinct captain to Vice Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party.

Julia has a long history with the conventions. She has attended every Democratic convention since 1968.  In 1968, she was a protester outside the convention, but every year since Julia has been inside voting as a delegate.

My favorite convention was Atlanta in 1988, which was a very historic year and also 1996 because we were back in Chicago.  That time I wasn’t stuck outside the convention but actually a delegate voting for Bill Clinton.

But she thinks this time will be extra special.

This time is historic. You can’t get any higher than this.

We can change the country! We need to come out and show America that we are united and hitting the ground running. This is about us taking our country back.

With three days to go until the start of the Democratic National Convention, excitement is building in Denver and across America. Soon, delegates from all fifty states will convene in the Mile High City to cast their ballots for Barack Obama and witness his acceptance of the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States.

Thursday, August 28th will be the biggest night of the campaign so far. Even if you can’t be in Denver, you can be a part of this historic convention by attending a Convention Watch Party in your area.

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