And now, a word from the uninformed but pious.

When you believe in something so devoutly that you refuse to see or hear any opposing views, that makes you, what? Crazy? Narrow minded? You bring the adjectives. What bothers me more than Rush Limbaugh being ill informed is that he is a leader of a massive political party in this country and they, gulp, want control.
And yet, they have no earthly idea what they are talking about.
Take a listen:



Man. He can't even argue because he knows that he's wrong in every respect.
Ronald Reagan was NOT the standard bearer for the Tea Party. If he was running today they would never elect him, he'd be considered too liberal.

I believe that, if he were running for office today he would say the same thing about the GOP that he did about the Democrats in the 60s: "I didn't leave the [Republican] party. They left me.

Happy birthday, Ronnie.

Land of Hope (and Dreams)

I never really wrote anything about the actual election.
I've been so busy.
I've been imbued with a sense of hope. What can I say? I drank the Kool-Aid. I'm a believer.
I cried most of last night.
When Ohio came in I readied myself and left the phone bank. I didn't care much for the people who tried to take it over. (They were PISSED when I announced that Ohio was called. Why? Because they wanted to announce everything.
Here we are in a picture that was picked up by Time's Swampland blog.



I'm all the way to the left with the red shirt, right arm bent. Talking to one of the Zamboni people (read the last post).

When I got home I kissed my wife and hugged my daughter and turned on CNN just in time for the West to fall.
Then the calls and texts started to fly in.
It's over.
I am but a humble little servant who learned how to channel his better self by following Mr. Obama's teaching. And anyone who knows me can tell you that for me to spend an entire day (let alone 2 months!!) glad handing, thanking and hugging people means that a seismic change has occurred.
I'm so proud of this nation.
I'm so proud of myself and others.
I'm exhausted.
And I just want a big bowl of ice cream. And Quisp. I want Quisp, dammit!

Here's a little Boss and a great slideshow.
You guys all rock.

California's (and my) part of the election process

Barack Obama to his entire staff of paid and volunteers:
"This has been the best presidential election in the history of American Democracy."
I've seen it in action. I've been a part of it. I concur.
Eric Garcetti to the staff of the Obama HQ on Motor Ave:
"Rare are the times in life that you get to be a part of history."
Amen.
Here are the hard numbers:
Nationwide it was requested that phone banks make 1.5 million calls into the battlegrounds.
California made 1.439 million calls.
2.1 calls were made in total.
Resulting in 1 MILLION volunteers canvassing the streets on election day to GET OUT THE VOTE.
Holy crap. History indeed.

What started with a frustrated Allen wanting to be a part of something he believed in by attending the opening of that office months ago has ended with today. How many calls have I made? I can't even begin to count.
How many callers have I shepherded through their calls? Hundreds. How many times have people mistaken me for someone who has actual control over the work that they are doing beyond stapling? More times than I wish to count. How many egos have been bruised and battered and beat up? Including mine? 6. Okay, more like 6,000.
I am tired. My feet hurt. I've met some of the best people I will ever know. I have met some of the worst. I have fundamentally disagreed with some (like putting a self-described brain tumor recoverer who doesn't make saliva and can't speak for long periods of time in charge of a phone bank....) I have been shown the light on others.
I've probably been more petulant than I should have for my own good.
I've learned that if you work in an office there are two things I can say to you: 1. I'm sorry. And 2. I suggest offing yourself before going back to that job. (vote first, of course)
I've learned that, despite my abject dislike for many people, I am fairly gregarious and do best when I am in a position to teach or edify. Go figure.
I've also learned the hardest way that I can not, under any circumstances, suffer empty egos. By this I mean: If you know from whence you speak, it doesn't matter if you are fluid, soft spoken or authoritative; I will follow you at your word. But if you speak on things with authority and it turns out to be that you are full of blue smoke and piffle, then I have no time for you. Ever. And I wouldn't blink to hear that you had been run over by slow moving Zamboni. Seriously. As Michael O'Donoghue once wrote, "I would kick you in the cunt if I didn't think it would ruin the shine on my shoes." Never have truer words been spoken than about some of the crazed, power hungry, ego driven wannabes that end up volunteering for an election. Which is weird. Since we are all volunteers. (And the O'Donoghue quote goes for men OR women in this case).
I've also learned that I prefer the company of the bawdy and loud to the smarmy and snarky. Which is odd because I've often admired the likes of William F. Buckley though I don't agree with the politics. Trust me. The left has a ton of those, too. (Like the ass who wouldn't count volunteers because "I like to be in charge of things.....")
That's it.
I would document the entire affair but I probably should have created a day to day journal. I just didn't.
There were laughs.
There were tears.
Many of them, mine.
It's all over.
See you on the other side.
Allen
Deputy Field Officer
Phone Bank co-ordinator/trainer
Barack Obama for America.

I am without words for this post's title.

This is vile.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Poor John McCain.

Just dashing this off quick:
Pity poor John McCain.
He coddled the evangelical, hate spewing right. Where once he was actually a decent man, a trustworthy man who followed his gut and whose head was not always up to the task.
So blinded by ambition that he allowed himself to wallow in the trough of partisan hackery.
Then he met the hatemongers at a rally. And found himself defending Barack Obama.
Looked right in the eye of a devout follower, one whose heart he was TRYING to win over with his attack ads.
And she admitted from the bottom of her heart that she is afeared of Barack because "He's a Arab."
John looked like he just wanted to go home. Like he made a deal with the devil and just wants to recant.

Be careful what you wish for.
It's like that trippy Twilight Zone episode where the jewish guy wishes for ultimate power and the genie turns him into Hitler.
So, Pity poor John McCain.
But not so much. Cuz he's an idiot.

Now that that's over...on to....?

Sarah Palin did a fine job reciting memorized talking points.
If I was a money man in the evangelical wing of the republican party I would be asking her to a) pull away from John McCain a bit and b) run for Ted Stevens senate seat. I imagine that there are a lot of gay-bashing, ethnic-hating, simple minded, gun-caressing republicans that see her as their bright and shining future.*
Okay. I don't think a) she will make it for 8 years in the senate let alone win that seat and b) the evangelical, hate spewing segment of the right will even exist in 8 years.
Because make no bones about it:

The next president will be president for 8 years.

Country coming out of two wars? rescued from the brink of depression? Who gets the benefit of the uptick?
The President.
And that, friends, looks to be Barack Obama.

John McCain pulled out of Michigan today. (Big state, little john, didn't feel a thing)
Where will he put his resources? Who wants to bet on North Carolina where Hagel's seat is being threatened? Maybe Minneapolis where Franken is trying to make inroads? Howzabout Oregon where the Dems are really threatening?
The RNC, which runs John McCain's campaign, has seen the light and, unless there is something cataclysmic and unforeseen, they are conceding the presidency in the hopes of shoring up some support for the senate.

In other words: It's all but over.

Unless it's not.

I think that after a month of hate ads, the Palin Hail Mary and the storming of Washington failure, the RNC has seen the light, hell, even Johnny has seen it and they are ready to call it quits.

According to polls they are losing in Florida and Ohio. Must wins for the POW.

(One more thing. Mark my words. Biden's choking up moment will be seen as the flashpoint when the lights went dim on the faux humanity of the Republican ticket. It sure got me.)

So, while we shall not rest on our laurels, we can take a moment to breath and to realize that this is a remarkable moment that we are living in. The end of divisive politics of hatred, the end of failed Reaganomics, the end of two family Dynasties. Most of all, the beginning of a time when the best, the brightest, and the smartest, get a chance to rule.

Onward to November 4th.

*Thanks to Mike Rotman for the insight.

You want a populist? You got one!

Favorite quote right now:
"Here in America our destiny isn't written for us. It's written by us."

Barack Obama and the least offensive ad in many a year.

The excellent website Living Room Candidate contains over 300 presidential ads from Eisenhower/Stevenson to today.

It is edifying. It is saddening. It shows just how effective Madison Ave has become in shaping our leaders' messages and, in a very real and organic way, it shows the evolution of the attack ad. From the spark that was the nuclear bomb for Johnson all the way to McCain's grossly disturbing distortion of Obama's sexual predator education reform.

One ad stood out among others to be as moving to me as Johnson's bomb was scary and the "Morning In America" was heartstring-tugging.

It's this one. And watching it, at 12:30 in the morning two things happened to me. I wondered just where the hell this guy has been for the past 2 weeks and will he ever really come back?

And I cried. Real tears. The kind the crew on Rescue Me would torment a Probie for.

I've seen it probably half a dozen times and it always seemed....well...nice.

But, do yourself a favor. Listen to McCain talk about Obama. Listen to the Republican talking heads try to spin things around so McCain and his prom date try to sound more and more like Democrats.

Then, watch this again and see if it doesn't make you wanna run out and volunteer. Or weep for hope. Or believe that maybe, just maybe, one candidate really did try to take the high road. And, if we're lucky and we approach the better versions of ourselves for just one short day, that road can lead to a better tomorrow.

Yes. We can.




Neat sidenote: I went to college with the director and didn't know it was him. Coolio!

Camp Obama. Yeah, I guess we can.

Towards the middle of the day I had mixed emotions.
To say that a grassroots political training camp is a playground for chaos is an understatement.
Sadly, its our fault: We're democrats. We don't really like to take orders. We ask questions. We question authority. So, it takes twice as long to inform us of stuff because we have to ask ask ask......
We started day two (I am by passing Day One because it really was nothing more than a deep and intensive education in personal telemarketing. That said, it was invaluable but I could have learned it in half the time)
We started Day Two by being divided into Congressional Districts. This was immediately a problem.
While I was standing on line to get coffee with my friend, Kara, a pair of hands reached between us, cutting in front of 9 others, and grabbed for the coffee. "Well, no one's pouring from this one!" she said.
But we were about to reach for it.
Ah, fuck it. We let it go. It was contentious and, hell, there are over 400 people here. I'll never see her agai--
She was sitting directly in front of me in my CD table.
She's a force to be reckoned with, I'll say and I mean that in every good way possible. But she wanted to be the team leader. So did I. Because, well, I think I would be good at it. I think when I have produced plays I've been exceptional in the delegating and overseeing and I have learned a lot about being grateful in those situations. So much so that I think that's partially the reason that the foundation (www.lizzielulu.org) has taken off the way it has.
But I didn't want to fight her. Let her have it. Yawwnnn. let's start the day.
4 hours in it was apparent that we're not really learning all that much. Oh, there's a TON of information, but it's so dry and dull and, well, seemingly pointless.
As we were breaking for lunch it occurred to me that my district, which covers Silverlake, Los Feliz, down through a narrow corridor in Hollywood, to just about everything below the 10 from East LA (East of USC by far) all the way to Marina Del Rey, was too big. We needed to be cut up. If we were forming alliances and relationships with people in in our district with whom we were going to work, it should be with someone nearby, right?
I went to the woman in charge of that only to discover that she was furiously working on how to parcel up the city.
After she and I worked on that, the task was mine to tell the 50 or so of us and redeploy to new seating.
Oy. That's a treat. Lemme tell ya. If it were Republicans then, no problem, they would just do it. But it's democrats. They have questions, remember? It was a nightmare.
BUT
We got it done. We had our tables put together! Order from Chaos! I was now in Congressional District 33 South East!
Maybe I could be in charge now---
"We've been running CD33 SOUTH since the primaries" said these two diminutive older women in ObamaGear. "We've got phone banks running on Crenshaw. We're having a meeting on Thursday."
Ooooookay.
On the bright side, we don't have to go looking for a place to hold phone banking, it's already set up. In fact, it's kind of like being hired to work in an office, with limited experience but being put in higher charge than the workers. except that I will be busting my ass too.

By the end of the day, we were back to making calls.

We're calling Nevada, because we're close to it and we think we can turn it with our ground game.
Judging from the hang ups "I'm voting for McCain!" click. "We're Republicans!" click, it's a daunting effort. But, somehow, it all sunk in.
I started using my own personal experiences (family car dealerships hurting because of lost marketshare to hybrids, something that could have been prevented had McCain NOT voted against certain bills and had the Big Three listened to Obama. Or my experience with being labeled and knowing how hard it is to defend one's self from a negative attack smear) and you know what? It started to work! I actually turned a republican in Nevada from a "leaning McCain" to "Leaning Obama".
See, they hate John McCain. Their just scared of new. Scared of black. Scared of voting for the left. Scared.
So, we'll turn them.
I will be hitting the road in October for a weekend to canvass in Las Vegas. I have a friend who will be spending the whole month there. It's exciting.

You can be a a part of this. In fact you should. If you believe in a candidate as I do Barack. If you think this election is important, the most important of my lifetime, I think, then you can spend two hours making calls. It's pretty easy.
This really is the most amazing grassroots and empowering political experience I have had. It really feels like we're making a difference.
If you want to get involved, visit barackobama.com and find out where the office is in your area. Or, and especially if you live in LA, call me, email me or call 310-836-2009 for Obama Headquarters in Los Angeles.

We really can make this happen, you know. It's pretty cool.

An Olbermann Special Comment

It's full of invective and vitriol. He spews and spits. I am sort of loathe to post it because it's SO partisan. But, at this time, when we Obamacrats are feeling...a little lost and like our guy maybe can't get to the finish line, I thought, what the hell. After all, I was as offended by the images used by the nazi par--I mean the fear mong----I mean, the GOP at their convention as Keith was.
It's 8 minutes long. The most aggressive part is at the very end.
I might take it down. I don't know. Like I said. I'm of two minds about whether to post it or not. I just am so angry right now.

Journalists doing their job? WTF?

I noticed something interesting today. I was at the gym and I was watching CNN and Rick Sanchez (www.twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn) showed footage of John McCain using the term "Lipstick on a Pig".
Then I watched as Contessa Brewer on MSNBC wouldn't let a question of hers go unanswered and spun.
Then I saw Norah O'Donnell do the same thing.

Then I saw Chris Matthews hold up a book written by McCain's Strategist called, of all things, "Lipstick on a Pig."
I know, I know, MSNBC is in the tank for the left. This isn't about that (although is it so bad to have a leftist version of FOX?)
This is about journalists refusing to let the spinmeisters have control.
When a journalist asks a question and the political hack answers by changing the subject it is the DUTY of the journalist to point that out and bring it back to the question.
It's not bad journalism.When they let the spinners change the subject then they may as well be handing them a platform for their talking points.
This time, today, four journalists got it right.

I need to get out more.

The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans made simple.

Republican: I want to talk to you about the differences between the parties but first you need to know: You're an Asshole.

You: What?

R: You're an asshole. We'll get to the topic but first I need you to understand that you are an asshole and a moron. Got it?

You: Huh? Um...

R: Shut up. You're stupid. When you understand that we can continue. Got it?

You: Yeah, I think...When you say, stupid...

R: Shut up, dick. Okay. Now that we've established that you're an asshole we can have this converstaion.

___________________________

Democrat: I want to talk to you about the differences between the parties but first you need to know: You're an Asshole.

You: What?

D: You have to understand, you're an asshole. That's okay. I can be an asshole too, sometimes. I understand.

You: You mean...

D: Yes. Right now I'm not the asshole, you are, but sometimes I am the asshole and I can empathize. In fact, let's just say, for the sake of argument, that I AM being an asshole right now.

You: But you're not?

D: You know what? I am. There. I said it. I'm not as much of an asshole as you but I am sort of being one right now and I get it. Okay? So, let's talk about this. Together. Like a pair of stupid assholes.

You: Um....okay.

D: Oh, yeah. Vote for me? Please?

There you have it.

The Real Swift Boat.

What is the definition of insanity? To do something over and over again and expect a different result, right?

How about to respond gently and dismissive to a media machine that knows how to create sound bytes, alter the story and shift the focus? That would be insane, right? Given that it would be the third time in a row that a democrat made that his response.

Isn’t that what we were hoping Barack Obama would NOT do? Isn’t he supposed to be savvy and smart and “get it”? Then why is he fumfering through answers on Olbermann and O’Reilly? Why isn’t he reclaiming his Change mantra?

It isn’t enough to laugh at their tactics to a crowd of fellow-thinkers. Obama needs to call the liars on the carpet when they don’t tell the truth. Not act as though he (and, subsequently, we) are above the fray.

We are. We are better than that.

The trouble is, the focused targets of the message, the disenfranchised evangelicals and sockey moms, are not. They like being in power. They like being right. And the new McCain message plays right to that.

It will stick. If we let it.

We can’t sit around waiting for Swift Boat ads. You know why?

Because Sarah Palin IS the swift boat.

The conversation isn’t about health care. It isn’t about the economy. It isn’t about issues. But, most importantly, it isn’t about MCCAIN.

Not anymore.

“They didn’t want to run against Muskie. Look who they’re running against….”
Have we learned nothing in 30+ years? Why don’t you dig out that old VHS copy of All The President’s Men and bone up on how these people work? Because nothing has changed.

The Republicans, in a masterstroke, have changed the conversation. They have used advertising, doublespeak, lies, theatrics, and made it happen.
All we are talking about is this kooky governor. This would be fine if:
A) She were running for president. She’s not, so she’s not the story.
B) We were talking about her in regards to the poor, desperate decision making of a would be president.
But we’re not. We’re in love with the narrative. And we need to stop because we are going to lose. And I think that this election is dangerously important. Obama represents everything that the other side does not: hope, intelligence, charisma, world-view, unity. If he loses then what chance do we really have?
How can the third lowest ranking Annapolis grad beat out the first African American on the Harvard Law Review? What has happened to our country?

I have a message for Barack.

Yo, Barry. I WANT to volunteer. I did phone banking just the other day. I want to go in there and fight for you. But you gotta fight for me. For us. You gotta find a way to shut this down. You said you know how to throw a jab or two when it’s needed.
Do it.

In the end they will be talking about how Sarah Palin changed the conversation, the democrats never got traction because they didn’t respond in time or in kind and, years from now, your position as Law Professor at some Ivy League school will trump your status as the man who almost changed the world.

Damn it, man. Make me want to canvas. Make me WANT to fight for you! I’m so tired of losing to this. If we lost to the better person, great, I demur. But we are losing to Mad Men. We are losing to better branding. They are turning us into New Coke when it is clear that they are the old Coke in a different can.

My head is spinning. I saw a comment on some blog the other day imploring the same thing and adding, “Don’t make Jon Stewart do all the heavy lifting.”

He’s right. But you can take something from Jon. Take that side by side comparison of the acceptance speech last week and Bush’s ’00 speech. The one where the two of them were saying THE EXACT SAME THINGS. That will hammer your message home. That will shut down the “McCain as change” argument. Because how can you argue with it?

It’s their own words.

Use them. Do it now. Before it’s too late.

Volunteering for Obama

I'm 40 calls in phone banking for BO. The script is really just to determine who people are voting for and if they want more info, we'll send that.
So far?
One answer. An 80 year old supporter on oxygen.
38 no answers
And, believe it or not:
One busy signal.
What year is it in Nevada?

Update:
66 calls
62 No answers/wrong numbers
3 humans - 1. "1000% Obama!" 2. "We're Republicans and we're voting McCain. Thank you." 3. "Obama....."
The third woman was great. had no idea there are any Obama offices in her neighborhood. Gave her email. Was interested in volunteering.
All told. Not a bad first hour.
And yes,
1 busy signal.

Sarah Palin. Capturing the imagination of the next generation?

Zoe loves stickers.
Zoe loves to say "No-o-o!"
Zoe loves to eat peas.
She loves to sit on the counter while I cook.
She loves to dance.
She loves balloons.
But nothing seems to have fascinated my daughter as much as the Sarah Palin issue of Time Magazine.






God help me.

More thoughts on Palin and the new political ideology of crassism

This is the new ideology. Why vet someone when the propaganda and speechwriting can be played for the truth?
Never mind that they steal music.
Never mind that they had no permission to use the image of that middle school.
Never mind that no one has heard her speak beyond the empty rhetoric.
Never mind that they are now saying "More of the same!" in regards to Obama.
Never mind that they have appropriated the "change" mantra.
Or that her husband is a secessionist.
Or that she has flip flopped on the bridge to nowhere.
She never has to answer to any of this because they have decided that the new politics is one where you just take what big brother tells you to.
This is scary scary shit because it's a tactic straight out of a german politicking handbook.
It's not just "politics as usual." It's terrifying.
As though they have decided all bets are off and there is no need for or attempt at integrity.
And the media is letting them do it.
And Obama is letting them do it.
Case in point his appearance on O'Reilly.
O'Reilly was smart. He used perspicacious in an attempt to describe his agreement with Obama's war view. His audience, as John astutely observed, have no idea what he was talking about. So they can't hold his feet to the fire, after all, the word had more than two syllables.
Then he managed to get Obama to admit that the surge had a measure of success. Which, in turn, became raw meat for the lipstick pitbull today at a rally.

And why didn't Obama have a rally the day after? Why did he decide to let them have another day? They didn't afford us the same courtesy.
The gloves are off. The playing field has been leveled and the right has decided it can't win on merits or facts. (The president got 8 minutes as McCain attempts to divorce himself from the previous administration.) So they confiscate Obama's talking points, claim them as their own and use them to bludgeon their opponents.
Rove is a smart guy. He knows that the way to destroy/defeat someone is not to point out their weaknesses but to disarm their strengths.
When it was said by, I think, Clark, that he wasn't sure how being shot down and held prisoner was an adequate proving ground for the presidency, not only was he right, but that is exactly the kind of bullet the right would have used against us. In fact, they did! They made a war hero a zealot last time around.
If Michelle Obama had a baby out of wedlock do you think for one second they wouldn't be talking about it? She made one comment about being proud of her country for the "first time" and they practically rode her out of town on a rail, but the spouse of the Veep candidate can belong to a secessionist group!??!?
Country First? Are you kidding me?
Palin MUST be put under the microscope and these people must be shown to be the charlatans and thieves they are.

Will Palin ever Meet The Press?

I had a scary dream the other night. Scary because it didn't seem all that far fetched.
It's the evening of the Vice Presidential debate. Joe Biden has been practicing all month to tone down his "bully" and still seem effective.
Sarah Palin has run out of invective and rhetoric. And she still hasn't been vetted by the press.
For it isn't the vetting that McCain's team "didn't do" that worries me. What worries me is that the press has never spoken to her. She is like a prophet, sitting on high, offering her sound bytes and speeches (written for her) and never has had to answer the tough questions on the spot.
There's something in the air that morning and all afternoon. A question has been raised. There's a rumor. Seems that Little Trig Palin, the Down's Baby of America, has come down with something. He's sick. Or there's a complication with Bristol's pregnancy. She has to be rushed to a hospital. Governor Palin can't make the debate, sorry, family comes first.
And the public eats it up.

This truly scares me:


The woman MUST be vetted. She must talk to the press. One on one. Not with a "pundant". But with actual press. She should be sitting down with Brokaw and Stewart, with whomever and asked the tough questions. Because the public needs to know who the hell she is. Not just what the Bush Speechwriters are giving her to say who she is.

I'm sorry. This is an amazing play out of the Rovian how-to-get-elected playbook. I shudder to think that the Obama camp hasn't divined this yet. But Dems find new ways to disappoint me every other year.