MOMocrats

Let's Keep 'Em Poor & Uneducated

Updated to add conference call link, below.

This afternoon I participated in a blogger teleconference with John McCain to discuss the statements he made earlier today about how he foresees his first term in office. Because apparently it's very presidential to pretend that you've already won the election before you even officially have the Republican nomination.

First, I have to mention that MOMocrat Joanne Bamberger got a scoop on the call.  In response to her questions and several follow up questions, he stated that he will appoint Democrats to his administration.  (Assuming he has one.  And you know what happens when you assume?  You make an ass out of u and me.)  After listening to her dogged questioning, I can understand why Joanne is such a great journalist.  I bet she was a hell of a lawyer too!

The big news in John McCain's remarks this morning was, of course, his statement that,

By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom.... The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension....

McCain and Iraq: BFF!

McCain loves the Iraq war so much he wants to stay there forEVAH.  What a good idea!  We totally should.  It's awesome there.  It's totally safe and no one has to wear full body armour inside the green zone, er, that is, there was a long, long span of time where no one had to wear *much* armour inside the green zone, although that's kind of changed, but the point is, our Iraq war is awesome!  McCain (and who can blame him) has such a big crush on Iraq that he wants to marry it.  For at least 100 years.

Swell.  (Although there's probably at least one word McCain can relate to more closely than "swell.")

Here's a video of McCain and Iraq holding hands.  It's really sweet.  Consider yourself warned about wanting to rush right out and start a war of your own if you watch it, though.  And it'll only cost you $500 Billion!, not to mention the sacrifice of at least 4,000 of your countrymen's lives, and untold hundreds of thousands of lives of the citizens of the nation where you enact the war.  See?  Totally worth it, if you can get it to turn into another Korea, because look how well that all went!  (Please avert your thoughts from the N. Korea sitch.  That is -- well, just -- avert.)

p.s. Looks like somebody's pissed off at McCain for sweeping Iraq off its feet and has decided to throw his weight behind the person most likely to have NOT made sweet, sweet love to the oil fields Iraq in the first place.  (Two hints: it's Ron Paul.  Okay, one hint.  Look.  I never said I was good at this whole "hint" business.)

Dockworkers Display War Opposition Strength in Historic Ports Shut Down

Rank and file members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which includes some 25,000 men and women, took matters into their own hands on Thursday to protest the war in the largest one day strike since the invasion of Iraq.

All along the West Coast, ILWU members shut down the ports, grinding business to a halt.

J.B. Powell at The Huffington Post described Friday the estimated effect on business.

"A spokesperson at the Port of Oakland citing John Martin and Associates economic analysis, said that $1.2 trillion in business activity flows from West Coast ports each year. She reported that it costs between $50,000 and $100,000 for each ship delayed for a day from docking. Officials, she said, planned for the strike and diverted ships, but the action kept at least one ship from docking in Oakland. There are 29 ports up and down the coast."

Acting on a motion from a a recent caucus of members, the workers defied the wishes of even their own International union's officials who argued against the strike, but said they supported the members' right to protest. Jack Heyman, a local officer of the ILWU who wrote the resolution to strike, said in a Democracy Now broadcast Thursday the action of the ILWU members directly demonstrates the power of resistance workers possess.

"Well, what this action was was raising the level of struggle from protest to resistance, and we’re hoping that these kinds of actions will resonate to other unions and workers. It’s already catching on with some of the port truckers. Actually, they’ve been doing actions for quite awhile. While it’s not mainly based on the war—I think they’re very much affected by the high price of fuel—they’ve been shutting down ports over that issue, but also immigrant rights, because many of them are immigrant workers. And I hope that this will be an example to other workers that we have the power, we’ve got to use it. And that’s how we can bring this war to a halt."

Telling of the committment to speak out, ILWU member Angela Benjamin, brought her 8 year old son, George, to the rally, missing a day's pay to show her support for the war opposition.

"My father was a Vietnam Vet and he died in 1969," Benjamin said. "So it's important for me to be here to protest this war. I have a personal idea about what's going on."

-Christine Modern English

Go Read It: Hillary's "Obliterate Iran" Remark and the Overseas Response

Maybe the one big piece of news that came out of the otherwise content-free ABC News debate was Clinton's stance on the "what-if?" situation where Iran uses nuclear arms to attack Israel. Clinton spoke about maintaining an "umbrella of deterrence" and that the U.S., under her lead, would "obliterate Iran"--with nuclear weapons, if need be--to protect our ally Israel.

It wasn't a mistake, she said it again when interviewed a few days later.

Contrast this with Governor Bill Richardson's more reasoned comments on Iran:

Clinton's remark disappeared into the ether, we were all so rightly annoyed at the overall vapidity of George Stuffin'envelopes and Chuck Gibson's moderation of that so-called debate.

But the international press certainly sat up and noticed--go read it here.

Pennsylvania College Students and the Democratic Primary

One of my nieces attends college in Pennsylvania, where she's studying to be a vet, though she is a talented cartoonist, as well (yes, she is the force behind the PunditMom caricature!)

On a whim, I thought I would ask her to poll her friends to get a sense of what the late teen/early 20's set in the Keystone State is thinking about the presidential race, now that they have a chance to vote in their first national election.  No, this is not a scientific sample, but it does give us a glimpse into how some young Pennsylvania voters are feeling as we wait for the results to come in.

In no particular order, here are some of their comments:

"I think I'd like a president I can trust because I know who s/he is and I can feel that they really are a human being trying to do their best inside the road they have to walk. ... [After seeing the candidates in person] I did feel - and found this surprising - that Hillary was very personable and a bit more than just a good actress. It did seem like there really was something there that I hadn't seen before, and that quite intrigued me. Also, the personality I saw inside here at this forum was very different than the one I had in my head to represent her so that intrigued and challenged my schema a bit. Obama was received with such enthusiasm and excitement and also answered well in what must have been a new experience for him. However, he seemed - and this may only be due to legitimate tiredness, Lord knows these candidates are run off their feet - to equivocate more and feel the need to clarify/defend him self. He wasn't quite as open as I would have expected him of all people to be."

Which of These Things Doesn't Belong?

Does anyone really know why we're still in Iraq (don't even mention that whole business about why we went in the first place, which was because of -- )?

Anyone?

Dick Cheney's "Quagmire"

Please watch this video of Mr. Evil himself, Dick Cheney, in 1994.

Even Dick himself didn't think invading Iraq was a good idea: "How many dead Americans is Saddam worth?...Not very many."

Spread the word and donate to moveon.org.

Evolution of a MOMocrat

If I can change the subject from Barack Obama and the meaning of the word "bitter" for a bit, I'd like to talk about MOMocrats and what it's done for me.

Growing up I learned there are three things you don't discuss in polite conversation: sex, money, and politics.  Now, of course, if everyone followed the rules about sex and politics I think conversation would cease altogether. 

Nevertheless, I took "the rules" to heart and rarely discussed my political views. Instead I clandestinely wrote letters to the editor in high school and read The Washington Post in the school library.

Then I went to law school.

Law school was a freeing experience because we were expected, no required, to discuss political and constitutional issues every day.  And to back our discussions up with legal arguments. "The rules" went out the window.

Attending law school in Washington, D.C. was like crack to a political junkie.  I could walk to the Capitol Building instead of watching C-Span. Supreme Court oral arguments were just a few miles away. I got excited about sighting politicians instead of celebrities. It was heaven.

Why Condoleeza Rice Should Not Be Eligible for VP:

Because she's a war criminal.

This makes me sick.  I am shaking, visibly, as I write, with tears stupidly coursing down the bridge of my nose.

Our president signed off on illegal methods of torture.  There's a long article about it at dailykos, a well-written one, but here's the pdf, too, for brevity's sake.

We're all tarred with this.  I'm so ashamed.  I'm so ashamed.

*covers face with hands*

Reason #1,938,640 to NOT Vote for McCain

Photo credit: AP/Mary Altaffer

He's got an itchy trigger finger (from the Huffington Post):

WESTPORT, Conn. — Republican Sen. John McCain refused Wednesday to rule out a pre-emptive war against another country, although he said one would be very unlikely.

The likely Republican presidential nominee was asked Wednesday at a town-hall style meeting if he would reject "the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war," a reference to Bush's decision to invade Iraq without it having attacked the United States.

Pre-emptive and potentially unilateral--weren't these what got us into our present quagmire, genius?

Given that he recently tossed off crazy figures for the duration of U.S. occupation of Iraq ("100, 1,000, 10,000 years"), John "Bomb Bomb" McCain seems to think we're made of money and infinite service people to send overseas to fight. THIS IS SHEER INSANITY.

This is firing up turbocharged rocket thrusters on the Handbasket to Hell Express.

Let's stop the madness, here and now.

Cynematic's peacenik blog is P i l l o w b o o k.