MOMocrats

John McCain, Crazy Like a Fox

As you've seen from LawyerMama's post, the John McCain campaign is, in political parlance, "reaching out" to a variety of progressive bloggers to participate in McCain's weekly conference calls.  I even got to ask a question on his bipartisanship proposal, getting him to acknowledge that he would appoint Democrats to his administration if elected.

Confused about how a true blue PunditMom and MOMocrat can dip her currently unpedicured toes into red waters?  As my husband likes to say, it's good to know the enemy!

Wait, isn't it a problem to talk with your enemies in McCain's book?  Sorry, I digress.

My point in writing some more about our invitation to talk with Senator McCain is this -- I know they aren't doing this in hopes of convincing people like me to vote Republican in the fall.  I'm sure they've done their research and know that's never going to happen.

They're casting for bigger fish.

Hannah Montana and the Politics of Desensitizing America

Last week, while the Momocrats were here celebrating our no small victory of getting a substantive blog-terview with Senator Obama, the rest of the interwebs were a twitter with the latest incident of inappropriate celebehavior, namely Miley Cyrus disrobing for Annie Lebowitz in Vanity Fair.

Now, I’m as avid a participant (though closeted, must maintain my brainy Clark Kent disguise) in the celeb-culture as the next gal. Though I would not dream of filling my home or my daily commute with any of the dozens of celeb-rags that cover newsstands in techni-colored rainbow splendor, let’s face it, there’s little as satisfying as doing the treadmill or the elliptical while voraciously snarfing down a Star or an Ok! or even a Life & Style (you can pretend to workout, and get some culture too!) So I know about Hannah Montana and Heidi Montag (except for why she’s famous?) and Gossip Girls and of course Ms. Brittney.

So when the Miley Cyrus brouhaha erupted, I was tempted to dismiss it with the usual sleight of hand that I reserve for news that isn’t news. But then this most appalling thought stopped me short: how could I, a mother of two girls, be so non-plussed about a 15 year old “role model” cavorting half-naked in a theoretically “reputable” general interest magazine? When did I become so desensitized that it no longer phased me that a girl that I could imagine my own daughters emulating was basically set up to seduce the entire world with her tousled hair, lacquered lips and bedroom eyes?

Because every day, in this life we lead, our values are getting chipped away, one little nick at a time, by those who profit by doing so.

Indiana Republican Mom for Hillary Clinton

I always love the international perspective on the 2008 presidential campaign I get from Justin Webb's America blog.  Justin is a friend of mine who also happens to be the BBC's North America editor.

Pretty much since the beginning of this presidential campaign, Justin has been traveling around the country to shed light on our process for his viewers and listeners in Great Britain.

Today, he's got a great post up called "Republicans for Hillary."

It's a quick video interview with "Darlene" from Indiana, a lifelong Republican and fan of George Bush.

She's voting Democratic today and she's voting for Hillary.

You go, Darlene!

Indiana Voters, Don't Forget Your Photo ID -- If You Have One

(Photo from Mother Jones Magazine).

If Indiana voters show up today at the polls without a photo ID, will they be turned away?

Thanks to the Supreme Court, the answer to that question is almost certainly, yes.

With an anticipated record turn-out looming and possibly thousands of new registered voters heading out to vote in the state that calls itself the Crossroads of America, the swell of interest in this election may well be tamped down, thanks to our friends -- wait for it, wait for it -- the GOP.

While there has never been a documented case of election fraud in Indiana where an unregistered voter has tried to pass himself off as a registered voter, Indiana passed the most restrictive voter identification law in the country in 2005. 

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld that law, claiming that while it might be burdensome for a variety of groups to obtain valid photo ID, the state still had a legitimate interest in protecting the integrity of the election process.

What does that mean in English?

NC NAACP Files With FBI, Department of Justice to Investigate Possible Voter Suppression

I've been following this story as it bubbled up from DailyKos (this diary in particular discusses the evidence for a cover-up of either wrongdoing or extreme incompetence) and Talking Points Memo. The story has been evolving on NPR (here and here) and was briefly alluded to in the Washington Post today.

At issue? A non-profit organization, Women's Voices, Women's Votes, designed to facilitate voter registration among unmarried women, was the source of illegal "robo-calls" that appeared to deliver erroneous information to African American voters and others in advance of the North Carolina Democratic Party primary. They've also contacted potential voters with registration packets that weren't well-timed to either the voter registration efforts for the primaries or the upcoming general election in November, 2008.

Classism: Is Republican Rejection of Universal Health Care a Form of Discrimination?

After MOMocrats nabbed an exclusive Q&A with Barack Obama*, we were asked by Geoff Livingston if we would welcome McCain's response to our questions in the same manner.  My initial gut reaction was, "Well, of course."  I like to think that I'm always ready to listen to rationale, reasonable people and their ideas.

But then I started to think about it a little more.

I'm impressed that John McCain's campaign reached out to bloggers, even non-political bloggers, to explain his plan for health insurance.  This is a great time to discuss health care because it's Uninsured Children's Week. 

MOMocrat Donna wrote about McCain's plan today, including all the problems she sees with his ideas. But there is a fundamental difference between the way John McCain sees health care benefit for people driven by market forces - and the way I see health care - something that should be a Right, regardless of socioeconomic status.

A $5000 tax credit sounds like a nice deal, right?  Except that families on the edge who don't currently have health insurance, usually don't have it because they don't have money left over at the end of the month after paying for basics like food, clothing and shelter.  Are they supposed to take out a $5000 loan until tax season comes around?

Oh & $5000?  For health care?  Are you kidding me?  Have you ever priced an individual policy for a family of 4?  Donna did.  Go read her post.  I can tell you right now that the quotes you'll get back won't account for the fact that your son has asthma and allergies and needs medication every month.  The insurance company will exclude that from coverage. Oh and that high blood pressure your husband has?  That, and any complication even remotely related to high blood pressure will be excluded too.  Is your wife still of child bearing age?  Routine pregnancy will be excluded.

Better start saving up for those prenatal and hospital bills now. You can bet your patootie it will come to more than $5,000.

I worked for a health insurance company before I went law school.  I analyzed claims for individual policies.  I know what they cost 10 years ago and I know they're a lot higher now.

"And Now For Something COMPLETELY Different": John McCain Unveils His Plan for Healthcare

Q: What is John McCain doing on the MOMocrats?

A: Senator McCain gave a major speech on health care this week; a subject high on the MOMocrats' list of issues we are most concerned about - especially during Uninsured Children's Week.

The fact that the GOP now acknowledges that we HAVE a health care problem is significant, and when the McCain campaign graciously invited the MOMocrats to take part in a conference call discussing the candidate's proposals, we jumped on it.

The current system is broken, and we want to hear creative solutions -- no matter where they come from. Great ideas often come from brainstorming from all directions. So how would a President McCain fix the system?

Did the Republicans Just Steal The White House in '08?

I know everyone's busy worrying about whether Obama's not blue collar enough or Hillary's not man enough, but this is important. As PunditMom notes, the Supreme Court just gave a big win to the Republicans on Monday that could affect the outcome of the entire 2008 election. As I was literally a stone's throw from the California State Capitol (more on that later), I turned CNN on briefly to find Wolf Blitzer discussing the case. Having watched the Supreme Court hand the presidency to Bush in 2000 re: Florida and then having seen all kinds of evidence that Ohio voting machines were tampered with in 2004 (not to mention the voters turned away from voting), I got this queasy feeling in my stomach again... the same one...

Republicans say they're fighting voter fraud, and that may well be true on some levels, but they are also going to shut out Democratic voters and potentially create a state of chaos that would allow hundreds of thousands of voters to be turned away either because they came without an ID or because their IDs are invalid.

Stop the Presses! Media Hamstrings Democratic Nomination Process of '08.

It's almost as though someone has decided to recreate a Frank Capra movie lately.

This

+

This

= something eerily similar to

This:

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."

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