MOMocrats™

A '10 Senate Race to Watch: Democrats Gillibrand and Maloney Vie in NY

                   

Left, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY                 Right, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, D-NY

For liberal New Yorkers mulling the fall 2010 special election race to fill the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by  Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), the declaration of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's (D-NY) campaign for it represents an interesting wrinkle. Under state rules governing a vacated Senate position, Governor Paterson chose Gillibrand to fill what had been former Senator Hillary Clinton's seat for a portion of the time remaining in her term when Clinton joined Obama's cabinet. In 2010, the U.S. Senate seat goes wide open to both major political parties, and there's tremendous interest among Democrats in retaining the seat with, naturally, the strongest possible challenger to whoever the Republicans put up.* In this case, it's generally accepted that the Democratic aspirant will likely be a woman. What's unusual is that in addition to the question of who's more "electable" (and why), there's the additional question, who has the better feminist record?

Go read it: Top posts from around the 'Net: Tssking and Tasking Palin, Explaining S-CHIP in states

There have been some fantastic blog posts recently about topics you may or may not be familiar with. If you can, take a few minutes and read these fantastic posts that I highly recommend:

"Let’s talk Emmenak, Sarah"---OmegaMom, an Alaskan resident, takes Sarah Palin to task for ignoring the humanitarian crisis in the Alaskan village of Emmonak. The crisis is due to extreme cold and high fuel prices. A local resident says his community needs heating fuel and food. OmegaMom writes:

Dear Sarah:

I understand that you currently have more public relations than policy people on your administrative payroll.  Perhaps it’s time to review how well they’re doing?

I know you’ve been awfully busy giving interviews lately wherein you chastise “anonymous bloggers” for spreading lies and innuendo–I’m guessing related to the whole “is she really Trig’s mom?” question, which is only being followed by hardline nutcases–but don’t you think your PR people might mention Emmenak to you?  It’s been big news in the Alaska blogosphere these past few days, but there hasn’t been a peep out of your office about it.

I would think this would be an excellent chance for you to show your “Alaska mom” instincts, being Mrs. Compassion and Mama Bear, fighting for the health and welfare of the people of your state.

Go read it!

And what else do I suggest that you read?

The Legacy of McCain-Palin: Hate

The postmortem has begun as the GOP regroups and the new President-Elect gets to work. As we move forward, I can't help but remain upset at what the 'honorable' POW and his mavericky running mate wrought upon this country.

Hate.

And not the kind of hate we bloggers spew from time to time when venting, and not the kind of hate you may feel for higher taxes or broccoli.

No, these two 'honorable' mavericks ended their campaign by rallying the fringe portion of their party that lives on death, destruction, and imposing their way on the world at all cost. Force. War.

We learn today that the US Secret Service, the agency in charge of protecting our President-elect and his family, dealt with an increase in death threats against Barack Obama coinciding with Sarah Palin's 'attacks' on his patriotism.

Victory over that "other" thing: Cowardice.

The following is a guest post by occasional MOMocrat contributor Amy Corron Power, who also blogs at Another Wine Blog.

Stardate: November 4, 2008.
Race, the Final Frontier.
These are the voyages of the United State of America
Her Mission: To explore strange new worlds.
To seek out new leaders: Diverse in race, ethnicity and gender.
To boldly go, where America has not gone before...

Last night was a monumental shift in America.  For some of us this was a triumph over a hidden shame. That of the failure to act.

There is racism.  There is prejudice. And then there is that "other thing." To me, they are all based in fear.  Racism comes from so much fear that people actually believe they hate someone...just because he is of another race.  Prejudice is fear of the unknown, the unfamiliar.  And that other thing? The failure to act. Not speaking out.  Cowardice.

The election of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of America has helped some of us vanquish our cowardice. The cowardice that kept us from saying something, anything, to those preaching racism, bigotry and prejudice in our midst.

I've spent the last nine months talking to my therapist about Barack Obama, the election, and how much I hate racists and neoconservatives. She sometimes says she doesn't think she should charge me to talk to me about politics. But it's something I really care about, so it's okay. I've been trying to figure out why Obama's speeches make me cry--not the "being moved to tears because they are so inspiring" kind of crying. It didn't feel like that.  If felt deeper, unpleasant. It hurt. There is a theory that the thing we cannot tolerate is the thing we cannot abide in ourselves.

Last night I think I figured it out.

Sarah who?

I know we are still celebrating Barack Obama's historic election, but I have to pause for a moment and acknowledge just how close we came to putting Sarah Palin—that "hillbilly" from Wasilla, according to an angry McCain aide—into the White House. /shudder

Folks, I've been waiting two months plus change to repost this gem. With one caveat: I originally said she was chosen to pander to women and that turned out to be only partly true. She was also chosen to energize the Republican base, but now it seems that she—along with Rove and Bush—has done serious damage to the GOP. In the end, many Republicans could not and did not endorse their own party's candidate because of her shocking lack of preparedness and experience for the job. In the end, she was just too stupid.

Yes, the Palin pick was a slap in the face to progressive women everywhere (oh, and to smart people), but it was an even bigger slap in the face to the old school GOP leadership. Let's hope that the crackpot evangelical right-wingers split off and form their own party.

There was a brief moment when I thought I would be proven wrong and I'd have to eat my post, but on September 15, when John McCain said, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong," I knew he was done.

So once again, I'd like to thank the Democrats—especially David Plouffe and David Axelrod who ran the most brilliant campaign in modern presidential history—for forcing McCain to pick a "hail Mary,"  unvetted (much to our delight) Vice-Presidential candidate who would ultimately ensure his loss. A candidate who once greeted McCain staffers wearing nothing but a towel. A candidate who didn't know Africa was a continent, not a country.

I shudder to think...

Okay! Back to celebrating!

—Stefania Pomponi Butler

Sarah Palin's First Amendment Rights

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am sick and tired of GOP Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin. If I never have to see her winking, sneering countenance again it will be too soon.

But as hard as I pray for the end of her 15 minutes of fame, I have a feeling this is just the beginning. Because even if McCain-Palin loses (which is the main thing I've been praying for), she has made it very clear that she's not going to go quietly back to Alaska. And there is a faction of the conservative right wing who love her and see her as the future of their party. So for better or worse (mostly worse), we'll be seeing a lot more of her here in the lower 48.

So I've been trying to ignore her. Unfortunately, she makes that really hard, because now that she's "gone rogue" and veers off her carefully crafted script, she seems to come up with some new outrageous statement every single day.

The latest: complaining to a conservative radio host that journalists who criticize her for negative campaigning against Barack Obama are infringing on HER First Amendment rights.

As ABC News reports:

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Governor Palin, have you ever READ the First Amendment? Because time and time again, you have indicated that you have NO UNDERSTANDING OF IT AT ALL:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Let me explain it to you.

McCain Oopsapalooza Tour 14: 80% Off, Everything Must Go, Night of the Long Knives Edition

(Previous Oopsapaloozas here.)

The unvetted centerpiece of a McCain stump speech, "Joe the Plumber" was nowhere to be found when McCain referenced him.

Instead, 4,000 schoolchildren bused in to bring the 2,000-person crowd up to 6,000 people got to pretend they too were unlicensed, tax-owing plumbers incapable of buying $250,000 plumbing businesses.

Quite possibly JTP at that moment was lining up a record deal and a special "America's crack problem" jeans line that reveals butt cleavage.

Sarah Palin a-Go-Go!?

A couple of weeks ago, I had a personal crisis -- whether to watch the last Presidential debate or the season finale of Project Runway.  If you know me, you know that this was not a joke. 

Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, I did both one after the other!  But now, I can have both at the same time -- the perfect combination of politics and fashion has been put together by Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn!

Hillary Clinton as the Great Pumpkin?  S&M Cindy McCain?  Sarah Palin, Vice-President a-go-go? 

Not my words, but those of the great fashion guru himself.

When it comes to style, you can take his words to the bank. I really want to know what Gunn thinks about how these fashion choices and statements (or questions!) will impact the final election outcome!

Carry on and make it work!

Governor Sarah Palin Could Make Herself Senator Sarah Palin

Shortly after the jury in the corruption trial of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens found him guilty, John McCain called on Stevens to step down from the Senate seat he's held for decades.  Then, Sarah Palin did the same thing.  And I wondered why they'd even be concerning themselves, since they've got some other things to think about right now.

After all, since Stevens is up for re-election next Tuesday, the odds are probably pretty good that Alaska voters would decide not to vote for a convicted criminal and might vote for his Democratic opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

For better or worse, I've always been someone who tries to figure out why people do what they do -- what motivates them, what's the flip side of the coin they're showing?

In this case, it didn't take me long to come up with this possible scenario -- Palin and the GOP see the writing on the wall for the McCain/Palin ticket, so what if they could get Palin into the Senate with her maverick-y pal, McCain?

Palin, Pallin' Around With Convicted Felon Stevens

Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was convicted of all 7 counts of making false statements in connection with, and failing to report, political gifts valued at $250,000.

Here's Stevens with his longtime friend, Governor Sarah Palin. The same governor who earlier this month was herself under investigation for abusing her office in the attempted firing of a relative, i.e., "Troopergate."

That's a lot of misuse of office and corruptions charges for a state with a population of 700,000.

Somebody's "pallin' around" with convicted felons, and it's not Obama.

Cynematic blogs at P i l l o w b o o k.