MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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Bamboozling ACORN

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Just in case anyone had any doubt that George W. Bush’s highly politicized Justice Department is up to its old tricks in the raids and investigation of ACORN’s voter registration efforts, TalkingPointsMemo posted a video of a similar initiative back in 2006.

The scumbag du jour was Bradley Schlozman, a thug with a history of intimidating voters from voting, especially minority voters. It was almost cruel watching this worm squirm under the glare of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-VT). But the right wing noise has taken up the cry about ACORN and that’s all we’re going to hear from now until Election Day.

ACORN happens to be made up of minority community organizers that the Justice Dept. and the FBI is used to intimidating close to an election. They are sending a message to minorities: You can vote on Election Day but it ain’t gonna be easy.

October 16, 2008
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‘Joe the Liar’

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(Photo: Jim Young/Reuters) Wurzelbacher speaking to Sen. Barack Obama about taxes while the candidate campaigned near Toledo, Ohio, last week.

And so “Joe the Plumber” dies a swift, ignominious death.

In so doing, he enters the pantheon of fictitious Republican agitprop–such as Reagan’s apocryphal Cadillac-driving welfare queens–that have no basis in reality.

“Joe the Plumber,” you will remember, is the close-minded gentleman who stopped Sen. Barack Obama on the campaign trail in Ohio last week to ask about his taxes.

“I am getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year,” ‘Joe the Plumber’ asked. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?”

The candidate patiently explained his tax plan. But it did not stop newspaper headline writers from  demonizing Sen. Obama. And John McCain, the Republican nominee, then made sure Joe the Plumber would live on in infamy by bringing up the encounter during Wednesday night’s final presidential debate.

He flogged Mr. Obama with the plumber with some success, about the only argument with which he gained some traction all night.

But that was yesterday. This is today. The New York Times followed up and, it turns out, “Joe the Plumber” is not all he claimed to be:

Turns out that ‘Joe the Plumber,’ as he became nationally known when Senator John McCain made him a theme at Wednesday night’s third and final presidential debate, may run a plumbing business but he is not a licensed plumber. His full name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. And he owes a bit in back taxes.

The premise of his question to Mr. Obama about taxes may also be flawed, according to tax analysts.

The local plumber’s union said Mr. Wurzelbacher does not hold a license either as a plumber or as a contractor.

“He’s basically playing games with the world,” Thomas Joseph, the local’s business manager, told the Times in an interview on Thursday.

Wurzelbacher was interviewed on the Fox News Channel and conservative groups. They seized on these set of words by Mr. Obama:

“I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

McCain came alive during the debate, taunting Obama repeatedly with wanting to take Wurzelbacher’s money and spread it around. After the debate, CBS anchor Katie Couric came calling. She even laughed when Wurzelbacher compared Sen. Obama with the entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., encouraging him to see a job with “Meet the Press.”

“You know, I’ve always wanted to ask one of these guys a question and really corner them and get them to answer a question,” Wurzelbacher told Ms. Couric, “for once instead of tap dancing around it, and unfortunately I asked the question, but I still got a tap dance . . .  almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr.”

Wurzelbacher was nowhere to be found when the New York Times came calling on Thursday. He did not answer messages left on his home phone and there was no answer at his plumbing business.

“All contractors are licensed, and he does not have a license, either as a contractor or a plumber,” Mr. Joseph, the union official, told the Times, citing a search of government records. “I can’t find that he’s ever even applied for any kind of apprenticeship, and he has never belonged to local 189 in Columbus, which is what he claims on his Facebook page.”

According to public records, Mr. Wurzelbacher has been subject to two liens, each over $1,000, one of which –a personal tax lien–is still outstanding.

And his question to Mr. Obama about paying taxes? According to some tax analysts, if Mr. Wurzelbacher’s gross receipts from his business is $250,000–and not his taxable income–then he would not have to pay higher taxes under Mr. Obama’s plan, and probably would be eligible for a tax cut.

The only thing I came away with from watching his encounter with Mr. Obama was how patiently the candidate answer his questions and how close-minded Wurzelbacher seemed. Meanwhile, someone ought to tell Mr. McCain that his poster boy is not what he seems because, as the Times reports, he’s still banging that drum loudly on the campaign trail.

October 16, 2008
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Debate Reaction

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This was by far the worst debate performance for each candidate.

Senator Obama was flat and professorial for most of the night. He was clearly in run-out-the-clock mode, wanting to stay cool and avoid any game-changing mistakes. That’s fine as a strategy, but he faltered on execution. Defense does not mean giving long-winded, professorial answers. Even though playing it safe, Obama should have been more focused in his answers, emphasizing values rather than the intellectual underpinnings of his ten-point policy programs. Obama sounded underprepared to me.

On the plus side, Obama worked the camera extremely well. He spoke directly to the people and, at his best, came across as sincere. When Senator McCain spoke, Obama kept his expressions respectful and calm. It was a huge improvement over some of the final primary debates, when Obama looked annoyed when Senator Clinton spoke. Obama also scored a few points with well timed colloquialisms. I particularly liked “use ’em or lose ’em.”

Senator McCain, on the other hand, was a train wreck. Visually, the format could not have been worse for him. It was painful to watch a man so uncomfortable and so openly contemptuous of his opponent. The blinking and rolling of his eyes, the darting of his tongue, and his clear agitation in the seat are not going to serve him well at all. The more people see of McCain up close, the less presidential he looks.

But the more serious problem for McCain was the one that Nate Silver captures here. McCain lost all credibility when he first accused Obama of running the more negative campaign — something that polls say the voters clearly don’t believe — then launched an attack about William Ayers, and then claim that his campaign is all about the economy. It was ridiculous. Undecided voters in TIME’s focus group were laughing at him. Also ridiculous was McCain’s assertion that “of course” he will balance the budget in 4 years. Doesanybody believe that? It was moment of clear desperation.

On the plus side for McCain was his economic argument in the first 20 minutes of the debate. Even after all these years, the Reagan message on taxes and trickle-down economics still resonates. McCain also got off the best soundbite of the night (“I’m not George Bush…”), but even that struck me as not particularly credible coming so late in the game. Obama has already defined McCain with the voters as having supported Bush 90% of the time.

Even though I give a thumbs down to both candidates, Obama was the clear winner because he was much less awful than McCain on visuals alone, and he succeeded in avoiding any game-changing mistakes.

With only 19 days remaining, the dynamics of this race have ossified. I’d expect the RNC to give McCain one last chance to shake things up. If the race doesn’t show signs of changing dramatically in a week or so, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the RNC pull its efforts on the presidential race and focus on saving the Senate seats in Kentucky and Georgia.

Cross-posted from Facebook.

October 16, 2008
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It would be Nice if the Final Debate was a True Debate

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The Central Virginia Progressive-The DAVISReport sent us this message:

As someone who had the pleasure of coaching and judging competitive debate and forensics, let me begin by saying the previous forums for both presidential and vice presidential debates have been very loose on the rules. It would be so nice if the debate format for the final debate October 15th was followed correctly.

We the audience would then have the opportunity to hear an organized point-counterpoint presentation of the issues within a predetermined time limit free of fluff and confusion.

My wish list is pretty basic and includes:

-Answer the question asked 

-Allow opponent equal time for rebuttal

-Stick to the issues

-Stay in time and don’t ramble

-Shake hands before and after(maintain decorum)

-Stay in one place, look presidential please, (this is a job interview)

Click on this article for more insight: 

How Bob Schieffer can make this year’s final debate interesting. – By Jeff Greenfield – Slate Magazine

The DAVISReport

POSTED BY WWW.EILEENDAVIS.BLOGSPOT.COM THE DAVIS REPORT – THE VOICE OF CENTRAL VIRGINIA AND THE CAPITAL CITY.

October 15, 2008
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Point about . . . what?

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A snippet from the middle of the Coen brothers’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou”

Pappy O’Daniel sits smoking a cigar, nursing a glass of whiskey, and
soliciting the counsel of his overweight retinue.

PAPPY
Languishing! Goddamn campaign is
languishing! We need a shot inna arm!
Hear me, boys? Inna goddamn ARM!
Election held tomorra, that sonofabitch
Stokes would win it in a walk!

JUNIOR
Well he’s the reform candidate, Daddy.

Pappy narrows his eyes at him, wondering what he’s getting at.

PAPPY
…Yeah?

JUNIOR
Well people like that reform. Maybe we
should get us some.

Pappy whips off his hat and slaps at Junior with it.

PAPPY
I’ll reform you, you soft-headed
sonofabitch! How we gonna run reform
when we’re the damn incumbent!

He glares around the table.

Zat the best idea any you boys can come
up with? REEform?! Weepin’ Jesus on the
cross! Eckard, you may as well start
draftin’ my concession speech right now.

Eckard grunts as he starts to rise.

ECKARD
Okay, Pappy.

Pappy whips him back down with his hat.

PAPPY
I’m just makin’ a point, you stupid
sonofabitch!

ECKARD
Okay, Pappy.

As he settles back Eckard looks around the table and helpfully relays:

Pappy just makin’ a point here, boys.

October 15, 2008
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Update: Trumka’s transcript

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This is a transcript of my post a week ago on AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka speech on Racism and Obama.

“You see brothers and sisters, there’s not a single good reason for any worker — especially any union member — to vote against Barack Obama.

There’s only one really bad reason to vote against him: because he’s not white.

And I want to talk about that because I saw that for myself during the Pennsylvania primary.

I went back home to vote in Nemacolin and I ran into a woman I’d known for years. She was active in Democratic politics when I was still in grade school.

We got to talking and I asked if she’d made up her mind who she was supporting and she said: ‘Oh absolutely, I’m voting for Hillary, there’s no way I’d ever vote for Obama.’

Well, why’s that? ‘Because he’s a Muslim.’

I told her, ‘That’s not true — he’s as much a Christian as you and me, so what if he’s muslim.’

Then she shook her head and said, ‘He won’t wear an American flag pin.’

I don’t have one on and neither do you.

But, ‘C’mon, he wears one plenty of times. He just says it takes more than wearing a flag pin to be patriotic.’

‘Well, I just don’t trust him.’

Why is that?

Her voice dropped just a bit: ‘Because he’s black.’

I said, ‘Look around. Nemacolin’s a dying town. There’re no jobs here. Kids are moving away because there’s no future here. And here’s a man, Barack Obama, who’s going to fight for people like us and you won’t vote for him because of the color of his skin.’

Brothers and sisters, we can’t tap dance around the fact that there are a lot of folks out there just like that woman.

A lot of them are good union people; they just can’t get past this idea that there’s something wrong with voting for a black man. Well, those of us who know better can’t afford to look the other way.

I’m not one for quoting dead philosophers, but back in the 1700s, Edmund Burke said: ‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.’ Well, there’s no evil that’s inflicted more pain and more suffering than racism — and it’s something we in the labor movement have a special responsibility to challenge.

It’s our special responsibility because we know, better than anyone else, how racism is used to divide working people.

We’ve seen how companies set worker against worker — how they throw whites a few extra crumbs off the table and how we all end up losing.

But we’ve seen something else, too. We’ve seen that when we cross that color line and stand together no one can keep us down.

That’s why the CIO was created. That’s why industrial unions were the first to stand up against lynching and segregation. People need to know that it was the Steel Workers Organizing Committee — this union — that was founded on the principal of organizing all workers without regard to race. That’s why the labor movement — imperfect as we are — is the most integrated institution in American life.

I don’t think we should be out there pointing fingers in peoples’ faces and calling them racist; instead we need to educate them that if they care about holding on to their jobs, their health care, their pensions, and their homes — if they care about creating good jobs with clean energy, child care, pay equity for women workers — there’s only going to be one candidate on the ballot this fall who’s on their side… only one candidate who’s going to stand up for their families… only one candidate who’s earned their votes… and his name is Barack Obama!

And come November we are going to elect him president.

And after he’s elected we are going to hit the ground running so that, years from now, we’re going to be able to tell our grandchildren that 2008 was the year this country finally turned its back on men like George Bush and Dick Cheney and John McCain.

We’re going to be able to say that 2008 was the year we started ending the war in Iraq so we could use that money to create new jobs building wind generators, solar collectors, clean coal technology and retrofitting millions of buildings all across this country

We’re going to be able to look back and say that 2008 was the year the tide began to turn against the Rush Limbaughs, the Bill O’Reillys, the Ann Coulters and the right wing hate machine.”

 

October 10, 2008
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That tool, Tavis Smiley

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Okay.

I  went to the 92nd Street Y two Saturday evenings ago to see Tavis Smiley interview Cornel West. I don’t care for Smiley, but I went because I was entertaining a friend’s guest from London (a sister) who wanted to go — real bad.

About halfway through the evening, I noticed she was leaning far way from me, and almost sitting in a seat two spots from me.  I was heckling, Tavis.  She was pretending not to know me.

You know all Tavis did the entire night was bash Obama and talk about how horrible the man is for the country, and how everyone voting for him was basically a “negro.” The audience was smart though . . . they didn’t eat up his rhetoric.

But I couldn’t help myself, so don’t ever take me to anything involving, Tavis . . . I don’t know how to act.

During question and answer a few people politely called him out with thoughtful questions.  And Cornel West finally said what Amiri Baraka has been saying all along to these pseudo-revolutionaries:  McCain is the enemy.  For example,  how about this, Tavis!

The Bush administration this month is quietly cutting off birth control supplies to some of the world’s poorest women in Africa.

Thus the paradox of a “pro-life” administration adopting a policy whose result will be tens of thousands of additional abortions each year — along with more women dying in childbirth.

The saga also spotlights a clear difference between Barack Obama and John McCain. Senator Obama supports U.N.-led efforts to promote family planning; Senator McCain stands with President Bush in opposing certain crucial efforts to help women reduce unwanted pregnancies in Africa and Asia.

This election is serious, Tavis.  Either you’re part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.

October 9, 2008
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. . . as maverick does

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Rolling Stone magazine writer Tim Dickinson takes the cudgel to John McCain carefully (and fraudulently) crafted image as a maverick, straight-talking outsider in Washington.

In “Make-Believe Maverick,” Dickinson dug deep and excavated many things the public either does not know about Sen. John McCain, or knows it but venerates the man anyway despite all available documentary. As I have been saying in these pages for months now, the magazine says John McCain is a fraud and a hypocrite:

At Fort McNair, an army base located along the Potomac River in the nation’s capital, a chance reunion takes place one day between two former POWs. It’s the spring of 1974, and Navy commander John Sidney McCain III has returned home from the experience in Hanoi that, according to legend, transformed him from a callow and reckless youth into a serious man of patriotism and purpose. Walking along the grounds at Fort McNair, McCain runs into John Dramesi, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was also imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam.

McCain is studying at the National War College, a prestigious graduate program he had to pull strings with the Secretary of the Navy to get into. Dramesi is enrolled, on his own merit, at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in the building next door.

There’s a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam — call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a “confession” to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn’t survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service’s highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as “one of the toughest guys I’ve ever met.”

On the grounds between the two brick colleges, the chitchat between the scion of four-star admirals and the son of a prizefighter turns to their academic travels; both colleges sponsor a trip abroad for young officers to network with military and political leaders in a distant corner of the globe.

“I’m going to the Middle East,” Dramesi says. “Turkey, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iran.”

“Why are you going to the Middle East?” McCain asks, dismissively.

“It’s a place we’re probably going to have some problems,” Dramesi says.

“Why? Where are you going to, John?”

“Oh, I’m going to Rio.”

“What the hell are you going to Rio for?”

McCain, a married father of three, shrugs.

“I got a better chance of getting laid.”

Dramesi, who went on to serve as chief war planner for U.S. Air Forces in Europe and commander of a wing of the Strategic Air Command, was not surprised. “McCain says his life changed while he was in Vietnam, and he is now a different man,” Dramesi says today. “But he’s still the undisciplined, spoiled brat that he was when he went in.”

McCAIN FIRST

This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else, a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition: to become commander in chief, ascending to the one position that would finally enable him to outrank his four-star father and grandfather.

In its broad strokes, McCain’s life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers’ powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives’ evangelical churches.

Continue . . .

October 9, 2008
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