Islamic Center Near Ground Zero, Eleciton issue- GOP,last post before Nantucket!

Dear Obama/Biden Supporters:


The whole discussion on the mosque is really getting out of hand. I didn't want to harp on it or give more attention to the media craziness but how can we avoid talking about this? It seems to me that most of the discussion is about how much people can hate one another. It is like not even about ideologies but just about anger, hate, and whipping the crazies up so they won't concentrate on the things the GOP haven't done! Here we have 34% of the country not knowing Obama is a Christian and 18% believing he is a Muslim,and a even higher than ever % believing he is not a citizen.This is getting outrageous and someone must put an end to this. It is only divisive and hurtful and imagine what other countries must think about this discourse! What would you do if someone absolutely refused,even with proof of a birth certificate, to believe you were a citizen of this country,and this is the President of the United States of America. It is so outrageous and yet every news channel talked about it tonight! Only Chuck Todd on NBC nightly news showed anger when stating outright that it is a lie ,and that the president is both a citizen and a Christian .



Republican rhetoric is very dangerous because it not only makes a mockery of the Constitution but is in some ways a victory for Osama bin Laden by dividing this nation and making us look small ,prejudiced and uneducated. It seems to me that the horrible history,throughout the past centuries, of killing in G-ds name must stop. Maybe, the intolerance could be alleviated by building this community center/mosque which could possibly bring Muslims and non-Muslims together . The mosque is in a place that it resided since 1970(before the Towers were built) and could possibly serve as a reminder of a movement towards peace and tolerance. It being so close to the site of 9/11 would possibly be a constant reminder that violence has no place in religion. I saw an article that really hit home with me about this argument. The author stated,"Should we also believe that the Jim Crow laws helped the freed slaves assimilate into white America?Or that the detention camps helped secure the loyalty of Japanese-Americans? The opposition to a mosque(really a cultural center) at ground zero(really two blocks away) is not the legitimate expression of some second America that is "cultural" rather than "constitutional"-it is the American underside the America of the Klan and McCarthy,and it is to be repudiated,not excused" . We are better than this and can't let this turn into another Obama bashing incident. I believe the President and Mayor Bloomberg are speaking out forcefully against intolerance and opportunism! I do believe Obama is stepping into dangerous political waters, but to me he represents the best of American values. He has taken a principled stand on the right of Muslims to practice their faith freely and openly. It seems that the Republican party is being reduced to rabble rousing and cheap politics in this emotional debate!

Love,Sunny

A Mama 4 Obama



From Kathy in MO:

Got the blog. Looks good!

From Val in Ohio about mosque issue:

Diane Remm had a very balanced discussion on this issue today on NPR. You can find it on the NPR website. I like the observation that if Timothy McVeigh had confessed to being a Christian, if that would have caused an uproar if church groups tried to build at the site of the bombing.

I have to admit some consternation when Obama decided to weigh in on this issue. Guess we'll have to get used to the fact he doesn't run and he doesn't hide from controversial topics.


#2 JOHN BOEHNER: Spends $250k on Golf, Screws the Unemployed & Advocates Raising Retirement Age

More about the orangeman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaYVf4J1zus

From Congresswoman Nita:

You are so special! Have a wonderful time in nantucket.Rest up we need you in September.



From Jeff in Scarsdale:

Part of the problem is that success is harder to explain than failure. The negative is easier to report and discuss. The positive legislation that Obama has signed into law is complicated and still has not evolved into a day to day reality.

From Lee DNC/OFA,NYC/DC:



CELEBRATE THE 19th AMENDMENT:



Ninety years ago women gained the right to vote. Your vote this year honors those who fought so their daughters could cast a ballot.

To gain the right to vote 90 years ago, it took a movement of women who fought so that their daughters and granddaughters would not be denied a full measure of citizenship.


This year’s election presents the opportunity to keep moving forward with the fight to bring down barriers. Honor the legacy of those who couldn’t vote but reached for that right by promising to cast your ballot in November.


http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/commit19thamendment/?source=DNCHeadline



Talking Points: Relief for Small Businesses

· Small businesses have historically created two-thirds of all new American jobs, and they are a vital part of the American economy and our economic recovery. That’s why the President has called for a number of measures that will make it easier for small enterprises to get off the ground, grow, and hire new workers.


· The President’s proposals are built on the idea that although government can’t guarantee an entrepreneur’s success, it can help to remove some of the barriers to business creation and expansion, like the lack of affordable credit. And although government isn’t able to replace the millions of jobs that disappeared in the recession, it can support the conditions that enable small businesses to hire additional workers, through tax breaks and other measures.

· This Administration has cut taxes for small businesses no less than eight times. They passed an economic plan that has already supported more than 70,000 loans for small businesses. And they waived fees on new SBA loans to help business owners save money. Those loans and additional savings helped small business owners to get the capital they needed to invest in and build their businesses.


· Under the jobs bill enacted by the President last March, businesses that hire unemployed workers are eligible for tax cuts, and businesses that invest in new equipment are able to write those investments off. And as a result of health insurance reform, 4 million small business owners have received a postcard informing them that they may be eligible for a health care tax credit that could be worth tens of thousands of dollars this year.

· But there’s still more that government can do to help small businesses. So President Obama is pressing Congress to quickly approve additional tax breaks and lending incentives for small businesses – measures that will boost growth and job creation.


· If the legislation the President is supporting is passed, small businesses will see new benefits immediately. The legislation Congress is considering does away with capital gains taxes for critical investments in small enterprises, increases the deductions that small businesses can claim for investments and expenses, and increases the availability of credit.


· Despite Republicans’ history of partisanship and obstructionism, they should be able to join with Democrats to provide this critical relief for American small businesses. Those businesses are the backbone of our nation’s economy and they are at the forefront of the economic recovery – it is simply imperative that this legislation pass.



From Tommy Sowers office in MO:

Have you been following all the coverage of Tommy recently?

It has been a very busy summer for the Sowers campaign. A couple weeks ago Tommy published an important Op-ed pointing out the realities of war and asking the tough questions about America's role in Afghanistan.

Many major newspapers, including the Southeast Missourian, The Miami Herald, The New York Times and Politico have all picked up and been reporting on Tommy's leadership.

Tommy has demonstrated that his eleven years in the Army have prepared him to be the effective and vocal leader that Southeast Missouri needs. And clearly Tommy is not only shaping the debate here in Southeast Missouri, but also is setting the tone for the whole country.

The campaign is taking this summer's great momentum marching forward. We are excited to tell you that by the end of August, we will have opened new campaign offices in West Plains, Dexter, Farmington, Cape Girardeau, and Poplar Bluff.

Tommy is looking forward to challenging Rep. Emerson in the debates on her undistinguished record in Washington. Emerson finally agreed to participate in at least four debates, set to take place across the district in October.

None of this, however, could we have done without you. The support for Tommy has been unparalleled. Our Army of volunteers is growing everyday. Donations have been coming in from the district and all over the country. This is a campaign that people want to be part of. On behalf of Tommy and all the staff, we really appreciate your support.

Now is the time though for us to show our strength. Will you continue to help us by making a contribution?Every little bit helps as we march forward in this growing movement. You can click here to make a secure contribution online:

https://secure.sowersforcongress.com/

From Mira in NYC:

Subject: A Year of Positive Thinking

My Whole Street is a Mosque

Posted: 19 Aug 2010 08:13 AM PDT


I live on Lispenard Street just south of Canal Street in Lower Manhattan, fourteen blocks North of Ground Zero. From my corner I saw with my own eyes the second plane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center and I lived downtown through the scary nights and the many rough months after September 11, and I am here to say that my whole street is a mosque. Several times a day, small groups of Muslim men, mainly African street vendors who peddle carvings or fake Vuitton bags and Rolex watches on Canal Street, pull out prayers mats, often just rolls of cardboard they store in the nooks and crannies of the buildings around, they take their shoes off in all weather, wash their feet with water from bottles, kneel towards the East and pray, fourteen blocks from Ground Zero, on ground they’ve spontaneously “hallowed.” And the only thing one can say, in the words of my Holocaust refugee Polish Jewish mother, is “Only in America.”


Or, at least, only in New York, where these outdoors rituals take place on the street surrounded by crowds of Chinese vendors, NYPD cops, business men, rich men’s children and their nannies, and busloads of women tourists from the American South who have come to buy those fake Vuitton bags from those vendors (nice Christian ladies who have no problem breaking New York City’s tax laws by buying fake label merchandise). Every day I pass these men praying on my street, across the street from my front door, and on corners throughout Lower Manhattan. It is an example of the religious freedom and tolerance that makes this country truly great.


Politicians like President Obama should be wrapping themselves in the American Flag, waving the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights and hollering about Freedom of Religion, the Mayflower, the Founding Fathers, Ellis Island, Land of the Free, at the top of their lungs, throwing every righteous trope in the rhetorical book of the myth of America at those who would destroy “the better angels of our nature,” not getting all wimpy and conciliatory in the face of people who pander hatred and bigotry and who are cynically manipulating Ground Zero Families and using the “hallowed ground” of Ground Zero as this week’s battering ram against America’s true greatness.





From Joyce in Harlem:



My friends,

Please read the article below. This is the second article about the 15th C.D. race in two days and by different reporters. In today’s article I am listed among other candidates as “a woman” – no name, no background etc. The day that I’m “a woman” against an Adam Powell, or frankly anyone, tells me that I need a “advocacy squad” similar to Kirsten Gillibrand’s “Truth Squad”. I’ve copied Austin Fenner, the campaign’s media and press person, on this email. The article was written by Devlin Barrett; his email is Devlin.Barrett@WSJ.com.Please help me on this and feel free to suggest anyone else who can help or I should call. And just as a reminder, I have attached my bio. It does not list everything I’ve done in 25 years of public and political life. Let me know what you think? Many thanks,

ONCE Again from OFA/DNC and for all of you out there making calls and setting the record straight!:

To hear some pundits tell it, the outcome of the midterms is preordained disaster for Democrats. Not so fast. Much depends on how Democratic candidates frame their efforts - and how Progressives in general frame the political debate over the next three months.

Here are nine keys to Democratic success:

1). The election narrative -- the election must be framed as part of a struggle between everyday Americans and corporate special interests.

Everyday Americans believe the economy is a disaster and the country is on the wrong track. They won't change that view until the economy actually improves.

The Republicans are doing their best to pin the blame on the leadership of Democrats. Democrats are absolutely correct to frame the election as a choice between moving America forward and going back to the failed Bush economic policies that allowed the recklessness of the Big Wall Street banks to collapse the economy, and cost eight million Americans their jobs.

But we need to make certain that we are not only offering a choice of policies - we are offering a choice of leadership. On the one side, those who will fight for the interests of everyday Americans and on the other, leaders who stand up for the interests of Wall Street, insurance companies and Big Oil.

We need to describe a narrative that is about struggle - not policies and programs.

This is especially important when Democrats talk about Congress' many accomplishments this term. In fact, this has been the most productive Congress in recent history. But if a candidate tries to talk about "accomplishments," that will not resonate with the experience of everyday voters.

Instead we should talk about "battles won." Democrats won the battle with Wall Street and the Republicans to rein in the power of the big Wall Street banks. We won the battle to begin holding insurance companies accountable and prevent them from discriminating against people with "pre-existing conditions." We won the battle to rescue the economy from the death spiral created by Bush administration policies and the recklessness of the big Wall Street banks.

The language of struggle, and "battles won" has enormous advantages:

It allows us to talk about what Congress has done in terms that everyday voters can understand. It takes their pain and unhappiness and explains why it happened.

It places the blame where it belongs and creates a narrative with a clear antagonist and protagonist.


It allows us to be on the offense - not the defense.


It positions our candidates as outsider champions for everyday voters and their values - not insider apologists for what Congress has "accomplished."

It creates the basis for a powerful mobilization narrative that engages the emotions of anger and inspiration.

2). The antagonist in our narrative should be defined as the corporate special interests - Wall Street, insurance companies, Big Oil - and their Republican enablers.

We are much better off doing battle with these massively unpopular special interests than we are engaging in purely partisan warfare.

It is also much easier to convince voters that the big Wall Street banks, insurance companies and Big Oil are responsible for the economic disaster (which they are) rather than simply Republican policies (which are equally responsible). By tying special interests to Republicans we go to their motivation - to whose side the Republicans are on - not simply the effectiveness of their policies. And, of course, it is true that Republicans and the big corporations are, practically speaking, synonymous.

3). Remind the voters that when the Republicans were in charge, they wrecked the economy and created zero private sector jobs.

George Bush and the Republicans cut taxes for the rich and allowed the big Wall Street Banks free rein to engage in the reckless behavior that collapsed the economy and cost eight million Americans their jobs. They said that their policies would "grow" the economy. Yet, every dime of growth went into the pockets of the wealthiest 2% of Americans and, worse yet, Bush produced zero new private sector jobs.

The New York Times reported last year that, "For the first time since the Depression, the American economy has added virtually no jobs in the private sector over a 10-year period. The total number of jobs has grown a bit, but that is only because of government hiring."

Now compare that to the Clinton administration where the rich paid Clinton-era tax rates. Of the total of 22.5 million new jobs, 20.7 million, or 92 percent, were in the private sector.

Do we really want to give the keys back to the people who completely failed to create jobs and wrecked the economy just two years ago?

4). It's all about turnout.

We obviously need to do everything we can to move persuadables - but at the end of the day, just as in 1994, this election will be decided by who turns out to vote. That means two things:

Our campaigns and party committees must make a major priority out of the mechanics of GOTV. No message works better to increase turnout than: "I won't get off your porch until you vote."

The language of struggle must be used to engage base Democrats who have been discouraged or demoralized. Basically, we have to describe the midterm elections as the Empire Strikes Back: "The Wall Street Banks, insurance companies, Big Oil and other wealthy special interests see this election as their best opportunity to reverse the results of the election in 2008. They want to turn back the clock to the failed economic policies of the past so they can undo Democratic victories that will hold them accountable. They want to have free rein once again to siphon off every ounce of economic growth for themselves at the expense if middle-class families. They're counting on us to sleep through the election. We have to stop them."


5). The Arizona Immigration Law, persuasion and turnout among Hispanics.


The difficulty passing comprehensive immigration reform (which mainly had to do with the unwillingness of Republicans to work on the issue) had caused substantial levels of demoralization in the Hispanic community. Had we been successful, we could have used inspiration as a major tool for voter mobilization there -- no such luck.

But when the Republicans passed the Arizona Law (SB1070), they handed Democrats a cudgel. The Arizona law goes to the identity of Hispanic voters -- as does the Lindsey Graham proposal to repeal the 14th Amendment.

For that reason we have already seen in the polling how, when they support the Arizona law, electoral support for Republicans among Hispanic voters drops. In the last Presidential election Hispanics broke Democratic by 76%. That should now increase. Increasingly leaders in the Latino community are also using the bill to harness anger and fuel turnout.

Their basic message goes something like: The Republicans who passed the Arizona law -- and those who support it around the country -- completely disrespect the Latino community and its enormous contribution to America. We have to go to the polls on November 2 to show them that if they don't respect us, we will no longer allow them to occupy positions of public trust.


6). Seniors.


Seniors will show up disproportionately to vote in this election. As a consequence, a big chunk of persuadable voters is over 55 years old.

Congressman Paul Ryan and his friends have handed us a silver bullet to move these constituencies. They actually say out loud that:


Republicans want to cut benefits and privatize Social Security.


Republicans want to abolish Medicare and replace it with vouchers for private insurance.


These two positions are like political Kryptonite. Focus groups and polling show them to be devastating attacks on Republicans. We have to put these two issues squarely on the public agenda in September and October.


7). Wall Street Banks.

Polling around the country indicates that a three-part attack on Republican connections with Wall Street is especially powerful.


Congressman X received almost a million dollars from big Wall Street banks, then he voted for the bank bailout and against holding the big Wall Street banks accountable.

a). Contributions

b). Bailout

c). Against holding Wall Street accountable

Where Democrats voted for the bailout, we can make the distinction clearly that our guy also voted to hold the big Wall Street Banks accountable and the Republican did not. Most Republican challengers will have received money from Wall Street and opposed the Wall Street reform bill.

8). Staying on Offense

If we're on the defense -- we're losing.

A top message priority of every campaign and political operation must be to always stay on offense - defining the debate in terms of our frames - constantly challenging the Republicans.


9). Defining our candidates as outsiders.


The insider-outsider dynamic is key.


This is not a political environment where it is helpful to brag about how powerful or connected you are -- or how your long term of service helps you deliver for the district. It's not a time to highlight all of your "accomplishments."


In general, voters think the "elites" in America have screwed everyday Americans in order to feather their own nests (and they're right). Instead, they want leaders who can effectively lead the charge against the bastions of elite power. That certainly isn't the Republicans who are owned by Wall Street, Big Oil and the insurance companies.


To win in this environment, our candidates need to portray themselves as populist outsiders, not elite insiders. In the end, whoever wins that battle will prevail on November 2nd.


Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and author of the recent book: "Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win," available on Amazon.com.