tagged w/ Election 2012
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If you're not aware of what PCW is all about, here is what we've done during the month of May:
5/1- Charlie Blackwell Invades White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner http://nblo.gs/hkaFp
5/8- PCW House Show Report- Greenville, SC http://wp.me/pcJab-RR
5/9- Chris Christie Still Not Running/Olbermann Feuds with Bill Simmons/Trump Trumps Cain: PCW Extreme Political TV http://nblo.gs/hENx0
5/21- Schwarzenegger Gets the WTF Treatment- From Sarah Palin?: PCW End of the World Show- Part 1 http://nblo.gs/i9Ylw
5/21- Herman Cain vs. Donald Trump: PCW End of the World- Part 2 http://wp.me/pcJab-Sm
5/21- Trump Trashed/PCW CEO Obama Hosts PM Netanyahu for a Politically Extreme Discussion: PCW End of the World- Part 3 http://wp.me/pcJab-Sr
5/21- Mitch Daniels-Not Running/ : PCW End of the World Show- Part 4 http://nblo.gs/ibH9D
5/23- Cain Raises Cain/ Dems Win NY 3 Way Match: 5/23 PCW Extreme Political TV http://wp.me/pcJab-SO
What happened on PCW Extreme Political TV this week?
1) @THEHermanCain challenges Republican establishment.
2) Andy Riley (D) picked up his biggest victory to date in PCW w/ the help of Kathy Hoctul (D-NY)
3) Big Oil and Kirk Walstreit (R) won three way elimination match to determine the new #1 contender for the PCW Tag Team Title
4) @rihanna and @britneyspears dance on the PCW broadcast table and upset the God Squad
Tonight, PCW Extreme Political TV returns to its spiritual home- Hack's Rusty Nail Saloon for another evening of extreme political satire.If you're not aware of what PCW is all about, here is what we've done during... more
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It is often said that a convert to a cause is more fervent than those born to it. That is probably true about me and my "conversion" as an immigrant to this great country.
In that spirit of passionate desire for my adoptive land to become everything it was meant to be, may I humbly suggest, America, that Ron Paul is Your Man.
Just a few years ago, I was excited to follow Obama's success in the hope that he would undo the worst of the un-American shenanigans of the Bush administration, including the abrogation of rights of American citizens, the killing of citizens of lands that don't threaten us and the wholesale transfer of wealth from those that create it and play by the rules to those that do neither of those two things.
Perhaps I was a little caught up in the excitement, but my intentions were good.
As it has turned out, in most things that matter, Obama is not even Bush-lite: he's more like Bush-plus. I'm not questioning his moral intent, but simply looking around me at new wars, continuation of laws that remove Americans' basic rights, mass transfer of wealth from the working man to the large subsidized groups, including financial corporations and unions, that fund the old political game.
The old, tired, self-defeating left-right paradigm of American politics is about two teams that want to shape the world in one way or another, but both sharing the desire to impose their view on others, and both, therefore, with an interest in maintaining those fundamental aspects of the modern political settlement that allow politicians and their favored institutions to operate outside the most basic confines of the Constitution that was supposed to make the USA a Republic that protects life, liberty and property of all individuals.
Indeed, the two-party system, and all the unstated assumptions shared by both sides, does more to undermine practically the principles gifted by the nation's Founding Fathers than any other single political structure in the USA (except perhaps the Federal Reserve, which acts secretly and without political accountability).
Ron Paul transcends the left-right pseudo-divide.
He is almost unique in that he doesn't want to make a country of the left or a country of the right. Unlike every other politician, he doesn't need me to agree with him on anything -- except that I should be free to decide on what to agree or disagree with him about.
Ron Paul's world is quite different from that offered by almost any other American politician. In his world, neither the president nor the Congress gets to impose their preferences on 300 million citizens through the monopoly of force that is government, because Paul knows that the government has no such authority. Paul's world is a world based fundamentally on the principle of non-aggression, which is simply, "I may disagree with you but I do not get to use force, including the force of law, to impose my will on you as long as you harm no one." This principle is a philosophical one. It precedes politics -- and that is why it allows Paul to transcend the bankrupt left-right paradigm.
It is this true freedom that, paradoxically (given how most of us disagree about most things) promotes true unity, as division arises only when some people feel imposed upon by others. The promise of a more united nation under Obama (remember?) came to nothing, because Obama's politics, like Bush's, are as much about promoting a particular kind of world, which inevitably benefits some at the expense of others.
Ron Paul is one man who doesn't want to do that, because America was not created for that purpose.
Moreover, if one were to score American politicians on a) integrity, b) philosophical understanding of humanity and governance, and c) understanding of economics by looking at their speeches, votes, books and predictions, Paul would be among America's Very Best.
The huge movement behind Paul is demographically diverse, and has attracted people who used to think that they were on the left, as well as people who used to think they were on the right -- before they found out that what really matters, and what America was designed to preserve, is bigger than both left and right.
But here is the most unlikely, telling, astonishing, and ignored fact about Ron Paul: Paul's campaign logo (one of a few created spontaneously by his supporters for his 2008 run) has the word LOVE in it.
It actually has the word LOVE, picked out in big red letters from the word "Revolution." "Love Revolution," no less.
Politics based on Love?! Can you imagine any Western politician putting that in a speech and not having his or her audience shift in their seats uncomfortably at the strangeness of what they were hearing?
And yet, there it is, "LOVE," right in the middle of his logo in big red letters.
Love is expansive, accepting, free. It is also kind. (When did you last hear that word in politics?) Love says to its object, "As you wish," and a Paul presidency would say to its citizens just that: "It's not government's job to decide for you. Your life should be as you wish."
Now, that is true "free love," 2012 style.
As I ache to see America become the nation that was always meant to be, since 2012 will be the last American presidential election that I will not be permitted to vote in, I can only hope that my adoptive countrymen will take their astonishing opportunity to choose not just a political revolutionary, but also a philosophical one.
In electing Paul, Americans have the chance to say to each other, live and let love -- a politics of non-aggression in its profoundest sense.It is often said that a convert to a cause is more fervent than those born to it. That... more
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Read More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/11/attacking-cnn-polls-young-adults-30_n_860483.html
Mark Blumenthal's piece examining the world of polling and the ways media outlets don't use landlines.
"This controversy raises two important questions: First, why are CNN's pollsters having so much trouble reaching younger Americans? Second, does it matter that CNN's landline sample misses so many younger Americans that it has to weight the youngest age group up by a factor of at least three?
The answer to the first question is easy: CNN's unweighted poll was light on younger Americans because their sample covered only households with a landline telephone. As documented by the National Center for Health Statistics, the percentage of American households with a cellphone but no landline telephone service has been steadily rising over the last ten years, especially among younger Americans. As of last year, 24.9 percent of all adults have wireless service only, but among those aged 25 to 29 years that number is now more than half -- 51.3 percent."
Read more of this extensive expose on media polling and how it will be impacted this election.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/11/attacking-cnn-polls-young-adults-30_n_860483.htmlRead More:... more
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Washington (CNN) – While real estate mogul Donald Trump continues to raise doubt over Obama's presidential credentials, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky questioned Trump's legitimacy, not as an American, but as a Republican.
Speaking at a Merrimack County Republican Committee fundraiser on Thursday in Concord, New Hampshire, Paul said, "I've come to New Hampshire today because I'm very concerned. I want to see the original long-form certificate of Donald Trump's Republican registration."
"Seriously don't you think we need to see that?" Paul said, according to media reports.
The White House released Obama's birth certificate on Wednesday, after questions about the president's birthplace were repeatedly raised, most recently by Trump.
With the "Celebrity Apprentice" star busy questioning Obama's presidential qualifications, Trump's voting record and campaign contributions to Democratic candidates have also raised issues about his GOP credentials.
Records obtained by CNN earlier this week show that Trump changed his party registration three times over the past 20 years and did not cast a vote in the 2002 general election.
Paul's address also mentioned the thousands of dollars in donations that Trump gave to Democratic majority leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada and Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York, in the last election cycle.
According to media reports, Paul's speech centered around concern that attention garnered by GOP candidates like Trump, distracts from pertinent discussions about the deficit and economy.
"Let's look to Republicans who not only talk the talk but walk the walk," Paul said. "If we find the right candidate I see no reason why we can't win in 2012."
Paul recently toyed with the idea of joining the pack of Republicans contending for the 2012 presidential bid, until his father, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas announced his exploratory committee earlier this week.
"He's my landlord in Washington. Can you imagine the family strife if we ran against each other?" Paul said according to media reports. "I'm afraid that I could be kicked out of my apartment."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/28/rand-paul-wants-proof-of-trumps-gop-cred/Washington (CNN) – While real estate mogul Donald Trump continues to raise doubt... more
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In an effort to see Progressive ideas in play, Ralph Nader calls for primary challengers to help move the conversation. Nader said, "Obama is averse to conflict with corporate power and disarmingly expedient in compromising with Republicans..."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53825.htmlIn an effort to see Progressive ideas in play, Ralph Nader calls for primary... more
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The Big Three secret funders of the $75 million campaign to trash Democratic candidates :
1) US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE--$32,851,997. The Chamber recently had to make a slight revision of its longtime claim to be a grassroots business organization of three million Main Street members. As revealed by Mother Jones, its actual membership is less than 10 percent of that number. Moreover, most of its funding and practically all of its governing board are drawn from only about 100 businesses that bear such 'Mom& Poppish' names as Aetna, Alcoa, BP, CIGNA, Exxon Mobil, JPMorgan Chase, Massey Coal, Pfizer, and Shell.
Unsurprisingly, then, this organizational mouthpiece of global giants has been an ardent proponent of increasing the corporate voice in politics, including being an early and official participant in the Citizens United case. Almost immediately after the court's ruling, the chamber formed its secretly funded campaign front for 2010 and quickly launched a blitz of ads, 93 percent of which supported Republicans, mostly by making negative (and false) attacks on Democrats.
Chamber honchos ruthlessly fight any attempts to disclose their funders, but a couple of names have oozed out, including that of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. The boss of News Corporation (owner of Fox TV, Wall Street Journal, HarperCollins, New York Post, etc...) slipped a cool million bucks from the corporate treasury to the Chamber of Commerce's shrouded campaign fund last year. Murdoch said he had not expected the transfer to become public, but he nonetheless considered it to be "in the interest of the country and of the shareholders...." Of course, shareholders (whose money he was spending) were not consulted by Murdoch. Such executive expropriation is but one part of the grand theft enabled by the Court's sloppy reasoning.
2) AMERICAN ACTION NETWORK--$26,088,031. Formed within days of the Citizens United decision, AAN was a major force in six senate races and 28 house races last year, including the defeat of progressive champion Sen. Russ Feingold. Using undisclosed corporate money, its hall-of-shame campaign tactics were epitomized by a TV ad asserting that "convicted rapists can get Viagra paid for by the new health care bill."
Brand-name corporations would never let their logos be attached to such a false and scurrilous claim, but now they're able to pay AAN to do the dirty work while they escape accountability. The cowards used the "Viagra for rapists" ad against at least four Democrats--two of whom were defeated.
AAN is connected. Its president, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, was a McCain-Palin adviser and chief of staff to new House majority leader Eric Cantor, and its CEO is former Senator Norm Coleman (defeated in 2008 by Al Franken). Board members include such multimillionaires as Robert Steel, a top Goldman Sachs executive who served in George W's Treasury Department. Steel's policies helped cause the Wall Street collapse before he jumped to Wachovia Bank, where he engineered a merger with Wells Fargo, which took a $25 billion bailout from us taxpayers; Fred Malek, former CEO of Marriott Hotels, a longtime GOP fundraiser and functionary--he earned the nickname "the Hatchet" in Nixon's sleazy administration, and was John McCain's finance co-chair in 2008; and Kenneth Langone, who co-founded Home Depot and later founded ChoicePoint, an infamous data- mining corporation that helped Bush-Cheney grab Florida's electoral votes and the presidency in 2000.
3) CROSSROADS GPS--$17,122,446. This shadowy monster is the devilish spawn of right-wing guru Karl Rove. NBC News reports that the biggest part of GPS's black-ops money comes from "a small circle of extremely wealthy Wall Street hedge fund and private equity moguls."
GPS works in tandem with American Crossroads, a twin sister also spawned by Rove. The latter outfit is a "527 super-PAC"--which allows rich individuals to donate unlimited personal funds (i.e., not from the corporate coffers) to independent campaigns. American Crossroads amalgamated $21,553,000 in such donations last year. While GPS cloaks the identities of its donors, super-PACs must report the source of their funds to the IRS. Since it's likely that many of AC's individual givers also tap their corporate treasuries to funnel undisclosed money to GPS, clearly the AC list provides some hint as to who's putting cash into the secret fund.
One prominent example is Rob Rowling, a billionaire CEO who heads TRT Holdings, a Texas-based conglomerate that owns such highly visible brands as Gold's Gym and Omni Hotels. He got his tail in a crack last year when his $2.5 million personal donation to American Crossroads was reported. The Rove super-PAC had deeply offended the LGBT community across the country by funding some of the flaming anti-gay candidates of the Republican/Tea Party, leading to a consumer backlash against TRT's gyms and hotels. Rowling squealed that this was unfair, claiming that the money he gave to the gay bashers was his, not the corporation's. But--oops--it leaked out that Rob had also moved $2.5 million from TRT to the GPS stealth stash.
The Chamber, AAN, and Crossroads actually converge into one corporate superhighway of money. Not only do Rove's two groups share offices, but the American Action Network is also in the same space. Plus, Steven Law, now CEO of American Crossroads, previously was the US Chamber's general counsel. To tighten the circle, Rove, Law, Coleman, and other operatives of the triumvirate coordinate their spending through periodic meetings, referring to themselves by a cryptic nickname: 'the Weaver Terrace Group.' It's taken from the Washington street where Karl lives. Cute, cozy, and thoroughly corporate.
More at:
http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/2624The Big Three secret funders of the $75 million campaign to trash Democratic... more
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Donald Trump talks with CNN's Candy Crowley about a possible 2012 presidential run and why the country needs him.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/04/17/exp.sotu.0417.trump.president.2012.cnnDonald Trump talks with CNN's Candy Crowley about a possible 2012 presidential... more
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Glenn Greenwald has an excellent article up on salon about the Democratic party not giving a shit about its base because they take their base's votes for granted:
QUOTE:
Rachel Maddow last night issued a very harsh and eloquent denunciation of Obama's decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed before a military commission at Guantanamo rather than a real court. At the end of her monologue, Maddow focused on the contrast between how the Republicans treat their base and how Democrats treat theirs, specifically emphasizing that the White House announced this decision on the same day it kicked off Obama's re-election bid. About that point, Rachel said this:
"A Democratic President kicks his base in the teeth on something as fundamental as civil liberties -- he puts the nail in the coffin of a civil liberties promise he made on his first full day in office -- and he does it on the first day of his re-election effort. And Beltway reaction to that is. . . huh, good move. That's the difference between Republican politics and Democratic politics. The Republicans may not love their base, but they fear them and play to them. The Democratic Party institutional structures of D.C., and the Beltway press in particular, not only hate the Democratic base -- they think it's good politics for Democratic politicians to kick that base publicly whenever possible.
"Only the base itself will ever change that."
How will that happen? How can the base itself possibly change this dynamic, whereby politicians of the Democratic Party are not only willing, but eager, to "kick them whenever possible," on the ground (among others) that doing so is good politics? I'd submit that this is not only one of the most important domestic political questions (if not the most important), but also the one that people are most eager to avoid engaging. And the reason is that there are no comforting answers.
One thing is for certain: right now, the Democratic Party is absolutely correct in its assessment that kicking its base is good politics. Why is that? Because they know that they have inculcated their base with sufficient levels of fear and hatred of the GOP, so that no matter how often the Party kicks its base, no matter how often Party leaders break their promises and betray their ostensible values, the base will loyally and dutifully support the Party and its leaders (at least in presidential elections; there is a good case that the Democrats got crushed in 2010 in large part because their base was so unenthusiastic).
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Please read the rest of the article at the link.Glenn Greenwald has an excellent article up on salon about the Democratic party not... more
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"Nowhere Man 2012: Because Everyone Else Is Worse."
FROM THE ARTICLE:
So, yeah, Obama is in. The President of the United States officially threw his hat into the 2012 election ring on Monday morning, and the nation reacted with a resounding, "Oh."
What a mess.
It wasn't even two and a half years ago. Can you believe it? Two and a half years ago, there was a detonation of optimism that echoed across the country once the returns were in on that November night. People took to the streets here in Boston, literally banging pots and pans together as they danced and shouted in celebration. The scene was repeated in city after city and town after town, and even the "mainstream" media gushed from election night to Inauguration Day about the spectacular moment in American history we were all witnessing together.
Hindsight, however, tells us today that much of that optimism was wildly misplaced. The long shadow of George W. Bush still hung low and dark over the land, as it does even now. That was part of it, of course, part of the sense of expiation and purgation so many felt once the deal went down; on that November night, the national nightmare of Mr. Bush's presidency was writing its final pages, and then came January, and he was gone. Despite all the failures and disappointments that have since come, those were two very good days.
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Two and a half years ago, it was all about hope and change. Remember that? I am, personally, waiting with bated breath for the next battery of slogans to be deployed by the Obama campaign. No, seriously, I am. Nowhere Man 2012: Because Everyone Else Is Worse. That'll send them racing to the polls.
Yup. Here we go.
Again.
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MORE AT LINK"Nowhere Man 2012: Because Everyone Else Is Worse."
FROM THE ARTICLE:... more
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HACKING DEMOCRACY takes a nonpartisan, clear-eyed look at the secrecy, cronyism, and incompetence of elections in present-day America as it captures a citizen's movement intent on taking back elections--and democracy itself.
http://nothingtotweetabout.com/Hacking_Democracy.phpHACKING DEMOCRACY takes a nonpartisan, clear-eyed look at the secrecy, cronyism, and... more
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Republicans that recently gave President and the Democrats a beating on November 2, 2010 are gleeful that Nancy Pelosi, who led 60 plus liberal members of the U.S. House of Representatives over the cliff, may soon be the Minority Leader. The chant and banners are "Hire Pelosi" so she can be the symbol of voters who have rejected almost every bill forced through the house by her.Republicans that recently gave President and the Democrats a beating on November 2,... more
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With the exception of Mitt Romney, Fox now has deals with every major potential Republican presidential candidate not currently in elected office.With the exception of Mitt Romney, Fox now has deals with every major potential... more
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been quietly assembling the blueprint of a presidential campaign and will announce Thursday the support of a group of high-level political strategists and donors, complemented by a handful of top new media consultants, POLITICO has learned.
Pawlenty, under the radar of D.C.’s political community, has locked up some of the key operatives who engineered then-President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign — a significant feat for a little-known Midwestern politician.
The moves underscore, and will lend credence to, the emerging belief among many establishment Republicans that Pawlenty is becoming the sole viable alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a potential Republican primary rival. The Minnesota governor has even gone so far as to contact some of Romney’s former supporters.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27785.html#ixzz0ShUiFvV3Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been quietly assembling the blueprint of a... more
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Gary E. Johnson is the former governor of New Mexico, and candidate for the 2012 Republican Party nomination. He'll likely lose, but if he dose lose, I hope that he'll switch over to the party that really stands up for his political opinions: the Libertarian Party. I think he has the potential for sticking it to the two major candidates, possibly sucking away some votes from both, in 2012.Gary E. Johnson is the former governor of New Mexico, and candidate for the 2012... more
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Before John McCain’s presidential bid had even ended, many were touting Sarah Palin as a possible GOP presidential candidate for 2012. And in an interview with Matt Lauer this morning, Palin said that, “if there is a door open in 2012 or four yeas later…then I’ll plow through that door.”
If Sarah Palin tries to run for president in 2012, she’ll get plowed over. In fact, she probably wouldn’t even make it out of the primary. Palin-watchers can take their pick from a plethora of reasons as to why.
[For all the reasons go to http://www.therealright.com/blog/content/id_37924/title_5-Reasons-Sarah-Palin-Would-Lose-a-2012-Presidential-Bid/]Before John McCain’s presidential bid had even ended, many were touting Sarah... more
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From NBC's Peter Alexander
WASILLA, Alaska -- At the Wasilla Sports Complex in Sarah Palin's hometown, it was the first -- and only -- loud applause of the night when Sen. John McCain mentioned Palin's name. Otherwise, the room was silent and stunned. A line-up of rock bands took turns on stage, but few people here are in a festive mood.
"You know when the next campaign starts?" A clearly disappointed Phyllis Robertson said. "Tomorrow."
Here, the pride for Wasilla's former mayor is tremendous. Many supporters came tonight wearing the same updo the governor has made famous. Vendors are selling T-shirts with slogans like "Palin: She Doesn't Run with the Pack, She Shoots Them" and "My Pit Bull Wears Lipstick."
One pin reads: "Palin 2012."
Kelly Caraway of Wasilla brought her daughter to witness history -- though not the outcome she had hoped for.
"From the beginning, I said it would be good for Sarah no matter what happened," she explained. "I'm glad we get to keep her in Alaska for a while, but we know it's not forever."
HAHA click the link and see what people are saying....
You can keep her!!!!From NBC's Peter Alexander
WASILLA, Alaska -- At the Wasilla Sports Complex in... more
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From ABC News:
In an interview with ABC's Elizabeth Vargas, Gov. Sarah Palin suggested that if the Republican ticket is defeated on Tuesday she expects to be a player in the next election four years from now, saying "I'm not doing this for naught."
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From ABC News:
In an interview with ABC's Elizabeth Vargas, Gov. Sarah Palin... more
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