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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Nov 4, 2010 1:17:54 GMT -6
Another populist/progressive site: FiredoglakeI've heard founder Jane Hamsher speak a number of times on TV, and I haven't yet heard anything from her that I didn't agree with.
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Nov 4, 2010 1:29:17 GMT -6
Top 10 Things We Did To Help Progressives in the 2010 Election
By Jane Hamsher
Tues, Nov 2, 2010
"1. Worked across party lines for a year and a half passing Audit the Fed, and forced a 96-0 vote in the Senate. Chris Hayes on MSNBC called it “the single greatest act of bipartisanship since Obama took office.” It was popular with 80% of the country.
2. Backed Bill Halter in an accountability challenge to Blanche Lincoln, proving we were willing to hold the line against corrupt members of both parties.
3. Forced Blanche Lincoln, as head of the Agriculture Committee, to champion much stronger derivatives trading regulation than she had previously done in order to save her seat.
4. Rode Lincoln consistently to make sure stronger derivatives regulation didn’t disappear after she won her primary – she knew someone was watching, and if she flip-flopped it would be an issue in her race for the general election. A recent poll showed that the ONLY popular major Democratic program of the past year was financial regulation.
5. Launched the Students vs. Banks campaign to urge Democrats to pass student loan reform when they were too scared to do it (because it had to be done through reconciliation, and they thought they’d lose health care votes if they did so). The President himself has been touting Student Loan reform as one of the shining achievements of his administration.
6. Told the truth about the health care bill even when it wasn’t popular to do so. Exposed the games and the lies of members of both parties. Conducted polling that warned the Democrats in January of this year that if they passed their corrupt and flawed health care bill, they would get hammered in swing districts this fall:
•SurveyUSA/Firedoglake Poll: OH-01 •SurveyUSA/Firedoglake Poll: AR-02 •SurveyUSA/Firedoglake Poll: IN-09 •SurveyUSA/Firedoglake Poll: NY-01
7. On the heels of polling that indicated marijuana legalization motivated young people to turn out to vote when nothing else apparently would, we began our Just Say Now campaign in April of this year. The DNC has dumped $50 million into a campaign to turn out young voters, and the President has appeared at colleges across he country in an attempt to do likewise. There is no indication that effort has been successful, but pollsters believe California alone will see unprecedented youth turnout, where Prop 19 has a 94% awareness rate among young voters.
8. Campaigned to to save Social Security, which has been on the chopping block ever since Obama took office. Polling indicates that saving Social Security is one of the strongest issues Democrats have against Republicans this cycle.
9. Raised money for Russ Feingold’s race even when things weren’t looking good for him, proving that if people stick up for the things we believe in, we know how to show up for our friends. FDL raised $56,000, and Glenn Greenwald raised $78,000.
10. Protected the progressive brand. Consistently fought for progressive values and applied the same yardstick to both Democrats and Republicans, demonstrating that progressives aren’t just fickle hacks who only care about demagoguing issues they will readily sell out in a cynical attempt to gain power for themselves.
Unfortunately, we didn't save Feingold.
Thanks a lot, Barack.
Who needs the 4th Amendment, anyway.
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Post by waltc on Nov 4, 2010 18:46:31 GMT -6
Hamsher needs to spread the blame to Reid and Pelosi who kept the Democrats in line for the president.
Without those two ghoulish characters using their positions to bully Democrats, Obama would have never gotten the support he did from his own party.
Reid and Pelosi turned party loyalty into a suicide pact.
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Nov 5, 2010 17:25:08 GMT -6
Hamsher needs to spread the blame to Reid and Pelosi who kept the Democrats in line for the president. Exactly right. Democrats should have broken with the President from the beginning, when he supported the reappointment of Bernanke and dispersal of the 2nd half of TARP. And if that hadn't been enough, they should have broke with him when the Public Option was dropped from the health care legislation, or when the individual mandate was included, or when the deal was made with Big Pharma not to cut drug prices and not allow re-importation. The Dems who stuck with Obama got just what the deserved--a boot in the ass. Seems they forgot they represent the PEOPLE of the United States, not the President. It's the PEOPLE of the United States they owe allegiance to, not the President.
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Post by waltc on Nov 6, 2010 14:52:57 GMT -6
The Dems who stuck with Obama got just what the deserved--a boot in the ass.
So very true. The same thing happened to the Dems after Clinton rammed through NAFTA. The Dems were left scratching their collective heads why they lost the mid-west and south. They never could admit either then or now that supporting corporations while screwing the populace isn't a smart thing to do.
Instead we get treated to Obama saying it was a failure of communication or that the GOP played dirty pool etc.
Seems they forgot they represent the PEOPLE of the United States, not the President.
It's the PEOPLE of the United States they owe allegiance to, not the President.
Sadly they place party loyalty to the president over the voters every time. And not one political analyst that I've read has ever dared criticize this blind party loyalty routine even though it's been proven to be a great liability for the nation. By this I mean, Congress is not meant to be a rubber stamp for the preznit but a check on his power and this hasn't been happening for decades now.
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