Hey! The Dems FINALLY Get Behind Withdrawing from Bush's Unpopular War - Sort of by Rick Klein, Boston Globe
[Blog for Iowa comments are between brackets.]
WASHINGTON - After months [um, YEARS?] of trying unsuccessfully to
develop a common message on [Bush's War], Democratic Party "leaders"
are beginning to coalesce around a broad plan to begin a "quick"
withdrawal of US troops and install them elsewhere in the region, where
they could respond to emergencies in Iraq and help fight terrorism in
other countries. [Can we just get away from this GOP meme that our ARMY
or even ANY army can "fight terrorism?" It's like saying we don't
have a plan to "win the peace." What peace, for heaven's sake?]
The concept, dubbed ''strategic redeployment," is outlined in a slim,
nine-page report coauthored by a former Reagan administration assistant
Defense secretary, Lawrence J. Korb, in the fall. It sets a goal of a
phased troop withdrawal that would take nearly all US troops out of
Iraq by the end of 2007 [and this is considered quick?] ...
Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee chairman, has endorsed
Korb's paper and begun mentioning it in meetings with local Democratic
groups. In addition, the study's concepts have been touted by the
senator assigned to bring Democrats together on Iraq - Jack Reed of
Rhode Island - and the report has been circulated among all senators
by Senator Dianne Feinstein, an influential moderate Democrat from
California. [Well, at least they are trying to look like they're
organized.] ...
Many leading Democrats say the Korb plan represents an answer to
Republicans' oft-repeated charge that Democrats aren't offering a way
forward on Iraq [because, if Democrats DO offer a way to get out of
Iraq, the Republicans call them disloyal and unpatriotic and
traitors. Go figure....]
''We're not going to cut and run - that's just Republican propaganda,"
Dean said in a speech Feb. 10 in Boston. ''But we are going to redeploy
our troops so they don't have targets on their backs, and they're not
breaking down doors and putting themselves in the line of fire all the
time. . . . It's a sensible plan. It's a thoughtful plan. I think
Democrats can coalesce around it."
[For heaven's sake, Howard - CUT AND RUN! What are we doing there
in the first place? How many more of our loved ones have to
die? How many more Iraqis do we have to murder in their beds?]
Howard Dean Knocks the Wind out of Wolf Blitzer CNN
Here
is a partial transcript of Howard Dean’s appearance
on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer Sunday. Click on the
video link that follows to experience for yourself glazed-over
stares from Wolf, two awkward pauses, and
Wolf's final heavy sigh of frustration as Dean takes him from
stammering to speechless. Notice in his opening shot,
Wolf found a way to say not once but twice as if it were
fact, “Democrats who took money..." [from
Jack Abramoff]. Dean sets the record straight.
BLITZER: Should Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff,
who has now pleaded guilty to bribery charges, among other charges, a
Republican lobbyist in Washington,
should the Democrat who took money from him give that money to charity or give
it back?
DEAN: There are no Democrats who took money from Jack
Abramoff, not one, not one single Democrat. Every person named in this scandal
is a Republican. Every person under investigation is a Republican. Every person
indicted is a Republican. This is a Republican finance scandal. There is no
evidence that Jack Abramoff ever gave any Democrat any money. And we've looked
through all of those FEC reports to make sure that's true.
BLITZER: But through various Abramoff-related organizations
and outfits, a bunch of Democrats did take money that presumably originated
with Jack Abramoff.
DEAN: That's not true either. There's no evidence for that
either. There is no evidence...
BLITZER: What about Senator Byron Dorgan?
DEAN: Senator Byron Dorgan and some others took money from
Indian tribes. They're not agents of Jack Abramoff. There's no evidence that
I've seen that Jack Abramoff directed any contributions to Democrats. I know
the Republican National Committee would like to get the Democrats involved in
this. They're scared. They should be scared. They haven't told the truth. They
have misled the American people. And now it appears they're stealing from
Indian tribes. The Democrats are not involved in this.
BLITZER: Unfortunately Mr. Chairman, we got to leave it
right there.
Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, always
speaking out bluntly, candidly.Appreciate your joining us on "Late Edition."
I
thought I would point out this post at the Daily Kos commemorating the
one-year anniversary of Howard Dean's election to chairman of the DNC.
We're
now at the rough one-year anniversary of the DNC chairmanship battle,
in which us netroots hooligans helped propel Dean to the top of the
DNC. We outmaneuvered Kerry, who wanted to install Vilsack and then
Sheehan by fiat. We outmaneuvered Reid and Pelosi, who wanted Tim
Roemer. We outmaneuvered Mark Brewer of the Association of Democratic
State Chairs, who wanted Donnie Fowler. (Here's Ryan Lizza's take on
the whole affair.)
This
was the first tangible "victory" for the netroots in its struggle for
supremacy of the Democratic Party. But I don't bring this up to gloat.
Rather, I bring it up to point out how little of the Dean Doomsday
Scenario actually played out.
More
specifically, the notion that Dean would be a boon to Republican
propaganda efforts has completely fallen flat. Remember those? Dem
insiders were quaking in their shoes, Republicans were salivating at
the chance to remind America how far-left and craaazzzyy those
Democrats were with Dean at the top....
While
the true measure of Dean's success will be the 2008 elections
(rebuilding the party takes time, regardless whether we make gains in
2006 or not), the early praise from his fiercest Democratic detractors
and the unilateral ceasefire from the Republican side proves that he's
not the Scary Liberal Boogeyman many feared he'd be. Read the rest of the post
for a rather funny set of press releases put out by the Virginia GOP
set out to associate "now governor-elect" Tim Kaine with the
"boogeyman" Howard Dean.
(I hope I didn't ruin too many lunches with my post title.... )
SCIENTISTS DOUBT EXISTENCE OF DEMOCRATS The Borowitz Report
Opposition Party Could Be Black Hole, Experts Say
With George W. Bush’s approval ratings plummeting
in recent weeks, the inability on the part of Democrats to capitalize
on [Bush]’s waning fortunes has caused some leading scientists to
postulate
that the Democratic Party may not exist at all.
Dr. Marisa Drazin, a leading scientist who for years has
been questioning the existence of Democrats, said today that what many have
thought to be the Democratic Party may in fact be nothing more than a black
hole.
“When [Bush] loses ten or twelve approval points, one
would normally expect those approval points to go to the opposition party,” Dr.
Drazin said. “But instead, those points have vanished into thin air, leading
one to conclude that the so-called Democratic Party does not exist."
Theories about the nonexistence of the Democratic Party are
nothing new, said Dr. Drazin, who pointed out that scientists first developed
them during the 1988 presidential campaign of then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael
Dukakis.
While the silence of the Democratic Party in recent weeks
seems to bolster theories of the party’s nonexistence, she said, there are
still some nagging pieces of evidence to the contrary, such as the perpetually
outspoken DNC chairman, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
“I’ve discussed the Howard Dean phenomenon with my
colleagues,” Dr. Drazin said. “And it’s the consensus of the scientific
community that there is no logical explanation for Howard Dean.”
The DFA Vote is Down to the Final 10, and Iowa Has TWO Great Candidates Still in the Running! Vote Now! Well, I
have to admit that I am very impressed by the Iowa progressive
community. In the initial round of voting to select a
Congressional candidate for DFA endorsement, two Iowa candidates, David
Loebsack from Iowa Congressional District 2 and Bruce Braley from Iowa
Congressional District 1, made it to the Top 10 as finalists. And
they did this by beating out many other Congressional candidates from
far more populous states than Iowa. Fifty candidates were eliminated in the first round.
Go vote now
for your choice. The voting ends Saturday. DFA is using an
Instant Runoff Voting system, which means you can vote for up to three
candidates and rank them in your order of preference.
Since
both Loebsack and Braley are on Blog for Iowa’s Candidate Watch list,
we’ve decided to have two passionate members of our blog team each
personally endorse a candidate. Hold onto your hats!
David Loebsack is The Man to Vote For!!!
by Molly Regan
David
Loebsack is a TRUE DEANER! And whom better should Democracy for
Iowa followers choose than one of their own?! Go to Blog for America to cast your vote now,
then pass the word to all you know. Anyone in the country can
vote. You only have until Saturday, September 24th, at 4pm Iowa
time. We have the power. Let’s make it so for this great
Dean supporter.
David
has been teaching political science at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon
for over 22 years. Now he has chosen to take on the task of
defeating Rep. Jim Leach in the 2nd Congressional District of Iowa.
David
helped Governor Dean on his many tours of Eastern Iowa and was a Dean
delegate to the Linn County, the state, and the national
conventions. He is a true progressive. He is one of
us. Go to Loebsackforcongress.org for more information about David.
I have known and admired David for nearly ten years and he truly is the best person to be DFA’s first candidate of choice.
Molly Regan / Scott County / DFQC
Bruce Braley Speaks For Me!
by Caroline Vernon
At a
time when the current administration is attempting to stack the Supreme
Court with right-wing ideologues rather than mainstream judges who will
remain fair and impartial on their interpretation of the law, it is
important that we have true representation of the people in our
Congress in order to balance the scales of justice. America needs
a new class of leadership who is not afraid to speak truth to power
even at the risk of being ostracized.
I
believe Bruce Braley is such a man. In Bruce's words, (paraphrasing)
"Saying what's popular is not always right and saying what's right is
not always popular."
America
needs leadership that will FINALLY stand up to the corporate special
interests and tell them that while it's great that they want to make
money for their shareholders, we have had enough of the rampant greed
and it is no longer acceptable to choose profits over people!
I
believe Bruce will have the courage of his convictions, represent the
best interest of "we the people" and reflect the many progressive
values that have truly made this country great.
Bruce is
strong on education, health care, and a woman's right to choose her own
destiny. Throughout his career, he has donated legal services to
many indigent Iowans through the Volunteer Lawyers Project. He also
feels that stewardship of our land, water and air needs to be a
national priority. Bruce is prepared to ask the tough questions
about the war and demand that our troops are sent home. Bruce is also
against the privatization of social security and supports continued
efforts to achieve energy independence through renewable fuels and
alternative energy sources.
A vote
for Bruce Braley is a vote for a brighter future for Iowa. Therefore, I
am hoping you will join me in voting for Bruce Braley (Iowa's 1st
Congressional district) as DFA's next Grassroots All-Star!
Democracy For Iowa Conference 2005 Notes by Aaron Wings, with additions and Workshop notes by Robin Roseman Report on DFIA Conference
September 10, 2005
Iowa City OVERVIEW:
The
morning sessions were very informational. What was most impressive was
the variety of issues that were discussed and the political cooperative
efforts.
The
afternoon sessions were work sessions. Several important actions
were planned. We began to give structure to a statewide DFA
organization - DFIA. We also decided to have a coordinated focus
for the next several months on state health care issues, in particular,
a State Health Care Lobby Day. We urge all interested people to
join DFIA by signing up here.
MORNING SESSION:
We began
with a welcome by Dennis Roseman, Iowa City DFA Organizer who in turn
introduced members of the meeting that represented some progressive
non-DFA groups and activities:
Pat
Vunderink talked about DAWN, a Democratic Activists Women’s
Network. This might be termed an Iowa Emily’s List with a major
goal to support progressive women candidates.
Trish Nelson talked about IBLTV, Iowans for Better Local TV, a media reform group: http://www.ibltv.org.
They have an on-line petition which all are invited to sign asking the
FCC to hear Iowa complaints about the quality of local television.
There will also be an important FCC-Free Press Public Hearing,
on October 5th, in Iowa City at the University of Iowa (exact
location to be determined).
Ellen
Ballas spoke of Rapid Response Network. This organization is well known
to all readers of Blog for Iowa. Please join them in their
efforts to fight disinformation: http://www.rapidresponsenetwork.org
Mike
Carberry informed us of an Iowa City group, Citizens for Public Power.
This group has put the issue of creating a municipal Iowa City electric
power company on the November ballot. They are currently building
support for passage. http://www.icpublicpower.org
Dick
Stater, Chair Linn County Democrats, talked about a Fundraiser on
October 22nd, in Mount Vernon, with the possibility of a nationally
prominent Democratic office holder as a speaker. For more information
go to http://www.linndems.org
Alta
Price discussed Quad Cities Progressive Action for the Common Good, a
new progressive coalition consisting of various issue forums. Due to
the high level of activity, PACG is currently engaged in a fundraising
campaign in an effort to hire an organizer to maintain the necessary
support of the various issue forums. http://www.digiforce.net/PACG%20Site/index.php
Mike
Carberry also spoke of FAIR, a local group working for social and
economic justice. FAIR will co-sponsor an Iowa City Council Candidate
Forum with Johnson County DFA and The 49 - to be held on September 15th.
The
above list exemplifies the variety of activities that Iowa DFA members
are engaged in as well as establishing connections and
cooperation with other progressive groups.
Jim Dean, DFA Chair, then gave a lively keynote talk about the future plans and goals for DFA.
He spoke
of other DFA State meetings (23 of these to date). They focused on some
small races as well as larger ones. Currently DFA is supporting 40
candidates nationwide and plans to endorse an additional 10 more
candidates for a total of 50. DFA is also engaged in providing some
Candidate and Activist training with 21st Century Democrats. In
addition, they plan to provide a 2-day training workshop in the Quad
Cities next Spring.
Jim
listed and spoke briefly on several current and future political issues
and mentioned two particular goals for the near future: a DFA Meet-up
in every congressional district and expansion of Generation DFA for
college students.
In the
next segment there were four reports by Iowa DFA Meetup
groups: Alta Price for Democracy for the Quad Cities, Tony Hansen
for Des Moines DFA, Sue Astley for Cedar Rapids DFA, and Robin Roseman
for Johnson County DFA.
Chris Warshaw, DFA Field/Political Director, described four areas of focus for DFA:
1. Meet-up programs in all states, 100 college groups, a total of 5000 at meet-ups
2. Development of communication tools such as DFA-Link. DFA Link will replace and improve upon the functionality that we had with Meetup.com.
3.
Having special training sessions to build political skills such
as communication with elected officials and writing letters to editors,
etc. For example, there is a plan for a two-day training next
Spring in the Quad Cities.
4.
Candidate development: One goal is to build from within by
encouraging members to run for office. Also, DFA sponsored 103
candidates last year - approximately 1/3 won. DFA is currently
sponsoring 40 candidates, but won’t endorse any more until after the
November elections with the exception of one congressional seat.
This early sponsorship will be decided by voting online here. (Note: The vote started on Tuesday, 9/13)
Next on
the program was a Candidate Forum. It was a real showcase of what we in
DFA are doing. Candidates (and one pre-candidate) from many levels of
government participated; David Loebsack (2nd District), Bill Gluba and
Bruce Braley (1st District), Tammy Place (pre-candidate, Iowa House 79)
and Garry Klein (Iowa City Council). Scroll down for contact information.
Next we had two presentations dealing with Iowa issues and Iowa groups:
Mike
Owen, assistant Director of the Iowa Policy Project, gave a fact filled
presentation on Iowa economic issues. To review this wellspring of
useful information, stats and facts (highly recommended), visit thier
website at: http://www.iowapolicyproject.org
Sarah
Swisher, gave a spirited talk about three organizations of which she is
an officer: The Iowa Democratic Party, SEIU, and Johnson
County Democrats. Sarah discussed various ways that DFA could interface
with each of these organizations for a mutual benefit.
AFTERNOON SESSION: Identifying Goals
What to
focus on in the next 6 months? At first a large list of goals and
issues were suggested by participants but were ultimately reduced down
to reflect two levels: Meetup level and State level.
On the Local Level:
Endorse and support local candidates. (Run for office)
Participate in 2006 Democratic caucuses.
Build coalitions with other progressive groups.
Outreach-expand membership.
On the State Level:
Increase the number of contributors for Blog for Iowa.
Support Democratic Candidates; Opportunity to take back the Iowa House, Senate, and Governorship in 2006.
Health Care for Iowa.
Most importantly it was decided to form a state-wide group known as Democracy for Iowa (DFIA). This
would be done with the help of a steering committee and implemented (in
part) as a new statewide DFA-link group called DFIA.
Introducing
the DFIA Steering Committee: Dennis Roseman, Robin Roseman, Alta Price,
Gary Gramon, Sue Astley, Tony Hansen, Cliff Day, Sally Troxell,
Trish Nelson and Ellen Ballas
One goal of DFIA is to expand the number of Meet-up groups and to facilitate communication between members across Iowa.
In particular we would like to have at least one Meetup group per congressional district. (see map)
It was
suggested that folks from established groups should help new
groups get going. Tony volunteered for central Iowa, Alta and Dennis
for eastern Iowa, and we need someone for western Iowa.
As a particular focus for statewide action it was decided to have a Health Care Lobby Day.
Tony
volunteered to coordinate with SEIU/Iowans for Health Care to
participate in a joint Health Care Lobby Day in Des Moines on Februrary
7th, 2006. DFA will help with a phone list and support. We
also plan to make home visits to legislators in the districts to
discuss Health Care for all Iowans.
At the
end of the day, a few of us went out for ice cream with Ed Fallon,
candidate for governor, who wasn't able to make the meeting because of
a previous engagement, but showed up at the Iowa Room just as we were leaving. A great time was had by all!
Howard Dean's Statement on Frist Push for Estate Tax U.S. Newswire
Democratic
National CommitteeChairman Howard Dean released the following
statement in response to reports that Republican Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist will push for a vote on Repealing the Estate Tax when the
Senate returns on Tuesday:
"Countless
thousands of our fellow Americans throughout the Gulf Coast region
continue to suffer in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. While some
have begun the painful task of rebuilding their lives and coping with
the unfathomable loss, so many still await help. And the cost of this
disaster in human and material terms remains unknown.
"It's
simply irresponsible for Senator Frist and Ken Mehlman to even think
about spending our tax dollars on breaks for millionaires at a time
when our top priority must be to ensure we have the resources needed to
address the long and short term costs associated with rescue, recovery,
and rebuilding in the wake of hurricane Katrina. Not to mention the
vital lesson we learned this
week about the deadly cost of diverting funds at the expense of the
safety of the American people. These costs also come at a time when our
nation faces a massive deficit, and mounting costs in the ongoing war
in Iraq.
"There is also a question of values, priorities and choices. Tens of thousands
of our fellow Americans have literally lost everything; we have a
responsibility to put their needs first. Senator Frist should join
Democrats in Congress who understand that our priority as a nation must
be to focus our energy and resources on determining how we help the
victims begin to rebuild their lives and addressing the long term
issues we face as a nation in the aftermath of Katrina.
"Perhaps
seeing the images on television was not enough this time for Senator
Frist and having now had the chance to actually look some of the
victims in the eye, he'll be able to better diagnose the situation, get
his priorities straight and recognize that the victims of this crisis,
and providing the resources to keep our people safe in the future, must
be our highest priorities."
*IBLTV is a group of citizens from the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area who are concerned about the decline in the quality of local television. Fight local media consolidation, as it leads to an unaccountable medium that enriches itself while disregarding the need to serve the public good.
*The rational counter to 'The Point,' 'The Counterpoint' critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country
Hey! The Dems FINALLY Get Behind Withdrawing from Bush's Unpopular War - Sort of
Howard Dean Knocks the Wind out of Wolf Blitzer
SCIENTISTS DOUBT EXISTENCE OF DEMOCRATS
The DFA Vote is Down to the Final 10, and Iowa Has 
Democracy For Iowa Conference 2005