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Wednesday, September 15
Media Bias: Flip-flopper in Chief
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 15 Sep 2004 06:55 PM CDT
 Media Bias: Flip-flopper in Chief
By David Brock and Jamison Foser, AlterNet.org
George
Bush's image as a strong and decisive leader is a creation of
journalists too lazy to notice that the [pseudo-]pResident has a long
history of changing his positions to suit his political needs.
...As
Columbia Journalism Review, Media Matters for America, and countless
others have noted, the media has applied an alarming double standard in
covering Bush’s and Kerry’s changes in position – a double standard
that has been particularly noteworthy in recent weeks.
An Aug. 30 Washington Post article demonstrated the sometimes subtle
ways in which media coverage of the candidates’ position-switches tends
to favor Bush:
"Republicans draw a sharp contrast between what
they portray as Bush's directness and what they call rival John F.
Kerry's tendency to worry issues to death. … He [Bush] has also not
hesitated to switch positions when necessary, such as when he
first opposed, then backed, the creation of a Homeland Security
Department."
The Post used Bush’s own words to describe his opponent’s character
trait: Kerry tends to “worry issues to death.” Meanwhile, the newspaper
presented Bush’s decision-making far more charitably: "Unlike the
indecisive Kerry, Bush changes positions only “when necessary.” The
Post didn’t explain why Bush’s change in position about the creation of
a Homeland Security Department was anything other than a classic
“flip-flop”; nor did the article include an explanation of why Bush’s
flip was “necessary” – though we can assume that political
considerations played a sizable role.
(Click here to read the full article.)
Update on the Harkin Steak Fry
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 15 Sep 2004 02:37 PM CDT
 Update on The Harkin Steak Fry
by Linda Thieman
Democracy for Iowa has secured a booth (aka card table) at the Harkin Steak Fry this Sunday, September 19th.
Sunday, September 19
12-4pm, serving 12-3pm
Indianola Balloon Field
Indianola, Iowa
We
are expecting a fairly large-sized crowd of DFA/DFIA supporters to make
a show of thanks to Senator Tom Harkin, so here's the plan.
Once
you come through the registration area, you will see a large horseshoe
of card tables. The DFIA table will be identified by a big,
colorful Kerry/Edwards - Democracy for Iowa - Blog for Iowa sign.
Please
go over to the DFIA table. Here, you can pick up a sign to hold
up during the rally, and you will be instructed as to where our group is
going to stand.
We'll
also have literature and some Blog for Iowa buttons you can pick up to
pass around, if you like. Darrell Lewis of Clear Lake will be
making some buttons especially for the Steak Fry, too.
If
you have literature, buttons, or stickers you'd like to share with
folks, you are most welcome to leave them for us to distribute at the
DFIA table.
Steak Fry guidelines say only literature, buttons, and stickers are
allowed on tables, and all items must be given away, not sold. In
addition, this year, there will be no sign plastering like the
presidential candidates did last year.
For complete information on the Harkin Steak Fry, such as directions on
how to get there, how to buy tickets, and how to hitch a ride on one of
the buses traveling to the event from all over Iowa, click here.
Help Recruit Volunteers for Pro-choice Candidates
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 15 Sep 2004 08:46 AM CDT
 Help Recruit Volunteers for Pro-choice Candidates
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
“She taught us, first, to look at the world as if women mattered.”
- Gloria Steinem on Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood’s visionary and spirited founder, was born 125 years ago yesterday.
It would
be hard to exaggerate the courage of Margaret Sanger or the strength of
her convictions. When she founded the American birth control movement,
"Comstock laws" prohibited publication and distribution of information
about sex, sexuality, contraception, and human reproduction.
And when
she founded Planned Parenthood in 1916, the very notion of family
planning was just beginning to take root in America. More than any
other individual, Margaret Sanger helped establish the principle that a
woman’s right to control her body is the foundation of all her human
rights.
Today,
125 years after Margaret Sanger was born, we find ourselves in the
middle of an epic struggle. On one side stand those of us passionately
committed to building on the progress made so far and bringing us ever
closer to the world of equality and opportunity that Margaret Sanger
saw so clearly. On the other side stand those determined to drag us
back to the narrow, dangerous, and unjust world into which Margaret
Sanger was born.
With so
much on the line right now, I hope you’ll celebrate Margaret Sanger’s
achievements in a way that honors her courage and commitment.
Help Recruit Volunteers for Pro-choice Candidates
Des Moines
Phone Banking Fun!
Date: 09/20/2004
Time: 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Event Sponsors: Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Location: PPGI - 851 19th St. Des MOines
Contact: Judy Rutledge (jrutledg@ppgi.org)
Join the phone banking fun as we recruit volunteers for pro-choice legislative candidates!
Click here to RSVP.
Ottumwa: Al Franken Pulls Same Size Crowd as Cheney
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 15 Sep 2004 04:25 AM CDT
 Ottumwa: Al Franken Pulls Same Size Crowd as Cheney
By Linda Thieman
Well, in
the national competition of whose crowd size is bigger than whose, it
was a draw, with Al Franken and Dick Cheney each pulling in 250
supporters in Ottumwa on Sunday and Monday, respectively.
Franken’s supporters attended his event voluntarily while Cheney kept
his roped in with sharpshooters trained on them so they wouldn’t run
away.
Franken, who the Des Moines Register describes
as “left-leaning” (oh, come on, for heaven’s sake – if this guy leaned
any further to the left, he’d fall off the planet), worried aloud that
Cheney was going to threaten Ottumwa with nuclear holocaust if Kerry
were elected. Not that there isn’t some precedent for that kind
of idle threat, mind you.
Cheney,
on Monday, for his part, talked about boring stuff and made up a lot of
lies, so he didn’t really say anything new like that whopper he let
loose with last week in Des Moines. However, he did continue to
talk out of the side of his mouth, and sometimes, he even talked out of
both sides at the same time. That was a particular crowd pleaser.
One wishes the junta would not come through Iowa so very often. It’s really messing with the vibes of the state.
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