« April 2008 | Main | June 2008 »

May 31, 2008

Confederate Flag Mocks Deaths of 620,000

Abraham Lincoln once said, "This question of Slavery was more important than any other; indeed, so much more important has it become that no other national question can even get a hearing just at present."

The treatment given to Barack Obama, the veiled threats of assassination, and the rabid response to his beautiful speech on race ("A More Perfect Union") indicate to me that perhaps we are again at a time when "no other national question can even get a hearing" until we resolve this race issue. That is a big part of why I have decided to support him, despite my political differences with him.

My view has been confirmed by news this morning that the Sons of the Confederate Veterans are erecting an enormous, permanent Confederate flag over a Florida Freeway. It will be "the world's largest" flag.

Of course, they swear it isn't about race, it's about honoring American history and their ancestors. I've said before how much I hate liars - especially those who can look you straight in the face with all sincerity and tell you what is an obvious lie, and then try to make you feel guilty for calling them on it. Dispicable. And that's how I see these people. Because it is absolutely no secret what the Civil War was all about, nor what the point of contention was between the Union and Confederate sides. 620,000 Americans died ending the utterly racist and inhuman practice of slavery. This flag not only tells the world America is still home to such pigs, but also spits on the graves of all who died for the belief that all men are created equal.

Posted by Becky at 10:45 AM |

May 30, 2008

McBush

Posted by Kevin at 02:29 PM |

May 28, 2008

The Black Knight Loses Another Limb

I remember at one point, just before the trial in the original lawsuit by the AFT and OEA against Oregon Taxpayers United, the unions' attorneys commented that they believed when Bill Sizemore saw all the evidence they had against him - evidence which most would view as overwhelming - he would surely crumble. I told them I did not believe he would admit to any wrongdoing, even in the face of all the evidence. I said I thought he would fight through it all the way. I don't think they believed me at the time, but it turns out I was right.

Two years ago, I compared Sizemore to The Black Knight in Monty Python's movie "The Holy Grail," who continues to threaten King Arthur even after the king has chopped off both of his arms and legs. At that time, I didn't think he had the ability to make a comback and keep fighting. I was wrong. Sizemore had only lost an arm or two. But he seems determined to fight until he has no limbs left at all.

No matter how many losses he takes in the courts, he swears "'tis bud a scratch." This time, as I have come to expect, is no different. A judge has found him in contempt of court for violating a court order and moving money around to avoid paying a judgment against him. His response: "Just a flesh wound!"

It looks as if the unions will have to keep hacking off limbs. And face the reality than when they've finally gotten them all (remembering that he is linked in with the "Octopus," so it could take awhile), his response as they walk away will be, "Running away eh? You yellow bastard, Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off!"

Posted by Becky at 03:35 PM |

McClellan Reveals a Recognizable Character

It is with great interest that I have been reading about former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s new book. We all have known for years now that something is really wrong with President Bush beyond any political or philosophical differences we may have with him. He should be able to press his agenda forward, yet for some reason he stirs up a deep level of disdain from even members of his own party that is hard to explain, and they struggle to maintain a wall of separation from his "taint." What is the reason? I think McClellan nails it.

The fundamental feature of Bush’s personality that actually does him in really is not his lack of intellectual curiosity, his lack of candor in leading us into war, or the quality of his advisers, though all of these are roundly criticized by McClellan. The clincher – the real underlying problem – is Bush’s penchant for “self-deception.” Without that, he either would not have done what he has done, or he would have been so blatantly an awful politician and person that he never would have been placed in the Oval Office in the first place.

His self-deception allowed him to avoid the intellectual debate that might have pointed out the flaws in his "instinct," and had he avoided his ill-founded "instinctive" pursuits, he would not have needed to fall back on obfuscation to justify them for the American people. Moreover, had he not been so inclined to deceive himself, he would not have surrounded himself with less-than stellar aides who were better at flattery than policy. Most important, without the self-deception, he would be unable to convincingly project the sort of sincerity and honesty that has basically bamboozled his closest aides and supporters and kept him in the game. People can feel it when someone is lying and knows it; but when the liar is also lying to himself, it becomes very difficult for most people to recognize the dishonesty behind the innocent doe-eyes.

McClellan’s description of Bush’s response to persistent rumors he used cocaine in his younger days clearly reveals the problem:

The book recounts an evening in a hotel suite "somewhere in the Midwest." Bush was on the phone with a supporter and motioned for McClellan to have a seat.

"'The media won't let go of these ridiculous cocaine rumors,' I heard Bush say. 'You know, the truth is I honestly don't remember whether I tried it or not. We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don't remember.'"

"I remember thinking to myself, How can that be?" McClellan wrote. "How can someone simply not remember whether or not they used an illegal substance like cocaine? It didn't make a lot of sense."

Bush, according to McClellan, "isn't the kind of person to flat-out lie."

"So I think he meant what he said in that conversation about cocaine. It's the first time when I felt I was witnessing Bush convincing himself to believe something that probably was not true, and that, deep down, he knew was not true," McClellan wrote. "And his reason for doing so is fairly obvious — political convenience."

In the years that followed, McClellan "would come to believe that sometimes he convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment." McClellan likened it to a witness who resorts to "I do not recall."

"Bush, similarly, has a way of falling back on the hazy memory to protect himself from potential political embarrassment," McClellan wrote, adding, "In other words, being evasive is not the same as lying in Bush's mind."

As a fellow member of the “disgruntled” former right-wing staffer’s club, having gained that unpopular distinction following a stint working for a politician who has the same, uncanny core self-deception problem as the President, and having tried to no avail to warn others of the danger, I am glad McClellan has done such a good job describing this particular personality type.

Nevertheless, the self-deception problem is not reserved to our leaders; far too many American voters engage in it on a regular basis. Bush's supporters and partisans are already jumping up to criticize McClellan ("Scott the Snitch," in the words of Matt Drudge), while assiduously avoiding his message.

Posted by Becky at 10:47 AM |

May 27, 2008

Bush-McCain Challenge in Hillsboro Tomorrow

(from an email)

Bush-McCain Challenge

Where: first and main Downtown Hillsboro (in Hillsboro)

When: Wednesday, May 28, 2008, at 12:00 PM

Tomorrow, MoveOn members are making sure people in Hillsboro know John McCain is just like George Bush.

The Bush-McCain Challenge works like the old Pepsi-Coke Challenge—we'll ask passersby to guess whether a quote or position is Bush's or McCain's. It'll be lots of fun.

Posted by Kevin at 05:58 PM |

Environmentally Friendly Bombs?

Isn't that a contradiction in terms? Apparently not. German scientists are experimenting with replacements for TNT which produce less toxic gasses.

TNT, RDX and other explosives commonly used in military and industrial applications often generate toxic gases upon detonation that pollute the environment. Moreover, the explosives themselves are toxic and can find their way into the environment due to incomplete detonation and as unexploded ordnance. They are also extremely dangerous to handle, as they are highly sensitive to physical shock, such as hard impacts and electric sparks.


To make safer, more environmentally friendly explosives, scientists in Germany turned to a recently explored class of materials called tetrazoles. These derive most of their explosive energy from nitrogen instead of carbon as TNT and others do.


Ummm... okay...

So I guess we're supposed to be happy that the War Pigs have finally discovered their inner Green?

Well, color me jaded but this strikes me as one more way in which the gruesome reality of war is being further sanitized so that it won't disturb our endless quest for material self-indulgence.

Posted by Kevin at 10:58 AM |

May 26, 2008

Politics: a more civil form of warfare?

I don't usually bring conversations from another blog over here but...

Kristin Teigen has a post up at Blue Oregon called Unity Begins At the Grassroots. Down in the comment thread are two comments which struck me.

Steve Bucknum argues

Politics is what we do in lieu of warfare. It is not "nice". There is a titanic battle going on, and you want us to speak softly, don't ruffle the feathers, and come out the other end on a friendly basis. And you call this "civil".

I for one would like the gloves to come off. Not just between Obama and Clinton, but between them and McCain. I don't see how you can have it both ways. A winner wins, and a loser loses. There is no "civil" middle. History has taught us that when you leave you enemies strong, they just attack you again.


To which Ed Bickford responds
Civility is what keeps our civiization from declining into barbarism and totalitarianism. Those who see opponents and dissenters within their own ranks as enemies are marching smartly away from civilization and into the Dark Ages.

Both comments strike me as having the ring of truth. Yet how do we reconcile such diametrically opposed concepts?

Posted by Kevin at 11:46 AM |

May 23, 2008

Write Idea: Dem "establishment" won

The "Write Idea" blog has a very provocative post up suggesting among other things that the Dem establishment won in the recent Oregon Primary.

The Democratic establishment: Democrat establishment candidates won almost every primary race. Barack Obama, Jeff Merkley, Kurt Schrader, and Kate Brown all won and all of them seemed to be the establishment picks. In the Attorney General's race John Kroger beat Greg Macpherson. Macpherson was probably more the establishment candidate, but that was the exception.

I hadn't really thought of it in the same way but I gotta say that it certainly seems a valid arguement.

What do you make of it? Has the "People-powered Howard" Dean-led DNC caused a paradigm shift in the Dem establishment? Or is this a case of George W. Bush having unwittingly united the Dem establishment in a way that no other outside force ever has?

Posted by Kevin at 01:37 PM |

Have They No Shame?

Americans who still believe this country is what they’ve been told it is (I use to believe, too) would expect that in a time of severe hardship, we would, as a nation, be happy to do all we could to help struggling nations feed themselves. Most of us view ourselves as good, generous people and at the same time support the concept of teaching a man to fish, rather than simply providing him with a fish. So I think most people would be shocked to learn that the Republican Administration has slipped a nasty hook into its $770 million aid package that is supposedly intended to ease the world food crisis.

That hook is a provision that would direct the U.S. Agency for International Development to spend $150 million of the total aid package on development farming, which would include the use of genetically modified crops. Although the stated benefit is that these crops are designed to be drought resistant, that benefit really can only be achieved if the farmers use all the right American-produced fertilizers and pesticides, which have to be purchased. Moreover, the seeds from these special GMO crops cannot be saved and planted the following year, as farmers in vulnerable countries have done in the past. Seed must be purchased each year. Clearly, the “aid” provision is purely intended to boost American agribusinesses on the backs of the world’s poorest.

Posted by Becky at 12:50 PM |

Your Fingerprints, Please

Stanley Kubrick once said in an interview with the New York Times about his movie, "A Clockwork Orange," "Man isn't a noble savage, he's an ignoble savage. He is irrational, brutal, weak, silly, unable to be objective about anything where his own interests are involved—that about sums it up. I'm interested in the brutal and violent nature of man because it's a true picture of him. And any attempt to create social institutions on a false view of the nature of man is probably doomed to failure." He also said, "The idea that social restraints are all bad is based on a utopian and unrealistic vision of man. But in this movie you have an example of social institutions gone a bit berserk. Obviously social institutions faced with the law-and-order problem might choose to become grotesquely oppressive. The movie poses two extremes: it shows Alex in his pre-civilized state, and society committing a worse evil in attempting to cure him."

I agree with Kubrick. If I really believed that human beings were capable of refraining themselves from corruption, power trips, vendettas, and other selfish behavior - especially when those human beings are in positions of authority - I would probably not react the way I am reacting to a couple of items that have crossed my radar screen in the last few days.

The first item is a provision in an amendment passed this week by a U.S. Senate Banking Committee as part of “Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008.” The provision will require thousands of Americans to furnish the federal government with their fingerprints if they want to keep their jobs.

The measure the committee passed states that “an indvidual may not engage in the business of a loan originator without first … obtaining a unique identifier.” To obtain this “identifier,” an individual is required to “furnish” to the newly created Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry “information concerning the applicant’s identity, including fingerprints for submission” to the FBI and other government agencies. …

The amendment adopted the fingerprint provisions in a section called the “S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act.” The fingerprints will be part of what the amendment calls “a comprehensive licensing and supervisory database.”

And the database would cover a broad swath of individuals involved with mortgage lending. The amendment defines “loan originator” as anyone who “takes a residential loan application; and offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan for compensation or gain.” It states that even real estate brokers would be covered if they receive any compensation from lenders or mortgage brokers.

This latest invasion into the privacy of Americans is being brought to you through cooperation between both parties, but it galls me to no end that the so-called party of limited government is in any way supporting this. The committee Chairman is Chris Dodd, D-Conn, and the Ranking Member is Richard Shelby, R-Ala. It is these two individuals who have worked together to assure inclusion of this provision.

The second item that caught my eye this week is something that apparently has been in development and trial for years, but somehow is only now coming into most people’s awareness: a technology that allows police to scan license plates while driving through parking lots or along streets, run those plates through a computer database, and be instantly alerted if the car or its owner/driver are wanted for any reason. It can also tell the officer whether the driver is licensed or not, and whether he or she has auto insurance. Forget probable cause. And if someone in government is out to get you, forget justice, too. You can watch this technology in action here. It has already been tested in Los Angeles, by the way.

I know how to recognize these infringements and how to complain about them, but honestly, I have no idea how we actually stop (let alone, reverse) the ever-increasing intrusion into our privacy, which makes American citizens more and more vulnerable to abuse of our rights by individuals who have the deadly combination of power and bad intent. The outrage over loss of civil rights has been palpable for decades now, and yet the clamp-down has continued unabated. It is downright demoralizing.

Is “the land of the free” just an illusion? Is that illusion nearing its end?

Posted by Becky at 12:31 PM |

May 22, 2008

Merkley & Novick together at a unity event

I hope everyone reading this will take the time to view the clip. Steve Novick and Jeff Merkley are both class acts and both amply demonstrate that in this clip.

Gordon Smith is in deep $#!+

Posted by Kevin at 06:56 PM |

May 19, 2008

My Q&A with the Forest Grove News Times

You can read the entire Q&A here: It was a dark and bloggy night…. The print edition which comes out on Wednesday will be edited for space considerations but won't be available online in any case.

Apparently I am Forest Grove's most well-known blogger. It's a dubious distinction, I assure you. But News Times reporter Christian Gaston and I managed to cover a fairly wide range of topics during the Q&A anyway. Topics ranging from what the new technologies mean for the old media... to how blogs feed off of the old media... to why I support Jeff Merkley... to how Rain Sticks work... to why I wanted to be on the Forest Grove Youth Taskforce and how I ended up serving on the Historic Landmarks Board instead.

Posted by Kevin at 08:02 AM |

May 18, 2008

Obama is to McCain as Merkley is to Smith

Barack Obama and Jeff Merkley both come from very modest socio-economic places utterly devoid of political power, as the two linked biographical pieces reveal. Both of them traveled internationally in their youth and were struck and forever changed by the abject poverty they saw.

Obama: “He was clearly shocked by the economic disparity he saw in Pakistan. He couldn't get over the sight of rural peasants bowing to the wealthy landowners they worked for as they passed,”

Merkley: “We were surrounded by families struggling to earn enough money to feed their kids the next day.”

John McCain wasn't exactly raised in opulence, though he does live it now, but he was raised in an environment of great political power as the son and grandson of Navy Admirals. It would be fair to say that he was raised in an environment of comfort, though. And of course he married the heiress of a huge fortune.

Gordon Smith was raised in both affluence and great political power, being the son and heir of a very wealthy business owner who went on to be a powerful official in the Eisenhower Administration. In addition, his relatives, the famed Udal family, were both affluent and politically powerful as well.

Gordon Smith counts John McCain as a "good friend" and is one of his strongest supporters. Not surprising since "birds of a feather flock together" as the old adage says.

Not surprisingly, both McCain and Smith are trying to paint their main political opponents as out of touch with regular Americans. McCain claimed that Obama is insensitive to poor people and out of touch on economic issues. Taking the cue from his pal, Smith claimed that Merkley doesn't "understand our rural economy and our way of life". Which is the usual Rovian GOP tactic of trying to ascribe your own greatest weakness upon your most feared opponent.

Americans and Oregonians are smarter than that.

Posted by Kevin at 11:45 AM |

May 16, 2008

Steve Novick: Democrats are failures

People have often asked me why, after leaving the Republican Party in 1990 out of disgust with their non-existant morality and ethics, why I didn't join the Democratic Party. It was because I didn't see any moral or ethical highground among either political party. And just weeks after having joined the Democratic Party specifically because I'd been inspired enough to do so, along comes Steve Novick to remind me why I'd made the decision I had back in 1990 and why I'd stuck with it for so many years.

Steve Novick rolled out a new TV ad this past Sunday and pledged to close out the campaign on a positive note. But, literally as he was making that pledge, he knew that the following morning his campaign would be mailing out a bizzare attack on Jeff Merkley because he hadn't been able to get enough votes to pass legislation to provide health care coverage to uninsured children.

“(Jeff Merkley) failed to deliver on Healthy Kids legislation that would have increased taxes on cigarettes. The result, 125,000 Oregon kids today are without health care.”

In what the Associated Press' Julia Silverman characterized as "And few campaigns are above last-minute flame-throwing she noted that Novick's attack mailer "drew howls of protest from health care advocates."
"No one worked harder than Jeff Merkley to pass Healthy Kids," said Maribeth Healey, who directs Oregonians for Health Security

The Oregonian's Jeff Mapes links to a copy of the Novick attack mailer (pdf warning) and noted several pissed off legislators.
"I was absolutely livid" after seeing the mailer, said Rep. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, a Merkley supporter who worked on the cigarette tax. Merkley "went to the mat" for the issue and the blame for its failure should be "with the House Republicans and the tobacco industry."

The web-based PolitickerOR focused on several truly pissed off unions including the SEIU, AFL-CIO and the Oregon Nurses Association.
“Speaker Merkley’s leadership and dedication on this issue is unquestionable,” the ONA said in a release.

and...
Tom Chamberlain, President of the Oregon AFL-CIO, was especially upset. Chamberlin recounted his experience watching Mekley attempt to push the Healthy Kids Plan through the Legislature before it was referred to the voters as Measure 50, and said that the Speaker “did everything he could to get it passed.”

Chamberlain went on to say,

"House Republicans and the tobacco industry made it their mission to keep the Healthy Kids Plan from being enacted and keep children as potential smokers," said Chamberlain. "This below the belt attack from Novick doesn't represent the kind of leadership Oregon needs."

Chamberlain noted that he has been “pretty silent, we haven’t responded to the tit for tat [in this race] but this is over the top.”


It is strangely fitting that a caricature of a Progressive politician would reduce an important issue to a caricature of the truth. And the truth is that Speaker Merkley has a 31/29 Democratic majority - the slimmest mathimatical majority possible.

Speaker Merkley not only had to hold his 31 Dems together but also had to peel off 5 Republicans to get the required 3/5ths majority of 36 yes votes. Merkley had the votes in a preliminary vote, but on the final vote one of the Republicans flipped, dropping the Ayes to 35 and dooming the bill.

It's real easy for a 3rd string Armchair QB like Novick to talk a good game. Hell, over-weight Americans do that every Sunday during NFL season, all from the comfort of a LazyBoy and a bowl of cheesy dip. But they don't show up at pre-season training with a bag of chips and sweating profusely to dress down the star QB - who is in shape and good at what he does - for not being perfect.

Posted by Kevin at 06:37 PM |

May 14, 2008

Novick takes money from Carlyle Group big shot

Details are at Portland Mercury Blogtown

Who is the Carlyle Group?

Kinda puts Novick's complaints about the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's (DSCC) money into a new light, huh?

Posted by Kevin at 04:45 PM |

May 13, 2008

This is cute

As a single parent of two daughters I must confess to always having had a huge soft spot for girls. Which is why I had a very visceral reaction to this YouTube the first time I saw it. Heck, I still do. Yes, I'm a political junky and I like that part of it too. But first and foremost I'm a father.

Posted by Kevin at 05:34 PM |

Why the Dead Bodies Now?

I've noticed over the past week that all of a sudden the mainstream news websites are displaying photographs of dead bodies without any warning. None of the usual disclaimers or requirements that you click through before being able to see the pictures. We've seen right at the top of the page photos of bloated corpses floating in the water in Myanmar, and now we're seeing photos of half-buried bodies in the wreckage of China. No warnings of graphic content. It's just sitting out there for all to see.

So why does this bother me? Because, if you remember, we were NOT allowed to see the dead bodies of our own sons, brothers, and fathers returning home from Iraq. We couldn't even see the coffins lined up. Something important like that, which would have brought home to us all the price of our decision to invade Iraq and perhaps even forced our leaders to be straight with us about why they felt that was necessary, we were not allowed to see.

So why are we now suddenly being shown dead bodies?

I am not personally frightened by photographs of dead bodies, though I think many people, and especially children, are. Rather, I feel that showing them so freely robs the dead and their families of their decency and privacy, and that is wrong. Imagine if the corpses we were seeing were Americans who were victims of tornadoes, earthquakes, or floods. You'll notice we haven't been shown any of those victims.

And that brings me to something else that I think it's high time we each faced in our own hearts. Last night I overheard someone saying that China, with all its billions of people, was no worse off for losing 10,000 in an earthquake. It was as if he was talking about dollars, rather than human beings. And I think if we're being honest with ourselves, most of us would react a lot differently to photographs of dead Caucasians than we would to photographs of dead Asians or dead Arabs or dead Africans, which somehow seem more distant, less frightening, and maybe even less human. Could that be the reason why we're seeing photos of dead people in Myanmar and China, but not in America, where we are also having some pretty hefty attacks by Mother Nature? And isn't it time we all face the racist beast inside and conquer it once and for all?

Posted by Becky at 08:40 AM |

May 11, 2008

God Bless Michelle Obama

I honestly have been offended at the negative reaction people have had to Michelle Obama's comments about finally being proud of America. The undertone is obvious to me. Best case, her critics were displaying a false patriotism. Worse case, it was bigoted: How dare a woman be so assertive, and how dare she judge the administrations of white men! Sorry, righties; that's how I see it.

Well, now Michelle has really proven her spunk, and God bless her for it: She has put her foot down on the matter of a Hillary Clinton Vice Presidency. No way, now how.

I love this woman!

Posted by Becky at 03:28 PM |

May 10, 2008

New Poll: Merkley ties Smith, Novick lags behind

Now we have hard evidence showing why Gordon Smith has singled out Jeff Merkley in his latest attack ad - a new poll: Merkley and Smith in statistical tie, Novick lags behind

One of the most compelling aspects to this new poll is that it's a General Election match-up. Which means that it reflects all Oregonians rather than just Democrats as the Primary Election polls have done.

Steve Novick's supporters have consistently argued that his quirky, acidic style will match up better against Gordon Smith in the G.E. But this new poll, especially the trend lines it reveals, shows that it's Jeff Merkley who matches up better against Gordon Smith. Which is why Smith is trying to influence the Dem Primary.

Posted by Kevin at 10:43 AM |

May 09, 2008

BREAKING: Desperate Gordo tries to cherrypick Dem opponent

Last night Gordon Smith launched a false negative ad attacking Jeff Merkley, sending a clear message that Smith is cheering for Steve Novick to win the Democratic primary. Merkley will be joined by Democratic leaders to respond directly to Smith TODAY at the DemoForum at Kwan's Cuisine, 835 Commercial St. SE, Salem at noon.

Why is Gordon Smith attacking Jeff Merkley alone this time rather than both Merkley and Novick like his last ad?

I don't think there's any doubt but that they've been doing their own polling and know that Merkley is pulling away from Novick. Otherwise why would they bother to spend the money on this new ad? Why not make it generic like the last one? Because of their internal polling!

Posted by Kevin at 01:02 PM |

May 08, 2008

Reich-wing RINO WATCH endorses Novick

RINO WATCH endorses the "Hook".

It seems they were impressed by Novick's penchant for calling other Democrats names:

The "Hook" has it right....

*Hillary Clinton --- "coward" & "traitress"
*Darlene Hooley --- the "lie"
*Barack Hussein Obama" --- "nothing to like" & a "special-interest fraud"


I like the "Hook".....


But it's a primary only endorsement. LOL


Posted by Kevin at 11:31 PM |

May 07, 2008

Rush to Destruction

Gawd, I hate Rush Limbaugh. His snide approach to politics has become so stomach-turning and divisive to me that I cannot believe I actually used to listen to him. And it's not just his attitude about Barack Obama that gets to me, his response earlier this week to Hillary Clinton's joke that he had a crush on her was shockingly spiteful. He's an ugly man who is fostering the ugliness in a lot of Americans. For his sake, he had better hope that Hell is a figment of the imagination.

Posted by Becky at 05:54 PM |

Steve Novick is no Mark Hatfield!

There's an interesting post by Novick supporter Leslie Carlson over at Blue Oregon called Oregon: we're for mavericks In it Leslie cites former Governor and Senator Mark Hatfield in trying to make the case that Oregonians are going to vote for Steve Novick because he too is a "maverick."

As a Merkley supporter I avoided trying to counter her argument, largely because she'd written an interesting post which made what seems to be a reasonable argument. But I've been a Hatfield fan for several decades and after several commenters talked about Hatfield I decided to chime in. Here's what I said:

About Hatfield...

Jeff Merkley referenced his internship with Sen. Hatfield at a fundraiser with Max Cleland, Jim Rassman and Barbara Roberts a few days ago.

He spoke about the Presidential Fellowship he won and how he won it. Apparently there were half a dozen openings and a dozen or so candidates who had made it to the final stage - getting grilled by a roomfull of Flag Officers (Generals and Admirals).

When it was Jeff's turn an officer bluntly asked him why they should pick him when he'd interned for Hatfield and Hatfield routinely voted against military appropriations Bills.

Demonstrating early his ability to think on his feet and turn a seeming negative into a positive, Jeff responded with the suggestion that he would bring a fresh perspective which was lacking in the Pentagon and that it would contribute to more balanced analysis which would be more useful to the Flag Officers than not having it.

Merkley walked out of there with a Presidential Fellowship and did it in the finest tradition of Senator Hatfield.

Steve Novick is no Hatfield. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Where Novick uses derogatory and demeaning language to describe those he disagrees with, Hatfield was scrupulously civil and relied upon the strength of both his convictions and of his argument and then let the chips fall where they may. The only trait they really share is as contrarians. Other than that Novick is essentially the anti-Hatfield.

Just read how Senator Paul Sarbane (D-MD) described Hatfield at the CRC dedication in 2004:

He lauded Hatfield's "civility, vision, intelligence and the way he preferred reasoned discourse to invective...I served with him for 20 years and it was a joy to work with him. Mark Hatfield brought a dignity, indeed a nobility to our politics. He set a very high standard of public service. Mark," he said, turning to Hatfield, "we'll do our very best to measure up to your example."
Novick is no Mark Hatfield!
Steve Novick may be a type of "maverick," but he's certainly not the type that Oregonians repeatedly elected in Mark Hatfield. In fact, it seems to me that Jeff Merkley is significantly more like Mark Hatfield than Steve Novick ever has been. Which shouldn't surprise anyone. Afterall, he did intern for Hatfield and to some extent was mentored by Hatfield.

Examples of why are below the fold

Novick on Obama:


Novick on Clinton:

Posted by Kevin at 03:20 PM |

Politicker's Pindell unwittingly shows why Novick is losing

The national Politicker site has a newish blogger named James Pindell who is doing a segment called the Pindell Report. Pindell says that he'll be using "the resources of Politicker's reporting in states to help tell the national political story." So far he's not doing such a great job of getting it right.

Case in point: The newest edition of the Pindell Report suggests (in the form of a question) that Obama's strong showing through April was responsible for the DSCC (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee) downgrading Oregon to its 2nd tier of targeted states. He then goes on to attempt an argument in support of his conclusion. Only thing is... he eschews supporting data in favor of spinning a fanciful tale.

What happened in Oregon in April? A SurveyUSA poll was released and much ballyhooed in Oregon, showing Steve Novick ahead of all challengers at 23% and Jeff Merkley lagging behind at 11%. The very next day the DSCC downgraded Oregon from 1st tier to 2nd tier.

But rather than accept such a clear cause & effect explanation for the DSCC's action, Pindell decided yesterday that somehow Obama must be responsible. He then went on to suggest that Novick is the one who will benefit from Obama's popularity in Oregon, citing newly registered 18-24 year old voters in particular.

If he wants to be taken seriously Pindell ought to have checked the SurveyUSA poll released this last Friday May 2nd before exposing his ignorance in a published report. Not only has Merkley surged in just three weeks to erase Novick's lead in the polls (casting doubt on the veracity of the earlier poll, but that's a side issue), the poll's cross-tab data reveals that Merkley's support among 18-34 year olds nearly tripled. Novick growth with that group less than doubled. So not only is Merkley surging overall, he's surging among the very demographic that Pindell cited.

But that's actually not even the worst of it for Pindell. Contrary to his earlier claim that he'd be using "the resources of Politicker's reporting in states to help tell the national political story," he didn't check with PolitickerOR's post from this past Sunday. If he had then he'd have noticed this buried gem in a piece about Merkley's new ad: "some insiders – maybe even most of them – believe that Republican incumbent Gordon Smith would rather face Novick in the general election." Which really just stated the obvious.

Posted by Kevin at 08:27 AM |

May 06, 2008

Gingrich Discovers "Catastrophic Collapse of Trust"

Well, it's about time someone noticed. Newt Gingrich has called an emergency meeting of House Republicans to discuss Americans' "catastrophic collapse of trust in Republicans." To woo the flock back into the fold, Gingrich has outlined nine acts of “real change” he wants Republican leaders to consider, including a gas tax holiday and a moratorium on earmarks.

Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman, said, “Leader Boehner certainly agrees - and has said repeatedly -- that Republicans can only succeed this year by being agents of change and reform. The American people know that Washington is broken, and we have to convince them that we can fix it.”

I am reminded of the words of Jeff Spicoli, after he and star football player "Jefferson's" little brother totaled Jefferson's hot new car:

"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it."

No, you can't.

The car is destroyed, and now that it's time to be held accountable for the results of their reckless joy-ride, the Republicans are panicking. The temporary bandaid solutions Gingrich is proposing (a gas tax holiday and earmark moratorium) will only delay the inevitable pain. I hope Republican voters aren't brain-dead enough to believe otherwise.

Posted by Becky at 11:48 AM |

May 04, 2008

UNCOUNTED in Oregon

(editor's note: the following was shamelessly copied more or less verbatim from an email sent out by the PDA. Some editing was done because I thought a slightly different layout would work better.)

Uncounted is a must-see film, featuring PDA Board Member Rep. John Conyers and PDA-endorsed Congressional Candidate Clint Curtis. This is a great chance to see Uncounted with the filmmaker.

Uncounted

Oregon's PDA team is working with the filmmakers who created UNCOUNTED, an explosive new documentary that shows how the election fraud that changed the outcome of the 2004 election led to even greater fraud in 2006--and now looms as an unbridled threat to the outcome of the 2008 election.

See the film, then participate in a Q&A session with the filmmaker, David Earnhardt:

See the trailer.

UNCOUNTED is a wakeup call to all Americans. Beyond increasing public awareness, the film inspires greater citizen involvement in fixing a broken electoral system.

If you can't make it, or even if you can, get your copy of UNCOUNTED here and hold a house party to share this critical information with your friends and neighbors. (PDA earns a small stipend from the sale of each movie.)

P.S. Please tell all your friends to sign the Healthcare NOT Warfare petition.

Posted by Kevin at 06:41 PM |

140K strong Humane Society endorses Merkley!

(previously posted at Blue Oregon)

The Humane Society endorsed Jeff Merkley today. He's their only endorsement in Oregon and they only made two other Primary Election endorsements this year - Kucinich in Ohio and Lautenberg in New Jersey.

Now this is an endorsement which intrigues me. Mostly because either I've never noticed their endorsements before or I just never thought of The Humane Society as the endorsing kind of organization. Either way, this one came out of the blue for me.

Perhaps this explanation from their website is why:

HSLF is a nonpartisan organization that evaluates candidates based only on a single criterion: where they stand on animal welfare. HSLF does not judge candidates based on party affiliation or any other issue.

But it turns out that the HSLF does endorse General Election candidates in most states. In 2006 they endorsed (by my count) 447 candidates in 45 states, including our own Representatives Wu, Blumenauer, DeFazio and Hooley - all of whom won their respective races. This too is interesting to me because in the FAQ section of the HSLF's website they note that a candidate's "chances for winning the seat" is part of the endorsement criteria. Which, frankly, understates the HSLF's emphasis on endorsing winning candidates.

Doing a bit of rudimentary math - 447 endorsees, 44 of whom lost - yields a winning ratio for the 2006 HSLF endorsee slate of over 90%.

I don't know of any other endorsing entity which boasts that high of a win ratio for endorsees, do you?

In the comment thread at Blue Oregon it was pointed out that there are two "Humane Society" entities in the United States. One is the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) and the other is The American Humane Society (AHS). HSUS is the parent organization of the HSLF which endorsed Merkley.

According to Wikipedia, HSUS is the larger of the two with 10 million members nationwide and 140K members here in Oregon. Which I believe makes the HSLF the single biggest endorsing entity in this race.

Posted by Kevin at 12:05 PM |

May 01, 2008

New Poll - surging Merkley ties Novick

SurveyUSA just released the latest poll commissioned by KATU. Merkley and Novick are statistically tied, according to SurveyUSA's analysis. Novick got 30% and Merkley got 28% with the margin of error being 3.9%. Here's SurveyUSA's own analysis:

Oregon U.S. Senate Primary: Merkley Support Nearly Triples, Now Tied with Novick -- In a Democratic Primary in Oregon for United States Senate today, 05/01/2008, three weeks till votes are counted, attorney Steve Novick and state House Speaker Jeff Merkley tie, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KATU-TV Portland. Novick today gets 30%, Merkley 28%, within the survey's 3.9 percentage point margin of sampling error. 4 other candidates in single digits. 26% of voters say they are undecided, or will vote for some other unnamed candidate. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released 04/07/08, Novick is up 7 points, Merkley is up 16 points. Among women, Merkley's support has tripled and he now leads Novick 30% to 25%. Among men, Novick is up 7, Merkley is up 8. Among Pro-Life voters, Merkely's support has quadrupled. Among voters age 50+, Merkley had trailed Novick by 12, now tied. As evidence of how closely matched and fiercely fought the contest now is: Among Conservatives, the two are tied. Among Moderates, the two are tied. Among Liberals, the two are tied.

I don't know what to make of the quadrupled support among pro-life voters except that it seems like it must be a reflection of Merkley's strong veteran support.

The tripled support among women makes sense. The Merkley campaign specifically targeted women with their first TV ad, and did it by highlighting his strong support for abortion rights. Which is why I'm left to speculate about the pro-life voter surge too.

Nits to pick are easy to find. Perhaps the biggest one is that just 650 of the 1800 people surveyed are deemed likely to vote according to SurveyUSA's own analysis. Also, 194 of those surveyed weren't registered to vote when they were surveyed and may have missed the deadline to register which fell smack in the middle of the three-day survey.

Posted by Kevin at 06:46 PM |

Max Cleland and Jeff Merkley - YouTube style

Posted by Kevin at 05:57 PM |