Talk Talk: Open Surge; Open Primaries

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Every weekend CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogues compiled on Sunday, February 22, 2009 "Open Surge; Open Primaires" after watching selections from "Hardball with Chris Matthews," "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," and a Charlie Rose interview. Salit: So, we're losing the war. And Odierno, and later Petraeus, come in and say the thing has to be completely redesigned and here's what we have to do. We've got to put more troops in. We have to turn the American army into the "glue" that holds the society together.   Newman: And we have to pay the Sunnis. That's how we win the war.   Salit: Yes. And, as you're referencing, Ricks goes on to talk about how, as they got to know the insurgency, both on the ground and in detention, they learned that most of these guys were being paid to fight us. And all the Americans had to do to turn the situation around was to offer them more money than Al Qaeda was paying them.   Newman: A dollar more.   Salit: Yes.   Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.  If you haven't signed the Open Primary Letter to President Obama, go tohttp://www.gopetition.com/petitions/independentvoting.html to sign the letter.

Talk Talk: Doing Nothing

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Below are excerpts from this week's Talk Talk, Doing Nothing. Every Sunday CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogue on Sunday, February 1, 2009 after watching "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer", a Charlie Rose interview and "The McLaughlin Group".   Newman: So, psychologically speaking, this is very misunderstood. We live in a culture which says you have to make something happen. Well, you don't. You simply don't.   Salit: I don't mean to suggest now that Obama is necessarily keyed into the precise thing you're talking about here. But I was struck in the interview that he did on Al Arabiya, talking about dispatching George Mitchell as his personal envoy to the Middle East, when he said that his instructions to Mitchell were to go and to listen to people and that the U.S. has too often begun by dictating rather than listening.   Newman: See, Obama could have cut to the chase here: You want to know what your mission is George? Just go. That's the totality of what we can do    Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.   If haven't already, check out the slide show from the CUIP National Conference of Independents at which over 500 independents from around the country participated.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Voter registration soars (Lawerence Journal World News) Democrats now make up the largest voting bloc at 27,357 people, compared with 27,283 independent voters and 23,951 Republicans. The rest are either Libertarian or Reform party voters.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Milkovich alleges voter irregularities (Shreveport Times) Conservative Democrat John Milkovich, who Saturday finished a close third in a four-way bid for that party's entry in the coming general election for the 4th Congressional District seat, claims independent voters who wanted to cast ballots for him were refused.
• Brown is best candidate for secretary of state-The veteran senator can offer bipartisan leadership (Statesman Journal) The Secretary of State's Office has suffered a severe case of partisanship under Democrat Bill Bradbury. Any of the three candidates would be an improvement from that perspective. Rick Dancer goes so far as to call for making the position nonpartisan. He also is a supporter of the proposal for open primaries, Measure 65.
• Open primary? Yes. The rest? Forget it (The Forest Grove News-Times)
• Have you heard? 3 are vying for Oregon's top elections job (The Oregonian) Rick Dancer on Measure 65: "It rubs me the wrong way as a journalist that 25 percent of our people are registered to vote, but they can't vote in the primary," he says.

CAMPAIGN

• Obama’s Victory Road? - Debate Over, Now on to Florida's I-4 Corridor. (The Washington Independent) That’s because the I-4 corridor may be the most important political real estate in the nation. Running through Tampa, Lakeland, Daytona Beach and Orlando, the corridor holds the key to the biggest chunk of independent voters in the biggest of all battleground states.
• Obama picks up second debate win, poll says (CNN) Fifty-four percent of those identifying themselves as independents said the Illinois senator performed best, with 28 percent saying that McCain did the better job.
• Why McCain Blinked (by Joe Conason, NY Observer) Senator McCain knew he was addressing independent voters, so he restrained himself from plunging straight into the gutter
• War bad idea, even when it’s Obama’s (Cumberland Sentinel) Unfortunately, the idea of fighting wars to serve various undescribed “strategic interests” looms large in the political discourse, both among elected officials and the foreign policy think tanks they rely upon for advice.

NEW YORK POLITICS--The Mayor and Term Limits

• Friends of Mayor Bloomberg make contributions to a third party (NY Daily News/Daily Politics)
• Mayor Bloomberg's term bill unleashes unlimited City Council debate (BY FRANK LOMBARDI, DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU)
• Council Speaker undecided on plan to extend term limits (Newsday)
• Quinn’s Silence on Term Limits May Reflect Conflict of Ambition and Past Stand (NY Times)

US Foreign Policy and We The People

Bill Moyers interviewed conservative historian Andrew Bacevich on Aug. 15. Below is an excerpt. Transcripts to Bill Moyers Journal are available on the website.

ANDREW BACEVICH: Our foreign policy is not something simply concocted by people in Washington D.C. and imposed on us. Our foreign policy is something that is concocted in Washington D.C., but it reflects the perceptions of our political elite about what we want, we the people want. And what we want, by and large - I mean, one could point to many individual exceptions - but, what we want, by and large is, we want this continuing flow of very cheap consumer goods.

We want to be able to pump gas into our cars regardless of how big they may happen to be, in order to be able to drive wherever we want to be able to drive. And we want to be able to do these things without having to think about whether or not the book's balanced at the end of the month, or the end of the fiscal year. And therefore, we want this unending line of credit.

BILL MOYERS: You intrigued me when you wrote that "The fundamental problem facing the country will remain stubbornly in place no matter who is elected in November." What's the fundamental problem you say is not going away no matter whether it's McCain or Obama?

ANDREW BACEVICH: What neither of these candidates will be able to, I think, accomplish is to persuade us to look ourselves in the mirror, to see the direction in which we are headed. And from my point of view, it's a direction towards ever greater debt and dependency.

BILL MOYERS: And you write that "What will not go away, is a yawning disparity between what Americans expect, and what they're willing or able to pay." Explore that a little bit.

ANDREW BACEVICH: Well, I think one of the ways we avoid confronting our refusal to balance the books is to rely increasingly on the projection of American military power around the world to try to maintain this dysfunctional system, or set of arrangements that have evolved over the last 30 or 40 years.

But, it's not the American people who are deploying around the world. It is a very specific subset of our people, this professional army. We like to call it an all-volunteer force-

BILL MOYERS: Right.

ANDREW BACEVICH: -but the truth is, it's a professional army, and when we think about where we send that army, it's really an imperial army. I mean, if as Americans, we could simply step back a little bit, and contemplate the significance of the fact that Americans today are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ask ourselves, how did it come to be that organizing places like Iraq and Afghanistan should have come to seem to be critical to the well-being of the United States of America.

Read the entire interview here.

Talk/Talk: Tough Guys?

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Below are excerpts from this week's Talk Talk, Tough Guys?. Every Sunday CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogue on Sunday, August 17, 2008 after watching "The Chris Matthews Show", "Meet the Press" and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos".

Newman: OK. And back to McCain. The thing about McCain that is interesting and curious is that McCain did not make his national reputation as a tough guy. That's a part of his appeal. Actually, though, he made his national reputation as being something other than a tough guy. He was for cooperation across the aisle. He was open. He was for hearing what's best from the other side. Those aren't tough things to do. Some people might even perceive them as wishy-washy things to do. So, that's who he is. But now they're trying to transform him into a tough guy. Why? Because now he wants to court the Republican right. He wants to maximize the value of his relationship to Bush. So they've got a contradiction on their hands.

Salit: In other words, McCain's the guy who sat down with Ted Kennedy on immigration, the guy who got with Russ Feingold and does the McCain-Feingold bill...

Newman: George Bush is a tough guy. Not John McCain. McCain's a straight shooter, that was his whole image. And arguably, that's the opposite of being a tough guy.

Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Oregon Independents Limited In Primary Choices (KOBI NBC5)
• Can Obama change America's political map? (By Al From, Politico)
• Independent Electoral Movement Sprouts with Former Democrats and Republicans Challenging Their Former Party on Iraq (by Kevin Zeese, Dissident Voice)
• Kesselring files for seat in Fla. House-GOP member is running unaffiliated (Ocala Star-Banner)

Talk/Talk: Katrina (Not the Hurricane) Blows the Establishment Cool

Sunday, April 6, 2008
Below are excerpts from this week's Talk Talk, Katrina (Not the Hurricane) Blows the Establishment Cool. Every Sunday CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogue on Sunday, April 6, 2008 after watching "The Chris Matthews Show" and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Newman: That's an alternative position to the U.S. playing the role of global mediator in a military fashion. And that debate will likely be what the general election comes down to. But, we're not having a general election right now.

Salit: Right.

Newman: So, it's too early for that to emerge. But on the other hand, it's too late for any more primary issues to emerge, even with nine states and Puerto Rico still to happen.

Salit: Yes.

Newman: So, we're kind of in "no man's" or "no woman's" land.

Salit: Well put.

Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• OH: Democrats came out in droves on Tuesday (The Chronicle-Telegram)
• The Two-Party Mass O’ Junk: My Hope! (The Moderate Voice by T-Steel) Independent voter T-Steel wants Obama to run independent -- he's probably not the only voter who does!
• McCain Must Attract Independents to Beat Clinton or Obama (By Liz Halloran, US News & World Report)
  

PENNSYLVANIA:

• Voters rush to switch political sides (Wilkes-Barre News Times Leader)
• Large numbers changing party registration for April 22 primary (Public Radio Capitol News)

MISSISSIPPI:

• Obama Slightly Ahead Of Clinton In Mississippi (All Headline News)
• Mississippi Going Obama, But Clinton Faring Stronger Than Expected (InsiderAdvantage and Southern Political Report)

TEXAS: Footnotes From the Texas Primary - One gay voter's change of heart leads him to a change of party. (Advocate)

WYOMING: STAT OF THE DAY (AP) Unaffiliated voters = 10% of electorate

NORTH CAROLINA: We’re in play (Blue Ridge Now)

OBAMA CAMPAIGN:

• Downside of Obama Strategy - Losses in Big States Spur General-Election Fears (Washington Post) NOTE: Spur General Election fears among WHOM?
• Playing by Clinton Rules (David Brooks, New York Times) "A candidate should never betray the core theory of his campaign, or head down a road that leads to that betrayal. Barack Obama doesn’t have an impressive record of experience or a unique policy profile. New politics is all he’s got. He loses that, and he loses everything. Every day that he looks conventional is a bad day for him."

HANKSTER two cents: David Brooks' point is well made. If you play by Clinton rules, Clinton rules. The ability to set the agenda is critical to any political campaign. If Barack Obama goes back to the issue of the war, he has a better shot at winning the Dem nomination. Forget her experience. Forget national security. Forget the economy (and apparently the establishment has forgotten about the economy in any serious way.... This is a political football now.)

This is a partisan election about the war in Iraq. The American people have turned against the war. Independent voters lead the charge in 2006. We are anti-war. This is the deciding factor of the election.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• The voters no one can take for granted--independent voters are on the rise (Los Angeles Times)


• New Hampshire's independent voters at 44% big factor in primary (Detroit Free Press)


• Independents may get to vote in primary (The Arizona Republic)


• 36 percent of Latino voters are independent (Chicago Sun-Times)


• Kinky Friedman dons Democrat tag (Star-Telegram)


• Senate Bill 924 asks voters to decide whether to get out of Iraq (Sacramento Bee)


• Obama, Kucnich endorse IRV (Instant Runoff Voting website - a project of FairVote.org)

Conversations on Iraq

Very important post on The Political Lizard "The Irresponsible Defeatists" about and I hope a lot of people read it. I agree wholeheartedly that "we need leadership; not political rhetoric and political pandering." And I would only add that I don't think that leadership will be coming from either of the two major parties, their candidates or their strategies to get votes. We the people will have to take responsibility for the issues raised by The Lizard. I agree that Iraq is a defeat for the liberals/Dems just as much as it is for the neo-cons/Repubs. That's why a strong independent movement that can rally non-partisans is so important right now. A continuation of Clinton/Bush? I think not! Let's keep organizing at the grassroots!
Nancy

The Audacity of Australian PM Howard

The Austrailan Prime Minister warns Americans not to vote for Obama or any Democrat...

Ohio: Independents oppose the war

...Iraq will likely be a key issue in the 2008 election — perhaps the key issue — and the poll showed that there is a sharp partisan divide, with Republicans backing the president and Democrats and independents in opposition.... (Middletown Journal - Ohio)

Iraq: Where are we going and who will lead?

Massive opposition by the American people to the current policy in Iraq, bipartisan jockying in Congress, Neocon strategy -- where are we going?

The Fog Over Iraq by David Brooks, The Day (CT)
If the Democrats don't like the U.S. policy on Iraq over the next six months, they have themselves partly to blame. There were millions of disaffected Republicans and independents ready to coalesce around some alternative way forward, but the Democrats never came up with anything remotely serious. ...

GOP, Democrats Skirmish Over Iraq Plan By ANNE FLAHERTY Associated Press Writer
Senators who back President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq tried Friday to bolster support for the unpopular strategy while Democrats plotted ways to derail the increase and force changes in war policies....

Where are the Republicans for Peace? by Doug Bandow (antiwar.com)
...But virtually no one treats such administration claims seriously any more. Many leading conservatives, such as Rich Lowry of National Review, now admit that carnage in Baghdad's streets overshadows, say, increased cell phone sales. In a remarkable article entitled "Time to Change Course," conservative journalist William Tucker acknowledged: "the horrible thing about Iraq right now is that if you read all liberal criticisms of the past four years, you realize it is basically right."...

Pres. Bush has purged his opposition to his Iraq strategy -- Bush, Blair, Olmert: Rush to Armageddon By: Robert Parry /Consortium News Arab American News (MI)

Iraq: Vermont reps oppose surge

Vermont's two U.S. senators and House member said Tuesday they oppose Bush's plan to add more troops in Iraq, and appeared poised to support efforts to block funding for that plan.(Rutland Herald)