Talk Talk: Who is Obama in 2012?

Every week CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist/philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogues compiled on Sunday, February 28, 2010 after watching selections from "Hardball with Chris Matthews," "The Charlie Rose Show," "Tavis Smiley" and "Meet the Press."  

Newman: So choosing comprehensive healthcare reform as their dominant cause meant that the partnership, such as it is, between Obama and the Democratic Party, was going to be dominated by the Democratic Party.

Salit: So, it's not that Obama turned the issue over to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. It's that it came from them.

Newman: Yes. I don't know that Obama fully agreed to that part but I don't think he had much choice. The party did win that "internal" fight.

Salit: Yes.

Newman: And now Obama is obliged to lead this fight.

Salit: I'm assuming the Democrats have a Plan B.

Newman: Of course. The Democratic Party are not dumbbells.

Read Talk/Talk in its entirety here.

Talk Talk: Obama's Entaglements Or So What If He Is A Socialist?

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Every week CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist/philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogues compiled on Sunday, September 6, 2009 after watching selections from "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," "Hardball with Chris Matthews," and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

Salit: I already have a working title for this week's Talk/Talk.

Newman: Which is?

Salit: "Obama's Entanglements." No doubt it's something of a redundancy, because being President of the United States is all about entanglements. But the two in particular that we'll talk about today are Afghanistan and the fight over health care.

Newman: I have an alternative title.

Salit: What is it?

Newman: My title is "So What If He Is a Socialist?"

Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 9/9/09

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Read this article for a good straight-forward anti-socialist perspective on the health care debate. The conversation centers around whether we want a country with a spirit of collective work and collective good, or an "every man for himself" culture. What do you think?

• The Limits of Self-Hate (By Lisa Fabrizio, American Spectator) Because, at its heart, the true goal of "progressives" is the repudiation of all that this country was founded on; particularly the right of its people to govern themselves in a way that counts the protections of private property and personal freedom as sacrosanct, and is codified under the tenets of natural law as defined by the Judeo-Christian ethic.

OPEN PRIMARIES

California Repubs don't want "decline to state" voters...

• State GOP about to shoot itself in the foot — again (By thomas d. elias, Mercury News) State Sen. Abel Maldonado, possibly the party's leading moderate, calls the exclusionary plan "just crazy "... I've never, ever seen a business "... run by eliminating 25 percent of the market share. Anyone would walk away from that deal."

GOVERNORS RACES

Timothy Cahill will announce today for independent run for Gov in MA; Independent Chris Daggett on a roll in NJ...

• Cahill Candidacy Likely to Roil Mass. Governor Race (By Emily Cadei, CQ Politics) The Boston Globe is reporting that Massachusetts state Treasurer Timothy Cahill will announce an independent run for governor on Wednesday, shaking up an already charged 2010 governor's race.
• Cahill to announce candidacy for governor (By Andrea Estes, Boston Globe)
• Cahill set to launch run for governor- But state treasurer who left Democratic Party faces hurdles as an independent (By Andrea Estes, Boston Globe)
• N.J. candidate Daggett goes for humor in TV ad (By Cynthia Burton, Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Indie Candidate Daggett Lampoons Rivals In TV Ad (RealClearPolitics) with VIDEO

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY

WFP has somewhat of a base in Queens and the Dem party insiders are going after them...

• Public advocate candidates get nasty in TV debate (BY ERIN EINHORN AND CELESTE KATZ, DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU) Queens City Councilman Eric Gioia started the digs early, using his opening statement to go after former public advocate Mark Green and Brooklyn Councilman Bill de Blasio as "insiders" who "sure know how to play the same old political games." He slammed de Blasio for his ties to the pro-labor Working Families Party and its for-profit political consulting arm, which Gioia called an "election funding scam."
• Minor parties push into primaries (Crains New York)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 9/7/09

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

According to the polls, independents are abandoning unions, Obama and the progressive agenda. Or did the unions, Pres. Obama and progressives abandon independents to the right?

• Labor Day, support for unions plunges to all-time low (By: BYRON YORK, Chief Political Correspondent, Washington Examiner) Broken down by political party, Gallup found support for unions has fallen the most among critically-important independent voters. Last year, 63 percent of independents said they approved of unions. Now, just 44 percent say the same thing.
• Labor Unions See Sharp Slide in U.S. Public Support-For first time, fewer than half of Americans approve of labor unions (by Lydia Saad, Gallup)
• Obama is fast losing white voters' support (By Peter Wallsten, LA Times) New surveys show steep declines in Obama's approval ratings among whites -- including Democrats and independents -- who were crucial elements of the diverse coalition that helped elect the country's first black president. Pew Research crosstabs
• Bleeding Independents (by Charlie Cook, National Journal) Indies support Obama's foreign policy, not so much domestic...

OPEN PRIMARIES

Good news for Idaho independents (and all voters)! California referendum in June 2010.

• Federal judge wants trial in election suit (By REBECCA BOONE - Associated Press, KBCI-CBS News) Harry Kresky, the New York-based attorney representing the Independent groups who intervened in the case, said he was pleased with Winmill's ruling, because it means that the Idaho Republican Party will be held to a higher standard of proof if they want to win the case.
• Judge sets trial on Idaho primaries (Betsy Z. Russell, Spokesman Review)
• Judge Says Trial Needed in Idaho Republican Party Case Against Open Primary (Ballot Access News)
• California Election Law Bill News (Ballot Access News)
• Open primary could help ease Sacramento gridlock (Martin Wisckol, Columnist: The Buzz, The Orange County Register)

GOVERNORS RACES

Chris Daggett is giving them a run for their money in New Jersey. Redux on toll road in Texas?

• A positive campaign in the race for governor? (Press of Atlantic City/ Carla Linz Callaway's Blog)
• NJ governor's race gets down and dirty (by Politico.com in Star Ledger)
• Texas gov's opponent uses toll road plan as ammo (By KELLEY SHANNON, Dallas Morning News)

BLOOMBERG 09

Colin Powell and Mike Bloomberg marched at the front of the Caribbean West Indian Day Parade today in Brooklyn; Lenora Fulani and the Independence Party are supporting Bloomberg for re-election on the Independence Party line Column C. The Independence Party is the third largest party in New York.

• Colin Powell Endorses Bloomberg at West Indian Day Parade (By KAREN ZRAICK AND JENNIFER 8. LEE, NY Times/City Room)
• Hankster VIDEO from Caribbean West Indian Day Parade with a statement by Lenora Fulani
• The Leonard Lopate Show - Underreported: The Fight for the Independence Party (WNYC radio broadcast)

HEALTH CARE DEBATE

Socialism or capitalism? What about having a developmental conversation?

• Obama’s in the ER but he’ll get his reforms: The right’s healthcare scare tactics are hitting home – but to little purpose (Andrew Sullivan, Times Online - UK)
• David Axelrod on "Meet the Press" (TRANSCRIPT on RealClearPolitics)
• TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads (Jason Linkins, Huffington Post EXCERPT) Obama's approval rating among independent voters is slipping. Gregory's assumption is that independent voters=centrist democrats. I have to imagine that independent voters are souring on Obama's health care maneuvers because he DOES NOT SEEM TO WANT TO FIGHT FOR THE REFORM FOR WHICH THEY VOTED.
• The Obama Slide (By DAVID BROOKS, NY Times)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

What's shakin' on Fourth of July weekend?

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Out in Arizona, Examiner.com says independent voters have become a force in Arizona, Repubs are losing ground. "Currently there are 880,128 Independent/unaffiliated voters in Arizona, a 6.8 percent gain from last November to total 28.4 percent of the state’s electorate."

OPEN PRIMARIES

• California struggles with their budget crisis, and Time Magazine ran a piece that included the open primaries solution: To relieve the logjam in California politics, momentum is growing for an open primary system, in which the two top vote getters in the primary, regardless of party, would face each other in the general election. Proponents believe it would loosen the grip of partisan ideologies and make it easier of moderates to win elections. In addition, a redistricting reform won narrow approval last November and proponents of good government keep trying to lengthen the state's term limits on legislators.

BLOOMBERG 09

• The New York Times headline for their article on Mayor Bloomberg's candidate screening yesterday with the Working Families Party At Working Families Party Forum, Bloomberg Declines to Toe the Liberal Line, highlights the Mayor's independence...

LAST WORD

• Here's the latest in a wide-ranging public dialogue about whether the US is becoming socialist under the Democrats...., Walt Lucas a blogger since 2004 at Rough Stock is " A happily married guy from Esparto. Two kids, three dogs, twenty seven cows, thirty two horses and two cats. Blogging on Politics, Yolo County, Family Life and my constant search to become what God wants me to be", indeed believes the Dems are carrying us down a road to "watered down socialism". He offers this commentary in the Daily Democrat out of Woodland CA...

I'm headed off for my petitioning shift to put the first independent Mayor of New York City on the ballot on the NYC Independence Party line, but I'll be back around 6pm -- JOIN ME FOR A SPECIAL INDEPENDENCE DAY FRIDAY NITE CHAT WITH THE HANKSTER!!! RIGHT HERE!

-NH

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Campaign for America's Future and Media Matters for America, say new polling and demographic data show that the country has shifted to the left
• Here's the Media Matters article
• Here's the full report
• What do we think about government take-over of failing corporations?
• Howard Dean says Congress should do what it needs to do for health care

Talk Talk: Labor, Capital and Consistency

Sunday, May 10, 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, May 24, 2009 after watching selections from "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," and several Charlie Rose interviews. Read the entire Talk Talk here. Salit: How would you characterize what is going on in the world?   Newman: That's what I'm characterizing, what's going on.   Salit: Are you agreeing that it will work?   Newman: I'm not agreeing that it's going to work.   Salit: OK.   Newman: But that's what's going on. And it might work for some time, and I'm even agreeing that it might be what's needed right now to get the world over the hump of the current crisis. But I don't know that it's where things have to wind up. I think the interests of capital are, in some fundamental sense, antithetical to the interests of labor.   Salit: So, in other words, it's not clear there can be a workable synthesis?   Newman: Yes. But that's a different discussion.    Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.

Talk Talk: Pirates, Policy and a Pooch

Sunday, April 19, 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, April 19, 2009 after watching selections from "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," "The Chris Matthews Show," a Charlie Rose interview and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."    Newman: When you look at the picture on the front page of the Times where Chavez and Obama are shaking hands, it seems to me that the first thing you see is that two people of color are shaking hands.   Salit: Yes.   Newman: And that overwhelms any of the substantive issues that they may or may not discuss in Trinidad. It's a very big change for them. And for us. That's a big cultural, human, psychological factor.   Salit: I had a similar thought when I looked at the photograph.   Newman: One's a communist. One's part socialist, part capitalist. But they're both people of color. One has enough oil. One has too little oil. But that's not the issue.   Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Gary Andres says independents could save the Repubs... [Reminder: Gary doesn't believe in independents]
  
• Andrew Sullivan talks about the Pew Polarization factor
  
• Capitalism 35, Socialism 27
  
• Crain's New York confuses Nassau with NYC Independence Party...
  

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Herbert Hoffman, Maine independent, has some observations about partisanship and open primaries...

The talk shows were all a-twitter with the "s" word today... let's see how that shakes out. In the meantime, here's Rahm Emanuel on CBS Face the Nation as reported by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times...

Business as Usual or Capitalist Greed?

Any blog that quotes John Steinbeck, Karl Marx and B.C. Forbes can't be all bad, right? Especially when the post is on Wednesday... Check out Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post!

Talk/Talk: Socialism! Help Me!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Below are excerpts from this week's Talk Talk, Socialism! Help Me! 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, September 28, 2008 after watching "The Chris Matthews Show," "Meet the Press", "The McLaughlin Group" and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos".

Salit: Since we're talking about introducing the word "socialism" into the public lexicon, I was struck by the range of reactions on The McLaughlin Group. McLaughlin asks Monica Crowley, the Wall Street conservative, about the bailout. 'Is this socialism?' he says. She's for it and she responds. But she doesn't use the word "socialism." Instead, she gives a description of the intervention. Then, a few minutes later, McLaughlin asks Mort Zuckerman, 'Is this socialism?' Zuckerman won't use the word either. He gives another description of the intervention. Finally, Rich Lowry of The National Review says, 'Hey, it's a socialistic style intervention to save capitalism.'

Newman: I'm always cautious about agreeing with something in which the key phrase to characterize the something is a "style." I don't think it's a style. And it's not as if the U.S. government hasn't been a major financial player in other situations, not to mention the extent to which that's true internationally. Socialism is a real thing. So, of course, is capitalism. The problem, from my point of view, lies in the fact that most everybody insists that those two things have to be understood as virtual opposites. And they're not, given the size of the world, the nature of the world, the shape of the world.

Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.