Talk Talk: LONG SHOTS

Sunday, June 28, 2009

To Our Readers: Talk/Talk will take a summer break for the month of July. Back in August. Happy Independence Day and have a great month! Jackie Salit *************************************************** 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, June 28, 2009 after watching selections from "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," "The Chris Matthews Show," "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" and several Charlie Rose interviews. Salit: And how do you feel about the characterizations that some people are giving that the Iranian regime is fragile? Newman: Regimes have been called fragile and then lasted for centuries. I don't know what that's supposed to mean. I don't know if it's fragile or not. Salit: Meaning that the fact there are hundreds of thousands of people in the streets doesn't necessarily equal fragility. Newman: In a more democratic society, having that many people out in the street protesting, would be an indicator of fragility. But Iran is not that kind of democratic society. Salit: Millions protested the Vietnam War, Lyndon Johnson was forced to withdraw from a re-election bid and the Democratic Party lost the White House in 1968. Read Talk Talk in its entirety here.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independent gov in Michigan's future?
• Sotomayor has 64% independent support for Supreme Court confirmation
• Political Common Sense for America: The Creation of the Franklin Party By Brian Boeheim (NEW BOOK EXPLORES THE NON-‘SENSE’ IN PARTISANSHIP–Republicans vs. Democrats, Left Wing vs. Right Wing, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off!) from HotIndieNews.com
• Check out Mayor Bloomberg at the Personal Democracy Forum 2009 yesterday -- Mike talks about politics then and now... via Skype from Jazz at Lincoln Center

Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) 2009

Mayor Bloomberg via Skype Monday: People have the right to full participation in their government, and elected officials have a duty to make govt more accessible and accountable. In the old days, people could go down to City Hall or join a poltical club, and they can still do that, but technology is making govt more accessible....

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Is Ralph Nader now ready to play well with others, including Cynthia McKinney and Jackie Salit? Check out new blog Free Obama (Resist the Borg, Restore the Republic) hosted by Open Source pioneer Robert David STEELE Vivas... A book review of The Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny by Theresa Amato.

More thoughts on California political reform

Don't miss last week's Talk Talk with Fred Newman and Jacqueline Salit: The Moral Core

Newman: What if it’s unfindable, given the materials that we have to work with, namely people?

Salit: Well, that’s a problem.

Newman: I would say so.

Salit: Yes. And, you’re saying, what if it’s the case that the very thing that we need to make this thing work can’t be done, or can’t be done now, that it can’t be done at this stage of human development.

Newman: Alright. Let’s agree that that’s what I’m saying. What about that?

Friday Nite Hankster Chat: Man in the Mirror

I'm somewhat surprised at the heft of emotion that I feel at Michael Jackson's death yesterday.

I feel very touched by the impact on all of us of the life, music and performance artistry of Michael Jackson from the vantage point of his passing. My Michael Jackson ranges from the kid who became very famous very early in life (he was 6 years younger than me and came to life in my early college years at the beginning of The Suppression*), to the young and powerful performance artist who transformed not only "Hollywood" or "the business" as Liza Minelli was saying Friday night on Larry King, but transformative of American culture itself, in the sense that some others are talking about -- transforming "race".

Michael Jackson was a man of the people, culturally speaking. He belongs to us, and we will make of him what we will.

There was a time when I was really angry with Michael for trying to become white -- after all, MoTown is Black! I'm Black and I'm Proud (damnit)... What could he know about whiteness? And didn't he study his P.C. Black Nationalism?? Hey, what's up with the anti-woman cosmetic surgery??? [and all of these knee-jerk emotions from a fast-becoming middle-aged white woman... tsk, tsk, tsk!]

Then, in the face of the media's onslaught around the acusations of child molestation at his "fantasy" house, I felt protective, if uncertain and even defensive, in response. That's not Our Michael! Our Michael is troubled and probably crazed, but no child molester. It's a media frenzy!

When I got home late last night and turned on CNN to discover that Michael Jackson had died (that he died at aged 50 wasn't so much of a discovery), and then listened to the updates this morning on Morning Joe, I noticed that they talked about his weirdness. I found these conversations encouraging. Even within the course of the half-hour that I listened to the strange people on Morning Joe blabbing about whatever, the fact that one of them (could have been Barnacle....) chose the word weird, and that was picked up by other more stalwart msnbc commentators, seemed a world away from 1972.

Maybe we are a more serious and thoughtful country than we were in 1972.

I don't know.

I do think we should salute Michael Jackson for interjecting an element of joyful, wonderful, humanistic weirdness in a very ugly and dangerous and world. Michael Jackson was a world class performer.

Don't mourn. Change the Man in the Mirror.

- NH

[UPDATED with links 6:27pm 6/27/09]

NOTE: Thus begins the new Friday Nite Hankster Chat. Please write in!

* The Suppression began in 1972.... More on this later...

so long michael jackson

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Russia Today: Americans want to throw off the partisan straightjacket
• Independents of faith must remain independent in the midst of politician sex scandals
• California reform
• New York City mayoral control of schools -- Bloomberg warns of chaos without it, Black Star News warns of educational apartheid, and Randi Weingarten quits UFT to go national

ny ny

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• WSJ: independent voters are the canaries in the mine of American politics...
• Log Cabin Repubs endorse Mayor Bloomberg...
• Gov Paterson orders NY Senate to meet
• Independent Pennsylvanian says: Sign the petition for Open Primaries!! (Letter to Pocono Record)
• Mayor Villaraigosa supports open primaries!
• NYC schools doing better -- Bloomberg's case for mayoral control

rain rain....

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• A Nation of Independent Voters (Canada Free Press- By Daniel Greenfield)
• Sotomayor under attack for strength (Caller Times.com - Corpus Christi)
• Ron Paul, Pat Choate Praise “Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny” (Ballot Access News)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Opinion: Leadership and courage are what's missing in Sacramento (By Abel Maldonado, Special to the Mercury News)

BLOOMBERG 09

• A big opportunity for small biz (Crains New York) It's appropriate to thank Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Ms. Quinn for what they've accomplished—and to ensure they understand it's just a start.
• The Banana Republic of NY Public Schools (Huffington Post) Here's what the teachers are saying
• Mayor Bloomberg's school control bill gets first Democrat support in Brooklyn Sen. Daniel Squadron (BY KENNETH LOVETT, DAILY NEWS)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• * Young voters: Obama's "change" message still resonates (Boston Globe)
• * Zogby/Scoop44 Poll: 70% of Young Americans Say Obama’s Promises of Change Match Actions (By Alexander Heffner, Scoop 44 blog)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• * St. Helena native Lee Pierce running for Assembly (By Doug Ernst, St. Helena Star - CA) Pierce said he’s also in favor of redistricting and open primaries, “to even the playing field.”
• * Pros, cons of Utah going with open-primary system (By Frank Pignanelli & LaVarr Webb, Deseret News)
• * Top-Two Proponent Has Factually Inaccurate Op-ed in Long Beach Press-Telegram (Ballot Access News)
• * Thomas Elias: Get ready to vote on open primaries for California (Press Telegram - Long Beach CA) ref. above
• * Time to include all the voters in primaries (LETTER: Pocono Record)

NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE SHAKE-UP

• * New York's Cleansing Coup (By JOHN FUND, Wall Street Journal)
• * Monserrate On His Young And 'Uninformed,' Pre-Democrat Days (Daily News/Daily Politics)
• * Albany Weather Report: Getting Heated (By Tom Robbins, Village Voice/Runnin Scared)

BLOOMBERG 09

• * Working for free: On the campaign trail for billionaire Mayor Bloomberg (BY CELESTE KATZ, DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU)
• * Gotbaum Hits Cuts to Her Office As "Payback from Speaker Quinn" (By Roy Edroso, Village Voice/Runnin Scared)
• * Tim Gunn Voting for Bloomberg -- Why Shouldn't You? (by Jane C. Timm, Village Voice)

NEW YORK POLITICS

• * Tom Golisano Reportedly Considering Senate Bid (Austin Cassidy, The Jacksonville Observer) Note: Austin Cassidy is the Libertarian founder of Independent Political Report blog
• * Mayoral control of schools in New York (From The Economist print edition)

THE CAPITALIST MANIFESTO

• * The Capitalist Manifesto: Greed Is Good (To a point) - (Fareed Zakaria, NEWSWEEK)
• * The Problem with Fareed Zakaria (The Atlantic online, by Derek Thompson)
• * Zakaria’s Capitalist Apologia (By Matthew Rothschild, Progressive.org)
• * The Return of Capitalism (By Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post)
• * TDCotE (xi): Littlle Zakaria Dresses Like Grownup (by Dollars and Sense, D&S collective member Larry Peterson)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• * Under Obama, Democrats plan a summer Western offensive (LA Times/Top of the Ticket)
• * EDITORIAL: The middle is where it's at (Washington Times)
• * Polls show Obama’s honeymoon drawing to a close (Christian Science Monitor/the vote blog)
• * Welch Nails It (National Review, Larry Kudlow)
• * US public opposes Obama on GM, Guantanamo: poll (AP)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• * Thomas Elias: Get ready to vote on open primaries for California (Press Telegram)
• * Open primary bill (Pocono Record)
• * Open primaries to all registered voters in Pa. (Pocono Record)
• * Proposed law would end Pennsylvania's closed primaries (By HOWARD FRANK, Pocono Record)
• * House bill would allow Independent, non-party affiliates to vote in primary (Pocono Record )

NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL SCHOOL CONTROL

• * Assembly tweaks NYC school control (by Michael Lanza, Queens Chronicle)
• * Mayoral Control Saga Winding Down (By Lori Gross, Queens Tribune)
• * Let mayoral control of schools expire, says Senate's new Democratic leader John Sampson (BY KENNETH LOVETT AND GLENN BLAIN, DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Attempt in Oregon to undo unfair law against independent candidates stalls in Dem state house (be sure to read the comments!)
• Early polling on NYC Mayor race (no one's on the ballot yet.....!) Bloomberg over Thompson
• NEW BOOK EXPLORES THE NON-‘SENSE’ IN PARTISANSHIP (–Republicans vs. Democrats, Left Wing vs. Right Wing…Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off!)
• Independents are the largest voting bloc in the country
• Pennsylvania mulls open primaries

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• New York State Assembly expected to vote for Mayoral control of schools with inclusion of parents on the board Wednesday -- Teacher's Union Randi Weingarten supports it
• Pedro Espada now president pro tem of NY State Senate in Albany

• Pennsylvania headed for open primaries??
• Defiance City OH discusses nonpartisan elections
• Independent Paul Long for Charlottesville VA City Council favors open primaries

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents to play major role in Oklahoma Gov race
• NY Assembly to approve Mayoral control of schools possibly Wednesday
• More on the NY State Senate shake-up

history redux

The Hankster recommends: Castillo's Eva Brenner's Heiner Muller's hamletmachine (dramaturgy courtesy of Castillo's Youth on Stage! director Dan Friedman, music and lyrics inspiration by prominent American Muller director Fred Newman) is an absolute standout. Amazing accomplishment of bringing European avant-garde together with American postmodern philosophical sensibility on common turf: the Castillo Theater on 42nd St. -- not Disney, not Mickey Mouse. Cudos to the ensemble and the production team.

Castillo's Eva Brenner's Heiner Muller's hamletmachine (dramaturgy courtesy of Castillo's Youth on Stage! director Dan Friedman, music and lyrics inspiration by prominent American Muller director Fred Newman) is an absolute standout. Amazing accomplishment of bringing European avant-garde together with American postmodern philosophical sensibility on common turf: the Castillo Theater on 42nd St. -- not Disney, not Mickey Mouse. Cudos to the ensemble and the production team.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Taxes, Democrats, Republicans and independents: spin from the viewpoint of the conservative establishment
• Closed primaries in Pennsylvania are not acceptable
• Gov Schwarzenegger talks about the budget and open primaries -- audio from LA Times
• The meaning of money and voter turnout in the VA Dem Gov race + video from WAVY -- Deeds did poorly among African American voters. And here's a wrap-up from the Roanoke Times
• Mayoral control of schools inches forward in the midst of traditional Albany political play-book "chaos"

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents hold the balance of power in the Obama era -- John Avlon
• CQ Politics Poll Tracker picks up Pew Research poll about independents being highest percentage of American electorate in 70 years....
• Virginians reject establishment party politics in Dem primary for gov, Creigh Deeds wins
• Dan Janison talks about why this Albany budget gridlock is different from all other Albany budget gridlocks: Pedro Espada

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Creigh Deeds gains support of independent voters in Virginia's Dem primary for Gov race -- voting today is open to any voter -- VA has nonpartisan registration. Interesting comment about this race by Fake Virginia in Daily Kos...

Interesting camera angle by Azi Paybarah of IP spokesperson/strategist Jackie Salit welcoming Mayor Bloomberg at the NYC Independence Party Spring Chair Reception Sunday at Wolfgang's Steakhouse in Tribeca. See photos from the event at the top of The Hankster... And, here's Azi catching the gist of the independent campaign to elect the first independent Mayor of NYC... And by the way, shaking hands with Mike in the mailer is 25 year Harlem independent organizer Allen Cox...

Also of interest: NY Times poll shows one-third of New Yorkers know Mike Bloomberg's political affiliation----- INDEPENDENT!

Independence Party-Bloomberg and Obama

NYC Independence Party Spring Chair Reception at Wolfgang's Steakhouse in Tribeca, Sunday June 8, 2009

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Mayor Bloomberg was in attendance at Sunday's NYC Independence Party Spring Chair Reception, hosted by NY County Chair Cathy Stewart and her rag-tag band of Independence Party executive committee members and IP registrants from all 5 boros. Pictured here, State Committee member from Bayside Queens Drago Lovrin, the Mayor, and the Hankster. (Watch The Hankster for more photos from the event!)

• Mary Alice Miller doesn't want black voters to be independent....

• Elsewhere, independents are favoring State Sen. Creigh Deeds in the Democratic primary for Gov in Virginia... Virginia does not register voters by party and maintains open primaries.

off with their heads!

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Tim Giago (aka Nanwica Kciji) writes in the Green Bay Press Gazette today urging American Indians (aka Native Americans) to go independent, so as to not be taken for granted by the Democrats.... Hey, Tim -- welcome home, good to see you here!

• John Zogby, who defended Pres. Obama's speech in Cairo in a silly debate with Dick Cheney's daughter (who???) over US Middle East policy, says progress on health care would revive support for Obama among independent voters.

• Independent voters in Virginia changing course on Gov race...

• Washington State Granger and ex-Nirvana basist is against open primaries.... oh, that's right, he's a Dem...

• Whoppi Goldberg will moderate a Town Hall for independent Mayor Mike Bloomberg Monday night to gain women's votes

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Glenn Thrush on Politico says the big story on Sonia Sotomayor approval rating is the independents -- 53-26% in favor...

• Harlem Children's Zone's Geoffrey Canada weighs in on mayoral control of NYC schools...

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• William K. Barth talks about why social conservatism and libertarianism don't mix for Repub Party
• The "Obama Effect" on Wall Street -- will it turn around now?
• Queens Courier endorses independent Mike Bloomberg
• Michael Goodwin on NYC Mayoral control of schools in Daily News yesterday: "Normal people ask whether mayoral control is good for kids. Legislators ask whether it is good for themselves." And here's the Post on charter school success.... and WSJ on Milwaukee and NYC school reform...
• Illinois state legislature votes (or not) on political reform

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

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• 2 views on open primaries in today's Allentown PA Morning Call
• Washington Post weighs in on mayoral control in New York citing national ramifications

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents approve of Sotomayor for top court by 61% according to Quinnipiac
• California Assembly passes law to require poll workers to tell independent voters that they may choose a ballot in the primary -- if you haven't seen the Agnes & Myrtle video, please do!
• Louisiana state legislative committee quashes return to open primaries

sotomayor

an american story

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• White House Cheat Sheet: GOP Weighs Strategy on Court Fight (Chris Cillizza, Washington Post/Voices/The Fix) For Republicans to have any chance of defeating Obama in 2012, they must find a way to convince independent voters that the president is far less than advertised on the issue of bipartisanship.
  
• Specter lead over Toomey narrows, poll shows (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Sen. Arlen Specter has lost some ground, but would win re-election comfortably if the 2010 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race was held today, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.
  

OPEN PRIMARIES

Electing judges: Mend it, don't end it (By NATHAN R. SHRADER, Philadelphia Daily News)

INDEPENDENT MAYOR BLOOMBERG 09

• Potential New York mayoral rival to Bloomberg quits (James Pethokoukis, Reuters)
  
• Keep mayoral control: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's plan offers hope for city schools (Daily News)
  
• Barrett: Dems Discuss Restricting Bloomberg's School Control (By Wayne Barrett, Village Voice/Runnin Scared)
  

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• New Jersey needs open primaries!
  
• Anthony Weiner drops out of almost running for the Dem nomination for NYC Mayor, Avella hangs in there for Repubs...
• The Bloomberg-Sotomayor connection....
• The Bloomberg-Carolyn McCarthy connection!
  

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.

american pie

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWS

• Officials look to fill Cov. town bodies (HANNAH CLARKIN, Kent County Times - RI) In the former policy, applications went before the town council, in an earlier draft of the council’s new policy, applications would go to party chairpersons. “As Mr. Spear and I talked about it, we realized that unaffiliated and independent voters might not want to go to the chairs of political parties to submit their applications.”
  
• State GOP to pick leader and direction (By MARK BINKER, Greensboro NC News Record) Include independents in primaries? Well, maybe not....
  
• Could budget defeat lead to reform? (Jerry Roberts, Phil Trounstine, San Francisco Chronicle) Open primaries key to more democracy in California
  
• Political Outsider Finds a Fight Inside City Hall (MONICA DAVEY, Tuscaloosa News) Whatever stereotypes there are for politicians, Mr. Funkhouser, who considers himself an independent, fits none of them. He is 6-foot-8, bearded and gangly. He has a Ph.D. in public administration and sociology but grew up in the hills of West Virginia and once worked in an aluminum factory. And for almost two decades, he was Kansas City’s auditor, a fearless, headline-grabbing critic of city programs who was unafraid to poke at Kansas City’s business establishment, its developers and its political elite.
  

 

he's safe!

h/t to marian rich for this photo

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• The Hill picks up the Pew Research piece on the centrality of independent voters in today's political climate, as does the St. Louis Post Dispatch,., and pal-item from Richmond, Indiana...
  
• Joe Gandelman comments on the Pew poll over at The Moderate Voice -- he says that "more than ever the true battleground for elections is going to be over which party can win over independent voters — since independent voter identification and centrism are surging." Ok, but let's not forget the option that independent voters are becoming a voting bloc increasingly voting against partisan interests and in favor of their own interests -- a tough battleground for the parties to operate on....
  

• It seems that New York City isn't the only place where school reform is on the table -- Boston considers returning to elected school committees...
  

• And Errol Lewis has some observations on why Mayor Bloomberg is running HARD for re-election... [And just by the way, that 7-point gain since February in popularity for Mayor Mike is a result of the New York City Independence Party endorsement....]
  

• Scranton PA Times Tribune calls for open primaries
  

• Independent journalist Stephen Thompson gives us a picture of what happened to the Perot movement in Washington State...
  

Independent Voters: Centrist or "True Independents"?

h/t to Burr Demming for inspiring this post... (if you haven't checked out burr Demming's blog FairAndUnbalanced, please go now!)

From my vantage point, the distinction between "centrist" and "independent" is the single most important distinction we can make right now. The AP piece, written by Liz Sidoti, calls independents "fickle" and then "warns" Pres. Obama (Liz might have an application in to Fox News?) not to move further to the left "lest they turn off middle-of-the-road voters whose support was critical in 2008 and will be important in upcoming elections..."

Hmmmm.... What's wrong with this picture?

Two words: Partisan politics!

What Liz Sidoti (and her editors at the Associated Press) doesn't understand is that, far from "fickle", independent voters in our country not only HAVE NOT changed their ideology to suit the times (see the recent Pew Research study), they also feel that the "fickle" ones are the politicians (and the journalists who never seem to interview and quote real independents, but who just regurgitate the message that their bosses tell them to.... -- For a more nonpartisan take on current political trends, see independent stratagist Jackie Salit's "How the Independent Movement Went Left by Going Right"--an important analysis of where the independent movement came from, where it is, and where it might be going...)

Ideology is dead. Long live activity!! As Mother Jones said, Don't mourn, organize!

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

More about that Pew Research poll showing independents taking the lead among US voters:

• Fox News makes note of "surge under Obama" of voters calling themselves independent...
  

• AP chooses the headline which I find interesting for its pompousness, but also for its sensationalism worthy of the best Brit tabloid.  "Country in midst of centrist era" Never mind the real deal is that we're at the beginning of an independent era! But hey, that's journalism....
  

What's the difference between centrism and independence? Think "American Revolution"! America has never been a country of moderates -- we are a country of innovators and risk-takers. You don't win a war of independence from the most powerful empire of the 18th Century with middle-of-the-road ideas. 

George Washington warned of the baneful effects of party, and boy was he on the money! Our founding documents claim the rights of "We the People" to supercede tyrants and despots. It will take true independents of whatever ideology, marching together, to overcome the death-grip that the parties have over our democracy.

Damn the AP, full steam ahead!!

-NH

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• * Independents Take Center Stage in Obama Era-Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2009 (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press)
  
• * Pew: Independent Voters Are Conflicted, Centrist and At a 70-Year High (Politics Daily blog)
  
• * Pew Poll Notes Rise In Independent Voters (NPR) Kohut says this just means that independent voters are "unbalanced centrists"
  
• * A Headline That Tells Half The Story-From the Huffington Post:  Obama's New Electorate: Poll Shows GOP Deteriorating (Politics.The Atlantic)
  
• * Dems Making Massive Gains As GOP Deteriorates: Pew Poll (Thomas B. Edsall, Huffington Post)
  
• * Power players - POLITICS: With GOP influence dwindling, moderate Democrats may be the only senators who can slow President Obama’s ambitious agenda (Edward Lee Pitts, World Mag.com - Todays News, Christian Views)
  
• * LETTER: Democrats are keeping people of color down (South Coast Today.com (MA)
  

OPEN PRIMARIES

• * American Idol holds big lessons for American democracy (Examiner - DC) Here are just a few of American Idol’s lessons for American democracy: 1.  Open primaries....
  
• * The Experts Expound - “What’s the first thing you would you do to fix the Capitol’s structural mess? Simple-majority vote for budgets and taxes? Eliminate term limits? Open primaries? Part-time Legislature? Something else? (Capitol Weekly - the newspaper of California government)
  

Onward to a more independent (non-partisan) America!

The Pew Research survey that came out today heralds the coming of an independent America!

While Pew Research chooses to introduce their statistical analysis with the obligitory "centrist" definition of independent voters -- and if you HAVE to have a definition (DSM XXVV) of independent ideology, it might as well be "centrist", though independents are notoriously anti-label, anti-ideology, and defy definition, but hey.... that's what a funded study will get you -- the meat of the story is that independents have "emerged as a dominant factor in public opinion as the Obama era begins... Both political parties have lost adherents since the election and an increasing number of Americans identify as independents."

And as a companion piece, WATCH THE VIDEO "How the Independent Movement Went Left by Going Right" with an analysis by an actual independent who has helped lead independents to a position of power nationally -- Jackie Salit's brilliant analysis of the emerging black and independent alliance that elected Barack Obama, and the movement that is growing and still to-be-built. 

-NH

Queens Spring Chair Reception 2009

Queens County Independence Party Chairwoman Molly Honigsfeld talks about the strength of the independent movement in Queens at the 8th Annual Spring Chair Reception last Saturday.

Queens Independence Party Spring Chair Reception May 16

Queens Independence Party members and guests gathered at La Terrazza in Forest Hills last Saturday to celebrate another growthful year. (l-r) Cathy Stewart, New York County Chair; Molly Honigsfeld, Queens County Chair, NY State Sen. Frank Padavan (11th CD); Dr. Lenora Fulani; Jerry Everett, Queens Chair Emeritus.

Democrats and Mistakes, Independents, and Republicans

Democrats and Mistakes: Earlier I posted a link to a post on Polit Bureau "Independence day for Democrats" that I credited to Newsday. Thanks to David Reich-Hale Editor Long Island Business News for the correction! (I can't speak for the correctness of Nassau Co. IP's endorsements....)

Independents: Meanwhile, the New York City organizations of the Independence Party of New York have endorsed independent Mayor Mike Bloomberg for a third term. There's a rally in Harlem on Thursday June 4 at the A.M.E. Bethel Church.

Republicans: And the Queens County Independence Party just honored long-time independents Dr. Fred Newman and Dr. Lenora Fulani, along with independent Republican NY State Senator Frank Padavan (11th CD) at its 8th annual Queens Spring Chair Reception. Sen. Padavan pointed out that there are more independents in his district than Republicans, so it is because of independents that he is in office. We might also add that Sen. Padavan is one of those rare elected officials who actually listens to his constiutents (regardless of party or non-party) and is thereby much less beholden to partisan interests than most. Cudos, Senator Padavan!

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Committee for a Unified Independent Party on the blogs (Roland's Ramblings)
  

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• The First 1,000 Days-Bloomberg reflects on Obama (Michael Bloomberg, NEWSWEEK)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• 57,000 area voters don't get a say today in primaries (PennLive.com Editorial)
  

NEW YORK POLITICS - INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Mayoral control of schools hinges on state Senate GOP (BY KENNETH LOVETT AND GLENN BLAIN, DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU)
  
• Independence day for Democrats (Newsday)
  
• Golisano's Parting Shots (Daily News/Daily Politics)
  
• Smith: Mayoral Control Isn't About Bloomberg (Except When It Is) (Daily News/Daily Politics)
  

Bloomberg on Obama's first 100 days

Mayor Bloomberg has written an insightful analysis of President Obama's first 100 days for Newsweek.

He credits Obama for governing as an independent and overcoming the partisanship of Washington.  

Inifinite Monkeys with Jackie Salit on the independent movement

Don't miss this podcast by Infinite Monkeys:

audio by artist ben boychuk robb leatherwood jackie salit

The Ben and Joel Podcast: Viva la Independencia!

Wed, 05/13/2009 - 13:11 — Ben

It's independent's day on the podcast, which returns with gusto after a brief hiatus. Ben Boychuk and guest host Robb Leatherwood talk "post-partisanship" with Jackie Salit, an activist, political consultant, executive editor of the Neo-Independent and spokeswoman for IndependentVoting.org.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Even The Economist is talking about open primaries for California....

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• New Gallup Poll: Obama at 66 percent (Seattle Post Intelligencer/Strange Bedfellows blog)
  

NEW YORK POLITICS/INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Bloomberg flunked: Bill in Albany would take away mayor's control of city education policy panel (BY KENNETH LOVETT, DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF)
  
• Bloomberg and the Teachers' Union (By Wayne Barrett, Village Voice)
  
• Recommended reading: THE STRIKE THAT CHANGED NEW YORK This book revisits the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis - a watershed in modern New York City race relations. Jerald E. Podair connects the conflict with the sociocultural history of the city and explores its influence on city politics, economics, and culture. Podair shows how the crisis became a symbol of the vast perceptual chasm separating black and white New Yorkers. And the legacy of this critical moment, when blacks and whites spoke past each other like strangers, has ever since played a role in city issues ranging from mayoral elections to budget negotiations, disputes over police violence, and debates on welfare policy. The book is a powerful, sobering tale of racial misunderstanding and fear, a New York story with national implications. http://books.google.com/books?id=gEEA0RxSR3EC

ON THE BLOGS

• Could You Possibly Be An “Independent”? (Orange Juice Blog)
  
• Rant Power of the Independents – GOP Beware (Rant Rave blog)
  
• Analyzing How the Independent Went Left by Going Right (Ordinary Person blog)
  

Ocean Hill-Brownsville Redux????

h/t the RICHARD KAHLENBERG

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OPEN PRIMARIES

• MS: Littleton denies harassing voters (By William Browning, Greenwood Commonwealth)
  
• Broken system must be fixed (San Bernardino Sun)
  

NEW YORK POLITICS/INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Beyond black and white: Obama-Bloomberg alliance signals a less tribal time in city politics (Erroll Lewis, NY Daily News)
  
• Cities Cry Foul on Stimulus Cash - Several Mayors Challenge the Way Governors Are Doling Out Project Funds (By SUZANNE SATALINE, Wall Street Journal Online)
  
• Weiner will decide on mayoral run by month's end (By Jason Fink, amNY)
  
• DOWNSTATE Candidates stepping up for Southampton supervisor race (Rick Brand, Newsday)
  
• Is President Obama Going to Stay Out of the NYC Mayor's Race? (Political Punch, ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper)
  
• Albany Panel Signals It Won’t Give the Mayor Carte Blanche on Schools (By JENNIFER MEDINA, NY Times)
  
• Silver backs mayor’s school control (By Josh Rogers, Downtown Express)
  

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

REPUBLICAN PARTY

• It's Alive! Obituaries For The Republican Party In The Northeast Appear To Have Been Premature (John Mercurio, National Journal)
  
• Steve Francis: Sunshine ahead for the GOP? (San Diego News Network)
  

OPEN PRIMARIES

• California Budget part five: How Abel Raised Cain (By Sheila Kuehl, California Integrated Waste Management Boardmember, California Progress Report)
  

NEW YORK POLITICS/INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Queens Republicans Relent, Endorse Bloomberg For Mayor (John Toscano, Queens Gazette)
  
• Obama meets with Sharpton, Gingrich, Bloomberg (By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, AP)
  
• Obama, Bloomberg meeting not an endorsement (Newsday)
  

Bloomberg-Fulani 2009

NYC is all a-twitter

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Queens Repubs cry uncle on Bloomberg endorsement ...
  
• John Mecurio says Repubs are not dead yet
  

h/t to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News -- ever a keen eye to the independent and third party movement, he called me yesterday to let me know that I had mistakenly identified a town in Connecticut (Redding) as being in Pennsylvania (Reading) in a report about Mike D'Agostino's petition drive to create a third party there. Thanks, Richard!

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• A third party in Redding PA? D'Agostino starts petition process
  
• Idaho's Huntsman Rising, Weaver Advising Rising, Weaver Advising 
  
• Fulani on Bloomberg and Black Independent Alliance
  
• Hello Dolly Llama on partisanship
  
• Repubsneed to attract independents -- but will they?
  

Queen Independence Party Spring Chair Reception May16

Please join us

Saturday, May 16th

4-5:30pm

Forest Hills (Queens) New York

The 8th Annual Spring Chair Reception

For more information or to purchase aticket, call 646-567-6641

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS:

• Independents' Day (Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic/Daily Dish)
  
• Obama's test of impartiality for Souter's successor-Justice must be blind, not partisan. The Supreme Court can't be another political battleground. (Christian Science Monitor's Editorial Board)
  

 

OPEN PRIMARIES:

• Ballot package not the answer --Anything short of political reform is a bandaid ( Bernardino Sun) 
  
• Specter among last of dying breed: liberal Republican (Reading Eagle PA) PA's closed primary system keeps partisanship alive and well...
  

Independents Day has come early this year!

Check out the new independent social website Independents Day! 

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Failure of bi-partisanship? [Bipartisanship is still partisanship to me!]
  
• The Specter haunting the parties
  
• Obama and the independents
  
• South Carolina's open primary in danger from Repubs
  
• New Yorkers choose between Bloomberg and uhhh... who? NARAL endorses Mike