Posted
8:55pm, Sunday, October 31, 2004
Why
we fight
This Tuesday,
the most important election of our
lifetimes will occur. It is imperative
that you go out and vote.
And none of this bullshit
voting for Nader crap. I don't care
if you live in a Blue State. We need
to send a message. Kerry needs a mandate.
There needs to be no doubt in anyone's
mind. This needs to be lopsided.
Here's
an inspiring voter story from Florida,
via Talking
Points Memo:
Still in Florida.
This was one of the
most moving, meaningful days of my
life.
My job is to get people
to the polls and, more importantly,
to keep them there. Because they’re
crazily jammed. Crazily. No one expected
this turnout. For me, it’s
been a deeply humbling, deeply gratifying
experience. At today’s early
vote in the College Hill district
of East Tampa -- a heavily democratic,
90% African American community — we
had 879 voters wait an average of
five hours to cast their vote. People
were there until four hours after
they closed (as long as they’re
in line by 5, they can vote).
Here’s what was
so moving:
We hardly lost anyone.
People stood outside for an hour,
in the blazing sun, then inside for
another four hours as the line snaked
around the library, slowly inching
forward. It made Disneyland look
like speed-walking. Some waited 6
hours. To cast one vote. And EVERYBODY
felt that it was crucial, that their
vote was important, and that they
were important.
And there were tons
of first time voters. Tons.
Aside from some hassles
from the Republican election commissioner
( … [ed.note: Here the letter
writer describes various shenanigans
intended to exacerbate the difficulties
of waiting hours in line to vote.
I’ve censored this detail to
preserve the anonymity of the writer.],
I actually had an amazing experience.
No, actually, in a way because of
that I had an amazing experience.
Because these people know that the
system that’s in place doesn’t
want them voting. And yet they are
determined to vote.
The best of all was
an 80 year old African American man
who said to me: “When I first
started I wasn’t even allowed
to vote. Then, when I did, they was
trying to intimidate me. But now
I see all these folks here to make
sure that my vote counts. This is
the first time in my life that I
feel like when I cast my vote it’s
actually gonna be heard.”
To see people coming
out — elderly, disabled, blind,
poor; people who have to hitch rides,
take buses, etc — and then
staying in line for hours and hours
and hours... Well, it’s humbling.
And it’s awesome. And it’s
kind of beautiful.
Sometimes you forget
what America is.
I think there’s
hope.
- ES
Vote,
dammit!
This
guy is our president
In case
you need any more reasons, visit the Furious
George page for a slew of new
videos to download (and forward to
your friends), including Eminem's Mosh
video.
::Permalink::
Posted
11:00pm, Sunday, October 10, 2004
All
hat, no cattle
It occurred to me as
I watched the debate again today and
read some of the punditry this afternoon,
Bush simply is not a likable speaker.
He yelled pretty much all his answers
at the audience last night. Sometimes
he barked at the people asking the
questions before they even finished
asking them.
During the outburst
towards Charlie Gibson, you could actually
HEAR the audience members murmuring
their disapproval. Watch it again before
you challenge me on this. Don't watch
Bush, Gibson or Kerry; look at the
audience members... they are clearly
surprised and maybe even alarmed at
Bush's actions.
Bush has
somehow mistaken yelling for decisiveness.
Meanwhile, Kerry was very much the
prosecutor, calmly answering questions
and making his points. He addressed
many of his answers directly at Bush,
perhaps even trying to bait him into
anger. It worked. Bush's delivery was
loud, he stormed around the forum,
waving his arms about.
I've
served on a couple of juries and in
my job, I've had to watch people make
pitches to sell their work. When a
creative person has trouble selling
their work to a client, they get more
animated and their arguments start
sounding more and more desperate. To
me, Kerry came across as calm and confident
while Bush seemed desperate and flusterred.
Perhaps
on TV, whether real or in a drama,
you've no doubt witnessed many litagators
try to make their points and arguments
to a jury. Don't you think Kerry came
across much better than Bush in this
regard? No matter what you think of
the respective candidates and their
positions, I can't help but feel that
a jury would find Kerry much more honest
and believable.
I know
when I served on a dental malpractice
trial (FIVE WEEKS!), the jury liked
the slicker, more-prepared attorney.
The plantiff's lawyer stuttered a lot,
seemed to take too much time to get
to his point and rambled. He also was
not as slick a dresser, cheap suit,
etc.
The jury
felt like, "C'mon man.... learn
to speak concisely and get to your
point.... STOP rambling!"
I just
get the feeling Kerry has a better
command of the facts. I do think that
Bush comes across with more conviction
in his beliefs, which isn't saying
much if he's wrong.
If you're
looking for some wood, don't forget
to try the internets.
There's
been a flurry of posts the last few
days, so be sure and check the archive
in the top right column.
Several
bloggers have taken to calling Bush Furious
George for his antics on Friday
night. I decided to Photoshop these
covers and get it up asap.
Visit
my new Furious
George download page for these
covers and some Bush video clips. Feel
free to forward to your friends. We've
got to make that moniker stick.
::Permalink::
Posted
11:52pm, Friday, October 8, 2004
Meltdown
Bush
is 0-for-2.
Kerry opened strong,
staying calm and sounding very Presidential.
Bush sounded whiny and annoyed. He
also repeated his Blinky McBlinky performance
from last week. And what was up with
his lower jaw and odd winking?
Bush had trouble keeping
his voice modulated for about the first
45 minutes. By that, I mean he couldn't
stop SHOUTING HIS ANSWERS. It was as
if he was mad at the audience members
for even asking them.
To be fair, Bush did
recover and calm down a bit. It might
have even been a draw except for the
flip-out.
The defining moment
of the second debate is about 35 minutes
in when Bush flips out on moderator
Charlie Gibson.
Kerry: We're going to build alliances,
we're not going to go unilaterally,
we're not going to go it alone like
this President did.
Gibson: President Bush, let's extend
for a minute...
Bush (interrupting): No, I gotta
answer this.
Gibson: But, exactly and with reservists
being held on duty.
Bush (interrupting): No, let me
answer this, what he just said about
going alone.
Gibson: Well, I wanted to get into
the issue...
Bush (interrupting): You tell Tony
Blair we're going alone. Tell Tony
Blair we're going alone....
Gibson is about to
allow Bush to reply on a remark Kerry
just made when suddenly Bush interrupts
and INSISTS on replying. Well, if old
W would just relax and listen, he'd
find out that Gibson was about to do
just that. Instead, he goes ballistic
and drowns out Charlie with his angry
answer.
Is this the man you
want with his finger on the button?
And all
new Bushisms from tonight's debate:
"I
heard there's rumors on the Internets!"
"Liberty
can change habits."
"When
a drug comes in from Canada, I wanna
make sure it cures ya, not kill ya.
When it comes from Canada, it looks
like it may be from a Third World country."
"We've
got battling green eye shades."
KERRY: Ladies and gentlemen,
that's just not true what he said.
The Wall Street Journal said 96 percent
of small businesses are not affected
at all by my plan.
And you know why he
gets that count? The president got
$84 from a timber company that owns,
and he's counted as a small business.
Dick Cheney's counted as a small
business. That's how they do things.
That's just not right.
BUSH: I own a timber
company?
(LAUGHTER)
That's news to me.
(LAUGHTER)
Need some wood?
(LAUGHTER)
Well, factcheck.org is
on the case:
President Bush himself
would have qualified as a 'small
business owner' under the Republican
definition, based on his 2001 federal
income tax returns. He reported $84
of business income from his part
ownership of a timber-growing enterprise.
Shit,
the pranksters are fast! Check out
this eBay auction... until they pull
it, that is. Just in case, you can
click on the screen grab below.
::Permalink::
Posted
11:20am, Thursday, October 7, 2004
Amazing.
Look at this
incredible video edited
together by Brennan Houlihan. Apparently,
it was sent to friends and made
its way around the web. A perfect
example of how the GOP uses fear
to spread its message.Here's a
post on an online chat forum:
Houihan: Wow, that's my video!
Submitted by Brennan Houlihan on
Mon, 10/04/2004 - 2:08pm.
Imagine my surprise when I found
my video here. I stumbled on it after
following a link on Cursor.org.
I recorded all the main speeches
from the Republican Convention put
the video together in during the
weekend that followed. After uploading
it, I invited about 15 friends via
email to view it. Since then, it
has spread around the internet like
wildfire. It's really amazing.
By the way, Oliver, thanks for posting
this on your blog. At the outset,
I encouraged people to distribute
this any way they can. I am glad
it is getting the exposure.
In answer to some comments:
"I thought it possible once
or twice that the tonal quality had
been tweaked, but as long as it was
what they actually said, it meets
the fake but authentic test." -
dhartung
No there was no audio tweaking.
Everything was as they said it. There
were no repeated clips either. They
really said those things that many
times. In fact, there were even more
instances of these words that I didn't
use because the camera had cut away
to audience reactions.
As to the rest of the comments,
thanks for the positive feedback.
This is the first political video
I've ever made, so it's great to
know it's been well received.
- Brennan
“Now, in my capacity as vice
president, I am the president of
Senate, the presiding officer. I'm
up in the Senate most Tuesdays when
they're in session. The first time
I ever met you was when you walked
on the stage tonight.”
– Dick Cheney to John Edwards,
Vice-Presidential Debate,
October 5, 2004
“Congressman Wamp, Senator
Edwards, friends from across America,
and distinguished visitors to our
country from all over the world:
Lynne and I are honored to be with
you all this morning.”
– Dick Cheney to John Edwards,
Senate prayer breakfast,
February 1, 2001
This is so great.
Unable to contain the
spin that Cheney said he never met
Edwards, the GOP is now taking a different
tact. They're saying Cheney said that
he never met Edwards AT WORK.
First off, that's NOT
what Cheney said. Second, as AmericaBlog
points out, how is meeting Edwards
on the Senate floor not work?
So now campaign spokesmen are
saying the prior occasions were not "meetings",
but "casual encounters".
The best part is that
the DNC was able to spin this lie,
a minor one at that, as the focal point
of the debate. Rather than letting
it go, the GOP is actually fuelling
it by countering with the lamest spin
I've ever seen.
This is so great, part
II.
Dick Cheney was so
eager to brand Edwards a liar that
he sent viewers to factcheck.COM to
refute Edwards’s accusations
against Cheney’s involvement
with Haliburton. Only problem was that
Cheney gave the wrong URL. He really
meant to send people to factcheck.ORG.
Well, the owners of
factcheck.com thought they’d
make a political statement by redirecting
visitors to the website of George Soros,
a billionaire financier who has made
it his personal mission to get Bush
and Cheney defeated this fall.
The headline for visitors
at GeorgeSoros.com?
President Bush is endangering our
safety, hurting our vital interests,
and undermining American values.
DAMN.
A factcheck.com representative
said Soros was chosen because he could
afford the cost of a surge in visitors
to his site. He is, after all, a billionaire.
But factcheck.ORG was
not amused by Cheney’s false
claims of innocence either. On Wednesday
morning, they posted this:
"Cheney ... wrongly implied
that we had rebutted allegations
Edwards was making about what Cheney
had done as chief executive officer
of Halliburton. In fact we did post
an article pointing out that Cheney
hasn't profited personally while
in office from Halliburton's Iraq
contracts, as falsely implied by
a Kerry TV ad. But Edwards was talking
about Cheney's responsibility for
earlier Halliburton troubles. And
in fact, Edwards was mostly right."
Priceless.
"He's
not the prettiest man in the race”
-George W. Bush on his VP Dick Cheney, 7/30/04
::Permalink::
