A Guest Blog from Unity, New Hampshire, by B.J. Roche

I think this would be a great read for everyone in the Field.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/21129038/full_metal_mccain/print

 

Some of us who have been mesmerized by the Obama-Clinton cage match during the past six months may have developed certain delusions about the state of American politics, in two areas in particular. One is the idea, much pushed by wishful-thinking media commentators like myself, that the abject failure and unpopularity of the Bush administration somehow means the Republican revolution is over, and the mean-ass hate-radio conservatism of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh is finally dead. The other is the even more quaint notion that the historic, groundbreakingly successful candidacies of a black man and a woman have ushered in a futuristic era of political tolerance and open-mindedness.

It's bunk, all of it, and nobody understands this better than John McCain. With his chameleonlike, whatever-gets-you-through-the-night ideology, McCain intends to use the same below-the-belt, commie-baiting, watermelon-waving smear tactics that Clinton used against Obama in the Democratic primaries, except at tenfold intensity. Once the victim of a classic racist smear job in backwoods South Carolina (where he was whipped in the 2000 primary after a Karl Rove whispering campaign suggested he had an illegitimate black daughter), McCain has now positioned himself on the business end of that same deal.

 

She's doing her party - and her supporters, like me - quite proud, I would say. I suspect this thing will tighten up after Labor Day (I hope not, but looking at history it probably will) and Barack will need Hillary - clearly, she'll be there. You want to see political toughess? There it was.

I won't make the obvious statement that it's a helluva ticket, unprecedented in star power and demographic reach - but we'll see.

Thanks B.J., for a great blog post.  I appreciate getting this background on the event.

 I actually donated $10 to help pay off Hillary's debt. I could not believe I felt compelled to do so after the way I felt about her 8 weeks ago, but she did right by the party yesterday and I did find some admiration for that.

O/T I noticed the gage(equip & send Al to Denver) has not gone up in 24 hours, I hope it is just behind for the weekend. I will donate some more here next week.

 

That and other details like it really bring a person right down there with you, being corralled with the masses over fields of grass.

As for Senator Clinton-- I think we're seeing Hillary Clinton at her best ever. She looks certain and uncertain in the best possible mixture, and therefor the most genuine we've seen her- like she's thrown away all those crappy advisors and obsessive micro-polling and crazy angsty infighting and is finally able to live in the moment. Yes, Cynics, I know you're out there, rolling your eyes at me. But there it is.  She has been a marvelous mix of strong and respectful and determined in their few joint appearances so far. I can't help it-- I see really good chemistry. I see her willing to get on board.

I'd love some analysis on this chicken little line: about how Bill would undermine Obama simply by being married to the VP. Hasn't he stayed far away from her senate seat(perhaps too far based on the Port issue and others)?  Why couldn't Bill Clinton simply be respectfully shown to his "most effective place" in an Obama/Clinton Whitehouse?  But then of course... there's the issue with vetting his massive money making and conflicts of interest since leaving office...

 Barry Crimmons is still on Deb K's case for Al. Keep it up Barry & Thank You!

http://barrycrimmins.com/index.php?page=news&display=1137

having gone from long time clinton supporter, to freaked out clinton observer in 2008, and watching her since her loss...

i deeply wonder (i think i know) how much power/effect bill clinton and mark penn had on her campaign, especially the 2008 bad parts.

the gossip on the street is that bill is pretty out of sorts - still. and mark penn was always a wrongheaded, no matter how much he was paid.

it breaks my feminist heart, but i think she got played by those two boys. not at all sure they were working in her best interests. deep sigh.

It's amazing and strange how easy it is for Hillary to melt my heart when she shows herself to be sensitive and human. During the primaries, that would happen occasionally and I would hope for some happy reconciliation. It's not even conscious--I don't feel that way about any other politician. Something in me must identify with her and wants to see her as not being that bad.

Thanks for a great post, BJ. It was good to get it from the ground, instead of from those pundits you refer to. I absolutely agree that they will milk this, dissect it, and otherwise tear it apart - not for understanding, but for drama. I became a fan of Al's when I tired of all the drama that keeps the MSM with something to write every day. I'm grateful for a place to get perspective fed by facts! Great piece. And thank you for not mentioning that Hilary's suit was the same color as Barack's tie! Gawd...that's all I heard on the radio yesterday!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/us/politics/29hussein.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1214706052-Pn3L0GqytZ0V9T/9LDxFPA 

Moneyquote

Ms. Nordling’s uncle liked the idea so much that he joined the same Facebook group that she had. But when her father saw her new online moniker, he was incredulous.

“He actually thought I was going to convert to Islam,” Ms. Nordling said.

Glad to see that youngsters aren't bigotted and are pushing back unlike the fucking "grown-ups".

amk

Ken Bazinet's comment is bullshit.  I suck at team sports and am still a pretty good loser.  OK, every time I watch the stupid Broncos get beat on a Sunday, which happens all the time, I'm a little down on Monday morning.  Fortunately there's an easy solution: I try not to watch them play.

Sharon Daly @ 9:12, I agree about Hillary having been led far, far astray by the overbearing men in her life.  Bill didn't only hurt her by talking out of turn on the campaign trail; he maneuvered her straight over the precipice.  Perhaps he and Penn and her other foolish male advisors thought they were running some kind of feminist campaign.  But if you think about how someone like Bill C. thinks about women, it's not surprising that his approach was to seduce and abandon them.  I never took moral offense at Bill's zipper problem, but I also recognize what it signifies.  That might seem like a low blow, as it were, but I calls them as I sees them.

I still don't love Hillary, but I might become convinced over time that behind her crazed primary image is the bright, driven, moderate, party-loyal Democratic candidate we've known this past several years.  She cast Bill off for her Senate career; she needs to go back to that if she's going to have a future.

Seems like a fairly straightforward deal: You help me get elected and I'll help you pay off your creditors...

I'm hearing Powell may endorse Obama. I think he will.

Obama going overseas. God help him if he stumbles like McCain.-

such a double standard.  The  MSM are trying their best to hold the race as close as possible.

 

Obama Hagel  08!-

 

appreciate that report. it felt honest, was well-shaped, had an accessible and friendly tone with writing that did not grandstand or manipulate. clearly not my style, but i enjoyed it. ;)

My age tells. Flipping through channels, which I rarely do, I stumbled across an old film [1947]: "The Farmer's Daughter" with Loretta Young and Joseph Cotton. Farm girl becomes maid in political family. Goes to rally. Asks straight-forward questions. Ends up running against machine candidate who bribes someone to besmirch her character. Family scion is in love, uncovers plot. Matriarch of machine stands tall, stops presses, rejects machine choosen weasle, to support honest "Katie". She wins in a landslide and scion carries her across the threshold and into the Capitol.

Too funny for words. Nothing changes until something changes.

I'm still trying to figure out why Sen. Clinton did not drop out of the race when her campaign began to have financial problems.  Typically, a candidate ends or suspends his/her campaign when the money is gone, unless one is self-financing. Even Mitt Romney knew when to fold 'em. This debt is no small change, in addition to Sen. Clinton borrowing oodles from her personal bank account.  Additionally, after Sen. Obama's 11 straight victories in Feb. there was no way Sen. Clinton could amass enough pledged delegates; and the Superdelegates were breaking for Obama something like 4 or more to 1.  Luckily I found  Al and the Ex-Field early in the primary season, so I had reality-based reporting; it sure was a heck of ride for months.  I'm pleased there is unity now, because we need it.

What's with the Hagel as VP B.S.!?!  The dude voted with Shrub as much as anyone over the last 8 years.  So he talks tough over Iraq...so what?  Hagel doesn't get anything done about it.

No matter how many times I've seen the Hagel mystique shattered, people are still pushing this.  Seriously, can we move onto the myriad of other great DemocratIC options Obama has?

Gotta quit falling into Neocon framing of issues.  Obama doesn't need to pick a Repube or Team Clinton member to win.

Let me add my voice to those praising BJ's report - it's sadly hilarious to listen to the insiders desperately trying to find some wedge between Hillary and Barack, some thread to tug on to try and pull it apart. It's pathetic and predictable. These fools pretend to operate inside the minds of Clinton and Obama - "Hillary feels this" and "Barack thinks that." BJ's report reminds me of how important the rise of citizen reporting online is to the actual authenticity of reporting - it just feels real, not like some Chris Matthews-Andrea Mitchell pseudo-psychological BS blabfest. They're all currently desperate to build up the "Bill Clinton outraged" non-story, based on crappy blind interviews of no one in particular. It's truly a disgrace. But anyway, well done!

@amk, Agoram 10:34 p.m.

I think this new generation of young people, which I define as anyone under 35, is simply wonderful.  I liked this quote from the NYT article:

"The result is a group of unlikely-sounding Husseins: Jewish and Catholic, Hispanic and Asian and Italian-American, from Jaime Hussein Alvarez of Washington, D.C., to Kelly Hussein Crowley of Norman, Okla., to Sarah Beth Hussein Frumkin of Chicago."

As for Fox "News" and other haters continual sniping on the middle name "Hussein" and lots of other things, the Arabs have a fitting proverb, "The dogs bark and the caravan rolls on."

 

Sharon and Oona,

I know what you mean. A part of me really wishes things could have been different. I still feel that she is responsible for her own decisions and would have loved to see her give a speech on gender instead of exploit sexism as a political strategy as well as racism, xenophobia, classism, etc. I also feel that the visceral connection her (mostly white, middle-class) female supporters have with her is unfounded. She is not like them (it's like celebrity worship or aspirational class-identification). She is a former first lady (governor and president) who did not create anything on her own but relied on her husband's machine for everything. I think that until there is another female candidate for president it will not be possible to argue with those so invested in her. It's only when they see a sane, feminist, and professional campaign run by another woman will it hit them that HRC was neither their only shot nor was she the best America has to offer.

 

Did she experience sexism (especially from her own husband)? Yes. But, she is not any woman and it is disingenuous for her to play victim because then she is saying that the standards should be lowered for her (unlike, say, for Kucinich whom no one takes seriously and who gets discriminated against for not being tall, 'manly,' and a gun-loving imperialist shooting hapless ducks at 5) and that she should get the sympathy vote or "selection" as the nominee. It is dangerous when a woman who is as powerful as Clinton asks that standards be lowered for her (as they were anyway: she needs time to accept reality; she's a 'fighter'--this is condescending and a myth: what exactly has she fought? bad press?; this is still a 'close' race; the metrics change every week; she 'won' the popular vote; the men in her life are to blame; she gets the first question; no one can state her legislative accomplishments in spite of having been in the senate twice as long as Obama but that doesn't matter, etc.).

 

Seriously, when is she responsible for her own actions? Pay your own debt and be a leader and the feminist that you have claimed to be. I am glad that this has happened and I hope that we can come together. As you can tell by the length of my post I am pretty broken up about what she has done to the feminist movement which did not have that much good mainstream press anyway. As a feminist, I would rather not have her be mythologized (and she was not the first woman to run for President in the US) just because we are so desperate for a woman to be President. Barack Obama's victory is a victory for black women. And, a victory for black women is a victory for ALL women. 

Folks - Some weeks back on the ex-Field some commenters gave me some good advice for what allowable sites I could use to load images onto diaries at Daily Kos.

But I don't even recall which thread it was on (and we've got more than 1,400 on file awaiting their move to this new home).

Quickly, with the exception of flicker.com (which I've failed at attempts to utilize) what are the other accepted image sites over at DKos?

(I tried to check the FAQ at dkosopedia but it's down for maintenance this morning.)

 

Deb promptly refunded my full donation without hassle or e-mail comment and I have now added the $100 to our new fund. I put in my request Monday June 23rd, received notification of pending refund on the 24th and that the funds were deposited to my account on the 27th. I put in my request here debbyskoz@cs.com.with a simple statement that the donation was responding to the "Send Al to Denver" appeal and I was requesting a refund because "things didn't work out".

But not everyone is going to know to request a refund or about the new location. I would think that the fact that so many of us have received refunds upon request would put some pressure on Rural Votes to send on to Al whatever balance remains of the original funds collected, certainly specifically on the "Send Al to Denver" appeal. Refund hassles seem to be occurring in the "Keep Al Writing" donations.

And for anyone else interested in finding free images.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/20/15451/6564

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources

"What's with the Hagel as VP B.S.!?! "

well i'm not sure what you want him to do about iraq.   What has Obama done other than say he was opposed to the war.

 

an   Obama Hagel ticket would tell people that this is the change he's  talking about.  Working with the other side is not just talk.

 

Don't be surprised if McCain  does it.  If  Obama doesn't and McCain does than McCain will claim he is the real candidate for change and Obama is all talk. That could make nov. very interesting.

From the correspondence I have had with Deb, I believe she thinks that she should not have to refund the "Keep Al Writing" donations since she thinks she has already paid him for his writing.  She only intends to refund the "Send Al to Denver " donations and then only if you ask for it and prove it with receipts or dates and transaction numbers.  I also get the impression that it is an overwhelming and possibly disorganized effort that probably could not stand up to an audit.  Just my impression - I could be wrong.

JoAnn

I enjoy all the small stuff.  I too must disagree with the women playing or not playing sports quote in the diary.  My class was the first to be accepted into the B club, the first to get cheerleaders, the first to get some tv time but we really didn't have to work for it.  The group that is having a hard time with Hillary's loss is my Mom's age.  They played basketball with 6 people where you had to stay in your area (ie defense couldn't go past halfcourt) which hadn't changed much since her mom, who would be in her 90s now if she was still alive, had played it.  They didn't play against other schools, they could only do intramurals against kids in the same school.  Colleges didn't have women's atheletics.  When my mom was hired to start up team sports at our local college she coached Field Hockey, Volleyball, Basketball, Track & Field all in the same year in addition to teaching duties.  They didn't give out scholarships for another 15 years and those women had to fight for everything they had including the right to coach which they've really seen go over to the men coaching women and no women coaching men. 

Guys who bring up this women who don't play sports are the ones who don't know how to lose need to look at their history better.  It may be truer for the young generation but for the age that were allowed to play only because title 9 was passed it's still a fight.   I'm not saying my mom et al aren't for unity, she will vote for Obama, but even she hasn't gotten over the "Hillary was better, Hillary would have been more prepared" meme's.

@Siddartha:

"Barack Obama's victory is a victory for black women. And, a victory for black women is a victory for ALL women."

No one has said it better! Thank you...this is what the mainstream white feminist camp just doesn't seem to get...

Since your donation was promptly refunded, what method of payment did you use: check, credit card, PayPal?  Maybe that makes a difference. All I know is that I e-mailed Ms. Kozikowski on 6/17 and have yet to receive a response. My e-mail only referred to a refund for my "Sending Al to Denver" donation and included the transaction e-mail from groundspring.org. Of course, the timeframe for the donation coincided with the "Send Al to Denver" request. 

On 6/21, I filed a dispute with my credit card company. My virtual on-line statement says, "Conditional Credit for Dispute $100."  I'm still in limbo, but it's better than being in the hell of RuralVotes.  

I'm not sure I agree with the commenters regarding the team concept and whether or not it shapes how you react to winning or losing.   I think there is validity to a team effort being influenced by EXPERIENCE in team work  BUT I don't agree that it's just a female thing. There was and there still are are plenty of boys/ men who choose to not participate in team sports. (That doesn't mean of course that everyone should participate in team sports as there are many professions that don't rely on teamwork per se.) Several studies have proven that developing teamwork skills in a sports environment in your formative years contributes positively to later working in a team setting in the workplace. Based upon how her campaign was run, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Bill Clinton or Mark Penn also did not participate in a team sport through their formative years. 

More importantly, it does no good to say that Hillary lost because of the men in her campaign.  No she didn't.  She lost because SHE didn't run a good campaign and because she was up against one of the best candidates in modern day times.  She alone had the power and the authority to hire and fire and manage the operation.  To say that it was because the men in her campaign let her down, frankly is a creating the impression that women can't hold their own.  Good grief, if I had a few guys who worked for me on a project who didn't do a good job and I later found out that people were saying that it wasn't my fault that the project didn't work out - it was because of the two guys?!?  No - it was my project and I would be responsible for failure. I would be embarrassed if someone wanted to assign the failure to the males just because a woman headed the project. 

Yes, I am still processing all of this...I don't feel I need to take a side and stay there and shout at this point. It is complicated.

As a "third wave" and younger feminist, I always said Obama was the more feminist candidate and feel very confident that he shares my views on women's issues and will continue feminist causes. When I say this, it seems I have made some angry (such as older women who have dealt with way more oppression than me). As a therapist, I see this now, working with older women dealing with consequences of certain limiting choices they made 40 years ago, but those were the only ones they had.

From Wikipedia: "Third-wave theory usually encompasses queer theory, transgender politics and a rejection of the gender binary, anti-racism and women-of-color consciousness, womanism, post-colonial theory, critical theory, transnationalism, ecofeminism, libertarian feminism, and new feminist theory. Also considered part of the third wave is sex-positivity, a celebration of sexuality as a positive aspect of life, with broader definitions of what sex means and what oppression and empowerment may mean in the context of sex." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_feminism

I think it's cool that at least this form of feminism strives for freedom from all forms of oppression, and I am confident that Obama holds this view to some extent.

And yet, "feminism" has such a bad reputation. To most in the MSM, it means angry women shouting (and burning their bras). And yes, I think the way HRC and her supporters touted it really worsened it. What did we see? Angry women shouting. Really, I don't remember hearing about so many people proud to call themselves feminists until this election, and I had to wonder where they came from. Were they people very active already? Where they Republican plants?

Some feminist leaders that I respect such as Alice Walker came out for Obama. Steinem spoke at a conference in Albany a few months ago and seemed to subtly denigrate herself in comparison with the younger generation's scholars. It was strange and I felt bad for her. She should stand strong and be proud of her contributions.

I don't feel for Hillary's loss as a loss for women. Part of me just wanted her to be a likeable human and felt a rush of esteem every time I caught a glimpse. I do like and admire her as a person. I think my visceral response to her is just related to some weird karmic connection to her basic nature and some sense that she can be better.

I didn't write it in Word, actually. What happened was the "Input format" was set to full HTML instead of filtered HTML. Fixed it.

Longroad,

Do you not agree that it would be political suicide for either Obama or McCain to choose a VP from the opposite party?  Bipartisanship comes from working with the other side in Congress and having a few lower level cabinet members from the other party.   It's obvious to see that you don't put the person next in line for the Presidency from the other party unless you want to lose your party's next election.

Siddartha - If you compose your comment first in a Word document and then paste it in, it will eliminate paragraph breaks unless you first click the "W" (word) logo on the comments box, paste it in there and then click "insert."

Just my hunch on what happened to your comment.

No i don't think it would be suicide though i understand what you are saying. I think you have to have more than that window dressing cabinet position stuff.  To be honest i'm not sure what would happen after Obama did his 8 years.  I just believe  that this  country is going no where unless people start to really work together. So if  he picks Hagel it says see even though we have differences we are willing to work together. If i can do it why can't you. That would send a very powerful message that  would change this country and dare i say the world -postiively-forever.

 

Or the whole thing-Obama Hagel administration- could end up a complete disaster. 

All i can tell you is i'd do it.

 

 

It's funny, and sad, that there wasn't all that much 2nd day coverage of the unity event, while the media was happy to pick up on any signs of disunity, such as the Florida anti-Obama vandalism.

 

I've just written up a Daily Kos diary on anti-media bias, 527s, and voting machine problems - three factors we can't really control that have a large impact on the election.  Check it out (and even recommend it if you're so inclined):

 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/29/16259/2655

 

My goal is to quantify their effects so we know how much work we need to do to overcome their impact.

Really, I don't remember hearing about so many people proud to call themselves feminists until this election, and I had to wonder where they came from.

That about says it, Oona. And they remind me of Mugabe in their approach to politics.

I remember keeping a mental tally during the Get Al to Denver push at the RVC(emetery), and the amounts in the posts were below what was ever listed as collected. I thot you and Dk were just trying to psyche everyone out.

The feminism conversation facinates me. My mother (b:1903, who shared a suite with Margaret Meade at Barnard in the 1920's) was pre-feminist. During WWII she went back to work and stayed working; often worring when she out incomed my father. I (b:1932) never considered myself a feminist. I was too busy taking on opportunities that opened up for me to burn my bra or join NOW. I am not sure which wave I would be part of. I do know I had to walk though male attitudes toward females in the workplace.

I too did not see Hillary's loss as a loss for women. Barack's win surely may be considered a win for black women. I'd suggest that Barack and Michelle's path is a win for ALL women and men.

What I wonder today is a broader sciological view: Matriarchal vs Masculine influences in making choices. Seems to me there is a lot of unresolved anger and blaming, as opposed to acceptance of choices, learning to try another way and building bridges rather than walls.

 

catherine,

i think our views on responsibility are the same. wasn't blaming the men nor excusing the woman. noticing some severe irony, tho, within the clinton campaign and 'feminist' meme that evolved from it.

she seems stronger, more authentic without bill, doesn't she?

sexism is ingrained and incidious, but the issue seems too hot to sort thru now. i hope it does get some soul searching and articulation.  i'm a second waver and didn't know until the Iowa caucuses that i was a traitor :)

oona, thanks for the laugh: "Really, I don't remember hearing about so many people proud to call themselves feminists until this election, and I had to wonder where they came from." where, indeed. guess it depends on what we mean by feminism.

@Sharon Daly, this perception may very well have some validity. It is also, however, a basic principle of couple therapy (Murray Bowen) that often one spouse gives up a certain amount of "self" and compromises to keep the relationship going. Then when the relationship changes or dissolves (or in the case of Bill Clinton, the partner is less present), you can see one person gain that self back. Across the board, women are more often the adaptive ones, but it does happen to men too. We may well have been seeing an unfortunate display of unresolved marital sabotage on the national stage, as Al often suggests.

@Anne Crumpton, There are so many important contributions from the 1st and 2nd wave feminist movements that I (b. 1974) take for granted and wish I wasn't so blase. Sexism is insidious and unfortunately, may be less overt and harder to address directly. My mom (b. 1947) has noticed one major change--many young men raised by second wave feminist mothers are incredibly respectful and not put off by strong women. She's said it's a very welcome change when a male contractor comes to her house to work on something and he listens to her thoughts about what's wrong, instead of only talking to my stepfather.

Again, Murray Bowen would say these young men are strong enough to tolerate strong women. So, feminism can empower everyone and be mutually strengthening vs. one gender loses.

I was chatting with a woman in her late 30s at our local Unite for Change picnic yesterday who said she has always been an Obama supporter, and her 80-something grandmother, who lives in North Carolina, is crazy for Obama as well, but her 60-year old mother is still stuck on Hillary. This woman says she still can't have a reasoned or calm conversation with her mother about the election because Mom still blows up 10 seconds into the topic.

She made an interesting observation about how Hillary and her supporters approached the candidates.  She pointed out that it reminded her, as a child of divorce, of the way some divorced parents poison their childrens' minds against the other parent.

She sees in the way Hillaryites continue to bash and insult Obama an echo of the way her mom spoke of her father to her.  And to her, it explains why her mom is still so irrational in her hatred of Obama.

I thought it was an interesting perspective.

@ Sharon Daly -- for sure.  While I can empathize with older women who had to go thru a lot (as recently as the late 70s) to get past the secretarial role and every other limited job they were allowed to interview for, I have no sympathy for Clinton and her followers who too often called "no fair" about the way she was portrayed, when the real problem was her lack of management skills.  She would have received a lot more respect (and probably more votes) had she owned up to her mistakes in the first few months.  And I think it's important for us to remember that it's not only women who get the rough treatment.  We all remember Dukakis was portrayed as "not manly enough" in the military tank. 

From my perspective, throughout her career Hillary Clinton always appeared to not hesitate to step on anybody to get where she wanted to go.  I did not see her taking principled stands on anything that wasn't also politically expedient. IMO, not divorcing Bill and voting for the war were both politically calculated decisions.  I think it is ironic that had she made the opposite decision on either of those, it would have made her a much more compelling candidate.  She might have won (not that it would have been good for the country as she would have kept the lobbyists and corporates well fed in Washington.) 

 I'm hopeful that sometime in the next 20 years we will see a wise and principled 45 year old female become President.  By that time it might be the right time for a Latino or Asian American woman to rise to the top.  Or how wonderful would it be to have a Native American Indian man or woman?

 

@BR - very, very good diary - I hadn't seen that information presented in such a way before.  It's also interesting to see the states with the poor voting mechanisms.   You would think that would be something that the RNC and the DNC could get their local party leaders to get addressed. Or is that asking too much of them?

 

!!

@Land of Lincoln 3:46 p.m.

Mine was a Pay Pal transaction. With my original request to Deb I included a cut and paste of my original Pay Pal receipt. My donation was also in response to Deb's "Send Al to Denver" appeal.

I would think since Deb's Let's Send Al to Denver appeal was so explicit, there must be some legalities on diverting funds collected for other purposes. And I'm not just talking about a refund. The unrefunded balance needs to be sent on to Al along with the credential. If Al had disappeared into the woodwork there might be some rationale for keeping the money and credentials. At this point Deb is very well aware that Al has set up a new fund and is going to Denver. There's no excuse. I simply don't understand why she would want to earn herself so much ill will.

I think she's underestimating the amount of ill will this fiasco has generated, and is over-estimating her importance.  The SDs were swamped with fawning (and admittedly, some non-fawning) attention over a period of months.  I don't think it was good for their heads.  Personally, I'm hoping that some FieldHand, or Kossack, or (?) is employed by the IRS and is starting to think that an audit of a certain non-profit is looking like it's a good idea.  The loosey-goosey way the money is being dealt with does not look very professional to me and it seems likely that it deserves closer scrutiny.

Hey Field Hands,

I received a refund check for my donation via Groundspring to "Send Al to Denver."  

Al, when the check clears (it's a Rural Votes check, so I think it's prudent to wait for it to clear) then I'll donate again to send you to Denver.

She didn't refund my Keep Al Writing donation, hopefully you received that money Al.

 

Elle in MI

My contribution in early May was denied return as it was before 'send Al to Denver' because 'Al got paid' as well.