Senior Offensive

that go well with this. Here is one of them:

can be turned into an ad. A national ad or a targeted ad to swing states would be a  winning strategy and MSM will sure pick it up.

On an unrelated note, thanks Al, for keeping your eyes on the prize. Most of the progressive sites are focused on criticizing and questioning every move the campaign makes - not to mention panicking every time McCain comes up with another idiotic ad.

I actually took a couple of minutes this morning to call the AFL-CIO in Washington DC to thank them for this latest flier about McCain and social security.  They have taken a page out of the Republican playbook and are using McCain's wealth against him.

I spoke to a young woman named Julie over there who is responsible for this flier as well as the most recent "rumor" busting one supporting Obama.  She was surprised and pleased that I would call to thank her for this work.

Anyway, she mentioned that the union can only send this out to its members.  My sense though is that they would not be upset if some creatively inclined folks took their concept and made it viral.  I really think that if those creatively inclined folks could do this and make it available for downloading, it could really help my grassroots organizing efforts in Iowa.

to ram between McCain and his base.  Great strategy, and these images are going out via email to my relatives, a significant percentage of whom are receiving SS benefits.

And btw, Al, I'm loving the volume of new posts you're cranking out.  You're on fire!  It's been rewarding to stop by frequently.

It's worth noting that McCain was born just one year and 15 days after the Social Security Act was signed.

The following information came from a very short article so rather than step on copyright restrictions, I'll restate the facts with a link to the source at the bottom.

McCain admits to reporters that he collects Social Security benefits. In fact, he has been collecting Social Security benefits for almost seven years. In 2007 he received $1,930 in monthly benefits totaling $23,157. According to the Social Security Administration, individuals can refuse benfits.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/07/14/daily79.html

The article also points out that while McCain continues to collect his SS checks, he calls the program a "disgrace" and notes this Cindy McCain has a net worth of $100 million.

Maybe the DNC, or better yet the AFL-CIO, should ask Mr. 10 Houses Private Jet if he used his Social Security check to buy those $520 Savatore Farragamo's.

Social Security is a major issue because it truly defines what kind of country this is.  Is it an "I got mine", law of the jungle country?  Or a place where we are uncomfortable with our own well-being if there are others that are in grave need.  We need to be able to fight the knee-jerk "socialism" tag, and defend the virtue of caring for those at the fringes of our economy.  We need the privatizers back on their Ferragamo-loafered heels, to force them to defend their capital gains when seniors are eating dog food.  We need to show that Social Security is not in "crisis" (a word Obama unfortunately used in this context) but in need of the kind of care an institution of this importance deserves.

This is a program to truly be proud of, a manifestation of the words on the Statue of Liberty, and anyone that tries to paint it as stealing from the wallets of hard-working Americans needs to be exposed as a selfish opportunist with embarrassing conflicts of interest.  This flier is a good start.

And then we organize and proseletyze for single-payer health care - give Obama some room to do the right thing when health care gets on the docket...

I might add that the image of an elderly couple that looks like they just stepped out of a J. Crew ad, or off their helicopter after touching down at their Hampton's estate isn't what I would have chosen to show appreciative seniors kept in basic comfort by their monthly SS checks...

It doesn't need to be sad faces lined up at a soup kitchen, but something a tad more typical might be more appropriate.

I have the pleasure of living in the CD that, back in 2005, was represented by Anne Northup, the lead House salesperson for the Bush plan.

It was fun to recall, while writing my letter to the editor of the local rag, the Bush press conference in which he expressed his pride in her efforts.

I would like to propose a competition.  AFL-CIO is getting the message out to its people.  Al has given us information to be surrogates from the Obama campaign.  Many of us have bemoaned the fact that there are quite a few sites that cater to the chicken-littles and armchair campaign strategists.  Well here we have locals.  Having been a member of a local of NEA (National Education Association) for the past 12 years, I've learned that there are some effective ones and others that just complain.

So, starting in September I'd like to see a competion among the at least 17 locals to become "Local of the Month".  The great honor could only be earned by submitting actual hours that members put into the campaign to get Obama elected.  Activities such a phone banking, registering voters, canvassing etc.  The leader of the local could request the members submit their hours and activities, tabulate them and submit it to Field President, Al.  What better way to document "tilling of the soil" that can come from this community?  Al?

This is an excellent line of attack. In fact, I can't think of a better direction in which to move the campaign narrative. It really fires me up that Obama is ramming this issue down McCain's throat. Social Security presents one of his biggest vulnerabilities and, yes, a perfect wedge issue.

And rather than dissipating our efforts by going in countless directions, as those of us who have panicked might have hoped, Obama's focused on a theme that can and will break through the clutter.

Call my enthusiasm a form of vicarious joy if you will. Pleasure in the fact that our side is fighting back for once, in a manner that has been forgotten by Democrats for so long. But that's not a bad thing. It motivates me to step up and do more. Right after I finish writing this, I will be firing off a letter to my local newspaper. Please do the same. Then let's get out there and register, register, register new voters.

What occurs to me more and more is the need to internalize all of this campaigning, so that it becomes a habit that extends far beyond an election year.  My hope is that it becomes less about campaigning and more about pure and simple organizing. So that when we actually get the administration we want in the White House in January '09, they'll have the actual means to (gasp) make real, meaningful progress in this country.

Via TPM, the Obama campaign is testing out a half hour infomercial. Always three steps ahead of the other team.

http://adage.com/campaigntrail/post?article_id=130295&search_phrase=obama

The appeals judge reversed what the other judge did this morning...Kwame is re-tethered and cannot travel!

Obama spokesperson says Barack does not want Kwame @ the Convention:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gH63DXnWhMaAA_4vWnf14sZRXYiQD92I7J7G1

I'm SO glad!

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

I think this is eye-brow raising...looks like Obama has taken in more than 6xs in active duty contributions.  I wonder if the public might reevalutate who supports the troops and who the troops support with their $$$$.  Looks like service men and women know who would be the the best commander-in-chief.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080814/pl_afp/usvotemilitaryfunds

I just got a note via the official Obama camp via his WA state campaign chair, Rep. Adam Smith.  It is a call to action for the primary this coming Tuesday.  They are calling it a trial run for Nobember....let's get organized and practice!  Come out and support your local Democrats!

Amazing and fabulous!  And it relates to what Sadie was saying.  I was just talking about that yesterday how you can start to see how citizen activism could gain enough traction to become normal.  This organizing folks are doing and the internet being harnessed as a very powerful facilitator could really result in positive change.  Can't you see how a President Obama would continue to reach out to people in these creative manners and get people INVOLVED?

Should the New York Times remove Jerome Corsi's Obamanation from its Best Seller list on the grounds that it attained its status via bulk sales to right wing groups?

Please visit http://stephencrosehome.blogspot.com and vote

I don't know if anyone is still reading the previous thread:

http://thepage.time.com/2008/08/14/biden-bayh-to-speak-wednesday-at-demo...

Biden and Bayh to speak Wednesday night.

This still leaves Gore, Richardson and Kaine with no announced speaking slot.

KD

Gore, Gore, Gore... oh could we really be so lucky?!  Seriously though, I will be excited about the ticket no matter what.  Wesley Clark doesn't have a speaking role either, does he?

This video showing John McCain's unequivocal support for privatization of soc. sec. in 2004 should be shown again and again and again in TV Ads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyBwMy27Aoc

I think I read somewhere that Clark will be out of the country during the convention.