Impeachment is first....................Dean and the dems SHOULD be pushing this...............

Bush is THE worst President and THE most dangerous.

Howard Dean is first.

1.

Dean already has his hands full.

He's doing a Herculian job already.

Very important to support DFA by joining DFA Trust. I'll try to plug it during tonight's installment of DFA Radio (feel free to listen & call in!). DSCC and DCCC are still too conservative -- the smart grassroots money goes to DFA, Howard Dean's DNC, DFA-List, and great progressive local candidates.

* rdorgan
Tue, 08/28/07
1:09 pm
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Bush has alot of days left.............deans efforts will be for naught if this fanatic launches some kind of strike against anybody........the world will hold dean, the Dems and all of us accountable.............

well said, Lewis!

just heard that Billary has been endorsed by a transportation union. and so it begins...!

omg, help us. run, Al, run!

Nobody knows like Dean's people how worthless endorsememts are.

Keeping the truth going from thread to thread.  Time for truth to out in Florida.  No more spin.

 Proof. Vindication. Both Florida parties did it for "relevance." From March.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1459

Lewis Miller
Tue, 08/28/07
1:12 pm


Too bad that all the money will go to already well funded races. Us who were all about that $50 million going into Iowa 2004 know we'd better keep as much cash as we can for locals.

Unless those millionaires, progressive or no, are hurtin' or somethin'... not.

floridagal .
Tue, 08/28/07
1:44 pm


Proof and vindication of what, or who?
You and/or Howard?

The folks in FL, those who ya'll say aren't finely tuned in (duhhh, we all know that), will only know it's time to vote in the primary.

Are you and Howard gonna picket the precincts?

Al Franken, Markos Moulitsas from Dailykos.com, and Senator John Kerry.

... did i mention millionaires? Are they writing checks?

The Ed Schultz Show is being shown on C-Span right now. Excellent beginning. He just had Kucinich on the phone asking about making a rule in the House and Senate requiring any member who has been arrested for anything at all to notify their Ethics Committee within 24 hours. DK sounded like he would consider that.

Obviously, they were referring to the Larry Craig arrest which happened in June and is just now being "discovered" by the news media. As Schultz said, the story was simply buried, if this had been a Democrat -- Reid, Kennedy, Durbin -- Limbaugh and associates would have been all over it non-stop from the beginning.

Senator Clinton is a very good representative for the business as usual wing of the party and they have named their candidate before and won some and lost some, but it is always in an election about change like this one where the rank and file achieve a critical mass to have their day. But if the not Hillary vote is split seven ways she wins with one sixth of the vote. Bill Richardson has the best plan for Iraq, Kucinich or Edwards, health care; and Obama is very credible in offering a new way. Dodd and Biden have distinguished records and a wealth of experience. Gravel ended the draft. Who drops out? all in all the way and Hillary might well end up with more delegates than the next highest total and still have less than a majority of the delegates

Bill Richardson drew a big crowd here today much like Biden, but less than a quarter of the crowd for Obama (which was on the weekend vrs. weekday morning) Both Biden and Richardson have good ads up,  If five candidates get 20 % is one a winner with 21 while one slips to 19

no

what all of this is about is the allocation of delegates to the nominating convention for who gets the high honor of having their name and Democratic Party on the same line of the ballot

one elected they serve all of the people, even dittoheads, but the dittoheads will never vote for any of them

ed schultz is on fihttp://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CSre. literally. he is ripping into sean hannity. he is on cspan right now.

http://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS

they took ed off of our  local station to put on  a fox sports show.

we have no progressive radio here.

The mess we are in with the primaries and caucuses is due to the fact that the DNC, rather than fix the system, simply shoehorned in a couple of other "early" primaries/caucuses, both in states that never go Democratic and therefore of questionable positive value in choosing a candidate.

The DNC needs to take the process out of the hands of the states and set the delegate selection calendar, and tell the state parties that's the way it's going to be, under penalty of losing their convention delegates.

Then they need to set that calendar using a system which rotates early and late, respects the value of having small states early to permit low budget candidates to have a fair chance of getting their message out, clumps primaries to provide campaign time between clumps, and IMHO leans toward blue and purple states early since "that's where the Democrats are."

 I've proposed such a system here and elsewhere, but there are many valid alternatives.

linda b -

So too here in the Boston area, except a Spanish music format surplanted the Ed Schultz progressive talk radio format.

That happened last Dec, before Christmas.

IMO, I got nothing against Spanish music (I like it and listen to it) but there's already plenty of salsa, etc. on the AM dial -- why did you have to take the spot of the sole progressive talk radio station ?

What a lousy present, worse than getting a tie (I wish I could do a exchange or a refund).

A fifty state plan a decade ago would have a top flight candidate ready to seize the day even in Idaho. We can only hope the Republicans don't oust Craig and fill in a replacement. Mike Vick must be giving a sigh of relief cause killing dogs with your bare hands doesn't top a Senator with a record of lewd behavior in a public restroom for tabloid fare.

Bill Richardson has a credible plan to get all of the American troops out of Iraq. I guarantee he will be viable in the Iowa caucuses. who does his support come from? Biden? Obama?

The DNC needs to take the process out of the hands of the states and set the delegate selection calendar, and tell the state parties that's the way it's going to be, under penalty of losing their convention delegates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That is exactly what they did.

17.

rich^kolker
Tue, 08/28/07
2:04 pm

The mess we are in with the primaries and caucuses is due to the fact that...

I've proposed such a system here and elsewhere, but there are many valid alternatives.
---------

The mess we are in is so deep and so fundamentally obsolete that it well may be it is non-fixable in conventional sense, imo.

I am getting ready to head out and get some things done and then go to va beach for our "out of Iraq' rally at a church.

Hope you are going to one.

I want to give to the DFA trust. I thank DFA for going to the TBA conf and the Daily Kos yearly convention.

But what are you going to do in VA? Not Nova but the Hampton Roads area?

I want some training down here. There is little DFA relevance except me plowing along.

What is DFA going to do for us and how will they hold these dems accountable for the money we give to them?

Anyone?

If you started with states having the closest elections you would add New Mexico, but you would still have Iowa and New Hampshire, and then you would go to Florida instead of South Carolina, after Ohio.

You do want a candidate with appeal in closely divided states.

That is exactly what they did.

 Not exactly.

They set the February 5th date, but left pretty much everything else up to the states, which is why we have almost all the primaries on February 5th, except the protected early states (NH, Iowa, NV and SC) and those who are trying to cheat (FL and Mich for now).

That's not the same as setting a schedule like this:

* have a January primary in a state chosen randomly from blue states in the bottom half by population (to keep costs relatively low to run a campaign),

* then two February primaries separated by at least two weeks from the January primary and from each other in states chosen randomly from those which were blue or within 5% of being blue in the last election.

* The rest of the primary season would be spread out though the beginning of June, with primaries grouped in batches randomly with the two week separation between groups.

In addition, we should eliminate the 15% threshold many states use to force a "winner" on the first ballot. All it does is take away the voices of those who vote for candidates who get fewer than 15%. If someone can't get to 50% + 1 without this kind of "cheating" written into the rules, maybe they're not the best candidate.

Any state that doesn't follow this schedule would lose its delegates to the Democratic National Convention.  Would the states yelp?  Particularly Iowa and New Hampshire?  Sure.  Let them.  Governor Dean could remind them that he's the one who is making sure state parties get their fair share of party monies, now its time for "payback", a fairer system for selecting a candidate.

That doesn't fix everything, but it's a start.

Another start would be to go to public financing on the "Clean Elections" model or something similar, to make the primary election be about ideas, not dollars raised.

The big blue states can decide the nomination anytime they want, but until the electoral college system is changed that is not enough.

In addition, we should eliminate the 15% threshold many states use to force a "winner" on the first ballot. All it does is take away the voices of those who vote for candidates who get fewer than 15%.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the 15% rule comes from having a finite number  of actual delegates and is a guarantee that a minority gets representation

Iowa has a re-alignment period like an IRV where you can vote your second choice

Do any of the rest of you have that choice?

It's too bad the car can't pull over to the side of the road so all the occupants can have their say about where they want to go.

That being said, and the car (driven by Howard) is not about to be stopped, I give the doc a lot of credit for keeping alert and minimally distracted from his goal of driving the vehicle through all 50 states.

There's a lot of backseat drivers IMO.

My Congressional District has six National Delegates allocated by the numbers from the caucus. Would you give one to a candidate at 2 % ? somewhere in the system you have to give representation to the majority, but have rules such that they don't take over the voting and award all of their delegates to the candidate at 50% plus one

rules are made for a reason and that reason is to get a fair representation to the nominating Convention to protect the minority

the 15% Rule is fair (for mathematical reasons)

Remember every single delegate to the Denver Convention has to be elected under somebody's rules. Yes they are state by state but follow the national rules and are approved by the DNC so are in the end the rules of the DNC who is the governing body of the party between Conventions.

Master at the shell game --

-- Romney, I'm so glad you're no longer my governor :

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070828/ap_po/romney_fees;_ylt=AgBmRHtkqlvDjFUsRY3oHTEb.3QA

Romney used fee hikes to trim budget

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press Writer

44 minutes ago

BOSTON - When Mitt Romney wanted to balance the Massachusetts budget, the blind, mentally retarded and gun owners were asked to help pay.

The Republican managed to slash spending to eliminate a deficit pegged at $3 billion, but he also proposed or presided over a far-ranging series of fee hikes — a strategy that allowed him to maintain the no-new-taxes stance he now boasts about as he runs for president.

In all, then-Gov. Romney proposed creating 33 new fees and increasing 57 others — enough, he said, to pull in an extra $59 million for the cash-strapped state.

Horseback riding instructors, prisoners, those seeking training to combat domestic violence and used car shoppers were asked to dig a little deeper.

...

National Delegates are real people with names, addresses, and phone numbers, and there is one for you in equal proportion to any other Democratic Party member in any other state.

I'll keep repeating it.

No matter when your state votes or how they do it the rules require that proportional representation and you are denied a say only if you don't participate and don't vote. You will have to have the backing of other party members to have an actual vote for the actual person and to be one of those delegates have the votes of the representatives elected as delegates to whatever convention in your state holds them. But DNC rules make those votes democratic ones. Every National delegate represents tens of thousands of voters.

The 15 Percent may make sense for some states, but doesn't for others.  Convention delegates should be allocated proportionally based on vote.  At some point, the percentage a candidate gets will fall below the number necessary to get one delegate, but in many states that's not 15%.  The 15% rule was made up to try to mandate that there would be a winner before the convention, rather than a "brokered convention".  Virginia gets (roughly) 100 delegates to the Democratic Convention (by memory from last time).  That means 1 percent is roughly the limit for getting a delegate.

How to round up or down will have to go into the rules, but I'm in favor of better reflecting the vote of the people, not giving an advantage to the "winners".

Well, Firefox accepted the YouTube and then it crashed.  I've been working all day to upgrade my linux box and get the plugins to work with Opera and Firefox.

The Youtube is from Sen. Dodd's site and is accompanied by the following:

 Actually, Opera is not letting me copy and says there's a bad URL

Judging by the many people here that know more about how politics works in this country, and how we so call elect our representatives.............I fail to understand how "the greatest nation on the earth" applies to us..............

This funky way things are run is, IMO not much further beyond the infamous blue thumbs in Iraq.............what an antiquated, outdated system we have...............if anything the past 4 years has taught me, things are much worse than I thought they were............

BBL

beepbeep drive by!

Top General Fears War Strain on National Guard
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807A.shtml
Andrew O. Selsky reports for The Associated Press, "The Pentagon is asking National Guard troops and their families to make sacrifices like never before in Iraq and other hot spots, the Army's chief of staff told a conference bringing together citizen-soldiers from across the country."

beepbeep drive by!

Top General Fears War Strain on National Guard
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807A.shtml
Andrew O. Selsky reports for The Associated Press, "The Pentagon is asking National Guard troops and their families to make sacrifices like never before in Iraq and other hot spots, the Army's chief of staff told a conference bringing together citizen-soldiers from across the country."

So General Betrayus may not be so clean after all.

Massive Criminal Probe of Illegal Iraq Arms Sales Underway
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807J.shtml
James Glanz and Eric Schmitt, of The New York Times, report: "Several federal agencies are investigating a widening network of criminal cases involving the purchase and delivery of billions of dollars of weapons, supplies and other material to Iraqi and American forces, according to American officials. The officials said it amounted to the largest ring of fraud and kickbacks uncovered in the conflict here, the officials said. The inquiry has already led to several indictments of Americans, with more expected, the officials said. One of the investigations involves a senior American officer who worked closely with Gen. David H. Petraeus in setting up the logistics operation to supply the Iraqi forces when General Petraeus was in charge of training and equipping those forces in 2004 and 2005, American officials said Monday."

Sorry about the double post.  :-(

Michael Ellis
Tue, 08/28/07
1:03 pm
==============

Love our 'independent' guest but  - none of my business - but would be nice to contribute to pay for the infrastructure, maintenance, etc, if you haven't already - $10 now and then isn't a big price for the entertainment.

Phil Specht
Tue, 08/28/07
2:00 pm

Reply to this
=========

good analysis, Phil, thanks for taking the time from your busy day.

34.

Monica Smith

We Need Reed!

Please join with me.

http://www.dfalink.com/campaign.php?id=2...

---Susan

FRED from OR
Tue, 08/28/07
5:33 pm
___________________________________________________________________________

DFA should be paying me just to hang around.............

Bill Richardson has a credible plan to get all of the American troops out of Iraq. I guarantee he will be viable in the Iowa caucuses. who does his support come from? Biden? Obama?

===============

Obviously, getting ALL THE TROOPS OUT under the bush administration and his modus operandi would light years better than ALL THE TROOPS IN.

But such an absolutist disposition, while feeling warm and fuzzy to the core, may be far from the best liberal position should the policy and landscape change, with a viable political solution, from either a new policy by Congressional override, or from another President.

If a Bosnian-type implementation were possible,  and did succeed, it would require a number of U.S. troops close to 40-50,000 troops, as part of a peace-keeping force, such as we still have 20,000 in Bosnia, none of which have been killed since the plan was implemented.

The  consideration of possible residual troops remaining for such a purpose, if publicly expressed, takes much wind out of the sails of  Republican  moderates' and moderate-rights' opposition to something like B-G or the forthcoming Biden-Boxer-Brownback legislation, which would bring an end to the genocidal war and gradually have Iraqi refugees return from Syria and elsewhere.

Leaving Iraq, per se, is not as important as healing the wounds and damage as we leave.  This would definitely have the broadest conscenus of the country of both parties and would ensure a victory in 2008. 

Michael Ellis
Tue, 08/28/07
5:50 pm

=============

LOL - sounds like "kiss my butt"

FRED from OR
Tue, 08/28/07
5:53 pm


LOL - sounds like kissing boyking butt

FRED from OR
Tue, 08/28/07
5:53 pm


Completely in denial of every aspect of the reality in Iraq. Not worth going thru point by point.\

except, the death of American troops as revenge by all groups in Iraq, AND interlopers will continue no matter what.

You are selling snake oil.

44. ?
I'm happy to be a DFATrust member.

~ ~ ~ ~

New thread, while ago...