Randy Parraz for U.S. Senate

Tuesday, August 24th – is Primary Election Day in the State of Arizona. I voted early a couple of weeks ago and wanted to share some thoughts as to why I voted for Randy Parraz as the Democratic candidate who will face McCain in the General Election.

Let me begin by saying that I believe John McCain can be forcefully retired in November. He was beaten handily in 2008 after a series of misjudgments (e.g. Sarah Palin) and misstatements (e.g. “That One”) because President Obama was able to clearly share his vision for the country, one that is in direct contrast to the smoke & mirrors offered by the modern conservative movement. A conservatism that deregulated Wall Street causing our economy to nose-dive, drowned New Orleans in Grover Norquist’s bathtub, and trumpeted up the case to send our military might into a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.

Additionally, during the Presidential Debates it was evident that the Very-Senior Senator considered himself Obama’s superior. The condescension and crankiness of an old white man verses the younger bienthic scholar laid it clear to 21st Century Voters that the country had an opportunity to take a chance and move forward in a real way.

I think gente deserve more credit than what infotainment news outlets like Fox News give them – if one treats voters like adults, they will show respect in return. If one goes further and points out the fact that a political opponent thrives on keeping voters ignorant, an election is won.

I believe Randy Parraz has what it takes to clearly draw that type of contrast with McCain in November.

Arizona is the poster child for what happens when the Tea Party gets its anti-government tentacles in all levels of government: the school system derails, infrastructure crumbles, and job creation stagnates due to lack of imagination. Parraz is a candidate who can remind the public how government can work effectively.

Why is Arizona not leading the rest of the country in solar energy? It’s embarrassing that we’re not. Parraz can make that type of case that discredits what we’ve all been sold by the GOP, especially the AZGOP that knows no limit to its extremism.

I could go on and on, but the litany of grievances I would list share one common thing: all are in need of a passionate, articulate response.

While I considered Rodney Glassman for many months, in the end, it came down to the fact that I don’t think he has what it takes to energize the coalition of voters that will be needed to beat McCain. He makes the right noises for a Democrat on the stump (usually); but as an avowed cynic, my B.S. Meter does somersaults telling me that I’m hearing a salesman pitch from a lackey in search of a promotion instead of a believer in the product. [All that said, I’ll still fill in the oval next to Glassman’s name come November if he manages to win tomorrow, but it will be a vote against John McCain, not for Rodney Glassman.]

I think there’s going to be a surprise tomorrow, however, and I’ll be happy to spend the fall season working to elect Randy Parraz as the next Senator from Arizona.

More info:

• Parraz for Change website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube videos

 

No, Senator, Life Isn’t Fair

[Crossposted from Booman Tribune, where I’m guest-posting this week]

Pobre John McCain. With Sarah Palin back in the headlines, he’s getting all nostalgic about what might have been. Rather than blame his failed warmongering ideology and erratic behavior for the drudging he received on Election Day, though, he’s whining about brown folk being mean to him!

RAMOS: Are Republicans concerned about upsetting their base if they vote to legalize undocumented immigrants?

MCCAIN: I don’t know…uh…I can’t speak for all Republicans…I know I was out there twice — on the floor of the Senate with Senator Kennedy — trying to pass comprehensive immigration with a path to legalization on it and I was attacked during the campaign for being anti-immigrant. Life isn’t fair.

RAMOS: Talking specifically about that — the last time we spoke was during the campaign. And you know and I know that you only got 31% of the Hispanic vote. Are you disappointed? What went wrong?

MCCAIN: Obviously I’m very disappointed. Millions of dollars of attack ads on your network and across the country in Spanish-language stations attacked me for being anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic, and anti-immigration reform. They succeeded.

Think Progress

Republicans don’t want to talk about why their party is becoming whiter and more male dominated. To them, the onus remains on those people to cross the bridge to them, paying no attention to land mines put in the path. This strategery is already failing and will continue to do so if the numbers continue to reflect a more diverse voting population:

According to census data, 66 percent of whites voted in November, down 1 percentage point from 2004. Blacks increased their turnout by 5 points to 65 percent. Hispanics improved turnout by 3 points, and Asians by 3.5 points, each reaching a turnout of nearly 50 percent. In all, minorities made up nearly 1 in 4 voters in 2008, the most diverse electorate ever.

Philly Enquirer

Democrats shouldn’t rest easy, however, because a mistake both party establishments make is assuming that communities of color can be pandered to by talk with no walk, or treated like unthinking masses altogether.

The latter is the fatal mistake made by the GOP. They assume that if 95% of black voters and 67% of latino voters pulled the lever for Obama, then it must be because we were showing solidarity for another darkie by default! John McCain blames spanish attack ads for losing the latino vote, which proves (again) that he is out of touch with us:

U.S. online Hispanics are heavier Internet users than the general market. In May 2009 (according to comScore Media Metrix), 68% of U.S, online Hispanics could be found online on the average day, compared to 62% of the general market. Online Hispanics consumed 8% more Page Views, 10% more minutes, and made 18% more visits online than their general market counterparts.

Online Hispanics are younger. One driver of the heaviness of Hispanic Internet usage in the U.S. is the relative age of the population. The median age of the U.S. online Hispanic population was 29.6 in May, compared with 34 for the general market. This is not surprising given the younger skew of the Hispanic population in general; according to census data, fully 61% of Hispanics are under the age of 35, compared to 45% of the non-Hispanic population. Online Hispanics are slightly younger than Hispanics overall, and significantly younger than online users overall. But notably for advertisers, they are younger than the Hispanic audiences generally delivered by offline media.

MediaPost.com

This post is not really about John McCain, is it? It’s about a political establishment that is consumed by maintaining a thick level of insulation from voters’ needs. The look of shock on their faces when they see that minorities share many of the same concerns as the wider population is amusing to watch unfold; and you could knock them over with a slight breeze if you told them that they could reach latinos using English-language media.

With a Census looming next year, and data that will undoubtedly show more representation of Latinos, African Americans, and Asians as part of the larger population, life will continue to be unfair to any elected official who supports policies that affect our communities detrimentally; or treat us as uppity when we demand an equal voice at the table.

Just ask Tom Tancredo

 

Obama’s State-Level Effect in AZ

While the polls for the presidential contest have been tightening in recent weeks between Senators Obama and McCain in Arizona, the effect of the Democrats’ ability to register, empower and organize voters will be felt more powerfully on the state level.

Tonight, we have an opportunity to flip the state House of Representatives to the Democrats by netting four seats. The sea change that will represent cannot be overstated. Governor Napolitano has been the only firewall for the past few years against a far-right, nativist led GOP caucus in both chambers of the state legislature. These are the jokers that have repeatedly put up anti-migrant and anti-latino initiatives up for vote; the same crazies who want guns in bars, restaurants and school campuses. If the Democrats get their vote out today, the era of Russell Pearce-dominated politics under the capital dome will be at an end.

On the federal level, 2006 brought an even parity of Democrats and Republicans to the congressional delegation with Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords earning seats to represent Arizona. Ann Kirpatrick will almost undoubtedly become the newest face to the scene in CD01. She’s run a fantastic campaign and probably worn out several pairs of walking shoes from all the visits she’s made around the huge district (it’s bigger than the state of Illinois); and if a tsunami strikes the GOP tonight, we can also say hello to Congressmen Bob Lord in CD03 – we’ll see what happens.

Ballot initiatives will be a mixed bag. I fully expect the anti-migrant proposition 202 to pass as it gives nativists and haters a chance to take out their agression since the issue has been largely absent from the national dialog. The “Bigotry with a Smile” proposition 102 that will amend the state constitution to define marriage between a man and woman only is hopefully going down to defeat (again!), but have to admit that the Yes people have been very visible with signs and commercials this cycle. As I said before, if there is a progressive wave from all the work the Obama campaign has done in the past few months, we’ll see it in ballot lines like these.

Polls are open until 7PM local time (9pm Eastern).
Don’t forget your ID.

Acceptable forms of identification with photograph, name, and address of the elector

• Valid Arizona driver license
• Valid Arizona nonoperating identification license
• Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
• Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification

An identification is “valid” unless it can be determined on its face that it has expired.

Acceptable forms of identification without a photograph that bear the name and address of the elector (two required)

• Utility bill of the elector that is dated within ninety days of the date of the election. A utility bill may be for electric, gas, water, solid waste, sewer, telephone, cellular phone, or cable television
• Bank or credit union statement that is dated within ninety days of the date of the election
• Valid Arizona Vehicle Registration
• Indian census card
• Property tax statement of the elector’s residence
• Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
• Recorder’s Certificate
• Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification, including a voter registration card issued by the county recorder

An identification is “valid” unless it can be determined on its face that it has expired.

 

KAET Poll Shows 2-Point Margin in AZ

I’ve been following this poll for the past few months, as it’s locally based and the people that do the final sampling know how to interpret the realities of the state better (my opinion, of course).

TEMPE, Ariz. ––Republican John McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by two points (46 percent to 44 percent) in Arizona, a margin that makes the race too close to call, according to a new Cronkite/Eight Poll. The poll of 1,019 registered voters in Arizona was conducted Oct. 23-26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. According to poll director Dr. Bruce Merrill, “The race in Arizona is very close. Supporters of both candidates are highly committed to their candidates, with 94 percent of Obama’s supporters and 93 percent of McCain’s supporters indicating that they are firmly committed and won’t change their mind before Election Day. In addition, the undecided vote is very low, which means that there are few people remaining to be persuaded during the last week of the campaign. Obama has been closing the gap by attracting independents and women to his campaign. McCain does well among conservative Democrats and evangelicals. Still, a week is a long time in a political campaign and anything can happen. Who wins will be determined by which candidate gets their supporters out to the polls on Election Day.”

AZPBS.org

Mwahahahahahaha

 

Temper, Temper

Since Senator McCain refuses to answer the Sanctuary’s comprehensive questionnaire on immigration-related policy stances, we’re going to have to glean whatever nuggets we can from random press reports.

Like this one:

At one point in the interview, McCain grew frustrated with a Tampa television reporter during her questions on immigration issues. McCain twice said illegal immigrants who have committed crimes would be rounded up. Katie Coronado of WFLA-TV asked if that meant using raids to round up immigrants.

“What did I just say that had any connotation of raids?” McCain said, raising his voice with impatience. “Let me try one more time.”

He again explained the idea of forcing illegal immigrants out of the country by issuing ID cards and fining employers who hire illegals. He then softened his tone.

“I apologize,” he said to Coronado. “I understand how important an issue it is. I didn’t mean to be flip.”

AP via teh Google

This issue alone almost caused McCain’s candidacy to crash early in the GOP primaries, it’s no wonder that he would get testy when asked to actually spell out his have-it-both-ways views on reform of the immigration system.

 

So McCain Opposes Prop 102, Eh?

Well, knock me down with a feather.

Can we add Senator John McCain to the endorsement list at the homepage of the No on 102 Coalition now?

The Washington Times reports that in 1986, John McCain wrote a note on House stationery to Charles Keating, chairman of a failed savings and loan association who went to prison in the late 1980s. In the letter, McCain apologized for listing Keating as part of his Senate campaign finance committee. Keating wrote in response: “You can call me anything, write anything or do anything. I’m yours till death do us part“:

Think Progress

 

Jorge Ramos Interview with Obama/Biden

Somehow I missed this.

Jorge Ramos interviewed the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President the day after the first debate between Senators Obama and McCain. Since there have now been three debates and not one question asked about immigration reform or border policy, I think it’s important to note that these are still pressing issues for many of us.

Here’s how Obama answered a question on the Great Wall of America:

Jorge Ramos
SENATOR THE LAST TIME THAT WE SPOKE YOU TOLD ME THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW IF A FENCE WOULD WORK TO STOP UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS FROM CROSSING FROM MEXICO TO UNITED STATES. NOW IF WERE YOU STILL UNSURE, WHY DID YOU VOTE ALONG WITH SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN TO AUTHORIZE THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FENCE?

Barack Obama
Well, here is what I said that I’m skeptical that…you can’t build a fence along a border like the one between the United States and Mexico. There maybe areas were having barriers could actually prevent the kinds of flows into the United States, some of which really dangerous for the potential undocumented worker as well. But what I do think we have to do is to get serious about border security in combination with cracking down on employers like the ones in Iowa that were hiring 13 and 14 year olds to engage in some of the most dangerous work there is, meat packaging and we got to have a system to lift undocumented workers out of the shadows and provide a pathway to citizenship. Now, what we are seeing is because the decline in the construction industry in particular but the economy slowing down generally, that the flow of undocumented workers is slowing and that remind us once again that to the extent we are working with Mexico to relieve poverty there and provide jobs and opportunity. That is going to be the best recipe for us to be able to deal with this thing long term.

Blog de Obama

For a more comprehensive look at how an Obama administration would tackle an overhaul of the immigration system, you can always look at how he answered the Sanctuary’s questionnaire.

Senator McCain, it seems, will be able to slide through the next few weeks without revealing that he is a minuteman, not a maverick.

 

My Sweet Coconut?

My sweet coconut…

”Talking a little about his personal experience, he was famously born in Panama and has traveled all over the hemisphere for many years.” Fontaine said. “In fact, I saw, I guess it was last week, that his old girlfriend in Brazil has been found from his early days when he was in the Navy and was interviewed. She’s a somewhat older woman now than she was then, but it sorta speaks to the long experience he has had in the region — in the most positive terms.”

Fontaine was referring to former model Maria Gracinda Teixeira de Jesus, who recently gave an interview to O Globo saying the former sailor was quite the kisser. According to McCain’s memoirs, `Faith of My Fathers,` they met in 1957, when his ship, the USS Hunt docked in Brazil.

”I called him John but also my darling and my sweet coconut,” she said. “He was a great kisser. I liked it so much that I bought a book to learn how to kiss myself.”

Miami Herald

What the….you’ve got to be……how could they possibly think….GAAAAAAAH!

 

A Week To Remember

As a certified (and probably certifiably insane at this point) member of the news addict crowd in the U.S., I’ve been cycling through moments of horror and disbelief over the past few days. This has certainly been a week for the books in the annals of U.S. presidential politics.

The horror comes as George W. Bush performs one of the signature moves of his non-governance: raise a valid problem affecting the country and suggest such a ridiculous solution that hardly anyone takes the time to remove their jaw from the floor to stop what he and his murdurous, greedy band of criminal cronies intend to inflict on the world.

It’s almost predictable. Junior Caligula swoops in with his proverbial big stick, reprises his role as The Decider, and makes horrible situations worse (often acting a few days later than a real leader would begin showing, you know, competent leadership). Exhibit A: Attacking Iraq as a response to 9/11; Exhibit B: the 2004 tsunami that devastated coastal communities of the Indian Ocean; Exhibit C: Hurricane Katrina.

This week we collectively watched in disbelief as a $700 billion bailout to Wall Street muckity-mucks was proposed to the nation in a prime-time address complete with dilated pupils and vacant expressions of a man who had absolutely no clue what he was talkin’ about. $700 billion? Really? Which orifice did they pull that number from? Here’s a clue:

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

Forbes.com

My friends, this is your brain country on drugs. Or is it lunacy?

I’ve come to the conclusion that John McCain, for example, has completely lost his mind. I almost feel sorry for him but the schadenfreude is too succulent to pass up. A consensus seems to be building that the abrupt “suspension” of his campaign to fly back to Washington was a total disaster.

If McCain believed he could be a constructive force by busting his way into the center of the delicate negotiations between congressional Democrats and Republicans and the White House, he was not able to show it Thursday. The objective evidence is that things got worse, not better, in Washington after McCain arrived. There was a tentative deal, announced by congressional leaders, when McCain landed in Washington. Hours later, there was chaos and recriminations.

WashingtonPost.com

The quote marks are used above because in this case “suspension” equals “surge”. Instead of truly putting the breaks on their campaign, the Palin-McCain ticket had surrogates all over the place peddling spin, both nominees gabbed with Katie Couric (but not David Letterman, which may prove to be a fatal mistake to their bid for the White House), ads continued to run across numerous media markets, and the donate button was kept live on the website.

Can anyone tell me how that all equals a suspension?

Suspension of belief, perhaps. It makes me nearly speechless to see McCain’s campaign engage in blunder after blunder after blunder.

Make the focus of the campaign on experience? Pick Sarah Palin, who has little to none.

Make the focus of the campaign on McCain’s Mavericky Jedi Skills to bring about change? Use the Karl Rove Handbook to attack the media, lie repeatedly about your opponent’s positions, and shut down any investigations with an army of lawyers that could lead to embarrasment.

Make the focus of the campaign on McCain’s steady hand in crises? Allow him to behave batshit loony by suspending his campaign, swooping in to Washington to attend a meeting he allegedly called for, saying very little at aforementioned meeting, threatening to pull out of the first debate, and then claim to have won the thing before it even occurs.

…all while there are legitimate problems that need to be solved with the financial system.

Yup, the behavior pattern definitely rings a dissonant chord that we’ve all been hearing for the past eightish years.

 

Obama’s Answers to Sanctuary’s Immigration Survey

The Editorial Team of The Sanctuary has released Senator Barack Obama’s full responses to our survey outlining specific policy proposals with respect to a complete overhaul of the U.S. immigration system and foreign policies that drive migrations of human beings to different parts of this chunk of earth we all call home.

Senator John McCain’s campaign didn’t bother to respond to our numerous attempts at dialog. As such, here’s part of the statement we are releasing with today’s post:

While our original intent was to present a meaningful side-by-side comparison of the policies and positions of all presidential candidates in order to better inform voters, Senator McCain’s unwillingness to answer our questions, or to go on the record with his positions on the specific details covered in the questionnaire, has made this impossible. Senator McCain’s reluctance is all the more troubling in light of the fact that his previously published positions, available on his website, appear to directly contradict those in the official platform coming out of the Republican National Convention earlier this month. This has left many of us who are concerned about immigration reform at a loss to know exactly where the Senator actually stands on vital issues.

Link to full post with Sen. Obama’s responses

My personal thoughts on Obama’s replies coming soon…