My wife pointed out tonight that all the yard signs for Republican candidates for office seem to be bright blue, with the word “Republican” in very small letters.
It’s a rough time to be a member of George’s Own Party…
Lawrence Lessig has some sane things to say about why, while Obama’s support of the FISA bill with telco immunity might have been bad politics, and was an instance of “self-swiftboating,” the left’s reaction to it has been hysterical.
Before Barack Obama was a candidate, I came to trust Larry Lessig as a thoughtful and principled observer of politics. (I just tried to find the post in his blog where it really hit me that this guy was probably smarter than me on these things, but I can’t find it.)
I also think that Lessig’s current crusade — to eliminate the corrupting effects of big money on politics — is one of the most important issues in American politics today.
Now that Barack Obama is a candidate, the most powerful factor in allowing me to support and trust him is that Larry knows him personally, taught with him, and thinks that he will do the right thing for America, especially on the issue of corruption.
For me that is worth a lot.
So I’m inclined to listen to him on these issues and not get all in a tizzy because Obama did not make the choice I wanted him to on this issue, and did not fulfill a foolish promise.
Shirley Preiss was born in Kentucky in 1910 - a full 10 years before American women gained the right to vote. She first voted in a presidential election in 1932, for FDR. She’s voted in every presidential election since, but that’s all about to change due to Arizona’s draconian voter ID law.
As Art Levine reported, Shirley effectively lost her right to vote when she moved to Arizona:
After living in Arizona for two years, she was eagerly looking forward to casting her ballot in the February primary for the first major woman candidate for President, Hillary Clinton. But lacking a birth certificate or even elementary school records to prove she’s a native-born American citizen, the state of Arizona’s bureaucrats determined that this former school-teacher who taught generations of Americans shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
The state’s voter ID law, passed in 2004, requires voters to show ID at the polling place and to provide proof of citizenship in order to register. But birth certificates weren’t issued in 1910 in Shirley’s birthplace of Clinton, KY, and her elementary school no longer exists.
[From Crooks and Liars » 97-Year-Old Arizona Woman Disenfranchised by Voter ID Law]
That’s what I’m talkin’ bout.
It’s been less than two days since he crossed the delegate threshold to become the Democratic presidential nominee and Sen. Barack Obama’s mark on the party is already being felt.
On Good Morning America Thursday, ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos reported “the Democratic National Committee will no longer accept contributions from federal lobbyists, will no longer take contributions from PACs” in keeping with Obama’s well-publicized policy.
I don’t actually think that policy is very well-publicized. I hope it gets more so.
GRAND RAPIDS — Kent County Republicans continue to claim a recent break-in at their Grand Rapids headquarters was politically motivated
And one party leader publicly blamed unnamed Democrats in a mass e-mail sent to supporters.
“We knew the Democrats would do anything to win, but we didn’t expect this!” wrote Kent GOP Chair Dave Dishaw in a note asking for money to help cover “costs” and support candidates. [...]
Moore also said he received threatening phone calls two weeks ago when Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama held a rally in Grand Rapids, though he did not report them to police.
I guess Mr. Dishaw thinks that G. Gordon Liddy has defected to the Democrats…
I imagine that there are a lot of people on his mailing lists which will eat that fundraising letter right up.