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Hillary Clinton and John McCain are both proposing that we take a vacation from reality this summer by temporarily lifting the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline. This, my friends, is worse than a bad idea. It's a typically, unambiguously, politically motivated and bad for the country, bad idea.
Removing the gas tax over the summer would accomlpish the following things. First, it would save the average american driver not more than $50. Over the entire summer. That's less than a pack of gum a day. Second, it would cost the federal government about $9 billion in lost revenue. $9 billion dollars is nearly 20% of the amount that we will generate by phasing out Bush's tax cuts to those making over $250 thousand dollars a year.
Of course, Clinton is also proposing a windfall profits tax on oil companies to make up the lost revenue. As Paul Krugman writes, this makes her plan "pointless rather than evil." I'd add though, that her plan is worse than pointless because by making gas cheaper (though of course, it won't actually be 18.4 cents cheaper, as the market will quickly accomodate and you'll be paying that money to the oil companies anyway) encourages driving and consumption when we should be doing the opposite. Does the term "greenhouse gas" ring any bells? Economistsallagree.
This is just another reason I'm proud to support Obama. Besides being the first candidate to propose cap and trade with 100% profits, he is resisting the siren song to political pandering that Clinton and McCain have succomb to. Clinton is even attacking Obama for not signing onto a horrible idea. Obama actually did support a state gas tax holiday in Illonois many years ago, and it ended up costing the stat $175 million dollars in revenue and didn't even achieve the desired savings to drivers. He apparently learned something from all those years of experience in the Illonois legislature that don't count as experience.
It's a no-good very-bad aweful idea. It's been more than a year since John McCain announced he's running for president, and he still has no energy policy.
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John McSame and the RNC are whining that the DNC is unfairly characterizing McSame's position on the Iraq war. I'm loving it, because if anything needs more media scrutiny in this country, it's John McSame's Iraq policy.
The short story is this; McCain has said, on several occasions, that a troop presence of 100 or more years in Iraq, similar to US troops in Korea, is acceptable and desireable to him. He offers the caveat that this is only his policy if US troops aren't sustaining casualties, and says that the DNC ad is unfairly mischaracterizing his (immorally inconsistent) position.
But here's the rub. McSame won't leave until we quell the violence, during which time our troops will continue to be attacked and suffer casualties. So he supports an open ended occupation suffering casualties, until the violence stops, and then a 100 year committment following that. But he refuses to say how long he's willing to stay until we reduce the violence. 1 year? 5 years? 10 years? If he's elected and 3 years from now Iraq is where it is today, would he consider withdrawing? Of course not. All that he says is that we can't withdraw. And so the DNC ad is more than fair. If anything, it doesn't go far enough in pointing out the complete lack of strategic thinking on McSame's part.
Click "There's more..." for an excellent TPM TV video explaining the pie fight.
We have moved our website permanently to our domain at www.DrexelDems.org. This website will remain available as an archive, but new content will be posted exclusively to DrexelDems.org.
Well that was a pretty crazy few months, wasn't it? Thank you to all of you who voted this past Tuesday, and an even bigger thank you for all of you who volunteered your time to help get out the vote. Whether you volunteered for Obama, Clinton, the Drexel Dems, or the Committee of Seventy (or any other group), Sean and I sincerely want to thank you for your help.
So here are the numbers: Approximately 475 students living in Drexel's dorm division, 24-10, came out to vote in the Primary. 20 were Republicans, the rest were Democrats. If you account for students registered as independents, students registered in the suburbs or New Jersey, and all the Republicans that didn't turn out to vote, you find out that the turnout of registered Democrats living in the division was about 75 or 80%.
I'll repeat that. About 75 to 80 percent of eligible Democrats fropm Drexel's dorms came out to vote. In the primary. That's pretty damn good, so you should all be proud. Thousands more students voted in surrounding divisions all over Philadelphia and it's suburbs, but 24-10 is a division composed almost exclusively of Drexel students, containing all the University City dorms. So we had 75 to 80 percent turnout rates for freshmen and sophmores. Again, that's phenomonal.
Obama won the division with 76% of the vote, while John McCain edged out Ron Paul 12 votes to 8. I think that the suprisingly poor showing of Paul (8 votes from all of the dorms? That's less than 1 person per dorm!) was my biggest surprise. I actually thought a few dozen kids would come out for him.
Obama carried more than the needed 72.22% of the 2nd congressional district to win 7 of our 9 delegates. And yes, Josh and Molly were both elected and will be attending the convention in Denver. Congratulations to them as well!
Again, thank you, and don't be a stranger now that our primary is over! Get some rest, and be ready for the general election!
We have moved our website permanently to our domain at www.DrexelDems.org. This website will remain available as an archive, but new content will be posted exclusively to DrexelDems.org.
It's Election Day (and Earth Day!) so go vote! If you've already voted, stop by one of our tables near the polling place or at Macalister to volunteer. If you haven't already voted, do it soon! You want to vote early and get it out of the way so you don't get caught in any lines.
Reminder:
Bring an ID to the polling place.
If you live in a dorm you vote at 3500 Lancaster Ave, across from 7-11.
We have moved our website permanently to our domain at www.DrexelDems.org. This website will remain available as an archive, but new content will be posted exclusively to DrexelDems.org.
On the way to McFaddens the other night Loren and I noticed this graffiti under an overpass near 3rd and Callowhill. We were coming from the Obama rally, so it struck me as Obama right away.
I love the imagery of Obama plugged right into the United States. Much has been made of Obama's ability to speak to students and young people, but I think the graffiti is accurate in that he's plugged right into the entire United States. In as much as a politician can reach people directly with an appealing message, Obama is doing it.
As far as I can tell, the artist behind these images is found at GoTellMama.org There is a gallery of his art sightings, but I only see other "Speaking to U.S." images in Chicago. Have any of you guys seen other images around Philly? Send me your pics if you have, I'm curious about them. I love viral graffiti campaigns.
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For those poor souls who couldn't make it to the Independence Hall rally with Barack Obama last night, you missed a great performance by Will.i.am and Will.i.am and Ed Kowalczyk. They came out just before dusk to sing "Where is the Love?" with the Obama lyrics. Crowd went wild.
That screaming you hear a couple times on the video was Caroline, who was totally down with the the whole thing.
I'll post more pictures later, after I do some more organizing.
We have moved our website permanently to our domain at www.DrexelDems.org. This website will remain available as an archive, but new content will be posted exclusively to DrexelDems.org.
One of the things that I really hate about a lot of debates is when the moderators get some rube to ask a question so silly and asinine that even clowns like Stephenopalous and Gibson wouldn't ask it. Of course, it's not that they don't want it asked, just that it's so stupid that they don't want to ask it themselves. So they launder it through some yokel that they get to read it in a video.
Such was the case last night, when that most important of topics flag lapel pins was brought up. Gibson & Son got some real down-home looking Latrobite to ask Sen. Obama whether he "believes in the flag?" After everyone picked up their jaw off the floor, Obama answered along the lines of how he loves this country and only in America is his story possible yadda yadda yadda.
But I was wondering "Where did Gibson & Son find little old Nash McCabe to carry their water?" I certainly wasn't aware of a general call for questions from the public. Did Nash McCabe call up Gibson & Son and say "Hey, have I got a killer question for you!"
So I googled Nash McCabe, and the first hit was this story from the NY Times from April 4th.
LATROBE, Pa. — Ask whom she might vote for in the coming presidential primary election and Nash McCabe, 52, seems almost relieved to be able to unpack the dossier she has been collecting in her head.
It is not about whom she likes, but more a bill of particulars about why she cannot vote for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.
“How can I vote for a president who won’t wear a flag pin?” Mrs. McCabe, a recently unemployed clerk typist, said in a booth at the Valley Dairy luncheonette in this quiet, small city in western Pennsylvania.
Mr. Obama has said patriotism is about ideas, not flag pins.
“I watch him on TV,” Mrs. McCabe said. “I keep looking for that lapel pin.”
Here's my hypothesis of how this went down.
NY Times reporter is doing a "man-on-the-street" story about PA voters.
Said reporter goes to the Valley Dairy luncheonette in Latrobe PA.
He interviews Nash McCabe, who speaks eloquently and at great length about the unfortunate absence on Obama's lapel.
McCabe's clever opinions are published in the NY Times on April 4th.
Gibson & Son (one or the other, perhaps both) read the story and hatch devious plan to make PA voters look like idiots and fling right wing manure at Obama, in one fell swoop.
ABC news contacts McCabe and gets her to ask her "question" on camera for the primetime debate.
Nation watches debate; collectively goes bald after pulling our hair out for 2 hours.
Is anyone else curious who read that NY Times article and thought "Gee, that would be a great question for this debate coming up!"
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What an absolute fucking embarrassment that debate was for ABC. Were Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos vying for stupidest fucking debate hosts this year or what? If you missed it, well you didn't miss anything. It was a trainwreck.
The first 55 minutes were spent entirely on the fake media controversies that distract from issues. They pestered Obama about Rev. Wright, flag lapel pins, William Ayers, and the bitter comment. Seriously, for the entire first hour. Sen. Clinton managed to distinguish herself by ripping off her remaing shreds of dignity (yes, I mean that) and throwing them to the floor in a desperate attempt to cling to those phony stories. Tonight she gave all of us strong reason why this should end now, and why she shouldn't be the Democratic nominee for president.
But to focus on Sen. Clinton's insincerity and duplicity would be a mistake, because the real losers of tonights debate were ABC news, and Gibson and Stephanopoulos specifically. They wasted the first hour of prime time national television by channeling Sean Hannity, and the second half talking about affirmative action, gun control, and 60's radicals. Straight out of 19-fucking-88.
The only answer I want to highlight was this response by Obama. He called out the stupid media controversies for what they were, exactly like I always wished someone would.
George, but this is an example of what I'm talking about. This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.
And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George. ...
[T]his kind of game, in which anybody who I know, regardless of how flimsy the relationship is, is somehow -- somehow their ideas could be attributed to me -- I think the American people are smarter than that. They're not going to suggest somehow that that is reflective of my views, because it obviously isn't
I may expand on this tomorrow, but I'm too upset with ABC to do anything more than just link to what the other, smarterbloggersaresaying.
If you feel like it, call ABC at 212-456-7777 to let them know what you thought of that.
We have moved our website permanently to our domain at www.DrexelDems.org. This website will remain available as an archive, but new content will be posted exclusively to DrexelDems.org.
Yesterday afternoon I caught all of 4 minutes of the Hardball College Tour with McCain at Villanova. We had sent some students out to Villanova to show support against McCain, and I flipped on Hardball to see what was going on. I only watched two questions from the audience, both of which utterly embarrassing to Villanova. The first was some grimey college republican, straight out of central casting, trying to get McCain to bite on Obama's "typical white person" remark from a while back. I felt bad for McCain, Villanova, and that students parents.
The next question I saw was from another Vanilla-nova student apparently trying to set the bar just a little bit lower. He brought up Hillary's PBR+shot special, and invited McCain to do a shot with him. Everyone laughed, because you know, fratboys spend a lot of time drinking. We get it.
I didn't think much of it until I saw on HuffPo this morning that the second intrepid doofus is actually the son of the most comically stupid man on television, Steve Doocy of Fox and Friends. Fox and Friends is one the most rabidly unhinged shows on television, the one where Fox News' own Chris Wallace had to actually tell them they were going overboard on the Obama bashing.
I don't have much more to say about these two because frankly, there isn't anything that could be said about them that wouldn't be better illustrated by watching Doocy Sr. on Fox and Friends for about 30 seconds. I just found it interesting that the nut doesn't fall far from the tree.
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The confederacy of dunces that comprise the right wing blogosphere is simulatenously a source of great joy and great pain to me. Great joy because they offer an unending supply of unintentional hilarity (often highlighted by Sadly, No!), but great pain because it's alarming to know that people actually think that way. The worst part, though, is that the pain is mine to bear, and only rarely can I share the joy, because few of my friends read many right wing blogs.
Enter this hilarious piece from Roy Edroso at the Village Voice. The Official Village Voice Election-Season Guide to the Right-Wing Blogosphere is both side-splittingly funny and eirily spot on. The cutting distillation of the personas of these clowns into a short rubric has to be read to be believded. So go read it. Acquaint yourself with the stooges that will spend the next seven months convincing each other that Obama is a manchurian jihadist just waiting to fly air force one into the pentagon, or something.
Then all of us can share the joy of laughing at the bloggers on the short bus.
We have moved our website permanently to our domain at www.DrexelDems.org. This website will remain available as an archive, but new content will be posted exclusively to DrexelDems.org.
If you've seen the flyers around campus then you know already that this Friday, April 18th, the Drexel Democrats are hosting a town hall discussion of, by, and for students, regarding the policy differences between senators Obama and Clinton.
It won't be a debate, but rather a cordial, student led discussion. We're going to try to keep the politics seperate, but nothing will be necessarily out of bounds. We're not doing it to tell you who to vote for, but rather to educates all of us about their policy similarities and differences.
I recommend you do a little homework before the event, so that you're at least familiar with the topics being discussed. A good starting point is the issue pages on each candidates website.
We have moved our website permanently to our domain at www.DrexelDems.org. This website will remain available as an archive, but new content will be posted exclusively to DrexelDems.org.
We're having our first general body meeting of the term this Sunday, April 6th, at 5pm in the Myers Hall Conference Room. It will be a brief but important meeting, and afterwords both the Drexel for Clinton and "Drexel for Obama" committees have some volunteering to do.
This is a great way for all of you new members and volunteers to get involved. Everyone that won tickets to go see Obama last night, well now is your post facto chance to earn them! Even if you didn't get the chance to see him, please come out and help out anyway, because we need your help.
Hillary Clinton and John McCain are both proposing that we take a vacation from reality this summer by temporarily lifting the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline. This, my friends, is worse than a bad idea. It's a typically, unambiguously, politically motivated and bad for the country, bad idea.
One of the things that I really hate about a lot of debates is when the moderators get some rube to ask a question so silly and asinine that even clowns like Stephenopalous and Gibson wouldn't ask it. Of course, it's not that they don't want it asked, just that it's so stupid that they don't want to ask it themselves. So they launder it through some yokel that they get to read it in a video.
What an absolute fucking embarrassment that debate was for ABC. Were Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos vying for stupidest fucking debate hosts this year or what? If you missed it, well you didn't miss anything. It was a trainwreck.
Yesterday afternoon I caught all of 4 minutes of the Hardball College Tour with McCain at Villanova. We had sent some students out to Villanova to show support against McCain, and I flipped on Hardball to see what was going on. I only watched two questions from the audience, both of which utterly embarrassing to Villanova. The first was some grimey college republican, straight out of central casting, trying to get McCain to bite on Obama's "typical white person" remark from a while back. I felt bad for McCain, Villanova, and that students parents.
If you've seen the flyers around campus then you know already that this Friday, April 18th, the Drexel Democrats are hosting a town hall discussion of, by, and for students, regarding the policy differences between senators Obama and Clinton.
We're having our first general body meeting of the term this Sunday, April 6th, at 5pm in the Myers Hall Conference Room. It will be a brief but important meeting, and afterwords both the Drexel for Clinton and "Drexel for Obama" committees have some volunteering to do. 
