Multistate disasters like Hurricane Sandy, which is currently battering the Northeast, present a big problem for the Republican Party and its anti-government ideology. Here’s why:
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Four debate pointers for President Obama
With the second Presidential debate between Barack Obama and Willard Mitt Romney around the corner and the third debate just six days later, President Obama should follow these four time-tested principles of successful political communication to gain the debate advantage:
Interview with Nicole Belle of Crooks and Liars
Nicole Belle
“Mom, Wife, Media Critic/Political Analyst, Blogger, Austen Fanatic, Unapologetic Liberal.” That’s Nicole Belle‘s bio at the Crooks and Liars progressive political blog, where she is Senior Editor and a regular contributor. Nicole has also written for Firedoglake, the ACLU blog, and elsewhere, and has been a frequent guest on political talk shows (including one where the author is a co-host).
With the 2012 presidential election just weeks away, and the campaign season in full frenzy, Messaging Matters spoke with Nicole to get her take on the political landscape:
The One Thing Democrats Should be Saying but Aren’t
At the Republican National Convention and elsewhere during this election season, the Republicans’ principal attack against President Obama is that he hasn’t fixed the economy or significantly lowered the unemployment rate. The Democrats have failed effectively to call the Republicans out for not lifting a finger to work with them and with President Obama to solve these economic issues.
The story is a simple and compelling one for the Democrats, if they would only tell it:
Republican Ideology Collides with Tropical Storm Isaac
Republicans hate “the government,” especially “the federal government.” That ideology has run through the Republican Party for decades, including opposition to regulation of financial markets, opposition to Medicare, calling for the elimination of the Departments of Education, Commerce, etc. President Ronald Reagan once famously said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'” Ask residents of New Orleans how that Republican hands-off approach worked for them during Hurricane Katrina. This Republican ideology is being sorely tested again now by Tropical Storm (soon to be Hurricane) Isaac.
Interview with Rap Activist Macarone
Macarone
With his name and his residence in conservative Orange County, California, Maurice Bradford could be an attorney or an accountant. But instead he’s Macarone, a self-styled “rap activist” who is carving out a niche as a hip-hop spokesman of the political Left. Messaging Matters caught up with Macarone after his recent performance to benefit the Wolf PAC:
Thank Your Public Employees
This past Sunday, we saw two widely varying examples of the best of public service. On Sunday morning, when white supremacist Wade Michael Page gunned down six people at their Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, police officer Brian Murphy was one of the first to arrive on the scene. Murphy began to assist one shooting victim, whereupon Page ambushed Murphy and shot Murphy eight to nine times. Murphy then reportedly waved off paramedics who attempted to treat him, so that they could get to the other victims first. Murphy remains in critical condition.
At nearly the same time, team members of NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California successfully guided the Curiosity rover to a bulls-eye landing on Mars. The enthusiasm and celebration of the NASA team, following many months of hard work, was as infectious as a gold medal win from our U.S. Olympic team.
These are just some of the “government workers” who Republicans and Conservatives have been trashing wholesale on a daily basis for decades, and firing in recent years. The funny thing is, when you point out specifics, whether it’s Sunday’s heroes, or the first responders who rushed up the stairs of the burning World Trade Center on 9/11, or our brave soldiers in Afghanistan and other war zones, the Conservatives’ pathological attacks on public workers just don’t hold water.
After Aurora Shootings, How About a Gun Law Shock Doctrine?
Another six months, another tragic shooting. The Aurora, Colorado theater shootings were the 22nd such incident since and including the 1999 Columbine shootings. In the mainstream corporate media, especially the television and cable “news” networks, we hear the cliche “our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this tragedy.” In addition to that sentiment, now is when we should push for real solutions to America’s gun violence epidemic, such as strengthening the nation’s gun laws. Call it the “Gun Law Shock Doctrine.”
Romney learns that legalisms and politics are very different
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” — President Bill Clinton, 1998
“I did not have economic relations with that company.” — Various satirists mocking Mitt Romney, 2012
As happened to President Bill Clinton in 1998, Republican presidential nominee Willard Mitt Romney is learning a tough lesson: legalisms don’t cut it in politics.
During the 1998 Clinton/Monica Lewinsky affair, while being deposed in the related Paula Jones lawsuit, Clinton was given a definition of “sexual relations” that appeared to be limited to performing sexual acts upon another person. Clinton was then asked whether, under this definition, he had had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. Since Clinton had not (according to him) performed sexual acts upon Lewinsky, he seemed to have answered the question truthfully by saying “no.” However, Clinton’s semantics did not fly in the political arena and, at least in the short term, Clinton suffered political damage and public humiliation.
Amazingly, Willard Romney and his advisers have not learned Bill Clinton’s lesson. Romney (who, like Clinton, has an Ivy League law degree) and his campaign keep falling back on similar legalisms to try to explain Romney’s various public filings and statements regarding his relationship with Bain Capital, and voters don’t seem to be buying it. The specific issue now is whether Romney left Bain in 1999, 2002, or some time in between. Romney created this issue by saying that all the “bad” things Romney’s Republican primary rivals and the Obama campaign have accused Bain of doing — allowing companies they took over to go bankrupt, firing workers at these companies, and outsourcing many of their jobs overseas — happened after February 1999, when Romney had “left” Bain. It’s stunning that Romney has conceded this framing of Bain’s track record to his opponents. However, even with the limited argument Romney has left himself, documents keep surfacing, including Bain’s own Securities Exchange Commission filings signed by Romney, that conflict with Romney’s narrative.
Interview With Progressive Talk Show Host Kenny Pick
Kenny Pick
There is a small but growing band of progressive devotees who donate their time, equipment and talents to airing home-based progressive political talk shows on the Internet. One of the stars of this movement is Cleveland-based Ken Picklesimer, Jr. a/k/a Kenny Pick, host of the Turn Up the Night with Kenny Pick show which airs on Tuesdays and Fridays from 7-10 p.m. ET on the USTREAM Radio or Not channel on the web, and on Talk Radio One and Progressive Blend Radio (disclosure: the author is one of the co-hosts of Turn Up the Night).
Ken is a southeastern Ohio native who has always been enthralled with media and pop culture. Over the years, he has produced volumes of illustrations and paintings, written and performed hundreds of songs, created and co-published independent comic books, worked in front of and behind the camera on dozens of short films, contributed comedy bits to several radio programs and eventually started his own Internet talk show.
This week, Ken answered some exclusive interview questions regarding Turn Up the Night, progressive radio, and the state of the political media today:
