answering the bushies

With regard to the breathtakingly outrageous "tax simplification" proposals put out by the administration today:

Can we please not get suckered in *again* by the Bushie's trick of throwing pie at us just so we'll be grateful when they squirt us with seltzer?

If we follow past patterns, we'll spend the next weeks yammering ad nauseum about how catastrophic these policies would be, analyzing them, drumming up facts and figures, etc.

Then the bushies come out with a different policy thats only slightly less extreme, and it sucks all the wind out of our sails.

Let's do something different this time. Lets start talking about some tax simplification proposals that really *are* moderate, revenue neutral, etc. Then the general public has some real opportunity to compare policies, instead of between ultra-outrageous and simply nowhere-close-to-fair.

Note to Congress: You don't have to drop pointing outraged fingers to do this. Do both. Make sure people *know* exactly how outrageous these proposals are, in addition to showing them a better, more responsible way.

tax on jobs

Seen in Eschaton Comments:

Republicans clearly believe that people who work for a living should pay more of the tax burden and people who collect money from invested wealth should pay less.

It is a tax on jobs.

litany versus narrative

Kevin Drum irritates everyone today by pointing out that the reason Dems have a litany and no resonant narrative is because we've already achieved so much of our agenda we've been reduced to backing and filling in response to Repub erosions.

While my initial reaction to this post was "what rose-colored world are you living in???", I realize that its the prospect of losing all those things won last centery that makes it seem so catastrophic. Things look bad because we measure them against what we had, not pie in the sky we hope for.

Also, Kevin's post made me realize that Dems don't so much lack a narrative as we do a *new* narrative. Our narrative is decades old, and it's all about achieving what in many ways we already have achieved. The narrative still has great value as our core, but it no longer has resonance.

So instead of maintainance repair people, we should be thinking like designers. At the same time, our design should be solidly built on the basic foundations that are currently crumbling away, so that we simultaneously shore them up as well as proving their worth and our consistency.

12-step program for the "blues"

For anyone who doesn't already check Mark Fiore's weekly flash comic, this week's is a must see. Be sure to catch all the details, including the disclaimer on the last screen!

The Depressed Democrat's Guide to Recovery

women's "rights" controversial

So apparently there is the need for an equal rights amendment, because apparently even the concept of women having basic rights over their own body (and I'm not talking about abortion) isn't the no brainer it should be:

The word "rights"-- too controversial for the FCC?

maps

Election result maps: excellent presentation.

what did you do today?

Exhortation from Molly Ivins: "So, fellow progressives, stop thinking about suicide or moving abroad. Want to feel better? Eat a sour grape, then do something immediately, now, today. Figure out what you can do to help rescue the country -- join something, send a little money to some group, call somewhere and offer to volunteer, find a politician you like at the local level and start helping him or her to move up."

Today I renewed my membership in the ACLU. What will I do tomorrow? Don't know yet. But something.

taking a break

This is National Novel Writing Month, and I am attempting to write 50,000 words by 11:59pm, November 30, so I'll be mostly silent here for the rest of the month. Unless something really obscene happens of course.

wrap-up

Home again. So sorry I wasn't able to post more while in Arizona--the days were long and the free time back at the hotel was way too brief. On Tuesday we got to the volunteer HQ around 5am and were out at the polling places until after 7pm--in some cases, way after 7pm.

I happened to spend most of my day at a very crowded polling place near ASU in Tempe. The biggest problem we encountered was people who had been told they could vote at any polling place with a provisional ballot, which wasn't true for Arizona. So I spent most of my time trying to hook people up with the correct polling place. The line there was never less than an hour long, and at 7pm it was almost a 3 hour wait. Imagine--hundred of teenagers waiting in 2hr lines--to vote!! They were terrific, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I believe that the problem here was the same as for many--a blowout turnout that was unanticipated by the polling officials. Sometimes this was a willful decision that everyone knew would turn into long lines and discouraged voters. Other places it was just lack of attention. I don't know which was true at ASU. Voter registration drives at ASU made headline, and were very aggressive this year, so you'd think someone would have prepared better. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single thing to do by election day.

About the election outcome, I have nothing to say except if Bush expects a "clean slate" and a benefit of the doubt, he's got another think coming. If he expects to "unite" this country by demanding that everyone get behind his policies, he will be sadly mistaken.

And to those moron independents and third-party backers who say that if the Dems wanted to win they should have fielded a "viable candidate", I say you wouldn't know a viable candidate if he personally saved you from a burning building. You had a choice between a man like Bush and a man like Kerry, for godsakes. It couldn't have been clearer. You people screwed up big time, and you deserve what's coming. But because I and 55 million others live here too and don't deserve what's been handed to us, I and others will try like the devil do soften the blow. You can thank us later, if you ever figure out which way's up.

my fellow ep workers

Today was all about GOTV, with the EP volunteers being lent to another local non-partisan group called the Arizona Leadership Institute, whose main focus is to register minority and low-income voters.

So far I've met about ten people. The staffers are from here, but all the volunteers I've met are from out of state: one other from Seattle, one from Oregon, and three from California. Everyone seems basically liberal, although only one of us has mentioned who he's voting for.

I did see my first ever Badnarik bumper sticker though, in the EP parking lot.

oops @#$%&*(#@%!!!!!

sh*t!!!! I just accidentally wrote over my old custom template with this new blogger special. That's what happens when you start playing around at 2am. Not gonna fix it tonight though!