• Nancy Pelosi is going to ask for a second stimulus that includes aid for state and local governments, extending unemployment benefits and investment in infrastructure. This is desperately needed and she needs to follow up and we have to pressure her. It’s good for California and the nation.
• 538 did a “road to 270” feature on California a couple days back. Nothing in there you wouldn’t expect, other than some good demographic information (our Starbucks/Wal-Mart ratio is second in the nation).
• I don’t know if we’ve featured this in a post or not, but this ad for the Yes on 4 campaign is completely despicable and everybody involved in it should be ashamed of themselves. Apparently devoid of shame, the campaign, after saying they’d only run it once, has expanded it and aired it in selected markets last night after the Presidential debate.
• Here’s a fundraising breakdown for all 12 propositions. No on 4 has quite an advantage and they need to use it. Yes on 5 has a large advantage as well. There is no committee for No on 1A. Same with No on 10. It’s an interesting set of numbers.
• This is a sad story about a family of six murdered by the head of household, who had an advanced degree in finance but couldn’t find a job. I take no pleasure in saying this could be replicated around the state as we hit this downturn.
• You may remember Delecia Holt, the perennial Republican candidate in the San Diego area who suffered allegations of campaign fraud. She’s now been arrested for writing bad checks and avoiding bill collectors.
… Let’s face it, we can only have a stimulus package if the President is willing to sign one. But we can only go as far as the President will sign.
That’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi starting the negotiations on a second stimulus package by giving away the farm.
There’s an old story in Texas about a young man whose daddy has sent him to trade horses on his own for the first time. He meets a wise old sharpie and the guy says, “So how much do you want for that horse son?” The kid answers: “Well Daddy told me to ask for $100 but to take $50.” “That’s great kid, here’s $50, give your daddy my regards.”
That’s what the Congressional Democrats do EVERY TIME.
While every stop is being pulled out to save the Wall Street “Masters of the Universe”, state governments across the nation are being pulled into an economic black hole. It’s no surprise that President Bush doesn’t care, but its very frustrating to see Pelosi being complicit in his indifference.
She’s apparently telegraphing her willingness to throw the states over the side. Why not make the most unpopular president in history veto a bill that would be popular just in time for the election?
Not having a vote on a strong economic recovery package is bad politics. Bad terrible awful dumb politics. What’s the point of electing Democratic Members to Congress if they won’t stand up for Americans even when the President won’t?
Newsflash to the Democrats on Capitol Hill, this is the perfect time to force some Republicans up for re-election to put themselves on the record as opposing a package to save the economy.
But Pelosi doesn’t get that concept. Instead she wants to pass something on the first go and she’s so eager to please the president that shes pre-gutting a second stimulus package. Even though she’s talking a good game to the press:
Pelosi renewed her vow to try to pass a stimulus measure that would combine billions of dollars for jobs-producing infrastructure projects, more food stamps, additional Medicaid aid to states, home heating subsidies and a further extension of unemployment insurance.
Persistent rumors from Capitol Hill indicate that she’s telling the White House that she’s willing to throw the Medicaid aid to states overboard.
Should we settle for a bill that only goes halfway in addressing the economic crisis? No. We did that once, earlier this year, and the first stimulus package failed.
This has been on the table for a long time. The same experts who said the first economic stimulus package failed also said aid to states needs to be in the next stimulus:
If a second round of stimulus is necessary, other options that should be on the table. These include payments to states that will need to cut spending because of balanced budget provisions as their tax revenue falls.
And in a letter to House Leadership in late January as the first stimulus package was being prepared, a bipartisan group of 39 Governors “requested that state aid be included in the stimulus:
The nation’s governors urge you to include state countercyclical funding as part of your legislation to stimulate the economy.
…
In 2003, Congress approved $20 billion in assistance to states, including $10 billion in Medicaid and $10 billion in block grants. The governors’ current stimulus proposal is essentially the same, with the exception that it is a total of $12 billion as opposed to $20 billion. This proposal can be enacted quickly, as there is precedent and it is timely, temporary and targeted.
The plan is there, we know what is needed to help dig us out of this economic muck, and potentially shield the states from further dramatic losses if Wall Street keeps acting up. Our mentality shouldn’t be “take what we can get” it should be “this is what we need, this is what will pass.” If Republicans want to vote against improving the economy, let them explain it to the voters.
It’s time to have a clear vote on a real, working economic stimulus package. It’s time to show voters there’s a real difference between Democrats and Republicans.
As the discussion over the horrific bailout plan unfolds – you know, the one that gives Henry Paulson the powers of a Caesar – it is becoming clear that the biggest risk to our nation’s future is the usual political formulations that have crippled the Democratic Party these last eight years, and turned Nancy Pelosi’s speakership into one of the most ineffective of the modern era.
Specifically, the problem is the ongoing ability of the Blue Dogs – and one Charles Schumer, Senator from New York – to frustrate anything that is not pro-corporate and ultimately pro-Bush. They have succeeded in neutering the Democratic Congress that was elected in 2006, and if they aren’t stopped this week, they may succeed in crippling an Obama Administration before it can even get started.
Schumer…said that legislators would not imperil the proposal by adding too many extras. “We will not Christmas-tree this bill,” he said Sunday on Fox. “The times are too urgent.”
A stimulus package, he added, “doesn’t necessarily have to be part of the bailout.”
“Christmas tree” is conservative framing designed to equate any efforts at accountability, reregulation and economic recovery as a kind of pork. Schumer shows his true colors in repeating this framing.
This is partly an attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi has long been pushing a “second stimulus” package that would include infrastructure projects, aid to state budgets for Medicare (especially important for us in California), and other common-sense policies. Pelosi has started to suggest that the bailout should be linked to something like a second stimulus, if not the second stimulus itself:
She says the bailout should include provisions to help families facing foreclosure to stay in their homes, as well as create jobs, extend unemployment benefits and prevent CEOs of failed companies to leave with multimillion-dollar “golden parachutes.”
Schumer is here signaling his intention to prevent any of that from being attached to the bailout. But as the “second stimulus” and its affiliated concepts have not been able to break through the Republican working majority in the House (that is GOP + Blue Dogs), attaching it to a bailout seems the best chance of putting it into action.
Schumer is also undercutting Barack Obama, who today listed six conditions that must be met for him to support any bailout, conditions that are not unlike those Pelosi has been pushing.
It’s not hyperbole to say this is a crossroads moment for America, California, the Democratic Party, and for Nancy Pelosi’s speakership. It’s time for her to show the leadership she has not yet been willing to show in this Congress, and flatly refuse to support any bill that does not include meaningful stimulus and reforms. Sen. Bernie Sanders has a great list of ideas that should be the baseline.
And it’s time for we Californians to pressure our elected officials to support Pelosi and Obama, and to categorically reject the failed policies of Schumer, the Blue Dogs, and the Bush Administration. Now is the time to call your representatives and our senators – especially the unreliable Dianne Feinstein – and insist that they support Pelosi, Obama and Sanders and ensure that any bailout helps Main Street, not Wall Street, and punishes failure, instead of rewarding incompetence.
Well, it took some effort and getting past Bob Mullholland who seemed have no clue that there was a credentialed blogger sitting with the delegation, but I am in my seat, plugged into the ethernet and to power. This fifty state blogging program is pretty incredible. I have all of the same access as Wolf Blitzer, who I can see sitting right in front of me, if not more. Unfortunately, I was first told by Mullholland that I didn’t belong there and then that there wasn’t a seat for me. He softened up a bit, when I explained the program to him and then moved on to insisting that I couldn’t listen to anything he said, nor the people around him.
So a staffer from Rep. Honda’s office wandered around the convention hall with me until we got the official word that I was to be where I was supposed to be. Anyways, the drama is over and I would much rather be chatting with the delegates than trying to eavesdrop on Mullholland.
Art Torres is now here, though half of the California delegation and quite frankly most other delegations are not here yet. My buddy Rob Pierson, who I met on the ’06 Charlie Brown race is helping record California’s delegates votes for the Secretary’s office.
Howard Dean just introduced Speaker Nancy Pelosi, naturally the California delegation rose and cheered for our homestate girl. Steve Maviglio is here. I think I shall be nice and let him borrow my ethernet cable.
BTW You can follow my twitter feed over here as I go through the week. I’m helping out with escorting press and VIPs around there when I am not in the convention hall.
[UPDATE] My Rep. Doris Matsui just got done with a short speech. Later tonight we will get to hear a real speech from Speaker Pelosi, not to mention Sen. Teddy Kennedy and Michelle Obama. The full schedule is here.
Just a quickie to give respect to some of the women in our California caucus.
Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is hammering home a simple message on offshore drilling:
Boxer said she had zero confidence in recent Senate Republican assurances that increased drilling will not lead to environmental damage from spills.
She pointed to recent comments from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), which were recently echoed by Sen. John McCain, the GOP presumptive presidential nominee, who said that “not a drop of oil was spilled” due to the Hurricane Katrina. In fact, the U.S. Minerals Management Service reported that the storm was blamed for no less than 146 oil spills from drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
“These are lies, just bald-faced lies,” Boxer said. “You want to know about my conclusion about $4 a gallon gas? Just divide eight years by two oilmen in the White House and you have your $4 a gallon.”
And here’s Rep. Hilda Solis, who has been leading the fight from the Congress against Arnold’s wage cuts, explaining the Paycheck Fairness Act on the blog Latina Lista (I give here extreme credit for using the brownosphere as a tool):
The House of Representatives made significant progress in closing the wage gap for all women last Thursday, especially women of color, by passing H.R. 1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act. Even though the Equal Pay Act was first signed into law in 45 years ago, women today earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. For women of color, the pay disparities are even worse.
Latinas earn on average 57 cents to every dollar that a man earns. African-American women earn just 68 cents to every dollar that a man earns.
These unacceptably low wage disparities for women are finally being address by Congress. The Paycheck Fairness Act will help empower women workers with the skills and knowledge they need to achieve pay equity with their male colleagues.
Even Speaker Pelosi is doing yeoman work for taking the heat on resisting a drilling vote while letting things roll over into the next Congress when the landscape will be more favorable.
Good for our strong women leaders. We need more of them.
By my count, we had nine local and federal candidates or elected officials from California joining us in Austin for Netroots Nation. So much for the adage that us dirty hippie bloggers are to be avoided at all costs. These candidates and politicians represent the foundation of a progressive alliance that can transform the party and the state over the next decade. And they all received varying degrees of support at the convention. Here is a brief roundup in alphabetical order:
1) Secretary of State Debra Bowen – Debra apparently accepted the invitation to appear on a panel about election reform by replying on Facebook. She is one of our favorites because of her progressive credentials, her commitment to election reform, and her accessibility. Far from dropping in for the panel and dropping out, she took time to hang out with plenty of us Caliticians. In fact, during the netroots candidate event, she was simply watching the proceedings when Christine Pelosi called her to the stage – it was not her intention to come as a candidate, but to just attend the conference. That said, there was a lot of talk among the California delegation about Bowen’s plans for the future. At least four California convention-goers told me they would quit their jobs to work for Bowen if she sought higher office than the Secretary of State. She has a bright future and, judging from the reception she received, a national profile. She is one of our best hopes to get a real grassroots progressive into a legitimate position of power.
more on the flip…
2) Charlie Brown (CA-04) – Charlie has been to all three Netroots Nation events, including the first two when it was known as Yearly Kos. He is a hero among this community, and he has a lot of support here. In fact, he proved it with a very well-received appearance at the Lurker’s Caucus.
One of the people attending the caucus was Charlie Brown. He was there to do what a great many political candidates came to the convention to do — speak to people, press the flesh, make them aware of his campaign and expand awareness. I was taking a seemingly arbitrary route around the room in calling on people to talk about themselves, and Charlie was one of the first people I called on.
Obviously there was a great interest in him, and there was a lively give and take between the attendants and The Colonel for about 15 minutes. He cheerfully answered questions and gave us all a good measure of him.
Now, there are a couple of things here that make this moment extraordinary to me. First of all, the odds were very slight that there were any people in this caucus who were from his home district. And this was the Lurkers Caucus, a group whose only unifying distinction is that they don’t blog!! But here was Charlie, in a convention filled with bloggers, talking to the very people least likely to blog his appearance. (Yes, I’m blogging it now, but he didn’t know I was going to be there…)
Secondly, after he spoke, we still had about 50 minutes of the caucus and we had resumed moving around the room, giving people opportunities to express themselves. Now, I know that Charlie was not there to share his lurking experiences. He was there to campaign. I fully expected him, and would not have blamed him in the least, to quietly slip out of the room in search of more campaigning opportunities at the convention. In fact, that’s part of the reason I kind of steered the circuit of speakers to allow him to speak early. But Charlie stayed for the entire session, listening to people explain why they don’t blog!
It was indicative of the respect Brown has shown for this entire community, from top to bottom, and it’s what’s going to make him a great Congressman from the 4th District. This is one of the top races in the country from the perspective of the netroots.
3) Debbie Cook (CA-46) – I think Debbie Cook, Annette Taddeo and Alan Grayson were among the most well-received newcomers at the event. Cook’s passion for environmental and energy issues matched up perfectly with the overriding concerns of the entire conference, which helped a lot. At the Energy Panel she sat on, along with Alaska Senate candidate Mark Begich and Oregon Senate candidate Jeff Merkley, people in the room told me she was the most impressive. And Talking Points Memo was similarly taken with Mayor Cook, as can be seen in this interview for the popular site.
Cook switched her flight so she could make the Netroots candidate event on Friday night. I think she served her candidacy a great deal through this appearance, and considering that in-district donations to her campaign passed 70% in Q2, she has a lot of potential to raise her national profile online.
4) Rocky Delgadillo, LA City Attorney – Delgadillo, who lost to Jerry Brown in a primary for the Attorney General in 2006, appeared on a health care panel that I thought was the most interesting of the entire conference. I’m going to do a larger story on it, but Delgadillo’s work in this area, rooting out corruption and illegal acitivity among health insurers, was justly recognized. I didn’t see him walking around the conference. Here’s a great diary from nyceve at Daily Kos about his efforts.
5) Mike Lumpkin (CA-52) – Calitics actually held an extended breakfast conversation with Lumpkin, running in the open seat created by Duncan Hunter’s retirement. Here’s a pic:
That’s me, my subpar breakfast, Brian, Mike Lumpkin, and Lucas. Photo by Matt Lockshin.
I thought Lumpkin was pretty good. He’s a former Navy SEAL with 20 years of experience in counterinsurgency and command techniques, serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Notably, his plan for Iraq includes a total withdrawal of all forces, leaving no residual troops. He tends to frame most of the issues in terms of national security, which I guess is to be expected, and he talked about securing the border as well as energy security as two of his major issues on the campaign trail. Duncan Hunter’s son, also named Duncan Hunter, is his opponent, and in the primary polls revealed that a substantial portion of voters thought they were casting a ballot for the incumbent, so this is not really an open seat in the traditional sense. Still, this is a race to watch, and I appreciated Lumpkin taking the time to talk with us.
6) Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Mayor – Mayor Newsom walked around the hall on Saturday, showed up at our Calitics/Alternet Books party, and introduced Van Jones on Sunday morning. Joe Garifoli has a little interview on why he attended:
Newsom is no stranger to online communication. He’s been regularly courting Bay Area bloggers for stories that the uh, ahem, other news poohbahs in town aren’t into. Just this week, he chatted up the city’s wind power project with a handful of local and statewide bloggers. He’s a Daily Kos and Huffington Post regular reader and occasional poster, and he copped to following threads around Facebook. “I really don’t have time to be on there,” he said of the social networking time suck.
“I’m not a convert, I’m one who recognizes the power and extraordinary influence the netroots have. Not just with politics, but it’s about a different interactions with people.” He went to Austin because “I wanted to understand more fully the intensity behind those names. We actually met ‘Bill in Portland Maine.'”
Clearly Newsom was there to build a profile for a statewide run for governor, and I thought that was generally successful. There seemed to be a buzz around his visit as he walked the halls, and the crowd was receptive to his Sunday morning message, which focused on the environment. Some were skeptical of the message, and I hope he clarifies his position, but when I spoke with him, I found him very willing to engage on the issues. I asked about prison policy, one of my hobby horses, and while he wasn’t fully informed on the topic, he expressed a need to drill down and asked me personally to provide him with whatever information I could muster. You bet I’ll do so, and I respect anyone in politics willing to have a two-way conversation.
7) Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House – You may recall she had a little discussion with some dude on Saturday morning. That’s been well-covered elsewhere. Speaking to Pelosi’s staffers, I can tell you that she enjoyed the back and forth and expected MORE of a grilling, which may have been a fault of the organization or the perhaps too-respectful commenters themselves.
8) Russ Warner (CA-26) – This was Russ’ second Netroots Nation, and he did his best to focus on meeting as many people as possible. I did tend to see him and his campaign staff just about everywhere. He delivered his passionate message about his son, who was in attendance, at the Netroots candidate event as well.
9) Steve Young (CA-48) – Steve is running for Congress but he’s also a member of the community, and during the California caucus he was as active as anyone in participating in the discussion. The numbers he’s been showing around on his race suggest there is a real chance here, and I hope he got a lot out of the event.
(I’m under a mountain of work, so I have a lot on Netroots Nation stored up, but this from our pal Paul about the Pelosi/Gore session is good. And BTW, I asked the Iraq question. – promoted by David Dayen)
It’s no surprise that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a tough reception at Netroots Nation – as bloggers asked about the Iraq War, impeachment and (of course) FISA. Pelosi passed the buck on all of these issues – saying that she’s let House Judiciary Chair John Conyers handle executive contempt, blamed Senate Democrats for selling out on FISA and said that only electing Barack Obama will get us out of Iraq. When Al Gore popped in to make a surprise appearance, the crowd gave a hero’s welcome to the ex-Vice President – posing a sharp contrast with Pelosi. Bloggers cheered Gore’s ambitious environmental agenda to make the United States 100% free of fossil fuel energy by 2019. But nobody bothered to ask Gore why he didn’t push for this 15 years ago when he could have done something about it. Meanwhile, Pelosi’s excuses frustrated the audience – but they each have an element of truth to them. On the other hand, if Pelosi says she “doesn’t have the votes” in Congress to get what we want, she should start being more supportive of primary challenges that bloggers wage against bad Democrats.
“God bless the impatience of youth,” said Pelosi as she kicked off the Convention’s main event on Saturday morning. “That’s what gives me hope. I share your frustration in not ending this War. We need to be persistent, relentless and unsatisfied at pushing us to where we should be. And there are only 107 days until the Election.”
Everyone expected Pelosi would get a tough crowd, and about half a dozen demonstrators from Code Pink were there to heckle her about the War. But liberal bloggers aren’t about direct-action street-level theater, preferring the tactic of asking hard-hitting questions that put politicians on the spot. Gina Cooper of Netroots Nation even warned attendees at the beginning that anyone who disrupted the forum would be ejected, and the crowd cheered.
At the forum, Pelosi was asked questions like: (a) is impeachment back on the table?; (b) if Karl Rove is still in contempt of Congress, will he be arrested?; (c) if the FISA bill was a compromise, what was the gain? and (d) why hasn’t Congress ended the War?
For the most part, Pelosi passed the buck – saying that she agreed with the frustration of bloggers, but blamed others for why no action has been taken. On the first two points, she deferred to House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers – who is leading investigations of the Bush Administration. “We passed a resolution of contempt on the House floor,” she said, “and I’m proud that we got every Democrat to vote for it. But Mr. Conyers is in charge of the investigation, and we’re in good hands with him.”
On FISA, Pelosi blamed the Senate – where 17 Democrats voted with all the Republicans – for sending them a bad bill. “Our options were limited,” she said. “It was a moment of taint. Was the final bill [which passed both houses] a bill that I would have written? No. Was it better than the Senate version that had passed? Yes.”
Pelosi added that as House Speaker she has only had “two major regrets”: (a) the Senate version of the FISA bill that they had to work with, and (b) failing to get 60 votes in the Senate to end the Iraq War. Later on in the forum, she added that the only way to end the War will be to elect President Barack Obama. Eventually, moderator Gina Cooper turned to Pelosi and said what was on a lot of peoples’ minds: “it sounds like some of your colleagues must get with the program with the American people.”
There’s certainly truth to what Pelosi said: any effort to impeach Bush or Cheney will start at the Judiciary Committee, Democrats have a razor-thin majority in the Senate, and even voting to defund the War won’t end it until a Democratic President brings the troops home. But while Pelosi says she is on our side, one conclusion we can draw is that she hasn’t kept her colleagues in line. The netroots have always tried to hold bad Democrats accountable – and in recent years have waged primary challenges against entrenched incumbents who vote the wrong way on issues. The bloggers could work with Pelosi.
But Pelosi has not generally supported these challengers, actively working against the netroots. For example, Pelosi held a fundraiser for Congressman Al Wynn – while he was getting a primary challenge from netroots favorite Donna Edwards. Edwards won that election, and attended Netroots Nation as a newly minted Congresswoman. In what must have been an awkward moment, Pelosi acknowledged Edwards at the beginning of the forum.
It wasn’t the first time that a powerful Democrat came to a netroots Convention and faced a tough audience. But unlike Hillary Clinton (who at last year’s Yearly Kos sarcastically mocked the crowd when they booed her), Pelosi kept her grace while saying much of what the bloggers didn’t agree with. Whatever you think of her answers, she did not condescend.
While bloggers gave Pelosi a chilly reception, they enthusiastically cheered former Vice President Al Gore – who made a surprise appearance during Pelosi’s forum. “We have a historic climate crisis,” said Gore. “It’s connected to an economic crisis, and the national security threat it creates. Drilling oil we won’t use for 15 years to deal with gas prices now is like responding to an attack from Afghanistan by invading another country.”
Gore has always been a sentimental favorite of the netroots (“I feel right at home here,” he said), and the crowd eagerly responded to his challenge to eliminate fossil fuel dependency by 2019. “I need your help,” he said. “You seek to influence, and I respectfully ask for your help.” And with only 11 years to get there, we don’t have much time.
But nobody asked the former Vice President why he didn’t agitate on these issues in the mid-1990’s, when he was in a position to get things done. If we had started this 15 years ago, eliminating fossil fuel dependency would be far more doable. No doubt Gore is now using his “elder statesman” role to fight global warming – but the Clinton-Gore Administration was lackluster in responding to this climate crisis, such as reneging on their pledge to shut down an incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio. When Gore ran for President in 2000, Friends of the Earth endorsed Bill Bradley in the Democratic primaries.
If the netroots insisted on giving Nancy Pelosi a hard time, why didn’t they challenge Gore as well?
An hour after the start time, Nancy Pelosi is on the verge of actually taking a question. Updates to come.
[Update] First question asks about inherent contempt. The Bush administration is “tearing up the constitution and saying we rule. This is a monarchy.” Crowd goes wild over the notion of Karl Rove held in contempt. “Justice Department has advised the US Attorney not to prosecute the case.” Interesting needle she’s threading here- the power of Congress should be more respected but Congress is powerless to do more than it already has.
Gina Cooper asks if Karl Rove will be arrested and thrown in the Congressional jail. Crowd goes nuts, Pelosi punts.
[Update] Second question wonders what the gain was that balances out telecom immunity. Again, short version is ‘it’s not my fault, the Senate did it.’ She’s not wrong but I’m not sure how it helps. Pitching the exclusivity argument which is garbage as decided by the court which covers her district. Americans are protected by domestic spying, the Inspector General will be super, etc.
[Update] Gina asks “who exactly is supporting this?” Damn good question. Still pushing a Constitution or Bush dichotomy, but I’m not sure that she’s actually coming down on either side. The Senate bils are bad the Senate votes are bad etc etc.
[Update] Jeffrey Feldman asks from the floor “Can you tell us what you think government should be?” Build majorities in House and Senate, win the White House. Jokes that wider margins will increase bipartisanship. Talking about elements of health care reform which is nice but not an answer to the question. “Science is the answer” to something. “Science, science, science, and science…We have an innovation agenda.” 3rd point is infrastructure, tracking from the Erie Canal to the Bush Administration and the focus on destroying Iraqi infrastructure over building American infrastructure. 4th (and final?) Energy security. There’s a moral responsibility to be secure in our energy? International competitiveness. “Awfully proud of Barack Obama going overseas today.” McCain would love that one.
[Update] Silent protesters are moving through the room. New question: Should the government bail out GM like it did Chrysler several decades ago? “Help them be competitive” and help them innovate. How are we going to help the workers losing their security? Distinction between helping GM and helping workers. Answer is health care as a competitiveness issue.
Jeffrey gets a question from Natasha Chart regarding abstinence-only education. Funds to effective sexual education programs? “Abstinence-only…is dangerous to the health of our young women.” Feldman asks about Abstinence-only earmarks, Pelosi wants us to give her a better Congress. Mentions the Contraception/abortion debacle at HHS. “If you don’t like abortion, you should love contraception…It’s catering to a radical right wing view and it should be stopped.”
“Just say stop if you’ve heard enough on any subject.”
[Update] “Universal broadband is part of our innovation agenda…we must have it be universal.” “The whole country has to be wired.” It’s about health care and family values and education and every other one of her preferred talking points. Two solid ones in a row. Pelosi brings up net neutrality on her own, strongly supports. Objections during FISA but her “bigger disappointment [with the telecoms] was their objection to net neutrality.” The people standing in the way are the ones who didn’t innovate in the first place.
[Update] Audience question: Why are our soldiers being forced to beg for care packages? They shouldn’t, but emblematic of broader failures. “We owe them better than the policy we have.” GI Bill and veterans health care, “when you come home we’ll send you to college.” Nearly 1/3 of Iraq/Afghanistan veterans are seeking mental health treatment. “Build a future worthy of their sacrifice.” Win in November. Feldman pushes back: there seems to be an absence of the broader discussion of how we’re going to take care of them. Pelosi: The administration doesn’t care about the troops, what more do you need to know? (How about…what are you going to do about it?)
[Update] Final stage question from Gina is on Al Gore’s energy plan and…Al Gore is here as our surprise guest.
[Update] “…hold elected officials accountable.” Thank you. absolutely essential that we have…a well informed citizenry that is involved and engaged.” We represent the edge of government reform. On to climate change in the way only Gore can.
[Update] Gore’s speech is over and he’s taking questions with Pelosi from the floor. First question, would you consider a role in an Obama administration. Gore responds that his preferred role is as one who expands the political space for elected officials and bring about a public opinion sea change to make the atmosphere more amenable to change. Second question is on the carbon footprint from meat production which he addresses without saying much. Mountaintop removal is third up. Really going to bat for coal miners and bashes the irresponsibility of mountaintop removal and coal companies- calls liquid coal insane. “We’ve got to walk and chew gum at the same time” by getting off foreign oil AND off fossil fuels.
Pelosi’s back and thanking Gore for being great. Says we have a choice between yesterday and tomorrow.
[Update] Pelosi’s pushing the Use It Or Lose It program, “looking for an excuse, not a reason” to drill in ANWR and Outer Continental Shelf. She’s been absolutely great on this issue as I mentioned in Robert’s liveblog yesterday.
Finally responding to question about improving accountability. She didn’t really have a response and folks are starting to get rowdy. More questions from the audience:
[Update] Wind turbines on high voltage towers? Gore says that expense is a concern, and power lines aren’t necessarily where the wind is blowing. Mentions T-Boone Pickens who is not exactly the best friend in this group. “When we make an all out commitment then some of the problems…subside.” Quick bash of No Child Left Behind. E-waste disposal is next- there needs to be a lot more progress.
Pelosi responds to a question about how Congress will respond to Al Gore’s ten year challenge. Last year’s Energy Bill is her example of forward Congressional progress- a tough vote- and notes that renewable electricity standards passed over the fossil fuel PACs. Will bring it up again, but again punts responsibility to the Senate and tells us to build bigger majorities. NCLB: Not enough funding, revisit with a new president, will not be renewed this year.
[Update] Fresh round of four questions from the floor. Gore: we will still have a problem with a Dem in the White House and bigger majorities.
“It just seems to me it is improper. It reduces confidence in government and also particularly the Party. I think the Party is going to have a tough time with all this publicity raising money from the smaller donors.”
-Bob Stern, President, Center for Governmental Studies on KCRW last night talking about the California Democratic Party wasting $450,000 on Senator Don Perata’s criminal defense fund. CDP flack Roger Salazar refused to go on at the same time as Stern and Rick Jacobs to debate the scandal.
Which brings me back to last night’s ill-timed fundraiser with Speaker Karen Bass. The actblue page to RSVP for the account said the money was going to support the California State Democratic Committee – Federal Account. Great idea, Madame Speaker Bass helping Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi pick up more seats and be able to overcome the Blue Dog Caucus siding with the GOP to obstruct Pelosi’s leadership.
With California unable to count on DCCC ad money against any of the very vulnerable Republican Representatives, it is clear California Democrats need to plan to win on our own. Which is why yesterday’s LA Times editorial on the CDP wasting money on Don Perata is so counterproductive. We need the resources to win on our own and we need small dollar donors to get there. Yet the actions of the CDP discourage small dollar donations. The results are clear, including last night, the CDP has only raised $6,630 ALL CYCLE in federal money on actblue. To put in perspective, San Diego County Democrats have raised more than 20 times that much federal money on actblue — from more than 30 times as many small dollar contributions.
It could be another landslide year, but it probably will be yet another year when Democratic Congressional challengers don’t get the support they could and should count on from the CDP. In fact, when taking into account outstanding debt, the CDP Federal Account had less than $300,000 as of the end of May. And Democratic state senate challengers have already seen $450,000 wasted on not helping elect Hannah-Beth Jackson and Lois Wolk. We can trust in the CDP if the goal is to seize defeat from the jaws of victory (which it might be, Perata already called uncle on two state senate races so far this year). Or we can reform and begin fighting to beat Republicans instead of coddle the Democratic Party establishment. The first step is accountability. Again, Senator Don Perata needs to give back the $450,000 and Art Torres should step down as CDP Chair for wasting $4,450,000 not electing Democrats this fall.
The main talking point that, in particular, Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi have used to claim the necessity of the FISA capitulation is that under this law, the FISA Court will be the “exclusive means” for electronic surveillance. The bamboozlement here is that FISA, a federal statute, never was the exclusive means before. Now we have confirmation of this, from a federal judge in California no less.
A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the “exclusive” means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government’s claim that the president’s constitutional authority as commander in chief trumped that law.
The judge, Vaughn R. Walker, the chief judge for the Northern District of California, made his findings in a ruling on a lawsuit brought by an Oregon charity. The group says it has evidence of an illegal wiretap used against it by the National Security Agency under the secret surveillance program established by President Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 […]
But Judge Walker, who was appointed to the bench by former President George Bush, rejected those central claims in his 56-page ruling. He said the rules for surveillance were clearly established by Congress in 1978 under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires the government to get a warrant from a secret court.
“Congress appears clearly to have intended to – and did – establish the exclusive means for foreign intelligence activities to be conducted,” the judge wrote. “Whatever power the executive may otherwise have had in this regard, FISA limits the power of the executive branch to conduct such activities and it limits the executive branch’s authority to assert the state secrets privilege in response to challenges to the legality of its foreign intelligence surveillance activities.”
Idiots, idiots, idiots. In the course of giving away massive new surveillance powers and immunity for lawbreakers, the so-called “chip” that they received in return was already in the law to begin with. Remember that exclusivity was DiFi’s amendment, and Pelosi said it was “the most important” aspect of any new law.
(By the way, this lawsuit is against the federal government, not the telecoms, so it would continue regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.)
