Last night I went to the meeting of College Democrats at the Univserity of Connecticut and I have a lot of good news to report.
We had a full room of smart & motivated people who want to volunteer to get democrats elected this november. Dean's 50 state strategy was also being carried out right here. Dean has sent one of his own people to help us register voters and get out the vote to elect Lamont & Joe Courtney.
They talked about how we are going to be building up the party, centralising voter ID efforts so time & money aren't wasted. This year we're going to be knocking on dorm rooms and getting students to the polls. The outlook is long term and goes beyond 2006, and I love it.
More on this & a piece on the college republicans & fun with guns On the flip
The only negative I have to report is something we all already know. The Republicans are killing us on framing. During a short discussion we had I heard several Republican talking points coming from good, sincere Democrats. Democrats don't have a plan for Iraq, Democrats don't stand for anything & we have to stay the course (they didnt use the term stay the course, but that was the message) were all things said at the college democrats meeting...
Here is an op-ed I wrote for tomorrows Daily Campus for your fact-checking & thoughts, the deadline is tonight so there is time to make changes. The last op-ed I wrote went over well, but there was a miscommunication and one of my words was changed from disagree to agree, which made it look like I was agreeing with Ronald Reagan...
College Republican Organization is Corrupt & Extreme
The College Republicans are probably best known for making Ann Coulter $16,000 richer to come here and tell us that if she had a gay son, she would tell him he's adopted. But providing easy money to Ann Coulter is not all they are known for. Some famous former College Republicans include super conservative lobbyist & admitted felon Jack Abramoff, as well as the almost-indicted Karl Rove. Yesterday's college republican is today's indicted or un-indicted co-conspirator.
The Current College Republican national organization has had their own share of ethics troubles. From the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/...): "The College Republican National Committee is under fire for using front organizations to collect millions of dollars in contributions, including money from elderly people with dementia." This particular fund raising scandal included sending out requests for money under false and misleading letterheads that misrepresented who was actually asking for money. The median age of the solicited donors was 85.
College Republicans across the nation have been waging a campaign to enforce their conservative orthodoxy on your professors free thought. A minor newspaper here on campus every issue publishes a call to "expose" your professors for saying things conservatives disagree with. This is part of a well funded and coordinated national campaign run by right-wing super-activist David Horowitz whose ultimate goal is to have your classrooms sound like Fox News. One campaign included paying students $100 to rat out their professors. Extra credit is given to those who tape record professors saying things like "Native Americans did not like having their land taken away from them" so the tape can be relayed to first local, and then national conservative talk radio & TV like the O'Reilly Factor & Sean Hannity. The pundits then whip their listeners into a frenzy over just how horrible this indoctrination is, and call for the professors to be fired.
Not content controlling the House, the Senate, the Whitehouse, the Judiciary & much of the media conservatives have set their sights on college. And their intimidation campaign is having a chilling effect. In the words of one of these people ""Academia is the last unbreached citadel of the left, and I believe we are today over the moat.".
At name of universities College Republicans have marked a large red X on the doors of professors with whom they disagree with. At another they attached a threatening note with an obscure section of Illinois? law about banning the promotion of communism in classrooms and threatening professors with arrest.
Conducting a dirty election for their head position, College Republican Chair, was reminiscent of the "voting irregularities" that surfaced during the real Republican election for the new House majority leader, after Tom Delay (R) was arrested on money laundering charges. One of their own, Joe Sylvestre had this to say, " It is important to note that neither candidate ran a completely virtuous campaign. Gourleys campaign forged a delegate letter, and Davidson worked in conjunction with other parties to remove Ryan Cassin." The person who was put in as Chair, Gourley once taught members how to win a mock election. "Can anyone tell me," asks Gourley, a veteran mock electioneer, "why you don't want the polling place in the cafeteria?"
Stephen, a shy antiabortion activist sitting toward the rear of the class, raises his hand: "Because
you want to suppress the vote?"
"Stephen has the right answer!" Gourley exclaims, tossing Stephen his prize, a copy of Robert Bork's "Slouching Toward Gomorrah."
The College Republicans have also recently been planning symbolic political assassinations of elected American Senators. The event, called Fun With Guns, consisted of shooting effigy's of John Kerry (D) & Hillary Clinton (D) with paintball & pellet guns. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee responded by saying "These un-American activities cannot go unchallenged."
The problem here is we have all these College Republicans with too much time on their hands. We also have a problem with a desperate manpower shortage in Iraq, leading to soldiers with kids having to do three or four tours of duty. One patriotic American who goes by the name of Jesus General has a solution, Operation Yellow Elephant!
"Here's how Operation Yellow Elephant works:
We invite all real Americans concerned about the future of our nation in fighting and Winning the Global War on Terrorism to join Operation Yellow Elephant. If you encounter someone apparently eligible to serve (healthy heterosexuals, especially men, 41 and under) who supports the war, please encourage him to consider volunteering for military service. Please take the initiative and Ask The Question and say, "Be A Man! Enlist!""
In order to get the operation started on your campus The General recommends what he calls Special Op "First Strike". The mission, if you choose to accept it, is to ask the College Republicans to pass the following resolution:
WHEREAS, the College Republican membership has always fully supported the war in Iraq;
WHEREAS, we have encouraged the notion that the degree of one's patriotism is directly proportional to their support for the war;
WHEREAS, by word, by deed and by support of Ann Coulter, David Horowitz, and Michelle Malkin we have decreed that dissent against the war is the equivalent of treason;
WHEREAS, the military continually falls far short of meeting its recruitment needs resulting in a manpower crisis;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
The College Republicans organization is officially disbanded until the end of the war;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:
The College Republicans membership immediately volunteer for military service as infantrymen.
You can read all about it @ operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com and decide for yourself if the College Republicans should be able to promote a permanent occupation of Iraq without being asked "Why don't you enlist for the war you send others to fight in?"