I pass this along, knowing full well that we should not get ahead of ourselves… but last night I had a dream…

It was October and during a presidential debate…

Barack Obama stood tall at one lectern and John McCain hunched over another…

Tim Russert asked yet again about “experience” and Barack Obama replied to that issue (and others) with a sound bite that secured the presidency with his answer…

He said:

“It is not simply the ‘political’ experience that you bring to the office, it is who you are, what you stand for and what our great country experiences while you are president that will ultimately matter. Some of our greatest presidents came to this moment with less time in Washington than I … even Abraham Lincoln had only two years as a congressmen before he began his remarkable tenure that transformed America. Now I know what you’re going to say John, “Well Barack, I knew Abraham Lincoln (the crowd erupted in laughter at this point) and you’re no Lincoln.”  You’re right, John, Who I am is Barack Obama and I am ready, right now, to lead our nation to its greatest promise!”

The roar of applause woke me up…

As the tidal wave of bad news washes over the current administration and seemingly the entire Republican party, I  can't help wondering what the media narrative would be if this were happening to us.

Few on this site would argue that Democratic strategists have lagged miles behind the Roveian branding tactics and I have no doubt that if the situation were reversed that their talking points would lead with a simple statement that encapsulates all the current problems and paints with such a broad stroke that it is easy to remember and hard for all in the party to escape from (Cut and Run; Flip-Flopper). It would then be blasted across all media with a relentlessness that makes the drip of the "water torture" seem preferable.

Well it works, and now it's our turn, and so I am issuing....

                            TODAY'S TALKING POINT:

                   The Republicans CAN'T BE TRUSTED.

I am speaking to all Democrats who are in a position of some power and to all who are trying to get there. To you who have some sway over the course of our great country's future and its lasting legacy... I am more than asking, I am begging.

read on...

It occurred to me that while our government debates the degree to which we will give up the American Ideal and thus become our enemy (by legalizing torture and/or doing away with Habeas Corpus)... that Voltaire probably had something sage to add to the discussion...

After the break, words as wise today as they were some 350 odd years ago...

I am a long-time professional feature film editor who has decided to volunteer my time to create a series of political ads that will take single defining issues about the current administration and vividly hammer them home.

I'm going to start with... lying.

This post is to ask your assistance. Will you please respond with any and all clear cut lies that you know that any members of the current administration have told in speeches or interviews or debates or any other source where videotape might exist.

We need to take this moment in time and define them for what they are...Liars.

Please give me a hand...

I just came across this essay written by the always brilliant Bill Moyers...

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5211218.html

The hairs on the back of my neck are still standing. I apologize if this has been posted before, but even if it has it is worth reposting and sending to all that you know who live in the 'real' world.

I just finished watching the still great film "All the President's Men" with my 13-year old son. As a working film editor I have taken on the enjoyable task of introducing my two boys to some of the classic films that their generation most likely will never be exposed to. This, of course, is made difficult by having to stop the movies occasionally to explain or put events in context (e.g. pausing "Dog Day Afternoon" to quickly tell them what happened at Attica prison) but anyway, I was struck by the many parallel elements of the Nixon whitehouse and the current administration.

EXCLUSIVE: BUSH WANTED TO INVADE IRAQ IF ELECTED IN 2000

Unbelievably, this story has been skipped over this morning. I believe that it is the follow-up, knock-out punch to the explosives story. Please reccommend this and lets try to get it out to the major media (I first heard it this morning on Air America).

http://www.mydd.com/story/2004/10/28/44532/640

We need to convert this figure to help people understand the magnitude of what has happened. (Already, I'll bet, too many people think that it was 380 lbs.)

The fact that one pound of the stuff brought down a plane makes this conversion necessary for those that are mathematically challenged or just too lazy to really listen to the story.

This should be a huge story for the next couple of days and as it usually takes about a week for events to really show up in the polls, the timing couldn't be better.

GOTV

I was just e-mailed this and thought I should send it along. It truly is astonishing...
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Check out the backgrounds on who leads us to war and who questions it.

DEMOCRATS:

John Kerry: Navy, 1966-1970; Naval Reserves, 1972-1978

Fellow bloggers, the power of this very real possibility is no doubt keeping Karl Rove up nights. If current BushCo policies can make a draft seem inevitable (and this will happen only if we Dems hammer this like... Tom Delay on Crystal Meth) the election is ours. I urge you, one and all, to push this...

please...

I know the Kerry people are listening...

{My offer at a debate moment...}

Kerry: "Unbelievably, this is a rhetorical question but... where is Osama Bin Laden? Why have we not caught Osama Bin Laden?  Mr. Bush you have FAILED in the most important battle of our time... you had at your disposal the greatest military force the world has ever seen and YOU COULDN'T CATCH HIM. You had Osama Bin Laden completely surrounded and YOU COULDN'T CATCH HIM... the American people were united in our support of eliminating this madman and YOU COULDN'T CATCH HIM...  you failed so completely that Osama Bin Laden killed 3,000 of our fellow citizens and now, George Bush, you don't even mention his name.

I say to America tonight, I can do better. I can do much better. If I had been President after 9/11, it would have been our real public enemy number one, Osama Bin Laden, that we would have dragged out of that hole in the ground."

----------------------------------------------

There is no downside to this attack, if Bush delivers Bin Laden, we all know that he is almost sure to win, but if he doesn't... we need that alone to guarantee that John Kerry wins.

I have been thinking about a simple but effective way for Kerry, in the debates, to plant the seed of Bush lies so firmly in the swing voters minds that everything Bush says is tainted.

The problem, as much discussed around here, is that if he flat out calls Bush a liar he will  be slammed for his disrespect. But most of the alternatives seem weak-kneed when strength is clearly the order of the day.

The best I have come up with is a mantra (often a very effective speech technique) that goes like this:

You can keep saying it Mr. President... BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE IT TRUE.

A few obvious examples:
"You can keep saying things are improving in Iraq... BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE IT TRUE.
"You can keep saying that Saddam had something to do with 9/11... BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE IT TRUE."
"You can keep saying that you made the right decision to stop going after Osama Bin Laden and focus on Iraq... BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE IT TRUE."
"You can say 'Mission Accomplished'... BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE IT TRUE."

There are almost endless versions of this on any of the issues of this campaign ("You can say that your billion dollar tax giveaway went to a majority of people... BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE IT TRUE".)

An important side benefit of this approach is that it allows Kerry to frame the quotes in the first place.

There is one key question that Democrats have allowed to go unasked in this campaign and yet it perhaps is the most important and potentially decisive one that can be asked...

Where is Osama Bin Laden? Why have we not caught the man that killed 3,000 Americans? He is the enemy, President Bush has failed in his most important task.

They don't ask this question because most Democrats believe that if Bin Laden is caught before November 2nd that it insures Bush's re-election. What I am proposing is that Kerry should trumpet this issue and assure that if Bin Laden is not caught before the election it guarantees a Kerry victory. He has nothing to lose!

I think Kerry should go on to say... 'George W. Bush has failed in the most important battle of our time, for three years he has failed to catch Osama Bin Laden the #1 enemy of the United States of America, Bush had him surrounded and he couldn't catch him...  Bush had at his disposal the greatest military force the world has ever seen and he couldn't catch him... the American people were united in our support of capturing this madman and he couldn't catch him...  Osama Bin Laden killed 3,000 of our fellow citizens and now George W. Bush doesn't even mention his name! '

{And because you can't disprove speculation (just ask Dick Cheney)...I think Kerry should go on to say...}

'If I had been President it would have been Osama Bin Laden we would have pulled out of a hole in the ground.'

September 11th approaches.. now is the time.