Justin Amash doesn't make any sense on his defense of DOMA

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Tuesday June 28, 2011 · 5:48 AM PDT

2011/06/28 · 05:48

In response to my e-mail calling on him to oppose House Republican plans to use taxpayer dollars to hire an outside law firm to defend the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Rep. Justin Amash, Tea Party, Mich., said some strange things that I hope someone can make sense of for me.

First, a little background.

As you know, last February, President Obama announced that he had ordered the DOJ to stop defending the constitutionality of DOMA, noting that much of the congressional debate around the law sunk to the level of anti-gay prejudice and that the law targets a specific minority group.

jwendland

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Sunday June 26, 2011 · 7:08 AM PDT

2011/06/26 · 07:08

Xposted here

When Democrats gained control of Congress in 2008, it seemed possible the Employee Free Choice Act could pass. Labor and its allies in Congress worked hard to overcome the objections of some Democrats, like Blanche Lincoln, the no longer Senator from Wal-Mart, I mean Arkansas, who thought the law would give to much power to workers in the workplace.

Republican controlled Fox News demoagogued the issue, claiming that worker democracy in the workplace wasn't really democracy. They implied that boss-acracy was real democracy.

Anyway, the law couldn't' get passed filibuster, though it passed by a wide margin in the House.

jwendland

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Tuesday June 21, 2011 · 11:06 AM PDT

2011/06/21 · 11:06

Jon Huntsman's newly launched presidential campaign blamed the New Jersey Port Authority for a series of snafus during its first day.

Jon Huntsman announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president today. In the process of making the announcement, CNN reported, his campaign experienced a series of problems such as misspelling its candidate's name and mislabeling the location of the announcement as New York instead of New Jersey on press passes.

When the press corps and campaign staff almost boarded a plane to Saudi Arabia instead of New Hampshire, the site of the campaign's next visit, staffers blamed the Port Authority.

jwendland

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Friday June 17, 2011 · 5:10 PM PDT

2011/06/17 · 17:10

So I get a lot of e-mails from CREDO Mobile because I do some of their political action items. I appreciate most of their politics.

But I also get a lot of ads from them about switching to their wireless service. Last time I looked into it they didn't service my area, so I didn't switch.

But despite the politics of the people who control AT&T, its workers are unionized, which means a lot to me to know that those workers have a real say in the determining the conditions under which they work.

jwendland

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Wednesday June 15, 2011 · 9:07 AM PDT

2011/06/15 · 09:07

Last weekend I joined with a number of folks with Organizing for America to canvass voters at a local street fair in support of the President. And because much is made of approval ratings and questions of the President's popularity, I thought I might chime in with some unofficial and unscientific observations of my interactions with real live people.

It was a nice day – not too hot and not too cold. The event wasn't political, and the are generally is conservative. Though in 2008 my city went two-to-one for President Obama, the county squeaked out a tiny victory for him. The region – West Michigan – is to the right of most of Idaho.

I think I talked to about 50 people. And besides the 4 or 5 people who ignored my pitch or politely said "no thanks" without engaging me, I would lump the respondents into three main categories. I should note that the goal wasn't to solicit opinions or ideas but to identify supporters and sign them up.

Poll

21 votes Show Results

Is this poll more or less scientific that my description of my conversations with people above?

21 votes Vote Now!

Is this poll more or less scientific that my description of my conversations with people above?

Absolutely

4 votes

lean "yes"

5 votes

undecided

1 vote

lean "no"

1 vote

absolutely not

4 votes

not sure

2 votes

polls are for suckers

4 votes

Run Sarah, Run

jwendland

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Friday May 27, 2011 · 7:41 AM PDT

2011/05/27 · 07:41

As media reports suggest former reality TV star and Fox News personality Sarah Palin may be gearing up for a run at the Republican Party's presidential nomination (or at least another publicity tour), new polls show her public approval ratings in the tank.

A recent Quinnipiac poll showed that in the field of potential and extremely dull Republican nominees, Palin polls well – double digits, probably in the top three. However, almost six in ten Republicans – that's Republicans – said they would never vote for her.

In a recent Sachs/Mason-Dixon poll, a majority of Americans said they would choose to have lunch with President Obama, while a mere 16 percent said Palin was their preferred lunch date. Only about one in four Republicans liked the idea of eating a meal with her.

jwendland

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Saturday May 21, 2011 · 4:30 PM PDT

2011/05/21 · 16:30

So I went to my first Organizing for America meeting since 2009 today. The campaign is beginning the process of organizing the "boots on the ground" that will be needed to re-elect the President in 2012.

First of all, it was a terrific meeting with lots of folks – old and new – who are committed to defeating the Republican agenda and protecting the progress made over the past two years.

Because of Citizens United, a Supreme Court decision that basically eliminated disclosure laws on much campaign spending, the Republicans are going to have an almost bottomless well of money for misleading TV attack ads of the "Swift Boat" variety through shady front groups with innocuous sounding names.

jwendland

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Friday May 06, 2011 · 12:55 PM PDT

2011/05/06 · 12:55

Two outstanding Missouri labor educators - Judy Ancel and Don Giljum - have been part of a coordinated right-wing assault.

The known purveyor of chop-shop videos, Andrew Breitbart, is now using the class room to attack academic freedom and organized labor.

Check the links below for more details:

jwendland

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Sunday February 13, 2011 · 10:43 AM PST

2011/02/13 · 10:43

Listen to my interview with author John Nichols. Nichols new book The S Word, which is subtitled A Short history of an American tradition…Socialism, is forthcoming from Verso Books, VersoBooks.com. Nichols is also the Washington correspondent for the Nation magazine, TheNation.com.

Poll

0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

Why I'm not opposing the tax cut deal

jwendland

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Tuesday December 07, 2010 · 12:07 PM PST

2010/12/07 · 12:07

Winning the unemployment benefits extension, and an opening for other meaningful legislation (DREAM Act, START, DADT repeal) is a far more immediately concrete thing than making a point about Republican obstructionism.

People with jobs or reliable sources of income shouldn't worry more about making political points than the source of income for at least 2 million jobless workers.

The lesson to learn is not to make political symbology out of lost votes but to fight harder (against cynicism) for real momentum and electoral advantage each November.

Republican obstructionism is the real culprit here, not Democrats in Congress.

Irony and Hate Mail From Your Local Tea Party

jwendland

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Monday November 08, 2010 · 7:32 AM PST

2010/11/08 · 07:32

In response to a recent blog post here (The Role of Hate in the 2010 Elections), here at PA we've gotten an interesting batch of what can only be described as hate mail – from both left and right.

jwendland

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Friday November 05, 2010 · 12:20 PM PDT

2010/11/05 · 12:20

Republicans put hate at the center of their campaign.

In Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, and Florida, especially, anti-immigrant, anti-Latino campaign ads and rhetoric ruled – even from Latino candidates. Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle in Nevada described Latinos as "illegal aliens" as coming in "a wave" and then told one audience that she couldn't tell if they were Latinos or Asians. The message her campaign drummed out was that Latinos are illegal, they aren't real Americans, they do not deserve the social benefits of living in our society and that politicians who support equality are dangerous. Fortunately, Angle was defeated with the aid of Latino voters in Nevada who came to Sen. Harry Reid's rescue (a bright spot for future Democratic victories).

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Justin Amash doesn't make any sense on his defense of DOMA

It's not the Employee Free Choice Act, but...

Can Jon Huntsman really win the GOP nod?

What CREDO told me about unions

My unofficial, non-scientific poll: Canvassing voters for the President

Run Sarah, Run

[Update] Putting on our marching shoes: the campaign to reelect the President begins now

Protest Andrew Breitbart, right-wing attack on labor and academic freedom

Who's Afraid of Socialism, Interview with John Nichols

Why I'm not opposing the tax cut deal

Irony and Hate Mail From Your Local Tea Party

The role of hate in the 2010 elections