"...Why People Like to Stuff People Like You into Ovens"

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Friday November 20, 2009 · 7:44 AM PST

2009/11/20 · 07:44

This morning I woke up to find an email response to my recent piece on Sarah Palin ("Don't Get Palin's Appeal? Try a Little Harder"):

Thank you, I had forgotten why people like to stuff people like you into ovens.........

If you really think hard, you can figure out that "people like you" refers to my being Jewish, which this reader must have deduced from my last name, which sounds--Jewish.

Beyond understanding the perspective of those who lionize Sarah Palin and will constitute her energetic base in politics, we need to make sense of the other, unsavory part of Sarah Palin's support. Let's call them:

VIOLENT

Jeffrey Feldman

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Wednesday November 18, 2009 · 11:58 AM PST

2009/11/18 · 11:58

Each time I read a diary or a comment that wonders out loud how someone as "stupid" as Sarah Palin could be appealing to anyone, I shake my head in disbelief.

In 2004, this website was clogged up with comments and diaries about another politician most people believed to be "too stupid," to succeed. "How can anyone be a supporter of someone so stupid? Someone who sounds so dumb and has done so many stupid things?"

Then, after that "stupid" guy was re-elected, the Democratic Party went into an identity crisis tail spin.

Have we forgotten all this? Apparently we have.

Still don't get Sarah Palin's appeal? Try a little harder and you will.

Jeffrey Feldman

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Monday November 16, 2009 · 6:29 AM PST

2009/11/16 · 06:29

Often, the most amazing examples of American values emerge in the midst of the ugliest political situations.

An anti-immigration rally in Arizona, yesterday, yielded one such moment: An African-American police officer, intervening to defend the right of a Neo-Nazi to display a Hitler flag at an anti-immigration rally.

3TV Arizona caught this on tape, but you can watch it after the fold.

Talk about every cloud having a silver lining--my goodness.

Jeffrey Feldman

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Friday November 13, 2009 · 10:42 AM PST

2009/11/13 · 10:42

I personally believe that the "boycott" card is so overplayed by Left-wing activists that it has become virtually meaningless.

Once upon a time, a "boycott" was a powerful tool used by organized labor to mobilize millions of people on issues of life and death. I remember the table grape boycott from the 1970s that lasted for years--years. People died for that boycott, devoted decades of their life to the issue. Today, boycotts seems like watered-down outgrowth of consumer society. At any given time, there are so many boycotts happening on the Left that it's hard to keep them straight let alone keep track of their effectiveness.

Now, we have a boycott of the DNC and of the Obama campaign that has been launched by AmericaBlog and joined by a host of very high profile blogs, including DailyKos. But how exactly does this boycott work and what is it supposed to achieve? I am a well informed media activist and I had to spend time researching just to figure this out.

Either explain what this boycott means, how it will achieve its goal, and the point at which it have been deemed a success--in very clear terms--or call it off.

Jeffrey Feldman

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Wednesday November 11, 2009 · 3:43 PM PST

2009/11/11 · 15:43

Of all the ridiculous, Orwellian nonsense that floods my desk in any given week, the idea of a "trigger" which is now threatening to find its way into the health care reform bill has to be the worst.

Thanks to stories from my grandfather when I was just a little tyke, whenever I hear the word "trigger," my mind turns instantly to thoughts of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans--tasseled shirts, white boots, and spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle. "Away, Trigger!" What a good horse won't do for piece of apple and a bucket of groats.

But the "trigger" being pushed into the health care bill would be anything but a big strong mare rearing up on its hind legs. Instead, it is a rhetorical gimmick--doublespeak designed to render the public option impotent by breaking into 50 pieces, while politicians simultaneously proclaim their support for one public option.

"Away, Trigger!" Which is to say: Keep that trigger the heck out of the health care bill, ya hear?

Jeffrey Feldman

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Tuesday November 03, 2009 · 3:20 PM PST

2009/11/03 · 15:20

Jonathan Karl over at ABC news is reporting this story:

Top Dems: Obama Won't Get Health Care Bill in 2009

Senior Congressional Democrats Now Say Reform Before End of Year is Highly Unlikely

I have seen this headline on Twitter as well. It would seem this story is about to hit.

Poll

229 votes Show Results

Will a health care bill pass this year?

229 votes Vote Now!

Will a health care bill pass this year?

Yes--it will pass this calendar year.

116 votes

No--it will not pass this calendar year.

113 votes

These 36 Republicans Are Better Than You (And Me)

Jeffrey Feldman

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Monday October 26, 2009 · 11:21 AM PDT

2009/10/26 · 11:21

An astounding story is up on Media Matters--a list of 36 Congressional Republicans who receive Medicare benefits, but who oppose a public option in the health care reform bill.

These names are taken from Rep. Anthony Wiener (D-NY) who compiled the original list.

The only logical conclusion to draw is that these 36 Republicans are all much better than you and me. And because they are better than you and better me--better than all of us, really--they get to have a public option, and at the same time they have the responsibility that comes with being better: denying a public option to the rest of us.

Jeffrey Feldman

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Thursday September 03, 2009 · 8:46 AM PDT

2009/09/03 · 08:46

I am very close to losing it, today.

Seriously. After hearing horror story after horror story in last night's MoveOn.com vigil for health care reform (I went to Columbus Circle), I did not sleep last night--I could not.

Dismemberment. Disfigurement. Crippling debt. Missed cancer treatment. Untreated stokes in children. Divorce. Bankruptcy. Fear. Death. And all because people in this country cannot get the care they need to stay alive without somehow beating a system that is financially rigged against us.

Over and over and over again I hear these stories. For months I have heard them. Years, even. And they have left me with one question:

How many horror stories do you need to hear, Mr. President?

How many horror stories do you need to hear, Mr. President, before your heart aches and you have no choice but to pound the pulpit in defense of the American people?

Jeffrey Feldman

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Saturday August 22, 2009 · 11:26 AM PDT

2009/08/22 · 11:26

I have a very simple idea that could leverage the messaging potential of the DailyKos diaries (that's you!) in the effort give the PUBLIC OPTION more real estate in the debate.

The idea grows out of the idea that if we work together, we can amplify our progressive voices in ways that simply cannot be done alone.

Follow me over the jump...

Jeffrey Feldman

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Thursday August 20, 2009 · 10:35 AM PDT

2009/08/20 · 10:35

I swear to god, if I see one more person blame the sorry state of the health insurance reform debate on "misinformation," I am going to absolutely lose it.

Have we learned nothing since George W. Bush was re-elected? I mean, seriously. Is it November 2003 again? I could have sworn we spent FIVE YEARS going over how to establish a successful political messaging campaign. Did we just spend the last two weeks forgetting it so we could revert back to the party that screams "LIES!" whenever Republicans set a frame better than we do?

Rule number one in political debate: If you think you are losing because the public is ignorant or misinformed--then you, are, WRONG!

Political communication is not an exercise in education, but in persuasion. We do not win by throwing facts at people. We win by giving people a big story, a big idea, and then finding ways to make it meaningful in their lives.

Jeffrey Feldman

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Wednesday August 12, 2009 · 12:45 PM PDT

2009/08/12 · 12:45

Last year I was lured from my cozy lair in New York city to canvas for Obama-Biden in Northeast Philadelphia. On the first morning out, carrying a few signs and few neighborhood packs and a few bagels stuffed in my backpack, we came upon a group of Northeasters sitting on their porch. With a wave of his hat, one of them stood up and shouted,"Obama!"

"Finally!" I said to my canvassing partner. "Friendly vot--"

But before I could finish my sentence, the guy on the porch finished his,"...is a douchebag!"

We won Northeast Philly, even though we probably didn't win that one vote. And in that moment, on that street corner, an idea for a Netroots Nation panel was born:

Fearless Campaigning

(more after the jump)

Jeffrey Feldman

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday May 27, 2009 · 11:06 AM PDT

2009/05/27 · 11:06

This has to be one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen from a senior figure in the GOP. According to Newt Gingrich's Twitter Timeline, the former Speaker of the House is using Twitter to push GOP talking points about Sonia Sotomayor being a "racist" while he is visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial--where millions of people were killed and imprisoned as a result of real racism.

Let me repeat that: Newt Gingrich, touring a memorial of the perils of actual racism, using his Blackberry or cell phone (not sure which) to tweet GOP talking points--from Auschwitz--about Sonia Sotomayor being a "racist."

(crickets)

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"...Why People Like to Stuff People Like You into Ovens"

Don't Get Palin's Appeal? Try a Little Harder

What Upholding the First Amendment Looks Like (Amazing Vid)

Either Explain the Boycott Better...Or Call It Off

"Trigger" Belongs Under Roy Rogers, Not In Health Care

ABC Reporting: Health Care Bill Will Not Get Vote in 2009

These 36 Republicans Are Better Than You (And Me)

How many horror stories do you need to hear, Mr. President?

PUBLIC OPTION - Action Idea For DKos Diaries (updated)

"Misinformation" is not the Problem (Listen Up!)

"Fearless Campaigning Door to Door" - NN '09 Panel

Gingrich Tweets Sotomayor 'Racist'--On Visit to Auschwitz!