Schumer Hits Conservatives For Launching Petty Attacks: ‘When People Are Hurting, It Doesn’t Work’
Schumer Hits Conservatives For Launching Petty Attacks: ‘When People Are Hurting, It Doesn’t Work’
Today at the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Charles Schumer stopped by the Big Tent and ThinkProgress was able to speak with him about whether the “fundamentals of the economy are strong,” as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has stated. Schumer pointed to the decreasing buying power of the average U.S. family and criticized conservatives for launching petty attacks while ignoring the real issues facing Americans:
SCHUMER: The economy is in worse shape than the numbers show. When you look at the macro numbers, you fail to look at where all the positives have gone, which is the top 1 or 5 percent. […]
Between 2001 and and 2007 — this was before the recession — incomes went down $1,000 for the average family. But buying power went down $9,000, if you include college tuition for families with tuition. So the average family was living at a level of $47,000 in 2001, and is living at a level of $38,000 in 2007. It’s worse now, obviously. So for the average middle-class person, it’s not just, “Oh, things aren’t great.” Things are tough.
I just saw Karl Rove outside. This is what he doesn’t get. He’s busy talking about I don’t know — the marble columns in Invesco [Field]. When people are feeling pretty good about things, they like that kind of stuff: “Oh that’s fun; Barack Obama’s an emperor.” When people are hurting, it doesn’t work.
Schumer was referring to conservative outrage over the fact that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will be delivering his acceptance speech in Denver before an “elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple.” As ThinkProgress reported, these attacks are silly, since Republicans have used similar backdrops for their events.
According to recent polls, most Americans point to the economy as the top issue they’re concerned about. Obama’s backdrop doesn’t appear on the list of concerns.
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Ingraham: McCain Has Been ‘Different From President Bush On Every Issue’
Ingraham: McCain Has Been ‘Different From President Bush On Every Issue’
Yesterday, ThinkProgress talked to right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham, who was spending time in the Huffington Post Oasis in the Big Tent at the Democratic National Convention. Ingraham told us that she sees virtually no similarities between the policy positions of President Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and that it is pointless for progressives to argue as much. From our interview:
He’s pretty much been different from President Bush on every issue other than on the war, and even on the war, he was very critical of how it was being handled. So I’m not sure, if I were a Democrat, I wouldn’t focus on the Bush angle. I mean, Bush will be gone in four months.
The similarities between the two men is uncomfortable for conservatives because it’s something the majority of the public recognizes. A recent Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Americans are either concerned that McCain would pursue policies similar to those of Bush.
Time after time, McCain has refused to show how his presidency would be anything but a third Bush term. In 2008, McCain voted with Bush 100 percent of the time, according to a May CQ analysis; in 2007, he voted with the President 95 percent of the time.
Even on the issue of climate change — which conservatives like to point to as a main difference between Bush and McCain — there are increasing indications that McCain plans no changes. Although McCain has said that he believes global warming is real, the Washington Times recently reported that McCain plans to “run on the final version” of the Republican party’s election platform, which is “loaded with caveats about the uncertainty of science and the need to ‘resist no-growth radicalism’ in taking on climate change.”
On Iraq — which Ingraham said McCain was “very critical of how it was being handled” — McCain was actually in lock-step with the Bush administration’s stay-the-course policies from day one.
Also during the interview, Ingraham hinted that right-wing talk radio will stage a rebellion if McCain chooses a pro-choice vice president, such as Joe Lieberman:
Talk radio exists because there’s a very big constituency for it. A lot of conservatives, and other people too, by the way. … I think that John McCain is going to see, that if you look at every successful Republican nominee over the last 28 years — pretty much had a pro-life ticket. Why infuriate a very important part of the base? For what? It’s not like liberals are going to vote for you because you put Joe Lieberman on the ticket.
Rush Limbaugh recently compared McCain choosing a pro-choice VP to “committing suicide.”
Rep. Schakowsky On McCain’s Women’s Rights Record: ‘He’s Not With Us’
Rep. Schakowsky On McCain’s Women’s Rights Record: ‘He’s Not With Us’
Today at the Democratic National Convention, Women’s eNews hosted a panel on pushing a “pro-women agenda” in Congress, as part of the SeaChange Ideas Forum. One of the speakers at the event was Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Democratic Vice Chair of the bipartisan Women’s Caucus.
Schakowsky blasted the Bush administration’s record on women’s issues, calling his tenure “anti-women” from day one. In particular, she criticized a recent Bush administration memo that “defines several widely used contraception methods as abortion and protects the right of medical providers to refuse to offer them.” From her remarks:
This administration is not just anti-abortion. When it comes down to it, they’re really anti-sex, anti-women, in every possible way. Imagine not being able tell someone about contraception. That is a rule that in the United States of America that the president has proposed. We need a change, my sisters, we really do. They are after us, they are after our bodies, they are after controlling our lives.
ThinkProgress spoke with Schakowsky afterward about the record of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on women’s rights, especially in light of his comments in July that he is committed to “equal opportunity in every aspect of our society.” Schakowsky told ThinkProgress that McCain would “absolutely” continue the “anti-women” policies of President Bush:
He’s always been against reproductive rights for women. He’s not for equal pay, he did not support Lilly Ledbetter and the work that we’re trying to do to get equal pay. He never supported the Family and Medical Leave Act in Congress. So there’s no evidence. … He’s not with us.
McCain actually skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in April, which would have made it easier for “women and other workers to pursue pay discrimination claims.” He said that if he had been there, he would have voted against it because he believes women simply need more “education and training.” In the past, he has also made a joke about how much women love to be raped.
Kucinich’s convention speech edited.
The Hill reports that the Obama campaign has, at times, been “tightening the reins on campaign speeches and stressing that speakers emphasize a rags-to-riches theme.” Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) had one line redacted from his speech, which suggested some conservatives need to serve time in prison. The original line read: “They’re asking for another four years — in a just world, they’d get 10 to 20.”
Police investigate possible plot to assassinate Obama.
Police investigate possible plot to assassinate Obama.
The Rocky Mountain News reports that the Secret Service, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s office are investigating a possible plot to assassinate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). Details of the efforts by the Denver-area police so far:
Aurora police arrested a longtime drug user Sunday afternoon during a routine traffic stop where the man was seen “weaving,” sources said. Two possible other accomplices also were arrested, according to police. Police found four weapons, including two rifles and two handguns, in a rented pickup.
That arrest then led authorities to a second man staying at the Cherry Creek Hotel at 600 South Colorado Blvd in Glendale. When authorities knocked on the man’s door, they say he jumped out of his sixth floor window, landing on an awning and running from the scene. They say they soon found him with a broken ankle. He too was arrested. […]
Police found a rifle in the man’s pickup and methamphetamine. The man allegedly made comments about Sen. Obama, but sources wouldn’t say what they were. It was enough, however, to make police believe the man might have been plotting to somehow harm Obama.
NBC Censors Sexual Orientation Of Openly Gay Gold Medalist Diver
NBC Censors Sexual Orientation Of Openly Gay Gold Medalist Diver
According to OutSports.com, of the 10,708 athletes at the Olympics this year, just 10 have identified themselves publicly as being gay. Of the 10, Australian diver Matthew Mitcham is the only male gay athlete.
Yesterday, Mitcham won the gold in the in the 10m platform diving event, scoring an upset over the Chinese team, which was heavily favored to win. But as Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo’s Olympics blog notes, NBC never mentioned Mitcham’s orientation:
NBC did not mention Mitcham’s orientation, nor did they show his family and partner who were in the stands. NBC has made athletes’ significant others a part of the coverage in the past, choosing to spotlight track athlete Sanya Richards’ fiancee, a love triangle between French and Italian swimmers and Kerri Walsh’s wedding ring debacle.
In his press interview after the event, however, Mitcham stood with both his mother and his partner, Lachlan, thanking them for the support they’ve provided. Watch it:
Mitcham first came out in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald on May 24. Mitcham said that they couldn’t afford for Lachlan to attend the games, so had applied for — and was awarded — a grant through the Johnson & Johnson Athlete Family Support Program to send him to Beijing.
According to the LA Times, the first thing Mitcham did when meeting with journalists after his win was “hug the reporter who handled the story with particular sensitivity.”
Clearly, someone at NBC made the decision NOT to mention it. And in doing so, they denied tens of thousands of struggling younger people the chance to see that somelike like them could be an Olympic hero, and millions more that it is normal to be gay and athletic.
Iraqis desperate for water.
Although the United States has spent $2.4 billion on Iraq’s water and sanitation sector since 2003, the United Nations “estimates that less than half of Iraqis get drinking water piped into their homes in rural areas. In the capital, people set their alarm clocks to wake them in the middle of the night so they can fill storage tanks when water pressure is under less strain.” Additionally, a billion liters of raw sewage is dumped into Baghdad’s waterways each day. The World Bank estimates that at least $14 billion is needed to refurbish Iraq’s water system.
Progressive bloggers featured at upcoming political conventions.
Progressive bloggers featured at upcoming political conventions.
Today, the New York Times highlights the hundreds of bloggers who will be attending next week’s Democratic convention in Denver. Not only will they be receiving national credentials — which members of the media also have access to — many bloggers will get coveted state blogger credentials to “cover the convention alongside its state delegation, with unlimited floor access.” A look at the blogger presence at next week’s events:
This year, both parties understand the need to have greater numbers of bloggers attend. While many Americans may watch only prime-time television broadcasts of the convention speeches, party officials also recognize the ability of bloggers to deliver minute-by-minute coverage of each day’s events to a niche online audience.
One perk that bloggers will have access to in Denver is the Big Tent, an 8,000-square-foot two-story structure adjacent to where the convention is being held. For a $100 entrance fee, 400 credentialed bloggers will be allowed to enter the air-conditioned space, hosted by a coalition of progressive blogs and organizations and sponsored by the Web sites Google and Digg, where they can eat meals and find work spaces with Wi-Fi.
Several members of ThinkProgress will be blogging from both the Democratic and Republican conventions in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for our coverage and let us know in the comments section if you’ll be there too.
American Family Association launches protest against Hallmark.
American Family Association launches protest against Hallmark.
Today, the right-wing American Family Association (AFA) announced a protest of Hallmark for its decision to start selling gay marriage greeting cards. AFA wants Hallmark to “stop promoting a lifestyle that is not only unhealthy, but is also illegal in 48 states.” From the protest site:
We’ve all given or received Hallmark Cards – remember their slogan – “when you care enough to send the very best.” But promoting same-sex marriage for profit is not the very best for families or our nation.
Hallmark is a private company obviously driven by greed. Let them know you do not appreciate Hallmark promoting a lifestyle which is illegal in 48 states. American Greeting Cards, Hallmark’s competitor, does not offer same-sex marriage cards.
AFA also criticized Hallmark for having the secret purpose of “pushing[ing] same-sex marriage.” More on AFA’s previous boycotts here.
Stevens testily insists that Alaska loves him.
Stevens testily insists that Alaska loves him.
TPMMuckraker points out that yesterday in a debate, primary challenger Vic Vickers asked Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) about the federal indictment he is facing on seven criminal counts. Stevens angrily responded that his Alaskan constituents don’t care about the investigation:
As I’ve traveled around Alaska, you know, I haven’t had that question asked to me by anyone but a newsperson. And now you join that rank. Uh, the Alaskans I’ve talked to said “Ted, we believe in ya’,” “Ted, I’m gonna give ya’ a prayer,” “Ted, we’ll see you through this,” uh, “We know, we know (emphasis) that you’re innocent ’cause you said you’re innocent.”
However, earlier this week, Alaskans calling into Alaska Talk Radio repeatedly asked Stevens about the corruption charges. He angrily refused to say whether he would accept a presidential pardon or why he won’t disclose the source of his legal fees, and at one point, seemed to challenge a caller to come and fight him. Listen here to highlights:
Transcript: Read the rest of this entry »