"Build, Baby, Build" How Dems Can Counter GOP Lies and Restore Political Debate By Bennet Kelley The year 1989 was marked by many monumental events that would reverberate for years to come; from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism to Tiananmen Square. One event that is often overlooked was a turning point in American politics that ultimately would lead to the death of true political debate and the gridlock and obstruction we see today. On May 31, 1989, House Speaker ...

Short presentation rebutting Fox Mao smear on Anita Dunn. (Link)

THE VAST RIGHT WING RETURNS By Bennet Kelley (Link) In his Meet the Press appearance earlier this week, President Clinton indicated that the "vast right wing conspiracy" was alive and well under President Obama. Today’s Vast Right Wing (“VRW”), however, is a different breed than its predecessors. For example, while President Kennedy, like Obama, was the target of virulent opposition which included a National Indignation Convention in his first year much like today’s Tea Bag protests, t...

Your Town Hall Screamfest Handbook by Bennet Kelley Thank you for your commitment to be part of the 2009 Town-Hall-ScreamFestpalooza . Who wouldn't want to scream at a party that hates America or which not only gave us the largest tax increase in history but opposed the largest tax cut in history ? The party which nominated a foreigner for President, now want us to support a health system in which we pay more and more for less coverage, where bureaucrats make medical decisions f...

WHY THE TORTURE MEMOS MATTER by Bennet Kelley "(The issue of torture) has nothing to do with al Qaeda, (but) it has everything to do with America." Those were the words of Senator McCain in 2006 -- he was absolutely right. The conduct of torture and other atrocities by the state is something that reflects upon us all as a nation. I invite anyone to visit the War Museum in Saigon and stand, as I did, in front of a wall of images from the Mai Lai Massacre (in which about 500 unarmed civilia...

RAY BAN REPUBLICANS AND THE POLITICS OF DENIAL By Bennet Kelley The Republicans' recent political posturing over President Obama's stimulus package and the California budget reminded me of the 1980's pop hit about a man who retreats to darkness rather than deal with harsh realities. While the song may be a nostalgic guilty pleasure, it is no recipe for sound public policy. Apparently someone forgot to tell this to the Republicans whose Ray Bans have been in full display. In Californi...

A Tribute to Sen. Claiborne Pell: Rhode Island's Gentle Giant by Bennet Kelley Senator Pell died on January 1st and will be buried on Monday January 5th in Newport, Rhode Island. To appreciate the late Senator Claiborne Pell, you have to understand a few things about Rhode Island and its politics. Rhode Island may be the smallest state, but it recently ranked first in a survey of journalists for most corrupt state (in the last two decades as chief justice, a governor and mayors of three of i...

The Bush Presidency in Four Words by Bennet Kelley A recent found that the one word Americans used most to describe President Bush was "incompetent". While no compliment, the word fails to convey the condemnation warranted by the last eight years. There are several words that are more apt, such as "betrayal". Consider the administration's handling of the California "energy crisis". Two months into the administration and at the height of "crisis", the administration learned that the s...

A few brief words to put this column in context as it was published in the Santa Monica Daily Press in response to two columns the published last week (Nov. 12 and 13th). One of the columns spread right wing talking points on the bogus Berg v. Obama, with the author boasting of his devilish grin brought on by his delusions over the suit's potential success. Bigotry, Lies and the Obama Wars Bennet Kelley REELING FROM THEIR SECOND STRAIGHT drubbing at the polls, the right is relying on ...

Cal Prop. 8 and Direct Democracy "Run Amok" by Bennet Kelley In July 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which NAACP Secretary Roy Wilkins called "the Magna Carta of Human Rights". Four months later President Johnson was reelected in a historic landslide over Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. This victory was tempered by California's passage of Proposition 14 which not only reversed a state anti-housing discrimination law but also amended the state constitution to prot...

There are certain elections that stir people to get involved whether its writing letters to the editor or helping get out the vote. For Jeff Schweitzer, who served as an Assistant Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, that was not enough. In a matter of forty-eight hours he managed to write "Vote! To Save the Planet: Your Guide to Issues that Matter" (Rvive Books). "Vote!" is a handy reference and breezy read as to the many reasons why the call for change must p...

Midnight in the Garden of Reaganomicsby Bennet Kelley As the likelihood of an Obama and Democratic landslide moves from possibility to inevitability and as more and more Republicans jump on the Obama bandwagon, wailing Republicans are sounding off as if this were a sign of Armageddon. One Forbes columnist even questioned whether an Obama victory would result in the end of capitalism itself - as if the Republicans have been great stewards of the economy or Democrats have never held power before...

WHY I'M VOTING FOR JOHN MCCAIN AND SARAH PALIN By Bennet Kelley This may come as a surprise to my readers, but I am voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin to be our 44th and 45th president. As recent events demonstrate, these are dire times which require boldness and leadership. Our system of government is breaking down and we need a maverick to come in to shake things up and end business as usual. Who better to shake things up than John McCain, since he's been there for 26 years and should...

David Dreier and the Fall of the House of Voodoo by Bennet Kelley There are times in history when a political movement becomes a force of nature. For example, after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 within 50 days Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania had all broken the chains of the Communist era and deposed its henchmen. Today, the worsening financial crisis has caused a seismic shift in this country and not only has it brought down the house of cards known as Reaganomics b...

John McCain's Yellow Talk Express by Bennet Kelley John McCain is a coward. We have heard countless invocations of Senator McCain's courage during his 1,966 days in captivity, but it is time for the Senator to be held accountable for his appalling lack of courage the past 1,966 days. Had Senator McCain demonstrated even the faintest sliver of his past courage, he would not have reversed himself on issue after issue such as abortion, auto emission standards, campaign finance reform, closing...

McCain's Reckless Choice Raises Questions About Judgmentby Bennet Kelley John McCain's defining moment came during the 2000 campaign when he voiced his opinion about the Confederate battle flag which flew over South Carolina's capitol. Six weeks before the state's primary, he told a South Carolina audience that the "Confederate flag is offensive a symbol of racism and slavery" and was hailed for his courage. His defining moment, however, came three days later when McCain reversed himself a...

History, Hope & Hillary: A Call for Party Unity by Bennet Kelley Tonight, on the 89th anniversary of women becoming full citizens of this country; 36 years after Shirley Chisholm's single primary victory; 32 years after Barbara Jordan's keynote address provided "evidence that the American Dream need not forever be deferred"; 24 years after Geraldine Ferraro's nomination signaled to America there are "no limits on achievement"; 16 years after "the Year of the Women" tripled the number of women i...

Bush Reveals True Reason for War in Push for Iraqi Agreement by Bennet Kelley For five years the Bush administration has played wack-a-mole with the American people as to why we are in Iraq , with a new justification quickly spawning after the hollow core of the prior position was exposed. WMD's was followed by fighting Al Qaeda and ultimately bringing democracy to the Middle East. Last week the proverbial mole may have met his maker and exposed the true reason over a million Americans have be...

FISA and Beltway Dems Strictly by the Numbers by Bennet Kelley The current disconnect between the Democratic Congressional leadership and the party base over amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) can be best summarized numerically since,like pictures, numbers too can speak a thousand words. 1,463 Over the past few years, faithful Democrats have stood by while many Congressional Democrats aided President Bush in passing the Patriot Act, authorizing the Iraq War and ...

Lessons Not Learned: The Media Continues to be MIA on the Truth about Iraq War By Bennet Kelley A year after the President's "Mission Accomplished" Top Gun moment, the New York Times ran an apology to its readers for its failures in its pre-war Iraq coverage. Over the next four years many media outlets and personalities admitted to failing to give the public the vigilant reporting it deserved and assured us it would never happen again. The Fourth Estate was back on the job and our republ...

"Candy Bombers" Confront a Flooded Wal-Mart Nation (Updated) By Bennet Kelley The past few weeks have offered a number of sobering reminders. From the fifth anniversary of the cruel promise of President Bush's declaration of "Mission Accomplished" in a war that instead has become one of the longest and costliest in American history; to the Chinese government's rapid response to the Sichuan earthquake victims which highlighted our continued failure to respond to Hurricane Katrina; and the forti...

Cyber-Swift Boating Obama There are a few things you should know about John McCain that the media is not reporting. He was born in Panama and played as a child with future narco-dictator Manuel Noriega. McCain crashed five Navy jets during his military career, usually because the planes were overloaded with narcotics. Finally, McCain is the father of a black child whose mother was Noriega's housekeeper. I assure you that it is true that Senator McCain was born in Panama, crashed five jets an...

OBAMA AND GENERATION JONES’ MOMENT by Bennet Kelley “Let the word go forth from this time and place … that the torch has been passed to a new generation.” — John F. Kennedy. “Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.” — Bill Clinton Throughout our history we have matched great challenges with great achievements. Whether faced with civil war, the depression or world war, “each and every time, a...

I have known Howard Shanker for over 20 years (we went to law school together at Georgetown). The race can be summed up by three simple points. (1) Howard was urged to run by people in the district, not party insiders in Washington or Tuscon. (2) While it is true that Ann Kirkpatrick is ahead in fund raising largely due to the support of Emily's List, the gap likely will narrow as Howard brings on some senior campaign personnel to ramp up his own fund raising. (3)The important thing is tha...

As the new year begins, here are seven things from 2007 that we should carry with us into the new year. 1) ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES Sen. Barbara Boxer had the best soundbyte of the new Congress during a hearing of the Senate Environment Committee in which she reminded the former chairman, Republican Sen. James Inhofe, that she held the gavel as “elections have consequences.” Now only if she can convince Sen. Feinstein and other Democrats in the "roll over and play dead" caucus to make t...

From the Santa Monica Daily Press Missing the Point on Distrust of Bush Administration LOS ANGELES TIMES COLUMNIST JONAH GOLDBERG RANTS that the Democrats are "out of their gourds", "delusional" and have gone beyond "blame America first," based on a recent Rasmussen poll that found that 35 percent of Democrats believed that President Bush "knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance" and another 26 percent were unsure. Goldberg's conclusion that Democrats have a "serious problem" misses th...

Attorney-gate, Democracy & Closed Doors AS THE BLOSSOMING SCANDAL over the U.S. Attorney firings upstages Washington's annual Cherry Blossom Festival, it is important to view the scandal in its proper context. Attorney-gate, whose genesis can be traced to the administration's first weeks, is a microcosm of all the tensions and contradictions that define the Bush presidency. Ultimately what is truly at issue in Attorney-gate is not the merits of firing any single U.S. Attorney, but rather thr...

Time to Say Enough to Bush’s Attack on our Civil Liberties A RECENT OPEN LETTER TO THE American people lamented that “under the pretext of ‘the war on terror,’ civil liberties in the United States are being increasingly curtailed. Even the privacy of individuals is fast losing its meaning. Judicial due process and fundamental rights are trampled upon. Private phones are tapped (and) suspects are arbitrarily arrested”. The fact that this was written by Iran’s President Ahmadinejad is gall...

Reality Bites The Bush Remake In the 1994 comedy Reality Bites, a group of recent college graduates struggle with the clash between the world of their imagination and the world as it really is; with the lead character questioning, “why things just can’t go back to normal at the end of the half hour like on the Brady Bunch?” In the 2006 remake, however, the movie is transformed into a tragedy as the setting moves from Houston twenty-something’s to the Bush White House, where President Bush c...

Electronic Voting Continues to “Place Our Democracy at Risk” “Electronic voting machines are placing our democracy at risk.” This dire warning on the eve of the election came not from MoveOn.org or Air America, but CNN anchor and lifelong Republican Lou Dobbs. Dobbs was hardly alone in sounding the alarm, as in Maryland both gubernatorial candidates urged voters to use absentee ballots rather than rely on the state’s Diebold voting machines, and nationwide, 66 percent of registered v...