Greg Palast, author and progressive journalist, has joined the list of speakers for the 4th Annual DemocracyFest. Other speakers include Gov. Howard Dean (free and open to the public), Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Mike Gravel, Bev Harris, Jim Dean and more! See the schedule and get your tickets at http://www.DemocracyFest.ne t

Trainings and panels offered include Impeachment, Creating Community Websites, Service Politics, Anatomy of a Grassroots Campaign, Framing, Peak Oil, Election Law, Democracy and the Religious Right, Pollworker Training, Making the Most of Grassroots Volunteers, the DFA Training Academy, and more!

All this plus lots of live music, films, and most importantly, networking with liberal activists from across the country. Don’t miss this chance to form working relationships that will have a lasting effect on our issue-based activities and our efforts to elect fiscally responsible and socially progressive candidates.

The 4th Annual DemocracyFest will take place June 9-10 at the Wayfarer Inn near Manchester, NH. More information is available at http://www.DemocracyFest.ne t

Greg Palast, author and progressive journalist, has joined the list of speakers for the 4th Annual DemocracyFest. Other speakers include Gov. Howard Dean (free and open to the public), Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Mike Gravel, Bev Harris, Jim Dean and more! See the schedule and get your tickets at http://www.DemocracyFest.ne t

Trainings and panels offered include Impeachment, Creating Community Websites, Service Politics, Anatomy of a Grassroots Campaign, Framing, Peak Oil, Election Law, Democracy and the Religious Right, Pollworker Training, Making the Most of Grassroots Volunteers, the DFA Training Academy, and more!

All this plus lots of live music, films, and most importantly, networking with liberal activists from across the country. Don’t miss this chance to form working relationships that will have a lasting effect on our issue-based activities and our efforts to elect fiscally responsible and socially progressive candidates.

The 4th Annual DemocracyFest will take place June 9-10 at the Wayfarer Inn near Manchester, NH. More information is available at http://www.DemocracyFest.ne t

The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. After much pressure from readers, this email newsletter is now going the blog route. I update the blog once a week focusing on both national issues and issues of interest to particular regions or states. In general, NYC, California, New Jersey, Virginia and the Midwest get special attention simply because those are the areas where I seem to have the most readers.

This week I discuss the Democratic presidential candidates, another right wing nutcase spewing hate speech, and how Veterans are targeting John McCain for his lockstep, blind support of Bush. If you visit my blog, don't forget to click on an advertiser or two since that helps me keep the blog going. As usual I also highlight local events and organizations for several states. And, if you want more political and social discussions, please check out our offerings on Culture Kitchen.

The 4th Annual DemocracyFest is coming June 9-10 to the Wayfarer Inn in Bedford, NH. The event will feature progressive speakers, trainings, and entertainment. Organized by volunteers who met through Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, the event has previously been held in Massachusetts, Texas, and California.

DemocracyFest Incorporated, the producers of the event, have just confirmed that Sen. John Edwards will be speaking. DNC Chair, Gov. Howard Dean will be speaking Sunday evening. Gov. Dean’s speech will be free and open to the public. Other speakers and trainers include Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, Bev Harris, William McNary, Mark Crispin Miller, Jim Dean, Bob Fertik, Jeff Feldman, and Sec. William Gardner. Entertainment will be provided by Cecilia St. King, Rebecca Padula, and The Subway Serenade.

What a week! Gonzales looking like a deer in the headlights, Virginia Tech, and McCain seemingly completely losing it (see here and here). As usual I can barely keep up. But I hope what I can get to is still helpful to you.

This week I discuss targeting NH Senator Sunnunu as an enabler of the McCain/Bush/Lieberman escalation, present John Edwards' response to Democracy for America, show how Dems and Repubs differ on election reform, an experiment in alternative energy in Indiana, and revisit the issue of recycled paper. If you visit my blog, don't forget to click on an advertiser or two since that helps me keep the blog going. As usual I also highlight local events and organizations for several states. And, if you want more political and social discussions, please check out our offerings on Culture Kitchen.

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

So how do you select the candidate you support for President? Is it issues? Hair? Charisma? Perhaps you're persuaded by an impressive resume? Ideology? Is it their religion or ethnicity? A single issue that for you dwarfs any other consideration? And if you're a Democrat or Republican, how do you know when candidate X is the one you support to be your party's nominee? Perhaps you reject both parties completely and prefer nominees of third parties such as the Greens or Libertarians?

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

Campaign 2008 reminds me of something former New York Yankee and member of the baseball Hall of Fame, Yogi Berra once said: "It gets late early around here." The jostling, pandering, fundraising and lying are well underway in both parties for the most wide-open presidential campaign in over a half-century. And it's only February 2007.

Yet as we focus on individual candidates, their platforms, tactics and even how they look in a bathing suit, it's instructive to contemplate what these campaigns say about our culture.

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

Hillary Clinton made it official today and joined the fray. Click here to listen to Clinton's official announcement from her website and here to read the actual text.

Frankly, reading and listening to Hillary's announcement is like drinking soda without carbonation. It's focus grouped for the political fifty-yard line. Just like Al Gore in 2000, Hillary will campaign from weakness. Too fearful to offend the "middle class" or appear weak on national security will result in a mealy mouthed posture. Strength stems from authenticity but does Clinton even know who she really is anymore?

The topic below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

The silly season of presidential politics is here. Posturing, fundraising and repositioning to simultaneously win support from party activists and independent voters that decide general elections. A candidate that can thread the needle with their party's base and remain viable to the center has achieved a sublime nexus.

In our current culture a candidate must demonstrate fidelity to their party's core principles and a maverick streak of independence. They must project manliness (or in Hillary Clinton's case toughness) with a soft side of empathy. After six years of Bush's insipid rule a winning candidate will also need to project gravitas but not appear above us. As women are burdened with a double standard Hillary Clinton will have to demonstrate firmness without coming off as shrill. Most importantly a winning candidate better have terrific hair.

The topic below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

Working through whom to support for president in 2008 has been cathartic for me. Typically I try candidates on for size by writing hypothetical speeches in their voice and occasionally post the results. I did this with Russ Feingold several months ago and liked how it felt but alas he isn't running. Recently I did the same for Barack Obama and enjoyed the challenge but it required writing in heavy religious overtones and felt uncomfortable. As I review the prospective field in the Democratic Party I neither see nor feel a president among Joe Biden, Wesley Clark, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Tom Vilsak.

Each has merits and flaws. From my vantage point however, the right candidate must combine maturity, gravitas, experience, intellect, authenticity, foresight and desire to serve a cause bigger than themselves. Al Gore has flaws of his own but is best suited for the job. We don't need a nominee who sticks their finger to the wind and follows the politics of expediency. Now is also not the time to nominate a pretty face or sound bite machine with a glass jaw. The real question is will Gore run? So I decided to compose a hypothetical announcement speech in Gore's voice and try him on for size. Looking at 2008 I like how Gore fits.

The diary below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 was arguably the most odious piece of domestic legislation the previous congress passed. President Bush and his party typically cited it as among their "accomplishments" and the media seldom questioned whether it was a good idea.

This "accomplishment" amounted to nothing less than class warfare waged on behalf of the super rich against the little guy. Indeed, it illustrated the sheer indecency of the Republican Party machine and pervasive influence of banks, credit card companies and the financial services industry as a whole.

The diary below was originally posted on my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

Anyone have the feeling John McCain's political star is declining but nobody has caught on yet? Certainly not the mainstream media or the Republican Party establishment. So I thought I would have some satirical fun and take a peak between his ears.

This is my time. I'll be damned if that crew of chickenhawks in the White House is going to screw it up for me. If I had my way, 4 million troops would land in Iraq tomorrow. What's the big deal? Bunch of sissies in that White House!

I'm older than dirt and nobody is going to stop me. Who else in the Republican Party can pander to conservative nuts but still appeal to the vital center of bipartisanship?

The diary below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal on August 27th.

Richard Nixon manipulated Americans into believing he had an honorable exit strategy from Vietnam. Ronald Reagan successfully convinced voters he championed a Norman Rockwell society that valued hard work and neighborhood generosity. In 1988, oilman George Herbert Walker Bush won in part as the "environmentalist" candidate. Twelve years later his son stole the presidency after campaigning as a "plain spoken" truth telling man of the people with a "humble" foreign policy.

The diary below was originally posted earlier today in the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

The conservative shift in American politics undermined the economic security of working people. Increasingly, individuals are absorbing more risks, working longer hours and earning less. Meanwhile, corporations and government benefit from less accountability to tax payers, consumers and employees. Renowned economist Jared Bernstein proposes in his new book, All Together Now: Common Sense For A Fair Economy, (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.) that we're ensnared in a "YOYO economy". The acronym YOYO means, "You're On Your Own." Bernstein's book illustrates how the "YOYOists" have schemed to transfer the burden of economic risk onto individuals and their families.

As the first crucial test of the 2004 Democratic presidential primary season approached with the Iowa Caucuses the mainstream media continued chipping away at Howard Dean's credibility as a candidate in two ways, through making him appear irresponsible and erratic on the one hand and unelectable on the other.

When Dean with his populist message delivered from outside the orbit of the regular Democratic establishment began to resonate the media coined a name for his grassroots followers.  They called them Deaniacs.  

With labeling such an important and closely watched element in this technological era with its emphasis on spin control, users of the term surely recognized the similarity between the label Deaniac and that of maniac.  It dovetailed with the image presented of an angry warrior eager to return to the wrestling mat he frequented years before in his school days.

Because Dean had been the frontrunner from the outset of his campaign based on an early start coupled with his ability to raise funds over the Internet while attracting large numbers of volunteers, the mainstream media adopted a coy tactic.  As Iowa campaigning activity heated up with organizational concentration intensifying on behalf of all candidates, a tactic was employed that put Dean at an unfair disadvantage.