Today, the Obama campaign launched a new website called “Fight the Smears“, which is meant to debunk some of the malicious rumors that have been circulating against Senator Obama, such as the Muslim smear and the Pledge of allegiance smear.
Now, if you don’t want to remember:
You reach the site by typing in:
It’s good to see the campaign actively working against this sort of disinformation.
Because I’m not quite done working on the latest map update, I’m just going to post two versions and their color swaps, one weighted and one ratio:
Image from The New York Times, taken by Doug Mills
Last night, before heading to work, I watched Hillary Clinton’s speech. From Terry McAuliffe’s introduction of “the next President of the United States, the speech struck me as willfully ignorant of the reality, and a let down from what I expected from Hillary Clinton.
While I have not seen eye to eye with her during this nomination process, I have always thought that she would be graceful when the end came, if for no other reason than to survive politically. However, last night was anything but graceful.
We saw the Clinton supporters loudly protest the proceedings of the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting, chanting such things as “Denver, Denver, Denver” and “McCain, McCain, McCain”. I was hoping that in the interest of unity, Hillary would quell those voices by, if not conceding, acknowledging the reality.
But she didn’t. Last night, se sat by idly as her supporters in the background echoed the “Denver, Denver Denver line and even offered up a passive-aggressive “I will be making no decisions tonight,” which drew a huge roar from the crowd.
I finished watching that speech feeling angry. Angry that she had given what could be described as a petulant, self-absorbed, reality-denying speech, and that I had watched it and that it had made be late for work (this is the last time Hillary Clinton will make me late for work).
Cross-posted at Daily Kos
Today, Puerto Rico voted and Hillary Clinton won by a wide margin. However, this was not an ordinary contest. For one thing, Puerto Rico is not a state. For another, the traditional Republican and Democratic Parties of the mainland are very secondary presences. And finally, unlike the states, Puerto Rico is a completely Spanish-speaking territory.
These factors an others made for an interesting set of results. Here’s a map of Puerto Rico using the scale below with Clinton as Red and Obama as blue:
If you’re wondering what the dark region is, that’s Naguabo, where there were an abnormally high number of blank ballots. The only municipality won by Obama was Culebra, which is the small archipelego to the east of the main island.
Here is the letter that the Obamas sent to Reverend Moss at Trinity yesterday. It reads just like his statement at the press conference yesterday and was obviously written an a manner that would allow for it to be released to the press:
May 30, 2008
Dear Rev. Moss:
We are writing to make official our decision to end our membership at Trinity.
We make this decision with sadness. Trinity was where I found Christ, where we were married and where our children were baptized. We have many friends among the 8,000 congregants who attend there and we are pround of the extraordinary good works the church continues to perform throughout the community to help the hungry, the homeless and people in need of medical care. We also have come to appreciate your outstanding ministry and both think you have been, and will be, a wonderful pastor for years to come.
But as you know, our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own views. Our larger concern is that because of my candidacy and membership at Trinity, these controversies have served as an unfortunate distraction for other Trinity member who seek to worship in peace, and ahve placed you in an untenable position as you establish your own ministry under very difficult circumstances
Our faith remains strong and we will find another church home for our family. But we also know that faith and prayer are not merely exercises to be discharged for two hours on Sunday. They are and always will be a bulwark for us in our daily lives.
We are grateful for our years as part of the Trinity community, and wish you all the best as you lead the congregation into the future. You, your family and the entire Trinity family will be in our thoughts and prayers
Sincerely,
Michelle Obama Barack Obama
Here’s some news that caught me by surprise. Today, Obama announced that he was withdrawing his membership from his long-time church, Trinity United Church of Christ.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I’m not one who particularly cares about religion in politics, so long as it doesn’t interfere with policy. A politician’s religion is his or her prerogative, not the business of the public unless it interferes with his or her decision making. Most of our Representatives are Christian of one sort or another, overrepresenting the United States’ religious majority of which I am not a part.
On the other hand, I was a bit saddened by the news. A church represents part of a person’s social circle, and Obama and his family have been attending Trinity for quite some time now. In withdrawing their membership, they are weakening some of their social bonds and the sad part is that this comes about for political reasons.
Now, I have watched Obama’s comments on this topic and while I agree that it was probably the best decision to make given the news coverage of every controversial remark made from the pulpit and the undue attention paid to church members, who are probably seeing Obama’s candidacy as much as a curse as they would see it as a blessing.
Of course, this brings me to another problem. Whatever church Obama chooses to join next may suffer under the same curse that’s plaguing Trinity: overeager reporters looking to get a scoop on the most controversial part of the Obama candidacy so far: his religious life.
In the end, this comes full circle, with an increased interest in the religious aspect of the race, I feel that I might get a bit irritated this election cycle as both an atheist and a secularist. I can hope that this won’t be a big issue, but I doubt that my wishes will come true here.
My thought of the responses coming from the Clinton partisans protesting at and outside the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting seems to be matched in by others: disgraceful
Here are four examples in three videos, which I saw all together in a Daily Kos diary by Delaware Dem, though have been posted by many others today as well:
Fortunately, I don’t think that these women even begin to represent mainstream opinion in the Democratic Party, but the shear thought of voting for a candidate so unlike your own over one that is quite similar seems downright bizarre. While I understand the frustration felt with the process, particularly in regard to Florida and Michigan, I do not understand why one would advocate against one’s own ideology and interests simply for the sake of protesting the primary procedure.
This election should be about far more than how the DNC deals with rule-breaking states. It’s about how we will deal with Iraq. It’s about how we will handle our ailing public education system. It’s about how we will handle healthcare in coming years. It’s about what the Supreme Court will look like in the decades to come. It’s about cleaning up the forclosure crisis. It’s about giving our children the best future possible, and petulantly proclaiming your support for a candidate with an outlook disagreeing with your own candidate over what amounts to 25 delegates, not nearly enough to change the outcome of this election is petty and stupid.
But most of all, it’s disgraceful.
In light of the RBC meeting today, I want to repost the text of the Four State Pledge that was signed by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, and Chris Dodd. I orginally posted it in September last year when all the candidates agreed that the Michigan and Florida primaries would not be treated as legitimate.
Dear Democratic Presidential Candidate:
Throughout 2005 and 2006, the Democratic National Committee worked diligently to establish a presidential nominating calendar that would ensure victory for the 2008 Democratic Presidential Nominee, preserve the traditional role of retail politics early in the nominating process and to include the socioeconomic and ethnic diversity that makes this Party great.
In 2006, through a fair and open process conducted by the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina were selected for the “pre-window.” The calendar was approved by the full DNC over a year ago. We are in agreement that the states chosen by our party reflect the energy and diversity of our great country and our party.
Recent actions by a few states could dismantle this thoughtful and deliberate effort by the DNC. Presidential campaigns, county chairs, elected officials, activists and the media have reached out and asked for our help in bringing this uncertainty (and potential chaos) to an end. Campaigns need to make major spending decisions. County Chairs need to find precinct locations and precinct chairs. Elected officials need to finalize election logistics. As a party we owe it to these organizations and individuals to conduct a sensible and timely nominating process.
For the good of our party and our candidates, it is our desire to bring finality, predictability and common sense to the nominating calendar. We ask you to accept the attached four state pledge, steeped in established DNC rules, by signing and sending the pledge form by Thursday, September 6, 2007, via email to South Carolina Chairwoman Carol Fowler at cfowler@scdp.org. Please also mail a hard copy to Chairwoman Fowler at SCDP, PO Box 5965, Columbia, SC 29250.
We appreciate your consideration of this pledge which brings order to the presidential nominating calendar. We look forward to focusing on electing a President, rather than selecting dates. If you or your staff has any questions, please contact any of the four State Party Chairs or Executive Directors.
Thank you,
Senator Tom Harkin Governor Chet Culver
Chair Scott Brennan, Iowa Dem. Party
Senator Harry Reid
Chair Jill Derby, Nevada State Democratic Party
Chair Ray Buckley, New Hampshire Dem. Party
Congressman Jim Clyburn
Chair Carol Fowler, South Carolina Dem. Party
Four State Pledge Letter 2008
Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina
August 31, 2007
WHEREAS, Over a year ago, the Democratic National Committee established a 2008 nominating calendar;
WHEREAS, this calendar honors the racial, ethnic, economic and geographic diversity of our party and our country;
WHEREAS, the DNC also honored the traditional role of retail politics early in the nominating process, to insure that money alone will not determine our presidential nominee;
WHEREAS, it is the desire of Presidential campaigns, the DNC, the states and the American people to bring finality, predictability and common sense to the nominating calendar.
THEREFORE, I _______________, Democratic Candidate for President, pledge I shall not campaign or participate in any state which schedules a presidential election primary or caucus before Feb. 5, 2008, except for the states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, as “campaigning” is defined by rules and regulations of the DNC.
___________________________ __________
John/Jane Doe, Doe for President DATE
On a whim, I decided to create a logo for myself and this site. 孟柏民 (pinyin: Mèng Bómín) is my Chinese name, the name of this blog, and the name I use as a commenter elsewhere.
I haven’t decided exactly how I’m going to use it yet, though I’ve made 孟 my avatar here. I’ll probably change the banner image at the top of the blog to something including it and I may put it in the corners of future maps that I make.
Cross-posted at Daily Kos
With just two states left, I decided to make this map update a little different. One of the major flaws of my past maps has been that it treats all counties equally, when some counties clearly have more voters than others. So, to give a better idea of where the voters are, I´ve darkened areas where voters are sparse and brightened areas where they are dense (in number, not intellectually).
The result better reflects the actual pattern of voters across the country:
However, there are several caveats, as I will detail below.
This is the color scale:
Red is Clinton, green is Edwards, and blue is Obama. I have color swapped versions of most of these maps at the bottom of the post.
I am a junior at Grinnell College working on a Biochemistry major and taking Chinese. The name of this blog is derived from the name I use in Chinese class, 孟柏民 (Mèng Bómín)
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