Why Are You Voting for Democrats on November 8? A True Blue Liberal Twitter Poll.

There are so many reasons, of course, but what's your number one reason to #VoteBlueIn2022?

Do you want to protect democracy and the rule of law by defeating election deniers and #TrumpCoupAttempt co-conspirators and apologists? Protect a woman's right to choose by electing Democrats who will codify the protections of Roe v. Wade legislatively and defeating Republicans, some of whom would outlaw abortion nationally? Protect Social Security and Medicare from Republicans under Rick Scott who promise to end these "entitlement" programs that so many of us depend upon (and have paid dedicated taxes to support throughout our working lives)? Or is it some other issue that rises to the top for you this November (if so, add in the comments here and on Twitter)? 

 This poll will be open for a week.

POLL:

There are so many reasons, but what's your number one reason to #VoteBlueIn2022?

Protect Democracy and the Rule of Law? Protect a Woman's Right to Choose? Protect Social Security and Medicare? Or Something Else (add in the comments)?

— True Blue Liberal ☮️ (@TrueBlueLiberal) October 18, 2022

The True Blue Liberal Poll About the First Democratic Debates

Please vote in the following poll in the next three days. If you thought someone other than Harris, Warren, Castro, or Biden won the two nights of debates on that crowded stage, please tell us why in the comments here and on Twitter.

POLL:
Who was the biggest winner of the last two nights of debates? Sorry, Twitter only allows four spaces, so include your winner in the comments if s/he is not in the choices below.

— True Blue Liberal (@TrueBlueLiberal) June 28, 2019

From the mouths of babes...

South Park explains in 56 seconds why Cecil-the-Lion's murderer and other big game hunters are more likely to support (and to be) Republicans than Democrats.

Let's Get 100,000 of Us Out There Tonight to #FeelTheBern

CLICK HERE if it's before 7pm EDT on July 29 to find a Bernie Sanders meeting near you tonight. 

When I signed up for mine, I was participant 50 of 50 at that location and many of my other local meetings were already full. As of 10:10am EDT this morning there are already 98,975 RSVPs to these historic meetings around the country.

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UPDATE: At noon the RSVP counter was refreshed to show 100,196 RSVPs.

Don't Wait Until 2016 to Check Your Voting Status

The last time I voted in a primary that mattered was 2008 when I was living in New Jersey and did not need to enroll in a party to vote for Barack Obama. However, since moving to New York and registering as "No Party" in 2010, I have not been able to vote in a New York primary election. That didn't matter in 2012, but when Vermont's independent Senator Bernie Sanders announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination, I decided it was time for me to make the same change. I went to the New York State Board of Elections website to get the proper form to convert my independence into Democratic Party membership, and on May 26th I mailed the form to my county board of elections.

Yesterday, June 4th, I got home to find the following letter in the box at the end of my driveway.

Dear Voter:
Your present enrollment is No Party and must remain the same, according to New York State Law, until after the General Election 2015.
Your new enrollment will be changed after the General Election 2015, which is November 03, 2015.

So, if you are a potential Bernie Sanders supporter in New York or another state like New York with closed primaries and rules written to favor official party candidates, then please check your voting status as soon as possible.

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UPDATE 6/14/2015: Click here for a great link from voteforbernie.org on voting rules in other states.
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The Bernie Sanders Speech You Didn't See On Your Television

Yesterday afternoon, Senator Bernie Sanders kicked off his campaign for the 2016 Democratic Presidential nomination with the following speech in Burlington, Vermont. When I got home from work I watched all of ABC World News Tonight and the PBS Newshour and it was not even mentioned on either show. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by ABC finding more worth in stories about Jeopardy and how to save money on your cell phone bill, but I expect more from PBS.

Here's Bernie's whole policy-heavy speech with Lake Champlain in the background:




I recently downgraded my cable, so I no longer get MSNBC where I assume this speech did get at least a nod. However, it won't help if MSNBC is the only channel covering Bernie's campaign. He is a much more serious candidate than at least 8 or 9 GOP candidates who are given more mainstream air time. His support will come from the bottom up, and not from corporate and billionaire supporters. One thing we know for sure: attendance in Burlington was not mandatory yesterday (unlike Ted Cruz's very-well-publicized kickoff at Jerry Falwell University).

Remember January 20, 2009

There's an obvious tendency in this blog to spend all my time in horror and amazement that the 2012 election might be bought by those with great wealth whose main purpose is preserving their wealth at the expense of the rest of the nation. But enough about Republicans.
Sometimes we need to cleanse our souls.
Sometimes we need to remember the real reason we need to be committed in this 2012 election.
Sometimes it helps to take the time to remember how proud we all felt on January 20, 2009.

'That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. 

'These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights. 

'Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. 

'They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.' 

--Barack Obama, From the First Inaugural Address

Gabrielle Giffords Steps Down: "I have more work to do on my recovery"

All the best.

Language Matters

Frank Luntz met with the Republican Governors Association this week to give them advice on how to use language to frame arguments, especially now that the Occupy movement has widened the frame of political discourse in this country. Yahoo News was there and they gathered a list of ten key talking points presented by Luntz. You can click on the previous sentence for more details, but know that if you hear a GOP governor saying "I get it" to the Occupiers, or using the words "Job Creators", "Hardworking Taxpayers" or "Taking from the Rich" (while avoiding the words "Capitalism," "Compromise," "Sacrifice," and "Taxing the Rich"), you'll know that they've been schooled by Luntz.
We need to have a few rules of our own.  Being in no way comprehensive, here are a tiny fraction of my pet politico-linguistic peeves:

1)  "War" on anything other than another nation upon which we have issued a formal declaration of war. The TrueBlueLiberal.org Style Guide requires that the "War on Terror" and "War on Drugs" must be placed in quotation marks and preceded by the words "so-called".
2) "Obamacare".  Show me the piece of legislation with this name and I'll start using this word.  Until then, if I hear this perjorative moniker for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 being used, I'll know that the person using it is a Republican partisan or one of their linguistically-lazy stooges in the press.
3) "Democrat" as an adjective. If you hear anyone say "the Democrat Senate" or "that Democrat bill" or "the Democrat liberal rat from Taxachusetts," then you are listening to a student of Luntz speaking (or someone who has only a rudimentary understanding of  English grammar).  The adjective form is "Democratic," whether you are talking about the Party or the form of government.
4) "Job Creators". The correct term is "The Rich" or "The 1%", i.e., those to whom all the benefits of GOP tax policies have flowed since the Reagan era. In the Republican Style Guide any person who makes up part of the scum that floats to the top of the cup is given this title, even if their coupon clipping and hedge-fund managing has never created a single job.  In the TBL.org Style Guide, "Job Creators" (as with so-called "wars" on things or tactics) must be placed in quotes and preceded by "so-called" modifier.
5) Don't even get me started on the so-called "Death Tax." Maybe the Democrats should follow the Holy Founding Fathers' lead and double or triple the Estate Tax with a new name, The Patriotic Aristocracy Eradication Act.

Do you have a "favorite" Republican twist of speech?
Maybe this "Language Matters" heading needs to become a recurring feature here at TBL.org, because I know I have some of these linguistic manipulations annoying me every day (watching a single GOP debate generally brings dozens of them to the surface).