Sarah Palin Stands Up to a Punch from Saturday Night Live

Governor Sarah Palin launches a new career in this Saturday Night Live skit. Don't be surprised if after November 5, she co-hosts Bill O'Reilly's show.

Rosa Clemente, Green Party VP, Reaches Out to Crowd for Media Focus

Video courtesy of Craig Seeman, New York

Rosa Clemente, political activist and Vice-Presidential candidate for Cynthia McKinney on the Green Party ticket, calls out for constituents to pressure the mainstream media to give McKinney some airtime. She also calls for independent and progressive media to open up their coverage to Green Party politics.

Few media outlets showed up for the Green Party Convention, that despite it being in a state where the Green Party is an established player in this election. Though NPR was there for most of the convention, reporting was reduced to a few paragraphs and some sound clips, missing some of the elemental progressive messages abundant throughout the events. Even C-Span failed to provide the level of coverage extended to the Libertarians, airing only McKinney's and Clemente's acceptance speeches (1hr. 18 min.), in contrast to the coverage offered the Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate Debates, nomination and speeches (9+ hrs.). So, the fact that the media is not covering the Green Party is evident. What is not as clear is whether McKinney is in favor of those mainstream media opportunities that might come her way.

McKinney, who has been the target of repeated media attacks in the past, recently told Polidoc that she will not allow herself to be set-up for abuse by mainstream media. The cancellations of interviews cited by Clemente in the provided video may be from either side. Savvy media for candidates includes minimizing potential damage control. Look at Obama and his limitation of debates, clearly a move to minimize swiftboat opportunities. McKinney knows she is in a precarious position as she sets the stage for the Green Party to attract new communities of color, suspicious of liberal rhetoric without action.

Broadcast media, offered the privilege of using our public airwaves through government licensing, should be providing fair coverage to all the established candidates. Before deregulation in the '80's, it was a mandate. Any respectable reporter would refrain from artificially flaming a candidate; likewise, every candidate needs to be prepared for the attack if, and when, it does happen.

Noam Chomsky on the U.S. Elections, and popular opinion.

The support for Obama is a popular phenomenon, and I think it reflects the alienation of the population from the institutions. People are grasping at a straw: here's a possibility that maybe somebody will stand up for what they want. Even though he's not saying so, he looks like the kind of person who might do it.

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Green Party Presidential Candidates Face Forward

When the Green Party Candidates face off for a debate, well, it's really more of a team sport, where the players know that the end goal is to lift the party image higher.

Lots of highlights in this Miller Politics show which I would like to illuminate, but I'm pressed for time as production is stealing away my blogging time.

Poignantly, it was the generous respect the candidates offered one another that leaves the impression that, though the nominating convention may be short, it will also be sweet.

Listen to the last of the 2008 Green Party Presidential forums (billed as a debate) on Blog Talk Radio's Miller on Politics show.

One Person's "Green" is Another's Black Tea

What does "Being Green" mean to the mainstream media, to the Democratic and the Republican insiders?

The title of CBS's Horserace blog entry today was entitled"Not easy Being Green". The author used the phrase "Being Green" to discuss the challenges Barak Obama will feel in finding a running mate who vets well under public scrutiny, given all the ties to corporations and lobbyists.

Is there irony that the CBS article was "Presented by Exxon Mobil". Perhaps the title should have been "Not easy Finding Green when you declare that you will no longer take corporate or lobbyist money", as Obama declared last week.

While it's not easy "Being Green" it's really not easy being "Seriously Green." Ask a Green Party Presidential candidate, whose party allows no corporate funding whatsoever and whose party members are, by and large, working class people without spare dollars.

With little ground organization provided by the party, except in a few states like Illinois, Maryland, Maine, California and New York, all four of the Green Party Presidential candidates are working hard to collect enough to pay for trips to their potential constituents and to their Convention, let alone qualify for matching funds. None of them are close, at this point, to meeting the base requirements of raising $5000 from 22 different states, not even the lead candidate, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

The Green Party's national leadership today sent out a donation plea to party members on behalf of all the candidates. Being a party that espouses democratic values and egalitarianism, the party leadership could not ask directly for donations to go to the presumptive candidate, McKinney. However, Richard Winger, of Ballot Access News believes that the National Green Party leaders should have done just that so that at least one candidate could carry the Green flag with some kind of visibility into the final election period.

What will McKinney do if the funds are not raised? Will she raise or fold? If she folds, will one of the three remaining candidates, Jesse Johnson, Kent Mesplay or Kat Swift, claim the responsibility for finishing the campaign or does Ralph Nader ride into the rescue? These questions are circulating amongst Greens as they also watch many notable Greens, chief amongst them being California Green Party co-counder and San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, accept Obama as a choice they can abide.

Oh no, it really isn't easy "Being Green."

Confronting the Progressive Divide

by Kevin Gosztola

Within the drive for social change and the repudiation of a Bush Program that we have come to despise that is entrenched in a corporatization of media and society lays a people who are more divided than united.

The people recognize the need to come together but they tactically disagree on how to do it. Many struggle to find the message and are in search of a magic bullet to make everything all better. Even more forget the past divides that were not mended which exacerbate the current affliction our country is experiencing.

I noticed this divide at the heart of a panel at the National Conference for Media Reform, which was titled, “News for People: Can Black Radio Provide the News We Need?” The panel included Jared Ball from Morgan State University who recently was a Green Party presidential candidate, Bruce Dixon from Black Agenda Report, Glen Ford from Black Agenda Report, and Jeanette Foreman from WRFG Community Radio Atlanta.

The panel focused on the profound inadequacies of black radio and the disappearance of news departments at black radio stations as a result of consolidation. It also exposed a divide between them and the sponsor of this conference, Free Press, and white liberals. The points of contention were very valid.

Bruce Dixon set the parameters for the discussion by indicating the difference between this panel and the other panels is that its interest lay in mobilizing the masses while Free Press primarily wishes to get people to petition their representatives and call on the FCC to take closer looks at licenses. The choice to make the parameters different was a result of a feeling that petitioning and pressuring representatives and the FCC could work but would not get us where we need to be without the mass mobilization of a people.

Dixon also shared with us the reality that black people have more access to radio than Internet because radio is more accessible and free. Therefore, FreePress' initiatives focused on net neutrality are good but the focus is too much especially when you consider how once you fix it there will still be many people left out.

Glen Ford rose up and recounted his past in radio in Augusta, Georgia in the 1970s. He talked about changing the political landscape of a community through radio.

He described getting his job and being introduced to his equipment by the news director. Minutes later, he was directed to a big list on the wall of all the “big black folks” in the Augusta, Georgia community that could be contacted for important input on issues of the day.

He noticed that each of them had a religious title (Reverend, Bishop, etc.) and realized what passed for black leadership was heavily theocratic. Rejecting this idea that black leadership had to be religious, he tore the list down and went out to find new leadership in the community.

Ford went down to the projects and found a woman who was one of the largest voices in the community and picked her to be a voice on all things involving housing. And then he found somebody to address all things related to black economic development to address unfair zoning laws. And he continued onto finding somebody who closely followed police brutality and named that person the expert on criminal justice.

This exercise, which he continued until he reached ten to twelve people, upon completion helped him change the political complexion of the community. It resulted in the religious black leaders asking when they were going to be asked for their opinion by Ford.

Radio became a tool for empowerment and one that made over a community as a result of treating airwaves as if they belonged to the black people of Augusta.

This transformation of the black polity is what Glen Ford came here to call on people to recreate in their communities again three decades later.

But, how? How do you get a “news for the people” movement going where you approach entities like Radio One and Clear Channel saying that you have an organization that will threaten their advertisers if you don’t put real news on the airwaves? How do you manifest that power?

Jared Ball expressed the frustration of organizing for media reform by introducing himself with a quick explanation of why he was reluctant to come to the conference but agreed to anyway.

Free Press does not seem to author policy to establish new structures for media reform although it does not oppose the establishment thereof. They do not operate under the assumption that we are not going to democratize media in an undemocratic society.

Jared Ball, who works for Pacifica Radio, mentioned that Pacifica does not have a news department. This is a problem that plagues many radio stations across the country. And because of this so much of the news is reading New York Times and Washington Post articles on the airwaves as news for the day.

In response, Ball developed a mixtape radio structure where a mix of music and news is put together for people to listen to. The mixtape is something that can be circulated on the streets in a guerrilla fashion to take on the corporate media structures in America.

That doesn’t mean everything is good though. Democracy Now!, CounterSpin, Robert McChesney do not focus on black folks, Latinos, or white working class, which is immensely frustrating.

Attendees of the Free Press get a lot of their news from alternative sources like these. But, these sources rarely have black voices on to talk about black issues.

Jared Ball highlighted how McChesney mentioned Glen Ford in discussions of race but was not inviting him to appear on his radio show. Instead of inviting Ford, McChesney had white people on as experts on issues of race.

This would not be such a bad thing except that black issues in America have become so exacerbated lately. The necessity of representation in radio is necessary and especially among white liberal progressive media outlets that are sympathetic to the struggles of black people. And is it really too much to ask that on issues of racism, black people be the experts and not whites who live under a system that grants them white privilege on a daily basis?

Even worse, a greater dialogue between white liberal progressives and black thinkers has not been had so that all the theory and research on democratic society, current events, etc. can be better.

Ball pointed out that Frantz Fanon once identified the “Shock Doctrine” with another term or description yet now people are approaching her work as newfound. That’s not to diminish the comprehensive history, but it is indicative of the divide between a people that should be working together.

What's most upsetting is that Free Pres might actually be making the media worse by aiding media's role as a psychic violent entity. Jared Ball illuminated this point

Media is psychic violence. It is the fragmentation of a people to make them compliant, make them confused, and make it impossible for them to communicate with one another. Media is targeted to demographic groups to keep them separate. Often, this media comes from the same company so the company knows what they are doing. The is keeping people cognitively separate. It's establishing and reinforcing a system where people have no dialogue and have no idea what is going on in each other’s communities. They are subjecting us to media torture or media terrorism.

As the panel was wrapping up, a young brother in the back of the room stood up and delivered a remonstrating question to the panel asking why they are not going to the Free Press board to today to raise some of Ball’s objections with supposed allies. The panel was not willing to engage and had not thought about confronting the white liberal board of Free Press. The young man was praised, however, for his logical conclusion that what was needed was a struggle with them possibly before struggling with Clear Channel or Radio One.

The agenda of Free Press definitely does not reflect a diversification of voices even if Free Press went out of its way to offer scholarships to many different people who do not normally attend. I see a lot of non-white people, but the topics remain based on subjects where lower income and diverse voices are often ignored.

In closing, what does it mean if the Free Press conference continues to misquote James Madison? Just think about that. This isn't ludicrous. Pick up your copy of A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

Think about what it means to say Madison was championing a free press when he really as a slave owner was suggesting that a free press needed to be controlled to prevent ruling class people like him from being threatened.

The burden is on us white liberal/progressives to reach out to a black people (and Latin and other ethnicities that are marginalized deeply) and stand together. Represent these silenced voices and if we can amplify them, let us aid in doing so.

Cynthia McKinney Marches On Despite Hurdles

Cynthia McKinney addresses an audience in January, 2008 at Santa Cruz University, recalling the warning of George Washington, "Beware the false patriots who usurp American values while enwrapping themselves in the American flag."

She talks about the character assassination that the mainstream media practices on progressive activists. With a mainstream media beginning to peek into the issue of impeachment, will they act more gently to an outspoken woman like McKinney as she continues her campaign as the Green Party candidate for President?

McKinney is involved in spearheading international litigation that, if successful, will result in indictments of Bush, Cheney and other high-ranking politicians.

Libertarian Bobb Barr on Colbert Report

Stephen helps former Republican Congressman Bob Barr explain his marijuana policy shift with memorable humor.

Barr had authored anti-drug enforcement regulation and has since joined the Marijuana Policy Project. Barr might be remembered as one of the legislators who led the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. He had also rescinded his opinion on the Patriot's Act.

Very funny interview.

Presidential Primary Campaign Ads 2008

All the ads, collected in one place. Remarkable, frankly, but a "must bookmark" for the poligeeks on your card list, so forward them the link. Get the straight scoop on who did and/or didn't have their poop straight when they flung it!

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Third Party Watch Gazes at the Green Party

This read from Third Party Watch is fascinating for its comments. Third Party Watch, a mostly, but not wholly Libertarian authored site, has been turning its eye to the Green Party lately. The author of this article will be a delegate to the party's convention in the summer.

Briefly, the story reports Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney's substantial win of Wisconsin delegates, with Ralph Nader, Kent Mesplay, Kat Swift and Jesse Johnson following.

To clarify some of the concerns of the readers and commenters, Ralph Nader is not seeking the Green Party nomination, according to many sources including the man himself. However, he would have sought it had Cynthia McKinney not committed to the run, says fomer Candidates and Campaign co-chair, Cat Woods; as late as January, some were unsure if McKinney would sustain her campaign.

There's little reason to expect that Nader will suddenly appear on the Green Party's Convention doorstep to wrest the nomination. For one, his running mate, Matt Gonzalez has stated point-blank that he has no intention of going. For another, (being frugal and frustrated) many of the Nader delegates who are from California and the East Coast have said that they will not be going to the convention. They find it difficult to justify the $1000 for travel/room and board expenses when they feel that their draft candidate was unrepresented on many state party's ballots. State officers on the other hand, feel that they only wanted to represent people on their ballots who had declared an intention to run which Nader did not do until late February. Some of the Nader delegates have branched off to support Nader's Independent run, while others, like early founding member, Howie Hawkins will support both Nader and McKinney campaigns to the degree possible - stopping at the polling booth.

In the meantime, Nader appears regularly in the press while McKinney has garnered a complimentary mainstream piece in Essence Magazine and a nice interview with Amy Goodman, Democracy NOW. Getting press is not all there is to campaigning, but being a household name is something any national politician must succeed in doing; something the lesser known grassroots candidates (Kent Mesplay, Jesse Johnson and Kat Swift) are learning to do.

Perhaps the parallel Progressive campaigns will bring new voters to the table for both the Green Party and for the newly forming parties sprouting up to support Nader's state-by-state ballot access campaign. However, it is more likely at this point that the campaigns will snag, not tear at the Democratic Party fabric.

Missed Financing Opportunity Pins Third Parties to Delayed Nominating Conventions

Third Party Watch's Thomas L. Knapp posted an entry entitled "Third parties: Late, for a very important date."

While we agree it would be great to hear from third parties who their candidates are and to begin to demand media time, there's a financial loop hole for some of the delay, as explained in the comments by Ballot-Access.org's Richard Winger.


Richard Winger responded:

Parties that hold early presidential nominating conventions lose the chance to get primary season matching funds. I realize the Libertarian and Constitution Parties’ candidates aren’t interested in filing for primary season matching funds anyway. But that’s certainly not true of the other minor parties.

Parties that have received primary season matching funds (and which then legally used the money to pay for general election petitioning) have been the Citizens Party in 1984 (Sonia Johnson); the New Alliance Party in 1988 and 1992 (Lenora Fulani); the Natural Law Party in 1992, 1996 and 2000 (John Hagelin); the Green Party in 2000 (Ralph Nader); the Reform Party in 2004 (Ralph Nader).

Primary season money shuts off as soon as the party makes its nomination. Since the money can never be paid in the odd year before, a party that nominates in the odd year before the election has just totally shut off the opportunity.

Green Party Leaders Protest Exclusion of Anti-War Candidates from Debates

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders and candidates protested the exclusion of Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and Ron Paul from primary presidential debates sponsored by major news organizations.

Greens noted that Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Gravel, and Mr. Paul hold strong positions against the Iraq war and other Bush policies, in agreement with most Americans but contrary to the positions of other Democrats and Republicans running for the White House.

Mr. Kucinich, like the Green Party, favors single-payer national health care, unlike his fellow Democratic presidential candidates and the major media, which rely on corporate campaign contributions and advertising dollars from insurance firms, HMOs, and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Mr. Kucinich was excluded from an ABC TV debate on January 5.

The six candidates for the Green Party's presidential nomination, all of whom oppose the war, will be featured in upcoming Green debates. The first debate will take place in San Francisco on January 13 . The nomination will be decided at the Green Party's 2008 national convention, July 10-13 in Chicago.

• Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States: "In democratic elections, voters have a right to be informed about all the candidates whose names they'll see on the ballot. Fox and ABC TV have violated the public interest and their licenses to use the publicly owned airwaves. They're acting like the official news bureaus of dictatorships."

• Jason Wallace, peace activist, Iraq War veteran, and Green candidate for Congress in Illinois (11th district) : "It's no accident that Kucinich, Gravel, and Paul -- the most vocal opponents of the Iraq invasion -- are getting shut out of the debates. While the Democratic and Republican parties and big media conglomerates try to close down serious public discussion over the Iraq war, the Green Party's 'Peace Slate' will continue to represent the opinion of most Americans, whom poll after poll have shown oppose the war. On Election Day 2008, the only truly antiwar candidates on the ballot will be from the Green Party or another third party or will be independent."

• Rodger Jennings, Green candidate for Congress in Illinois (12th District) : "The Democratic and Republican parties and media companies like Fox and ABC have censored the opinions of the majority of Americans, who want to see a quick end to the Iraq War. It's revealing that Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee won in Iowa. Among the frontrunners within their respective parties, they've been the most critical of President Bush's foreign policies. But Mr. Huckabee has only criticized the Bush Administration's strategic blunders in Iraq, rather the war itself. While Mr. Obama has opposed the war, he only favors a vague and delayed timetable for partial withdrawal of troops, which suggests that the occupation will continue in some form regardless of which Democratic frontrunner might be elected in November. Mr. Obama has also added his voice to the military threat against Iran, and says nothing about holding the Bush Administration and war profiteers accountable for their crimes. Unfortunately, voters are being denied the chance to hear the real antiwar candidates and are being told that Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and Ron Paul shouldn't be taken seriously."

• John Walsh, Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party delegate to the Green Party's National Committee: "In recent elections, the Commission on Presidential Debates, the corporate-owned body controlled by the two established parties, has only allowed Democratic and Republican presidential candidates and has barred Green, independent, and other candidates from participating. We urge all Americans -- especially those who oppose bipartisan warhawk policies on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran -- to speak out in demand of fair elections and election coverage, and inclusion of all qualified candidates in the debates, regardless of their positions or party memberships."

Regis Philbin Eats a Plateful of Democracy - NOW!

Finding himself seated next to the host of "Democracy Now", Amy Goodman, the morning TV host Regis Philbin discovered he had nothing in common to talk about with this spectacular world events reporter. Speaking with his co-host on the following morning show, Regis chided himself for his inability to make a conversation.

KELLY: I’ve been in that anxiety situation, where you realize that you are the weak link at the table, where you go, “Oh, I see. I’m the weak link. I’m the person that—

REGIS: You may be better known than anyone else, because they see you every day on television, but what have we got to say? Nothing.

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CNN: Political television advertising to reach $3 billion

The cost to try to influence the 2008 election could exceed $3 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, CNN's consultant on political television advertising.This is nearly twice as much than what was spent in 2004...

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The Sweet and Sour Sauce of Blogs in Politics

Washington Post Opinion

CBS Chicago affiliate announces city's win of Green Party Convention

Here is the CBS affiliate story of the Green Party Convention 2008. An out-of-context quote from Nader is also mentioned and he's pictured. Slowly, this news is creeping around the major networks. One more broadcaster in Chicago to go.

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Comedy Central's InDecision 2008 Website Arrives A Year Early

Comedy Central's InDecision 2008 Website Arrives A Year Early

Well this is good news for those of us who are looking for a moment of levity in this chaotic time. It's certainly a comment on how the early campaigning of the two major party candidates is monopolozing the conversation. The Daily Report is still the one thing I desperately need to revive the humor of life (read "sanity").