"Will the Right Stop at Nothing to Win This Election"

Intimidating and misleading billboards and mailings, "Republican poll watchers", the Romney family knee deep in bed with executives and their companies that are providing the voting machines for this election... Will Republicans stop at nothing to win this election?  In Pennsylvania, the courts ruled that picture voter IDs could not be required until AFTER the 2012 election.  So then why are there billboards up in Pennsylvania in black and Hispanic neighborhoods saying that picture IDs are required?  As an African-American, I am appalled and galled, not only that this is happening, but that it is being allowed to happen, in multiple states!

The Romney campaign is training "poll watchers", those enlisted to troll polling places to intimidate and harass voters, to lie about who they actually represent.  They are being told to say they are "Concerned Citizens" rather than representatives of "Team Romney".  Yes, this is actually in a Romney campaign training manual. What a travesty on so many levels!  Courageous people, both black and white, risked their lives to see that African-Americans were given the right to vote.  Who is it that will finally stand up and say, "We will not allow history to repeat itself!!!"???

"Is the Republican Party Helping Barack Obama?"

I wanted to wait a few days after the debate to post my next entry, to see if President Obama got a bump from his last debate performance.  I think that we are starting to see a slight bump, but more important, more of a solidification of the president’s standing in the polls.  Yesterday, a Time poll of early voters and those yet to vote in Ohio, has President Obama up +5.  He is also inching up in the national polls.  The last debate may not have given him that much of a bump in the polls, but the self-inflicted wounds of the Republicans today may have.  Richard Mourdock’s outrageous comments about children of rape being a “gift from God”, Donald Trump’s totally ridiculous “big announcement”, another publicity stunt that continues to feed into his racist, narcissistic egotistical self, and which has finally made him begin to look like he could have some mental issues going on, and the Romney campaign’s ridiculous decision to use Clint Eastwood in a campaign ad have all served to put the Republican Party's poor judgement on display.  Why would you want to use someone in an ad that virtually destroyed the credibility of the Republican National Convention and that reminds your base of that most embarrassing moment?

The judgment of the Romney campaign is something that makes one scratch their head.  That’s a story for a different day.  We are now 13 days from the election, and when I think of the Republican Party, I think of the quote, “Desperate Times, Call For Desperate Measures”.  In my experience, acting out of desperation never did anyone any good.  The president’s solid standing in the battleground/swing states, and the Republican effort at pushing their out-of-touch agenda may be just what the president needs to push him over the finish line.

"The Rubber Match"

In the words of the late, great Michael Jackson, "This Is It". Tonight is the last of the 2012 presidential debates, and the last chance for a mass audience to hear the candidates' accomplishments and positions on foreign policy.  Let's be clear...Mitt Romney has none.  His debacle at the 2012 Summer Olympics where he was publicly lambasted by the British prime minister and London's mayor, as well as several British newspapers for implying that security at the games might not be up to par, gave us a window into how he would handle foreign affairs.  His haste in jumping out with a press conference on the Libya incident gave us another, while also showing the American public that he will exploit any situation for political gain.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, has shown that he can make the tough decisions, and back them up, when it comes to foreign policy.  He has ended the War in Iraq, and is ending the war in Afghanistan, as he said he would.  He captured and eliminated Osama bin Laden, and other high-level Al-Qaeda leaders, as he said he would.  He ended the reigns of terror of Moammar Gaddafi, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, he strengthened relations with China through engagement, and formed alliances with its neighboring countries.  President Obama also provided assistance to facilitate South Sudan's independence through U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, who negotiated a peaceful conclusion.  Overall, he has improved America's image internationally.  I could go on, but I think I've made my point.

As we now see from the first debate, as evidenced by Mitt Romney's bump in the polls, tonight's debate may very well determine who will win the election.  Mr. Romney has provided President Obama a plethora of ammunition to call him on his flip flops and positions on foreign policy...going to war with Iran, and then backing down from that...vowing to increase the defense budget...and for what?..because you're anticipating going to war?...and the list goes on.  The president must call Mr. Romney out on ALL of these issues tonight.  For as good as his record is on foreign policy, and his recounting of them in the debate tonight, it's just not enough.

* Facts in this blog were provided by the article: "Obama's Top 50 Accomplishments" by Paul Glastris, Ryan Cooper and Siyu Hu of Washington Monthly Magazine.

Who Says Money Can't Buy An Election?

Okay, so I've been totally ticked off about the fierce voter suppression efforts going on in this country...NOW, I am totally OUTRAGED!!!  Mitt Romney and his son, Tagg, "I wanna take a swing at the president" Romney are KNEE DEEP in receiving massive political contributions, and having extensive financial interests, respectively, in a company that's providing voting machines to Ohio (and more specifically in Cincinnati, which has a significant African-American population) and several other states.  Machines that can easily be broken into and in which vote counts can easily be changed by switching a memory card ~ that same company will be tabulating YOUR vote...hmmm.  I might add that in a test of this company's voting machines for the 2008 election, they "failed badly".

We all know that Romney will "SAY" anything to win this election...the question is..."Will he 'DO' anything to win it???"  This article is very disturbing!!!!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/10/20/romney-family-investment-ties-to-voting-machine-company-that-could-decide-the-election-causes-concern/

Shades of Jim Crow

Watching Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC. The topic is voter suppression. Voter fraud billboards in African-American neighborhoods, letters going out in those same neighborhoods stating the incorrect election day, phone calls, completed registration forms being thrown in dumpsters, and the list goes on. There is actually an organized effort by the repugs to train people in voter suppression. This makes me mad and sad at the same time, and ashamed to live in this country, because they are allowed to get away with it. :<(

One More Thing...

One, and I do mean just one, of the things the president has to do tonight is stay away from saying, "Governor Romney and I agree on that.".  Nobody voting for you wants to think that you agree with anything HE says!  Tell the American people how your policies will be different!

What the President Must Do Tomorrow Night

Barack Obama has another opportunity tomorrow night to redeem himself from his awful appearance at the last debate.  First, he must let the American public know what his plans are for the next four years, but more important, he must call Mitt Romney on ALL of his lies.  There is no shortage of material in that area – lets’ see…the 47% of America who Romney feels will never take responsibility for their lives, the Romney tax plan, women’s reproductive rights, the economy, debt, the deficit, healthcare, immigration, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security – and the list goes on.

While this is a good format for the president, it may limit him as to how much he can challenge Romney.  Candy Crowley of CNN, the moderator, is already being stifled by both campaigns regarding her role.  She has been told that she cannot ask any follow-up questions in an attempt to “avoid risk” on both sides.  This is disturbing on a number of fronts, most obviously, for the first time in 20 years (since Carole Simpson moderated) they have had two female moderators, and that they would blunt the most qualified of all of the moderators, male OR female.   That said, the onus will be on the president to speak up when Romney begins spewing out his untruths….okay, lies…

So let’s just get this out of the way.  The president, as someone who is half African-American, and considered black by most, there go those “One Drop of Black Blood” and “Angry Black Man” syndromes looming overhead.  Showing too much aggression will send the racist conservative media into feeding frenzy.   What the president needs to realize is that he can be aggressive without being angry.  And at this point, “Angry Black Man” be damned.  If he doesn’t win this debate, it may very well cost him the election.

It will be interesting to see if President Obama is up to the challenge.  Unlike Joe Biden, he is not a “scrapper” by nature, and personally, as someone who is, if it’s not a part of you, it’s hard to become one for two ninety-minute debates.  His competitive nature, however, is fierce, as those who play with him on the basketball court have attested to.  That may be his saving grace…

Is the County Going To Hell In a Handbasket?

Okay...so I am willing to acknowledge that in the grand scheme of things, believe it or not, that this is probably the best country in the world to live in, which in my eyes, is a sad state of affairs.  As a person of color, I often question that.  We are supposed to be the greatest democracy in the world, yet we have a group of conservatives who are willing to go to such extremes to ruin a black president, that they are stooping to new lows that amaze even me.  There’s the voter repression, the voter intimidation, the birthers, the blatant lies, and a recent documentary, “Dreams From My Real Father”, re-introducing Barack Obama's mother, Anne Dunham as a whore and a slut, based on an earlier book and documentary.  That last one totally took me over the edge and prompted this entry.  The republicans are actually sending copies to voters in swing states.  Just when you think they can't get any lower, they top themselves.  Is there no end to what they’ll do to win the election and destroy the president?

It’s times like these that I think of my father, a very handsome, dark-skinned black man, who was once was thrown out of a Woolworth's lunch counter in 1938 in Petersburg, Virginia  while attending then, Virginia Stage College (now Virginia State University) with several friends who could "pass" for white...then I think to myself..."Has much really changed?..."  Sadly, I say, "No."

Take also, the incident where peanuts were thrown at a black camerawoman at this year's republican convention, while the offenders yelled, "This is how we feed the animals!", or a tea partier spitting on Representative Emanuel Cleaver because of the color of his skin.  I still can't believe these types of incidents are happening in 2012.  What is scary is that the right wing fringe, and their racist ilk feel that they now have license to commit these acts that are analogous to Jim Crow.  What’s even scarier is they’re getting away with them.  I believe there is a powder keg brewing, and I often ask myself what will be the incident that makes people of color in this country stand up and say, “I WILL NOT take this anymore!”  Hopefully, the effort, if it comes, will be non-violent and effective.

The rise of the tea party has given rise to an extreme wing of society who, for some reason, feel it's now okay to not only spew, but act on their hatred publicly because we have a bi-racial president (there’s that one drop of black blood), and they don’t like it.  There is nothing more pathetic than seeing a dying demographic of people, who by virtue of hegemony, have benefitted from enormous privilege because of the color of their skin, and who will try to hold on to that privilege by any means necessary.  Fear of losing that privilege means fear that they will be treated the same as they have treated people of color in this country since they involuntarily graced its shores.

I’m seriously considering a move to Canada, particularly if Romney wins, and abandoning a country that I feel doesn't value me as a human being, and which is full of a breed of greedy people who will do whatever it takes to hold onto wealth, power and privilege, at the risk of ruining this country and a president who doesn't look like them.  In modern society, this is a disgrace.

* The terms republican, tea party and birthers have purposely not been capitalized to make a point.