Tidbits, Reader Responses and Announcements - August 17, 2012

* Romney's Choice (Leon Wofsy)
* Re: Romney's Decline and Fall (David Arocho, Joe Walker,
  response by David McReynolds)
* Re: Tidbits - August 15, 2012 - Safe States (Leonard J.
  Lehrman, Howie Hawkins)
* Re: DREAM Reality - A Great Day for Activism; Undocumented
  Immigrants Ride Through South (Douglas Campbell)
* Soledad O'Brien Nails Romney-Ryan Surrogates on CNN
* Progressive Central - The People's Convention - Charlotte -
  September 4

==========

* Romney's Choice

The GOP-Tea Party ticket is set. With the Ryan pick, any
supposed distinction between the GOP and the Tea Party falls
away. Given recent results in Senate primaries and, now, the
successful ultra-right pressure on Romney to choose Ryan, the
Tea Party is in control. The GOP belongs to the Koch brothers,
Adelson and the super-pacs of Karl Rove and assorted extremist
reactionary multibillionaires. They decided to throw down the
gauntlet, to avoid ambiguity that might attach to a choice
less provocative than Ryan.

The issues are even more defined now than they seemed before
the GOP ticket was settled, but those who want to see the GOP
defeated in November should hold back the cheers. In the
present economic and political environment, it is unwise to
view the Romney-Ryan ticket primarily as a move of rightwing
desperation. It is an audacious high-stake bid to capture full
and unequivocal control of the government and the direction of
the country.

Leon Wofsy
Berkeley, CA

==========

* Re: Romney's Decline and Fall

As Mark Twain is reported to have said, 'Reports of my demise
are highly exaggerated." The shift in focus that the Ryan
selection has brought about cannot be so easily dismissed.
Ryan is not only a lightning rod to take the heat off Romney,
he is a much more formidable opponent for Mr. Obama than
Romney himself. The weakness of the president's running mate
will be magnified, and the president will find himself
debating the junior partner while Romney hammers at the
President's economic record. If he were to have any chance
against Obama, Romney had to make just this kind of move. The
main issue will become what kind of government Americans want
- and the push for less government is gaining momentum.

Mr. McReynolds cavalier attitude is evidenced in his
concluding salvo - he is not going to vote for either Obama or
Romney. Behind this decision is the assumption that Obama is
going to win, so he can go merrily on his socialist bandwagon.
If he is a New York voter he can probably afford the gambit,
but the rest of the nation may surprise the complacent left by
handing them a Romney victory. That would send the country on
a more disastrous road, and the most vulnerable will be the
ones who suffer most.

David Arocho

===

McReynolds' last line killed his entire argument: "For myself,
I will vote for the Socialist Party ticket, Stewart Alexander
- and if the SP can't make the New York State ballot, I'll
vote for whatever minor party does make it.

Joe Walker

===

My guess is that your view is shared by most of the left, and
on this particular matter I am in a lonely position. I will,
given time, try to write about the general situation that
leads me to that position. I fully understand (I just don't
agree with) those who will support Obama.

Fraternally,
David

==========

* Re: Tidbits - August 15, 2012 - Safe States

Thanks for this apt reminder on how both Zinn and Chomsky
recommended voting Green in the Safe States.

Exactly why I've registered Green and am voting for Jill Stein
in NY. Please see http://youtu.be/Mh6mLppfcdI for my "Green
Party Song" in tribute to Woody Guthrie's centennial!

For love, struggle, and peace -

Leonard J. Lehrman

===

It is also true that if you vote for Obama in a battleground
state, the Democratic leadership will take your vote as
approval of Obama's imperialist pro-bank policies. So will the
Republican leadership for that matter. Progressives have no
power and leverage inside the two-party system of corporate
rule. That is where progressives go to surrender their voice
to corporate-sponsored lesser evils. Working class political
independence was once the first principle of socialist
politics. With that principle abandoned by most US socialists
since 1936, socialism disappeared from the mainstream of
political debate and the votes of socialists, and the broader
progressive movement that socialists once led, taken for
granted by the two big corporate-dominated parties. Deb's
famous maxim -- "It is better to vote for what you want and
not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it" --
should be taken as a strategic dictum, not just a
recommendation for a good conscience.

Howie Hawkins

==========

* Re: DREAM Reality - A Great Day for Activism; Undocumented
Immigrants Ride Through South

Now that the general election is less than six months away and
the White House has shifted into campaign mode, Barack Obama
has finally begun to accomplish a few small things.

Maybe we should change the presidential term from four years
to six months, to force the president into perpetual campaign
mode. it's the only time he seems to respond to the
electorate and the only time I see any useful results.

Douglas Campbell
The Green Party's candidate for U.S. House of Representatives,
District 14, Michigan

==========

* Soledad O'Brien Nails Romney-Ryan Surrogates on CNN

Aug. 14 - Tuesday's Starting Point began with a bang (and a
whimper, on our end) as host Soledad O'Brien and Romney
surrogate John Sununu entered into a heated argument over
Medicare.
http://youtu.be/2A4YOfj0qaw

Aug. 17 - Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has become the latest
Republican to go up against CNN host Soledad O'Brien on the
issue of Medicare and lose.

During an interview on Friday, O'Brien called out Chaffetz
after he tried to claim that Medicare plans offered by
presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and
his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), would not turn the
program into a voucher system.

David Edwards in The Raw Story
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/17/soledad-obrien-schools-republican-rep-claiming-ryan-medicare-plan-not-vouchers/

==========

* Progressive Central - The People's Convention
https://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/1987/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=67924

Join John Nichols (Nation Magazine, MSNBC), leading guided
conversations and events featuring guests: Congress members
John Conyers, Raul Grijalva, Keith Ellison, Jim McGovern, and
Alan Grayson, plus Medea Benjamin (Code Pink), Dr. Quentin
Young, David Cobb (Move To Amend), Andrea Miller (PDA) and
other guest speakers TBA. Tuesday, September 4th in Charlotte,
North Carolina.

We will be in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday, September
4th, as we come together at the time of the Democratic
National Convention to plan a more progressive future. We
hope you can join us at a one-day forum, hosted by our friends
at Community Outreach Christian Ministries, a committed
community organization--only 3 miles from the convention site.

We will be discussing how we can build the "inside/outside"
movement for Medicare for All, protect Social Security, end
U.S. occupation in Afghanistan, stop any war with Iran before
it starts, enact a "Robin Hood Tax" on the Wall Street casino,
fight back against out-of-control corporate power, roll back
Citizens United, and save our atmosphere from global warming.
We are gathering for continued, serious organizing to elect
and re-elect progressive members to Congress in 2012 and
beyond

Forum Topics

  * We the People: Not we the Corporations - End Corporate
  Rule - Guided Conversation
  * Organizing the Peace and Justice movement inside and
  outside the Democratic Party
  * Building Bridges: Cooperation between Organized Labor and
  Progressive Democrats
  * The Fight Ahead: The New Challenges and Opportunities for
  Progressive Democrats
  * Open Conversation with the Co-Chairs of the Congressional
  Progressive Caucus (CPC)
  * Expanded improved Medicare for All - Robin Hood Tax - No
  Strike on Iran - Green Jobs

Lunch and Reception

Honoring the Leaders of the Single Payer Movement: Rep. John
Conyers and Dr. Quentin Young

==========

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