Recapping, I did not endorse in 2008, I am not endorsing this year. E-mails from visitors are so sure that I'm working the coverage to help (a) Rick Perry, (b) candidate John McCain (no, he's not running for the GOP nomination), (c) Jon Huntsman and (d) Ron Paul.
I have not endorsed anyone. I'm not slanting the coverage to help anyone. The natural beneficiary for this community would be Ron Paul because he is against the wars. But with the political crisis in Iraq, a ton of stuff that might get covered hasn't been. And let's be clear that what's alarming in Iraq is the political crisis. For a number of commentators, it's the violence. The violence is awful. It was awful in 2011. Where were they? Pretending that violence was decreasing, most likely.
Elaine has endorsed Ron Paul. And she can and good for her. In 2004, I was for John Kerry and she was for Howard Dean. Not a problem. It didn't and wouldn't ever effect our friendship. In 2000, we were both for Al Gore. Again, not a problem, it didn't effect our friendship. We can agree on the candidate (and most times we do) or we can disagree and it's really not the focus of our friendship. A candidate's often gone at the end of an election. We've been friends for decades. But while Elaine's endorsed Ron Paul, I haven't.
No offense to him or anyone else. But your vote is your vote. You need to use it as you see fit. You're an adult (if you're eligible to vote) and you should know what matters to you. You shouldn't need someone telling you who to vote for, or nagging you or picking on you or whatever else. Your vote is your vote. No candidate owns it, no political parties owns it. It is your vote, it is your right to choose to support whomever you want to.
Community members -- not me -- endorsed Ralph Nader in 2008. That's great. They made a decision and they were happy with it. Except . . . Oklahoma. They didn't have a choice of Nader or Cynthia McKinney. Their ballot was only Barack Obama or John McCain. Oklahoma community members decided that of the two War Hawks, they trusted McCain more than Barack. That's fine. I had no problem with that either. And it may happen this year as well. That's fine. The community can endorse whomever they want (or not endorse).
We noted those positions here in real time. In 2004, I didn't support Howard Dean for DNC Chair. I supported someone else. We did a community endorsement of Dean but it was up here that I was supporting someone else. That's probably the last national post I've 'endorsed' on. (And I do not endorse for races I can't vote in. I think that's silly. And did not appreciate all the creeps who thought that they had a say in Cindy Sheehan's run when all the ones attacking her were people outside of the district. That's my district. I don't butt into your district, Katha Pollite and others, don't butt into mine.)
I have not endorsed for the 2012 presidential race. I will not be endorsing for the 2012 presidential race.
In 2008, I could tell you who I wouldn't vote for. That was John McCain (which was noted much earlier than 2008). I could tell you in 2007 through early 2008, that I couldn't vote for Barack if he didn't get honest. He never did. I have noted that I voted for either Cythia McKinney or Ralph Nader in 2008. I've noted that because it was liberating to vote for someone other than a major political party candidate. And it felt good to vote for someone against war.
We repeatedly express anger and sorrow and regret that our members of Congress fail to vote the right way. "Oh, they should have voted against the war! But instead, to help their own political careers, they voted for the war!"
And we trash them for that. But a lot of us turn around and vote for someone because we tell ourselves that we have to. We get mad at politicians who do not vote their beliefs and then we turn around and do the same thing?
(And 'we' includes me. Prior to 2008, I voted Democrat in every presidential election. I supported Kerry in 2004 because I knew him and I deluded myself that he would 'magically' become the man he once was but he sold that man off long ago. He can't become the anti-war Kerry. He sold him, he killed him and he buried him. By the 2004 DNC convention, that was obvious and it was obvious that I was so wrong to have supported him over other candidates. Even so, I still voted for him in the general election.)
If we have a standard, we need to learn to live by it ourselves if we're expecting other too. And 2008 was a wonderful voting experience for me. I don't think I've ever valued my vote more or felt that voting mattered. Prior to that it was trying to find time to vote in a busy day because I had to vote Democrat. I wasn't a good Democrat if I didn't vote. I wasn't a good Democrat if I didn't work to get out the vote. I wasn't a good Democrat if I didn't do this or didn't do that or blah, blah, blah. Voting wasn't about voting, it was about being part of the Democratic Party. (I'm referring to me. I am sure others have similar experiences. I am also sure that my experiences are not unversal or the norm meaning many people enjoy voting for voting sake yet also vote Democrat every election, I'm sure.) And if I was busy due to work or due to helping with campaigns, let's be honest, there were things I had no clue on but voted for or against. "What's our position on ___?" Okay, I'll vote for it or okay I'll vote against it.
It was a very easy time. No need to think, no need to evaluate. Just be a good little Democrat and toe the party line and do what the party wants.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, there's a good chance I would have voted for Barack in 2008 if it weren't for this website. When he was running for Senate and Elaine and I had our face time with him, we walked in disgust -- didn't attempt to hide our disgust from him -- because he wasn't about ending the Iraq War. His attitude was, the US is over there (actually, he said "we") and so the war was on. So we didn't donate and we left the fake ass and his fake ass crowd.
And I wouldn't have donated to him in 2008 regardless of this site or not. But I might have voted for him.
The war, this site, this community meant that a lot of things I would have done on autopilot had to be considered. And knowing he was not really against the war or a peace candidate, and knowing that even Samantha Power could admit that (to overseas audiences) and knowing all of that and more, and having to deal with it every day here, there's no way I could have voted for Barack.
And for me not voting Democrat in a presidential election was huge. And I'm proud of that vote and I'm glad about it and it's the vote I put the most serious thought into.
(And for those who wrongly insist that my opposition to Barack is just sour grapes over him getting it and not Hillary or someone else, I'd reply that until 2004, my first choice never got the nomination. In 1992, I was for Jerry Brown. I know Jerry, I will always vote for him, sorry. He's a friend. And that didn't mean that I held it against Bill Clinton. I campaigned for Bill and got to know both him and Hillary and thought and think they're wonderful people. In 1980, I was for Ted Kennedy. Still did my part for Jimmy Carter when he got the nomination. Wasn't for centrist Jimmy in 1976 either. Still did my part.)
I will not vote for Barack in 2012. I may very well sit out the election. If I don't, I would most likely be supporting a Green or an independent.
I'm not shaping coverage of the GOP field here in an attempt to influence.
A person who tells truths about Iraq or who attempts to honestly grapple with the issue is more likely to be noted here due to our focus.
That's true now, that was true in 2008.
I didn't shape the coverage here in 2008. With regards to Barack, the community loathed Barack and was never going to get behind him. That had to do with the fundraiser Elaine and I attended (when he ran for the Senate) and that Elaine had repeatedly, for 3 years, noted that he wasn't about ending the war (and also the photos that she ran of that event in the community newsletter -- she ran those in 2008 -- no, the press never tried to dig into Barack's activities or past). But you can see, when we covered politics at Third, in transcript pieces, I would usually offer to talk about Barack so he could be covered and, as 2008 progressed, there was no point in it. Jim would say "no." That was because people were tired of it, especially someone like Jim whose degree is in journalism and is disgusted with the whoring he sees. (The women on the video of the plane coming back from Texas, frothy in their panties and at the mouth over Barack in jeans was the most obviously embarrassing moment. But with video cameras on or off, that behavior took place among the so-called press over and over in 2008.)
I misjudged many things in 2008 and will this year as well. But that's not in an attempt to slant the coverage. It's because I will think, "Okay, we can hold that and I can get back to it in a few days and emphasize this instead."
And in a few days, it no longer matters.
That's true with one event in particular in 2008. My biggest regret was holding on a discussion about Iraq that took place in New Hampshire. There was so much to cover and I thought I'd cover it in a few days. Then the Iowa caucus happened and the candidate announced the end of his run. It was Joe Biden. And I love Joe, I think the world of him and I thought he had articulated his Iraq position the best at that New Hampshire event (I was present for it). I thought he spoke very well on that issue, explained where he stood and more.
And I thought we would have time to cover it.
We didn't. Because then came Iowa and then came the dropping out of the campaign. And there were other things to cover and his bowing out of the race meant that wasn't one of them.
And I regret that and I would argue that the people I know and like are more often short changed here.
Two examples that prove that. I loathe John Edwards and found him sleazy and grabby. (And, yeah, Elizabeth knew about John because I'm one of the women who made a point to tell her to put her husband on a leash. That was in 2003.) But couldn't-keep-his-hands-to-himself didn't get slammed here by me. I treated him more than fair while he was in the race. (I even defended him in person to an editorial board.) I treated his Iraq words as truth. Treated his wife's words as truth. Didn't make an effort to say, "Let's talk reality about the Edwards." If they made an error, we noted it here and I called them out on it. But I strongly detested both of them. And you really don't get that while Edwards has a campaign. Since then? I have no problem explaining how disgusting John Edwards is.
I don't like Dennis Kucinich. Before Iowa, every one was convinced I was supporting him. That's not just e-mails here. I got into a yelling match with an editor of a paper who is a friend. It doesn't matter that I didn't like him. He was a candidate and he needed to be treated as such but was marginalized instead. We didn't do that here. Until he gave away his voters in Iowa, we treated him like a real candidate. And because of his position on Iraq, he got more coverage here than any other candidate.
In 2008, I knew all the Democratic candidates. And I liked many -- Joe, Hillary, Mike Gravel, Bill Richards. Of the five I liked, Mike and Bill got the most coverage. That's because they were strongly anti-war and also because the media worked really hard to ignore both of them. (The media treatment in 2007 of Bill would have been obvious if Mike and Kucinich weren't in the race. Bill made serious proposals that were repeatedly ignored by the press.)
2007 and 2008 were revealing about the hypocrites in so-called independent media. I will never take John Nichols seriously. He lied too much, he lied too badly.
Naomi Wolf, biggest whore on the left. Lying about Hillary to knock her out of the primaries. And whoring for Barack. And claiming it was because we needed to protect our Constitution.
Where's Naomi on Barack today?
She screamed and yelled under Bush?
Today? She's part of Occupy. Which makes Occupy look whorish. And another reason to be doubtful of them. She's yet to take on Barack. She's yet to unleash the blistering critique she offered for Bush. And Barack's no longer "as bad as Bush" on attacking the Constitution and our civil liberties, Barack is now worse.
So 2008 was a gift and an eye opener.
KPFA tries to do live coverage of a debate but CNN's carrying it and, ha-ha, tells them they're not taking the CNN feed. So they change their two hour special to 'an analysis.' The debate was between Barack and Hillary. It airs on KPFA. Which insists it is free speech radio.
And every guest is for Barack. Every guest has endorsed him. And KPFA and Larry The WHORE Benskey 'forget' to inform the listeners of that fact. No one discloses on air that they've endorsed Barack. But all these Barack supporters are allowed to 'analyze' the debate and, not surprising, they all think Barack was marvelous and Hillary was awful. Laura Flanders, who self-presents as a feminist -- even uses the term "cackle" to describe Hillary's laugh -- long after Chris Matthews has stopped using it due to the outcry over that sexist term.
How were you ever going to have an honest analysis of a debate when all you booked were Barack supporters?
You weren't going to have an honest analysis by doing that but, in doing that, you revealed that an honest analysis was the last thing you wanted to provide listeners.
CounterSpin used every week's show to promote how poor Barack's the victim of racism. And sometimes something racist was said. Sometimes. But most of the time, it was a stretch. And all of the time, sexism was aimed at Hillary. But until the last week of may, CounterSpin never noted sexism. And it only noted it then because they were sick of Ava and I noting their silence on sexism. We were calling them out publicly and people were demanding answers from them. So, with the primaries all over (except for Puerto Rico), they could finally allow one sentence about sexism in the 2008 campaign.
One sentence.
And they're from the media watchdog FAIR. And they watchdog the media. Every week, they ignored sexism. They slanted their coverage to whore for Barack.
As did Bill Moyers who returns to public access and some public television stations today. The whore's back. But PBS won't touch him and for good reason and Ava and I went into the death of Bill's PBS career at length over at Third.
It was an eye opener. And, I'll be honest, I'm busy. I count on people to be honest. It would never have occurred to me that, for example, Janine Jackson and Steve and the FAIR gang would ever be intentionally dishonest. If they said it, I assumed that it was 100% accurate and I could trust them. But they're whores. They present as truth tellers but they can't be bought for coin. Now if they present a 'story' and I happen to hear it, I know I need to check out every detail before repeating it because they're whores. They've whored their good name.
I made it through 2008 without whoring for a candidate. I'll make it through 2012 as well. I'm not endorsing anyone for president. If you're reading the coverage as an endorsement, you're reading something that's not there. We've covered this topic for the final time this year. I hope to be offline by 2016. But if we're still here (could be, the US could still be occupying Iraq), I'll address the topic again. Otherwise, that's it. It's been covered at length. Visitors who continue to e-mail on this topic will not be seen as confused but as people trying to game the system. And I won't see those e-mails or hear about them. (The bulk of the e-mails are read by Martha, Shirley, Eli, Heather, Jess, Jim and Dona. And I thank them for that.)
It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
There's a war going on
So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
And I'm writing a song about war
And it goes
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Oh oh oh oh
-- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)
Last week, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4487. Tonight it's [PDF format warning] 4487. Here's the screen snap:
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
i hate the war
the ballet
