Todd Akin makes Michele Bachmann look like a Hippy!

Well, hardly, Ms. McCaskill, hardly!
by Charlie Leck

This will be brief; however, I must react to something the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate (Senator Claire McCaskill) said on television during her campaign in Missouri.

“Todd Akin makes Michele Bachmann look like a hippy!”

Oh, please, Ms. McCaskill, please! You must not follow Ms. Bachmann’s comments very carefully. This was the lady (it’s a stretch using this term) who suggested that the Muslim Brotherhood had infested the Congress of the United States after she suggested that a good many members of Congress were “anti-America!” Of course, all of this was said without presenting even a shred of evidence.

Shall I return here to the utter stupidity that Ms. Bachmann displays publically on a rather constant basis up here in the great North Central part of America? I have not the time, Madam, and my readers would revolt if I did such a thing. They are all quite fed-up with Ms. Bachmann also.

I do not want anyone insulting some of the great and revered hippies of American history by drawing any kind of line of definition between them and Congresswoman Bachmann.

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Great Questions for the Debates

I was giving serious thought to questions that would make the coming presidential debates more meaningful – you know, new ideas beyond the normal, stupid questions that are always asked!
by Charlie Leck

Matt Miller, a Washington Post columnist, has suggested a question for the upcoming presidential debates: “Why not scrap the filibuster?”

“Finally — and forgive me for raising my voice here — if we don’t scrap the filibuster, we simply can’t govern this country and meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
                        Matt Miller (Washington Post) on the filibuster!

Miller’s correct, of course, but there’s no chance the rule will be stricken unless one party or the other gains control of 60 seats in Senate. Then there’s a chance but not necessarily a certain one.

Give me your ideas for questions!
I’ll pass along any ideas for questions with which you come up. There’s actually a chance we could get them to Jim Lehrer. Email them to me or leave them in a comment! I’ll keep a list of those suggested questions below and get them to Lehrer on Monday.

“What’s the breaking point in Iran’s nuclear build-up before we allow a military strike against that nation?” (Colorado reader)

“Is America in danger of becoming a plutocracy?” (Minnesota reader)

“How can we get the cost of political campaigns under control?” (New Jersey reader)

"Should we have term limits for the House and Senate?”(Ohio reader)

“Are we any longer a country of unity and togetherness and cooperation? If not, can we be again!” (Florida reader)

“Why should tax-payers be forced to bail out badly governed states?” (Wisconsin reader) 

“How is it possible to amass a fortune (tens of millions of dollars) in one’s IRA account given the small amounts that the law permits to be contributed to such a plan?” (Minnesota reader)

“Should it be law that any announced candidate for President of the United States, or the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, be required to make available two months before the election a given number of his U.S. income tax returns for a complete examination by the I.R.S. and that a public report of that examination be made available one month before the election?” (South Dakota reader)

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Clean Windows and Mitt Romney

All the windows in the house were washed and polished yesterday and this morning I see the coming election so much more clearly!
by Charlie Leck

A company was by yesterday to wash all the windows – all 111 of them – inside and out! And now – this morning – they sparkle and everything is clearer to me as I look out through them.

I can see that Mitt Romney is a better man than his campaign is making him out to be. Someone made a bad mistake when they decided that Romney had to kowtow to the Tea Party and the ultra conservatives in the Republic Party. It’s not playing well because Romney is not being himself. Mitt Romney is not a greedy and selfish man. And, he’s a man of strong faith and has a remarkable sense of ethics. Under no circumstance does he believe that 47 percent of the people in the nation are lazy freeloaders. No way!

Yet, we’ve all seen him on the campaign trail and we’ve heard the things he’s said. He’s been terribly unconvincing. Almost like an empty gun, trying to look terrifying. In fact, he’s a softy who is generous and caring.

Yet, he bought into a movement that demanded something else and will not support him if he relents and tries to return to what he really is.

Now, I don’t know if any other politicos in America have described Mitt Romney the way I am this morning. I haven’t read any such ideas. As far as I know, no one else has described him thusly.

It’s just that I sat down this morning, up here in my tree-house office, and I looked out through the newly cleaned, polished and sparkling windows, and there it was as clear as can be. And, I realized the truth of the whole thing.

Mitt Romney was nailed and screwed by those big-timers who now own the Republican National Party – ugly folk who are consumed by hate and filled with loathing for most Americans. These people now in control of the GOP – these tea partiers and Libertarians – don’t understand America and its people. They think government is bad rather than a servant of the people.  And then there are the billionaires who want to buy-out government and own nearly all the shares in it so they can run it like one of their corporations and then sell out when they’ve wrung everything from it that is good, hopeful and promising

And now, Mitt Romney, who is a good and principled man, can’t be our President because we’ve seen him sell himself to these dazzlingly frightening types who want to own the government. Mitt Romney just got caught up in it all and he’d given away too much of himself by the time he realized what he was doing.

And there you have it! Now, seeing more clearly, I can understand why this Mitt Romney – this current, sold-out one – is so different than the kind, respectful and reasonable guy we saw as Governor of Massachusetts.

It is a glorious morning! The sun is shining brightly and the air has an autumn chill about it. The treetops are ablaze with glorious colors – golds, reds, yellows, oranges and browns. Everything fairly sparkles. It is an amazing, fresh day in Minnesota – way out here on the western edge of the metropolitan region.

Fareed Zakaria wrote in Wednesday’s Washington Post (Romney’s tongue-tied eloquence):

“As President Obama has surged in the polls, Republicans have been quick to identify the problem: Mitt Romney. Peggy Noonan eloquently voiced what many conservatives believe when she said that Romney’s campaign has been a “rolling calamity.” Others have been equally critical of his candidacy. And yet, shouldn’t it puzzle us that Romney is so 'incompetent' (also from Noonan), given his deserved reputation for, well, competence? He founded one of this country’s most successful financial firms, turned around the flailing Salt Lake City Olympics and was a successful governor. How did he get so clumsy so fast?

“In fact, the problem is not Romney but the new Republican Party. Given the direction in which it has moved and the pressures from its most extreme — yet most powerful — elements, any nominee would face the same challenge: Can you be a serious candidate for the general election while not outraging the Republican base?”

And, Zakaria concludes his column this way…

“The Republican Party has imposed a new kind of political correctness on its leaders. They cannot speak certain words (taxes) or speculate about certain ideas (immigration amnesty) because these are forbidden. Romney has tried to run a campaign while not running afoul of his party’s strictures. As a result, he has twisted himself into a pretzel, speaking vacuously, avoiding specifics and refusing to provide any serious plans for the most important issues of the day….”

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FOX News and the Polls

    An aside I thought comical: As I was looking around
     for a graphic to use with this blog, I put the word
     "FOX" into the Google search engine, What came up,
     mainly, were images of quite young, hot and, I
     guess, foxy young women. Oh well, I did find one
     photo to my liking and I created this computerized
     watercolor from it. (C. Leck)

A fox running around in circles like a chicken with its head cut off is sometimes the only way to describe FOX News!
by Charlie Leck

Fox and Friends, a TV news show (sort of) is a stranger to me. I’ve never watched it. However, this morning I read about it on the Talking Points Memo blog – The Polls are Rigged – written by Michael Lester (27 September 2012). The hosts on Fox & Friends (Steve Doocy and Gretchen Carlson) made a big deal about how phony the polls are that show President Obama with such commanding leads where he shouldn’t be leading. They proposed a number of conspiracy theories to try to explain what the pollsters are doing.

Here’s the problem, as I point in a blog I will post tomorrow morning. FOX News polling is highly regarded and quite accurately run. I trust it and I trust its methodology. And, it is currently showing President Obama in commanding leads in some of the most important swing states (such as Ohio).

I don’t think I need say anything more.

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Traditional v. Economic Conservatives

If this were the conservative Republican Party of 25 years ago, I think President Obama would go down to defeat; but under this unfeeling and angry lot that now controls the party, I think Obama can win!
by Charlie Leck

Here’s a hint at what’s going on in the election as the candidates drive toward November 6…

Obama surging in Wisconsin
“But President Obama has overtaken Mr. Romney on who would do a better job handling the economy, according to a new Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News poll of likely Wisconsin voters. The poll also found that Mr. Obama has a 17-point edge over Mr. Romney when voters are asked if a candidate cares about their needs and problems.” [New York Times]

Now, Obama’s actual lead in the Wisconsin polls is somewhere between 5 and 6 percent; however, he is perceived by a whopping majority of Wisconsin voters to care more about their needs and problems. That is extraordinarily significant – especially if it translates to other toss-up states as well (Nevada, Colorado, Virginia, Ohio and Florida).

It amazes me that candidate Romney could have allowed this to happen. His constant and clear support of wealth and protecting wealth and not caring about the ordinary guy has badly hurt him; and, strangely, I don’t think that image is correct, but the Romney campaign has allowed it to become the operative picture of him.

Other political pundits are starting to talk and write about Romney’s “Wealthcare Program!”

David Brooks, a clearly conservative, syndicated columnist for the NY Times seems pretty disturbed with the movement of the Republican Party away from traditional conservatism and blames Romney’s poor showing on that shift. I think he’s correct. If this were the traditional conservative party of 25 years ago, President Obama wouldn’t stand a chance of reelection. Here’s how Brooks summarizes the dilemma is the final paragraph of his column yesterday (The Conservative Mind)…

“Some people blame bad campaign managers for Romney’s underperforming campaign, but the problem is deeper. Conservatism has lost the balance between economic and traditional conservatism. The Republican Party has abandoned half of its intellectual ammunition. It appeals to people as potential business owners, but not as parents, neighbors and citizens.”

Robert Reich (former Secretary of Labor and a blogger I follow regularly) proposes a convincing reason why Romney is not doing well in this campaign. He rejects the idea, put forward by a couple of leading right-wingers that it is because he is a poor candidate. Ann Coulter, for example, contends this. Reich in a recent blog argues it is more that the American public is starting to see just how radical the Republican Party has become – that it is no longer the party of Ronald Reagan.

“The Republican primaries, and then the Republican convention, have shown America a party far removed from the ‘compassionate conservatism’ the GOP tried to sell in 2000. Instead, we have a party that’s been taken over by Tea Partiers, nativists, social Darwinists, homophobes, right-wing evangelicals, and a few rich people whose only interest is to become even wealthier.” [Robert Reich]

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Where the Polls Are!

The Toss-Up States
I make no changes here in my allotment of the states to each candidate. I’m leaving the toss-up state list exactly as I had them last week; however, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin have shown a slight shifting toward Obama. Florida remains a statistical dead-even state no matter what anyone otherwise might try to tell you.

I’m leaving New Hampshire in the Obama column even though many poll readers continue to call it a toss-up state.

In Virginia,
even Fox News has Obama up by 7 points and the Washington Post has him up by 8. I still don’t trust those reading and continue to call it a toss up.

In Iowa
NBC/WSJ finds that Obama has a 8 point lead. That’s the only poller I trust giving Iowa readings right now. Still, consider it a toss-up.

Colorado
remains very, very close, though Obama has risen very slightly in the polls there.

Nevada
shows Obama continuing to maintain a statistically very slim lead. This state could go either way after the debates.

Florida
is such a critical, important state and Obama shows a slim lead there that is well within the possible statistical error range; so, this is a state that we must view as even.

Ohio
is another vital state, especially for the Republicans, and the polls there have all moved rather strongly toward Obama. FOX News polls show Obama leading by 7 points and the Washington Post has him 8 points up. Several polling organizations, however, report that it is pretty much a very even race so far. It’s become a generally accepted bromide that “the Republicans cannot win without Ohio!” It’s been true for quite a few decades and I think it’s true against this year. This story in today’s Washington Post describes the detailed attention President Obama is giving to Ohio in this campaign.

(Another story is the same paper describes the Romney effort to stop his downward slide in Ohio.)

“With polls showing Obama enjoying a clear advantage in Ohio, Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), began two days of retail campaigning with a joint rally here at Dayton International Airport.”

In the same edition of the Washington Post, Chris Cillizza’s blog says of Ohio that the “auto bailout equals political gold for Obama.”

Personally, I think Obama will soon unleash his most powerful campaign weapons on Ohio –his wife, Michelle and, possibly, his daughters, Sasha and Malia. Ohio is indeed that important!

North Carolina
is still called a toss-up by most polling agencies but I gave it to Romney three weeks ago and I see no reason to change that; however, the polls have moved back closer to an even race. Obama’s chances here hang on a very, very strong turnout of minority voters and a lot of black church-goers are tepid about Obama because of his strong support of gay marriage. If they can shake off that apathy this could turn out to be a major surprise state.

The first debate takes place next week. I think these debates are Romney’s last hope. He’s got to sparkle in them and clearly better the President on a majority of the issues discussed.

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God says: “Here am I”

Scripture fascinates me! I love grappling with it. Too many of my friends are superficial about scripture. I’m aware that it is more mysterious and magnificent than some literal, historical document; for it may be the voice of God speaking to us in mysterious ways!
by Charlie Leck”

I like the Lutheran pastor here in my town. I’m not crazy about the Lutheran Church, however, so I don’t go there; yet, I like sitting down with her (oh, yes, the pastor is a woman) once in awhile to chat (mostly about theology and the role of the church in a political society). I tried going to church there for a time, but I’m an old-school Congregationalist, you know. We don’t go for the stand-up, sit-down, stand-up kind of stuff with recited creeds and repetitive prayers. So, I drifted away from the Lutheran Church and ended up back in a Congregational church downtown. We sit for longer stretches of time and dare our minister to interest us without getting, you know, too religious about it.

Yet, I must admit, this little church here in my town has found a wonderful pastor in this dear, faithful and dedicated woman. Her name is Gail. People call her “Pastor Gail” but that’s not Congregational enough for me. I refer to her as “Pastor Reitan.” It sounds a little more respectful and congregational, you know.”

We go to lunch occasionally and sometimes we have a set agenda for our conversations. We’ll chat tomorrow and I’m going to ask her about this reading that Sojourners sent along to me…

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rearguard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and [God] will say, Here I am.
     - Isaiah 58:6-9

Note that, in the above reading, I have highlighted the word then twice. I think it’s key to understand the reading.

I want to ask her about those concluding words – where God says “Here I am!”

“Where?” I will ask. “What does he mean – Here I am!”

This, of course, is the universal question, isn’t it? If there is a God, where the heaven is He anyway? Why is He not evident? Why, in a world so in need, is He not more apparent? Why doesn’t He reveal himself more personally to us? If you go back and try to understand the then of the moment described by the writer you might then comprehend how God might reveal himself to us.

Now, these are tough questions, but she’ll have sensible and well-reasoned answers and, I really want to assure you, she knows her Old Testament. I find that unusual for Lutheran pastors. Most of them don’t venture beyond the gospels and Paul’s epistles.

I’m calling out to you, Almighty God: “Wherefore art Thou, anyway?” Whatever, thanks for putting your servant, Pastor Reitan, among us here in our little town.

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Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and her Happy Meals

I remember seeing my first McDonald’s restaurant sometime in 1960
or perhaps it was in ’61; and I think it was in Sioux City, Iowa. It was pretty
amazing and I was not unimpressed with the hamburger and fries. It
was nothing nearly as good as what my old man served back in his
luncheonette in Chester, NJ, but it was a great gimmick and the prices
were cheap.

She’s incredible, this Congresswoman from Minnesota, and just when you think she can’t out-do herself she does!
by Charlie Leck

Listening to Michele Bachmann talk politics is like listening to my wife’s mule talk space science! No, that’s wrong! The mule actually is quite literate and amazingly intelligent.

Listening to Representative Bachmann talk about American History is like listening to a drunk trying to cough up a handful of popcorn kernels he’s choked on! Really! They both actually make about the same degree of sense.

Congresswoman Bachman got into the 47 percent discussion in the last couple of days. Geez, you would think she’d have a staff that would have the sense to advise her occasionally to keep quiet. I don’t want to ridicule her! Why can’t she just keep quiet?

Everyone is America should have to pay something, Ms. Bachmann told the video camera – even if it’s only the price of two Happy Meals – about ten dollars.

Democracy isn’t free, she told the camera, and everyone should have to pay something! Everyone benefits from this great country.

“Everyone can afford to pay, at least, that!” She meant at least the cost of two Happy Meals!

I just read the following in a fortune cookie: “Kindness is the ability to love someone more than they really deserve!”

I’m trying to be kind here. Congresswoman Bachmann is trying hard. She’s working at it. I mean she doesn’t say this stupid stuff to be funny. Lots of people say she really knows better. Actually, to be fair and kind, I don’t think she does, but she’s trying

Somehow, on the day God was passing out brains, Ms. Bachmann skipped the assembly so she could go over to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal. So, we ought to be kind to her and more patient with the really silly nonsense she is constantly spewing. She really does think everyone can afford to pay federal income taxes.

She does! Even with the cost of gasoline and food these days! Even though they also have to pay community taxes, county taxes, sales taxes and state taxes.

I don’t think Ms. Bachmann understands there is some really harsh poverty in America. No, no, don’t laugh at her. Be kind! I don’t think she really understands. Ms. Bachmann is so enchanted with the mega-millionaires in the nation that she’s become starry-eyed and can’t see what would seem so obvious.

Ms. Bachman thinks that even people with no income should pay “income” taxes – even if it’s only the price of two Happy Meals! Perhaps she didn’t mean it. Is it possible she’s sharpening a bit for an appearance on Jon Stewart’s show?

So, a retired couple, trying to buy food and pay for the energy costs in their home and properly clothe themselves on their Social Security checks (which is their previously earned money and which they must declare on income tax returns), should have to pay at least some amount of “income” tax.

Congresswoman Bachmann doesn't realize that Mitt said the 47 percent are made up of three types of people and, in confusion, she lumps them together. I’m sorry Ms. Bachmann! Maybe someone could explain this to you.

The 47 percent, Mitt Romney said, are the folks who are going to vote for President Obama anyway! Right? Now, Ms. Bachmann, those numbers would include me – and my wife. We are, indeed, going to vote for President Obama. We are not poor and we do pay at least the cost of two Happy Meals in income taxes. Now, madam, Mitt said there are 47 percent of Americans who do get some sort of government benefit. Yup, I’m in that group also. I do get a monthly Social Security check and I do have to pay taxes on that income (even though it is money I made and paid into this federal savings plan). And finally, the last group Romney lumped into that 47 percent are people who don’t pay federal income taxes. Well, unfortunately or fortunately, I’m not in that group.

Yet, it seems statistically true that 47 percent of Americans on a given year don’t pay federal income tax. Wow! Ms. Bachmann, all of those, in that group, are not poor people and are not always people who will vote for President Obama. There are quite a few wealthy people who’ve managed to avoid paying income taxes in one way or another through the mega-loop-holes provided by our income tax system. Or, they might be business people who actually lost money in a given year and aren’t required to pay taxes. Some others of them are very poor people who can’t afford to pay anything – not even the cost of two Happy Meals – even if you refuse to believe that. And then there are lots of people in between those two sorts who, though they don’t qualify to pay income taxes to the federal government, do pay lots of taxes of other sorts – property tax, sales tax, school bond taxes, community taxes, county taxes and state taxes. I pay all of those taxes listed here in addition to my federal income taxes, Congresswoman. I’m still going to vote for President Obama.

I don’t mind paying those taxes and I’d even be willing to pay a bit more if it would take the pressure off people who cannot afford to be paying all those taxes mentioned above. Go down to the capitol city of your own state sometime, Congresswoman, and visit one of the homeless shelters – like the Union Gospel Mission – and see how many people need to come to them to be fed and sheltered because they can’t afford even a single Happy Meal and because MacDonald’s doesn’t have any place where they can legally sleep. And that isn’t the only charity serving the homeless in our area either, Congresswoman. There are a number of other organizations doing the work also – like Sharing and Caring Hands, Minneapolis Homeless Shelter, Simpson Housing Services, Catholic Charities and St. Anne’s Place. Most of the people that these shelters serve can NOT even afford to pay the government the cost of one Happy Meal.

You must really know that, Congresswoman Bachman. You must! If you don’t, I want to introduce you some time to Mary Jo Copeland, the founder and director of Sharing and Caring Hands, and she can explain it to you. She’ll also explain to you that these are not pikers, Congresswoman, but they are people in distress and in need of our compassion and assistance.

Congresswoman, when government loses its compassion all hope will also be lost. Part of government’s role in this world is to even the playing field so that all people get a fair shot at a good life – with justice and freedom for all.

I know these are difficult concepts to understand, Ms. Bachmann; but give it a try! Please!

And, while you’re at it, Congresswoman, read these comments that Bill Clinton made on a couple of Sunday TV shows and it might be a little easier for you to understand the facts of life.

“First, they do pay taxes — they pay Social Security taxes, they pay Medicare taxes, they pay state and local taxes,” he said. “Second, they are out of the income tax pool for two reasons: one is the economic crash, which lowered a lot of peoples’ incomes.… Now the second reason is interesting, it’s a bipartisan reason in the past: it’s because of the combined impacts of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.”

 It's complicated, I know, but most people get it. I'd be happy to buy you a Happy Meal sometime and explain it to you.

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Minnesota’s Governor Carlson on Congresswoman Bachmann

Regarded by so many as the best Governor in Minnesota’s history, Arne Carlson’s opinion should be respected.
by Charlie Leck

I urge you – especially if you’re a Minnesotan – to read former governor Arne Carlson’s comments about Congresswoman Michele Bachman.

On this one, the Governor has hit the old, proverbial nail right squarely on the head.

“What has happened to Bachmann is common with the McCarthy types – they rise quickly as they step loudly and carelessly on the reputations of innocent people and they fall just as rapidly in accordance with the public’s insistence on truth and decency. Rising Republican criticism has clearly hastened her downturn.”

Carlson’s blog, Governor Arne Carlson, should be on your regular reading list – especially if you are from Minnesota. He posts new blogs about every three or four weeks.

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Presidents and their Foreign Affairs

The title of the NY Times column was: Why Presidents Love Foreign Affairs!
by Charlie Leck

I read an interesting lead-in to a NYTimes column today. It said: “Why Presidents Love Foreign Affairs. Don’ t you?”

God, yes! An affair with a beauty from the Bayon region in France – or from the Ardeche! Mais oui! My goodness! Of course! Or, a big strong blonde from Ramstein! Ja! Mein Gott im himmel! Danke!

Oh, I jest with you! It’s Sunday morning, you know!

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One of the 47 Percent

Since Mitt Romney’s comments about the 47 percent, the stories, about people who used the government as a life-line in troubled times, keep rolling in! Here’s a good one.

This is all I’ve got for you today, but it is a priceless, wondrous bit of reading – and not lengthy by any means. I was a Welfare Mother, by Larson Warren, is a terrific story of someone, down and nearly out, who grabbed hold of the only thing that could save her – government assistance. As one of the 47 percent, as Mitt Romney would classify her, she used that assistance to rebuild her life. (And, the Gig Rose Gay illustration at the top of the story is worth examining.)

It’s neat! It’s good Sunday reading.

Oh yes! You’re welcome!

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Presidents Should Call Us to Greatness

The presidential campaign has an ugly, selfish and uncaring tone to it. It should be calling on Americans to be great and caring!
by Charlie Leck

David Gerson, today, in a column in the Washington Post, called Republicans away from mindless libertarianism and back to a healthy conservatism. He concluded his column by quoting gentle, old Abe Lincoln, who thought everyone deserved “an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.”

Well, that quotation got me thinking and remembering. I had an incredible old professor in college. His name was Harry Savage and he could read lines from the great Greek playwrights, from Shakespeare or from Abraham himself and make you think you were right there at the original expression of the words. So, I closed my eyes and remembered dear Doctor Savage and I heard President Lincoln speaking to the Congress of the United States of America. Try it! Listen for the voice of Abe himself as you read the following…

“It is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men – to lift artificial weights from all shoulders – to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all – to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life. Yielding to partial, and temporary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the government for whose existence we contend.”

Wait! What?

Old Abe said it! It was not I.

“The leading object of government… is to elevate the condition of men – to lift artificial weights from all shoulders – to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all – to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.”

Oh, my!

What Mitt Romney said to the gathered wealthy at that cocktail party is so far to the opposite end of political purpose from the statement made above by President Lincoln that it leaves me only shaking my head in pity for America if that is what we have become. I must believe that we have not.

I have got to believe, or it is a tragedy, that America is still the land that welcomes “the huddled masses yearning to be free.”

The rabble-rousing, I think, of the Tea Party and the libertarians has begun to ring hollow and sound terribly, terribly selfish. There is a certain mindlessness in both political philosophies of which real, old fashioned Americans are starting to tire. America is not a selfish nation. Great Presidents – really great and revered leaders – called Americans to rise up in times of distress, to help their brothers and sisters so that we might all share in the wonders of the shining seas and the amber waves of grain.

Franklin Roosevelt, in one of the most tragic moments in the nation’s life, called out to it: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!”

John Kennedy, in his inaugural address: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country!”

Dwight Eisenhower, in his farewell address: “We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.”

Enough of that! This is the point: Presidents must call Americans away from selfishness and not to it. Presidents must dare us to be great and giving.

That was not the tenor or the tone of Mitt Romney’s words when he spoke to those gathered in that Boca Raton mansion. That was the fearful cry of the Tea Party. That was the selfishness of the libertarian. As Gerson says…

“In fact, the video confirmed an existing stereotype of Romney and Republicans as wealthy white businessmen, clinking wine glasses while bemoaning the irresponsibility of the help.” [David Gerson, Washington Post]

And, a bit later Gerson went on to write…

“Yet a Republican ideology pitting the ‘makers’ against the ‘takers’ offers nothing. No sympathy for our fellow citizens. No insight into our social challenge. No hope of change. This approach involves a relentless reductionism. Human worth is reduced to economic production. Social problems are reduced to personal vices. Politics is reduced to class warfare on behalf of the upper class.

“A few libertarians have wanted this fight ever since they read Atlas Shrugged as pimply adolescents. Given Romney’s background, record and faith, I don’t believe that he holds this view. I do believe that Republicans often parrot it, because they lack familiarity with other forms of conservatism that include a conception of the common good.

“But there really is no excuse. Republican politicians could turn to Burkean conservatism, with its emphasis on the ‘little platoons’ of civil society. They could reflect on the Catholic tradition of subsidiarity, and solidarity with the poor. They could draw inspiration from Tory evangelical social reformers such as William Wilberforce or Lord Shaftesbury. Or they could just read Abraham Lincoln, who stood for ‘an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.’

“Instead they mouth libertarian nonsense, unable to even describe some of the largest challenges of our time.”

That, dear readers, says it all.

I want my President to call America back to its greatness… “for the dignity of man and the destiny of Democracy!”

President Lyndon Johnson, in urging Congress to approve the Voting Rights Act: “I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of Democracy. I urge every member of both parties, Americans of all religions and of all colors, from every section of this country, to join me in that cause.”

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The Elephant and the Donkey

As of this moment, in spite of the depressing Robert Reich blog I posted this morning, I have to say the Elephant has fallen a bit behind the Donkey in a race toward the finish line (though there is yet a long way to go).
by Charlie Leck

Wisconsin
Pretty startling news has come in from Wisconsin and this is absolutely no joking matter. President Obama has taken a significant lead there in a number of reputable polls. This appears to be a reaction to Mr. Romney’s 47 percent comments and a real increase in the amount of work women in Wisconsin are doing on behalf of Mr. Obama. I’m not quite ready to move Wisconsin out of the toss-up category, but I’ll watch for the next few days and then decide.

A Marquette Law School poll, an organization which has done very well in its polling in Wisconsin, has the President up by a whopping 14 points. A CBS/NYTimes poll, done in nearly the same date range, has Obama up by 6 points.

This could be an immense gain for the President and, if he can secure this and nail it down, that would reduce to only 13 the number of electoral votes he needs yet to corral the elephant.

Senate races
Mr. Romney’s questionable statement regarding the 47 percent has also had a significant impact in some Senate races that are really crucial if President Obama is ever going to achieve any of his goals in the next four years. In the Wisconsin race for a U.S. Senate seat, Tammy Baldwin (the Democrat) has moved ahead of Tommy Thompson for the first time by almost 5 points. Elizabeth Warren has moved ahead of Scott Brown in Massachusetts for the first time since polling began. Tim Kane (Democrat) has moved 3 points ahead of George Allen in Virginia. Claire McCaskill (Democrat) has evened her race with Republican Todd Aiken in Missouri and may push ahead in the next few days.

Overall Senate races to watch
Here are some very important U.S. Senate races to keep your eyes on (if there is an incumbent in the race that person is shown in bold print).

Connecticut       Chris Murphy (Dem) against Linda McMahon (GOP)

Indiana              Joe Donnelly (Dem) against Richard Mourdock (GOP)

Maine                 3 candidate race between Angus King (Independent),
                            Cynthia Dill (Dem) and Charlie Summers (GOP)

Massachusetts  Elizabeth Warren (Dem) against Scott Brown (GOP)

Missouri             Claire McCaskill (Dem) against Todd Aiken (GOP)

Montana             Jon Tester (Dem) against Denny Rehberg

Nebraska            Bob Kerry (Dem) against Deb Fischer (GOP)

Nevada               Dean Heller (GOP) against Shelley Berkley (DEM)

North Dakota     Rick Berg (GOP) against Heidi Heitkamp (DEM)

Ohio                    Josh Mandel (GOP) against Sherrod Brown (DEM)

Virginia              Tim Kane (Dem) against George Allen (GOP)

Wisconsin          Tommy Thompson (GOP) against Tammy Baldwin (DEM)

House races
We haven’t been able to determine yet what impact the Romney statements have had on the races for House seats. We’ll keep looking at that phenomenon. Of course, up here, we’re most interested in the Bachmann/Graves race.

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