"Whose Side Are You On?"

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Friday March 12, 2010 · 5:00 AM PST

2010/03/12 · 05:00

A prominent Ohio Democratic politician recently commented on what he considers to be the crucial question in any election. The question is: "Whose side are you on?" That question is really at the heart of most domestic policy and political disputes. It is seen in the health care debate.

If you are opposed to the Obama plan, then you are for maintaining the status quo. Sure, you can say that you want a single-payer plan, or Medicare for all, or some other plan, like the plan offered by Senator Ron Wyden, but the reality is that its either the current plan or the status quo.

mrgavel

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Sunday January 17, 2010 · 8:53 AM PST

2010/01/17 · 08:53

Years ago I read a biography of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy in which the author wrote about Kennedy attending a liberal Democratic meeting on the West Side of Manhatten. After listening to them bicker among themselves for a long time, Kennedy turned to one of his aides and said, "Maybe my father was right about liberals."

See, Kennedy had been invited there to talk about supporting a reform candidate for Judge of the Surrogates' Court. He wasn't there to watch liberals argue among themselves. He was there to talk about winning. Winning with a candidate who while not perfect was far better than his opponent.

Liberals often make the mistake of pursuing perfection and when they don't get it, they take their ball and go home.

mrgavel

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Saturday January 02, 2010 · 6:26 AM PST

2010/01/02 · 06:26

On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered a horrible attack under George W. Bush's presidency. Over 3000 Americans died. Democratic politicians in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate publicly supported President Bush. They didn't criticize him for the hours it took him to respond; for the fact that he flew around in Air Force One most of the day before returning to Washington, D.C.; they didn't call for investigations into what his administration knew before the attack; and they certainly didn't send out fund-raising letters in an attempt to raise campaign contributions from the death of thousands of Americans.

mrgavel

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Sunday December 20, 2009 · 4:19 PM PST

2009/12/20 · 16:19

Most of us don't have the time to become experts on every issue that comes before Congress. That's why we have to trust our representatives and senators to do what we would do if we had the opportunity to study the issue in question. In this case, the issue is health care reform and the person I am choosing to trust is Senator Sherrod Brown, D-OH.

Now, to some extent, this choice is based on personal experience. I have known Senator Brown on a casual basis since 1976. He has always struck me as a sincere and thoughtful person. It's not that I always agree with him, because I don't. It's that I know that he reaches his position after study and thought.

I also know that his heart is in the right place. By that I mean that he sincerely cares about those less fortunate than him and he wants to do the right thing by them. He cares about the middle class and he cares about American workers and their families.

mrgavel

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Tuesday November 17, 2009 · 8:03 AM PST

2009/11/17 · 08:03

Okay, so here is my totally unscientific take on why the right-wingers hate, or at least, don't like or trust the American legal system. This is certainly not a recent development, as anyone who was alive in the 1960s and can recall reading about "Impeach Earl Warren" bilboards put up by the John Birch Society. Nor, is it just limited to the right's dislike for rulings in criminal cases, although those do seem to really get right-wingers foaming. It more about holding power accountable and the courts being used by those without power against those with power.

First of all, a lot of developments in the United States that the right is upset with resulting from decisions of the United States Supreme Court, and the Federal courts in general.

mrgavel

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Friday November 13, 2009 · 1:49 PM PST

2009/11/13 · 13:49

Last week the Democratic Representative from Ohio's 16th District voted for the Stupak amendment but against the health care bill itself. His name is John Boccieri and last year, while campaigning, he stated several times that he is for health care reform. Yet, when the time came to vote, he let down the Democrats who had worked for him and helped him get elected.

Now, there is no doubt that Ohio's 16th District is marginally Republican. McCain carried it by about 2% of the vote. It is also true that he will be facing a very aggressive and potentially well funded Republican. Given both of those factors, though, his vote for the Stupak amendment but against the health care bill is both morally obtuse and politically stupid.

mrgavel

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Tuesday November 10, 2009 · 5:12 AM PST

2009/11/10 · 05:12

One of the problems that Democrats have had in the health care debate is that they get too bogged down in the details. Republicans, especially those like Palin, Beck and Limbaugh, don't have that problem. Now, of course, it may be that they don't talk about the details because they either (a) don't care about them, or (b) don't understand them, but their lack of attention to detail helps them out.

Here's how: They make wild and reckless charges like Palin's one about "death panels" and we spend hours trying to rebut those charges. Republicans like Senator Grassley talk about "pulling the plug on Grandma" and we spend hours going through the bill to point out that it isn't true. Meanwhile, they are on to the next wild and reckless allegation.

mrgavel

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Monday November 09, 2009 · 5:06 AM PST

2009/11/09 · 05:06

In my career I have to work with a lot of people with both alcohol and drug addictions. What always strikes me is the excuses that family members make for the addict. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard the following: "He/she really does love me"; "He is a good provider"; "He/she is a good father/mother"; and, perhaps the most common one, "I made him/her do it."

Then, after excusing the behavior, the addict is allowed to rejoin the family, regardless of what damage he or she may have done to the family. To use the language of professionals in the field, they "enable" the addict to continue his or her addiction.

mrgavel

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Thursday November 05, 2009 · 4:17 AM PST

2009/11/05 · 04:17

I have noticed that a lot of people on the left want Obama to pull United States troops out of Afghanistan. If you want that to happen, then what you should be wishing for is the capture and then execution of Osama bin Laden. The attack that he launched is what got us into Afghanistan in the first place. Although we helped overthrow the Taliban, we didn't get bin Laden.

mrgavel

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Saturday September 05, 2009 · 12:23 PM PDT

2009/09/05 · 12:23

Somewhere on YouTube is a clip of Senator Al Franken having a civil conversation with a group of constituents, including people opposed to the health care reform bill. One of the opponents asks him if he is going to "side with Obama or side with what a majority of the people want?" He politely answers her that polls he has seen show that a majority of people want the public option. The woman and her friend seem to just shake their heads "no".

mrgavel

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Monday January 07, 2008 · 6:30 AM PST

2008/01/07 · 06:30

According to Wikipedia, New Hampshire has been having competitive presidential primaries since 1952. During that period there have been 14 Democratic presidential primaries. Of those 14, three were not seriously contested. Those three were the 1960 primary pitting John F. Kennedy against a businessman named Paul Fisher. The 1964 primary pitting President Lyndon Baines Johnson against what Wikipedia describes as "no serious opposition." The 1996 primary pitting President Bill Clinton against what is again described as "no serious opposition." That leaves 11 primaries that were seriously contested.

mrgavel

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Tuesday December 25, 2007 · 2:46 PM PST

2007/12/25 · 14:46

Last night because my wife was ill, our family wasn't able to attend Christmas Eve services as we normally do. Instead we watched the movie "Amazing Grace" on dvd. It is the story of William Wilberforce who worked for over 15 years in the British Parliament to abolish the English slave trade and then worked for many more years to abolish slavery in the British Empire. According to Wikipedia he lived long enough to see the Parliament abolish slavery in the British Empire, dying just two to three days after the passage of abolition.

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"Whose Side Are You On?"

Was Bobby Kennedy Right About Liberals?

What Would Be GOP Response to a 9-11 Attack Under Obama?

I Trust Senator Sherrod Brown

Why the Right Hates the U.S. Legal System

My Letter to Rep. John Boccieri, a pro-Stupak and anti-Health Care Bill Dem

Suggested Democratic Theme: Republicans Don't Care

Time to Stop Enabling Joe Lieberman

Want U.S. Out of Afghanistan? Find and Kill bin Laden

Cable News Empowering Wingnuts?

Statistically, how Important is the New Hampshire Primary?

Political Change and Christianity