Truthiness in Messaging

If there was ever a time that we should hook up public speakers to a lie detector, it was last night for the Republican response by Rep. Paul Ryan, I could go on for a long time about him, but instead I’ll just highlight some of the most blatant lies and pitiful attempts at obfuscation that were used.

“Our debt is the product of acts by many presidents and many Congresses over many years. No one person or party is responsible for it.” Right, except for the fact that the last Democratic president left us with a budget surplus and then a Republican president wiped that out by providing massive tax cuts to the wealthiest 2% and not paying for it. Oops.

“There is no doubt the President came into office facing a severe fiscal and economic situation.” Again, correct but he fails to mention who championed the deregulation which helped cause it. (Hint: It was Republicans)

“Unfortunately, instead of restoring the fundamentals of economic growth, he (President Obama) engaged in a stimulus spending spree that not only failed to deliver on its promise to create jobs, but also plunged us even deeper into debt.” But wait what about the 1.6 million jobs it has created so far?

Last, but not least, his argument against health care reform:

“What we already know about the President's health care law is this: Costs are going up, premiums are rising, and millions of people will lose the coverage they currently have. Job creation is being stifled by all of its taxes, penalties, mandates and fees.”

Once again, reality is taking a pretty big hit here. Premiums aren’t going up, sorry. Employees of small firms would effectively see unchanged premiums, at large firms the premiums would be unchanged or go down a little and more than half of those who buy their own coverage would qualify for tax credits, earning a family of four up to $88,000 per year.

Next, it’s not really a job killing bill. In fact HCR could increase jobs by 250,000 to 400,000 per year over the coming decade.

Those millions of people who are losing their coverage, yeah, that’s actually from a study where 123 million people would choose a public option if it were cheaper than their current coverage, but since there’s no public option I guess we won’t have to worry about this.

As an extra bonus, for all those Republicans concerned about the deficit, if we repeal HCR, the Congressional Budget Office expects that the deficit would increase by $145 BILLION from 2012-2019 and if you go to 2021 it’s an increase of $230 BILLION. Now that’s not very responsible.

Stay tuned for our look at one of our favorite ranting, raving, right-wingers, Michelle Bachmann and her response to the State of the Union.

Happy Anniversary to Citizens United

This Friday marks the one year anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Citizens United case that allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on federal campaigns. In 2010, we saw the disastrous consequences this decision had on our elections when special interests were able to buy a campaign victory in November. This ruling undermined the very ideals of the democratic process by allowing the money of corporations to trump the votes of Americans.

As a result of this decision, insurance and pharmaceutical companies were able to pour unlimited funds into the fight against health care reform and to elect anti-health care reform Republicans in November. Because of this, the Republican controlled House voted on Wednesday to repeal health care reform, one of the most important pieces of legislation ever.

We need to put an end to this corrupt influence and ensure that special interests do not take over our elections in 2012. We may not be able to match the millions of dollars corporations will spend, but we can beat them by organizing a strong grassroots campaign. 21st Century Democrats believes that by electing strong supporters of campaign finance reform, we can make a permanent change in the way elections are run.

Populism in Today's Politics - Register Now

A populist revival is currently happening in America and it is important we address the fact that as Democrats, we are the true voice of the Populist movement. It is crucial that we use this message to bring back our economy and ensure Democratic candidates are elected in 2012.

Please join 21st Century Democrats and a selected panel of populist leaders on Monday, January 24 at 7:00pm EST in our conference call, "Populism in Today's Politics: A Pre-State of the Union Conversation." Click Here to register for this event and to submit questions to our guest speakers.

Populist leaders Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, radio host Jim Hightower of Texas, and Democratic consultant Vic Fingerhut will answer your questions and address the opportunities we have and the challenges we may face with a populist agenda 2011.

Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity! Register Today and please spread the word about this exceptional event.

Attorney General Rich Cordray - Main Street's Avenger

The New York Times published a great article on Ohio Attorney General Rich Cordray and his efforts to protect the people in Ohio. A small selection from the article is below.

Click Here to read the full piece.


New York Times
Oct. 11, 2010

Ohio Attorney General Fights Against Wall Street

"... Mr. Cordray in two years in office has demonstrated a willingness to sue early and often, filing lawsuits against global financial houses, rating agencies, subprime lenders and foreclosure scammers. He has wrested about $2 billion so far, a string of gilded pelts: a $475 million Merrill Lynch settlement, $400 million from Marsh & McLennan and $725 million from the American International Group.

Last week, he filed suit against GMAC Mortgage, accusing the loan servicer of filing fraudulent affidavits in hundreds of Ohio foreclosures.

His office has returned money to investors, pension funds, schools and cities. And he has directed millions to agencies fighting foreclosure ..."

It's Rich's dedication to protecting Main Street from Wall Street that makes him a real populist hero. We're proud to have endorsed Rich Cordray and look forward to continuing to support him after he is reelected.

21st Century Democrats Endorse Jocelyn Benson for Secretary of State (MI)

For Immediate Release
October 5, 2010

21st Century Democrats Endorses Jocelyn Benson
for Secretary of State (MI)

Washington, D.C. - 21st Century Democrats has endorsed Jocelyn Benson for Michigan's Secretary of State. A civil leader dedicated to equal representation for all of Michigan's citizens, Jocelyn Benson will work to restore fairness to the election process when elected.

"We're excited to endorse Jocelyn Benson, a champion of voters' rights," said Jim Scheibel, Chairman of 21st Century Democrats. "She has literally written the book on how to be a fair and effective Secretary of State. In the post Citizens United world, it is vital that voters have an advocate that will put voter rights before corporate interests and we know Jocelyn will be that advocate."

As Secretary of State, Benson will work to maintain impartiality in monitoring elections, pledging to take the Oath of Nonpartisanship upon taking office. Benson will fight election fraud by investigating how ballot initiatives are collected, and protecting voters from intimidation and deception at all levels of the voting process. Furthermore, Benson will strive to limit corporate influence in elections, restoring control of elections back to the hands of Michigan's citizens.

Benson earned a B.A. at Wellesley College; immediately afterward starting a successful career at the Southern Poverty Law Center, investigating hate groups and hate crimes throughout the United States. she earned a Master of Philosophy as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, later receiving a law degree from Harvard University.

Throughout her career, she has fought to protect voter's rights, from preventing the use of foreclosure lists to deny voter access on Election Day, to blocking the closure of a Secretary of State branch office, citing a violation of the Voting Rights Act. In addition, Benson has aided in the passage of the Help America Vote Act, a federal mandate which improved election law in light of the controversy surrounding the 2000 Presidential recount. In 2004, she coordinated efforts on the national level to establish Voter Protection officials, who worked to restore integrity in the voting procedure established by federal law.

For more information about 21st Century Democrats or to learn more about our endorsed candidates, please visit our website: www.21stcenturydems.org.

Middle Class Families Need Your Help

In these economic times, working class families are shouldering the nation’s tax burden more than ever. Why then, are tax cuts which overwhelmingly favor the wealthiest of Americans, still in place after 9 years, stalling economic recovery? President Obama’s proposal to cut taxes to the middle class will benefit millions of families across the country, yet faces stiff opposition by Republican activists. The Bush tax cuts are essentially writing a check to wealthy Americans to the tune of 830 billion dollars, while the middle class foots the bill. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) along with Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Alan Grayson (D-FL) are leading the charge, campaigning to end favoring the wealthy over everyday Americans, to choose Main Street over Wall Street for a change. They have drafted a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asking that the fight continues to implement tax cuts for the middle class and to urge Congress’ support before adjourning in October.

Millions of families across the country depend on this reform. Click here to add your name to Mary Jo Kilroy's letter to Speaker Pelosi calling for an up-or-down vote on the Bush tax cuts today.

In Coordinated Effort, GOP Moves To Disenfranchise Native American Voters in South Dakota

In the latest instance of decades of blatant, racially motivated, voter disenfranchisement in South Dakota, Republican officials at the state and county level have begun the process of limiting Native American access to the ballot. Shannon County, home of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, faces the prospect of no early voting access this fall. Worse still, there remains the very real possibility of no Election Day voting at all in Shannon County.

There is little ambiguity to what has transpired in South Dakota in the last month. According to the 2000 Census, Shannon County is 94.2% Native American. Lying entirely on reservation land, Shannon County is the second poorest county in the United States. In the 2004 and 2008 elections, Shannon County has been the highest Democratic performing county in the country. In 2008, Barack Obama received 88.6% of the vote in Shannon County. Because of the rural nature of the county, it has traditionally seen much higher levels of absentee and early voting than the South Dakota averages.

Because Shannon County is one of two unorganized counties in South Dakota, elections have been administered by neighboring Fall River County. This has been standard procedure for over thirty years. Frustrated and seeing a political opportunity however, Republican officials at the state and county level decided to act. In August, county officials in Fall River County made it clear they would resign if asked to administer the same early voting opportunities in Shannon County that every other county receives. When they were formally asked to do so on September 3, 2010, a number of county officials subsequently resigned, leaving no one to run the election in Shannon County.

The next Thursday, September 9, Republican Secretary of State Chris Nelson met with officials from both Shannon and Fall River County. As reported by the Rapid City Journal Nelson arbitrarily declared that Shannon County had only until the next Monday, September 13th, to resolve the situation. In addition to only giving Shannon County two business days to respond, Nelson repeatedly suggested that there was nothing that the State could do to help. Brazenly, Nelson told those gathered at the meeting, “you all have a huge challenge on your hands.” Nelson, the chief elections officer in the state and a former Republican candidate for Congress, is prepared to sit idly by and watch an entire county be disenfranchised.

As of now, there is no plan in place for how any elections are to take place in Shannon County, South Dakota. Voting rights groups believe the turnout for the 2010 cycle in Shannon County could be as high as 5,000 votes, a sizeable percentage of the state vote in South Dakota. Because many of those votes will be for Democrats, South Dakota Republicans are willing to take on lengthy legal fights to protect those votes, because they know it can’t be resolved before election day.

None of this is new. For the past several years, South Dakota has openly flaunted the 1965 Voting Rights Act, considering fair and equal access to the ballot an unnecessary hassle that the state need not worry about. This has led to numerous lawsuits, all of which have been lost by the state. The problem is that by the time the court resolves the issues, the damage has been done.

Since announcing his candidacy in October of 2009, Ben Nesselhuf, the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, has campaigned for fair and equal elections in South Dakota. Nesselhuf has demanded that every county in the state, have the resources and facilities they need to have early voting and smoothly run elections. On September 8, Nesselhuf was quoted in Indian Country Today saying that he considers the way the state has run previous elections as “systematic disenfranchisement.”

Predictably, Nesselhuf’s opponent has said nothing on this issue, and has run a RNC-directed campaign based entirely around fear-mongering about voter fraud. For Republicans in South Dakota, every time a Native American votes, it’s “fraud.”

The only way to stop this cycle of disenfranchisement is to elect a Secretary of State that is committed to ensuring that every citizen who has the right to vote and the desire to vote will have the opportunity to vote. Ben Nesselhuf is the only candidate in the race committed to this goal. Ben and his team have run a very aggressive campaign but the South Dakota GOP has made clear their intention to do whatever it takes to hold on to this seat and control future elections. Ben can win, but not without your help. Learn more about Ben and how you can help his campaign at www.benforsouthdakota.com.