Liberal Cowgirl

2008-11-05T07:24:00.005-05:00

Yes We Can

O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!
O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!
O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!

2008-11-03T22:00:00.001-05:00

When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.

Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

2008-11-03T21:00:00.000-05:00

2008-11-03T20:42:00.001-05:00

Men who have created new fruits in the world cannot create a system whereby their fruits may be eaten. And the failure hangs over the State like a great sorrow. ...and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

2008-11-03T20:07:00.002-05:00

From Joe Klein

Word comes that Barack Obama's grandmother has died. The timing is ridiculous. But think, for a moment, if you will of Madelyn Dunham, a white woman from Kansas, strolling the aisle of a supermarket, or having lunch in a coffee shop, with her grandson--way back at the turn of the 1970s, when such sights were uncommon, even in Hawaii. Think about what her friends might have thought, or said, about her...situation. Think about what she poured into the child during the years when her daughter was in Indonesia and she was the closest thing to a mother that Obama had; think about the impact that she and her husband had on creating the man we've come to know, and the satisfaction she must have felt in her dying days.

Some politicians simply are larger than life. Their stories are the stuff of high drama. Over the past few days, I've been hearing about the high emotions out in the field, as volunteers flood Obama offices to help canvass--and, in some places, find they have to wait on line for a spot on a phone bank. It is almost banal at this point to say that this has been the most remarkable election I've ever seen. It's been a privilege to be a small part of it, to have had a ringside seat. And now, there is a sense that tomorrow will be the sort of day none of us ever forgets, one way or another--a day of reckoning, in the purest sense, when we will suddenly see ourselves and our country differently, for good or ill.

It will also be the first day that Barack Obama lives without the presence of the woman who was his surrogate mother. How sad for him, how remarkable that it would happen this way.

2008-11-03T19:37:00.006-05:00

I got thinkin' how we was holy when we was one thing, an' mankin' was holy when it was one thing. An' it on'y got unholy when one mis'able little fella got the bit in his teeth an' run off his own way, kickin' an' draggin' an' fightin'. Fella like that bust the holi-ness. But when they're all workin' together, not one fella for another fella, but one fella kind of harnessed to the whole shebang—that's right, that's holy.

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Come on up, for the rising

2008-11-03T15:26:00.003-05:00

Cant see nothin in front of me
Cant see nothin coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I cant feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far Ive gone
How far Ive gone, how high Ive climbed
On my backs a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile of line

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin down here

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

Theres spirits above and behind me
Faces gone black, eyes burnin bright
May their precious blood bind me
Lord, as I stand before your fiery light

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

I see you mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
Theres holy pictures of our children
Dancin in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancin on the end of my line

Sky of blackness and sorrow ( a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness ( a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear ( a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow ( a dream of life)
Your burnin wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Getting ready

2008-11-02T19:34:00.002-05:00

I've added the shiny 538 widget because it is the only sane place to get polling data etc... from here on out. The site has been nothing short of revolutionary this cycle, and their series of reports from the road should win some big and fancy award.

Thank you, John Kerry

2008-11-02T09:18:00.002-05:00

[This is written by a fellow Kerry blogger.]

When I sat down to watch the returns on Election Day in 2004, after working a year and a half as a full-time volunteer for the Kerry campaign, I believed the race would come down to Ohio, and I believed the state could go either way. I also believed, however, that no matter what happened in the coming hours, the fight we had waged would stand the test of time, advancing the Democratic and progressive agendas against the forces of nationalism and fundamentalism running rampant in America.

If Kerry won, I believed we would be able to divert the war in Iraq away from a ruinous course that was weakening our military, our economy and our national security. It would allow us to shift the focus of the fight against terrorism back to Afghanistan, where it should have been all along, and where it would inevitably have to return. A Kerry victory would mean that thousands if not tens of thousands of human beings – including our own troops -- would be spared death, carnage and misery, because the war would be conducted and ended by adults, instead of perpetuated by ideologically arrogant and blindingly naive fools. I also believed that Kerry would finally address issues such as national health care, global warming, and fossil fuels -- particularly by putting money into new energy technologies instead of massive subsidies for the oil industry.

If Kerry lost I believed it would mean only that the rest of the country had not yet realized what I had realized, which was that George W. Bush was an utter failure as a President and as an American. Such a loss would subject us to four more years of Constitutional abuses and failed policies, but it would also teach the rest of the electorate a lesson that would lead not simply to a change of leadership in our country, but to a dramatic change in course away from George W. Bush’s failed policies and incompetence. I could not have imagined Katrina, of course, or the gross mismanagement of the economy, but I did know that sooner or later George W. Bush would be held responsible for his failures by the American people. More importantly, I knew that another four years of George W. Bush would mean that the evangelicals and radical neoconservatives on the right would not be able to blame John Kerry and the Democrats for the disasters that George W. Bush had wrought. The Republicans would own the full eight years unambiguously, with nowhere to hide, and there would be no Democrat to scapegoat.

I cannot say I was surprised when Kerry lost in 2004. I didn’t know if Americans would be ready to change leadership so soon after 9/11, particularly when the Bush administration was so committed to terrorizing its own electorate with the specter of another attack. But in the aftermath of the loss and the expected recriminations I remained convinced that we had waged the right fight, and that we nominated the right candidate. Not because I was against Dean or anyone else, but because Kerry's selection and the way he ran announced at a critical moment – in the first election after 9/11 -- that Democrats were willing to take national security seriously. To take responsibility for the defense of the nation in a way that the Democratic party had not done in my lifetime.

During his campaign, John Kerry outlined a course of conduct in foreign affairs that the Bush/Cheney team ridiculed, but which it has now effectively adopted as of this date. It is a foreign policy that leans heavily on the diplomacy that George W. Bush rejected until he realized that the last tattered shreds of his legacy hung in the balance. Kerry’s vision also put the emphasis for fighting Al Qaeda on law enforcement tactics, which again the Bush administration ridiculed in 2004, but which everyone now agrees is the right approach.

In 2006 the Democratic party made the same policy arguments that we'd made in 2004. Kerry led the way in congressional races, raising as much or more than any other Democrat for other candidates, and using his own considerable online outreach and activism to do so. Before Barack Obama's team blew the doors of every fundraising record in 2008, Kerry's three-million-strong email list showed what could be done in 2006 focused races around the country, and Congress fell to the Democrats as a result.

Obama Trip Director Marvin Nicholson, formerly John Kerry's body man, tosses a pumpkin with Obama’s body man Reggie Love.

Elected in 2006, among others, was Senator Jim Webb of Virginia. Webb -- a former Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration, a former Republican, and a veteran of the Vietnam War -- had taken notice of the Democratic party and its willingness to embrace national security and foreign policy in a mature way in the 2004 campaign. After rejecting the fear mongering of the Republican party and the arrogance and incompetence of George W. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, Webb signed on with the Democrats and went on to win a narrow, pivotal, critical come-from-behind victory over a Republican candidate who had been considered a front runner for the Republican nomination for President in 2008. In doing so, Jim Webb became, in 2006, a leading indicator of what has now become a wave of Republicans embracing that same Democratic message in 2008, as put forward by Barack Obama.

Critical in all of this is that the message Democrats projected to voters in 2004, 2006 and now in 2008 has not changed. Where in previous years we might have swung wildly back and forth between policy positions, Democrats are now seen as the adults in the room, recognizing the problems we face and offering reasoned – as opposed to ideological -- solutions. There has been very little trash talk or in-your-face values mongering on the part of Democrats and progressives over the past four years. Instead, the emphasis has been on the problems at hand, and how reason and resolve can solve those problems. The candidates may have changed, but the message has stayed the same, and it is a message that crystallized in 2004.

While the race for the 2004 nomination created friction within the Democratic party, it also produced agreement. After Kerry took the nomination he embraced not only the online fundraising example of the Dean campaign, which pioneered so many of the techniques now being used by the Obama campaign, but Kerry also supported Howard Dean's candidacy for chairmanship of the DNC. Later, when Dean announced that he would pursue a 50-state strategy, foreshadowing if not laying the groundwork for the Obama campaign, Kerry defended Dean against James Carville, who brazenly tried to oust Dean from his chairmanship. While the 50-state strategy didn't pay off at the presidential level in 2004, it delivered Congress to the Democrats in 2006, and has now helped position a Democratic presidential nominee to take states that were considered solidly Republican only a few years ago. Again, a clear line of continuity exists between John Kerry's politic choices in 2004, the expanding of the map in 2006, and the explosion of the map in 2008.

It is said that although the Republicans lost in 1964, Barry Goldwater laid down a conservative course in that year that would lead the Republican party to victories by Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Bush. Whatever you think of those presidents, the Republican party adopted Goldwater's course in large measure and stuck with it, gaining credibility with moderate and independent voters along the way as the Vietnam War went awry.

In 2004 John Kerry and you and I may not have won the fight for the White House, but we charted a course and embraced a point of view that the Democratic party is still holding to. It is the vision of Kerry and Dean, and now, Obama, and it defines a new direction for the Democratic Party. For the first time in over twenty-five years, we will not have a Bush or a Clinton running the country -- or the Machiavellian Carville/Matalin cabal behind both families -- and I can't help but think that's a good thing.

I do not know what toll the loss in 2004 took on John Kerry. What I do know is that he never broke stride. He simply went back to work, fought the fight again in 2006, and helped deliver Congress to the Democrats. In 2008, when Barack Obama stumbled in New Hampshire, John Kerry was the first to step in and endorse Obama in the wake of his loss, giving legitimacy to Obama's candidacy at a critical time and making it clear that the Democratic party was not the private property of the Clinton campaign.

I became involved in the 2004 campaign, and supported John Kerry, because I knew as an American and as a citizen that I would not respect myself if I stood on the sidelines. It wasn't that I needed to win, it was that I needed to stand in opposition to the course George W. Bush had charted for our country and the world, and I did that. For a year and a half, as a volunteer putting in full-time hours, I fought for my country. And if I learned anything along the way about John Kerry it's that I think he decided to run in 2004 -- against a sitting war President -- for the same reason. He knew the odds were against him, and he knew -- as the Clintons clearly did -- that 2008 would be an easier row to hoe, but he didn't take the easy road. I will always respect him for that.

It didn't surprise me that John Kerry gave Barack Obama the keynote address at Kerry's own convention in 2004. Barack Obama's 2008 platform is almost identical to John Kerry's platform, and that doesn't surprise me either. Obama's fundraising machinery is the 2.0 version of the online activism pioneered by Dean and Kerry in 2004, and battle-tested again in 2006. And the seeds of the fights now taking place in traditional Republican states like Missouri and Virginia and North Caroline were planted by Dean and Kerry when they laid the groundwork for a 50-state strategy by refusing to knuckle under to the bullying of James Carville.

Where we are now in 2008 is directly related to where we were and what we did in 2004. And I want to take this moment to thank John Kerry personally for setting us on a course that we have not had to back away from.

Cowgirl Salute: A tale of two women

2008-10-31T09:25:00.005-05:00

North Charleston Woman Uses Last Moments In Life to Vote

North Charleston, S.C. - For a 93-year old North Charleston woman, casting her vote was a matter of life and death. Very little was missing in Dora Fitzgerald's 93 years of life, she had a marriage of 65 years and family that spreads generations, but politics was never a passion until the final year of her life.

“She was very moved for Barack Obama’s passion for fixing things, and his articulate way of delivering his message and she just decided she was going to vote for him,” said her daughter, M. Fitzgerald.

But as her health declined M Fitzgerald took care of her mother, watching her slowly slip away.

“It was beautiful, it was sad, tragic, you prepare for it, you know it's coming, and still when it happens, you’re completely crushed,” said M. Fitzgerald.

But Mrs. Fitzgerald didn’t leave quietly, there was unfinished business.

"She said I don’t know if I’m going to live that long, but I plan on sticking around to vote for him,” said M. Fitzgerald.

Fearful that November was too long to wait, her daughter sent for an absentee ballot. It arrived last week.

“She made her mark, and we put it in the envelope, my brother and I walked to the mailbox, it was 11 o’clock Wednesday morning and I said ‘Mom its in the mail, you’ve done your thing, Barack’s going to win,’ and she kind of smiled and it was kind of a deep sigh, a sigh of relief, and in less than an hour later, she died,” said M. Fitzgerald.

Daughter of slave votes for Obama

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.

The middle child of 13, Jones, who is African American, is part of a family that has lived in Bastrop County for five generations. The family has remained a fixture in Cedar Creek and other parts of the county, even when its members had to eat at segregated barbecue dives and walk through the back door while white customers walked through the front, said Amanda Jones' 68-year-old daughter, Joyce Jones.

For at least a decade, Amanda Jones worked as a maid for $20 a month, Joyce Jones said. She was a housewife for 72 years and helped her now-deceased husband, C.L. Jones, manage a store.

Amanda Jones, a delicate, thin woman wearing golden-rimmed glasses, giggled as the family discussed this year's presidential election. She is too weak to go the polls, so two of her 10 children — Eloise Baker, 75, and Joyce Jones — helped her fill out a mail-in ballot for Barack Obama, Baker said. "I feel good about voting for him," Amanda Jones said.

Jones' father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family, and once he was freed, he was a farmer who raised cows, hogs and turkeys on land he owned. Her mother was born right after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Joyce Jones said. The family owned more than 100 acres of land in Cedar Creek at one point, she said.

Amanda Jones' father urged her to exercise her right to vote, despite discriminatory practices at the polls and poll taxes meant to keep black and poor people from voting. Those practices were outlawed for federal elections with the 24th Amendment in 1964, but not for state and local races in Texas until 1966.

Four more days.

Morning Dolly -- Cause I can.

2008-10-30T07:53:00.000-05:00

I approve this message

2008-10-29T09:51:00.000-05:00

2008-10-28T21:21:00.003-05:00

Please go to VoteVets.org and support these ads.

Especially this one, in honor of my hero Max Cleland. Cause nothin' could make me feel better than sending Saxby back underneath the slimy rock he crawled out from.

Hope baby, hope

2008-10-28T16:31:00.002-05:00

Well, this here video provided me with my third cry of the day.

How exactly do I make it through next Tuesday?

2008-10-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

2008-10-28T15:56:00.001-05:00

From one of Liberal Cowgirl's former homes...Watch this.

2008-10-28T11:29:00.000-05:00

Rockin'

2008-10-28T09:51:00.001-05:00

2008-10-27T21:34:00.001-05:00

Advice to self.

Carolina on my mind

2008-10-27T19:52:00.000-05:00

And don't miss the slideshow....

2008-10-27T18:31:00.000-05:00

Overwhelmed

2008-10-27T15:28:00.006-05:00

Apologies to all for the dark week. All four of you. It's just that right after the final debate, I became frozen. I inhaled and stayed there. Suddenly, the last decade, or since the Clinton impeachment, became one solid mass sitting on my chest. The stolen election in 2000, the horrifying lead-up to the war, the hi-jacking of our patriotism and our Constitution, the amount of my soul I gave to the effort to elect John Kerry, and missing by a few votes in Ohio, all of it seems to be suffocating me as we close in on this next election.

Adding to all of this, the man we may elect as our next President is an EPIC answer to all that has come before. He is one of the few things that could actually tilt the world back toward the place before Newt and Rove. He is symbolism incarnate. He is a good man. And on a personal note, he is a published poet which confirms so much of what I think about the world he sees when he looks out on us all.

Then of course we've had all the talk about the 'real America' and 'Pro-American parts' of our country. Well, Liberal Cowgirl comes from deep in the heart of Pro-American real America, and has lived in the capital of Elite Con-American fake America, New York City. And let me tell you, nothing gets my dander (or my blood pressure) up more than this bullshit. I have seen the best of human beings and the worst, and I have seen it spread across the three southern states and the three northern states where I have spent my life. I have had people on a New York city street rescue me and tend to me when I fainted, and I have jumped out of a moving cab when a driver seemed intent on killing me. Down south, I have seen stupidity but I have seen the kind of dignity that eclipses all else. In fact, the reason I named this blog Liberal Cowgirl a few years back, was because I wanted it to be known that being a cowgirl at heart didn't make me a Bush supporter and being Liberal didn't make me love America one drop less.

Thankfully, this week has been full of news about other red-staters and some very impressive conservatives saying enough is enough. In fact, I just got wind that Junior Johnson has just endorsed Obama. Well, let me tell you that my grand-father had a little something to do with one of the first dirt tracks on what would become NASCAR.

There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America - there's the United States of America.

Barack Obama

So, on that note, I will be here at the Liberal Cowgirl outpost, trying to stem the oncoming mix of dread and fear and dread....until something happens next Tuesday. I am going to do a few posts, some of them sent in from readers and friends. And I am going to be trying, trying, to know hope.

Here we go...

A friend sent in this video from the movie Tootsie. He says he thinks it's as good as any explanation of why John McCain cannot win. The important part runs till around 2:25.

Here is one not to miss from Milbank.

From Frank Rich.

This one came from someone who must have known I needed a shot of unabashed optimism...grooves by MC Yogi.

Ah...yes...EXACTLY...from Larry David.

And this has to be one of my all time favorite photos, sent in from another one of my all time favorite photographers. You can also find more fantastic shots here.

Here is her caption: "From the early days of 2006, people in Iowa turned out for events with Obama. I knew he could win the state. People of all races, income levels and ages would show up en masse. This continued throughout 2007 and 2008."

Okay, that'll do it for now. I'm feeling better having written this. Or at least I was before someone just told me about the ATF breaking up a skin-head plot to hurt Obama and some innocent kids.

This may be the longest seven days of my life.

(Oh, and a special shout-out to my two favorite cowgirls who left me some comments while I was having my little come undone)

2008-10-27T14:06:00.000-05:00

Chuck Hagel throws it down on the table.

2008-10-15T16:03:00.003-05:00

Hey boys, you're a little late to the Cowgirl party.

New Hampshire, Smampshire

2008-10-15T15:47:00.005-05:00

This is a great article from The Seattle Times. It supports my theory that it history will see the Palin pick more than the economy as the thing that devastated John McCain.

Here is a snippet....

As blue as our state is, it's not so blue that a freewheeling Republican like John McCain couldn't win here.

It doesn't look like that's going to happen now. After traveling around the state these past two weeks, I think I can pinpoint the precise day McCain lost it.

August 29, 2008. The day he picked Sarah Palin.

It seemed like a smart choice at the time. There are 200,000 more female voters here than male. It's nearly impossible to win this state without carrying the female vote. Especially independent women.

What an irony Palin turned out to be. Nothing seems to be driving women to Barack Obama faster than the first female on a national ticket in 24 years.

Like Patricia West, a retired teacher from Mount Vernon. She was considering McCain last summer. Not any more.

"It's such a letdown, it's so obvious she's unqualified," said West, 71. "What gets me is the only reason she's in there is because she has two X chromosomes. That's as cynical and as sexist as if they'd excluded someone for being a woman."

Personally, I think they're being like totally unfair.

Sarah Palin must really dig the North West.

(Sorry New Hampshire...but Liberal Cowgirl still loves you)

2008-10-14T12:09:00.003-05:00

Whoa, Sun

2008-10-13T21:47:00.003-05:00

Go here for some insanely cool images of our sun.

(I must admit, they also brought on the same kind of existential angst I get when I see a picture of a heart, or even think of my heart, or hear my own heart, but that is another story...)

2008-10-13T21:33:00.000-05:00

The Globe endorses

O'Bama

2008-10-13T21:12:00.000-05:00

Lifting us up

2008-10-13T10:45:00.001-05:00

not tearing us down.

Sigh...I spoke too soon

2008-10-13T10:39:00.003-05:00

Now John McCain is back to feeding the crazies no matter what the consequence.

He would have to know what the context is?

Unbelievable.

Well, sadly, not really.

Here's more from a great Virginia blog.

Thank you, John McCain

2008-10-10T18:00:00.002-05:00

I'm hoping this means he has come to his senses and realized you can only put gas on a fire for so long before people get hurt.

I used to admire this man and I hope some day I can come to terms with what he has done during this campaign.

Cowgirl Award

2008-10-10T11:15:00.001-05:00

2008-10-10T11:01:00.001-05:00

YES

Divided we fall

2008-10-10T10:18:00.002-05:00

It's easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that's not what we need right now in the United States. The times are too serious. The challenges are too great. The American people aren't looking for someone who can divide this country -- they're looking for someone who will lead it. We're in a serious crisis -- now, more than ever, it is time to put country ahead of politics. Now, more than ever, it is time to bring change to Washington so that it works for the people of this country that we love.

I know my opponent is worried about his campaign. But that's not what I'm concerned about. I'm thinking about the Americans losing their jobs, and their homes, and their life savings. We can't afford four more years of the economic theory that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.

Barack Obama

10-10-08

2008-10-08T12:56:00.000-05:00

You go girl.

We Shall Be Free

2008-10-08T12:20:00.004-05:00

I wanted John Kerry to try and get Garth Brooks to sing this at the 2004 convention. It is one of my all time favorites.

You can find the lyrics here.

And here is the Obama version:

Real freedom. We shall.

2008-10-07T15:47:00.000-05:00

More here....

Why does Sarah Palin hate America?

2008-10-07T14:49:00.001-05:00

Missing the Point

2008-10-07T12:11:00.002-05:00

David Kurtz over at TPM is right when he says this:

The media keep talking about how McCain's slide in the polls is "out of his control" because of the economic collapse (see Dana Milbank todayfor one example). That's silly, and sets people up to somehow feel sorry for poor, poor John McCain. His position in the polls is completely within his control, just as it is for Obama. If McCain actually had a plan on the economy outside of cutting taxes and FURTHER deregulation, if he focused on how to fix it every day, rather than on Bill Ayers and terrorists and Rev. Wright, if he talked about the issues that matter to most Americans, the polls might be trending in his favor.

However, he joins a lot of other people who are missing the point about McCain's slide. Sarah Palin. She cannot be denied, oh no. Days before an economic crisis, his vice-presidential gamble started unraveling in front of America. And America got (rightly) scared about the possibility of this woman taking over two wars and capitalism on the edge of disaster.

I'm John McCain, the fundamentals of the economy are strong and Sarah Palin is qualified to be president.

The only question now is whether he'll be able to whip up enough racism and hatred in order to make people forget.

Let's hope not.

2008-10-07T06:20:00.000-05:00

Things are getting ugly, but we knew it would

2008-10-07T06:05:00.003-05:00

They are trying to whip up a bunch of fear and hate, and make no mistake, it will have an effect. They do not care that vile and truly frightening things are being yelled at their rallies. They hear it, and they do nothing but feed into it.

However, I strongly disagree this is happening only because they are down in the polls. Unfortunately for them, they waited until Obama has built a very real (landslide territory) lead in the polls, which means people will see it as desperation. But I do believe this was the plan all along. Unload at the end and squeak across the finish line, no matter what happens to our country after it is over. I mean, who cares if we are left with deep wounds, whipped up hate, two wars and a tanking economy. And who cares if we are left facing the very real possibility of Sarah Palin as President of the United States.

It is not desperation, it is power at all cost. Even if it is the American people, and the entire planet, who will pay that cost.

Get ready, the light is going to get harder to see.

But it will be there and we must all keep our eye on it.

Cowboys and Indians

2008-10-05T10:06:00.003-05:00

Must see TV

2008-10-05T09:52:00.000-05:00

Wink, baby, wink

2008-10-04T08:02:00.004-05:00

Here is one of Andrew Sullivan's readers on Rich Lowry's comments about Palin's winking really 'doing it for him' and sending "starbursts" into his room:

In reaction to Rich Lowry, I'm sure I'm not the only woman who, upon reading his words, sat up a little straighter and said, "Is he kidding? Is he goddamn kidding me?" Is this the kind of reaction the women in this country should want men to have to the possible first female Vice Presidential candidate in history? Holy hell.

I thought Palin's performance at the debate was downright embarrassing and on top of that I have to read this clown's blog, stating more or less that Palin gave him an erection? Little starbursts my ass. Here's what I thought when Palin "dropped" that first wink at us: "Did she just wink at us like she was America's cocktail waitress?" Rich Lowry is on the verge of slapping Sarah Palin on the ass and asking her for another of those fantastic whiskey sours.

And here's Cheryl's reaction from the Liberal Cowgirl comments:

What? You don't like her winks?

Hey, when I was in grad school in the 70's, I had to work TWICE as hard as the guys in my department! I was the ONLY female admitted the winter quarter in my field of study. "Ya betcha" I had to work hard. And, I was married, so I didn't FLIRT with the other guys and use my sexuality to get ahead. Good, old-fashioned STUDYING and hard work! No winks.

We have to defeat this woman. As if a war and a trashed economy aren't enough, now we have to win in order to prevent the complete erosion of all the work so many women have done in order to allow us all to live and work without winking.

Everyone. Must. Vote.

2008-10-03T10:34:00.000-05:00

The Female POV

2008-10-03T08:15:00.003-05:00

I learned early on, without anyone teaching me, that if I did not want to take a path where I used my gender to get out of showing up prepared and working hard, then I needed to show up and work hard. Harder than anybody else. I figured out that in order to be taken seriously, I should do my homework, have relentless resolve, and basically be ready to do the equal work so that my claim to have equal pay would be legitimate.

So when a woman like Sarah Palin shows up and blows a hole through my brand of pragmatic, common-sense feminism, it does not make Liberal Cowgirl very happy.

Sarah Palin stands on the shoulders of so many women who decided not to use their gender in order to get out of their homework just because they could. Yet, she winks at the TV camera knowing it will obscure her total lack of preparedness for the job which she is applying for, and that job could very well put her in possession of the nuclear codes one day.

I am angry at her.

It's Bush, all over again.

2008-10-03T07:55:00.004-05:00

Watching last night's debate was not pleasant for me. I thought it would be fun to see her vacuous answers and just some great political theatre.

But after the past eight years, after what has been inflicted on our country, to see one of the four candidates be a clueless robotic TV personality was unexpectedly painful.

What is the difference between Sarah Palin and George Bush? Lipstick and a having father who's actually qualified to be President.

2008-10-01T18:32:00.001-05:00

This makes total sense.

Zero

2008-10-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

John McCain: Leader

2008-09-30T18:18:00.000-05:00

Play along - Which character is Katie Couric?

2008-09-30T15:31:00.006-05:00

Okay, it is now official. Every day I there is another drip, drip, of Sarah Palin and Katie Couric (see post below for what happens when she brings a parent) and I am now convinced Katie is a lead actor in the Shakespearean drama of this election. She is slowing killing someone who apparently keeps showing up and saying, "More poison, please!"

I've been reader Chaucer and Woolf all day, so I cannot even begin to figure out which Shakespearean character Katie is, but I'd be happy to hear any ideas if something occurs to you.

Meanwhile, the plot thickens as Lady Couric deceptively causes Queen Palin to argue for the election of her rival, Knight Obama.

2008-09-29T19:38:00.001-05:00

This would be funny.

If we weren't talking about an imploding country with nukes.

I can feel myself starting to hold my breath

2008-09-28T21:00:00.001-05:00

Putin, rearing his head into our airspace. Call Sarah Palin! And Quick!

2008-09-28T20:54:00.002-05:00

2008-09-26T13:59:00.001-05:00

Hmmm...I wonder if Sarah Palin was watching "the airspace" when this went down?

Colbert strikes at the heart of the matter

2008-09-25T09:57:00.000-05:00

No more shitburgers.

"Any change is as good as a vacation at this point. I don't know if you've paid much attention to the past eight years, but it has been a shit burger supreme. If somebody gives me an empty burger, it's better than eating shit."

-- Stephen Colbert, setting aside his conservative TV pundit character for an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Free Sarah Palin

2008-09-23T22:42:00.001-05:00

Cowgirl Award

2008-09-23T19:17:00.000-05:00

2008-09-23T12:55:00.004-05:00

Welcome to Communism, Republican style.

And this is after they tried to prevent the press from being able to have any access to Palin's meetings, beyond straight propaganda. And this is a person who has yet to hold one single press conference who could very well be THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES in just four short months.

What's next John McCain?

Tanks in the square?

I'm not kidding.

Our democracy is at risk and this country better wake the fuck up and save it or our children will never know the kind of freedom we have been blessed with.

2008-09-22T19:54:00.000-05:00

Darn shame about this guy.

The Coliseum

2008-09-22T19:04:00.008-05:00

Just flipping through my ten channels and landed on the intro to

Dancing with the Stars.

Then the Iraq War came into my mind.

Then the collapse of our economic system.

Fiddle.... Fiddle.....Fiddle.

2008-09-22T14:49:00.007-05:00

Best Endorsement Ever

Humane Society Legislative Fund Endorses Obama-Biden

One of the guiding principles of the Humane Society Legislative Fund is that we evaluate candidates based on a single criterion: where they stand on animal protection policies. We don't make decisions based on party affiliation, or any other social issue, or even how many pets they have. We care about their views and actions on the major policy debates relating to animal welfare.

It stirs controversy to get involved in candidate elections. But we believe that candidates for office and current lawmakers must be held accountable, or they will see the animal protection movement as a largely irrelevant political constituency. In order to have good laws, we need good lawmakers, and involvement in elections is an essential strategy for any serious social movement, including our cause.

While we've endorsed hundreds of congressional candidates for election, both Democrats and Republicans, we've never before endorsed a presidential candidate. We have members on the left, in the center, and on the right, and we knew it could be controversial to choose either party's candidate for the top office in the nation. But in an era of sweeping presidential power, we must weigh in on this most important political race in the country. Standing on the sidelines is no longer an option for us.

I'm proud to announce today that the HSLF board of directors -- which is comprised of both Democrats and Republicans -- has voted unanimously to endorse Barack Obama for President. The Obama-Biden ticket is the better choice on animal protection, and we urge all voters who care about the humane treatment of animals, no matter what their party affiliation, to vote for them.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has been a solid supporter of animal protection at both the state and federal levels. As an Illinois state senator, he backed at least a dozen animal protection laws, including those to strengthen the penalties for animal cruelty, to help animal shelters, to promote spaying and neutering, and to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption. In the U.S. Senate, he has consistently co-sponsored multiple bills to combat animal fighting and horse slaughter, and has supported efforts to increase funding for adequate enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and federal laws to combat animal fighting and puppy mills.

On the other hand.....

While McCain's positions on animal protection have been lukewarm, his choice of running mate cemented our decision to oppose his ticket. Gov. Sarah Palin's (R-Alaska) retrograde policies on animal welfare and conservation have led to an all-out war on Alaska's wolves and other creatures. Her record is so extreme that she has perhaps done more harm to animals than any other current governor in the United States.

Palin engineered a campaign of shooting predators from airplanes and helicopters, in order to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for trophy hunters. She offered a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf as an economic incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more of the animals, even though Alaska voters had twice approved a ban on the practice. This year, the issue was up again for a vote of the people, and Palin led the fight against it -- in fact, she helped to spend $400,000 of public funds to defeat the initiative.

The whole endorsement is worth a read.

Owned

2008-09-22T13:52:00.000-05:00

2008-09-21T20:54:00.000-05:00

Juke Box Love Song

I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem's heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day—
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.

~Langston Hughes

Is this dude President yet?

2008-09-21T16:35:00.002-05:00

And,to my peeps in North Carolina, including the 30,000 of you that Obama is speaking to in this video....Go (tarheel) blue!

Saturday Night Cowgirl

2008-09-20T19:51:00.003-05:00

I lived through work-shopping my first short story this week!

In honor of the occasion, I bring you the song featured in my story.

Rut-Ro

2008-09-20T19:40:00.001-05:00

Krugman:

Here’s what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!

My Take...Two

2008-09-20T19:36:00.003-05:00

Soon after Sarah Disasta' was picked, I posted my take on what had gone down.

After that, I lost several nights of sleep over the fact that women seemed to be ignoring the facts and flocking to her fashion. However, once I settled down I started to think of Disasta' as an accident that showed no immediate signs of impending death, yet caused serious internal injuries which would eventually end John McCain's chances of being President.

I do believe I was right.

A few days ago, I saw this data concerning the congressional races.

It has worked, they've stopped the bleeding in their traditionally safe races in places like Georgia and Mississippi. The pick of an evangelical celebrity gave them some oxygen. But the people in the great center of the country, well they got a real good look into how seriously John McCain takes this country's security (must-read on this subject) because he picked a crooked, clueless, prom-queen to be next in line to the presidency.

My prediction, unless racism is more rampant than I think it is, the race is now Obama's to loose.

Cowboy Boots!

2008-09-20T18:28:00.004-05:00

I got this from Cowgirl Up blog, which helps me to get out in the country and see things like a beautiful harvest moon in the open sky.

I must admit, I was quite thrilled with my result. Finally, a test I didn't even need to prepare for!

You Are Cowboy Boots

This doesn't mean you're country, just funky.
You've got a ton of attitude and confidence.
You're unique, expressive, and even a little bit wacky.
You wear whatever you feel like – and you have your own sense of style.
You are straight shooting and honest. You tell people how it is.
Low maintenance and free wheeling, you're always up for an adventure.
You should live: Where you can at least get to wide open spaces.
You should work: In a job that allows you to take change

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Or, we could have this.....

2008-09-20T16:07:00.001-05:00

2008-09-17T11:46:00.001-05:00

It is videos like this which confirm my belief that win or lose, supporting this man was the right thing to do.

2008-09-16T14:01:00.001-05:00

Wow.

Just Wow.

Cowgirl uppin'

2008-09-15T20:36:00.001-05:00

"Sarah knows how to field-dress a moose. I know how to castrate a calf. Neither of those things has anything at all to do with this election. But since we know so much about Sarah's special skills, I wanted to make sure you knew about mine too."

-- Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge (D), quoted by Iowa Politics, on Sen. John McCain's running mate.

Bail'in on Palin

2008-09-13T20:31:00.002-05:00

Here's a little send off from Alaska...Alaska

**Updated to include these fantastic photos!

Look at those awesome signs....and women.

Does the heart good.

My Take - Two

2008-09-13T16:17:00.005-05:00

Soon after Sarah Disasta' was picked, I posted my take on what had gone down.

After that, I lost several nights of sleep over the fact that women seemed to be ignoring the facts and flocking to her fashion. However, once I settled down I started to think of Disasta' as an accident that showed no immediate signs of impending death, yet caused serious internal injuries which would eventually end John McCain's chances of being President.

I do believe I was right.

A few days ago, I saw this data concerning the congressional races.

It has worked, they've stopped the bleeding in their traditionally safe races in places like Georgia and Mississippi. The pick of an evangelical celebrity, gave them some oxygen. But the people in the great center of the country, well they got a real good look into how seriously John McCain takes this country's security (must-read on this subject) because he picked a crooked, clueless, prom-queen, to be next in line to the presidency.

My prediction, unless racism is more rampant than I think it is, the race is now Obama'a to loose.

Thumbs up on this thumbs down

2008-09-13T11:06:00.003-05:00

From a cowgirl commenter....this is a fantastic take from Roger Ebert.

I think I might be able to explain some of Sarah Palin's appeal. She's the "American Idol" candidate. Consider. What defines an "American Idol" finalist? They're good-looking, work well on television, have a sunny personality, are fierce competitors, and so talented, why, they're darned near the real thing. There's a reason "American Idol" gets such high ratings. People identify with the contestants. They think, Hey, that could be me up there on that show!

My problem is, I don't want to be up there. I don't want a vice president who is darned near good enough. I want a vice president who is better, wiser, well-traveled, has met world leaders, who three months ago had an opinion on Iraq. Someone who doesn't repeat bald- faced lies about earmarks and the Bridge to Nowhere. Someone who doesn't appoint Alaskan politicians to "study" global warming, because, hello! It has been studied. The returns are convincing enough that John McCain and Barack Obama are darned near in agreement.

I would also want someone who didn't make a teeny little sneer when referring to "people who go to the Ivy League." When I was a teen I dreamed of going to Harvard, but my dad, an electrician, told me, "Boy, we don't have the money. Thank your lucky stars you were born in Urbana and can go to the University of Illinois right here in town." So I did, very happily. Although Palin gets laughs when she mentions the "elite" Ivy League, she sure did attend the heck out of college.

Five different schools in six years. What was that about?

And how can a politician her age have never have gone to Europe? My dad had died, my mom was working as a book-keeper and I had a job at the local newspaper when, at 19, I scraped together $240 for a charter flight to Europe. I had Arthur Frommer's $5 a Day under my arm, started in London, even rented a Vespa and drove in the traffic of Rome. A few years later, I was able to send my mom, along with the $15 a Day book.

The rest can be found here.

2008-09-12T16:00:00.003-05:00

Women Against Sarah Palin

100,000 letters and counting.....

Existential Humor

2008-09-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

Pre-Game Coin Toss Makes Jacksonville Jaguars Realize Randomness Of Life

2008-09-11T23:33:00.004-05:00

The Niagara River

As though
the river were
a floor, we position
our table and chairs
upon it, eat, and
have conversation.
As it moves along,
we notice—as
calmly as though
dining room paintings
were being replaced—
the changing scenes
along the shore. We
do know, we do
know this is the
Niagara River, but
it is hard to remember
what that means.

~Kay Ryan

Hey, Steve Schmidt

2008-09-11T22:59:00.006-05:00

Have tons of fun juggling a live hand grenade until November.

Make Karl proud. Boy Howdy.

2008-09-10T18:20:00.000-05:00

2008-09-10T18:12:00.001-05:00

Hey fellow moms, this is for you

2008-09-09T10:48:00.000-05:00

2008-09-08T19:11:00.000-05:00

2008-09-08T18:19:00.002-05:00

Cowgirl Quote of the Day or Two

2008-09-07T10:30:00.003-05:00

This is a pitbull with lipstick?
More like a cowering chihuahua.

Andrew Sullivan

Hillbilly Music Saturday Night

2008-09-06T19:41:00.000-05:00

2008-09-05T15:29:00.000-05:00

Snark back.

2008-09-05T15:20:00.000-05:00

Cowgirl Award

2008-09-05T14:42:00.001-05:00

Goes to the very non-politcal - Mom.

Um, reformer and liar both have the letter R?

2008-09-05T14:22:00.000-05:00

I get a kick out of my Facebook updates

2008-09-05T14:16:00.003-05:00

****** loves the Filipino song "Bulaklak".

****** is reliving his childhood horror after watching "The Dummy" episode of The Twilight Zone.

****Inside Battersea Power Station. In a 6.7 litre Bentley turbo that does 8mpg. With a cockney gasbag doing Benny Hill impersonations.

Hope baby, hope

2008-09-04T19:42:00.000-05:00

2008-09-04T19:07:00.002-05:00

As predicted, Sarah is a hit in a very big way.

But alas, no snarling speech will keep the scandals at bay.

So for now, Liberal Cowgirl had a very long day.

And will simply ask Jon Stewart, to take it away.

Bring on the melancholy

2008-09-03T19:32:00.003-05:00

Although I can chalk a lot of what I'm feeling today as back-to-school crazies, I realized today the weather is also freaking me out.

It's been too damn nice for too damn long!

The most beautiful August...ever. Every day sun and perfect temps. And I can't take it anymore. I need a rainy day. A day that clouds me and allows me to hang in its dreariness.

Thankfully, it looks like we'll my have a stormy day this weekend.

Until then, I'll post this great read, In Praise of Melancholy.

The answer is simple: fear. Most hide behind a smile because they are afraid of facing the world's complexity, its vagueness, its terrible beauties. If we stay safely ensconced behind our painted grins, then we won't have to encounter the insecurities attendant upon dwelling in possibility, those anxious moments when one doesn't know this from that, when one could suddenly become almost anything at all. Even though this anxiety, usually over death, is in the end exhilarating, a call to be creative, it is in the beginning rather horrifying, a feeling of hovering in an unpredictable abyss. Most of us habitually flee from that state of mind, try to lose ourselves in distraction and good cheer. We don inauthenticity as a mask, a disguise to protect us from the abyss.

Remember

2008-09-03T19:19:00.003-05:00

Everyone should remember the electoral map after Sarah Palin gives what will be called a game-changing, brilliant!!, base firing up, smooth, we should not have ever underestimated her speech.

Remember the electoral map when no one puts her speech in context and reminds the audience she was a Journalism Major and former newscaster, which makes her an actual pro at this kind of thing.

Remember when they only talk about the baby, and not the potential crimes and misconduct and lies.

Just remember, it means nothing.

The sound and fury....

2008-09-02T18:53:00.001-05:00

Double Uh Oh

2008-09-02T18:48:00.001-05:00

Uh Oh

2008-09-02T18:19:00.000-05:00

Pro-wha?