Tag Archive for "Election"

Posts Tagged Election

Why 34 mentions of Israel got me trashed last night

Before last night’s debate, I created a little drinking game for myself and anyone who wanted to join. The instructions were to drink every time Israel was mentioned and drink twice every time the candidate emphasized how close he was with Israel and/or its Prime Minister or criticized his opponent for not being close enough. I had no idea how intoxicating and expensive this drinking game would be. Because it turns out that during the debate, Israel was mentioned 34 times!

I was too trashed from all the Israel mentions to keep track of how many times the candidates praised Israel or accused each other of not hearting Israel sufficiently, so I had to check the transcript.

From Obama

it [Israel] ...

By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

Quick hit: The last presidential emcee battle

So the biggest fallout from the last presidential debate of 2012 might be the most awesome MC diss made by head of state to an opposing candidate. Followed by the best commander-in-chief mansplaining I’ve ever seen in the history of evers:

And the interenets responded with the kind of gumption and American ingenuity that I’d expect.

Perhaps Ann’s round up of responses best captures our collective reactions to the tit for tat between Romney and Obama in this last face off as we head into the final stretch of the forever presidential race.

By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

‘Easier as a Latino?’ Actually… Rosie Perez says your policies suck Mitt.

Rosie Perez offers some real talk on an old Romney ‘gaffe’ from all those way back news cycles in September. You remember, the one where Romney says “But he [my father] was born in Mexico. Had he’d been born of Mexican parents, I’d have a better shot at winning this thing. And I say that jokingly but it would be helpful to be Latino.” Yeah. Rosie hadn’t forgotten. Neither should we.

I mean, dude, seriously. She’s right. You really didn’t have to go ‘full John Boehner with the spray tan.’ We all noticed. We really did.

By Samhita • 11 years ago

Vote for strong families

Strong Families, an initiative to raise awareness and change policy around poverty as it impacts all of us, is running an election day campaign to increase voter turn-out. Using art and a nifty tool that allows you to upload a picture of yourself with a frame that says, “vote for us,” they are bringing attention to the reality that most of us are not living with a variety of taken for granted support structures in our lives, stating simply,

“From a lack of affordable childcare and afterschool programs, to immigration policy and marriage equality, the way we make policy and allocate resources needs to catch up to the way we live.”

The day to day wonk-o-palooza of the election can be draining and ...

By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

Two cents on the polls and the noise

Following all of the threads and commentary to our great national contest, I needed to read something centering.

Here’s 1988 Joan Didion on the presidential campaign:

When we talk about the process, then, we are talking, increasingly, not about “the democratic process,” or the general mechanism affording the citizens of a state a voice in its affairs, but the reverse: a mechanism seen as so specialized that access to it is correctly limited to its own professionals, to those who manage policy and those who report on it, to those who run the polls and those who quote them, to those who ask and those who answer the questions on the Sunday shows, to the media consultants, to the columnists, to ...

Following all of the threads and commentary to our great national contest, I needed to read something centering.

Here’s 1988 Joan Didion on the presidential campaign:

When we talk about the process, then, we are talking, increasingly, not ...

By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

“Creepy anti women laws” shown in perspective.

Comedian and writer Lizz Winstead puts these creepy laws into perspective:

Winstead launched Lady Parts Justice last week in response to GOP coordinated war on women’s bodies, health, and privacy. Winstead offers more in explanation:

Look, it’s time to stop being polite and start asking, “What the fuck do you think you are trying to pull here?”

It is time to ask, “Why the fuck are men and women who are inexcusably incompetent continually being elected into statehouses, governorships and THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS? And how the fuck is it that this asshole serves on THE SCIENCE COMMITTEE of The House of Representatives?!

ENOUGH.

Women are not faking rape and they don’t have magical powers to deactivate rape sperm. We are not ...

Comedian and writer Lizz Winstead puts these creepy laws into perspective:

Winstead launched Lady Parts Justice last week in response to GOP coordinated war on women’s bodies, health, and privacy. Winstead offers more in explanation:

Look, ...

By Samhita • 11 years ago

Post-debate reflections: Big Bird is now a partisan issue

As a country, we all sat together last night waiting for what was to come in the debates yesterday evening. Surely, it would be a good show, considering how salacious election related headlines have been. We waited for gaffes and a few zingers–oh my! Or maybe talk of the 47%?! Or for Obama to finally call Romney out for his lying habit and his penchant for protecting the interests of the super rich.

Unfortunately, most of the debate was pretty boring. The issues that many of us really wanted to hear positions on went unanswered–what’s going on with immigration reform? Reproductive rights? Equal pay? Same-sex marriage? The issues that matter to us seemed hauntingly absent.

Obama seemed shaky, but his answers ...

By zerlina • 11 years ago

Senator Scott Brown’s staffers mock Elizabeth Warren with racist chant

How charming! Senator Scott Brown’s staffers were caught on tape chanting Indian War whoops with some tomahawk chops for good measure. The racist chant is apparently intended to mock Elizabeth Warren for her Native American roots. WCVB news in Boston confirmed that Deputy Chief of Staff Greg Casey and Constituent Service Counsel Jack Richard, State Director Jerry McDermott, special assistant Jennifer Franks and GOP operative Brad Garrett are pictured in the video.

The controversy over Warren’s Native American roots has always been silly. Warren is originally from the state of Oklahoma where either you have verifiable Native American roots or you grow up hearing about how you have Native American roots. The truth is that it’s hard to prove either ...