Bush Compares Himself to Washington

Where can I hurl?

Today the Deciderator actually had the gall to compare himself to George Washington, a man who had to be practically shanghaied into running for President and who maintained that Executive powers should be governed by restraint:

"I feel right at home here. After all, this is the home of the first George W. I thank President Washington for welcoming us today. He doesn't look a day over 275 years old," Bush said to laughter. (AP)

Furthering Bush's madness in comparing himself to the first President:

"And as we work to advance the cause of freedom around the world, we remember that the father of our country believed that the freedoms we secured in our revolution were not meant for Americans alone."

That, as people, including American citizens, are languishing in jails from South Carolina to Guantanamo, denied basic American rights by edict of the man who would compare himself to Washington? As I remember, Washington treated British POWs well and released them at the end of the war in contrast to the British treatment of American POWs. There is no comparison between the heroics and wisdom of Washington and the incompetence and arrogance of the latter-day "George W."

But "W" leaves an opening for us. For the next eighteen months we should never pass up a chance to equate Republicans with Bush, to contrast the deeds of the latter-day "W" with the first. The GOPers are their own worst press right now and as Sun Tzu wrote: "Keep him under a strain and wear him down."

Cross-posted from "A Colorado Progressive."

Officers Elected-Campaign 2008 Begun

As you can see from the right, those place holders for officer names are now filled. We have a full slate of officers, diverse in our persons and in our residence. As one of them, I look forward to working with the rest and with everyone else at our well-attended meeting today.

Lots of ideas and lots of work, that sums up our role for our two-year terms. Matt Bryant ran a hugely successful campaign in 2006, unfortunately entrenched attitudes and an incumbent led to his loss in the election. We do not face an incumbent this time around, we have a lot of Democratic momentum on a national level and we have a prospective candidate that should do well in some of our less-blue precincts. It's an exciting time for us.

Look for more in the next weeks - we need people! And as the newly-elected HD40 Secretary, I look forward to serving you and to getting our message out in any way I can.

An Invitation from John Fulton, Chairman

Our plate will be full for our party/meeting @ 10 am, this Saturday 2/17 @ Arapahoe Democratic Party HQ, 15445 East Iliff Ave., Unit C (see map).

First item of business will be the election of House District 40 Officers for the 2007-2009 term.

Those who have announced are:

John Fulton, Chair
Matt Bryant, Vice Chair
Steve Stanley, Secretary (Outreach)
Bruce Smith, Treasurer

Other nominees may come forward before or @ the meeting.

Eligible voters for this election are the Officers of House District 40 & the Officers of the Arapahoe County & Elbert County Democratic Parties.

Our first planning session in January resulted in linking a blog to our website http://www.hd40dems.com/ (courtesy Steve Stanley); setting up a similar connection to MySpace (Dan Zuk); & agreeing to meet one Saturday a month. The third Saturday seems to be the best Saturday.

After the elections, our plan is to discuss community activity; more aggressive attempts to staff each Precinct with active Precinct Leaders (PCPs); consider ways & means to raise funds; begin to look ahead to 2008 races, & generally keep taking it to the Republicans in Our Patch.

I think this is an important meeting for several reasons & hope to see you there.

Donuts, cookies, coffee, soft drinks, bottled water will be served.

Thank you,

john

For a map to the Arapahoe County Democrats Headquarters, click here.

The Nightmare of Amendment 41

To roughly paraphrase Garrison Kiellor, the ballot initiative is a good thing - mostly. Last year we voted to approve Amendment 41, a vaguely-worded, broad measure to fight corruption in Government. Problem is it was so vaguely worded that children of lawmakers and civil servants are being denied scholarships because of it.

Well, we're stuck with it now. On another blog, I spoke out against it on other grounds: As the law was written, if my friend Matt Bryant had been elected to the State house, I couldn't have bought him a beer if that beer would have brought his annual gift total to over $50.00. If I'd have taken him to dinner, it would have to cost me less than $50.00. This extends to his family as well - had he brought his wife along, the tab couldn't have been more than $25.00 each.

Supporters argued the measure would fight corruption and it would have. The problem is that there was no problem, at least none worthy of a constitutional amendment to fight. The Blue Book specifically mentions the problem we're having, children of civil servants being unable to accept scholarships. C'est la vie, I suppose. Did no one read the book? Here's a kicker: A person with a political vendetta could demand an investigation of family members for their Christmas presents! Did you know you voted for that?

The ballot initiative is a powerful tool both for good and for ill. Our nation's founding fathers were opposed to it for the very reason illustrated by Amendment 41: Populism can lead to all sorts of bad law. Add to populism an uininformed electorate and you have a recipe for disaster. As politically active people, it is our responsibility to educate voters whenever possible to avoid disasters such as the very popular but completely wrong-headed Amendment 41.

They Don't Want To Talk About It

Today, Senate Republicans including our own Wayne Allard voted to fillibuster debate on the Iraq war. It's gone so badly, they don't want it debated in the Senate. Their tactic of trying to suppress public debate on the issue has failed - we will continue to debate Bush's Folly and we will continue to support the troops by trying to bring them home.

So how does this relate to HD40? We are a Democratic organization and the good Senator has indicated he will live by his word and not seek re-election in 2008. We will need to support the Democratic candidate - hopefully a full-fledged Democrat this time around. One way we can do so is to remind people continually that the Republicans are too embarassed to talk about their Great Experiment of bringing Democracy to the Middle East and all but two of them are on the record as opposing the debate.

We overwhelmingly rejected the War in Iraq in the last election. Republicans have apparently taken the short view of supporting their elite constituency over our views. That rejection of their electorate will cost them. It's our job to exact that price.

A Win for Labor

On a party line 4-3 vote, a measure to make it easier to organize labor unions in Colorado passed committee and is headed to the State Senate.

The son of a union steelworker and coal miner, I have first-hand experience in the good unions can bring and, to be fair, the bad. Unions got us decent wages and health care while they tricked my father and his companions into striking three weeks for a $1.50 per day increase over what the companies offered. On balance, collective bargaining is the only tool workers have against corporate tyranny. The bill negating the requirement for a second vote to organize eases the way for unions in Colorado.

Of course, the elitests on the Red side of the aisle opposed it.

Tancredo - Our Representative?

Someone convince me that Tom Tancredo is representative of the part of HD40 that lies within the 6th Congressional District. Here's an interesting article concerning his support of some rather dubious, racist-tainted functions from The Nation.

Tom's bid for the Presidency polled at less than two percent in Iowa, yet somehow he believes that the voter-rejected GOPer ideology and his patented xenophobia will somehow make him mainstream enough to make him a viable candidate. Perhaps to those who sing Dixie and wrap themselves in the Confederate flag, perhaps to those who really believe Miami is a third-world country, Tancredo is viable. I know he doesn't represent us in Colorado's sixth. It's time we voted that way.