Saturday, February 03, 2007

DNC: NPR

On the convention floor today, an NPR reporter was chatting with a couple of your UW-Madison College Democrats. Sadly, they didn't make the final cut on the radio. If you'd like to listen, you can do so here.

posted by Adam Lang at 9:02 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Video Roundup

You can watch each Democratic Presidential candidate's speeches online right now. Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, Obama, Richardson, and Vilsack all would probably appreciate you giving them your attention. So would Wes Clark.

posted by Adam Lang at 5:11 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: A Bet's Results

Brian Shactman won the bet, 45 to 30. While Iraq was mentioned at a ratio of 3:2 to healthcare, there were a couple points through the days where the spread came down to one mention. It fell apart with Sen. Gravel's speech, though, which mentioned Iraq maybe a dozen times.

posted by Adam Lang at 5:09 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Gov. Tom Vilsack

Tom Vilsack was one of the presidential candidates I was really interested to hear from, one of the serious contenders who doesn't get much media attention. He opened by explaining his turbulent life story, then connecting that to the life stories he's heard on the campaign trail like a five year old in Seattle who said he or she is scared every day. He discussed the politics of fear that's gripped the nation of the last couple years and said he's ready for "bold and courageous change." He had the largest education component to his speech where he said tweaking and adding a few dollars to No Child Left Behind is not change - ending No Child Left Behind is change. He said we can't be a nation of great standardized test takers but ought to be a nation of creative and innovative thinkers. His Iraq war segment was one of the most powerful. He pointed out that there were 500 or 600 people in the room and then asked us to look to our left and right, saying that twice this number of Americans would die in Iraq this year if we didn't bring "our troops out of harm's way now." It was a powerful comparison. He was one of three candidates (Richardson and Biden being the others) to call for sexual orientation equality. And, like many of the candidates this year, he called for the country to use its resources to end world hunger. All in all, it was a pretty solid speech with many great points, some that nobody else had made before. Tom lacked some of the character and pizzaz of the other candidates but was by no means uninspired or uninspiring.

posted by Adam Lang at 11:05 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Sen. Mike Gravel

I'd never heard anything about Gravel (other than he existed) or read anything about what he thinks up until he walked onto the stage. His speech was really long (double or triple the allotted time) and covered lots of things nobody was talking about like creating a constitutional amendment to make the national government a direct democracy.

posted by Adam Lang at 10:45 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Gov. Bill Richardson

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson gave a hell of a speech. It was surprisingly energetic, was excellently delivered, and touched on many points that had been glossed over by other candidates such as sexual orientation, teacher pay, North Korea and his diplomatic experience, a developed strategy in Iraq... However, one of his first orders of business was to call on his fellow Democrats to have a no-negativity campaign (although it wasn't clear if that call was in regard to Democrat vs. Democrat races or all the way out to the general election). I'm feeling kind of lazy in regard to recapping the substance of the speech right now (and there's a lot of it) so if it's all the same to you, I'd suggest you just watch the thing. It's about ten minutes long. It'll be on the DNC's video page at some point today.

Bill Richardson was huge on details while other candidates were big on the rhetoric. He brought out his past political experiences and made a solid case for how his diplomatic and gubernatorial experience will do good by America. I think, and the consensus in the room I'm sitting in agrees, that Richardson did the best job of putting out a solid plan for America with details where details were due while at the same time conveying a feel good message. (Others had a better feel-good message but nobody, save perhaps Biden, did a better job with the details of his plan.)

Full disclaimer: I took home a Bill Richardson rally sign and put a Bill Richardson bumper sticker on my laptop. I was sold on him today.

posted by Adam Lang at 10:15 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Sen. Joe Biden

Joe Biden opened strong as the first speaker running for something. He gave the ol' "Good morning! How was your week?" which was dripping with sarcasm and got a laugh. He then apologized for his poorly worded comments on Wednesday but didn't try to explain it away. It was all apology, not qualifiers attached. Like every Democrat, he was strong on the need to leave Iraq giving a powerful "Folks! We. Must. Stop. This. War." He then outlined an actual, comprehensive plan for his call to leave Iraq. Describing the President's escalation plan, he said "the president's surge is not a solution - it is a tragic mistake and I will do everything in my power to stop it" and "the majority of American people who oppose this war are not the ones emboldening the enemy, Mr. President - that is the one mission you have to accomplish." That last bit there generally got a surprised "whoa" from the assembled Dems who were all about it. His speech was mostly about making America the "light it once was.

All in all, Joe Biden was very personable, well spoken, and did a great job working the room. The crowd was definitely into what he was saying. Based on his speech, the Senator would do a great job leading this country.

Full disclaimer: Joe Biden wined and dined some of us last night.

posted by Adam Lang at 9:50 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Gov. Kathleen Sebelius

The opening speaker for today's events was Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. She was big on Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy and the targeting of "periodic Democrats" - those who vote in presidential elections but no others. Furthermore, she discussed working to include the alienated moderate Republicans in our big tent.

posted by Adam Lang at 9:30 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Day Two

I'm back on the show floor ready to blog away, this time with a "blogger" press credential. Stay tuned.

posted by Adam Lang at 7:22 AM 1 comments Post to DemWire

Friday, February 02, 2007

"Global Warming Isn't Happening"

Remember the next time you hear someone say "global warming isn't happening" that "the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration," offered $10,000 per article "payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)." Seriously.

The Guardian's the source. Badger Blues has a comical take. Jef4WI is in on this as well.

posted by Adam Lang at 4:39 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Miscellaneous Video

I'm not entire sure if what I'm about to say is accurate (the website's details are vague), but the DNC has posted a video of the entire general assembly proceedings today on their site. The Windows Media file is here.

posted by Adam Lang at 4:33 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

Nobel Prize

I'll echo the sentiments of Renee Crawford here. Imagine, if you will, a country in which Al Gore, nominated for a Nobel Peace Price, were the leader of the free world instead of our current President.

posted by Adam Lang at 4:23 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

The Cost

Ben Brothers over at Badger Blues is commenting on a Cap Times article on the opportunity costs of the war. From the Cap Times via Badger Blues:

Hulsey and Vedder calculated what those war dollars could have purchased in Dane County, based on the county having 0.15 percent of the U.S. population, which would work out to $1.8 billion in war dollars, or $4,000 for every man, woman and child living here.

The $1.8 billion could pay for, according to the supervisors:

• $450 million for health care for approximately 45,000 county residents who currently don’t have health care coverage.

• $100 million for a laptop computer for every student in Dane County.

• $50 million to buy thousands of acres of land that the county wants to include in the new parks and open space plan.

• $14 million to job train all returning military veterans and the other 14,000 unemployed living here.

• $20 million for a regional mass transit plan, including commuter rail and expanded bus service.

• $13 million to clean up all uncontrolled open sewer outlets going into Madison’s lakes.

That’s still less than half the $1.8 billion. “We could provide adequate affordable housing for all, support education from preschool to university age, provide child care for all working parents,” the letter states.

posted by Adam Lang at 4:19 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: A Bet

Brian Shactman, Vice Chair of the College Democrats of Wisconsin, and I made a bet on which word (with no variations on the word counting) would be said more by the featured speakers (presidential candidates and Wes Clark): Iraq or healthcare. Right now, Iraq is winning 25 to 23. So I'm losing the bet.

posted by Adam Lang at 1:33 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Coming Up

Today we heard from Gen. Wesley Clark, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chris Dodd, Sen. John Edwards, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and Sen. Barack Obama.

Up tomorrow are Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Mike Gravel, Gov. Bill Richardson, and Gov. Tom Vilsack.

The DNC has a photo gallery of today up and some words as well.

It looks like at some point the DNC will be posting video of all the speeches on their site.

posted by Adam Lang at 1:18 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Sen. Hillary Clinton

Sen. Hillary Clinton opened by introducing herself "I'm Hillary Clinton and I'm running for President." It was kind of amusing, at least to me. Her spiel had some different characteristics to it than the others. She spoke as if she was absolutely going to win the Presidency - there were not "if I'm elected" or "should I become President" in the entire speech. It was all "when I'm President." I think I'll call that positivity and confidence. The good kind. She also touched on some topics that others hadn't like corporate profits and the disparity between CEO and employee pay. She also said we should be working to end the genocide in Darfur. Also of note was an interesting statistic, that more people went bankrupt last year than graduated from college. Something's wrong with that. She called for a new economic strategy, one in which we aren't dependent on China for the foundation of our economy. In regard to the Iraq war, she said "if we in Congress don't end this war before January 2009, I will." Strong words and a concrete pledge right there. While the address seemed like it was high on soundbites, it covered many topics that weren't covered by others yet ought to be talked about.

posted by Adam Lang at 12:05 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Dennis Kucinich's speech was largely focused on foreign policy. A noteworthy portion of the speech dealt with the Iraq war, but in the context of a large idea of what the United States can do around the world as a force for good. He talked about how he's devised a plan with international peacekeepers to bring the troops home and ensure the peace in Iraq. He also discussed his travels in Lebanon where he talked with the people living there and found that they wish the American people no ill will. They're just unhappy with what our government is doing to them. To drive that point home, he brought back a piece of an exploded American bomb from Lebanon that was on display at his convention booth. In terms of domestic policy, he mentioned that he wants to make America like a city on hill, restoring the promise the country once held for its people. A significant difference between Kuchinich's speech and all the others (perhaps save Gen. Wes Clark and Sen. Harry Reid) was that his tone was quite somber and calm while the others were trying to get the crowd fired up.

posted by Adam Lang at 11:40 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Sen. John Edwards

John Edwards opened his speech by recognizing the loss of Molly Ivins, expressing gratitude for his wife being there for him, and speaking out for the need to address womens' health issues. That brought out uproarious applause. He led into asking "why are we here?" He answered his question with a series of situations in which America has shown itself to be broken. For example, he said we're here "because an eight year old girl will go to bed hungry instead of being able to draw pictures and learn multiplication." He fleshed out his answer with many, many more powerfully delivered situations that don't have to be but are. He asked the crowd to stand with those people who need help and worked the crowd in such a way that pretty much everyone was on their feet loving his vision for the future. On a foreign policy front, he spoke out against non-binding resolutions "that the president will ignore" and called for actual legislation to draw down the troops. He was out there telling us that it's not the time for political calculations but that it's time to "stand up." All in all, Edwards stood up there with Obama-eque zeal and articulated a clear vision for the future of this country. I think it might be reasonable to put Edwards up there with Obama and Hillary as the front runners in this race.

posted by Adam Lang at 11:25 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Gen. Wes Clark

I was expecting Wes Clark to announce his candidacy for president today. He was the only non-contenter to address the convention in any non-convention business way. Word around here is that he's scheduled to be on MSNBC on Sunday as well which is out of character for him. But he didn't announce. What're you going to do?

The bulk of his speech centered around his "I'm a soldier and I'm fighting for our country" theme. He was big on bringing the troops out of Iraq in a timely and sensible manner pointing out that "every time there's a casualty, I feel the pain personally." He didn't spare the President criticism saying "we have a president who mistakes stubbornness for strength and slogans for strategy." Gen. Clark's speech had the highest amount of criticism of the President, likely because he's not running for anything so he can speak his mind while the candidates were trying more to sell themselves than attack George W. Bush.

posted by Adam Lang at 11:00 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Sen. Barack Obama

One of the two heavyweights in the ring right now, Barack's the name that made the crowd explode. When the person reading his introduction said his name, everyone in the audience went absolutely crazy. The bulk of his message, as it has been for the last couple years, focused on hope, honest politics, and the need to serve the greatest good. He targeted cynicism, saying the Republicans won't be so much the problem in the coming election as cynicism and what it does to the political process and Americans' faith in their government and "we owe [Americans] an election where they are inspired." Dealing with policy ideas, he called on fellow politicians in the coming weeks, months, and years to put forth a clear, unambiguous plan for getting out of Iraq and bringing the troops home. In his closing remarks, he said "this is the time to stop talking about America as it is and start imagining America as it could be." He suggested we inspire people and it looks like he's determined to follow through with it.

Also, like many candidates today, he thanked Howard Dean for leading the Democratic Party to resounding victories across the country. He summed up the results of the 50 State Strategy quite eloquently when he said "a progressive message can compete everywhere."

On a side note, Barack was talking about "clicking cameras and the gathered pundits" when a pundit yelled out "We love you!" Perhaps that's a bit of a telling sign.

posted by Adam Lang at 9:40 AM 2 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Sen. Chris Dodd

First and foremost, Chris Dodd is a great speaker. He was engaging and interesting. Little bit of a joker, even. He didn't have all that much of a new message though. He was pretty much carrying through to his 2008 campaign what Democrats across the country ran on in 2006. Which makes sense since that worked out pretty well for pretty much everyone. He made a point of asking for a chance to be our candidate. He's obviously well aware of his underdog-ness and has no delusions about his situation. He bolstered that point by outlining the work he's done over the decades. As a pitch to the assembled Democrats, he said "bipartisanship does not mean getting Democrats to agree to Republican issues - it means getting Republicans to agree to Democratic ones." I thought that was kind of interesting. He closed his spiel by explaining why he's running, sharing a story about his daughter. On her fifth birthday, she asked him "daddy, what sort of day am I going to have?" He answered with some answer or another that I missed. Then she asked "daddy, what sort of life am I going to have?" And that's why he's running.

posted by Adam Lang at 9:15 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Sen. Harry Reid's Introduction

Senator Harry Reid opened the convention talking about the great successes the party has had over the past year. He opened with talking about the inroads we've made in states like Idaho, previously though to be Republican strongholds but places where we're now within striking distance for taking legislatures and governorships. He thanked Howard Dean profusely for his 50 State Strategy (and rightfully so). He discussed the changes that've been made in Washington already like the earmark and lobbying reform and pointed out that "for the firs time in ten years, America's working poor got a raise." He touched on the usual points of stem cell research, the Iraq war, and the 9/11 Commission recommendations. It was pretty much a boilerplate speech for the opening of the event and rightfully so.

posted by Adam Lang at 8:45 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

DNC: Live Blogging the DNC Winter Meeting

Your Wisconsin College Democrats delegation is sitting in the Grand Ballroom of the Washington DC Hilton waiting for the DNC's Winter Meetings to begin. Over the next couple hours, the Democratic Presidential Candidates and other notables will be addressing the assembled masses on their plans for the future. The speeches we hear today will shape the political debate for the coming years. And the massive amount of press set up in the back of the room is indicative of that. Our crack team of bloggers - er, just me - will be doing our - my - best to bring you updates as they happen, or at least close to it. If you'd like to follow along at home, C-SPAN will be covering it live on C-SPAN 1 starting at 9:00 AM Central (Charter channel 16 in Madison) and webcasting it at c-span.org/watch.

posted by Adam Lang at 7:39 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Nichol's Tribute to Molly Ivins

This appeared in the Capital TImes today. May each of us embody the fighting spirit that she carried with her throughout her life.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/nichols/index.php?ntid=117157

posted by Oliver Kiefer at 8:48 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The Cost

From Kottke.org:

A paper by Linda Bilmes of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government concludes that in addition to the stated cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by the Bush administration, it will cost $350 - $700 billion for the US gov't to provide health benefits and care over the lifetimes of soldiers who served there. More from the Christian Science Monitor.

posted by Adam Lang at 5:23 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

Biden's In

Biden's done exploring and has found that he's running for president.

posted by Adam Lang at 1:55 PM 0 comments Post to DemWire

Feingold to introduce bill to cut off war funding

ABC 2 WBAY:

Senator Russ Feingold wants to cut the pursestrings for the war in Iraq.

He's set to introduce a resolution that would cut off money to deploy U-S troops in Iraq after half a year. There would be an exception for training Iraqi forces or working on counterterrorism operations.

The Democrat from Wisconsin says the funding cutoff would force the president "to bring our forces out of Iraq and out of harm's way."

More at the linked article if you're interested.

posted by Adam Lang at 2:51 AM 0 comments Post to DemWire

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The views and opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the UW-Madison College Democrats. They are the views of their authors. Postings by individual board members to not necessarily represent a consensus opinion of the board or organization.