More Barack Video

Senator Obama accepting the Harold Washington Award at the CBC dinner

A Black Transgender's Perspective From the 2008 Democratic Convention

By Marisa Richmond, Ph.D.

Recently, I had the honor and privilege of serving as a Delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention from my home state of Tennessee. There is nothing unusual about that until you consider the fact that I not only was the first openly transgender delegate ever elected from Tennessee, but I was also the first African American transgender delegate from any state, ever.

This convention was not my first. I was a campaign staffer at the 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York, but it was my first convention as a delegate. The experience was quite different since, this year I was part of the focus of the activities.

Every day I attended meals, receptions, and caucuses with other party leaders and activists. I used many of these occasions to talk with other delegates about the necessity of standing up for equal rights for all LGBT people on various issues including ENDA and Hate Crimes. Of course, in each instance, I was always a caucus of one since there were no other African American, openly transgender delegates at the convention.

While the platform, which was passed by voice vote early in the Monday session before I even got to the Pepsi Center, has gender identity in the language, I was very frustrated that the word "transgender" was not mentioned one single time from the podium. In 2004, transgender was mentioned three times. In 2008, that number was zero.

We are not invisible in the Democratic Party. We should not be treated as pariahs when we are out there working hard and raising money for pro-equality candidates. And in our work on the platform before the convention, many of us were active around the country pushing for support of a "fully inclusive" ENDA, for which the United ENDA Coalition (which includes NBJC) has worked. Instead, it states support for a "comprehensive" ENDA, which is not the same thing.

The Democratic Party cannot expect voters to overcome homophobia or transphobia if its own leaders cannot do the same.

Overall, it was a very positive experience and I hope in 2012, the African American Transgender Caucus will have more than one member.

TransGriot Note: 'Number Two' is absolutely right. If we're doing our part to become part of the political process and are asking the people to become less homophobic and transphobic, then our leaders must also show deeds to back up their words. I also agree the African-American transgender caucus at the DNC convention needs to grow. Hopefully I and others will be in a position where we can join her in 2012.

About Marisa Richmond, Ph.D.

Marisa is President of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Equality Project & Board of Advisors of NCTE. She is a former Board Member of AEGIS, IFGE, NTAC, & Nashville's Rainbow Community Center. She served as Co-Chair of Southern Comfort in 2001, chaired the host committee of the 2002 IFGE Convention in Nashville, & served on the Planning Committee for Nashville Black Pride in 2004. She won the Trinity Award in 2002 & the HRC Equality Award in 2007.

Sarah Palin-Not Ready For Prime Time

Here's the YouTube video from the recent interview Katie Couric did with Caribou Barbie. If anybody thinks that this woman is qualified, much less even ready to be vice president (or president) they are seriously delusional and I'd recommend they get professional help immediately.



As a bonus, here's Tina Fey skewering Palin on Saturday Night Live.



And Tina Fey skewering her again.

Get Ready To Rumble, er Debate!

Tonight is the first of the three presidential debates on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, assuming John McCain shows up to take his azz whupping like a man.

Time for me to get in boxing announcer mode.

In this corner, at 6 foot 4 inches tall from Chicago, Illinois Barack 'Change Is Good' Obamaaaaaaaaa...

And in this corner, at 5 foot 10 inches tall from Sedona, Arizona, at 5 foot 10, John 'the Ancient Mariner' McCainnnn.

Let's get ready to rumbllllllle.

This one's supposed to be focused on foreign policy, but who knows, it wouldn't surprise me if a question on the current financial mess pops in.

At any rate, I'll be tuned in at 9 PM EDT to watch the fun. And I'm really looking forward to watching Sarah Palin's stupid (yeah I said it) behind crash and burn versus Sen. Joe Biden.

It's ALC Weekend In DC!

In a few hours the 38th annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference in Washington DC will kick off at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

It's an event that I've wanted to attend for years. Sadly, it's also one that every time it rolls back around on the calendar I bitterly remember the political knife wound stuck in my back from a certain Caucasian leader of a national transgender political organization. I've forgiven her for what she did, but I will never forget or excuse it.

But back to the post. It's a must attend event if you are a politically aware African-American. It's where CBC members, African-American athletes, African-American politicians from all over the country, African-American business and religious leaders, activists and others congregate to discuss policy and raise funds for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Couldn't make my schedule work to attend it this year, but it's definitely on my radar screen. I will be paying attention to the C-SPAN coverage of the seminars like I do every year.

Speaking of paying attention, during this year's event he first presidential debate happens. You can bet that the gathering will be tuned in when Sen. Barack Obama takes on Sen. McCain from the University of Mississippi campus this Friday.

One of the things that's been lost in much of the discussion is that the Congressional Black Caucus is wielding historic levels of power since its 1969 founding by it's original 13 members. It now has 43 members, and a CBC member not only will be taking part in the presidential debates, but is making a historic run for the White House that may in less than forty days achieve a groundbreaking historic dream for my people.

The CBC is known as 'The Conscience of the Congress' for its work in advocating for the predominately African-American and other ethnic groups in their districts (or states in sen Obama's case) they represent. They are also the proud heirs to the legacy of congressional representation history of African-Americans in Congress.

Here's wishing for a successful 2008 ALC and hoping that I'll be blessed to make it next year with President Obama in attendance.

2008 Interactive Electoral College Map

<p><strong>><a href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/electoral-college/'>Electoral College Prediction Map</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the general election. Use the map to experiment with winning combinations of states. Save your prediction and send it to friends.</p>



If you're stressing out because this historically pivotal election is agonizingly closer than it should be, you can play with this interactive electoral college map created by the Washington Post peeps to ease your mind.

The map here on TransGriot is set to a scenario in which Obama wins Virginia and Indiana. I believe the African-American vote in Indiana will be the deciding factor there and in Virginia.

If you're really feeling confident about your picks, the Washington Post is sponsoring a contest in which the person who nails the actual election night scenario wins a $500 Best Buy gift card.

You can click on various states to come up with the magic combination of 270 electoral votes that will ensure on November 5 we wake up with a President-elect Obama and a grateful planet thanking us for it.

Maya Angelou Introduces Michelle Obama

Y'all know how much I love Maya Angelou, but I was disappointed when she came out early to support Hillary. All is forgiven, she's now supporting Sen. Barack Obama.

At this recent Women for Obama rally in Greensboro, North Carolina Michelle Obama was introduced by Maya Angelou. Check out the introduction of this Phenomenal Woman by another Phenomenal Woman.



And this is Michelle's speech. Hell, if anyone is qualified to be vice president or even president, it's this sistah. It damned sure isn't Caribou Barbie.



Speaking of Caribou Barbie, there's a poll on the PBS NOW website on whether Caribou Barbie is qualified to be vice president. The Reichers are spamming the site with YES votes, so it's time, TransGriot readers to give it some balance.

The Difference Between the Two Campaigns

TransGriot Note: Received this in an e-mail and had to share it with y'all. This comes from Tamatha Clay and is a dead-on assessment of the two presidential campaigns.


I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....


* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now

Poll-Racism Is A Major Factor Keeping Obama From Winning Big

TransGriot Note: One of my commenters disagreed with my observation in a recent post that some racist whites could possibly deny Obama the shot at the White House he deserved as the more qualified person to run this country.

Well here's the evidence to back up what I stated and already know - 10-15% of the white electorate will not vote for an African-American no matter how qualified they are because of racist assumptions about African-Americans they still hold.

And that 10-15% figure is the folks who admitted it.

One of the reasons many African-American Democrats are still pissed at Hillary is that she and her campaign team introduced the race baiting themes and lines of attack on Obama in the primary that John McCain is using right now.

We African-Americans will do our part to help get Obama elected. It's on you progressive whites to convert the holdouts in YOUR neighborhoods to vote for the most qualified man we've had in a generation for this office.

One of the things you can tell those holdouts who fear revenge from an Obama administration for all the negative things done to us over the last 200 plus years by white politicians, is that unlike the Sarah Palins and Republicans of the world, Black politicians, especially first African-Americans to hold a position previously dominated by whites are far more concerned with doing the job correctly and competently.

African-Americans don't have the luxury of using a political position to gain personal revenge on peeps they don't like. We're more concerned with creating a positive leadership impression and tearing down stereotypes. We know that if we don't do a bang up job the first time, there won't be a second or third Black elected to that office.



Poll: Racial Views Steer Some White Dems Away From Obama

By RON FOURNIER and TREVOR THOMPSON,
Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them "lazy," "violent," responsible for their own troubles.

The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 — about two and one-half percentage points.

Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents — voters Obama can't win the White House without — agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.

Such numbers are a harsh dose of reality in a campaign for the history books. Obama, the first black candidate with a serious shot at the presidency, accepted the Democratic nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, a seminal moment for a nation that enshrined slavery in its Constitution.

"There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean there's only a few bigots," said Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman who helped analyze the exhaustive survey.

The pollsters set out to determine why Obama is locked in a close race with McCain even as the political landscape seems to favor Democrats. President Bush's unpopularity, the Iraq war and a national sense of economic hard times cut against GOP candidates, as does that fact that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans.

The findings suggest that Obama's problem is close to home — among his fellow Democrats, particularly non-Hispanic white voters. Just seven in 10 people who call themselves Democrats support Obama, compared to the 85 percent of self-identified Republicans who back McCain.

The survey also focused on the racial attitudes of independent voters because they are likely to decide the election.

Lots of Republicans harbor prejudices, too, but the survey found they weren't voting against Obama because of his race. Most Republicans wouldn't vote for any Democrat for president — white, black or brown.

Not all whites are prejudiced. Indeed, more whites say good things about blacks than say bad things, the poll shows. And many whites who see blacks in a negative light are still willing or even eager to vote for Obama.

On the other side of the racial question, the Illinois Democrat is drawing almost unanimous support from blacks, the poll shows, though that probably wouldn't be enough to counter the negative effect of some whites' views.

Race is not the biggest factor driving Democrats and independents away from Obama. Doubts about his competency loom even larger, the poll indicates. More than a quarter of all Democrats expressed doubt that Obama can bring about the change they want, and they are likely to vote against him because of that.

Three in 10 of those Democrats who don't trust Obama's change-making credentials say they plan to vote for McCain.

Still, the effects of whites' racial views are apparent in the polling.

Statistical models derived from the poll suggest that Obama's support would be as much as 6 percentage points higher if there were no white racial prejudice.

But in an election without precedent, it's hard to know if such models take into account all the possible factors at play.

The AP-Yahoo News poll used the unique methodology of Knowledge Networks, a Menlo Park, Calif., firm that interviews people online after randomly selecting and screening them over telephone. Numerous studies have shown that people are more likely to report embarrassing behavior and unpopular opinions when answering questions on a computer rather than talking to a stranger.

Other techniques used in the poll included recording people's responses to black or white faces flashed on a computer screen, asking participants to rate how well certain adjectives apply to blacks, measuring whether people believe blacks' troubles are their own fault, and simply asking people how much they like or dislike blacks.

"We still don't like black people," said John Clouse, 57, reflecting the sentiments of his pals gathered at a coffee shop in Somerset, Ohio.

Given a choice of several positive and negative adjectives that might describe blacks, 20 percent of all whites said the word "violent" strongly applied. Among other words, 22 percent agreed with "boastful," 29 percent "complaining," 13 percent "lazy" and 11 percent "irresponsible." When asked about positive adjectives, whites were more likely to stay on the fence than give a strongly positive assessment.

Among white Democrats, one third cited a negative adjective and, of those, 58 percent said they planned to back Obama.

The poll sought to measure latent prejudices among whites by asking about factors contributing to the state of black America. One finding: More than a quarter of white Democrats agree that "if blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as whites."

Those who agreed with that statement were much less likely to back Obama than those who didn't.

Among white independents, racial stereotyping is not uncommon. For example, while about 20 percent of independent voters called blacks "intelligent" or "smart," more than one third latched on the adjective "complaining" and 24 percent said blacks were "violent."

Nearly four in 10 white independents agreed that blacks would be better off if they "try harder."

The survey broke ground by incorporating images of black and white faces to measure implicit racial attitudes, or prejudices that are so deeply rooted that people may not realize they have them. That test suggested the incidence of racial prejudice is even higher, with more than half of whites revealing more negative feelings toward blacks than whites.

Researchers used mathematical modeling to sort out the relative impact of a huge swath of variables that might have an impact on people's votes — including race, ideology, party identification, the hunger for change and the sentiments of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's backers.

Just 59 percent of her white Democratic supporters said they wanted Obama to be president. Nearly 17 percent of Clinton's white backers plan to vote for McCain.

Among white Democrats, Clinton supporters were nearly twice as likely as Obama backers to say at least one negative adjective described blacks well, a finding that suggests many of her supporters in the primaries — particularly whites with high school education or less — were motivated in part by racial attitudes.

The survey of 2,227 adults was conducted Aug. 27 to Sept. 5. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

_____

Associated Press writers Nancy Benac, Julie Carr Smyth, Philip Elliot, Julie Pace and Sonya Ross contributed to this story.

Fight The Obama Smears

If you have neighbors (or co-workers) repeating right wing smears about Sen. Obama and wish to have the information to fight them, check out this link debunking them courtesy of the Obama campaign.

He's gonna need help from now until November 4. The battlegrounds are in your breakrooms and any other situation where you come in contact with people who spout this disinformational crap.

Bury their GOP lies with the truth.

Deja Vu For Caribou Barbie?

The GOP Borg and their drones are drooling over the fact that Sarah Palin was a beauty queen back in the day who competed in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant.

While surfing The Net I pondered an interesting thought. Being the pageant junkie I am, I was struck by the notion that the Rethuglicans and the Right Wing Noise Machine would have been crowing nonstop about the fact if she'd won. Why aren't they?

Turns out Sarah Get Your Gun didn't win back in 1984, she was the runner up. Wanna guess who she lost to?

A sistah.

In a state that has a 3.7% African-American population, she lost to an African-American woman. No wonder Idaho-born Caribou Barbie's hatin' on us.

Yes peeps, there are Black people who live in Alaska. Some came there to work on the Alaska pipeline back in the 70's and stayed. Others were assigned there during the course of their military service and grew to love the state. Others moved there from the Lower 48 to get a fresh start in life. There is a large enough community of African-Americans there to hold their own Juneteenth celebration and elect Bettye Davis to the Alaska Senate.

In some delicious irony Palin lost that pageant to Maryline Blackburn, an Army brat who was born in Europe, grew up in Fairbanks and became the first African-American to win Miss Alaska and represent the state in the Miss America pageant.

Ms. Blackburn is an accomplished singer now based in the ATL and Obama supporter. She also had some interesting things to say about her one time competitor.

Here's hoping that history repeats itself in two months and Ms. Palin finds herself on the losing end of another major contest to an African-American.

Why Obama Isn't Running Away With This Election

For you TransGriot international readers wondering to yourselves why a cum laude Harvard law educated constitutional law professor isn't soundly beating like a drum a guy who graduated 894th out of 898 students in his Naval Academy class, here's the major reason why.

Racism.

This was recorded during the West Virginia Democratic primary back in May, but it speaks volumes as to why many African-Americans were pissed that Hillary's campaign team injected race into her attempt to win the nomination and a major reason why we African-Americans were adamant about her NOT getting the Dem nomination for VP.



There are enough white people would rather let this country go down the toilet than see a Black man run it and see his family move into the White House.

If Politics Isn’t Child’s Play, Why Should Sarah Palin Get the Kid-Gloves Treatment?

Wednesday, September 03, 2008
by Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com

It seems there’s a lot more drama tucked into Sarah Palin’s resume than rank-and-file Republicans were led to believe.

So it’s not surprising that the same moral-values zealots who were counting on her story to inject some perkiness into John McCain’s campaign for the White House would be trying to flip the script.

They are, after all, used to doing that; to using their arrogance, the media’s timidity and the public’s fickleness and short memory to obscure the real issues.

It would be a shame if they got away with it again.

The weekend had barely passed when Palin, the Alaska governor and former beauty queen who the 72-year-old McCain tapped as his running mate, was forced to out a family secret: Her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant.

Had it been Michelle Obama announcing that one of her daughters was pregnant, the same zealots that questioned her patriotism over a slip of the tongue and Barack Obama’s patriotism for not wearing a flag pin would be lambasting their parenting skills and their lack of moral guidance.

They’d be quoting Bill Cosby and salivating at the chance to plant another seed of skepticism about Obama into the minds of Americans; if he can’t manage his family, they’d say, how can he manage the country?

Oh, but they’re demanding that everyone cut Palin a break.

Reporters and pundits who dare infer that the 44-year-old Palin, who not only has a pregnant teenage daughter but an infant son with Down’s Syndrome, might have too many family issues brewing to be a heartbeat away from the presidency should McCain win, are quickly dismissed as sexist. No matter that it’s a legitimate concern -- and a concern that I would have if Palin were a man.

I’d have that concern because children with special needs tend to need more attention than other children. Add a pregnant teenager to that mix who is on track to becoming a child bride, and the possibility for more family drama is upped exponentially.

That’s a common sense concern, not a sexist one. Because if McCain wins and dies in office -- which would be a real possibility considering his age and his numerous bouts with skin cancer -- this woman would be in charge.

Ironically, many of the people who are playing the gender card to defend Palin’s working mother bona fides are some of the same people who are the most hostile when it comes to supporting things that impact the lives of average working mothers; things like subsidized day care and equal pay.

On top of that, the moral values crowd that is praising Palin for being true to her “pro-life” values because Bristol “chose” to have and keep her baby are the same ones who continue to push saying no to sex instead of pushing safe sex.

They are also the same ones who talk forgiveness and mercy for girls like Bristol who engage in sex outside of marriage, but who elevated Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl to a national symbol of moral decay.

And, eerily enough, it helped get George W. Bush -- perhaps the worst president in history -- re-elected.

I hope that people won’t be cowed by the machinations of the zealots and pundits who now, all of a sudden, are demanding that everyone treat Palin’s issue with her pregnant teenage daughter as a private family matter -- especially when they cared little about the privacy of former President Bill Clinton’s family as they waved a sperm-stained blue dress at him.

And while I’m certainly not suggesting that people condemn Sarah or Bristol Palin, or that the press stalk and harass them, I do believe that the media shouldn’t back off on airing legitimate concerns as to whether any parent with a special needs infant, a pregnant teenager, a thin intellectual resume and little exposure to international issues is best suited to be a heartbeat away from the toughest job in the world.

Most of all, I hope people don’t fall into that same line of thinking that cursed us with another four years of George W. Bush -- that because Palin is going through what a “normal” family might go through, that means she’s qualified to run the country.

A lot of people voted for Bush because they believed that he was an average Joe; a guy they could sit down and have a beer with.

And look at what happened.

Open Mic Reveals True Feelings Of GOP Operatives

Ah, those pesky open microphones. They have taken down many candidates with loose lips. I can think of two memorable ones in Texas that changed campaign outcomes like Jim McConn's 'Shoot the queers' remark that cost him the 1985 mayoral race against Kathy Whitmire, and GOP gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams 1990 one that handed Ann Richards the governor's mansion (thank God) hot on the heels of his 'relax and enjoy it' rape comment.

Politicians aren't the only peeps who fear open mics. Just ask Jesse Jackson Sr.

So I found the open mic comments of Wall Street Journal conservapundit Peggy Noonan enlightening despite all the nauseating happy talk spin over Sarah 'Get Your Gun' Palin

'You're No Leader'

TransGriot Note-If the MSM had done their jobs and grilled Junior this way in 2000, he would have never been elected. If they'd done the same thing in 2002, we wouldn't be in Iraqinam.

They need to do the same damn thing to Sarah 'Get Your Gun' Palin on her skimpy record as Alaska's governor, and frack the GOP whining about 'sexism'. They don't have any problem being sexist and racist when it comes to Faux News or right wing talk radio spreading disinformation on Democrats.

This gives me hope that some the youth of our country aren't buying the GOP snake oil.

High School Student to McCain: You're No Leader


September 04, 2007 11:32 AM
ABC News' Bret Hovell and Matt Stuart Report:

Senator John McCain had a testy exchange with a high school student in Concord, NH, Tuesday, but one that McCain himself characterized as “what America is supposed to be about.”

William Sleaster, a student at Concord High School rose to ask McCain a question about gay rights and, ultimately dissatisfied by the answer he received from McCain, told the Republican presidential contender that he'd come looking to see a leader and didn't.

McCain first answered the high school student by talking about his support for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the military’s policy regarding gays, and about his belief in the sanctity of marriage.

“Discrimination in any form is unacceptable in America today,” McCain said.

“I understand the controversy that continues to swirl around this issue,” McCain said. “That debate needs to be continued.”

Sleaster pressed on. “Do you support civil unions or gay marriage?”

“I do not,” McCain answered. “I think that they impinge on the status and the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.”

“So you believe in taking away someone’s rights because you believe it’s wrong?”

“I wouldn’t put that interpretation on my position, but I understand yours,” McCain said diplomatically.

Sleaster went on to ask another question about how to help the working class in America, which McCain fielded by talking about the country’s need to figure out education and health care, and to secure the environment.

Sleaster indicated that he wanted to follow up again.

“You have one more? Go ahead you’re doing good,” McCain encouraged.

“I came here looking to see a leader,” Sleaster said. “I don’t.”

The assembled students murmured, and a teacher started to step in.

“I understand,” McCain said. “I thank you. That’s what America is all about.”

What An Alaskan Has To Say About Sarah Palin

I've got a few choice words about Sarah 'Get Your Gun' Palin that I'll expound on later, but in the meantime let me send you to the Mudflats blog, written about Alaska politics by an Alaskan.

AK Muckraker has some interesting and some illuminating things to say about Sarah Palin that will help you cut through the GOP lies and spin.

Make no mistake about it, this woman isn't fit to shine Hillary's pumps, much less wear them. She's also the new jack intellectual heir to the Phyllis Schafly's of the GOP world and despite the bleating of the Log Cabin Sellouts (oops, Republicans) is no friend to the GLBT community as well.

Just Because I'm An Obama Supporter Doesn't Make Me A Zealot

Main Entry: zeal·ot
Function: noun
Etymology: Late Latin zelotes, from Greek zēlō tēs, from zēlos
Date: 1537

1: capitalized: a member of a fanatical sect arising in Judea during the first century a.d. and militantly opposing the Roman domination of Palestine

2: a zealous person; especially : a fanatical partisan a religious zealot

I've been an Obama supporter since January 1. I've liked him ever since I watched him deliver his prime time speech during the 2004 Democratic Convention. My Chicago relatives and friends I've talked to who know the man, have met him or lived in his Illinois senate district rave about him.

I've read his books, researched his policy stances and found much to like in them. I really love his thoughtful intelligence, his compelling life story, his teaching constitutional law, having a vision about where he wants to take this country, and wanting to fundamentally change the way politics is done in the United States.

I grew up during a time in which political campaigns were not always slash and burn, assassinate your opponent's character affairs. They actually used reason and logic based arguments to explain to the electorate why they and their particular set of policy stances made them the best candidate to be elected to that particular office.

Sen. Obama is the first candidate in a long time that actually has campaigned in an old school style. I'm excited about that, so are a lot of African-Americans and many Obama supporters of all colors.

I'm excited that I have a man as a presidential candidate for my party that unlike John McCain and his running mate, understands the Constitution and has taught constitutional law. I like the fact he understands the issues that working class people deal with because he was a community organizer. I'm thrilled about the fact that world leaders and people in various countries around the world see the same things I do. I'm intrigued by the knowledge that he spent time growing up in Indonesia. I like the fact he chose an intelligent statuesque sistah (and AKA) from Chicago's south side to spend his life with.

And yes, the thing I'm most excited about is this man shares my ethnic heritage.

Far too many times people judge African-Americans by the worst we produce. Here's a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to get behind as a community someone who represents the BEST we can produce.

It was beautiful seeing an African-American family similar to my own on stage in Denver waving to that Mile High Stadium crowd. It will be nice seeing that family live in the White House for the next four years assuming the election goes the way I hope it does.

But I'm a little sick of Republicans, Greens, some disgruntled Hillary supporters and some independents mischaracterizing the very real and logical reasons I and others chose to support Sen. Obama for president as being 'zealotry'.

Hillary supporters who had the very same reasons for supporting her candidacy aren't being tarred and feathered with that 'zealot' brush. Is it because they are predominately white women?

When you call me and other Obama supporters zealots, it's a 21st century remix of that old slur that is thrown at African-Americans during political campaigns that we can't make 'rational decisions' on who we support politically unlike white people, who use 'logic and reason' to do so.

If that's the case, then explain the logic and reason you used for overwhelmingly voting for an inarticulate ignoramus in the White House for a second term and are with McCain seriously considering electing a man who graduated 894th out of 898 people in his Naval Academy class?

Just as John F. Kennedy's election to the presidency in 1960 changed the way we look at Catholics in this country, the election of Barack Hussein Obama Jr. will change the way that African-Americans not only are viewed in this country, but abroad as well.

It will also fundamentally change the way we look at ourselves. No longer will an African-American kid be able to sarcastically respond to the 'you can be anything you want in the United States' line with 'I can't be president' as I once did in elementary school.

So just because I'm an Obama supporter does not make me a zealot. It makes me an American wanting to see an eminently qualified man who happens to share my ethnic heritage run this country for the first time in its 232 year history.

2008 Presidential Debates

For those of y'all wondering when and where the fall campaign presidential debates will take place, here's the schedule according to the Commission on Presidential Debates.


Friday, September 26, 2008
First Presidential Debate
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Moderator- Jim Lehrer
Focus- domestic policy

Thursday, October 2, 2008:
Vice Presidential Debate
Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Moderator- Gwen Ifill
Focus- foreign and domestic policy topics

Tuesday, October 7, 2008:
Second Presidential Debate
Belmont University, Nashville, TN
Moderator-Tom Brokaw
Town hall meeting format with citizen questions to candidates

Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Third Presidential Debate
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
Moderator-Bob Schieffer
Focus- foreign policy

All four debates will begin at 9pm ET and last for 90 minutes.

Format-
During the first and third presidential debates and the vice presidential debate, the time will be divided into eight ten-minute segments. The moderator will introduce each segment with an issue on which each candidate will comment, after which the moderator will facilitate further discussion of the issue, including direct exchange between the candidates for the balance of that segment.

Both campaigns agreed to accept the Commission on Public Debates participation rules for third-party candidate participation.

The participants in the town meeting will pose their questions to the candidates after reviewing their questions with the moderator for the sole purpose of avoiding duplication. The participants will be chosen by the Gallup Organization and will be undecided voters from the Nashville, Tenn. standard metropolitan statistical area. During the town meeting, the moderator has discretion to use questions submitted by Internet.

The two backup sites are Centre College in Danville, KY and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.

Open Letter To Anita Price Mills

Dear Ms. Mills,
I happened to be watching CNN the night you made these comments. I understand your pain and disappointment that Hillary didn't win the Democratic nomination. But we had the blessings of having two outstanding candidates dueling for our party's nomination and Sen Barack Obama won.

The reality is that Hillary lost. She got beaten in the primary despite the efforts of you and the army of women and others who supported her efforts. It's also sad but true the reason Senator Clinton was speaking on Tuesday night in Denver instead of Thursday is because her campaign team did it to themselves.

Those of us who supported Sen. Obama worked just as hard for our candidate. He put together an organizational team and a campaign staff that outhustled and outflanked Sen. Clinton's at every turn. Don't forget that Sen Obama won 23 contests and garnered the most delegates and votes.

The reason she isn't the VP is because of the negative way her campaign was run over the last three months that pissed off many African-American Obama supporters like myself. Unfortunately, with Senator Obama taking the nomination, it almost dictated that he was going to have to have a white male beside him just to get elected.

You can take comfort in the fact there will be other women that get the opportunity to become president. I can't say with certainty there will be another African-American with his combination of skills and talents who gets this chance. It was the deciding factor along with other reasons why I've been supporting Sen. Obama since January. I also understand that African-American women like yourself were torn between loyalty to our people and seeing another woman advance to the highest office in the land.

And contrary to what you said in this video, Sen. Obama not only is qualified to be president, he has looked presidential since his first speech at the 2004 DNC convention. As he has campaigned you can see the growth in him and the battle with Sen. Clinton served to prepare him for the fall campaign.

The point is that as a loyal Democrat, the onus is on you to work as hard for Senator Obama as you and other Hillary supporters would have expected me and other Obama supporters to work to get Hillary elected had the script been flipped.

As Barack said in his acceptance speech, it isn't about him. Hillary said the same thing in hers. It's about taking this country back from 8 years of Republican misrule of this country. It's about the Supreme Court. It's about realigning government so it works for everybody, not just the rich and powerful. It's about universal health care. It's about having a Democrat standing up on January 20 to take the oath of office. It's about electing progressive people to enact progressive policies, and this is an all hands on deck operation from now until November 4.

But then again, you were sitting in the Pepsi Center as a delegate, so I don't have to tell you that. I hope that after you've had a few days of prayerful consideration to think about it and work through the sense of loss you feel, that you will find the time and energy to help get Sen. Obama elected.


God bless you,
Monica Roberts
The TransGriot

Difficult Days Ahead

Like many African-Americans I was literally crying tears of joy last night as I saw a major political party nominate someone of my ethnic heritage for the highest office in the land. The fact that it was my party, one that I have supported since my late teens and it occurred on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's 1963 March on Washington 'I have a dream' speech made the moment even more special.

But what triggered my tears was thinking about my late Grandmother Tama at the moment Sen. Obama recited the magic words accepting the Democratic party nomination. My grandmother was a poll worker in her precinct for several years.

As y'all probably noted, I'm a serious political junkie. I love politics along with 'errbody' else in my family. My grandmother and I talked about local, state and national politics regularly when I'd spend my off days hanging out with her in her Sunnyside area home. I'd get us a couple of fish baskets from a fish market around the corner from her house and listen to her expound on all the history she'd witnessed over her 82 years and talk about the issues of the day.

I remember how happy and proud she was along with all African-American Houstonians when we finally got Lee P. Brown elected as our mayor in 1997. He also made Houston history as our first African-American police chief and his picture went up on her wall next to the ones she had of Dr. Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy.

Unfortunately my grandmother passed away in February 2002 before she had a chance to witness former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk unsuccessfully make a historic run for the US Senate seat John Cornyn narrowly won in the Lone Star State.

Hopefully Rick Noriega can take back the Texas senate seat this fall that Lyndon B. Johnson once occupied.

The conservatives were not only drinking Republican red Hateraid from 55 gallon drums on Faux News last night and all week, their prayers to Conservagod for rain weren't heard since the weather was clear and cool last night. In fact the weather in Denver all week was nearly perfect save for the tornado that dropped in the 'burbs on Sunday.

The one thing that I've noted is that the echoes of history and its imprint were all over this particular DNC convention. I wrote about the efforts of Denver area African-Americans a century ago who jump started the debate about whether to pursue our people's interests in a Democratic Party that was then hostile to us or stay in a Republican one that was increasingly ignoring us.

Our African-American ancestors who conducted that spirited debate 100 years ago in Denver and elsewhere in the country would have been pleased and proud to witness last night's events. They would have been amazed to see the television camera pan the stadium and see the rainbow of humanity that is the Democratic Party. I can guarantee that what you'll see in the Twin Cities won't even approach that and will be overwhelmingly monoracial and predominately male.

24% of the delegates at this just concluded Democratic National Convention were African-American, the highest percentage ever. One of those delegates was a transwoman who shares my heritage. There were 44 congressmembers of African-American descent who are also wielding historic levels of power as well as being members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Oh yeah, there was a CBC member US senator who just got nominated for president.

I thought about how pleased and proud my grandmother would have been to witness not only last night's slammin' acceptance speech, but the campaign he ran just to get to this historic point

But to paraphrase Dr. King, we have some difficult days ahead of us in order to make this particular dream of a President Obama become a reality. The Republican Attack Machine and their Status Quo donors will throw everything but the kitchen sink at him. The nut jobs like the ones caught during the convention will redouble their effort to gain with the bullet what they've failed to accomplish so far at the ballot box.

We have recalcitrant people in our own party still miffed that their candidate who was also on a historic quest on behalf of women lost. All I have to say to you right now is that if Cindy McCain's own half-sister isn't voting for McCain, why should you?



The next sixty days are going to be a historic date with destiny. While I'm exceedingly proud that for the first time in my life, we'll have a Democratic candidate that not only reflects my values by my ancestry as well, I'm still anxious about the outcome on November 4.

I'm damned sure going to do my part to help give my niece a wonderful birthday present on January 20. I want my niece to wake up on her ninth birthday to the historic sight of an African-American being inaugurated for president.


Crossposted from The Bilerico Project