Obama gets bigger 'bounce' than Romney did, but it’s more like a 'blip'
Early returns are in, and it looks like President Obama got more of a poll bounce right after his party’s convention than Mitt Romney did out of the GOP’s big event. Gallup’s daily tracking poll for Friday put Obama's job approval rating at 52 percent, the highest it’s been since the killing…
When Republican Mitt Romney's campaign plane headed east from Iowa to New Hampshire on Friday, he might have been tempted to look out the window for his White House rival.
President Barack Obama, it turns out, was on a similar flight to and from the same states -- albeit in the opposite direction.
The president, after attending a rally in New Hampshire with First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill, took Air Force One to Iowa, even as Romney jetted toward New Hampshire to attend a similar event some 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Obama's stop in the Granite State.
Welcome to the 2012 cat-and-mouse campaign, where bracketing -- the tactic of scheduling campaign or press events after an opponent's appearance in order to dilute the rival's message -- has become the norm in an increasingly tight race.
The strategy was used in abundance on campaign bus tours and at the recent party national conventions, such as when Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus headed to Charlotte, North Carolina this week to check in on the Democrats and host daily press briefings a stone's throw from their convention.
Biden had planned to do the same to Republicans in Tampa, Florida the week before, although his plans were scuppered by an approaching tropical storm.
The tactic had rarely been used by the chief protagonists in the 2012 race before Friday, when Obama and Romney could figuratively wave to each other in the skies over the Midwest.
But it shows how their campaigns are increasingly honing in on a handful of battleground states, any of which could determine the election outcome on November 6.
Experts say there are about 10 key swing states, including Florida, Ohio and Virginia, where both candidates have spent considerable time.
Obama heads to St. Petersburg, Florida, later Friday. Romney was in the state last weekend, days after attending the Republican convention in Tampa.
On Saturday he attends a NASCAR race and a rally in Virginia, the same state where Obama campaigned on Tuesday.
They are also making stops in smaller but still-vital swing states such as Colorado, Iowa and Nevada, courting independent or undecided voters where the race is seen as too close to call.
Clint Eastwood has admitted he winged it at the Republican National Convention, deciding only at the last minute to ad lib a conversation with an empty chair, in remarks published Friday.
In his first public comment on the furor triggered by his eye-brow-raising routine, the Hollywood icon said he made it clear to Mitt Romney's aides that they could not dictate what he would do.
"They vet most of the people ... but I told them, 'You can't do that with me, because I don't know what I'm going to say'," he told his local paper, the Carmel Pine Cone, in an interview.
"I had three points I wanted to make: That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who's not doing a good job.
"But I didn't make up my mind exactly what I was going to say until I said it," he said.
The 82-year-old actor-director sketched out his planned remarks after a quick nap at his hotel room, shortly before going to the Republican National Convention venue in Tampa, Florida, about 15-20 minutes before he was due on.
And the empty chair routine -- in which he chatted with an invisible President Barack Obama -- only occurred to him when he was backstage, shortly before he was due to go on.
"There was a stool there, and some fella kept asking me if I wanted to sit down," Eastwood said.
"When I saw the stool sitting there, it gave me the idea. I'll just put the stool out there and I'll talk to Mr. Obama and ask him why he didn't keep all of the promises he made to everybody."
He then asked a stagehand to put the stool on stage, near the podium. "The guy said, 'You mean you want it at the podium?' and I said, 'No, just put it right there next to it'."
Eastwood excused himself for talking for too long: he was only supposed to talk for five minutes, in a primetime spot shortly before Romney himself was due on stage, but ended up going on for more than double that.
"When you're out there, it's kind of hard to tell how much time is going by," he said, noting that the audience responded very positively. "They really seemed to be enjoying themselves."
Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Thursday said she was just one of the "little people" and Democrats should not have mentioned her name during the party's convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
During an interview with Palin as Democratic event was underway, Fox Business host Neil Cavuto pointed out that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) had "zinged" the former Alaska governor with his convention speech.
"Folks, Sarah Palin said she could see Russia from Alaska," Kerry had said. "Mitt Romney talks like he's only seen Russia by watching ‘Rocky IV.’"
"I think he diminished himself by even mentioning my name," Palin told Cavuto. "How does he even know my name? I mean, aren't these guys supposed to be these bigwig elites who don't waste their time on the little people like me?"
"Yeah, I did say in Alaska you can see Russia from our land base and I was making the point that we are strategically located on the globe and when it comes to transportation corridors and resources that are shared and fought over, Alaska and I as the governor had known what I was doing in dealing with some international issues that had to do with our resources that could help secure the nation," she insisted.
So, it's funny he would take a potshot like that. It's funny he even knows my name."
Kerry's single acknowledgement of Palin was one more mention than she received from Republicans during their convention last month.
Watch this video from Fox Business Network, broadcast Sept. 6, 2012.
Even though the Democratic Party took a major step forward this week by supporting marriage equality in their official platform for the first time ever, Cardinal Timothy Dolan could not resist taking a shot at equal rights for the LGBT community during his closing prayer at the party's convention after President Barack Obama spoke on Thursday night.
"Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature’s God," Dolan said in the benediction at the close of the final night of the Democratic National Convention. "Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community."
Dolan's reference to remaking "those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community" was almost certainly an allusion to his opposition to equal marriage rights for LGBT people.
Earlier this year, the cardinal had accused Obama of undermining the "very cornerstone of society" by supporting same sex marriage.
Dolan's Thursday prayer may have been an attempt to undermine the official Democratic platform, which includes support for marriage equality for the first time in the party's history.
"President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to ensuring all Americans are treated fairly," the platform approved by voice vote of Democratic delegates at the convention on Tuesday says. "We support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law."
"We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples. We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.”
The Democratic Party chose not to include video of Dolan's benediction on their official convention YouTube page.
Watch this video from ABC News, broadcast Sept. 6, 2012.
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Hollywood starlets Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johannson and Kerry Washington took to the convention stage Thursday to try to persuade American voters to re-elect Barack Obama.
The trio laid out ordinary early lives far from the bright lights of Hollywood with Longoria using her previous existence as a server at fast-food chain Wendy's to have a dig at Obama's Republican rival Mitt Romney.
"The Eva Longoria who worked at Wendy's flipping burgers -- she needed a tax break. But the Eva Longoria who works on movie sets does not," she said, pressing the charge that Romney is only interested in protecting the rich.
Washington, the 35-year-old star of "Ray" and "The Last King of Scotland" was first up.
"I'm here not just as an actress but as a woman, an African-American, a granddaughter of immigrants," she said.
"A person who could not have afforded college without the help of student loans and as one of millions of volunteers working to re-elect President Obama!"
Next was 27-year-old Johansson, who told of her hard-scrabble childhood in New York City far from the bright lights of Hollywood.
"My father barely made enough to get by. We moved every year, and we finally settled in a housing development for lower middle income families. We went to public schools and depended on programs for school transport and lunches, as did most of my friends," she said.
Last on stage as the anticipation built before Obama was due to address the nation for his biggest re-election pitch yet was "Desperate Housewives" star Longoria, the co-chair of the president's re-election campaign.
She resurrected the theme of First Lady Michelle Obama's convention speech on Tuesday, saying it is life experiences that make you who you are and drawing a sharp contrast between the president and multi-millionaire Romney.
"I signed up for financial aid, Pell Grants, work study, anything I could," Longoria said.
"Just like our president and First Lady, I took out loans to pay for school. Then I changed oil in a mechanic shop, flipped burgers at Wendy's, taught aerobics and worked on campus to pay them back.
"We're lucky our president understands the value of American opportunity, because he's lived it!"
Although it's been almost 20 years since she was first elected to the Senate, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is nonetheless her state's junior Senator. She's considered a long-time supporter of women's reproductive choice and environmentalism, and spoke to Raw Story at the PPL Newsroom at the Democratic National Convention.
Raw Story: You've been such an advocate for women's rights over the years, how do you feel about where the Democratic party is on women's rights, both in terms of the platform and the effort they've made to highlight those issues at the convention?
Boxer: I am so proud right now to be a Democrat, because we stand four square with women. We really do. It's their reproductive health, it's their general health, it's equal pay for equal work, it's opportunity, equality and the chance to marry who they want to marry. So I just think, all told, it's such a stark choice.
You know, I'm of the age where I lived through the time when women were criminals if they exercised their right to choose -- they didn't have a right to choose -- and women died. They died or they were made infertile. These were terrible times for women. You know, they often try to say, "Well, how many women actually died from back alley abortions." You could never get the number right because the parents when they buried their daughters couldn't say why they died if they died from a back alley abortion because it was a criminal act and they didn't want their daughters to been deemed criminals.
These are the days that Romney and Ryan want to take us back to. And if you take Todd Akin, and people asked me, "Do you think Todd Akin will step down?" I said, "Why would he? His partner in criminalizing a woman's right to choose was just selected to be vice president!"
Paul Ryan is Todd Akin's partner in criminalizing a woman's right to choose. They worked together to try to redefine rape, they worked together to overturn Roe v. Wade, they worked together to criminalize birth control. So let's be clear here.
I have to say, as someone who's going to work my heart out for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, that when people come up and they say to me, "Well, you know, I don't like this about the President, he didn't end this war fast enough, he didn't do this," I get that! I understand the frustration. Each one of us has our own point of view, but the stark choice here is just so clear. We just can't afford to go back. We can't because it will mean very bad things for women and when bad things happen to women, bad things happen to families, and to men and to their kids.
When you look around the world, there's this very conservative historian who said -- and it was very mind-boggling to me, I didn't think of it this way -- Bernard Lewis is his name. He said that if you have to choose one reason why certain countries are so slow to come around and have economic opportunity and prosperity, it's because the women are being held down in those countries and they don't have equal rights.
So this country cannot afford to go back. So I hope that anyone within the sound of your words will understand that I get the fact that no politician is perfect. I'm not perfect, Barack Obama's not perfect. The only one who's perfect is yourself. You're perfect because you know exactly what you want to do and how you want to do it, and I know it gets frustrating but we cannot walk away from this election.
Raw Story: You mentioned when you sat down that this building was refurbished with the help of stimulus funds, and Republicans have been very opposed to using stimulus funds ever again -- so much so that they blocked funds that would have allowed state and local governments to avoid laying off teachers and firefighters. What do you think of the Ryan budget on those issues, and how is the President's plan different?
Boxer: The Ryan budget is a blueprint for disaster for America. I could just not put it in any more of a straightforward way. It's a blueprint for disaster. I'll take an area that I know very well: transportation. I'm the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee and, by the grace of God, I was able to get a bill done. And it took me a very long time, and I had to play an inside game and an outside game and it was very hard but thank goodness I was able to get bipartisan support for a transportation bill. Three million jobs rely on that bill. We almost lost it, and we managed to hold it.
In the Ryan budget, he cuts transportation for highways and bridges in half. He cuts the funds in half. Now these funds go to the private sector. This is a radical thing to do. This is a Republican idea that was brought to us long before you guys were around by Dwight Eisenhower. And he said no great country is going to be great if it doesn't have an infrastructure. And it's important for national security, he made that point. He championed education, and he championed infrastructure. This Republican party doesn't get it. They don't get their own traditions.
When I started out, when I wanted to work on public works, when I wanted to work on the environment, and choice issues, and women's rights and civil rights, I had Republican friends I went to. It's gone. It's no more. Even those who in their heart know it's right are fearful because they have been hijacked by the right wing.
So the Ryan budget is a blueprint for disaster. It's going to cut transportation funding in half. It has all been done to save money to give a tax break to those at the very top, which is immoral. And I thought about it the other day, no wonder Romney picked him, Paul Ryan wants Romney to have a one percent tax rate.
Raw Story: I was curious, you mentioned public education. Looking at the Romney blueprint for education, he wants to re-privatize the student loan system, he wants to cut back on Pell grants. How do you think that will affect young people in your state?
Boxer: We know what President Obama has done, I'll start with the positive. Because of his leadership we were able to make sure that student loan interest rates remained at 3 percent and didn't double. This was critical on its face. We know that the President believes in education, believes that we have to make these investments.
I thought President Clinton last night, was stupendous -- I don't know what you thought, but I was over the moon, and I know what a great teacher he is, but all of us were sitting there, it was like you were so fortunate to be in this room with this great teacher who explains things in a simple way and with a sense of humor and with a sense of history and all of that, it was so remarkable -- but the point he made is that there are a lot of jobs out there, 3 million jobs, that are not being filled because we don't have the education system that's retraining people.
So this is a critical moment, and if you look at what Romney wants to do, we think his true agenda is to do away with the Department of Education. And if you look at his record when he was governor, it was very bad, he has one of the worst job creation records there. So whether it's education, whether its civil rights, human rights, whether its transport, he humiliates the British, one of our strongest allies. It was five minutes! Think of what he could do in four years. It's too frightening to contemplate.
Raw Story: You talked a little bit about your environmental record, but it's noticeable to some of the people that there's lot been as much talk about energy and environment at the convention compared to 2008. Why do you think that is?
Boxer: I think some people have absolutely mentioned it. Tom Steyer was one who was very strong on it yesterday. I heard -- these are just the people I heard -- Secretary Salazar.
But I think we have to recognize that there is one major issue. Well, I would say there are two majors issues coming out of this convention. This is what I think, I'm not certain I'm right because I haven't heard the President yet. But up to this point, two majors issues that I see here.
Clearly the economy and jobs. Clearly that is critical. And if we're going to win this, we have to show exactly what Bill Clinton showed, which is that this president inherited the worst recession since the Depression, we had freezing of the movement of capital, there was just a calamity going on. I remember getting a call from Hank Paulson (who was then Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush), we had about 40 Democratic Senators on the phone and he essentially said that the economy was in free fall and he thought it would collapse. And we have to make the point of what this president walked into.
And I thought what President Clinton said, you know, "He's cool on the outside but burning on the inside for this country," imagine what that must have been like, to look at the economy growth rate just plummet, to look at 800,000 jobs a month disappear. And just inherit this terrible deficit, this terrible debt and two wars on the credit card.
So even though I definitely think the President will talk about energy, the environment -- that's all part of it -- I think the main focus is going to be on this economy and jobs.
And I think the second message that's strongly coming out of this is the war against women. And of course for me , as someone who's been in the trenches on this for so long, I'm so happy that the President is standing with us in such a strong way. And to see speaker after speaker embrace equal rights like this it's fantastic.
I do, as an environmentalist from the bottom of my toes to the top of my head, I would like to see some more discussion of it. But I do believe -- remember what we're doing, we're trying to win an election now -- that the President will talk about the amazing contribution he's made by reducing carbon emissions by fuel economy. People don't realize what this means, but we're moving toward 55 miles per gallon fuel economy, this is a huge breakthrough. So I think he will mention this. And he has fought for safe drinking water… What the Republicans did in the House that we stopped it in the Senate could fill a book. They essentially tried to repeal every landmark environmental law: the Clean Air Act -- all from the back door. We have stopped it, and the President has stood sentry and he has said, "If you dare do that, I will veto it." So we haven't gone backwards, but we've had to fight to stay where we are and we've made a few improvements.
But I feel right now so far the main issues that are being addressed are the economy and women's rights.
[Image via jdlasica on Flickr, Creative Commons licensed]
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night.
Giffords, who was shot in the head last year, was walked onto the stage by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and received lively applause before reciting the pledge. Her appearance brought many DNC attendees to tears.
Six people were killed, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, when a gunman opened fire at a political meeting Giffords was holding with constituents outside a grocery store in Tuscon. She has undergone intensive rehabilitation to regain movement on the right side of her body.
Giffords resigned from Congress earlier this year and has been receiving additional recovery treatment.
Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below:
Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) gave a forceful plea during his speech at the Democratic convention for voters to reelect President Obama, equating Republican-sponsored voter ID laws to Jim Crow-era voting restrictions and urging voters to, "march to the polls like never before."
"Brothers and sisters, do you want to go back?," Lewis asked. "Or do you want to keep America moving forward? My dear friends, your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union."
Lewis, who drew national attention to segregation in transportation as one of the original Freedom Riders in the early 1960s, decried Republican efforts to pass voter ID laws as a new twist on the same trick of voter suppression. Harkening to his past as a civil rights activist, Lewis said the nation had come too far to return to the battles he'd fought a half century ago.
"I've seen this before. I've lived this before," he said. "Too many people struggled, suffered and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote."
Lewis also recalled several anecdotes about his personal experience pushing for equal treatment for all citizens. For one, he told of how after President Obama's election, a man came to his office and identified himself as one of the assailants who'd attacked Lewis decades ago during a civil rights demonstration. The man had come to ask for forgiveness, a sign, Lewis said, that the nation had come a great distance.
"He came to my office in Washington and said, 'I am one of the people who beat you. I want to apologize. Will you forgive me?'" Lewis said. "I said, 'I accept your apology.' He started crying. He gave me a hug. I hugged him back, and we both started crying. This man and I don't want to go back; we want to move forward."
Watch the full speech below:
When Raw Story caught up to South Carolina state Rep. John R. King (D), who represents Rock Hill, a district just 15 minutes south of Charlotte, his voice was still recovering from Wednesday night’s assembly, but he still called his convention experience “beautiful.” It was also, he said, a rare chance for Democrats in a traditionally red state to enjoy a feeling of community.
“The excitement that you get being around Democrats is just overwhelming,” King said Thursday afternoon, before he criticized what he described as tokenizing efforts toward inclusion by the Republican party, compared to the more comprehensive way his party attracts more people.
Raw Story: What are your pet causes this year? What are the main issues not only for your district, but for you as a member of the party?
King: As a member of the party, I applaud our party for their stance on equal rights for all people. I find that to be something that we as a party needed to be upfront about and forward with. I love the love inclusion that our party offers. But most importantly, they have talked about education, they’ve talked about building the middle class and moving forward in building a middle class and so that is a very important issue. They talked about infrastructure, items that will build communities, and education. Those are all key issues that are very important to my constituents, and to make sure that they’re safe when it comes to their jobs.
So those are the issues and the concerns that I receive from many of my constituents: to make sure they can love who they want to love, make sure that they can have good, accessible, affordable health care, make sure they are able to be educated and further their education farther than K-12 and to do post-secondary education. I’m excited about what the Democratic Party has to offer, what our platform is all about.
Raw Story: There is a criticism out there that what you call “love inclusion” alienates this party from at least one perception of “mainstream America. How do you respond?
King: You know what? That one percent or whatever percentage of America who pledge allegiance to the flag should understand that we are a party who truly understand and honor our pledge that we make to our country. When we make that pledge, we want to include everybody. So I make no apologies for what we do as the Democratic party in reference to the inclusion of everyone. I have not faced that issue in my district and I will not face that issue, because I will not allow people to come to me and make it an issue.
Raw Story: On her show Sunday, Melissa Harris-Perry talked about “the big blue tent,” and the challenges that this party particularly faces because there are so many different constituencies involved in it. How are those efforts going this year.
King: If you watch the speeches, if you watch the people who are here who are non-political people, who have endorsed this party, who have said this party, the Democratic party, has been more inclusive, I think that we are bringing people into the fold and we are not being exclusive and it has not been an issue because when you bring all of those people into the fold, you’re giving them greater ideas and you’re building on that foundation so that you can be a stronger party, so that you can address those issues effectively and efficiently and more intelligently. So I think by including more people, we’re educating ourselves in issues that otherwise we would not have knowledge about.
I look at the Republican party. They have not been inclusive toward the African-American community, so they cannot go forth and understand the issues that affect the African-American community because they have not sought or talked to African-Americans. They have talked to token African-Americans, but not true African-Americans who understand the calls and who have been in the trenches, who have worked in our community for causes that are near and dear to our people.
Raw Story: Is activism a must to be part of a community of color?
King: I think knowing the community is, and activism is a part of that.
Raw Story: This question has been going around a lot this week: are residents in your district better off now than they were four years ago?
King: Yes they are. They are extremely better off than what they were four years ago. My constituents now have an economy that is stimulated. When I took office, South Carolina was on the brink of bankruptcy in so many ways: we were gonna have to lay off teachers, we were gonna have to lay off firemen, we were gonna have to lay off police officers, we were gonna have to lay off people who work at the state level and the county level and the municipality level. And because of President Barack Obama, we now have a surplus, and now we’re able to give back to our teachers and offer our state employees incentives to stay on board and to give them a cost of living increase. So yes, we are better in South Carolina and in our district, because of President Barack Obama.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is his state's junior Senator, first elected in 2006 and thus up for reelection in 2012. He is one of the Senate's more liberal members on everything from marriage equality (he supports a repeal of DOMA) to the elimination of the Citizens United ruling. He spoke to Raw Story at the PPL Newsroom.
Raw Story: Last night's speech with President Clinton was a big hit with the crowd. How do you think President Obama can top that tonight?
Whitehouse: You know, I think the bar is very, very high for President Obama. First of all, I think the First Lady hit it out of the park the day before. Yesterday, Clinton hit it out of the park so hard that it's still flying. So one thing we know about the President is that when it's time to give a good speech, he can do it. But the bar is very, very high and I think people across America just loved Clinton's speech yesterday. It was smart, it was true, it was on the issues, it was really vintage Clinton, particularly since he freewheeled a lot of it way off-script, which is also vintage Clinton. But everybody loved it, absolutely loved it.
I was very proud, and I think everybody in the arena was very proud, to have President Clinton showcased as our last Democratic president last night, and to put him up in prime time and show America what happened and remind Americans that when Democratic policies are in place, the results for regular Americans and for our economy are really, really good ones. Contrast that with the way the Republicans have tried to hide their last President, not because he individually is a bad person but because he will be a reminder that when you take these Republican policies and remove them from the spin shop and put them out into regular families' lives, it was a disaster for American families and the American economy. So in addition to all the great things that Clinton said last night, the very fact that we put him out there and that we're proud of him is a reminder that our policies work for regular American families -- and the fact that they had to hide President Bush is a reminder that their policies don't work for American families.
Raw Story: It was interesting that, unlike Michelle Obama's speech which didn't make many pointed attacks, but Clinton's was very geared at attacking Republicans. How much more of that do you think will happen today?
Whitehouse: My guess is that the First Lady's mission was to describe the President in a very personal way and let people know where his values come from and that they're real and that they're founded in his experience, and I think that she did a terrific job of that. I think President Clinton's job was to basically call the lie on so much of the nonsense that the Republican Party has been trying to feed the American public. And that leaves the President the freedom to look forward and to talk about his vision and to talk about the coming years. So that's my expectation as to what he'll do, I doubt he'll try to engage too much, I'm sure there will be a little tweak now and again, because some of the things that have been said about him and about his policies are so preposterous that you kind of can't let is pass. But I think he'll do any of that with a very, vey light touch and it'll be mostly about vision.
Raw Story: The Democrats have made a real point in the last two days to differentiate themselves from the Republicans on issues of women's rights. Where do you see the President going with that tonight?
Whitehouse: I think that the role of, the independence, the empowerment of women is something that is at the very heart of the Democratic platform, and disempowering women, moving choices from them to the government, and moving backwards on issues on which we've moved way forward in the last decades really characterize the Republican platform. And I think that with women voters being so important in the coming election, that's going to be a very important distinction for Democrats to draw.
Raw Story: There's been a lot of implicit references to Citizens United with the explicit ones to the role of money in politics in this election. What are you doing on it?
Whitehouse: I'm supporting the Udall amendment or a modification of it, we're still working on exactly what the right phrasing should be. I'm the author of the DISCLOSE Act which, in the meantime, would at least let the American public know who the big donors are, so that they may still be big political donors, but they won't still be big secret political donors. There is precious little value to having these million dollar contributions into campaigns be secret. Nobody in their right mind does that kind of political spending without a motive. And if they want to hide their identity, you can draw a very sensible, logical conclusion that that motive is not one the American public would support. So it's even more important that we have some transparency. You know, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant," people say. Okay, let's open up some sunlight on this, let's see who these people are behind the scenes who are actually pumping the money into this election so that we can know when they come back later to have their favor repaid by the candidate they elected, we can watch out for the quid pro quo, we can watch out for the crooked deal, we can watch out for the corruption of our political system.
Raw Story: Obviously the Obama campaign has made a big point here that turnout is the name of the game for them. So what do you think is the Republican end game when it comes to pushing voter ID, which often manifests as voter suppression?
Whitehouse: I think the Republican end game is very simple, and that's to suppress voter turnout among groups that they think are more likely to vote for Democrats than Republicans. They would love to restrict access to the polls to people who are going to vote Republican. And that's what I think they are doing, and I think President Clinton did a terrific job of calling them out on it last night.
[Image via Transportation for America on Flickr, Creative Commons licensed]
Folk singer and guitarist James Taylor helped create a party atmosphere at Democratic National Convention on Thursday afternoon, receiving an enthusiastic response from attendees inside the packed arena.
As the headline music act at the convention in Charlotte, the long-time environmental activist took the stage nearly five hours before President Barack Obama was set accept his second nomination for the presidency.
During his act, Taylor poked fun at Clint Eastwood's odd speech at the Republican National Convention last week and remarked that he "didn't get" the coverage of the DNC.
"I mean, I'm an old white guy and I love Barack Obama," he said.
Watch video from the convention floor, courtesy of Raw Story Executive Editor Megan Carpentier, below:
[Image via Paul Keleher, Creative Commons licensed]
The conservative organization for which the Supreme Court's controversial Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision is named on Thursday brought their latest film attacking President Barack Obama to the city where he is speaking at the Democratic National Convention.
Raw Story caught up with Citizens United President David Bossie and writer/director Steve Bannon at a screening of The Hope and the Change in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they agreed to answer a few questions.
Raw Story: What can people expect when they see your latest film?
Bossie: The film consists of 40 Democrats and independents -- who voted for President Obama in 2008 -- from seven different states -- the battleground states. And every one of them voted for Obama in 2008, and now are not.
Raw Story: Why did you decide to make the film?
Bossie: I knew I was going to make the film because I went to the United States Supreme Court to fight for my right to make a documentary film. So, it was an obvious thing for me that I was going to make a movie. And so then I talked to Steve and said, let's make a film that is focused on something completely different than what everybody else is going to be doing.
Bannon: Look, we've made a lot of tea party films working with conservative filmmakers, and we didn't want to do a standard beat down on President Obama. We didn't think that was going to be helpful. So [we said], let's project to project out to the election, what are people going to be talking about? So, we felt the part of the equation [senior White House adviser] David Axelrod was going to fall for were Democrats and independents who voted for President Obama -- remember he beat McCain by 9 million votes -- because of where the arc of the country was going and maybe their stories, would they still support him? One thing Dave talked about, to make a tea party movie, we could do that tomorrow. But to really go get Democrats and independents and talk to them in their voice, we needed help.
Raw Story: Does the film represent a diverse group of voters? How about liberals?
Bossie: Of the 40, 26 women; 14 men; African Americans; hispanics; Filipinos. You name it -- it's a snapshot of America.
Bannon: You know what it is? It's Democrats and independents who lean Democratic? These are not tea party people. There's no Republicans, no libertarians, no conservatives. These are the Democratic votes.
Bossie: These are the people who make up the Reagan coalition. OK? So, it's going to be people who are truly can vote either way. That's what this film is about. It's not for the hardcore leftists.
Raw Story: What is the vehicle to reach your audience?
Bossie: We have several vehicles. One, we're doing screenings like this over the last couple of weeks. We're going to be marching it out in those cities where the cast is from starting next week in theaters. But it's a very limited theatrical release. We hope to make money, of course.
Bannon: You don't make money in theaters.
Bossie: We will be announcing next week our television deal. We're doing it for the earned media part of the campaign, the media campaign for the film in those battleground states. Because local media will want to cover the local people in the film. Then, it will be on television multiple times in September and October.
Bannon: The biggest thing -- one of the things you have in this film is that you start to see the pro wrestling that goes on every night on cable TV between the political class and the media. It's not really relevant to the crisis that America is facing. American people understand that crisis. And the pro wrestling, the WWE, that is gone. And that, by the way, the Fox [News] guys when they saw it -- remember, they're a conservative network. They [aired] a special on the making of it and they were, like, blown away because these people are so incredibly articulate about where the country is and what this crisis is.
Raw Story: You're conservative filmmakers, what do you say to people who are going to dimiss this film because of a perceived bias?
Bossie: Watch the film.
Bannon: Yeah. By the way, we've had liberals watch. They were, like, "Wow!"
Bossie: David Gergen, Mark Shields -- guys on the left -- think this film is incredibly smart. It's dangerous.
Bannon: We have not had one person say this film is unfair. Because we laid it out, it's in their voice. It's their narrative.
Bossie: First of all, my job is not -- I'm not a broadcaster who feels the need to defend myself to that [charge of bias]. Look, I disagree with Michael Moore's worldview, I disagree with his filmmaking style because I think his movies aren't very good. I believe and would fight -- and have fought, actually, at the Supreme Court -- for his very right to do this type of film. We're the Citizens United that is the Supreme Court case. That paved the way for this movie. Before this year, it would have been a criminal violation of McCain/Feingold -- punishable by prison time -- to make this film, put it on television and into advertisements.
Watch this trailer for The Hope and the Change.
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