Tag Archives: black

The stakes couldn’t be higher


We face a radicalized Republican Party who wants to take back control of our country and turn it into a Palinesque nightmare. DFA members have chosen John Boehner and Mitch McConnell as the top ‘Villains’ of progressives in 2010. Washington pundits think Democrats could lose the House, the Senate or both in November and then these two Villains will come to power.

We’re not going to let that happen.

With only 51 days left until Election Day, the stakes couldn’t be higher. On Saturday, October 2nd — exactly one month from Election Day — we’re organizing a National Day of Action to volunteer for progressive candidates in your state. We’ll get together for a live nationwide conference call with Jim Dean and other special guests to get fired up and focused on a progressive message for victory. Afterward, we’ll knock on doors, make phone calls, attend a campaign rally… whatever volunteer activity you want to do for the candidate of your choice.

We’re not going to sit around and hope for change, we’re going to keep working to make it happen — but the key to all of it is you. We’ve set a goal of at least 10 Day of Action events in Washington. Can we count on you to host an event?

Sign up to help organize an event in Seattle right now.

All the DC pundits are bleating about our imminent defeat in November. But there’s one thing they don’t see in the polls or hear about in their media bubble – it’s you. It’s because of you that we stopped George W. Bush from privatizing Social Security in 2005, won control of Congress in 2006, and elected Barack Obama in 2008. The pundits got all of these wrong then and they’ll be wrong again this year.

But we’ve just got 51 days to make it happen. Winning means dealing a crushing defeat to the tea party crowd and emboldening those Democrats too afraid to stand on progressive principles. Losing means saying goodbye to progressive Heroes like Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold and Alan Grayson… and all we’ll have left will be Villains like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.

The stakes couldn’t be higher and we’re counting on you to step up and make a difference once again.

Sign up to help organize an event today and one of our National Field Organizers will contact you next week to work with you on your event.

Working together, we’ll win in November.

-Matt

Matt Blizek, Field Director
Democracy for America

Democracy for America relies on you and the people-power of more than one million members to fund the grassroots organizing and training that delivers progressive change on the issues that matter. Please Contribute Today and support our mission.

Breaking: Activists dump “mountain” of coal waste at EPA HQ


Rainforest Action Network
Tell our EPA to stand up for Appalachians and veto Spruce Mine!
Take Action
Take Action
Take Action

Moments ago, a bold group of RAN activists drove a truck onto the front lawn of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. and dumped a “mountain” of coal waste onto it.

It’s about time.

The coal debris traveled all the way from Appalachia where every day the EPA stands by and local residents watch in horror as another 300 million year old mountaintop is blown into oblivion by mountaintop removal (MTR) mining.

It’s a damn shame.

Neighboring communities and nearby waterways are flooded with the toxic debris, poisoning life in one of our nation’s most unique regions.

It’s hard to believe this is legal in the United States. Well, enough is enough. Appalachian locals and their allies are fed up. We’ve all had it.

Call Lisa Jackson from the EPA and tell her to veto all future MTR permits..

Spruce Mine is the largest proposed MTR mine site in Appalachia and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has the opportunity to veto it. Your call today could be the tipping point.

Dial up the EPA and say “Lisa, Veto Spruce Mine!”.

The action this morning aims to give the EPA a tiny glimpse into what life is like for the people of Appalachia getting dumped on right and left by MTR mining companies.

Make sure the EPA gets the point. Flood their phone lines with your calls today.

Thanks for supporting the action today and being such an integral part of the Network.

Amanda Starbuck

For the mountains,

Annie Sartor
Global Finance Campaign

22 Million Jobs


This election, the choice is clear:

  • Republicans like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell want to retain the Bush-Cheney reckless tax cuts for the wealthy that created out of control budget deficits and lead America into a jobs-losing recession.

Which do you choose? I know, I know, the choice is obvious, right?

Believe it or not, some corporate Democrats in the Senate might side with lobbyists and racist Tea Party Republicans instead of you and me. If we’re going to win in November, we must raise $50,000 from at least 5,000 DFA members by the end of this week for an aggressive no-holds-barred campaign that backs up President Obama and Patrick Leahy right now.

Contribute $10 today to fuel DFA’s aggressive campaign to win in 2010

Racist Tea Party Republicans are more intent on beating Obama — no matter what the cost — than creating jobs for the American middle-class. The right wing wants to score political points by taking money from our kids’ and grandkids’ future, and handing out tax dollars to the wealthiest Americans.

It’s up to us to stop them.

That’s why yesterday, Senator Patrick Leahy joined with Democracy for America members in calling on Congress to let the Bush-Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy expire this year as planned. Already, in just 24 hours, over 50,000 Americans have added their name and signers are still rolling in.

I will choose the Democrats’ campaign for “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” on Election Day over the Republicans’ dream of more “Tax Gifts for Millionaires” — and so will the rest of America — if Democrats stand up and do the right thing.

But it’s up to us to make Senate Democrats deliver for the middle class — Contribute now.

It’s not rocket science. It’s now or never. The more Democrats deliver for regular Americans in September and October, the bigger our victories will be this November.

Thank you for working to get the job done.

-Charles

Charles Chamberlain, Political Director
Democracy for America

FW: New GOP Attack Groups’ Ad Buy


I just got this email from our Research Director who told me that four of the most extreme right-wing shadow groups just launched a new multi-million dollar barrage of attack ads against 39 Democrats in close races.

We have a strategic advertising response in place and we have mobilized our rapid response efforts earlier than ever before in preparation for attacks just like these. But, this new tidal wave of attacks is going to require urgent additional resources.

Help us urgently raise $500,000 in the next 48 hours to counter this corporate special interest onslaught. Every grassroots dollar you give is put to work immediately for rapid response, grassroots mobilization efforts and getting our message out.

Contribute $5, $10 or more to our Emergency Ad Fund in the next 48 Hours to help Democrats under attack by right-wing shadow groups.

Let me be clear — we will retain the majority in the House if we have you standing with us and fighting back against every vile GOP attack and dirty trick. We know the truth when Democrats have the resources to get their message out and turn out voters — Democrats win. It’s as simple as that.

Thank you for standing with us.

Jon Vogel
DCCC Executive Director

———————————————————————————–

From: Nicole Landset
Sent: Sunday, September 12th, 2010 4:52 PM
To: Jon Vogel
Subject: New GOP Attack Groups’ Ad Buy

Hi Jon,

Here are the latest numbers: from September 9th through October 12th four shadowy third party groups have placed over $11 million in television ads attacking Democrats in 39 Congressional districts.

Nicole Landset

Gallup -1 of 4Bills they say the public agrees with


Among Recent Bills, Financial Reform a Lone Plus for Congress

Most Americans oppose four other prominent legislative acts

by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ — The financial reform bill President Obama signed into law in July is the most popular of five major pieces of legislation Congress has passed in the past two years — in fact, it is the only one tested in a recent USA Today/Gallup poll that a majority of Americans support.

Support for Congressional Legislative Achievements in the Last Two Years

Six in 10 Americans approve of the legislation to strengthen government regulation of the financial industry. By contrast, a majority disapprove of the 2009 economic stimulus package, the auto industry bailout, healthcare reform, and — most of all — the 2008 banking industry bailout.

Financial reform does best due to a relatively high level of support from Republicans — 42% approve of it — as well as majority support from independents. Independents join Republicans in mostly opposing the other four legislative initiatives tested. Democrats, on the other hand, approve of all five, although to varying degrees.

Support for Congressional Legislative Achievements in the Last Two Years, by Party ID

Of the five legislative acts, healthcare reform and the economic stimulus package are the most politically divisive. By contrast, financial regulatory reform, as well as aid to automakers and banks, sparks more similar reactions from Republicans and Democrats.

Bottom Line

Congress’ approval rating has been stalled at or below 20% for most of this year, down from 39% in March 2009 — and recent Gallup polling finds Americans no happier with the Republicans than with the Democrats in Congress. While some of this may be due to unavoidable fallout from the prolonged economic downturn, it may also represent an accumulation of public discontent with the more prominent spending and policy programs Congress has made law. Wall Street regulatory reform stands alone as a major legislative accomplishment that congressional incumbents would be wise to tout as they campaign for re-election this fall.

Survey MethodsResults for this USA Today/Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Aug. 27-30, 2010, with a random sample of 1,021 adults, aged 18 and older, living in the continental U.S., selected using random-digit-dial sampling.

For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones (for respondents with a landline telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell phone-only). Each sample includes a minimum quota of 150 cell phone-only respondents and 850 landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.

Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, education, region, and phone lines. Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2009 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in continental U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

View methodology, full question results, and trend data.

For more details on Gallup’s polling methodology, visit http://www.gallup.com/.