Thom,

I listened to some of the last hour of Carl's show and now your show. The reason there is no pushback by the Obama campaign on the issues is because the Democrats are now a part of the corporate system. Even though Obama does not accept donations from corporate lobbyist, he is still terrified to take them on. What Democrats should have taken from the Clinton presidency is this: being a bi-partisan, centrist Democrat gets you no where. Clinton, one of the most conservative governing Democrats in history, was demolished by the right, even though he gave them much of what they wanted. Clinton is the main reason we have the corporate media we are saddled with today. The media Clinton left us with excoriates Democrats and kisses the behinds of Republicans, as you discussed this morning.

Finally progressives seem to be getting around to my premise about the American public, and that is they are just not that smart. Obama wants to run the high road campaign relying on the intelligence of the American voter. We on the left are, by our very nature, curious about the world around us and thoughful and reflective in our decision making. Unfortunately, people in the center and on the right just don't operate or think that way. They operate more from the lizard part of the brain. Republicans know this, which is they are running a personality and the always tried and true emotion based campaign. We are always told people don't like negative campaigning, but of course, it always works for the person who uses it.

I am almost to the point where I am coming to the conclusion McCain will be sworn in president in January 2009. Obama seems hell bent on running the same failed strategy Kerry and Gore ran. We need to understand when you go to a gunfight, you don't take a pea shooter. One thing you know about the typical American voter in the middle and on the right, you can be strong and wrong, but you can't be weak and right. They will choose the person who lies to them repeatedly and treats them like an imbecile, but will seem strong and confident in their presentation. It is so frustrating to watch this happen again.

As far as taking on the corporate problems caused by deregulation, free trade, and other conservative free market policies, the Democrats won't take on these issues for fear they will anger Wall Street. Obama has proven he does not need their pac money to run a competent campaign, but due to the free market ideology that has infected the Democratic party, even he won't take them on. I fear America is lost forever. I fear most of all Carl and Heidi are right, it will take revolution in the streets to take back our country. We have been trying to do it the right way, at the ballot box and by challenging our elected representatives once they get in office, but we have seen little for that effort. If Obama continues on the path he has set for his campaign, by not even letting the questions about Palin's experience be questioned and calling them outright liars, he has left himself little room to manuever. If he thinks the meida will actually do their job and call out McCain/Palin on their lies, he is sadly mistaken, as he should be aware of by now.

The question seems to me to be now, how do we get the Obama campaign to shed their Stockholm syndrome and take on their abusers. Each cycle we hear our leaders promise to take on the corrupt, dishonest tactics of the right, but once again, we see they are not up to the task. Where is the MoveOn Pac when we need them? How can we convince an obviously insulated Obama campaign to not follow the same strategy that has failed so many times? If we can't get our leaders pissed off enough to fight back this time after all the damage the Republicans have done to this country and after all the lies being told about them and by the other persons accomplishments, when will they.

God help us!!!

I can't call your show because I am working, but I want everyone out there to know that I canvassed for Barack Obama on Saturday in my district in Kansas and there was a HUGE turnout of people to canvass. I have never seen so many people volunteering for a campaign before. There were over an hundred there while I was there. Almost universally, those people were very angry about McCain picking Palin. They made comments about how dangerous it is and how completely unqualified she was. Those were registered Democrats, some former Republicans and some registered Republicans that were there to canvas.
While canvassing, I spoke to registered Democrats and Independents and NOT one person in almost five hours of canvassing said ONE POSITIVE THING about Sarah Palin. Most were extremely negative. She may be firing up the conservative base, but she is also firing up the progressive base of the Democratic Party in Kansas. And she has turned off a lot of Independents.

Well....... after Regan said "gov'ment bad, corporations gooood". It's been bad for working people and a golden era of socialism for the rich. When I fail... I pay the price, when banks in Texas fail they get bailouts. When auto makers fail by building dinosaurs (which goverment subsedized) they get a bailout. When "Moose" Palin says her state is free of state sales and income tax she hands out checks from the state government based on oil taxes (socialism of the direct kind), without the yearly handout to the "rugged-individualists" in Alaska would have to work real jobs.

Now we need to bailout Freddy and Fannie. As I remember they were public corporations doing a public good without handouts, but paid buy us with those loans. Vodoeconomics said that we need to "privatize" these public entities to make them more efficient. Due to Phil Gramm's leadership(?) he rewrote depression era laws. Well the past directors are in jail. Current ones lobbied congress to allow them to be more like the regular market (lend 120% LTV with no money down). This led to overbuilding and the current housing crash. Right-wing think tanks (pardon the oxymoron; (Bush/Cheney?), Milton Friedman, Benenke and mostly Alan Greenspan promoted an economic system that did not work, does not work nor will work. They are emotionly, intelectually, morally and spirituatilly bankrupt and have done so to our country.

The next phase will continue to make it worse. In California, power companies were deregulated to make our prices more "competitive". Well in the last 5 years, prices have risen dramatically. ALSO, the companies are in consolidation which will lead to monopoly power (as it was 100 years ago) and Californians will have to come up with trillions of dollars to buy these companies to make them public utility companies again. We will need to buy back what we once owned. Do we ever learn?

The money we need to fix these problems, pay off the debt (Republican issue?) fix infrastructure, schools, etc can't come from a bankrupty Republican administration, that went to the rich.

We as Americans have given up our will to fight vested interests on a basic scale. Fight with our dollars, volunteer time and remind you neighbors of this stuff. If capitaliam is good enough for most of us it should be good enought for the concervatives, right-wing and powerful.

webmarty

With the November elections coming up and with the irregularities with the primary elections rearing its ugly head again, I want to see legislation that makes election and voter tampering upgraded to an act of treason as it is undermining the very basis of our government.
To prevent what may happen at the end of Bush's term, I also want to see pardons only available to those who have already been tried and convicted of a crime mandatory rather than recommended to prevent the wholesale pardoning of persons without a trial. The public has a right to know the circumstances as to why one is being pardoned to be able to pass judgement on the president on the merits of its granting.

Check this out. Jon Lennon's "jest gimme the truth" told with a 2008 twist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq0XS3koGIM

New Obama commercial...

George Bush... MAVERICK.

Tell all the ways W has wrecked the country/constitution.

Then ask... do we really want another maverick in the White House?

Let's take this word away from them by associating it with Bush!