democratic platform

In this clip they talk about the youths lack of knowledge in civics and where the democratic platform stands on that issue and the importance of the youth to learn about politics in schools.

1984 Democratic Platform

The democratic party platform is discussed in regards to democrats being unified with the platform. They also discuss how the platform has transformed.

July 2000-democratic platform

Jennifer Backus, the press secretary for the Democratic National Committee talks about the platform for the democrats. She discusses the nominee's in relation to the parties platform and how it effects them.

Western Republican Presidential Debate

The debate in Vegas earlier this week was full of heated moments between the candidates. All seven Republican candidates collided with one another at the presidential debate on several important topics, such as immigration, taxes, and healthcare. There was frequent tension between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. The two were at it with each other in just first hour of the debate and we could definitely see the anger in both of their faces. It seemed to start when Perry criticized Romney for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and in response Romney laughed in Perry’s face. Perry told Romney that he lost all his credibility to stand up there and talk about how he is strong on immigration. This was just the start of their quarrel. When Romney tried to respond Perry kept interrupting him and not letting him answer. The two went back and forth with Perry accusing Romney and Romney trying to tell him to let him speak. You could tell from Perry’s face how heated he was getting that it seemed to cloud his judgment in letting Romney speak in his appropriate thirty second time limit. Romney, although he seemed very frustrated, handled the encounter much better than Perry in my opinion. He made a few remarks on Perry’s inability to let others speak but for the most part he tried to stay out of the banter and stick to the points. When he finally got the chance to respond to Perry, he pointed out that Texas had a 60 percent increase in illegal immigrants and said, "If there's someone who has a record as governor with regards to illegal immigration that doesn't stand up to muster, it's you, not me." It’s hard to say how much Perry’s attacks will affect voters. Perry may have come off as a bit rude and wrongly accusing Romney but on the other hand he stood his ground and got his word across. After all this was a debate not a pleasant conversation among friends.

Cain also got a lot of attention during the debate. All of the candidates criticized his 9-9-9-tax plan. They all said it was too risky. Newt Gingrich said that Cain’s plan was much more complex then he was leading on to the public, while Romney called it “dangerous” and though it would increase taxes on low income people. Perry said he has a plan that will work better than Cain’s. He said, "I will bump plans with you brother, and we will see who has the best idea about getting this country working again, it's not going to fly." Cain responded to all the criticism by saying the reason his plan is being attacked so much is that politicians don’t want to replace the current tax code with a new more simple and fair one.

I thought the debate was really interesting and exciting. It’s a great way to see the candidates put on the spot with questions that the people want an answer to and seeing the candidates interact with each other says a lot about the person and how firm they are on their policies.

Perry's new tax plan

Rick Perry is going to reveal his plan to make a more simply federal tax with a flat income tax rate. I wonder if this will help or hurt Perry, who struggled a little in the first few debates. Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan certainly got him a lot of extra attention and made him the front runner of the GOP candidates. With that said Cain has had a lot of criticism and scrutiny for his plan so we will see what happens with Perry’s plan. So far no one has heard any details on the plan but Perry did say that his plan will be “flatter and fairer” than Cain’s tax plan. Even without much detail, the announcement of the unveiling of Perry’s plan has got people talking. Steve Forbs said that the plan “will rip out this ten million word monstrosity.” Forbes was of course referring to the tax code in place now. Forbes thinks the good things like risk taking and productive work will have a lower price and that Perry’s plan will get rid of the “corruption in Washington.” Forbes isn’t the only one excited for the plan; Sarah Palin is endorsing it as well. The liberals however are not so quick to accept Perry’s idea. Liberal groups think it will raise taxes on the lower and middle classes and not the wealthier people.

The main idea of the flat tax is to replace the current income tax rates with just one, which would be paid by everyone.  According to Forbes, Perry’s plan will be different from Cain’s because it wont have a national sales tax. Cain’s plan has this as well as a 9 percent flat tax on corporate and personal income. Even with all the support Cain has gotten with is flat tax rate, there are many people who do not like the idea of a flat tax, whether it be Cain or Perry’s plan. Most of the criticism stems from the idea that the flat tax eliminates the progressive system we have now with the current tax code. With the progressive system, higher earners pay higher tax rates on their income. People who support the progressive tax systems believe it is important to “social fairness” because other taxes are regressive.

I can’t form a clear opinion on Perry’s plan until he reveals more details but I definitely think it’s a smart move on his part. Up until now, Cain was the only candidate with a clear-cut plan to fix the economy. With this build up to what Perry’s plan will be gets the attention from the media focused on him. Now he has something to compare to Cain and to separate him form other rivals like Romney. This could be just what Perry needs to make himself a front-runner in the race.

Here's a link to Perry introduces his tax plan:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385271n

presidential conventions

Here's a clip showing the preparations for the republican convention in 1988.

     
This clip gives us a look into the 2008 democratic convention as it prepares for the night.

presidential conventions

This is a clip from the 2008 democratic convention in Denver. This speech was made by Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich and became known as the "wake up America" speech.

 This video clip is the Republican weekly address by representative Kevin McCarty. He talks about the parties job plan and government regulations.

 This clip talks about the senate races coming up in 2012. Jennifer Duffy explains why the race is important for the democrats.

Republican economic policies

This is about the Republican economic policies. It shows both Cain and Perry talking about their economic agenda.

Singing Cain

Many of the GOP candidates are going to Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire but Herman Cain did something a little different. Earlier this week on Friday Cain spoke at a tea party at a town in West Tennessee. While on stage the generator that powered the sound system shut down. Cain stood there awkwardly for a few seconds and then broke out into song! The unexpected performance was a hit with the crowd. He belt out the song “Impossible Dream.” When I saw the video of him singing I was surprised at how good he was. His rich baritone voice, which he apparently used to use in his church choir, dazzled the crowd. When he finished his little number Cain then said, "You know, when it's your rally, you can do what you want to do!" The few hundred supporters laughed and shrieked with approval.

            It was not the first time Cain has song for a crowd. At the straw poll in Ames, Iowa, he sang “I Must Tell Jesus” to recorded music. As I mentioned he sung in his church choir where he also is an associate minister at the Antioch Baptist church, where he has been a member since he was just ten years old. Cain also recorded an album of gospel songs in 1996. We definitely don’t need a president who can sing but what is does say about Cain is that he can connect with an audience, something that has been and will keep being a way for him to win over voters. Cain certainly has charm on his side. Even the polls show that Cain is the most likeable candidate. Cain has created this everyday man image for himself and I think people really relate to that. Jimmy Hoppers, a 60-year-old physician from Jackson said that Cain is the most like him. He said, "He's run a business and paid the bills. He's authentic." Another man, a truck driver James said, “He doesn’t talk down to you. I think he gets the working man.” Cain knows what it means to work hard and build something out of nothing. I think people see him as someone who can really help and build up our economy. Cain would his common sense and business skills to Washington.

            Not everyone is so thrilled with Cain and his policies. People have actually called him racist and an “Oreo” for abandoning the “Democrat plantation.” This is just the most ridiculous thing I have heard. Many liberals have been picking on Cain because he is a black conservative. How does that make him racist?! He and any other person no matter their race should be able to use their own mind and decide what party they want to identify or not identify with. It is just ludicrous to me what some democrats have been saying about Cain. But I think all these remarks just make Cain look better. He responds to the comments but he doesn’t let the race issue take over. He is always stressing his business 9-9-9 plan tax plan, which he believes will fix the economic downfall in our country. Cain said, "Politicians put together things that will pass. Businessmen put together plans that solve the problems.” I certainly hope that’s what he will do.

           

Cain vs. Romney

Right now the race is looking like its Cain versus Romney. Romney has been at the top of the polls for a bit now but Cain is rapidly rising. Cain had been at the bottom with Newt Gingrich but after some good debates, Cain is almost tied with Romney at the top of the Republican rankings. On Monday, Gallup released survey information showing Romney at 20 percent, and Cain at 18 percent.  With the surveys marginal error of plus or minus four points the two candidates are basically equal. In just weeks Cain’s numbers have sky rocketed. A month ago the Gallop poll showed Cain at five percent.

Compared to the other front-runners, Cain has a pretty low name recognition. A poll released in early October showed that only 55 percent of Republican voters knew Cain’s name. Other candidates however, like Romney, Perry, and Bachmann had 80 percent name recognition among republican voters. Most likely that percentage has probably risen for Cain since then. With that said, if more people start to hear about him and like and approve of him as the 55 percent he already has does, then he will have a whole other group of GOP electorates to support him.

It will be interesting to see how Chris Christie’s endorsement of Romney will affect the race and if it will hurt Cain at all. But it doesn’t seem like Cain has to worry too much about Perry, another tea party favorite, since his support has been quickly decreasing almost in sync with Cain’s rise in support. In a recent Pew survey, 23 percent of GOP voters who say they are particularly supportive of the tea party also say they support Cain as the nominee. On the flip side, only 6 percent of voters who do not identify with the tea party say they would vote for Cain. Romney however is the opposite. He has 25 percent of the non tea party voter’s support and 17 percent of the tea partiers.

So with Cain’s number’s, name recognition, and popularity rising it’s looking good for him. The ex-business man with no government experience is sure getting his policies out there and gaining support from many people. With Romney and him neck and neck it’s becoming very interesting to see which one will push the other off the edge and remain on top.

Obama supports the protesters

I really can’t believe how many people are actually protesting in the Occupy Wall Street. It is the most unorganized and pointless protest. Even more shocking to me is Obama’s response to it all. He is actually encouraging these people to continue causing anarchy.  Last week a friend of mine who works by Wall Street was pushed down the subway stairs because of the swarm of protesters. That is just unacceptable. During the Thursday press conference Obama said the voters will “run the republicans out of town” if the jobs bill is not passed. Then when talking about the Occupy Wall Street Movement he said it “expresses the frustrations that the American people feel.” He said, “People are frustrated and the protesters are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.” I shouldn’t be surprised though because Obama needs these people to stay in office. These are the people that voted him into office and the ones he can hope to keep him there. If he turns his back on them now he will a great loss in supporters. Even the Vice President, Biden, is sympathizing with the protesters. He said, “What is the core of that protest? The core is: The bargain has been breached. The core is the American people do not think the system is fair, or on the level. That is the core is what you’re seeing with Wall Street.” The system isn’t fair? It’s these people who are blaming others success for their own failures and bad luck. The bad economy is not Wall Streets fault.

The Tea Party Express chairwoman Amy Kremer said one of my favorite quotes describing the protesters. She said they were like “a kid having a temper tantrum because their parents won't buy them the whole ice-cream store.” Not only is this a funny analogy but also it definitely has truth to it. The protesters are angry people who don’t know who to blame so they pick the successful ones. I don’t blame them for being frustrated with the economy but they are loosing all their credibility when they attack the wrong people and don’t even have a real purpose. In the past week, the Occupy Wall Street protests have spread to cities including Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver and Tampa. Some of the signs read, “Voting is a Hoax – Wake Up,”  “Jail Obama,”  “The military budget is KILLING Washington State!” and “Stop Cheating Movie Goers” (I have to say it would be nice if movie ticket prices went down). These protesters are just confused furious people who want to re-elect a president who in my opinion is not knowledgeable in creating jobs for our country and fixing the economy. Herman Cain said he thinks the whole protest movement has been “planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama Administration.” It certainly is an annoying distraction. It will be interesting to see what comes of all of it and if it helps Obama in the election.

Values Voter Summit

Ron Paul won the straw poll at the family research council’s Values Voter Summit. It’s the annual gathering of a few thousand conservatives in Washington. Paul had many supporters present when he spoke at the summit on Saturday morning. He took 37 percent in the informal poll, which is 732 votes from the 1,983 people who partook in the survey. Herman Cain was second at 23 percent (447 votes), Rick Santorum was third with 16 percent (323 votes), Rick Perry was fourth with 8 percent (167), Michelle Bachmann came in fifth with 8 percent (157), and Mitt Romney got sixth with only 88 votes at 4 percent.

Romney who spoke after Paul at the summit had some drama of his own going on. He had his Mormon religion called a cult by an evangelical leader, Robert Jeffress at the summit on Friday. The alarming remark took the spotlight from many of the candidates. Jeffress said that republicans shouldn’t vote for Romney because he is a Mormon. He did say that Romney was a “good, moral man” but that he thinks Christians should prefer to follow a Christian like Perry rather than a non-Christian like Romney. When asked about the controversial comment Perry said he did not think the Mormon religion is a cult.

Getting back to the results of the poll, Paul’s success in the poll is probably form all the young supporters as opposed to his popularity among the social conservatives at the conference. Most of them are Cain supporters. In fact, according to the president of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, when the results of the poll were announced on Saturday there was much chanting from the young enthusiasts and there was even a few boos from the crowd. Perkins said Cain “had people on their feet; Rick Santorum connected with the people.” However it’s still early to tell who will be the GOP nominee. The enthusiasm of the social conservatives for Cain was extremely high. Cain spoke to the summit on Friday. The Ohio state auditor David Yost was at the summit and said, “both [Cain’s] eloquence and the breadth of his vision” was refreshing to see. He said, “a lot of candidates come to a place like this, and their speeches almost sound like checklists of conservative issues” and that Cain “really had more of a narrative that reminded me of a Ronald Reagan.” I think that eloquence is a great word to use to describe Cain. Whenever I have seen him speak on TV he always articulately expresses himself well. He has a very calming manner, which I think will resonate well to the people.

voter turnout

This clip talks about Hispanic voters and how to get the word out to vote. It talks about the importance of voting for both Hispanics and all segments of people.

Chris Christie for president?

Will Chris Christie join the race or not? People have been wondering for some time now whether New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will be entering the presidential race. Christie has repeatedly said he will not be running for president. However, recently in answering a question, or more like a plead to run for president, he gave an answer that was not quite a yes or a no. So what do the people want him to do? Well his would be competitor Herman Cain doesn’t think he has a great chance. Cain said, "I believe that a lot of conservatives, once they know his positions.... they're not going to be able to support him. So, I think that is absolutely a liability for him if he gets in the race." The Maryland Governor, Democrat Martin O’Malley, doesn’t seem to think Christie can do the job either.  O’Malley said, "When it comes to being effective at creating jobs, improving schools and expanding opportunity, his record in New Jersey has not been a record of governing for effectiveness." Considering that America needs to fix its unemployment rate, Christie doesn’t seem to have much value in that department. New Jersey’s unemployment rate, at 9.4 percent, is higher than the national average. Last year New Jersey created no net new jobs and school performance isn’t doing well either. New Jersey schools “because of the choices he has made to cut education funding, have actually been declining in their national rankings,” said O’Malley. Another Governor, also a Democrat, Deval Patrick thinks Christie has “unfinished” work as a governor in New Jersey. Patrick as well as O’Malley doesn’t think Christie has much success in anything to prove his capability to be president.

In spite of all this not everyone thinks this negatively on Christie running. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said on NBC’s show “Meet The Press” that Christie offers some “unique” qualities to the group of GOP candidates. “He's an extraordinary communicator. He's a great governor, enormous reforms and everything from the pension system to budget reform in a blue state…[he] would fare very well against the president," said McDonnell. Christie may have good qualities but I don’t think he has what it takes to run the county. Whatever Christie plans on doing he must be feeling the pressure because he needs to make a decision very soon. There are 90 days until the caucuses in Iowa begin and as the 2008 presidential candidate, Senator John McCain mentioned, Christie is “way behind in fundraising and organization and other areas.”

The race issue in the race

Herman Cain criticized his opponent Rick Perry, calling him insulting and insensitive for not taking action sooner in removing a racially offensive word painted on a rock. The rock is outside a hunting camp in Texas that Perry’s family leased. The N-word that was painted on the rock was supposedly painted over by Perry’s father in the 80’s when Perry went to the camp with a friend and told his father what he saw. Some people claim to have seen the word on the rock later than this, some saying as late as in 2008.  Perry's campaign communications director Ray Sullivan said many of the claims are "incorrect, inconsistent and anonymous, including the implication that Rick Perry brought groups to the lease when the word on the rock was still visible.” Apparently Perry hasn’t even been on the lease in a few years and he and his family have never been in charge or owned the property where the rock is on.  "Yes, it was painted over," Cain said. "But how long ago was it painted over? So I'm still saying that it is a sign of insensitivity." The N-word is obviously, to say the least, insensitive. However I don’t think this shows Perry as being racist or inconsiderate. If the claims are true, Perry did have the word painted over. As for how long it took, that just shows Perry’s lack of initiative on the matter rather than insensitivity.

            Cain was also rebutting some accusations of being insensitive after he said that many blacks are brainwashed to just vote for democrats rather than listen to the actually message any candidate has to offer. Cain said he used the term "brainwashed" after a series of incidents in which some black voters refused to read his literature on his 9-9-9-tax plan because he's a conservative and a Republican. Cain said, “I call that brainwashed. How can they make up their mind against something when they don't know what it is? So this is why I'm saying some of them have been brainwashed, not even to consider an alternative point of view if the person is running as a Republican or they're supposedly a conservative." The fact that people would not read his 9-9-9-tax plan because he is republican is absurd to me but not surprising. I find that many people, republicans or democrats, are opposed to being informed on the other party’s policies just because it may be republican or democrat. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say blacks are brainwashed but I do think Cain makes a good point when saying people are opposed to alternative views. Cain also said it was insulting to the black community for Obama to go in front of the Congressional Black caucus and “scold” the audience for not agreeing with his policies. Cain believes Obama’s policies have failed the country as well as black people.