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September 26, 2004
Campaign-us Interrupt-us, Explaning E-Mails Regarding the Draft, Media Coverage, Why I Don't Believe in Conspiracy Theories, Max Cleland is SOOO Cool
So once again we're on hold until after the hurricane passes, and perhaps clean-up. Whether we stop due to clean-up efforts is of course relative to the amount of damage we take. But with a little more than a week to get voter registrations and absentee ballots, time is quickly running out to accomplish maximum turnout. Of course, we'll always sit there and ask how many more people we could've registered, and how many more we could've turned out. But ultimately, these last few days really can make all the difference.
Somewhere today I was reading an article (I don't remember where) that said that during the final month of a campaign, a day can have the impact of a week, and a week a month - how the dynamic can change so rapidly. One of our volunteers in the office mentioned that this would force us all to take a break - I suppose she's right.
Many people are trading e-mails right now in regards to the possibility of restoring the draft, with people referring to specific legislation within both the House and the Senate. Below is a quote from an e-mail response I wrote on such matters.
I don't mean to diminish the alarm bells, but these particular pieces of legislation are not going to be passed. Charlie Rangel, a Democrat from New York, proposed HR 163 as a protest against the lead-up to the Iraq war - an effort to push President Bush to reconsider his belligerent actions. Congressman Rangel's actual intention was not to reinstate the draft, but rather to open a discussion over the committal of troops to questionable military actions. The last action take on HR 163 was on 2/3/2003 where it was sent over to the Department of Defense for comment. DOD has not responded, and in all likelihood they will not respond in any capacity at all. S 89 - Sen. Holling's version of the bill (submitted for the same reasons), was tabled by the Armed Services Committee in January 2003.
There are issues to be considered with the draft. Draft regulations have been changed to limit college deferments to the remainder of a semester, and to restrict the ability to claim status as a contentious objector. There are serious things to consider - you can find out more information on the current draft at http://www.sss.gov/.
Now I will say that this doesn't have anything to do with the possibility that a second term Bush administration might attempt to reinstate the draft themselves - in fact, I believe that is a very serious concern. I'm probably just being a stickler and should leave well enough alone, but I want people to have their facts straight. However, this is an issue that will play well with both young voters and boomers - Bush wants to draft your kids.
There was a study listed on Fark that discussed how all the networks are about the same when it comes to reporting on Bush, and Fox is way biased when reporting on Kerry. This disturbed me – Fox is a huge cheerleader for the Bush Administration and anything RNC (anyone who’s seen Outfoxed wouldn’t disagree on that one). According to this study – the other major networks are just as bad as Fox. Now, this is just one study – but it’s showing the continuation of an alarming trend. The term “Liberal Media” is the best marketing tool ever invented – it managed to paint a fair media as biased, thereby allowing a biased media (Fox) to paint themselves as “fair”. I know this is old news, but I feel this still needs to be discussed – only ABC has demonstrated ANY journalistic integrity recently – Oliver has the tape.
Let me ask something – has EVERYONE snapped? One of the unfortunate things about being involved in a political campaign is that you have to listen to some wackjobs and their political ideas, and smile while you do it. If I hear one more thing about White Slavery, the CIA collaborating with Israel to destroy the World Trade Center, or how health insurance and tires are nothing more than taxes paid to the shadow government – I’m going to scream. I want to put something on the record right here right now – children are not being stolen on a regular basis and sold to Eastern European slave traders, the World Trade Center was destroyed by 19 well trained and well financed Middle Eastern men – 15 of which were Saudi Nationals (not to mention also our own failure of intelligence) , and buying tires is not a tithe to the Gnomes of Zurich. I mean seriously – I consider myself Very Liberal and yet I cringe every time I meet one of these Greenies who go off on any of these subjects. I swear I’m going to deck the next person who wants to tell me what they think and proceed to let this bile spew from their mouth. Enough!
I got to meet Max Cleland on Friday – he came into our office on Mills. Very nice guy, however brief my meeting with him was (I had to make my way to Kol Nidre). I’ll have a picture up at some point. I was slightly amused by the fact that all of us who are working hard-core on the campaign still get stupid giddy whenever we meet someone like Cleland. I work with rock stars and actors all the time and it doesn’t bother me –yet I get tongue tied when I meet someone I really respect. At some point I’ll tell my John Edwards story. I also fear for the moment I meet Howard Dean.
Posted by MikeSager at September 26, 2004 12:55 AM
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