Barack Obama may have been born in America, but he seems to have been “made” somewhere else.
From Byron York at NRO:
In the audience Saturday [at the McCain rally in Virginia], there were plenty of people who were mad about [Joe the Plumber]. There was real anger at this rally, but it wasn’t, as some erroneous press reports from other McCain rallies have suggested, aimed at Obama. It was aimed at the press. And that’s where Tito Munoz came in.
After McCain left, as the crowd filed out, Munoz made his way to an area near some loudspeakers. He attracted a few reporters when he started talking loudly, in heavily-accented English, about media mistreatment of Wurzelbacher. (It was clear that Spanish was Munoz’s native language, and he later told me he was born in Colombia.) When I first made my way over to him, Munoz thought I was there to give him the third degree.
“Are you going to check my license, too?” he asked me. “Are you going to check my immigration status? I’m ready, I have everything here. Whatever you want, I have it. I have my green card, I have my passport — “
I was a little surprised. Did Munoz really bring his papers with him to a McCain rally? I asked.
“Yeah, I have my papers right here,” he said. “I’m an American citizen. Right here, right here.” With that, he produced a U.S. passport, turned it to the page with his picture on it, and thrust it about an inch from my nose. “Right here,” he said. “In your face.”
Munoz said he owned a small construction business. “I have a license, if you guys want to check,” he said.
Someone asked why Munoz had come to the rally. “I support McCain, but I’ve come to face you guys because I’m disgusted with you guys,” he said. “Why the hell are you going after Joe the Plumber? Joe the Plumber has an idea. He has a future. He wants to be something else. Why is that wrong? Everything is possible in America. I made it. Joe the Plumber could make it even better than me. . . . I was born in Colombia, but I was made in the U.S.A.”
The scene turned into a mini-fracas when David Corn, of Mother Jones, defended press coverage. Munoz was having none of it. Why, he asked, would the press whack Joe the Plumber when it didn’t want to report on Obama’s relationship with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber? “How come that’s not in the news all the time?” Munoz said. “How come Joe the Plumber is every second? I’m talking about NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN.”A black woman with a strong Caribbean accent jumped in the fray. “Tell me,” she said to Corn, “why is it you can go and find out about Joe the Plumber’s tax lien and when he divorced his wife and you can’t tell me when Barack Obama met with William Ayers? Why? Why could you not tell us that? Joe the Plumber is me!”
“I am Joe the Plumber!” Munoz chimed in. “You’re attacking me.”
“Wait a second,” Corn said. “Do you pay your taxes?”
“Yes, I pay my taxes,” the woman said.
“Then you’re better than Joe the Plumber,” Corn said. That set off a general free-for-all. “I’m going to tell you something,” Munoz yelled at Corn. “I’m better than Obama. Why? Because I’m not associated with terrorists!”
The reporter from Mother Jones believes people who pay their taxes are “better” than people who owe the government money. That, Folks, in a nutshell is the NeoLiberal approach to ethics and morals — reflexively condescending and profoundly hypocritical at the same time, just exactly like the Radical Right.
Gosh darn the MSM and the DONC for putting our nation through this. First they gleefully swarmed Hillary out of the race like a pack of rabid, sexist dogs — just to show us that a woman’s job is ALWAYS to help a man, no matter how incompetent and inexperienced he may be. “Shut up, Hillary. Sit down, Hillary.” That’s what they fed us every single gosh darn day and night during the primaries. The overriding message, from February to August, was “When will Hillary GO AWAY??”
And now they’re going after little guys: Joe, Tito, even baby Trigg. And I am SO SICK of being forced to participate in the virtual group-sexual-assault that the MSM is perpetrating on Sarah Palin. Enough. The freaks in the Radical Leftwing, who share with us daily their sexual fantasies involving Palin and some instrument of humiliation, are beyond the pale to me.
If there is ANYTHING good that comes out of this horrible psychodrama of an election it will be the permanent EXILE of the NeoLiberals. The collosal failure and disaster perpetrated on our country by George and Dick and Donald succeeded in making neocon a dirty word. A very good thing. Obama and the DONC’s hit job on Hillary, their assault on the working class, and their exposure as actually being, at the end of the day when all is said and done, pretty freaking UNAMERICAN will similarly discredit the NeoLiberal Freaks who are still holding our party hostage.
But keep your eyes on the prize, Pumas. We pay the ransom on November 4th.
ACTION LIST for OCTOBER 21, 2008
Call the Obama Press Office and ask them when Sen. Obama will be releasing his Small Donors List. Hillary made hers available. So does John McCain. It is HOGWASH for the obama campaign to claim that they “don’t keep track of the information.” It is a LIE. Call today. Call often. Spread this phone number around and ask your friends to call: 312-819-2423.
Call the Obama Press Office and ask them when Sen. Obama will be making a public statement denouncing the Terry Tate Youtube, the Palin pornographic film, and the relentlessly sexist and degrading attacks by his followers on Gov. Palin. Ask the Press Office when the Senator will be calling for his supporters to STOP the attacks on voters who oppose him! Call today: 312-819-2423.
Go to our Action Center for graphics, flyers, postcards, and other ideas on getting the word out on the streets. JOIN Puma PAC for mass action alerts (always free and fun; we NEVER share email or spam you).
Meet Harriet Christian in Manhattan on Saturday and Sunday from now until the election. She is rounding up a posse to go to Scranton, PA to canvass in coordination with Democrat’s for McCain. If you’re interested, send her an email at hchristian at infnyc dot com. The buses leave from 31st Street and 8th Ave at 9:00AM.
Join Paulie and MariLu and Real Democrats on their canvassing Bus Tour of Ohio. They are having HUGE success reaching out to Democrats and Independents and also having HUGE fun doing it! Click HERE to join them.
Visit johnmccain.com to make phone calls from home. You don’t have to sell your soul to the Republican Party to take this action. Simply call voters in swing states and tell them the TRUTH about WHY you are not voting for Obama. If you’ve forgotten all the reasons, read through the comments HERE for succinct, heart-felt, and inspirational reasons.
Find a Puma Buddy to canvas or flyer with this weekend and next. In comments, shout out what area you’re in and ask for a buddy. If you are anywhere near a city in most of the 50 states, you will soon find at least one helpful Puma to join you. Greenfun and Billiejo in the Berkely CA area just got back from a weekend of canvassing in Reno and they had great fun while doing great work. You can too!
Tell your friends to tune into blogtalkradio programs. There are a wide variety to suit everyone’s taste and you will get to meet a lot of new friends from all over the country. Tonight, you can Chew the Fat with Ophelia, from The New Agenda tonight at 10PM EST. Join Amy Siskind and Dr. Violet Socks talk about how women from both sides of the aisle can find common ground, work towards the 30% solution and move women’s issues forward for a better society for all. Dr. Lynette Long will be on this week with Sheri Tagg. Tune your cat channels to Puma United Radio (PURrrr!) and spread the word!
Oh, and here’s a picture of Sarah Palin that reminds me of the famous Hillary in the rain in a shiny black leather jacket picture from the primaries. Sarah Palin is a woman in control. And that’s pretty awesome.
Who would have thought it possible? Aw shucks, but I thought the marvelous markos was the bringer of all that is good and true. Crickets in Boiz World about Hannity’s investigation of Obama’s radical ties. Surprise!
The Boiz only want facts that advance their agenda, their version of reality. Hmm, sound familiar?
Don’t forget — Sheri is hosting a special Debate Show on Puma United Radio (PURrrr!) starting at 8:30pm eastern. She and I and the folks from Conflucians Say will do a pre-debate pre-game, then she’ll be streaming the debate live and we’ll talk during the commercials, AND do a post-debate wrap-up.
The chat room should be hoppin!
Listen live by clicking on the image above. We’ll also live-blog here for those who don’t chat!
Everyone got their popcorn?
I’m placing a $10 dollar bet that Palin wins. Money payable to Heidi Li’s new Denver Group ad. Anyone else in?
Donate to the Denver Group Ad HERE, and THANK YOU!
Y’all are a bunch of racist, disgusting, despicable morons.
McCain is a senile douch who has picked a running mate that charged women for rape kits. You think Hillary is happy about that?! McBush is tanking, Obama 08!!!
Although Nitwit doesn’t know how to spell “douche,” I have a feeling he knows EXACTLY what it means and savors using it to degrade people. Isn’t the liberal underbelly pretty?
In other news, the Billionaires’ Bailout heads to the House this morning. GWB was up EARLY this morning talking to reporters and warning the Congress and the country to wake up and smell the $80-dollar a pound coffee. Heckuva job, Bushie!
Watch this ONE MINUTE SMACK-DOWN in the House! woo-hoo! (thanks to Jawbone at Corrente)
Krugman gives Obama tepid support for NOT GETTING IN THE WAY (inspired yet?), and hammers McCain for being reckless and misguided. The next 24-48 hours will be VERY interesting — watch for both sides to be scrambling to both claim credit for AND reject the plan. Obama called the current plan “an outrage, an outrage” and then said he’d vote for it on Wednesday. Huh? McCain is regrouping. Which means he’s losing ground. It’s the Independents who matter to the candidates this week. The basic question for them is:
Who do you trust more to rescue and grow the economy? Barack Obama or John McCain?
David Sirota has a good primer on why the plan stinks, HERE (thanks to Lambert at Corrente). Obama loses this one politically if he appears to be out of his league and/or uninterested (he is both). McCain loses this one politically if he appears short-fused and blustery.
Bottom line for us: HARRY THE DEMOCRATS! We need to call, call, call our reps in Congress and tell them to STOP THE BAILOUT!! Call Obama’s Campaign and insist that he impose safeguards for homeowners.
Our job is to try to force Obama’s lofty hand. It’s not that we don’t want him to pull another FISA on us. In fact, we want to force him to pull another FISA. He must stand up and lead or step OUT OF THE WAY.
Read the full text of the Billionairz’ Bailout bill HERE (The Sunlight Foundation from our lovely ACTION Center). Call Congress now! Repeatedly!
Call one of these Toll Free Capitol Hill switchboard #’s:
What’s PPP getting at here? Obviously, that a -12 point collapse in Palin’s net favorability will have an impact on McCain’s numbers.
With Palin neutralized (and there’s a reason they’re hiding her from view), it’s much easier to knock down McCain on the economy, his desire to deregulate healthcare just like Wall Street, his lies, and so on.
Again, for those who counseled leaving Palin alone because she was too popular and because it took attention off McCain, had we done so, she’d be entrenched as a woman of the people, propping up the Republican ticket. Instead, she’s been relegated to the far less glamorous (and helpful) task of keeping the GOP base intact, nothing more. She may be popular with the base, but people outside wingnut circles aren’t impressed.
Um, Satan, I know your job is to deliver the DONC Talking Points (Unqualified! Slut! Bimbo!) but damn! that must be one hell of a dose you have to take to quell the cognitive dissonance. “Hiding her from view”?? You mean like this,
Over 10,000 waited up to 5 hours to hear Palin yesterday in Florida. Biden’s biggest draw has been about 2,500. (Oh, and Biden, or King Gaffer as I like to call him, is now forced to walk back yesterday’s remarks about Obama’s “terrible” decision to air an ad ridiculing McCain’s war injuries. For some reason I have an image in my head of a dog chasing its tail in a panicked, out of control spin. Sigh. Should have picked Hillary.)
Jeralyn, for one, has heard her marching orders clearly and is “100%” on board with continuing the onslaught:
Palin Post-Peak: Favorability Slides
By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Tue Sep 23, 2008 at 01:33:00 AM EST
PPP will have a new Colorado poll out this morning. They offer one stat as a teaser. Palin’s favorability rating in the has dropped 3 points and her unfavorable rating has increased 9 points.
I’m 100% with Markos of Daily Kos on this. . .
Great, you can safely hold your breath while we wait for the first round of slime to be hurled from the Democratic Keepers of Swamp Misogyny. This is a good one, an ad currently running on several of Da Boiz’z blogs:
(get it? A “BUSH” we can’t trust? ha-ha! we said “bush”! Thanks to Melissa McKewan)
Oh, and the Freudian projection is almost too much to bear these days. Naomi Wolf, card-carrying member of the So-Called Reality Based Community (SCRBC), raises the Panic Flag about, get this, how our open society is being threatened by a weak figurehead candidate backed by a mysterious cabal and inserted into office using election fraud and corruption! Lordy, lordy. She also lets loose a Freudian slip at the end, corrected in my brackets:
You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand “Palin Power.” A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections — but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you [can't] have freedom.
Are you a woman considering a career in politics? Are you a woman with ambition? Would you like to participate in government or other forums for the powerful and influential? Well, Girls — be prepared! The Democratic Underbelly sees you like this:
Dear Puma PAC,
This is the first of today’s PROWLS. It’s not exactly hush-hush, as you can see, but I want this one to reach far and wide. Today we are talking back to the Mainstream Media and the Democratic Underbelly.
Here is an excerpt from Matt Taibbi’s article in the latest Rolling Stone:
Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she’s a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she’s the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV — and this country is going to eat her up, cheering her every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the base energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation.
–snip –
She appeared to be completely without shame and utterly full of shit, awing a room full of hardened reporters with her sickly-sweet line about the high-school-flame-turned-hubby who “five children later,” is “still my guy.” It was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag.
Here’s the PROWL:
1. Send an email to rgscustserv@cdsfulfillment.com and tell them what you think of political discourse that uses sexist stereotypes to belittle women candidates. Give them an earful.
2. Call the Rolling Stones office today and demand an apology from Matt Taibbi and his “editors.” Telephone: (212) 484-1616. Give them an earful.
3. Blog the Democratic Underbelly. Let them know what real Democrats look like, think like, and talk like. Click on this link and post your comments. Let’s take this fight back to where it started so we can nip this ugliness in the bud every chance we get. Blog the Puma message HERE. Give them an earful.
Here is today’s Second PROWL. First, read Riverdaughter’s excellent take-down of the condescending Obots who desperately, though ignorantly, in classic concern troll fashion want to teach us about “what the Democratic Party really stands for” and why it is so crucial that we submit to their superior understanding. Then read THIS heartfelt post on the Democratic Underbelly by a woman who really wants to get it right. I don’t blame her — she did her best (though why in the HELL she is blogging at the Democratic Underbelly when she is clearly an intelligent and subtle thinker I’ll never know . . .). The point of this BLOG PROWL is not to confront the author, but the madness she provoked in her Underbelly readers. If the author hasn’t been PUMATIZED by the reaction of her supposed allies to her post, then she is likely beyond help. This is an Open Invitation to NikkiStone! Join Puma PAC and become part of the solution you so clearly and sincerely wish to facilitate. For the rest of us, get over there and COMMENT! Take the fight back to their Swamp! Give them an earful.
ALSO, Tonight we are hosting a fundraiser to help Heidi Li and her group, Democrats for Principles before Party, place an ad in Congressional Quarterly. The ads Heidi and her partner Marc Rubin have placed were tremendously effective at changing the pre-Denver narrative.
If everyone reading tonight donates just $5 (or $10 if you’ve got it) we can put Heidi over the top!
Forget about the Blogger Boiz. They are soo Bush-Era. With their blind and rabid obsession with all things Rovian and Republican they made themselves irrelevant. Rather than making the practical and principled political decision this primary season to back the most qualified Democratic candidate (as did the prescient and precious Riverdaughter, waaay back in January), the Boiz were so deafened by their own snarky echo chambers they could only hear the panderings of politicians cynical enough to speak their language.
John Edwards and Barack Obama lulled them with promises of RETRIBUTION, packaged up in boxes of hope and tied with pretty ribbons of change. The Blogger Boiz wanted PAYBACK. Payback for “being right about Iraq.” Payback for “being right about terrorism.” Payback for “being right about FISA.” Payback for “being right about the housing crisis.” And Katrina, and Guantanamo, and global warming. Obama (Edwards faded early), the Boiz believed, would be their white and shining knight aloft a rearing stallion of Change, smiting the Enemies of the Left with his righteous sword of glorious RIGHTNESS. Ha!
Obama would sweep into the White House like a mighty river of intellectual vengeance and the Boiz would get what they have always and only ever longed for: the ability to say with a face-splitting smirk, “We were right and you were WRONG.” nyah-nyah-na-na. That’s it. That’s ALL they care about.
And a look at what is important to them makes it clear why they will lose. The reason the promises of Hope and Change seem so empty to the rest of us is because they ARE empty, and more importantly, Obama and Axelrod and Dean KNOW this! The Boiz never wanted anything concrete. They didn’t want universal health care. They didn’t want sensible legislation for immigration. They didn’t want lower taxes or higher taxes; or good public schools or a solid plan for Iraq. They didn’t want reproductive choice for the women of Tennessee. They didn’t want adequate equipment for the troops. All they wanted was a Gold Star. An A+ for Stating the Obvious. Which is very easy to bestow. All Obama had to do was attend Yearly Kos and mouth the words FISA, Iraq pullout, and Guantanamo. All he had to do was DEIGN to write (or direct a staffer to write) a couple of posts for Huffington Post.
And then the Boiz and their minions would howl and stomp for him through the internets, the polling places, and the streets, drunk on the joy of being recognized as SMARTER than the rest of the country. And, in a strange and subtle twist, because of their own unexamined racism, spitefully glad that they would be using a BLACK Man and his even “blacker” wife to thumb their noses at the rest of us. A strange image, no? Barack and Michelle Obama as thumbs to prop up the collective noses of a bunch of self-righteous white men.
But the rest of the country has always been smarter than that. Always been more seasoned and practical. HATRED of George Bush and Dick Cheney is the habit and the hobby of the over-employed and the pampered. The rest of us have to get the kids to school and the bills paid. Yes, we know George Bush is a disaster. While driving to work or to the grocery store we sometimes fantasize about him being hauled before the World Court for crimes against humanity. But seriously, what has that got to do with which candidate will be able to make health care available for our mothers-in-law?
The Republicans, savvy strategists that they are, figured a toothless Obama would be easier to work around than a dead-serious Clinton. So they watched with glee as the Boiz savaged the more fearsome opponent. Ancient history now. But then came Sarah Palin, riding a REAL motorcycle, carrying a REAL rifle, and grinning a REAL grin of righteousness (yes, she scares me — I’m strong enough to admit it!). And now the Republicans have new hope, new energy, and new reason to believe that not only will they win the White House, they might change the political landscape for a generation. A little tweak to their reproductive choice platform and they may lose ten million fundamentalists but gain 50 million soccer moms. Hmmmm…
But, don’t lose heart O Stalwarts of the true Democratic Party! 2008 also marks the birth of the Puma Era in American politics. A movement in which average, every day voters like us started paying attention and taking action. We’ve been turning off our tv’s by the millions, putting down our newspapers, and heading out into the far reaches of the Internet like political pioneers, searching for common sense and practical solutions. We found outposts of sanity at The Confluence and Corrente and Shakesville. But we needed more. We started our own blogs, our own political action committees, our own virtual town squares.
On November 5th the Boiz will find themselves in the same position they’ve been in for a decade: with their heads spinning and with nothing practical to do with themselves except for looking back in anger — spewing ugliness and working their followers up into a froth of impotent, vile mania.
But not us! We’ll have WORK to do. Useful, pragmatic, and inclusive work. The work of rebuilding our party and electing representatives who put voters FIRST. The work of changing the media landscape so that NO woman who runs for office is subject to anything like THIS (from the liberal, progressive Blogosphere, natch). The work of Paying Attention and Sticking Together.
Oh, and don’t worry about the Boiz. They’re the kind of guys who bring a report card to a fist fight. They’re the kind of guys who might forget their mother’s birthday, but NEVER forget their own SAT scores. They’re the kind of guys for whom being RIGHT is always more important than being GOOD.
And people like that are easy to beat.
This is the Puma Era.
Welcome to the Pumaspere!
Please welcome these wonderful new additions to the Pumasphere. Several of these blogs and websites were founded by members of our very own Puma PAC! Visit and comment often. Remember what we’ve been saying since June 3rd? We are either all in this together, or all outside alone. Every inclusive voice is important in our Puma Movement. Every inclusive message is part of the Puma Platform. Start a blog. Start a radio show. Comment and write and think and act. We are American citizens. This is our JOB.
Hey! Where’d everyone go?!
