This Site, the 411

Dear Readers:

I have just started this site to focus on my political postings. With fewer than 60 days left before the 2008 presidential election, I feel it is more important than ever for those of us who are paying attention to highlight and analyze relevant issues.

In order to get the ball rolling here, I’ve imported several posts from my other blog. I’ve only included those with political content, but it should offer some background regarding how I think and where I stand on issues. In case you didn’t realize from the title, “Beyond the Palin,” I’m operating from the perspective of a progressive Democrat. I am an Obama supporter and proud of it. That said, I believe myself to be a thoughtful and analytical consumer of the news and media in general. Furthermore, while there are things I believe that vary from the Democratic platform, on the whole I know Barack Obama and Joe Biden to be the best choice to lead our country forward.

I have already set up several categories, and expect more to come as I go forward. I also hope to invite other friends to post their thoughts to this site, so look for other authors in the future as well.

Following is a description of each of the categories as the stand now:

• Politics: Anything that has political content, with a few subcategories:
  • Campaign ’08: Anything that deals with any race in 2008, including congressional and presidential.
  • Barack Obama: Anything that focuses on Barack Obama.
  • Joe Biden: Anything that focuses on Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s running mate.
  • John McCain: Anything that focuses on John McCain.
  • Sarah Palin: Anything that focuses on Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate.
  • Hillary Clinton: Anything that focuses on Hillary Clinton.
  • PUMA: Anything that focuses on those identifying themselves as disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters.
• Humor: Anything that I find amusing…you don’t have to and may not find these funny, but if I’ve labeled it with “humor,” it’s something that made me laugh. Checking out what amuses me might be a good way to learn just how twisted I can be at times.
• Musings & Observations: My general thoughts and observations about this and that.
• Rants: The same as musings and observationals, but expressed with angry zeal.
• Words: I love words; this is a place to share some of my favorites with you.
• Quotes: I love quotes; this is a place to share any with you that make me laugh or think or both.
• It’s All About Me: Anything that speaks to who I am. That vague enough? I do have one subcategory called Diary of a Mad eDater. I have several posts that predate finding a wonderful man, with whom I am very happy and have been for over two years now. These posts are about some of my experiences with eDating before my current relationship. I’ve included them both because they are funny and because they contain some of my best political commentary.
• 411: Bits of information about this blog or the world around us.
• Religion: Anything that focuses on religion, especially its role in our public discourse.
• Old Media: As an avid consumer of both print and televised media, the things I read or watch sometimes inspire me to comment. This category covers such posts. I have included a couple of subcategories here as well.
• Blogs: This is for posts commenting on or recommending other blogs.

Most of my posts are listed in multiple categories, as I find that categories are an easy way for readers to navigate to posts that interest them. When I first started posting, it wasn’t possible to “tag” my posts, so I tended to use categories more like tags. I will be tagging my posts as well, in order to avoid putting all my comments in every category. It’s a process, but, it should be an interesting journey…at least for me =-)

That’s it for now. Please feel free to comment on any post and; let me know if you are interested in becoming a regular author.

Best,

Noetical

Why PUMA People Piss Me Off…

As my closest friends know, I am an avid consumer of political commentary. My television has the MSNBC logo burned into it. I get and read the New York Times everyday and; I actually think it’s “fun” to watch CSPAN. I love to talk politics more than anyone I know, so my friends and family often encourage me to post my own political commentary here. In part they do so because they believe I am fairly well-informed, given my new consumption. They tell me my thoughts would be a valuable contribution to the public political discussion going on in the world today. Mostly I suspect they would just like me to shut up about it and hope to channel this energy toward my blog and away from them =-)

Unfortunately, while I’ve written many a post in my head about whatever is pissing me off at the time, I’m often too distracted, busy and/or lazy to actually type out my thoughts. Well, not so today. Last night, while watching Hardball on MSNBC, there was a segment on “Hillary Clinton Democrats for McCain.” The guests really annoyed me so; I went online to find more information about their group, PUMA. What I found agitated me enough to actually post something about it, so here I GO:

There were two people included in the Hardball segment, Darragh Murphy, founder of PUMA PAC, and Will Bower, who started a PUMA website called “Just Say No Deal.” Both insisted that they were planning to vote for John McCain, despite being Hillary Clinton supporters in the primary. Bower and Murphy described PUMA as a “movement” driven by frustrated Hillary Clinton Democrats, like themselves, who are devoted to “righting the wrongs” perpetrated on Clinton and her supporters. They accused the DNC and the Democratic Establishment of “silencing” their voices.

It doesn’t take an Obama supporter to notice the absurdity of the sentiment that the voices of Clinton and her supporters have been “silenced,” given that the first two days of the Democratic Convention will feature speeches by both Hillary and Bill Clinton, not to mention the fact that Hillary’s name is even scheduled to be put into nomination for the first roll call. By the way, the last time a primary loser insisted on such a display, it was Jerry Brown in 1992, when he lost to Bill Clinton. Reportedly, it really pissed Clinton off. The reason going into this is moot is that Clinton’s candidacy really has nothing to do with the PUMA cause, at least as far as I can tell. Will Bower’s Just Say No Deal Website tells it all when it opens with the following statement:

“We are a coalition of millions with one thing in common: NObama”

Presumably, the site would at least say “we are a coalition of millions with one thing in common: electing Hillary Clinton.” That is, if there were any truth to what they’ve been claiming their motives to be in their media interviews.

In the Hardball interview, Darragh Murphy explains that P.U.M.A. stands for “People United Means Action.” However, in researching PUMA, I found that the original derivation of this acronym, is “Party Unity My Ass,” which is appropriate since it’s much more akin to a bowel movement than a political movement. The thing that most offends me about these people and their media coverage is that they are claiming to be “Democrats.” Democrats My Ass…

If you look up most of the people representing PUMA in the media on the campaign contribution tracking Website, NEWSMEAT, they’ve only given money to Republicans in the past, or not at all. Darragh Murphy, for example, gave John McCain $500 in his 2000 primary run. Kim Mann, a PUMA supporter recently quoted in a CNN article about PUMA, has only contributed once to any candidate since the 1980s. According to NEWSMEAT, that was $250 to Republican Jim Ramstad from Minnesota in 1991.

My favorite “Democrat” has to be Will Bower, who recently quit his job to spend all his time administering JustSayNoDeal.com. One of the main areas of this site is the “Oppo-research” area. If you have any doubt about the motives of this site, go there and you’ll find a list of links to right-wing blogs on topics that range from Obama’s “Muslim Heritage” to his “Terrorist Ties.” It’s hard to imagine any reason to foster false rumors and innuendos, meant to smear and “swift-boat” Obama, other than a desire to keep Republicans in the White House for another term. Pointing visitors to lies about Obama will hardly change the outcome of the primaries and make Hillary the Democratic Nominee. It might improve McCain’s chances of being elected. It’s certainly an effort to make people more afraid of things that aren’t true about Obama than they are about things that are true about McCain…like the fact that McCain has promised to continue numerous policies that have been unpopular under Bush if he, McCain, is elected.

I’m not saying that all the PUMA people are closet Republicans. What I am saying is that many of the founders of the group are. Furthermore, those who aren’t might as well be. They are more dedicated to destroying Obama than they ever were for the things Clinton stands for. If that weren’t the case, they’d be supporting Obama now, whose policy positions are close to hers, while McCain’s are MILES away from those of either.

Did I mention these people piss me off?