My Qualms With The Coffee Party

(I have some great progressive friends that are part of the Coffee Party, and I have huge respect for a lot of the folks leading the efforts, they are brilliant and inspiring people, so I hope none of them take offense to this editorial.)

I get it. It is clever. And I completely agree with the message that the Coffee Party is putting out:

We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans.

If you follow them, you will also hear a lot about civility in public discourse, clearly a response to the childish antics of teabaggers that we witnessed last summer during the health care town halls.

I am totally in agreement with them on this, so what are my qualms with the Coffee Party? It is indicative of what I have always liked least about the progressive movement: we are far too often responding, always reacting and never acting.

There is no shred of doubt in anyone's mind that the Coffee Party is a response to the Tea Party. It shouts it in the name. "Hey look at me! I'm not like that radical group of whackos that seem to get wall-to-wall coverage!" And it shouts it again when you look at the description. "I swear, I'm like, totally, nothing like those freakin' teabaggers! Really!"

When Republicans controlled Congress and the White House it made some sense to be responding. They led the agenda and the best we could hope for was to fight it. Yet with full control we are still stuck there far too much. We propose health care reform yet spend the first several months of the debate responding to accusations of death panels and rationing.

I have grown tired of responding. And while I cannot make claims that I will stop any time soon, I certainly will not be joining any Responders Anonymous. I will not join a group that would never exist were it not for the teabaggers. I will not dignify their nuttiness. We have more potential to act and not react than we have had prior to this in my lifetime, so I apologize to my progressive friends if I find little excitement in the Coffee Party. I do, however, find excitement in the thought of civil discourse and using collective will to shape a government that works for the people. Yet I see little hope of that happening when we cannot stop giving these radicals attention, let alone naming groups after them.

This is not treating the teabaggers for what they are, a rather frustrated group representing a very tiny segment of the nation. They absolutely do not deserve the coverage they get. And part of that is our responsibility. We should not be treating them with respect. And frankly, when you make a group that is so blatantly and solely a response to the teabaggers, you elevate them.

We should be treating the teabaggers as what they are, the whacko base of the Republican party and nothing more. These are the racists, radical anti-Democrats, and conspiracy nuts of the right and nothing more. These are the same folks who protested the counting of ballots in Florida and nothing more:

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These are the same folks we have been stuck responding to for far too long. And while we will surely be obligated to respond for the rest of time, can we not work to shift the balance our way a little? Can we not use what little influence we have to give more attention to our ideas and less to theirs?

Better Off Under Slavery

That is the claim from Congressman Trent Franks, that African Americans are worse off today than they were during slavery. Hat-tip to the great work of our friend Mike Stark at Stark Reports for this one:

(Beginning around 6:10)


I am sure Rep. Franks will receive a few less-than-bubbly phone calls and emails about this one!

Saddly, I was far from surprised to hear this. I have spent a good amount of time volunteering as a clinic escort as part of a documentary we are working on, Best When Boring, and this is far from the craziest stuff I have heard from the rabidly anti-choice. When we have a new escort who happens to be of color, you can guarantee that he or she will hear about this on the first day or two. It is one piece in a growing pattern amongst the anti-choice activists, and the greater conservative movement in general, to use any argument that might further their point regardless of facts, reality, or logic.

Live Tweeting Abortion

If you spend a decent amount of time on twitter, as I do, then you have likely heard of #livetweetingabortion. The story begins with Angie the Anti-Theist. When birth control failed Angie, she was faced with a decision that many women come to face but few share in such glaring detail. For several days, Angie shared some of the most personal details of her medication-abortion.

Aside from my general interest in the reproductive justice movement, I also became fascinated by the strategic political characteristics of Angie's actions. One of the major hurdles that has hampered the power of pro-choice activists has been the secrecy and privacy surrounding reproductive health care. It is understandable. As a man, my reproductive health care has always been incredibly personal and private, so it is hard for me to call on women to share their story.

Yet as a former community organizer, I know there is no more powerful tool than that of storytelling. Storytelling creates a sense of empathy. Storytelling helped President Barack Obama demonstrate that as unique as his story was, it was uniquely American and something that all of us, regardless of race, age, or social status could relate to. Storytelling made it possible for progressive activists to build a formidable army able to stand up in the face of enormous money and resources from insurance company lobbyists.

The question is, will #livetweetingabortion catch on? If so, will it have the same effect on the reproductive justice movement as it has had on a variety of other issues? If so, it was a remarkably genius use of online technology and new media to foster a greater sense of community.

For more on #livetweetingabortion check out The Abortioneers story on it.

Senator Donald McEachin at Virginia Organizing Project Rally

Last week we caught up with the good folks at the Virginia Organizing Project in Richmond for a rally against potential state budget cuts to the health care system and in favor of reform on the national level. One of the folks who joined us was Senator Donald McEachin, representing Virginia's 9th District:

We've got more coverage from this rally coming very shortly!

We Are Apparently "Abusive"

That is the word from Facebook. Well, that is what they are telling folks behind our back.

I got home last night to find an old friend, someone who got me my first community organizing job, had tried unsuccessfully to post our video of Chris Hayes speaking at our fundraiser this past Sunday. Facebook prevented him from posting the video to his wall and informed him that:

"Some content in this message has been reported as abusive by Facebook users."

What on earth could be abusive about this video? I mean, it was a fairly innocuous speech about health care reform, grassroots video, and us. Who could take offense to that?

We have reached out to Facebook on this, which is near impossible to do, with no response. They left my friend no further information or links to click to challenge the reports of abusive content. They never informed us, the sole owners of the copyrighted material in question. There appears to be no process for determining that one's material has been banned. There appears to be no process for challenging this ban. The only phone number or email address we could find was to set up a press interview, and that number went straight to answering machine.

So who knows what will happen with our video? Likely they will remove the ban sometime over the next few weeks, but if this were a campaign video, weeks could likely be the difference between facebook users having the ability to post a video before election day. Facebook encourages businesses and organizations to focus online organizing efforts their way, some notice when you are informing our audience that we are "abusive" would be appreciated.

"...people who are ALLEGEDLY wronged by our health care system..."

Harken back to 2008 and the debates between then Senator, now President Barack Obama and then Senator, still Senator John McCain.

Remember this moment:


If you will remember, women voters across the country reacted quite badly to that one. I believe "Condescending" is the nicest word you could use to describe it.

Well, Congressman Eric Cantor just landed himself one of those moments, and thanks to indiemcemopants over at Daily Kos it will not go unnoticed:

If anything proves that they're not coming to this summit in good faith, it's what Eric Cantor (R-Oblivious) just said. He claims that we can all "read letters by constituents who are allegedly wronged by our health care system."

Allegedly, Congressman? Our health care system leaves people uninsured and dying every day of every week of every month of every year. That is a fact. The stories of folks dying because they do not have basic coverage, or because their insurance company denies them treatment and flips them off on the way out (literally) are not "allegations." These are facts.

And these are facts that the Republicans have demonstrated over and over again that they have no intention of addressing. Therefore, there are only two things I take out of this summit: 1) The President is pretty good at handling tough questioning and 2) The only viable path forward if you desire any real reform of our current health care system is to pass it without Republican help.

Radical Right and White Supremacists Line Up Behind Terrorism

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which specializes in monitoring the most dangerous of the radical right in this country, has put out a report detailing the support that terrorist Joseph Stack is receiving amongst radicals on the right, and white supremacists specifically.

“The Guy is a true HERO!!!”

snip

“This was quite heroic. There is a gradual awakening underway. I wonder how racially conscious he was.”

snip

“This is just the beginning. Prepare for battle!”

snip

“This man won’t be the last to do something like this.”

snip

“Only bad I see about this is that he didn’t kill enough.”

Let us be clear about what this is. This is radicals supporting suicide bombings on American buildings. This is Americans cheering for, and calling for more of, the violent murder of innocent American civilians. This is the "American Taliban" you keep hearing about over at Daily Kos.

Which, of course, is entirely different from this kind of "sympathy":

(from Think Progress)


(from Talking Points Memo)


And that is Republican's justifying, or making lighthearted jokes, about the violent, suicide-bombing murder of innocent American civilians.

Frankly, the conservative base of the Republican party would not have to answer for all the sympathizers of this degenerate terrorists were it not for their own sympathy for this degenerate terrorist.