Reid Leads in Nevada Senate Race – Democracy NOW! — 9:50.

Harry Reid to Bloggers at Netroots Nation: “I’m Proud of You for Taking On The Tea Party” — 9:29.

Uncertain Future for Reid Despite Rebound in Nev., ABC News Politics, July 25, 2010, by MICHAEL R. BLOOD AP Political Writer (Associated Press, quoted verbatim:

Despite Reid’s rebound in Nev. against GOP foe, Dems worry poor economy could drag him down.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid’s chances for six more years in Washington may be like tossing dice in a casino, even if he has made headway against Republican challenger Sharron Angle in a state with the nation’s highest rate of joblessness.

The four-term Reid holds a slight lead over Angle in the latest polling, thanks in part to her unsteady performance since winning the June primary and to Democratic ads portraying her as an extremist. Video of Angle scurrying away from reporters has mixed with television commercials of older voters upset about her call to phase out Social Security and Medicare.

But an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says Reid has a “a serious problem” with voters frustrated with the economy and “receives a great deal of blame.” The July 15 memo is based on polling research conducted for Patriot Majority, a union-funded group that is running TV ads against Angle.

How did Sharron Angle blow an 11-point lead on Harry Reid in seven weeks?

How did Sharron Angle blow an 11-point lead on Harry Reid in seven weeks?, Christian Science Monitor, July 28, 2010, by Brad Knickerbocker, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Just a few weeks ago, Senate majority leader Harry Reid seemed headed for political flameout.

Nevadans were down on their senior senator, according to the polls. The “tea party” movement was zeroing in on him as representative of all that’s wrong with big-government politics back in Washington. And it looked like any of his likely GOP opponents could beat the four-term incumbent in November.

Shortly after Nevada Republicans chose former state assemblywoman Sharron Angle to run against Reid, the beleaguered Democrat was trailing his opponent by 11 percentage points in a Rasmussen Reports poll of likely Nevada voters.

But things can change in a hurry.

Reid has moved ahead of Ms. Angle in the polls – by as much as seven points in the latest Mason-Dixon Polling & Research survey for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Angle campaign – with help from an increasingly worried national party – is having to beef up its campaign staff with outside professionals. And Angle is scrambling to change the subject regarding her earlier controversial positions and assertions.

“Reid has gone from being a very heavy underdog to being a slight favorite,” says Ted Jelen, a political scientist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “The fact that Sharron Angle won the primary was a major break for him.”

Meanwhile, Republicans “are growing increasingly frustrated with Sharron Angle and her lackluster campaign … fearing she is jeopardizing what they had long viewed as a sure pickup and costing them a chance to reclaim the majority,” reports CQ Politics.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), acknowledges the challenge his party faces in Nevada.

“While running for election is not rocket science, it does require knowledgeable people, it does require some discipline, and that’s always a struggle for every first-time candidate,” Senator Cornyn told CQ Politics.

See and watch Majority Leader Reid, live from Netroots Nation, Daily Kos, July 24, 2010, by Jed Lewison, video and transcript with updates. (we gave you the audio of Reid’s comments at Netroots Nation, above.

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Obama to progressives: ‘Keep up the fight’, The Raw Story, July 24, 2010, by Sahil Kapur, used with permission, quoted verbatim. Thanks to The Raw Story for permission to republish their works on an ongoing basis:

LAS VEGAS – President Barack Obama appeared in a surprise videotaped message at the Netroots Nation conference to thank the slew of progressive media and activists for helping advance a new agenda and urged them to “keep up the fight” ahead of the November elections.

“Thanks,” he told the crowd on Saturday, “for helping to change America for better.

“We’re moving America forward,” Obama said, invoking the stimulus package, hate-crimes legislation, health care reform, financial reform and various other initiatives. “When we’ve come this far, we can’t afford to slide backwards.”

The president received applause at various points during the speech, particularly while mentioning his legislative accomplishments and the turn to more progressive policies since the Bush administration.

While admitting that he understands why some believe “change hasn’t come fast enough,” he urged liberals to “keep making your voices heard; to keep holding me accountable; to keep up the fight.”

Admitting that much work is left to be done in achieving a more progressive America, Obama characterized November as a choice “between going back to the failed policies that got us into this mess, and moving forward with policies that are leading us out.”

“Change is hard,” he said. “But if we’ve learned anything these past 18 months, it’s that change is possible. It’s possible when folks like you remember the fundamental truth of our democracy — it’s that change doesn’t come from the top down, it comes from the bottom up. It comes from the netroots, from the grassroots.

“We’ve done it before, we can do it again,” Obama added. “Let’s finish what we’ve started.”

Enthusiastic at times, the gathering of thousands of liberals at the conference has also expressed agitation and restlessness towards what they describe as the sluggish pace of progressive change since the 2008 election.

Obama was introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who appeared in person for a lengthy question and answer session about a wide range of issues.

The following video, Obama’s address, was uploaded to YouTube by NetrootsNationVideo. (while we are having video difficulties for unknown reasons here at Evans Liberal Politics, we present Obama’s address (YouTube video) as an audio recording for our readers).

"President Obama Addresses Netroots Nation, 2010,", The President makes a stirring address remotely to the Netroots Nation Conference, 2010 — 3:48

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: I have to really echo Rachel Maddow’s tribute to the President here, and thank him for addressing Netroots Nation and encouraging liberals and progressive with this encouraging and stirring address. As the President said, "change in America doesn’t come from the top down. It comes from the bottom up. It comes from the Netroots. The grassroots. From every American who loves their country and believes they can make a difference. We’ve done it before. We can do it again. Let’s finish what we’ve started. Thank you so much." Are you enouraged?

Top anti-war Democrat: Afghanistan war could ‘destroy’ Obama’s presidency, The Raw Story, July 12, 2010, by Sahill Kapur, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON – An outspoken anti-war Democrat said ongoing US military efforts in Afghanistan could deeply imperil the presidency of Barack Obama and the fortunes of the Democratic Party.

“I think that this war, if it goes on and if it escalates, has the potential to destroy this presidency and to destroy the Democratic majorities in Congress,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) told Raw Story in an interview.

The New York congressman, who has called the Afghanistan war a “fool’s errand,” said he has no qualms opposing Obama and Democratic leaders on this sensitive issue ahead of the midterm elections, despite the harsh climate for his party.

“When you’re dealing with war and peace you can’t think of it in those terms,” he said. “People are dying. The security of our country, the honor of our country, the lives of our men and women, the lives of foreign men and women – are at stake. And that’s a lot more important, frankly, than partisan advantage.”

For Nadler, his stance on Afghanistan hearkens back to when he disapproved of US efforts in Vietnam in the 1960s, which President Lyndon Johnson championed and escalated.

“I got into politics opposing a president of my party – a president who was very good in most other respects – over the Vietnam war,” he said.

Military leaders say the US has national security interests in creating a stable central government in Afghanistan, by rooting out Taliban insurgents and ensuring the region doesn’t become a save-haven for Al-Qaeda.

Obama, who has championed the mission and deployed 30,000 additional troops to the region this year, faces a tough political predicament. Recent events have enhanced negative perceptions of the war, but withdrawal may carry with it an admission of failure and lead to forceful attacks from Republicans.

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A House vote on July 1 to approve war funding revealed growing Democratic divisions over the war. Three-fifths of Democrats backed an amendment demanding an exit strategy, which failed due to resolute Republican opposition.

While the president and most members of Congress deem a withdrawal timetable ill-advised, Nadler considers the shift in Democratic perception a positive step. “I think most of the Democratic Party is coming round,” he said.

The Brooklyn native said that while he believes there are political incentives for ending the Afghanistan war, his opposition is based chiefly on harsh realities in the region that make victory unachievable at a reasonable cost, if at all.

“It ought to be stopped for all sorts of reasons, but those political reasons increase the case for stopping it,” Nadler said.

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Yes, we know, right now our videos are not showing. We believe it is a hosting issue or perhaps some little snippet of code is not quite right. We are working hard to resolve this issue. Thanks for your patience. ~ Paul

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We Are Screwed, Daily Kos, June 10, 2010, by Jill Richardson, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

I am frustrated. And depressed. First of all, the oil spill is just overwhelming. Everything about it. The amount of marine life killed, the wetlands destroyed, and then all of the extra disaster on top of the original disaster. As if all of the oil spilling into the Gulf wasn’t bad enough, then they had to go dump in a bunch of toxic dispersants. And when the EPA told them to stop using Corexit, BP basically gave the EPA a middle finger and kept on doing it. Then there’s the endangered sea turtles burned, the clean-up workers denied the ability to wear protective gear, and the media kept away from the clean-up, the wimpy six-month moratorium that should have been longer in the first place, and then even THAT getting turned over by a judge who gets his bread buttered by the oil industry.

But that is just the start.

Oh and my actual title is We Are F**ked but the Swearing Police made me change it.

Now if Obama had been a progressive in the first place, which I don’t believe he ever was, he might have nominated someone better than Ken Salazar for Secretary of the Interior. And maybe something could have happened to fix MMS before now. But it didn’t. Maybe somebody would have noticed that every single oil company had practically identical clean-up plans in case of a spill, and they all included Caribbean walruses and contact info for a dead guy to call in case of an emergency? Maybe somebody, somewhere, would have given a shit about whether the oil companies actually had any technology to prevent spills and to clean them up if they happened.

But the truth came out. The U.S. government loves its oil money too. Recently, one of the news shows I listen to (Rachel, Amy, or Keith) suggested cutting all of the oil subsides we as a nation give to the oil industry. We’re in a “PAYGO” (pay as you go) environment in DC right now, which means that nothing gets extra money unless you make a cut or add a tax somewhere else. And I’m highly attuned to sources of money because my own pet bill – the school lunch program – needs BILLIONS more than it’s going to get. I was all ears when they brought up cutting oil subsidies. Seems only fair, right? They make more money than god, what do they need subsidies for?

And the answer came back that the U.S. relies on the money it gets from leases paid for by the oil companies. Now, I don’t see how cutting subsidies (saving money) will lose us that lease money from the oil companies. The oil’s there and they want it. They aren’t going to stop drilling tomorrow if we take away their subsidies. Believe me, we could take away an awful lot of money from them before they stop being profitable and can’t pay us for leases. But that was the reason given.

I’d bet it as a lot more to do with the fact that the oil companies are some of the top spenders on lobbying in the entire universe. (To find out who spends what on lobbying, go here.) In the first quarter of this year, ConocoPhilips spent over $6.4 mil in lobbying. BP spent $3.5 mil, Exxon Mobil spent nearly $3.4 mil, Chevron spent over $3 mil, and Shell spent nearly $2.3 mil. You can pick a quarter, any year, and they all spend that much or more, depending on what kind of legislation Congress is debating at the time.

It’s not just the oil I’m mad about. If it was just the oil, well, maybe we could keep fighting until the politics in this country changed and then get off oil later. I mean, it’s gonna run out one of these days, won’t it? And then we’ll have to get off of it. (And if it runs out before we’re ready, it won’t be pretty. Cuba found out what that was like in the early ’90s. I went there this year and blogged about it to document how they’ve adapted to life on little oil.)

But it looks like global warming’s gonna get us before Peak Oil ever will. And the injustice in that is that the rich countries in the temperate zones (i.e. us) will largely be okay. Oh, we might not have any more American maple syrup, which would be sad, but we’ll be okay. Countries in the tropics, by and large poor and developing nations, will be the ones who are hardest hit by changes in climate. They didn’t cause it but they’ll be the first ones to suffer from it.

So what are we doing about that? F**king around, mostly. Talking about “clean” coal and nuclear and ethanol, as if they are viable alternatives. (Last month when I visited DC, the ethanol industry – who has signed up Wes Clark as a spokesman – had the Capitol South metro station plastered in ethanol ads.) We talk about cap and trade, we leave major sectors like agriculture out of our climate change bills, the stupid Governor of West Virginia isn’t sure it would be in his best personal interest to appoint a Senator ASAP to replace Sen. Byrd…. and on and on it goes. A million reasons why nothing is happening and they all have the same effect. Nothing is happening.

Meanwhile, there are millions of ideas out there on how to solve our problems. About a year ago, I interviewed a guy who invented a plug-in electric hybrid designed so that you only fill it up 4 times a year IN THE MID-90s!!!! And what happened? All the auto-makers and the U.S. Department of Energy saw the car… and they did nothing. A few years later, one of the major automakers asked this guy to make them a prototype of a similar car, which he did. He delivered it to them, they did nothing with it. A full decade ago.

There’s a similar story for agriculture. You can grow corn and soy organically, using your same equipment, getting the same or better yield than you do now, AND sell it for organic prices, using up to 2/3 less oil, AND while sequestering carbon into the soil, and yet few farmers do it. There’s no incentive for them to do it. In fact, there are a number of disincentives, since your first few years in transition you have decreased yields and since you aren’t certified organic yet, you still get paid conventional prices. Plus the infrastructure in place makes it very easy to go with the flow planting GE corn and using fertilizer and herbicides and much harder to be organic or even non-GE. And even harder if you want to grow something other than corn and soy.

We have experts who say we need to change the way we grow our food but make no headlines, and then we have the fuckwits appointed by Obama (like this guy, who came to USDA directly from Monsanto’s non-profit) who are for continuing the status quo and exporting it around the world.

It’s amazing what a tiny role facts play in the decisions made at the top levels of our government. Colbert said that reality has a well-known liberal bias. Well, I still believe that is true, but our government sure isn’t liberal. We’ve got a Democratic House, Senate, and White House, and there’s very little in the way of liberalism actually happening in Washington.

This is more than sad, pathetic, and depressing. It’s tragic. We’re gonna take ourselves down in flames and take the entire planet down with us, and we probably won’t even know it’s happening until it’s too late.

See Jill Richarson’s website, www.lavidalocavore.

Email Jill Richardson

See Oil Change International’s interactive Follow the Oil Money.

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How Democrats can impeach Obama in one easy step, Daily Kos, July 5, 2010, by MinistryOfTruth, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

How Democrats can impeach President Obama in one easy step

Step #1.     Do NOT vote in 2010

    That is all it will take!

If you want a Republican majority in Congress, be certain to not vote in the elections this November, because that is what you will be likely to get.

And that Republican majority in Congress will not stop until they have dragged the Presidency of Barack Obama into the dirt. They will not care one bit about the harm it will do to America. A Republican majority in Congress will do nothing but work towards “Obama’s Waterloo”, and the people who do not vote for Democrats in 2010 will be just as responsible for it as the people who vote for Republicans. That is the reality of it, and the possibility of a GOP majority in Congress is something America can NOT afford.

But you can do something about it before it is too late.

Yes, Democrats have not done all that many of us hoped for, but no matter how upset Democrats may be about that we must admit that this incarnation of the GOP can NOT be allowed to govern. This incarnation of the GOP is flat out insane. Under no circumstances can America afford a Speaker of the House John Boehner or a Senate Majority Leader Jim DeMint. The 25% of voters, the Glenn Beck people, the reactionary right who still support the 5th worst President in American history can not be given power. They will do nothing but attempt to destroy the President, and they will cause the American people lasting harm in the certain political witch hunt that they will stage against this President.

Yes, the Democratic party is frustrating as hell, but we simply can not let this President be bogged down by the certain witch hunts that a GOP congressional majority will put it through. If the GOP takes back the House, expect the GOP to do NOTHING but pursue ginned up scandals against the President and other Democrats, in the hopes that they can take back the White House in 2012. Expect a Republican controlled congress to impeach this President for anything that seems plausible, and quite a bit of things that don’t. It will not matter.

All talk of reforms will stop. All progress on vital issues facing the American people will halt. The progress that is happening so slowly now will come to an end. If you are mad that the President and Democrats in Congress are not doing enough of the right thing now just wait until this insane, pro torture, anti unemployed people GOP takes control of Congress.

Now, there are two things you can do to prevent the nightmare that a House Speaker John Boehner would certainly create.

1. Be certain to vote for Democrats in 2010!

2. GOTV and Encourage others to vote for Democrats in 2010!

Tell others that if they want do not want to see President Obama impeached by insane people they should vote for Democrats in 2010. There is no third party, and splitting the vote only gives power to the side that stands together (see, Scozzafava 2009, Ralph Nader 2000).

If the GOP takes the House they will attempt to destroy the President. They want you to vote for them as badly as they want you to NOT vote for Democrats. Just remember, every Republican in Congress will be a potential vote for Obama’s impeachment, even if the charges are bullshit. That Republican in congress will be just as happy for the voters who voted for him as he will be for the voters who did not vote against him.

Already, President Obama is considered our 15th best President. I want him to be Number 1. The GOP hopes he fails and thinks the 5th worst President ever had good ideas that but didn’t try hard enough. These people are dishonest, lying idiots. Don’t let your indifference and the indifference of others give them the power to destroy, because if they get it they will not hesitate to use it.

I leave the floor to you.

Peace

Follow me on twitter here @JesseLaGreca

Crossposted at The Progressive Electorate.com

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Obama rips Republican ‘obstruction’, Politico, June 19, 2010, by Politico Staff, quoted verbatim:

President Barack Obama used his Saturday radio address to slam Republican “obstruction” in Congress, accusing the GOP of standing in the way of job-saving economic programs and saying, “Gridlock as a political strategy is destructive to the country.”

Obama unleashed a torrent of criticism against the Republicans – accusing them of blocking votes on bills that would save jobs for teachers, lift a $75 million liability cap for oil leaks like the BP spill and help(ing) people buy their first home.

“All we ask for is a simple up or down vote. That’s what the American people deserve. Just like they deserve an up or down vote on legislation that would hold oil companies accountable for the disasters they cause – a vote that is also being blocked by the Republican leadership in the Senate,” Obama said. “We should remove that cap. But the Republican leadership won’t even allow a debate or a vote.”

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) offered a rebuttal to Obama’s remarks, saying, “The American people are looking to Washington Democrats – including the president – for leadership on tough issues like jobs and spending, not complaints.”

In his address, Obama also called on Republicans to confirm 136 nominees for jobs in his administration that are held up in the Senate.

Democrats in Congress have called on Obama to be more forceful in his criticism of the opposing party, and the address meets that demand, with a point-by-point attack against Republicans for allowing “a dreary and familiar politics get in the way of our ability to move forward on a series of critical issues that have a direct impact on people’s lives,” Obama said.

See Profiling 10 of the Deeply Troubled Individuals Leading the Right-Wing, Government-Hating Crusade, AlterNet, June 15, 2010, by SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) Intelligence Report.

Obey’s Afghanistan:
At Long Last, It’s Guns vs. Butter

Obey’s Afghanistan: At Long Last, It’s Guns vs. Butter, Truthout, June 19, 2010, by Robert Naiman, excerpt quoted verbatim:

One of the many destructive legacies of the Reagan Era was the effective Washington consensus that wars and other military spending exist on their own fiscal planet. Reagan got a Dixiecrat Congress to double military spending at a time when the U.S. was not at war (unless you were a poor person in Central America.) Meanwhile, Reagan got the Dixiecrat Congress to cut domestic spending – we just couldn’t afford those costly social programs. Reagan pretended the two things were totally unrelated, and the Dixiecrat Congress went along.

Ever since, the Democratic leadership and the big Democratic constituency groups have largely collaborated in maintaining the destructive fiction that we can shovel tax dollars to war and to corporate welfare called “defense spending” without having any impact on our ability to provide quality education, health care, effective enforcement of environmental, civil rights, worker safety laws, and other basic services to our citizens that are taken for granted by the citizens of every other industrialized country.

But maybe – maybe – that destructive connivance is coming to an end.

This week, House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey [D-WI] told the White House that he was going to sit on the Administration’s request for $33 billion more for pointless killing in Afghanistan until the White House acted on House Democratic demands to unlock federal money to aid the states in averting a wave of layoffs of teachers and other public employees.

Obey didn’t just link the two issues rhetorically; he linked them with the threat of effective action.

At last, at long last.

Jobs Bill Officially Stalls Out in the Senate, The Washington Independent, June 16, 2010, by Annie Lowrey, quoted verbatim:

Yesterday evening, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) withdrew his filing for cloture on the jobs bill, also known as the tax extenders bill or H.R. 4213, currently in the Senate. Instead, today, the Senate voted on whether to waive paygo rules on the $140 billion provision that would keep up Medicare payments to doctors, provide states with money for Medicaid and extend unemployment insurance.

The measure lost, 45-52, with a 12 Senate Democrats voting in opposition. Essentially, the Senate said the $80 billion the bill would add to the deficit does not qualify as “emergency” spending and therefore is not exempt from paygo. Deficit concerns trumped concerns about the plight of the jobless. Already, 903,000 Americans have not received checks due to the expiry of the unemployment insurance exemption at the beginning of June.

So how do Democrats move forward? Likely by finding funding for some of the provisions, or continuing to argue they are emergency. It is not clear what will get cut and what will get paygo funding at this point.

See Jobless aid bill hits deficit wall in Senate, AP hosted on Yahoo! News, June 17, 2010, by The Associated Press, excerpt quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s plea for more stimulus spending as insurance against a double-dip recession hit a roadblock in the Senate on Wednesday, the victim of election-year anxiety over huge federal deficits.

A dozen Democrats joined Republicans on a key 52-45 test vote rejecting an Obama-endorsed, $140 billion package of unemployment benefits, aid to states, business and family tax breaks and Medicare payments for doctors because it would swell the federal debt by $80 billion.