National Elections

Democratic & Republican conventions: Occupiers/protesters ready for delegates

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Classwarfare375-sm72

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Occupiers in Tampa, Florida and Charlotte, NC are gearing up for the deluge of politicians, dignitaries, convention delegates, journalists, and other protesters who are about to descend upon their cities.

The Republican National Convention (RNC) will be held in Tampa will be August 27-30. The Democratic National Convention (DNC) will be held in Charlotte (AKA Wall Street of the South) from September 3-6.

With their anti-women, anti-any-color-but-white, anti-immigrant, anti-middle class, anti-gay, anti-union… OK… anti-99% agenda, the RNC offers a fertile field for protests from the rest of us. With Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on the ticket, the Republicans have cemented their place in history as the party of the 1%. 

Occupy Tampa is one of the few Occupations with tents on the ground, and they plan to be camping– and protesting– during the RNC.

More hints about what will be happening outside the convention halls, after the jump.

DNC Convention Preview: List of speakers (Updated)

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The first two days of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Tuesday, September 4, and Wednesday, September 5, will be held at Time Warner Cable Arena. The final night of the convention, Thursday, September 6, will be held at Bank of America Stadium. Former President Jimmy Carter will address the 2012 Democratic National … Read more

DNC Convention Preview: Latino Star Power

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, making him the first Latino to receive the honor. Julian Castro, San Antonio Mayor, To Be First Latino DNC Keynote Speaker:

2012_DNC_Logo_RGB_1_11"As mayor, Julian Castro has worked tirelessly to move San Antonio forward by building its economy from the middle out, not the top down, by putting the city on a path to being a leader in the new energy economy and making innovative investments in education to prepare San Antonio's students for the jobs of the future," said Los Angeles Mayor and Democratic Convention Chair Antonio Villaraigosa in a statement. "That's the same vision forward for the middle class the President has, and it stands in stark contrast to Mitt Romney, who's ready to return us to the same policies that crashed our economy."

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In a video message, Castro, 37, called his role at the convention "an honor I don't take lightly." He recalled watching and being inspired by President Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 convention. That speech catapulted Obama, at the time a state senator from Illinois, onto the national stage.

"We've come so far over the past three and a half years under Obama's leadership," Castro said in the video. "And I know he's not done yet. We've got a lot more work to do."

Video beow the fold.

Tampa Bay gets ready for the GOP

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Tampa Bay, Florida will be hosting the Republican National Comvention from August 27 to August 30. There is an urban legend that Tampa Bay is the strip club capital of America. “It’s not true,” said Joe Redner, the owner of the renowned Mons Venus strip club in Tampa Bay. The Tampa Bay … Read more

Message to Rupert and Bill: It’s not too late to nominate another candidate

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The oracles of the conservative right have a message for Willard "Mittens" Romney: "You suck as a candidate!"

Rupert Murdoch's GOP establishment Wall Street Journal editorializes today Romney's Tax Confusion:

The Romney high command has muddied the tax issue in a way that will help Mr. Obama's claims that he is merely taxing rich folks like Mr. Romney. And it has made it that much harder for Republicans to again turn ObamaCare into the winning issue it was in 2010.

Why make such an unforced error? Because it fits with Mr. Romney's fear of being labeled a flip-flopper, as if that is worse than confusing voters about the tax and health-care issues.

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Perhaps Mr. Romney is slowly figuring this out, because in a July 4 interview he stated himself that the penalty now is a "tax" after all. But he offered no elaboration, and so the campaign looks confused in addition to being politically dumb.

This latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign's insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity.

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The Romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the White House by saying the economy stinks and it's Mr. Obama's fault. We're on its email list and the main daily message from the campaign is that "Obama isn't working." Thanks, guys, but Americans already know that. What they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the President's policies aren't working and how Mr. Romney's policies will do better.

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[The Obama] attacks were predictable, in particular because they go to the heart of Mr. Romney's main campaign theme—that he can create jobs as President because he is a successful businessman and manager. But candidates who live by biography typically lose by it. See President John Kerry.

The biography that voters care about is their own, and they want to know how a candidate is going to improve their future. That means offering a larger economic narrative and vision than Mr. Romney has so far provided. It means pointing out the differences with specificity on higher taxes, government-run health care, punitive regulation, and the waste of politically-driven government spending.

Mr. Romney promised Republicans he was the best man to make the case against President Obama, whom they desperately want to defeat. So far Mr. Romney is letting them down.