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Sunday, November 21, 2004
Direction & Building In-House Infrastructure
Posted by Tim TagarisLet's dispense with the formalities and get right into the direction you said this blog should take in the upcoming months/years.
1.) 2006 Races: We will spend a good deal of time discussing the upcoming House, Senate, and even Gubernatorial races. Additionally, if all goes well, this site can serve as a hub for information (direct from campaigns hopefully) on ways to best get involved.
2.) Current News/Upcoming Legislation/Initiatives: Shining the light of transparency on government affairs and important issues set to fall before the Congress. A discussion of current events taking place in and out of the United States.
3.) On-going discussions about prescient topics will be "tagged" and remain visible from the main page, or at the very least linked within the current discussion. That way we can have a continuous discourse on topics like The Patriot Act II, for example.
4.) Most importantly, what you want to talk about - the way you want to talk about it - and ideas from within this community will be implemented.
That brings me to the topic of infrastructure. Over the course of time, I will work closely with David so that this site is not only a place for information/updates, but also an efficient source for Progressive activism. It may involve some rearranging, but appears to be what this community is looking for.
In keeping with a focus on 2006, it would seem to me a good place to start would be an immediately accessible on-site database of sitting Senators, Representatives, and Governors - we can & will fill in potential opponents as they become available. Also included in this database should be percentages received in previous elections, opponents, and possibly money raised. As we move along, we can build the database together with whatever information one could want to get involved, inform themselves, or just peruse at their leisure.
So, by Tuesday, I will start creating that infrastructure/database and we can fill in the blanks together.
I am excited. I hope you are. And in the near future, we will hopefully become a clearinghouse of sorts for activism and information about upcoming races, activism, and current events.
Tim
Posted at 10:42 PM in Site News | Technorati
Comments
How about we dedicate a constant column to embarrassing missteps of the Republicans in the legislature? That way they can be rehashed in 2006.
Item #1: House Republicans refusing to vote on the 9/11 reforms.
Item #2: Inclusion of the "committee chairs get to read your income tax return" clause in the spending bill. Even if this comes from a mistake, I don't see why it's not getting more press.
See: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/22/politics/22explain.html?oref=login
Posted by: PAVoter at November 22, 2004 11:21 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Check out JABBS, at http://jabbs.blogspot.com, which tries to tackle the "moral values" question, via multiple entries.
JABBS also skewers the GOP for hypocrisy over the Tom DeLay rule change, and the way the GOP made Arlen Specter dance -- a sign that dissent from even moderate Republicans won't be tolerated.
It's interesting reading, and the site has been updated regularly since the election.
Posted by: DM at November 22, 2004 01:19 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
PAVoter has a great idea, tracking legislative votes to create ongoing "hit lists" of those who voted against intel reform, for example; or to cut student aid as was just done, etc. Fiscal irresponsibility can be a good target as well as advocating the 27% national sales tax. We shoudl then write letters to the editor so that well before 2006, the image of these incumbents is tarnished and they are held accountable.
I am glad to see this site focussing on progressive activism thru 2006. Here in northern Colorado (Fort Collins-Loveland-Greeley area) Marilyn Musgrave, one of the architects of the Marriage Amendment, won by 51% in a rematch against a lackluster Democratic campaign, so U am hopeful. We have two universities in this district, so unseating Musgrave should be top priority.
Posted by: Marc at November 22, 2004 01:50 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
These are some great ideas, guys. I'm looking forward to reading this blog between now and '06 and beyond. My only advice is to not bite off more than you are willing to chew. Don't be afraid to link to data when you talk about creating "...an immediately accessible on-site database of..."
Also, don't be afraid to ask all of us to apply some pressure to the groups that you want to spread information for. I'm sure many of us could take a minute to e-mail a campaign telling them to keep you in the loop.
Posted by: Dan Hogan at November 22, 2004 02:15 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Well, the database is something that I think would be extremely useful for me, even if no one else wanted to use it.
It's actually something I already started working on. If anyone wants to contribute a few states worth of information, I can send them the template, and the states I have already completed. We can add info/categories as we go.
Tim
ttagaris@yahoo.com
Posted by: Tim T. at November 22, 2004 02:53 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I'm a bit new to blogging myself, so I really don't know how to tell you to do this. It would be really nice if you could find a slick way to automatically get rid of those posts with links with obviously unrelated content (see "New Guest Poster for Arkansas, LiberalAce"). You guys give us this nice site and put all this hard work into it and these posts take a lot of that away from it.
Posted by: Dan Hogan at November 22, 2004 04:18 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I'm real happy with the new direction of this Blog.
By the way, to get the "daily republican blunder", subscribe to
The Daily Mislead latest@daily.misleader.org .
I don't know if they are still doing it post-election, but I got one every day during the campaign.
We will hopefully be able to start a "Prosecutions" list soon.
The more you think about it, you know we just went and atacked this country (Iraq) because we wanted to, even against the International Treaty and whatnot, and continue to slsaughter their civilians on a daily basis. Isn't this a "War Crime"?
Posted by: Jason at November 22, 2004 05:45 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
It may be worthwhile to start a separate post for vulnerable Senators (or even Representatives too, if you are up to it) and list every time they vote in a way that their district may not agree with. Let's be the spotlight from the left every time a moderate or moderate right Republican Senator gives into the right wing agenda.
Instead of the "Daily Republican Blunder" maybe you should have a series called looking for "MINOs" or "Moderates In Name Only." (I get a little queasy every time I hear some right wing nut talk about hunting "RINOs.")
Posted by: Dan Hogan at November 23, 2004 08:37 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
We definitely should be targetting individuals with their vote records and any controversial comments they make. Tarnishing the Republican party, or its right wing, anyway, is also a good idea generally.
The latest NYTimes polls finds a broadening of the trend to view the Democratic party more favorably (something like 54% view Dems favorably, vs. 45% for Republicans). It reminds me of a conversation I had quite a while ago with a former chair of our county Dems, where I mentioned a "generic democrat" was leading Bush in the polls. "The problem," he said, "is we don't have a generic Democrat. We have specific ones." ...
Posted by: Marc at November 23, 2004 10:37 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment