ProgressOhio

After 1100 entries and more than 5.5 million total votes cast, the results are in.

From among 15 amazing finalists, a panel of top filmmakers, artists, musicians, and progressive heroes picked the winning ad, "Obamacan."

Here are the winners:

“Grand Prize” —Obamacan by David Gaw & Lance Mungia (Monrovia, CA)

“People’s Choice”

“Most Original”

“Best Positive Message”

“Funniest”

...until you consider the origins of Mother's Day.

Julia Ward Howe, who penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic, also authored a mothers' Declaration calling on women to oppose war, and worked to get recognition of a Mother’s Day for Peace. Says Code Pink: "Were she alive today, Julia probably would have told her kids to dispense with the roses and chocolates, and instead join her in an anti-war rally. Yes, Julia Ward Howe was a peacenik."

[Howe] saw some of the worst effects of the [civil] war -- not only the death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of both North and South.

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause….She called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action.

Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace, but her effort was carried on by Anna Jarvis, who had organized women during the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and then toward reconciliation of Union and Confederate neighbors.

Jarvis’ daughter, of the same name, then took up the campaign for Mother’s Day. After the custom spread to 45 states, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day in 1914.

Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Maybe Pryce, Schmidt, Tiberi, Chabot, Boehner, Regula, LaTourette, Hobson, and Turner have a thing against moms. But YOU can make this Mother's Day a Mother's Day For Peace.

Help CodePink help Iraqi refugee moms here.

Send a MomsRising Mother's Day card and tell the presidential candidates to fight for family-friendly policies. here.

Oh and don't forget to call the Congressional Switchboard at 1-800-839-5276 to give the above members of Congress a piece of your mind about H.R. 1113.

Do you have another suggestion for honoring Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration? Are you a mom working for peace? Leave a comment below.

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Obama's quote of the night:

I didn't expect when I ran for president that I would avoid this kind of politics; I ran because it is time to end it ... We will end it by telling the truth. Forcefully, repeatedly, confidently ...

Well, the creators have found another movie through which to promote the pro-Obama narrative.

Watch it before George Lucas does!

It is no secret that Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich don't always see eye to eye, but they do agree that on the issue of climate change, we must take action now.

Click here to forward this video to a friend or click here to learn more about the We Campaign. You can also read more about Newt Gingrich and climate change here.

Here, then, is a look back on John McCain's words on the mission accomplished in Iraq:

On the Run-Up to War

"Look, we're going to send young men and women in harm's way and that's always a great danger, but I cannot believe that there is an Iraqi soldier who is going to be willing to die for Saddam Hussein, particularly since he will know that our objective is to remove Saddam Hussein from power."
John McCain, September 15, 2002.

"But the fact is, I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past. But any military man worth his salt is going to have to prepare for any contingency, but I don't believe it's going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991."
John McCain, September 15, 2002.

"He's a patriot who has the best interests of his country at heart."
John McCain, on Ahmed Chalabi, 2003.

On Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction

"Proponents of containment claim that Iraq is in a "box." But it is a box with no lid, no bottom, and whose sides are falling out. Within this box are definitive footprints of germ, chemical and nuclear programs."
John McCain, February 13, 2003.

"I remain confident that we will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."
John McCain, June 11, 2003.

On Being Greeted as Liberators

"Absolutely. Absolutely."
John McCain, asked by Chris Matthews, "you believe that the people of Iraq or at least a large number of them will treat us as liberators?" March 12, 2003.

"Not only that, they'll be relieved that he's not in the neighborhood because he has invaded his neighbors on several occasions."
John McCain, asked by Chris Matthews, "And you think the Arab world will come to a grudging recognition that what we did was necessary?" March 12, 2003.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there's no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators."
John McCain, March 24, 2003.

On a Rapid Victory and Mission Accomplished

"I think the victory will be rapid, within about three weeks."
John McCain, January 28, 2003.

"It's clear that the end is very much in sight...It won't be long. It, it'll be a fairly short period of time."
John McCain, April 9, 2003.

"Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier?"
John McCain, responding to assertion by Fox News' Neil Cavuto that "many argue the conflict isn't over," June 11, 2003.

"I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process, but the conflict -- the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished, and it's very appropriate."
John McCain, June 11, 2003.

"I'm confident we're on the right course."
John McCain, March 7, 2004.

"We're either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months."
John McCain, November 12, 2006.

"My friends, the war will be over soon, the war for all intents and purposes although the insurgency will go on for years and years and years."
John McCain, February 25, 2008.

On the Safe Streets of Baghdad

"[There] there "are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today."
John McCain, after touring a Baghdad market wearing a bulletproof vest and guarded by "100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead, April 1, 2007.

"There's problems in America with safe neighborhoods as we well know."
John McCain, March 8, 2008.

On President Bush and His Team

"We are very fortunate that our president in these challenging days can rely on the counsel of a man who has demonstrated time and again the resolve, experience, and patriotism that will be required for success and the hard-headed clear thinking necessary to prevail in this global fight between good and evil."
John McCain, on Dick Cheney, July 16, 2004.

"I think he strengthened our national defenses. I think he has a good team around him."
John McCain, on President Bush, September 3, 2004.

"I said no. My answer is still no. No confidence."
John McCain, on whether he had confidence in Bush Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, December 15, 2004.

On the Non-Existent Alliance Between Al Qaeda and Iran

"But Al Qaeda is there, they are functioning, they are supported in many times, in many ways by the Iranians."
John McCain, February 28, 2008.

"As you know, there are al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they're moving back into Iraq."
John McCain, March 17, 2008.

"[Iranian operatives are] "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back."
John McCain, March 18, 2008.

"[It is] common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate."
John McCain, March 18, 2008.

"Al Qaeda and Shia extremists -- with support from external powers such as Iran -- are on the run but not defeated."
McCain campaign statement, March 19, 2008.

"To think that I would have some lack of knowledge about Sunni and Shia after my eighth visit and my deep involvement in this issue is a bit ludicrous."
John McCain, March 19, 2008.

"Do you still view Al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat? Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shiites overall…"
John McCain, questioning General David Petraeus, April 8, 2008.

On a Permanent American Military Presence in Iraq

"We cannot keep our forces indefinitely staged in the region. Were we to attempt again to contain Saddam, we would eventually have to withdraw them. The world is full of dangers and, more likely than not, we will need some of those brave men and women to face them down."
John McCain, February 13, 2003.

"We have had troops in South Korea for 60 years and nobody minds."
John McCain, June 7, 2007.

"Make it a hundred."
John McCain, told that President Bush had said American troops could remain in Iraq for 50 years, January 3, 2008.

"I asked McCain about his 'hundred years' comment, and he reaffirmed the remark, excitedly declaring that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 'a thousand years' or 'a million years,' as far as he was concerned."
David Corn, January 3, 2008.

"The U.S. could have a military presence anywhere in the world for a long period of time."
John McCain, February 20, 2008.

From the always great Perspectives Blog

A Good Summary.

Watch It:

President Bush Announces Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended

Now

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The Republican National Committee demanded Monday that television networks stop running a television ad by the Democratic Party that falsely suggests John McCain wants a 100-year war in Iraq.

The ad says President Bush has talked about staying in Iraq for 50 years, then plays a clip of McCain saying, "Maybe 100. That'd be fine with me.".

The announcer then says: "If all he offers is more of the same, is John McCain the right choice for America's future?".

Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said the ad deliberately distorts what McCain, the likely GOP presidential nominee, said.

The committee's chief counsel, Sean Cairncross, said he sent letters Monday to NBC, CNN and MSNBC insisting that they stop airing the commercial.

Maybe the DNC should have gone with 1000 years or a million . . .

Here's the January 2008 ABC interview in which .Sen. McCain upped the ante to a million years in Iraq.

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On Monday, The Daily Show tackled Rev. Jeremiah Wright's recent remarks -- and the accompanying non-stop media coverage, which Jon Stewart dubbed the "Reverending Story".

Watch it:

On today's Meet The Press, Dean had a nice clutch of highlights, knocking at McCain in his inimitable blunt but backboned style

Especially good were Dean's moments defending the DNC's recent McCain ad.

McCain has continually protested that his "100 years of war" comment was taken out of context.

Dean suggested to Russert, that the point was that the war in Iraq couldn't be put in the same context of McCain's scenarios for a 100 years in Iraq without American casualties.

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It is deeply detrimental to the longterm interests of democracy when Democrats praise and support FOX News. This would be true regardless of who that Democrat is, but it's particularly heinous when Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is singing their praises.

"Let me congratulate FOX," McAuliffe said this past week, "because you were the first ones to call [the Pennsylvania primary] for Hillary Clinton." McAuliffe, who is also chairing Clinton's Presidential committee, actually echoed the FOX mantra by calling them "fair and balanced." What is so dangerous about McAuliffe's praise is that FOX is now using his words as a TV ad to prove just how fair and balanced they are. The rest of us know the truth:

Watch the video:

Jonathan put together this video as a reminder of how exceedingly unfair and imbalanced FOX actually is. These are just a few gems to let McAuliffe and others know that FOX is the foe, has always been the foe, and will continue to be the foe of accurate reporting.

Please help us in this quest by sharing what you think have been FOX's ugliest moments. Then Digg this story and spread the word. We will send the list to McAuliffe as a firm reminder that he must not applaud FOX!

One adorable presidential candidate stands out for having all the right answers, even when he doesn't.

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Watch Part 1:

Watch Part 2:

CBS has promised this look inside for each of the three major presidential candidates. We will share each with you here when they air.

Among the key findings:

The Internet has outpaced newspapers as the second most influential channel for election news coverage, after television. The number of potential voters turning to the Internet for information has increased by 31% since our first election report in July of 2007, leading newspapers at 55% to 47% as the second most popular channel.

Voters are most concerned about the issues. 87% of potential voters search about election issues, and searches for a candidate’s position on the issues is one of the main drivers of this type of search.

Economy and health care issues have increased in search prominence, while global warming is not as hot. While the Iraq war and gas prices are still very popular topics for searchers, the economy and health care have catapulted as top issues of search interest online.

Candidate search volumes have increased since last July. Though searches and polling outcomes are not always in sync, Obama is the most popularly searched-for candidate by a wide margin, both nationally, and in Pennsylvania.

Obama leads in visibility on issue-related searches in the natural search results, and all candidates could improve in paid results. Obama has a 60% visibility share in the natural results for the surveyed keyword list, followed by Ron Paul’s 36% share, Hillary Clinton’s 3% share, and John McCain’s 1% share.

The report also reveals interesting breakouts by gender, depending on the particular topical search interest at hand. Women had more search interest for health care, education, and the environment, while men were generally more interested in search about the economy, the war in Iraq, jobs, and the war on terror.

Read The Full Report

In the span of 24-hours, starting Monday night, more than two million votes were cast for MoveOn.org's Barack Obama political advertising contest, a robust show of Internet activism even by Obama's standards.

MoveOn, which has endorsed the Illinois Democrat, launched its "Obama in 30 Seconds" contest weeks ago, challenging members to create an advertisement for the Senator's presidential campaign. The project drew more than one thousand submissions and will conclude with the winning entry being aired on national TV.

The reaction, organizers say, has been pleasantly unexpected. Indeed, when MoveOn launched its President George W. Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest in 2004, the group received 2.9 million votes total.

"We're blown away by the remarkable response to our 'Obama in 30 Seconds' contest--it's a testament to the energy and enthusiasm for Senator Obama's message of hope," said Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn.

Child's Pay

FOX's objective in this presidential race has been painfully clear to us for a while. They have been carpet bombing Barack Obama with negative stories, distortions, and smears in the run up to tomorrow's Pennsylvania primary in an attempt to skew the outcome. But how could FOX have guessed that the "liberal" media would be such willing accomplices?

We bring to you our latest episode of the gameshow sensation sweeping the nation: THE FOX IS WRONG: OBAMA!

While the FOXification of the mainstream media is a serious matter, we've used humor here to get our message across more effectively. Play along as FOX guests and personalities distort and misrepresent the statements of Obama and those around him, only to have that pesky "liberal" media pick up the smears and keep on running! For the finale, watch in wonder and amazement as ABC's George Stephanopoulos allows Sean Hannity to spoon-feed him a question on Hannity's radio show, then parrots it almost word-for-word a day later during ABC's infamous Democratic debate in Pennsylvania!

If you haven't yet, sign the petition and demand that the media stop spreading the FOX virus.

Then send the petition and the video far and wide to all your friends and colleagues. We need to get our message across faster than the media can spread FOX's lies.

For an added bonus, check out our last video to see what nine minutes of FOX on Obama looks like (don't worry, the video is just 54 seconds). There you can get a small taste of FOX's strategy to saturate their viewers with as many negative Obama stories as a cable line can carry - FOX spews more Obama smears in nine minutes than most networks deliver all day! And remember, this is just a summary of NINE MINUTES on FOX - there are 1,440 minutes every day...

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Last February, hard-line conservative evangelical Pastor John Hagee endorsed Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) candidacy for president. Despite Hagee’s history of controversial and bigoted comments –- such as calling Catholicism “The Great Whore” and blaming Hurricane Katrina on gays –- McCain said he was “very honored” to receive the endorsement, one which he also reportedly sought.

McCain has since both “repudiate[d]” and defended Hagee’s intolerant remarks. But McCain’s double-talk on Hagee went a step further yesterday on ABC’s This Week when he seemed a bit confused as to whether or not he still accepts Hagee’s endorsement –- first agreeing that it was a “mistake” to accept it, but less than 30 seconds later saying he is “glad” to have it:

STEPHANOPOULOS: A lot of Senator Obama's allies and others say that you should condemn the comments of Reverend John Hagee, an evangelical pastor...

MCCAIN: Oh, I do. And I did. I said, any comments that he made about the Catholic church I strongly condemn, of course.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet you solicited and accepted his endorsement?

MCCAIN: Yes, indeed. I did. And I condemned the comments that he made concerning the Catholic church.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you're going to hold onto his endorsement? Your own campaign acknowledged that you should have done a better job of vetting Pastor Hagee.

MCCAIN: Oh, sure.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So was it a mistake to solicit and accept his endorsement?

MCCAIN: Oh, probably, sure. But I admire and respect Dr. Hagee's leadership of the -- of his church. I admire and appreciate his advocacy for the state of Israel, the independence of the state of Israel. I condemn remarks that are made that has anything to do which is condemning of the Catholic church, but -- so...

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... no longer want his endorsement?

MCCAIN: I'm glad to have his endorsement. I condemn remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything. But thanks for asking.

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McCain’s latest 30-second flip-flop represents the political dance he must engage in to try to appeal to both the conservative evangelical wing of the Republican Party and independent-minded Americans.

But despite all his back and forth, the media still seem happy to promote McCain’s self-proclaimed persona as a “straight-talking maverick.”

The Center For American Progress contributed to this story.

See Also: Happy Easter From John McCain's Hate Talk Express