Web 2.0 and Our Democracy

Paris Bites Back!

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:37:08 EDT

Paris Mocks McCain/Self, Announces 2008 Bid in Spoof Ad

The first response to John McCain's attack ad "Celebrity" came from Hilton's mother, Kathy, a McCain donor. She issued her condemnation via the Huffington Post. "It is a complete waste of the country's time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs," she wrote.

Now Paris herself bites back!

In a clip posted on comedic Web site FunnyorDie.com, Paris’ response begins with a photo of John McCain shown among pictures of the “Golden Girls” and the Crypt Keeper from “Tales from the Crypt.”

Like McCain’s own ad, an announcer narrates the beginning of the clip. While McCain’s clip called Obama “the biggest celebrity in the world,” Paris’ version refers to McCain as “the oldest celebrity in the world, like super-old, old enough to remember when dancing was a sin and beer was served in a bucket.”

Watch Paris's Presidential Ad from Funny or Die:

Watch Rachel Maddow Discuss Afghanistan Live At 1pm On Meet The Bloggers

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:36:20 EDT

Today on Meet the Bloggers at 1pm ET, Rachel Maddow will lead a substantive, issues-based discussion on the critical issue of Afghanistan. We will hear different progressive points of view from hosts Cenk Uygur and David Dayen, and featured bloggers Roberto Lovato, Baratunde Thurston, and Liliana Segura. But we will NOT accept the viewpoint that the only solution to the situation in Afghanistan is a military one.

As the saying goes, if your only tool is a hammer, all problems appear to be nails.

At this early stage, there is a vital need to hear and explore the complexity of Afghanistan; the history of occupations in the country; and the nature of terrorism versus tribal battles. I am pleased that we at Brave New Foundation are able to highlight and explore these issues in a way that is not being done, and with voices that are smart, articulate, and passionate. Join us at 1pm ET, and submit your comments to our guests.

Yours,

Robert Greenwald, Leighton Woodhouse, Paris Marron
and the Brave New team

Obama Campaign Launches "Low Road Express" Website

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:05:52 EDT

Welcome to the Low Road Express.

John McCain used to stand for “straight talk.” Not anymore.

These days John McCain doesn’t seem to stand for anything but negative attacks and false charges against Barack Obama. This isn’t the John McCain we used to know.

Attend summit for online organizing & political technology in Columbus, 7/28

Jill Miller Zimon — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:56:19 EDT

The New Organizing Institute wants to help progressives be organizers, or better ones than they already may be. And NOI will be in Ohio in less than a week - check it out. (Although one of the deadlines has passed and the other is approaching, I've got the number and e-mail of the person to contact if you're interested in attending - just e-mail me or leave a comment and I'll e-mail you.)

Here's more:

The New Organizing Institute is a unique grassroots program that trains young, technology-enabled political organizers to work for progressive campaigns and organizations. The Institute was created by experienced online organizers to fill an urgent need in progressive politics.

The mission of the NOI is:

To train and support a new generation of technology-enabled campaigners.
To consolidate and disseminate knowledge gained in the field of political technology and online organizing.
To conduct new research and post-campaign investigations that employ results-focused, systems thinking to make progressive campaigns and organizations more efficient.

We are seeking to fill an urgent need among progressive campaigns and organizations. Right now, they're hitting a brick wall when trying to fill new online organizer or Internet director positions. A network of talented, sophisticated and experienced operatives simply does not exist in the field of online organizing the way it does in the established areas of field organizing, fundraising or campaign management.

The organization has done trainings in Michigan, DC, Oregon, and Colorado. Now, the group is comint to Ohio, and subsequently, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, among other locales they hope to visit. Here's the lowdown from the original announcement:

Brave New Films: Send Karl Rove To Jail!

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:34:05 EDT

This sounds like a dream, doesn't it? Well, it's not. We have a unique opportunity right now to send Karl Rove to jail, but only if we take immediate action.

All we have to do is pressure the 40 members of the House Judiciary Committee, make them hold Rove in contempt and send him to jail. We've never had such a direct opportunity to hold Rove accountable. No, this is not enough punishment for his years and years of crimes, but it's a huge start, and will send a very clear message to the entire Bush administration.

We put together this video to explain the issues surrounding Rove's failure to testify before Congress, and why Rove should be held in contempt and sent to jail. Check out Send Karl Rove to Jail, and sign our petition to ensure that the HJC holds Rove in contempt.

Watch the video and sign the petition.

Today at 1pm ET / 10am PT, the first episode of Meet the Bloggers will air live, and Karl Rove will be the big topic of discussion with bloggers Marcy Wheeler, Liliana Segura, Baratunde Thurston, and special guest Arianna Huffington. The video will be featured on the show, so sign the petition, forward it to friends, digg it and go to meetthebloggers.org to send in your own thoughts, and join the discussion at 1pm ET.

If you can't watch live, you can always see what was discussed on the show anytime you want at meetthebloggers.org.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald

McCain Throws Phil Gramm Under The Straight Talk Express

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:40:10 EDT

John McCain's National Campaign Chair and Top Economic Advisor waxes "philosophic" about the nation's economic woes:

So McCain immeadiately throws"Foreclosure Phil" under the bus

McCain apparently seems confused (as so often happens) with the difference between "then" and "now" in the above video.

As usual . . . YouTube comes to the rescue with the truth:

2008: A Web Video Odyssey Part Deux

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:32:20 EDT

Watch It:

The Colbert Green Screen Challenge: Make McCain Exciting

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:12:56 EDT

In a speech on the night of the final Democratic primaries that recognized Sen. Barack Obama's emergence as the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, Sen. John McCain stood in front of a newly unveiled campaign poster inscribed with the slogan "A Leader We Can Believe In."

Unlike his official campaign colors, which are predominantly a rich blue, the sign behind McCain was green. That may have been an unfortunate choice.

Unwittingly no doubt, the green background provided a crude "green screen," the background used in television to project video behind the reporter. It is probably best known as a way for television weathercasters to look as though they're standing in front of a meteorological map or animated graphics.

In McCain's case, the green background allowed Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert to issue one of his famous "Green Screen Challenges."

"By speaking in front of a green screen, John McCain issues a bold challenge to Americans to make him seem interesting," the political satirist said.

Here's a few selected entries so far:

Project Make McCain Exciting: Gray Ambition

Colbert Report McCain Green Screen Challenge - Dinosaurs

McCain Greenscreen Challenge - Blue Suede Shoe Edition

John McCain Greenscreen: He Was There.

Which (if any) do you vote for as your favorite? Use the comments to let us know.

Or view more here.

"Going Viral" Obama Girl Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:16:13 EDT

"Obama Girl" Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

It's been a year since Barely Political's "Obama Girl" character crashed the web. Since then, millions of people the world over have become familiar with the sashaying, hip-swaying Amber Lee Ettinger.
Even though Ettinger didn't vote in the primaries herself*, she's probably done more than her fair share in terms of bolstering the interest of the Maxim demographic, as Barely Political would release hilarious tongue-in-cheek shorts at strategic moments during the presidential primaries.
The original video in which Ettinger made her debut "I Got A Crush ... On Obama," has been viewed more then 8.7 million times. In contrast, the Obama campaign's most popular YouTube video "A More Perfect Union," his keystone speech on race and politics, has logged just over half that number at 4.6 million views.
Obama Girl's success online demonstrates Barely Political's winning viral video formula -- the videos are short, funny, feature catchy tunes, and use hot people to exploit popular interest in a hot subject.
Below, for your enjoyment, is a Barely Political retrospective, and a few embeds of Obama Girl tributes.

Watch It:

Video: Why Does Senator Obama Repeat That John McCain Is Running For A Third Bush Term Over And Over Again?

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:52:31 EDT

The Green Screen Challenge.

John McCain answers his own question as to: Why Does Senator Obama Repeat That I'm Running For A Third Bush Term Over and Over Again?

Because in John McCain's own words it's the truth.

Watch it:

Video Edited by The Jed Report

Video: McCain Admits He's Computer "Illiterate"

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:00:48 EDT

Do we want a commander-in-chief who can't use a computer without assistance?

Washington is full of these guys, and it's so depressing. Larry Craig once said "I've never used the internet" (though we know he was lying). Ted Stevens thinks the internet is a series of tubes. Bush uses "the Google."

I can't wait until we have a computer-literate generation of leaders in our Capitol.

HT: Mother Jones

Video: The Obama's In Columbus, Gov. Strickland and Michelle Obama Opening Remarks

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:59:57 EDT

Governor Strickland introduces Michelle Obama and Michelle shows how personable she is talking about her family, her mother and the need to protect social security before introducing her husband.

Watch It:

Video: Barack Obama Social Security Town Hall In Columbus Ohio Part I

Video: Barack Obama Social Security Town Hall In Columbus Ohio Part II

Video: Barack Obama Social Security Town Hall In Columbus Ohio Part III

Obama Campaign Sets Up "Anti-Smear" Website

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:55:33 EDT

Time Magazine Reports:

As long as there have been rumors in politics, there has been one widely accepted way for a candidate to deal with them. Basically, it's not to. Otherwise, according to prevailing wisdom, all a candidate achieves is to elevate the rumors to a legitimate story for the media to feast on. That don't-go-there approach was Barack Obama's plan for months until, on the candidate's first full day of campaigning as his party's presumed presidential nominee, a reporter from McClatchy Newspapers who was traveling aboard his plane asked him about a particularly toxic bit of hearsay that was zooming around the Internet about his wife Michelle. Obama lost his cool. "We have seen this before. There is dirt and lies that are circulated in e-mails, and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about it," Obama said, bristling. "That gives legs to the story. If somebody has evidence that myself or Michelle or anybody has said something inappropriate, let them do it."
That night, in a conference call, Obama told his top aides it was time for a more aggressive solution to the rumors that have been popping up on the Internet about him and his family for months. And so the Obama campaign has built what might best be described as a Web-based rumor clearinghouse, located at fightthesmears.com, in which it hopes all the shady stories about Obama's faith, his family and his rumored connections with controversial figures can go to die.
Obama is enlisting his millions of supporters to help him hunt down and quash these stories, just as those supporters helped him turn his insurgent campaign into a history-making juggernaut. Says Obama adviser Anita Dunn: "We will not allow Michelle — or, for that matter, Barack—to be defined by rumors."
Read The Full Story at Time Magazine
Visit fightthesmears.com

GREAT WEBSITES TO DEBUNK RUMORS

PolitiFact.Org

Snopes.com

Blogging in tongues against HB 477

Jill Miller Zimon — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:52:11 EDT

Multiple Ohio blogs have posted entries in a foreign language today:

And it's been noted that maybe, to some people, surfing from blog to blog and being unable to understand most of the posts (until you go here for the translation of each one) proves the point that Ohio and maybe even the United States should standardize, through legislation, the language most of us use and which is already being used by the state and federal goverment: English.

Why would we want our governments to do that?

Because everything we try to read otherwise is pretty incomprehensible and that's exactly what we want to avoid. It's torture to stare at something and not have any idea whatsoever as to what it says, what it argues, what it tells you to do, what it tells you not to do.

Sounds logical, right?

Wrong.

Why? Why is that logic wrong?

Because those of us reading this blog and those blog posts are primarily native English speakers. Of course blog posts in Polish, German, Croatian, Korean and so on look like gobbledyguck to us.

So what's the point of this little demonstration?

To non-native English speakers, blogs - and so many other forms of communication that native English speakers take for granted - look like nonsense. How does it feel, going to the most familiar places you know on the Internet to gather information about the day, about issues and policy that matter, about breaking news and urgent messages, and find that the shoe is on the other foot: you can't understand a word, you can't glean even the essense of what's being communicated?

What kind of humans would legislate torturing literally hundreds of thousands of fellow Ohioans that way?

Here's a list of the Ohio state senators on the State and Local Government and Veteran Affairs Committee, which appears to be the one that has HB 477 right now. Please contact them and let them know how you feel about HB 477.

Gary Cates (R)
Chair

Teresa Fedor (D)
Ranking Minority Member

Democrats:

John Boccier

Tom Roberts

Republicans:

Timothy J. Grendell
Vice Chair

Hillary as Miicrosoft Up Against Obama As Google

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:34:04 EDT

Don't dismiss what Obama and his people just accomplished. They came from nowhere to beat the biggest brand name in Democratic politics, despite starting at a huge disadvantage in name recognition, fundraising and polling numbers.

Here's some insight on how they used technology, the internet and social networking to accomplish it.

Watch it:

And it’s not just about elections. It’s going to be about governance too.

Blow up the Beltway

Meet the new boss, nothing like the old boss

Stop Attacking My.BarackObama.com

This Brave Nation: Legendary Activists

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:04:00 EDT

Bonnie Raitt is a legendary musician, feminist, and activist. Dolores Huerta is a legendary organizer, feminist, and activist. Both women have achieved great successes in their fields. While one was marching on the streets for migrant laborers, the other was headlining concerts bringing attention to the risks of nuclear energy and global warming.

They're two distinctly different women who came from radically different backgrounds, but both chose to spend their lives trying to make the world a better place. In this conversation, Raitt and Huerta talk about their passions, regrets, fears, and most of all their dreams for future generations.

A kind of "living history" project composed of short videotaped conversations, This Brave Nation brings together the most intelligent, passionate and creative voices of one generation with the activists, journalists and artists of the next to dialogue on loves, lives, politics and history.

Each discussion will be produced as both a five-minute video and a thirty-minute mini-documentary, which will be collected in a DVD box set. A new video will be released each Sunday over the next few weeks leading up to a live event in Los Angeles on July 13.

Watch this week's episode:

Video: Inside Basball: Obama Speaks To HQ Staff And Volunteers

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:18:59 EDT

In their first meeting as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president,, Senator Obama speaks to his campaign staff and volunteers last week at the campaign's headquarters in Chicago.

Watch it:

Video Mashup: McCain Panders For Clinton Supporters "Beat the B*tch" Edition

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:09:21 EDT

November 14, 2007 - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said Wednesday he responded appropriately after a woman used the word "bitch" to describe Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"She made a comment, I made light of the comment, and then I said very seriously I treated and continue to treat Senator Clinton with respect and I've said that many times," the Arizona senator told reporters at his Phoenix office. He chuckled when a reporter brought it up.

When asked whether he thought the woman's comment was funny, McCain said he reacted that way because he wanted to move on.

"I can't dictate what other people say _ that's not my business," he said. "Nor is it an appropriate role for me to play in a gathering at a restaurant, and if anybody thinks that I should, then I think they have the wrong idea of what gatherings are all about."

Watch It:

Video: Obama Campaign: Thank You Senator Clinton!

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:31:22 EDT

Senator Clinton made history over the past 16 months -- not just because she has broken barriers, but because she has inspired millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to causes like universal health care that make a difference in the lives of hardworking Americans.

Watch it:

The Six Second Video Clip That Mystified A Nation

Dave Harding, ProgressOhio — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:04:32 EDT

John McCain's proclamation that "we should be able to deliver bottled hot water to dehydrated babies" is raising eyebrows across the country and throughout the world.

Watch it:

Jed Report