The 'Spin Room' open for big game at Soldier Field

This is what I want the Democrats to talk about,

Yhis guy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiganatoo/751745888/

And this guy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiganatoo/729537419/

Isn't it interesting that this group pounds their chests about reducing special interest access and influence while cowtowing to one of their largest special interest groups in Chicago?

As a member of the 80% of working Americans who is NOT part of a union, will any of these candidates work for any of my employment concerns?

Fred, if you enjoy 40 hour work weeks, 8 hour days, safe working conditions, no child labor, etc...thank a Union.

I'd wager there are a LOT of people (like me) who would happily join a union to help their bargaining power with mgmt.

Here's another tidbit: If you work for a living, you're working class. If you want to live like a Republican, vote Democratic.

As I expect this place to become a hotbed of regurgitated rhetoric in the coming moments, I'd truly appreciate it if everyone posting here can keep it civil.
Discourse is one thing, childish jabs are useless.

Now let's get it on.

12,000 people at Soldier Field. How impressive. But you forgot the 55,000 people who came disguised as empty seats.

Weiner,

Seeing your intellgence on display, I think having a union helping you thru life would be a good decision.

Terry,
Read some history will ya? Do you think 40 hour weeks, overtime pay, child labor laws, workplace safety, just happened? Unions fought and people died for these reforms. You have no business questioning any one's intelligence.

Poor Senator Obomber just doesn't get much respect from his colleagues.

Wiener,
Don't listen to Trickle Down Terry, he's only worried about the angry old rich Republican white guys being able to stay angry, richer and whiter after 2008.
He's a proud member of the W. 26% club who don't give a damn about anyone other than themselves and their rich Republican pals.

The great thing about the Democratic debates is the enthusiasm and the understanding that as a country we need to move as far away as possible from the Republican led knuckledragging thugery that has plagued us for the last 6 years.

The Republicans don't even debate (other than Ron Paul) they slap each other on the back, lockstep, agree with each other and talk about how great it would be to bomb Iran and double the size of Guantanimo.
The Republicans also could care less what the average lower and middle class American has to say about our country and their refusal to participate in the YouTube debates and answer questions from average Americans proves this.

Everyone: Watch the debate for the older gentleman in crutches, yellow shirt, stating that he lost his pension from a major steel company and then lost one third of his pension and now cannot afford health insurance for his wife of 5 children. Listen to the rat bag republicans call universal health care "Socialist Insurance" and keep in mind that gentleman in the yellow shirt. That could be anyone in here and doesn't it worry you at all?

John E, the funny thing is that I used to be a Repug myself. Proudly voted for Jerry Ford, then Reagan twice. It was St. Ronnie's relentless attacks on the environment that got me questioning the bigwigs. Then the constant kowtowing to the bible thumpers. The HATRED of a woman's right to choose.

But it really wasn't until the witch hunts of the Clinton admin that made me toss aside the Repugs forever. The modern Repub party is not 'conservative'; it's insane. They drove me to the Dems. And you know what, I AM enthusiastic. We have a great field. Even Newt refers to the other side as the 'seven dwarfs'. If 2006 was bad for them, they ain't seen nothin' yet.

Conservatives supported slavery, conservatives opposed women's suffrage, conservatives supported Jim Crow, CONSERVATIVES OPPOSED THE 40-HOUR WORK WEEK AND THE ABOLISHMENT OF CHILD LABOR, and consevatives supported McCarthyism. In short, all the major advancements of freedom and justice in our history were pushed by liberals and opposed by conservatives....no matter the party that these "conservatives" inhabited at the time.

Conservatism is Bill Bennett lecturing you about self-denial, then rushing off to feed his slot habit at the casino. It's James Dobson telling you that children need regular beatings to stay in line. It's a superannuated nun rapping you on the knuckles so you won't think about your dirty parts. It's Jerry Falwell watching "Teletubbies" frame by frame to see if Tinky Winky is trying to turn him gay.

Conservatism is everyone and everything that you never wanted to grow up to be.

-PAUL WALDMAN-
Senior Fellow at Media Matters

GOOOOOOOOO HILLARY!!!!!!

John E., speaking of liars, please tell us how life in Iraq is, OK? Didn't you tell us last Fall that you were being "recalled" by the Pentagon and sent to Iraq by February? Or how about your "son"? He was in Iraq too, huh? Or how about the times you've posted as me? Or other people?

Now speaking of unions, my friends who are still work for Jewel, a union store, tell me under the latest contract, part-time workers can't get health insurance coverage until they have been there five years. No more Sunday pay. And, of course, starting pay is less than $8 an hour, less than someone can make at most McDonalds or Wal Mart for part-time work, and who get health care and who don't pay union dues.
I know, I know, Lefties, you hate it when facts get in the way of your delirium.

If there is anything that has been apparent since the Democratic takeover of Congress, it’s that many and probably most of the current Republican members of Congress will NEVER work with Democrats for the good of the country. Since the rise of Newt Gingrich, the majority of Republicans in Congress have demonstrated that they don’t care about the good of the country. Grover Norquist is inadvertently one of the most honest of conservatives, and when he referred to bipartisanship as date rape, he wasn’t revealing just his own personal view, he was describing the mindset of much of the Republican Congressional caucus and it’s allies in think tanks, among campaign hacks and activists, and in a sizeable chunk of its electoral base.

It’s a realization many of us had come to long ago, the knowledge that George W Bush, his allies in Congress and the people who push them in to power will use unscrupulous means to attain, maintain and exercise power. They know they have to conceal their unscrupulousness from the public. While the Republican party has veered farther and farther to the right, the American people haven’t really budged. In fact, on individual issues, the American public is more liberal today than it was 10 or 20 years ago, and far more liberal than it was when Lyndon Johnson crushed Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election, which provided the mandate to enact our major civil rights legislation and the most major extension of the social welfare state since the New Deal and World War II. Republicans involved in organizing and running elections and selling their policy positions to the press and the talking heads know that the American public is far to their left. But they conceal their radicalism through clever marketing scams like Frank Luntz’ Contract on America and the pabulum of "compassionate conservatism."

Republicans need to shut up do this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiganatoo/821441317/

"if you enjoy 40 hour work weeks, 8 hour days, safe working conditions, no child labor, etc...thank a Union."

If you don't have a job anymore because it was outsourced overseas, thank a union.

And we have to prepare for the possibility, which George Bush has never done, that things may actually go bad,'' Edwards said. "That means we've got to be prepared to control a civil war if it starts to spill outside the borders of Iraq.

Good point and not only a possibility, but the scenario the Blood Thirsty Bush Administration and their Neo-con sheep have been salivating over for quite a while. Continue this "We're gonna put a boot in your ass" attitude. Let the Bush created Iraqi civil war spill across the borders into surrounding countries. Have Madison Avenue come up with some catchy slogan that will hook the evangelical Republican base, award billions more in no-bid contracts to your corporate buddies to perform sub-standard work and pocket the profits, misplace another 190,000 weapons and allow them to be sold to the very "enemy" you profess to be fighting, and, what the hell, just lose another $10-$12 billion, shrug your shoulders and say, "We don't know where the money is". Bush's arrogant attitude is "stay the course and let history judge me". If there is any justice left in this country it will first be the courts, not history, judging GW.

Enough of this nonsense about issues, media. Who was the best dressed and who had the best and most costly hairdo?

The 9/11 question that should have been asked at last night's debate: "We all know that fire doesn’t melt steel. So were the twin towers brought down by Rove’s weather machine or Cheney’s evil destructo-ray?"

Hmm...

Isn't ANYBODY going to talk about Globalism... and NAFTA... and the Democrats' complicity in passing NAFTA?

OR Golden Boy Obama supporting NAFTA? (In spite of him assuring us that he's a different kind of politician)

That's odd.

Pre-screened questions? So called candidates who know what they will be asked? This tells you the intelligence level of these incompitents. Let's see one of them have the gonads (yes, this means Hillary too) to answerspontaneous questions. Let's see them go to the American People as they claim they will and ask "what questions can I answer for you?" I can answer, NONE. These people cannot go number 2 without their "spin doctors" there to guide and clean them. That is what we have to choose from in 2008. Sleep well!?

Hillary is not our girl, she is our disaster. I would like to ask everybody out there to answer this. When a debate consists of pre-screened questions, that the candidates know will come, does this really acheive anything? I say, no. All it shows is that these poeple, who want us to vote them into power, could not go #2 unless their spin staff have prepared, assisted and cleaned them. Choose well!

Poor Johnny D. Part-time workers are lucky to even have benefits in the first place. You cannot survive working one PT job, unless you are a student. Many PT employees have another full time job that does offer them benefits. They are taking on a PT job to supplement there income. What percentage of Jewel employees are PT?

Did anyone see that Socialist gathering in Chicago last night? I've never seen so many "Get well Fidel" signs before. Lots of "Democrats for Hugo Chavez" shirts also.

The irony about unions supporting Democrats is that if the Democrats get their way on social issues, organized labor may become obsolete.

I am not disputing that unions had a large part in insuring safe working conditions, minimum wages, etc. However, most of this is now regulated by federal law, and protection from a union is less necessary. One of organized labor's last flagships, guaranteed health care by contract, would be become obsolete if the Dems were successful in socializing medicine. The more the federal and state govt.s implement union ideals into law, the less relevant organized labor becomes. That is why union membership has dwindled to something like 12% of the work force, half of what it was 30 years ago.

Rob S,
I agree. It's not a debate. This does happen on both sides of the political spectrum. The contract agreements between the media, sponsors & candidates are a joke. They cover every detail from lighting to podium height so no one is reflected in a "more positive light" during these staged readings.
Your fascination with "number 2" is a little alarming though.

Mordechai, If you knew what I do for a living, the "fascination" might be understandable. I am a Social worker, and I work with adults that are profoundly disabled. Each day can be a crappy day, both literally and figuratively. Actually, this was the way I could say that they are all full of s..having cream. Both side are pathetic, aren't they?

"When a debate consists of pre-screened questions, that the candidates know will come, does this really acheive anything?

Posted by: Rob S | August 8, 2007 9:30 AM"

I read The Swamp every day, and I've never seen you post such a complaint about the Republican "debates" - so why are you complaining about the Democratic debate? The Republicans were spoon-fed questions from a totally biased moderator.

"you hate it when facts get in the way of your delirium.

Posted by: John D | August 7, 2007 10:37 PM"

Well, John D, we're still waiting for you to post proof of your "fact" that John Edwards pays as much for his suits as Bush does (several thousand apiece) - which I posted PROOF of several days ago.

Your "support" by saying that you read in Men's Vogue magazine that Edwards "buys imported suits" is useless, my suits purchased at Men's Wearhouse are imported too.

By the way, Men's Vogue magazine's web site doesn't have a search function, nor does it let you read past issues. So please cite the issue, story, page number and the exact quote that validates your allegation about the price tags on Edwards' suits.

BC, you clearly have some brain abnormality, don't you? Edwards is on the stinkin cover of the Men's Vogue. I supplied the link once before and cut and pasted the verbage about his suits. You look it up, I am tired of your ceaseless infatuation about suits, whether Bush's or Edwards'.

Beverly Hillbilly Jethro, sorry, but there was a time in which Jewel did offer health benefits to part timers. That is no longer the case and after five years you still have to put in a minimum number of hours a week to qualify. Yes, many employers do not offer health insurance to part timers. Many still do, including McDonalds and Wal Mart, non-union shops.

And, as usual, you miss the point, which is today workers can do better at nonunion retail jobs than they can at most unionized retail jobs in regard to pay and benefits.

I read The Swamp every day, and I've never seen you post such a complaint about the Republican "debates" - so why are you complaining about the Democratic debate? The Republicans were spoon-fed questions from a totally biased moderator.

Posted by: BC | August 8, 2007 11:00 AM

Well BC, if I am not mistaken we are having this discussion because there was a DEMOCRATIC" debate. I have commented in the past that BOTH PARTIES do this. Trust me, when the next Republican debate occurs, I will make sure that I make comments so you can sleep at night.

Yessa masser, I gets right on it. I is so lucky to haz whuzever job the Republicans wanntza givs me so ma job don endz up in China.

Thanke, thanke, thanke. Myz Republican members of Congrezz must be sooo proud!!!

Yessa masser, I gets right on it. I is so lucky to haz whuzever job the Republicans wanntza givs me so ma job don endz up in China.

Thanke, thanke, thanke. Myz Republican members of Congrezz must be sooo proud!!!

Posted by: thankz massa china jobz | August 8, 2007 12:29 PM

If you want to join in to this blog session, do so like an adult. If the above comment is the best you can do, try the funny pages. There is a hugh chasm between sarcasm and prepubescent stupidity.

Robs

Yassa massa. izs be willin to tak wuzever "hugh chasm' between a gud job and a Republican job that yawz be willin to let this po 'merican have.

thynx yo massa!

Mark, these posts by "Yassa Massa" are not highly offensive? Or is what constitutes highly offensive change depending on wheher someone from the Left posts it and someone from the Right?

dt,

I have read history and yes the unions did some good things, as you stated, in the past. They ghave run their course when it comes to workers' compensation. I still think they have a place in worker safety issues.

As far as a 40 hour work week - if you want to succeed in the business world, only 40 hrs will not cut it. That should be the choice of the individual.

John E

- that's comingfrom the voice of "get trickled on" economics from the democrats.

The republicans won't debate with YOu-Tube. I lve the courage of the democrats not to debate on Fox

"Conservatives Supported Slavery" - go re-read history. It was the Republican leadership that freed the slaves. It was Republican leadership that pushed Civil Rights legislation thru Congress.