Hey! That Black Guy Ain't Wearing A Flag On His Lapel! He must be a Freedom Hater!!!

Why worry about the war, the economy, health care, the value of the dollar, the price of oil, jobs, the erosion of liberty, the presumption that privacy doesn't exist, the unofficial repeal of the 4th Amendment, the vastly expanded powers of the president, the corruption and lack of respect for the rule of law, inability to hold our leaders accountable for any action, the fact that the president has admitted to war crimes, adoption of torture as national policy, or any of the other multitude of issues that make this particular election indisputably the single most important election in the history of our nation...when we can focus on someone's pastor and whether or not they choose to wear a lapel pin?

Cause We're AMERICANS and we can CHOOSE to be as STUPID as we WANT TO BE!!!!

Fer craps sake. Hows come nobody is asking whether the next president will move to restore balance to government, and whether or not they will continue to use the enormously enlarged imperial powers that this president has presumed?

Huh?

Hows come nobody is asking Hillary or Obama if they will agressively move to overturn the executive orders of George W. Bush and take a pledge to limit their signing statements and abide by the legistlation sent to them by Congress and abide by the letter of the legislation they sign into law? I think that would be a tremendously valuable question to ask in a debate. Especially when the two candidates are BOTH SENATORS and should have some RESPECT FOR THE ROLE OF CONGRESS.

That would be another good question, "SENTATORS, as members of Congress, do you feel that CONGRESS is a QUAINT AND OUTDATED part of our GOVERNMENT?"

I really care a lot more about a restoration of American/Jeffersonian democracy than whether or not Obama should wear a lapel pin. Or what his pastor says.

Why hasn't anyone asked McCain to repudiate and distance himself from Falwell and Robertsons comments about the ACLU being the reason September 11th happened? Why doesn't the press ask McCain how he feels about that comment? Or how he feels about Right Wing radio hosts like Glenn Beck saying that we "will never defeat terrorism until we have defeated Liberalism in America"?

And why doesn't the press, who are supposed to be the ones who hold those with power accountable, ask important questions? These "debates" after all, are paid for with our money, whether tax dollars or contributions.

Nothing is going to change, until you demand the change you want. The Neo-cons demanded the change they wanted, and they got it. Why aren't we demanding what we want when what we want is what is actually written in our Constitution, and actually central to the teachings of the Christianity they claim to have cornered the market on. We want freedom, we don't want tyranny. We want our rights protected, we want a balance of powers with checks and balances, and we want to be a nation of laws and not of men. We want all men to be equal before the law, and we want the consequences of breaking the law to be equally severe for all criminals, regardless of wealth, power, or station. We want the poor to be treated well, we want the least among us to be protected, we want the hungry to be fed, we want the naked to be clothed, we want the sick to be healed. We want social and economic justice, not protection and expansion of wealth, the destruction of the middle class, and the creation of an underclass that will do the work for nothing, expect nothing, and see joining the military as the best option for getting basic needs met.

We want our military to be used responsibly, we want our soldiers to be trusted, we want every vote to be counted, we want fair and certifiable elections with verifiable results, we want to trust our government again and we want people who choose to run for elected office that actually believe that government is good for something and not the enemy as Ronald Reagon tagged it. We want never again to have people who think that government is what is wrong with this nation to take control of the government.

We want a government that is repsonsive to the needs and wants of the people and who do not trade that respect for disdain for public opinion polls.

We want "Support Our Troops" to mean more than sticking a yellow ribbon on your trunk and to actually include proper supplies, adequate pay, proper training, realistic tours of duty, an end to stop lossing, recruiting that doesn't include waiving medical and legal barriers to service to avoid instituting a draft, and adequate health care after returning home.

We want a lot of things, and the top of the list shouldn't be a politically charged fashion accessory.

Get a grip, people!

Don't decide there isn't anything you can do, or that there is so little difference between the candidates that the kinds of issues that ABC focused on in the debate are actually important.

You can take some action. And you damned well should, if you give a damn about this country and the direction it is taking. 80% of Americans think we're on the wrong track. Do you really think that asking about a lapel pin is going to get us going in the right direction? Don't let the Neo-cons define our party for us.

Please pass this on:

Hi,
If you missed the Democratic presidential debate on ABC Wednesday night, Editor & Publisher called it "perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years."

Moderators George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson spent the first 50 minutes obsessed with distractions that only political insiders care about--gaffes, polling numbers, the stale Rev. Wright story, and the old-news Bosnia story. And, channeling Karl Rove, they directed a video question to Barack Obama asking if he loves the American flag or not.

Seriously!

I just signed a petition to ABC and other media that says: "Debate moderators abuse the public trust every time they ask trivial questions about gaffes and 'gotchas' that only political insiders care about. Enough with the distractions--ABC and other networks must focus on issues that affect people's daily lives."

Want to sign it too? We need a bunch of signers for ABC to take this concern seriously.

Click here to sign:

http://pol.moveon.org/enoughdistractions/?r_by=12457-5705002-OP8OPr&rc=mailto

Thanks!