RNC GOP Conservatives Failed to Remember Small Town Values

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Sep 7, 2008 12:46 PM EDT

Linked to groups: East Bay for Democracy, Oakland DFA Meetup, Lake Park, San Francisco for Democracy, Alameda for Democracy, California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , What are Progressive Values? Study Group, DFA-Link Organizers, Walnut Creek DFA, Blog For America, Blogs United, DFA Film Club, DFA-Marin, DFA Night School, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Framing Committee, Florida DFA, NJ for Democracy, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for New York, Democracy for Texas, Democracy for NYC, PA for Democracy, Democracy for Washington, Sacramento For Democracy, Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Maryland, Philly for Change, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM), Washington Fair Elections, Michigan Democracy for America, DFALA, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20, blog for America Test and Poll Group

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Here's a funny clip from the Daily Show's coverage of the Republican National Convention.  In their various speeches, conservatives made a big point of trying to connect their Failed Conservative Values to Small Town Values.  Yes, they never give up on the values debate and always try to add a new wrinkle to their rhetorical values debate arsenal.   However, this time the Daily Show's best darn news team on the planet went out to investigate.   As you'll see,  the problem is that conservatives just  can't remember what those values are.

Hopefully conservatives will stop insulting people from small towns by trying to project their Failed Conservative Values onto them.

Here are some suggestions from progressives about the values conservatives just couldn't remember. It's not hard they see why they are having a memory block.

 Fatally Flawed Conservative Value of  Hypocrisy

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Sarah Palin and the Same Failed Conservative Values

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Sep 4, 2008 3:47 AM EDT

Linked to groups: East Bay for Democracy, Oakland DFA Meetup, Lake Park, San Francisco for Democracy, Alameda for Democracy, California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , What are Progressive Values? Study Group, DFA-Link Organizers, Walnut Creek DFA, Blog For America, Blogs United, DFA Film Club, DFA-Marin, DFA Night School, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Framing Committee, Florida DFA, NJ for Democracy, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for New York, Democracy for Texas, Democracy for NYC, PA for Democracy, Democracy for Washington, Sacramento For Democracy, Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Maryland, Philly for Change, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM), Washington Fair Elections, Michigan Democracy for America, DFALA, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20, blog for America Test and Poll Group

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

 Like at past Republican National Conventions, there has been a lot of talk about conservative values. Nothing new there, but this time the convention has the feeling of a sinking ship.  The conservatives are doing a lot of  talking about the exact same Failed Conservative Values that they have been talking about for the past 30 years. It's the same Failed Conservative Values of indifference, incompetence, compassionate conservativism and corruption that brought us the disaster of Katrina. It's the same Failed Conservative Values of authoritarianism, secrecy, deception and violence that brought us the failed invasion and occupation of  Iraq. It's the same Failed Conservative Values of selfishness, greed and arrogance that brought us Abramoff and a conservative congress mired in a culture of corruption. 

Sara Palin 
 
It's the same Conservative Family Values and Traditional Conservative Values of 'you are on your own', that have lifted the national misery index. It's the same fundamentalism, self-righteousness and hypocrisy that brought the sex scandals of Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, etc. etc

The problem is that progressives, liberals and democrats are not directly taking on the Failed Conservative Values. Progressives need to call conservative values what they are. Failed!  It's not just failed policies, it's failed values.  Even conservatives shout from the rooftops that they base their policies on their values. Take them at their word. I see progressives repeatedly attack the failed conservative policies, but they will not directly attack the Failed Conservative Values.

I've interviewed over 100 people and asked them if Conservative Values have Failed?  They all had no problem coming up with example after example after example of  the failures. People know in their heart, in their guts, in their bodies, how conservative values have failed the country. It's time for progressives to stand up and confront conservatives directly at the values level. Start off by telling them directly and with the conviction you feel in your guts that their values have failed.

Here are just a few of the stories people have shared with me.

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Left Wing Conservative Values

Written by: Tom Bearse on Aug 20, 2008 9:02 AM EDT

Linked to groups: DFA Blog Network, Blog For America, blog for America Test and Poll Group, What are Progressive Values? Study Group, Reproductive Rights for America

What are conservative values? I’m having trouble answering this question because I fail to discern the way in which elements of a personal value system are political.

Instead, I would argue that a person’s particular political persuasion is not influenced by his or her set of values, but by what importance he or she places on one personal value principle over another. For example, a conservative voter with strong religious convictions may register more concern about a social issue like a woman’s individual right to decide whether to carry a pregnancy to term than a progressive voter, based on the assumption that ending the pregnancy is the moral equivalent of murder.

This does not, by any means, imply that the right of the individual to make this decision is of less importance to a progressive voter. Nor does it necessarily imply that a progressive voter would opt to use, or support the use of, surgical methods to abort her pregnancy or the pregnancy of a loved one, or that he or she supports or endorses the use of this procedure by other women.  What it signifies is that they regard the central issue in the debate not as the taking of human life but, rather, the unsanctioned intrusion of government into the personal, medical decisions of female citizens.

Does this analysis convert the value question from one regarding reproductive rights to the sanctity of life or of the individual’s right to freedom from unwarranted government control over personal matters? In my opinion, it does not, for the same reasons. That is, it is hardly a value exclusive to conservatives to preserve and protect the lives of the young, in the same way that it is not an exclusive value of progressives to preserve and protect the rights of individuals from government interference.  Conservatives and liberals prioritize their mostly shared values in approaching and addressing issues of importance, particularly social issues.

I mention this to respond to the question of what so-called conservative values are. Upon my own reflection, I’ve reached the conclusion that I hold many conservative values dear. I’m not a proponent of or advocate for surgical abortion. I am a member of a traditional family consisting of a husband, wife and children, and fully recognize the instrumental value of the family structure for the purpose of successful child rearing and socialization. I am not religious, although I come from a religious upbringing, and held very strong religious beliefs in the past, subject, I should add, to some significant critical analysis on my part that has rendered me somewhat of a religious skeptic.

But I’m not a conservative. However my political views spring from my set of personal values, they don’t alter or influence them. Stated otherwise, it’s of no consequence to my political beliefs that I happen to uphold and abide by principles that political observers might regard as “conservative,” because I’m not a religious dogmatist. I form political views from the belief that politics affects people as a group living under the precepts of a Constitutional charter. It’s these precepts that must form the basis of core political beliefs. From a Constitutional perspective, therefore, preserving women’s reproductive rights is a higher priority than protecting the right to life of the unborn. I submit that the same analysis applies to many issues that are of concern to religious or “value” voters, you and I among them.

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Video: Rallies & Protests in SF as McCain and Obama Rake in the $$

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Aug 18, 2008 9:15 PM EDT

Linked to groups: East Bay for Democracy, Oakland DFA Meetup, Lake Park, San Francisco for Democracy, Alameda for Democracy, California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , What are Progressive Values? Study Group, DFA-Link Organizers, Walnut Creek DFA, Blog For America, Blogs United, DFA Film Club, DFA-Marin, DFA Night School, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Framing Committee, Florida DFA, NJ for Democracy, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for New York, Democracy for Texas, Democracy for NYC, PA for Democracy, Democracy for Washington, Sacramento For Democracy, Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Maryland, Philly for Change, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM), Washington Fair Elections, Michigan Democracy for America, DFALA, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20, blog for America Test and Poll Group

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

 "The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine."
George Bernard Shaw

 Barack Obama came to the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel for a fundraiser yesterday on Sunday, August 17. He raised 7.5 million dollars. Just 3 weeks earlier John McCain had braved being corrupted by the dreaded 'San Francisco Values' at a fund raiser in the same hotel. His campaign declined to state how much their haul was.

Here are videos I made of both Rallies.

Barack Obama at San Francisco Fairmont Hotel Rally, Aug 17, 2008
 

Anti McCain SF Rally - Alec Bash - 07-28-08 at Fairmont Hotel

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Progressive Values Stories: Gavin Newsom on Inclusivity and Noah’s Ark

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Aug 16, 2008 5:08 PM EDT

Linked to groups: East Bay for Democracy, Oakland DFA Meetup, Lake Park, San Francisco for Democracy, Alameda for Democracy, California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , What are Progressive Values? Study Group, DFA-Link Organizers, Walnut Creek DFA, Blog For America, Blogs United, DFA Film Club, DFA-Marin, DFA Night School, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Framing Committee, Florida DFA, NJ for Democracy, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for New York, Democracy for Texas, Democracy for NYC, PA for Democracy, Democracy for Washington, Sacramento For Democracy, Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Maryland, Philly for Change, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM), Washington Fair Elections, Michigan Democracy for America, DFALA, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20, blog for America Test and Poll Group

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.  Franklin D. Roosevelt

I interviewed San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom about what he personally feels are the most important progressive values. He mentioned  several progressive values, such as, Interdependence, Stewardship, Empathy and Tolerance, but focused on Inclusivity as the most important.  He cautions progressives not to 'eat their young' and implode internally from all their differences. When asked to create a metaphor for inclusivity, he came up with the image of  Noah's Ark. 

Progressive Values: Gavin Newsom on Inclusivity and Interdependence

Gavin Newsom:  Well, I’m thinking inclusivity, the notion that we’re all in this together, and interdependence, that celebrate our differences, but unite around our common humanity.  And the opportunity to live their lives out loud and to be fully expressive is a core value, it’s a value that provides an opportunity to create wealth and opportunity and keeps us competitive, a spirit of pride and entrepreneurialism that transcends the movement, the willingness to agree to disagree without being disagreeable. 

The willingness to come together and try new things, and innovate and focus on a precautionary principle, that is decisions we make today have an impact tomorrow, and being thoughtful about making an investment not only in terms of solving today’s problems, but in the long term. 

And I think these values are uniting values and transcending values from one generation to the next, and I think they are truly American values.  And they’re family values, as we’re talking today about family values – if you believe in family values, you need to value the family with a living wage and sick leave or family medical leave. 

You need to create jobs and opportunity, create opportunities for health care and get your kids into college, to be able to afford college, or work-training programs.  Be prepared for the new evolution in terms of green-collar jobs and realities of global interdependence, and the fact that we can’t put a wall up, and that we have to deal with the changing economy and climate, literally and figuratively in the global climate itself. 

So I think it’s a much more impactful and impassioned stewardship, and certainly one that is in stark contrast to a decade of conservatism that has been thrust upon us. 

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Failed Conservatives Values: Gavin Newsom on Division and Tasmanian Devils

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Aug 8, 2008 11:48 AM EDT

Linked to groups: East Bay for Democracy, Oakland DFA Meetup, Lake Park, San Francisco for Democracy, Alameda for Democracy, California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , What are Progressive Values? Study Group, DFA-Link Organizers, Walnut Creek DFA, Blog For America, Blogs United, DFA Film Club, DFA-Marin, DFA Night School, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Framing Committee, Florida DFA, NJ for Democracy, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for New York, Democracy for Texas, Democracy for NYC, PA for Democracy, Democracy for Washington, Sacramento For Democracy, Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Maryland, Philly for Change, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM), Washington Fair Elections, Michigan Democracy for America, DFALA, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

A house divided against itself cannot stand.  Abraham Lincoln

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom

The likes of Bill O'Reilly and Newt Gingrich have long railed against 'San Francisco Values' as a cause of America's ills.   I sat down with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at the Netroots Nation Conference in Austin, Texas to talk about conservative values.  Gavin articulated the case for how the conservative value of division has failed. He listed case after case of failed results and finally likened conservative values to schizophrenic and bipolar Tasmanian Devils. 

Failed Conservatives Values: Gavin Newsom on Division and Tasmanian Devils

Edwin:  I’ve been asking people how conservative values have failed.  I’m wondering what your thoughts are.

Gavin:  I guess I’m all about evidence and results.  Let’s take a look at the evidence of the last eight years, where you had a Republican Congress and a Republican President, and a conservative agenda, that was being carried on every talk show and almost every single cable news network that reconciled the fact that they needed to be more conservative in order to justify a market share in terms of an audience.

What you have are the largest deficits in the history of mankind, a debt that has grown exponentially.  You have income disparity, the likes of which we have never seen, and never could have imagined coming out of World War II, where we had a vibrant middle class.

You’ve got jobs that are being outsourced overseas, and you’ve got all sorts of issues of insecurity at home which relates to energy costs and the challenges associated with people trying to live the American Dream by keeping their home, let alone affording to purchase a home.

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DFA Members at Democratic National Convention in Denver, August 25-28, 2008

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Aug 2, 2008 4:58 PM EDT

Linked to groups: What are Progressive Values? Study Group, East Bay for Democracy, Oakland DFA Meetup, Lake Park, San Francisco for Democracy, Alameda for Democracy, California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , DFA-Link Organizers, Walnut Creek DFA, Blog For America, Blogs United, DFA Film Club, DFA-Marin, DFA Night School, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Framing Committee, Florida DFA, NJ for Democracy, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for New York, Democracy for Texas, Democracy for NYC, PA for Democracy, Democracy for Washington, Sacramento For Democracy, Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Maryland, Philly for Change, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM), Washington Fair Elections, Michigan Democracy for America, DFALA, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20, blog for America Test and Poll Group

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

I thought I'd start a thread for any DFA members going to the DNC. We can discuss logistics, travel, accommodations, events, plans, ideas,  etc. here.

 Is anyone going to Denver?
What are your plans there?
What's DFA going to do there?

I've just started looking into transportation and accommodation in Denver. Anyone have tips for places to stay there and things to do? I thought I'd go to do more interviews about Progressive Values..

- The website for the convention is at  Demconvention.com

- Progressive Democrats of America have a center there with activities, speakers, etc.
 

any other tips out there?

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Progressive Flying Monkey versus Conservative Snail Values

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Jul 31, 2008 3:32 PM EDT

Linked to groups: East Bay for Democracy, Oakland DFA Meetup, Lake Park, San Francisco for Democracy, Alameda for Democracy, California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , What are Progressive Values? Study Group, DFA-Link Organizers, Walnut Creek DFA, Blog For America, Blogs United, DFA Film Club, DFA-Marin, DFA Night School, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Framing Committee, Florida DFA, NJ for Democracy, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for New York, Democracy for Texas, Democracy for NYC, PA for Democracy, Democracy for Washington, Sacramento For Democracy, Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Maryland, Philly for Change, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM), Washington Fair Elections, Michigan Democracy for America, DFALA, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20, blog for America Test and Poll Group

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

I attended an anti McCain rally at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. There I interviewed several people and asked them to create a metaphor for Progressive and Conservative Values and to create a dialogue between the two.  In this story, Melanie sees conservative values as slug-snails and progressive values as monkeys with wings. See how the snails and monkeys get along.

  Melanie on Progressive Flying Monkey versus Conservative Snail Values

I’m Melanie.  I would say conservative values are kind of like a slug, moving along very slowly,and that’s not going to lead to the progress that this country needs and continues to be the amazing presence that we are meant to be in this world.

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Presidential Candidate Bob Barr on the Failure of Conservative Values

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Jul 27, 2008 12:13 PM EDT

Linked to groups: East Bay for Democracy, Oakland DFA Meetup, Lake Park, San Francisco for Democracy, Alameda for Democracy, California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , What are Progressive Values? Study Group, DFA-Link Organizers, Walnut Creek DFA, Blog For America, Blogs United, DFA Film Club, DFA-Marin, DFA Night School, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Framing Committee, Florida DFA, NJ for Democracy, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for New York, Democracy for Texas, Democracy for NYC, PA for Democracy, Democracy for Washington, Sacramento For Democracy, Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Maryland, Philly for Change, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM), Washington Fair Elections, Michigan Democracy for America, DFALA, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20, blog for America Test and Poll Group

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

 At Netroots Nation in Austin, Texas, you can always tell when a VIP is in the room.  Just look for the person with a deferential crowd gathered around them and  follow the direction the cameras are pointed. While I feel uncomfortable standing so deferentially in anyone's presence, I have a job to do, and that's to find out how exactly conservative values have failed. So, when I saw a crowed gathered in the hallway, I moseyed on over with my video camera in hand and worked myself into the front of the crowed.  There was  Bob Barr, the Libertarian presidential candidate. After patiently waiting for the other interviewers to finish asking their questions, I asked Bob, "Have Conservative Values Failed?"

Presidential Candidate Bob Barr on the Failure of Conservative Values

Bob Barr:  I'm not sure.  The term "conservative values" means so many different things to so many different people.  To me, what has utterly failed in the traditional conservative movement is any understanding of or respect for true individual liberty and our constitutional system of government, which was designed expressly to provide protection for individual liberty.

We now have a government which calls itself conservative, yet believes it's okay to spy on American citizens within their own country without a court order.  We now have an administration which calls itself conservative and supports conservative values that believes it's okay to detain a citizen or non-citizen in this country and never give them access to courts to determine under habeas corpus if they are being held properly.

So if in fact respect for individual liberty, respect for the Constitution are conservative values, we certainly don't have that in Washington nowadays. 

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Meet Netroots Nation 2008 Scholarship Winners

Written by: Edwin Rutsch on Jul 24, 2008 9:28 PM EDT

Linked to groups: East Bay for Democracy, Oakland DFA Meetup, Lake Park, San Francisco for Democracy, Alameda for Democracy, California for Democracy, Courage Campaign, Take Back Red California, Capitol Area Progressives (CAP) , What are Progressive Values? Study Group, DFA-Link Organizers, Walnut Creek DFA, Blog For America, Blogs United, DFA Film Club, DFA-Marin, DFA Night School, Silicon Valley DFA, brought to you by Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Framing Committee, Florida DFA, NJ for Democracy, Democracy for Florida, Democracy for New York, Democracy for Texas, Democracy for NYC, PA for Democracy, Democracy for Washington, Sacramento For Democracy, Democracy for Illinois, Democracy for Maryland, Philly for Change, Democracy for Ohio (DFO), Democracy for America Miami-Dade (DFAM), Washington Fair Elections, Michigan Democracy for America, DFALA, DFA at Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) July 17-20, blog for America Test and Poll Group

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

I returned from Netroots Nation with 7 hours of video! So i have my work cut out for me editing all this material.

The DFA Netroots Scholarship winners got together for a caucus on the first day. I video taped the event and you can see it below. The first 2 clips are a short introduction from each of the participants about themselves. The last clip is 30 minutes of the caucus. In this clip, Arshad Hasan, DFA Executive Director and others, give an overview of the Scholarship  program.

Meet the  Netroots Nation 2008 Scholarship Winners (1 of 2)  10 min.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEfH6pcDf_E 


 

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