----- Original Message -----
From: Howard Dean
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 1:53 PM
Subject: The Republican platform

Yesterday, John McCain's campaign manager told the Washington Post, "This election is not about issues."

It's clear why the McCain campaign doesn't want to focus on the issues -- their platform is the most extreme we've ever seen from the Republican Party.

The Republican platform opposes embryonic stem cell research. It denies a woman's right to choose, even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. It fails to mention equal pay for women. And it barely acknowledges the $10 billion a month we are currently spending in Iraq.

Rather than run on the issues, McCain and the Republicans are running from them.

They are hoping a barrage of misleading attacks that smear Barack Obama and our party will distract voters from what's really at stake.

Make a donation of $5 or more to defeat John McCain and the Republicans, and stand up for what you believe in as Democrats.

John McCain doesn't want you to notice that he has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.

And he doesn't want you to notice that his plan to help the struggling middle class is more of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

We need a leader who is ready to solve our problems, not make them worse.

Show your support today with a donation of $5 or more:

http://www.democrats.org/fightback

The general election has begun, and it'll be a fast race to the finish.

Now is the time to come together as a party and take back the White House.

Howard Dean

Republicans for Obama in Indiana

Republicans and independents in Indiana discuss why they support Barack Obama

GOP 2008 Platform: Most Extreme in Party History

Right-Wing Family Rights Council Calls Platform the Most Conservative in Party History: According to the Wall Street Journal, “the legislative advocacy arm of the Family Rights Council, a political advocacy group for social conservatives, hailed the document as the most "conservative, pro-life and pro-family platform in Republican party history.” [WSJ, 8/30/08]

Conservative Activist Says the Document is a “Vast Improvement” from 2004 Platform – an Even More Radical Document than President Bush’s Platform: According to Bloomberg News, “Members of the party's conservative wing have been wary of McCain, in part because of his stances on immigration and global warming. Donald Devine of the American Conservative Union said he was satisfied with the draft. ‘It's certainly a vast improvement over the 2004 document,'’ Devine, vice chairman of the advocacy group based in Alexandria, Virginia, said.” [Bloomberg News, 8/26/08]

The Platform Opposes Embryonic Stem Cell Research even though a Majority of Republicans and Majority of Americans Support It: According to the Wall Street Journal, “The platform calls for a ‘major expansion’ of research involving adult stem cells but opposes embryonic stem-cell research, which Sen. McCain supports.” [WSJ, 8/30/08; Center for American Progress, 3/30/07, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/03/opinion_stem_cells.html]

The 2008 Platform Calls for a Constitutional Amendment to Ban All Abortions, Even Though Only 10 Percent of Americans Support Banning Abortion in All Cases: “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.” [GOP Platform, http://www.gop.com/pdf/PlatformFINAL_WithCover.pdf; Time Magazine August 4 Poll, http://www.srbi.com/ObamaMaintainsSlimLead.pdf]

The 2008 Platform Decries the Education Policies of George W. Bush that Were Praised in the 2004 Platform: The 2008 platform states, “Although the Constitution assigns the federal government no role in local education, Washington’s authority over the nation’s schools has increased dramatically. In less than a decade, annual federal funding has shot up 41 percent to almost $25 billion, while the regulatory burden on state and local governments has risen by about 6.7 million hours — and added $141 million in costs — during that time…To get our schools back to the basics of learning…”

In stark contrast, the 2004 platform praised President Bush’s efforts to increase federal education spending, “President Bush and Congressional Republicans have provided the largest increase in federal education funding in history and the highest percentage gain since the 1960s. Support for elementary and secondary education has had the largest increase in any single Presidential term since the 1960s – an increase of nearly 50 percent since 2001… With this increased funding comes a new focus on achievement and results.” [2004 GOP Platform, http://www.gop.com/images/2004platform.pdf; 2008 GOP Platform]

GOP 2008 Platform: Ignoring the Needs of Working Families

2008 Platform and McCain Tax Plan Reject the Fundamental Premise of 2004 Platform on Tax Relief: The McCain tax plan rejects a central tenant of the 2004 GOP Platform that defined tax relief as, “The fundamental premise of tax relief is that everyone who pays income taxes should see their income taxes reduced.” [2004 GOP Platform]. Instead, McCain’s proposals – which are also included in the 2008 GOP platform draft – would leave out 101 million households. [2008 GOP Platform; Obama for America memo, The McCain Economic Plan: Four More Years?, 7/7/08].

2008 Platform Fails to Mention the Critical Importance of America’s Manufacturing Sector Despite Inclusion in the 2004 Platform: The 2004 GOP Platform included a section on manufacturing that recognized “the critical role of manufacturing to job creation, national security, and the economy.” The 2008 GOP Platform only mentions the word manufacturing twice – once in the context of McCain’s flawed nuclear power initiative and the other related to GOP efforts to prevent victims of gun violence from suing gun manufacturers for producing faulty weapons. [2004 GOP Platform, 2008 GOP Platform]. In contrast, the 2008 Democratic Platform includes a robust section on how to strengthen America’s manufacturing sector, which boasts the most impressive workers in the world. [Insert cite to final 2008 Dem platform; draft: http://www.demconvention.com/assets/downloads/2008-Democratic-Platform-by-Cmte-08-13-08.pdf]

Despite Calling for a Generous Tax Cut for Corporations, the 2008 Platform Ignores Corporate Accountability – A Robust Section in the 2004 GOP Platform: The 2004 GOP Platform included a “Corporate Accountability” section that praised Bush’s efforts to crack down on corporate executives. The 2008 GOP Platform does not include a similar section, nor any mention of cracking down on reckless speculation in the energy markets or reigning in excessive corporate pay. [2004 GOP Platform; 2008 GOP Platform]

Despite the 2008 Platform’s Health Care Statement that “The First Rule of Public Policy is the Same as with Medicine: Do No Harm”, the McCain Health Care Plan Will Do Precisely that By Leading to Millions of Americans Losing their Existing Health Insurance [Tax Policy Center, 7/23/08]

Like Senator McCain’s Flawed Agenda that Benefits Corporations More than American Families, the 2008 GOP Platform Has No Mention of Equal Pay for Equal Work, Offshoring or Outsourcing of American Jobs, and Cutting Down on Rampant Corporate Tax Evasion or Loopholes.

GOP 2008 Platform: At Odds with John McCain

The 2000, 2004 and 2008 GOP Platforms Advocate Tax Credits for Renewable Energy Production – A Commonsense Effort that John McCain Has Long Blocked: From the 2000 GOP Platform, “…Expand the tax credit for renewable energy sources to include wind and open-loop biomass facilities, and electricity produced from steel cogeneration.” From the 2004 GOP

Platform, “Republicans will continue to support renewable energy, through extension of the production tax credit for wind and solar…”. From the 2008 GOP Platform, “We therefore advocate a long-term energy tax credit equally applicable to all renewable power sources.” [2000 GOP Platform, 2004 GOP Platform, 2008 GOP Platform]

The 2008 Platform Reflects the Right-Wing of the Party on Immigration Reform, and Rejects the Approaches of President Bush and Senator McCain: In 2004, the GOP Platform stated, “The Republican Party supports reforming the immigration system to ensure that it is legal, safe, orderly and humane… President Bush has proposed a new temporary worker program that applies when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs. This new program would allow workers who currently hold jobs to come out of the shadows and to participate legally in America’s economy.” In contrast, the 2008 Platform rejects such a measure and instead states, “The rule of law suffers if government policies encourage or reward illegal activity. The American people’s rejection of en masse legalizations is especially appropriate given the federal government’s past failures to enforce the law.” [2004 GOP Platform, 2008 GOP Platform]

The 2008 Platform Calls for a Constitutional Amendment Banning Gay Marriage – An Effort McCain Voted Against as a Senator: The 2008 GOP Platform draft states, “we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, so that judges cannot make other arrangements equivalent to it.” As a U.S. Senator, John McCain voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment which would have amended the Constitution to ban gay marriage. [2008 GOP Platform; U.S. Senate Vote 163, 06/07/06]

GOP 2008 Platform: Additional Items of Note

The 2008 Platform Neglects Mention of the Great Lakes and Everglades, Despite Previous Platforms Recognizing their Importance: The Everglades was mentioned in both the 2000 and 2004 platforms. In 2000, the platform stated, “We are committed to preserving high priority wilderness and wetlands. The Everglades are a crucial example of a special federal responsibility…” and in 2004, the platform stated, “We also endorse the President’s efforts to work with the state of Florida to implement the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.” And in 2004, the platform stated, “We steadfastly oppose diverting water away from the Great Lakes region.” [2000 GOP Platform, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showplatforms.php?platindex=R2000; 2004 GOP Platform; 2008 GOP Platform]

There will be no middle ground to negotiate from with their present day party leadership, period. Lieberman and anybody who believes that they will are fools.

Give progressives in Cincinnati at hand. Need your help with a "no" vote on a poll.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Dato=20080903&Kategori=NEWS0106&Lopenr=80903004&Ref=AR

howard's mother is now a registered democrat.  is she a hypocrite, too?  should she have given away what she inherited as a surviving spouse? 

who is this marty s troll?  someone with limited life experiences, it seems.  people participate in their societies, reflect, and change.  that's called growing up.

is palin's husband taking a two-month absence from work under the family leave act?  if so, make sure she knows which party made it possible.

if all politics is local, community organizing is as local as it gets, sister sarah and brother rudolph. 

alaska ranks #1 in earmarks.  the state averages $500 per alaskan in federal funds via pork barrel spending.  as mayor, sarah palin doubled that to $1000 for each of her constituents in wasilla through the hire of a lobbyist.  palin the fiscal conservative is a bald lie!

i saw this national ranking of issues important to women voters.

1.  abortion rights

2.  economy

3.  iraq war

4.  health care

what the dems need to do is to tie in economic distress in families to the protection of choice in an unwanted pregnancy.  the actual decision is always made under pressing circumstances, not as a constitutional right.