"Iowa CCI just did more for the Obama re-election campaign than $50 million of advertising dollars"

[phantom power]

Nothing could better illustrate the folly of that argument than what happened to Mitt Romney yesterday. Under pressure from an angry crowd, Mitt Romney made an enormous but telling gaffe declaring that corporations are people, too. It's very early, of course, but it's exactly the sort of "voted for it before I voted against it" blunder that could seriously sink Romney's campaign, particularly since it reinforces the perception of a man who seems more of a corporate spokesperson than a real human being as it is.

...

These are the sorts of activists who are persistent and get things done. They're the sorts of activists who will be there on behalf of Democratic principles come rain or shine, come Republican or Democratic Administrations. All the Democratic Party needs to do is have their back, and they can make magic happen. Iowa CCI just did more for the Obama re-election campaign than $50 million of advertising dollars could ever hope to do, against the candidate whom all the polls show would likely be Obama's most formidable opponent in the general election.

The truth is that Iowa CCI isn't stabbing the President or the Democratic Party in the back through their criticism of the Grand Bargain. If anything, the President and the Party are stabbing them in the back, even as they continue to do the sort of work that helps get Democrats elected--even if that work doesn't necessarily come in the form of phonebanking or door-to-door canvassing. The Democratic Party needs both the ideological progressives and the careful team player shock troops, and it forgets that lesson at its peril.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/democratic-dolchstolegende.html

[yardwork]

1. And Rick Perry told everybody that he's against Medicare and Social Security.

Maybe the Republicans really will nominate Michele Bachmann.

[riverwalker]

2. "3/4th's are over age 65"

Awesome.

"Iowa CCI has about 3,300 members all over Iowa. Three-quarters of them are over the age of 65, and about 60% live in rural Iowa. “One of our biggest issues is Social Security and Medicare and making Wall Street pay for the financial crisis,” said Goodner. “We know where the money is. Not in the back pocket of a senior on Social Security. The money’s on Wall Street. It was their crisis and they should have to pay for it...”

[DCKit]

3. OMG, You SOB, how could you say that?

Our billionaires are sacrosanct.

Take it back. NOW!
:sarcasm: