Role of Media in Politics

Professor Adams responds to a caller about the role of media in politics. Professor Adams thinks that the media fails to cover substantive issues and policy positions. Part of his thesis is that it is important for our leaders to be good communicators. I agree with both of those statements. First, I totally agree that newspapers and news shows are no covering substantive issues. I believe that newspapers and tv shows are covering issues that they know will attract and entertain the reader/ viewer since they are concerned with the amount of readers and viewers they have. Reading about a candidate’s stance on different issues does not really sound all that entertaining. Second, I think it is very important for the candidates to be good communicators. This is especially true if Kernell’s “Going Public” theory is correct. In order to influence the citizens about a particular policy, presidents need to be good speakers.

Polls and Voter Decisions

Professor William Adams discusses the role of the polls and campaigns. He thinks that journalist’s use of polls is dangerous. He explains it like this. A citizen likesa particular candidate, however, if they keep seeing polls concerning that candidate showing that he is not viable then they will not vote for him. This is because people do not want to vote for a loser and waste that vote. This is an interesting political theory that needs further investigate. It does make sense from a political scientist perspective and it would be interesting to research if people change their vote based on the poll results.

Role of Media in Politics in Iowa

Robert Woodward a professor of journalism at Drake University discusses the role of media in politics in Iowa. He studied the topic on all levels of government and broadcasting medium. He says the national media has a role in earlier stages of the campaign. He claims that the local newspapers in Iowa are covering the candidates more extensively than national media. If this is true, it would probably be a good idea to read the newspapers in Iowa.

Romney’s Interesting Week

Mitt Romney has been experiencing an interesting week. From being criticized for being a flip-flopper to being at the top of the polls in Iowa, he has experienced many ups and downs this week. During this summer, Mitt Romney did something out of character for a Republican candidate. In New Hampshire, he said that humans “are at least somewhat responsible for climate change”(Graves). He even called on Americans to act on the climate change problem. Saying “ It's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors”(Graves). That statement was the complete opposite of most Republican‘s belief about global warming. Herman Cain, Romney’s biggest competition in the polls, believes that climate change is a scam (Graves). Rick Perry thinks that climate change is just a natural occurrence and not as a result of global warming (Graves).
However, this month he tried to go back on his previous statement saying, “My view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us. My view with regards to energy policy is pretty straightforward: I want us to become energy secure and independent of the oil cartels” (Graves). When asked about his previous statement he said the following "One, I believe what I said before, I think it's getting warmer. Two, I believe we contribute to it. And three, I don't know by how much -a lot or a little. And I am not willing to adopt multitrillion dollar programs to reduce greenhouse gases in America. They don't call it America warming, they call it global warming” (Graves).
In regard to this apparent change of positions, Romney has been getting criticized for being a flip-flopper. Rick Perry said the following about Romney “Like it or not, the governor has been on opposite sides of a lot of issues”(Ward). I would have to agree with Perry. In the initial quote Romeny clearly states that humans are somewhat responsible and something has to be done to reduce our emissions. However, later saying that we do not even know who is responsible for the climate change and that it is not an American problem. However, America needs to take the initiative and be the leader on this issue.
Mitt Romney did also receive some positive news this week. The Des Moines Register's new poll shows Romney with 22 percent of the vote for the Republican presidential nomination (USA Today). Cain leads over Romney with 23 percent. Third in the Iowa polls, surprisingly is Ron Paul with 12 percent of the vote. Michele Bachmann was in fourth place, dropping to an 8 percent (USA Today). Rick Perry was in fifth place alongside Newt Gingrich with only 7 percent (USA Today).
It seems like being called a flip flopper did not affect Romney’s popularity. I think because of Iowa’s importance, it is safe to say that Cain and Romney are the two leading candidates for the nomination. Because Perry is doing so poorly, I do not think he will be able to recapture the popularity he saw when he first entered the race.

Works Cited
Graves, Lucia. "Mitt Romney Embraces Climate Denial: 'We Don't Know What's Causing Climate Change'" Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

"Poll: Cain, Romney Lead in Iowa – USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

Ward, Jon. "Mitt Romney's Rough Week Doesn't Change Much In 2012 GOP Primary." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

Obama Trying to Recapture the Young Vote

As reported earlier, President Obama won big with the young vote in 2008. He received 66 percent majority of the young vote in 2008 (Horowitz Keeter and Tyson) After he took office, Obamas approval rating among voters 18-29, was 84 percent according to a Washington Post poll (Blake). However, since then his support among the young population has been slipping. The latest October 23rd Gallup poll shows, President Obama’s rating to be just 47 percent. With the upcoming elections, President Obama needs to recapture the support of this group. I believe that this is exactly what the president is trying to do. Recently, in my home state of Colorado, President Obama presented a new plan that will help recent and future college graduates with their student loans.

At CU Boulder, Obama said the following, “College isn’t just one of the best investments you can make in your future, it’s one of the best investments America can make in our future. We want you in school. But we shouldn’t saddle you with debt when you’re starting off ”(Bruce). He plans to do this in a variety of ways. First, he plans on allowing students to consolidate their federal loans into one and pay the lowest interest rate of all of them (Bruce). Second, the plan will reduce the amount an individual is required to take out of their annual income for repayment of student loans from 15 percent to 10 percent (Bakst). It is important to point out that this was actually enacted by Congress and President Obama just moved the date that it would go into effect from 2014 to 2012 (Bakst). Third, he plans on forgiving outstanding student loans after 20 years instead of the 25 years it is now (Bakst). The president says that this new plan will not affect taxpayers in terms of increasing taxes to cover it (Bakst).

I think that this is a step in the right direction to recapture the young vote and even improving our economy. Since his job approval rating has been slipping among young adults, it was important for Obama to do something to summon their support again. One of the issues the Occupy Wall Street movement is concerned with is student loans. Although, I do not think that this plan will make the protestors pick up and go home feeling they have won, I believe that Obama is going to receive recognition for trying to help Americans most affected by this recession. Also I think that this plan will help boost our economy. As Obama pointed out student loan debts are the second leading source of household debt (Bakst). If you take some of the burden off of people for student loans, then they will have more money to spend on other things and stimulate the economy.
As predicted the GOP had only negative things to say about the plan. Michelle Bachmann said that this plan will give people an incentive to no repay their debt (Bakst). I do not agree with this statement. It does not say that you do not have to repay your debts, but it just makes it easier for people most affected by this recession.


Works Cited
Bakst, Brian. "Michele Bachmann Criticizes Obama Student Loan Plan." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

Blake, Aaron. "President Obama and Young Voters Are No Longer a Love Match - The Washington Post." The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

Bruce, Mary. "President Obama Unveils New Student Loan Plan in Denver - ABC News." ABCNews.com: Daily News, Breaking News and Video Broadcasts - ABC News. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

Horowitz, Juliana, Scott Keeter, and Alec Tyson. "Young Voters in the 2008 Election." Pew Research Center. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

"Presidential Job Approval Center." Gallup.Com - Daily News, Polls, Public Opinion on Government, Politics, Economics, Management. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

The Drafting of the 2008 Democratic Platform

Patricia Madrid is the co-chair of the Platform Committee for the Democratic Party. First, she describes what the party platform is and how it was composed this year. This elections platform drafting involved regular citizens who could propose their own planks. The party platform is a report that describes what the party is, what they hope, and what their principles are about it. She said it is like a “reflection” of the party. The drafting of this party platform was very different from the previous years. The Democratic Party had hearing in every state of the country where regular people came in and participate by submitting their own proposed planks. She thinks this new platform covers every topic that Barack Obama might deme as important. I really like that the Platform Committee actually went across the country and listened to what regular people had to say.

Comparing the Republican and Democratic Platforms

Sen. Nickles, Rep. McCollum and Gov. Ashcroft discuss the difference between the Republican and Democratic Platforms. It’s important to point out that these are all Republican politicians so their opinions are obviously very skewed. First, Sen. Nickles says that their platform hearings were very open and they had over 100 witnesses. He also says theirs is more comprehensive than the Democrat’s because its longer. He also says that their platform believes in less spending and taxes, but the Democrats want “massive taxes.” Sen. Nickles makes an interesting point saying that he encourages people to look at both of the party’s platforms and compare them. This is actually a good idea. Also something that I learned from this video was that witnesses are allowed during the drafting of the platform.

1984 Democratic Platform

Sunny McPeak , member of the Democratic Platform Committee, discusses the Democratic Platform for the year 1984. She says the party for the most part united under the platform, aside from 5 issues that will be debated at the Democratic National Convention. These issues are military spending, affirmative action, secondary primaries, role of US in Persian Gulf, and the role of US in world affairs. Some aspects of this platform will be that the national government cannot be responsible for everything. People from different levels of the government need to be involved in the problem solving process.

Republican Candidates and their Economic Plans

During the Las Vegas debate one of the big criticisms of Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” plan was the fact that it would not create the jobs desperately needed for our country.  While the candidates were taking turns attacking the plan, Mitt Romney mentioned his own “59 point” plan. Ron Paul also mentioned his ideas for his economic plan. Just days after the debate, Rick Perry said that soon he plans on releasing his own plan.  Since there is a possibility of one of these men being our next president I thought it would be beneficial to investigate their plans.

               The “59 point plan” takes its name after the 59 point proposals that Romney hopes will stimulate the economy.  Romney says that this plan will create 11.5 million private sector jobs and lower the unemployment rate to 5.9 percent by the end of the first term (Friedman).  The plan to do so is very simple and not very innovating. He wants to lower the corporate tax to 25 percent, which he believes will cause corporations to hire more people. Next he would eliminate “Obamacare”, get rid of regulations on corporation’s Obama put in place (Friedman).  This seems like a ridiculous idea to me because deregulating of everything is a big part of what got us into this mess. A big component of this plan is to make it easier to drill for oil and natural gas in the US (Friedman). At the debate, Romney mentioned that he would also like to produce more manufacturing and technology jobs, which I think is a good idea.  Regarding his plan Romney says “It’s a practical plan to get America back to work. It’s also immediate”(Friedman). 

                Next is Ron Paul’s plan. He also made mention of some of his proposals at the Las Vegas debate. Although, there isn’t a good chance that he will be our next president, I was still interested in investigating it further. First, he said that he would have a balanced budget which he would do by cutting the size of the federal government.  He plans on doing this by cutting the Department of Education, Environment, Housing, and Urban Development (Bingham). He says that he would not fire the people already working in those agencies, but transfer them to other departments. However, that would eliminate thousands of jobs for future federal employees. He would also cut 40 percent of the Food and Drug Administration’s budget (Bingham).  This is an outrageous idea. The FDA’s job is to make sure that our food and other products are safe. If you cut their budget by almost half, what will it mean for our products? I believe we would start hearing about salmonella in our food more. He would also pull out troops in some places and cut some defense spending because as he said in the debate “we have spread ourselves too thin.”  This is actually a really smart. We have missions in some countries that are unnecessary. Overall, his plan would slash about “$1 trillion from the federal budget” (Bingham).

                Finally, we have Rick Perry’s plan. Although, he has not put out the actual plan yet, he made reference to it at a recent event in Iowa.  The major part of his plan would be a flat income tax for everyone (Erb). He says that he plans on releasing his plan in a few days. After watching the debate and hearing the points made about Herman Cain’s plan, I do not think a flat tax would be a good idea. As mentioned, during the debates it would make some people pay more in taxes than they do now. On the other hand, people making millions of dollars each year would pay less than they do now.  With the discontent around the tax issue on the rich, I don’t think Perry’s plan will be well received by the public.

                                                                            Works Cited

Bingham, Amy. "Ron Paul’s Economic Plan Eliminates Department of Education and 5 Others." ABC News. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/ron-pauls-economic-plan-eliminates-department-of-education-and-5-others/.

 

Erb, Kelly. "Perry Hints At 'Simple' Flat Tax - Forbes." Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2011/10/19/perry-hints-at-simple-flat-tax/.

 

Friedman, Emily. "Romney’s Job Plan Promises 11.5 Million Jobs in First Term - ABC News." ABCNews.com: Daily News, Breaking News and Video Broadcasts - ABC News. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/romneys-job-plan-promises-11-5-million-jobs-in-first-term/>.

The Las Vegas Debate

The Last Vegas Republican Presidential Debate was very entertaining to watch.  There was drama, jokes, Obama bashing, and even some physical contact. The more interesting parts of the debate were the bashing on Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” plan and the growing tension between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Since Herman Cain has been the surprising front runner in the polls, it seems like the other candidates decided to gang up and attack his “9-9-9” plan. The “9-9-9” is Herman Cain’s tax plan that proposes a 9 percent corporate tax, individual income tax, and national sales tax. It seemed like every candidate found something wrong with the plan. First, Rick Santorum pointed out an interesting fact which was that 84 percent of people would pay more taxes with Herman Cain’s plan. This is because people, who do not make enough money and don’t pay taxes now, would have to start paying 9 percent. He also pointed out that Herman Cain’s plan does not distinguish between families and individuals, like our current tax system. Herman Cain repudiated those facts by saying that everybody needs to look at his web site and they would see it’s not true. Most of the issues he didn’t directly, but just said read his plan and all the questions would be answered. Rick Perry also had an interesting point, saying that states like New Hampshire don’t pay a national sales tax. Therefore, making them start paying a national sales tax was “not gonna fly.” All of the candidates also mentioned that it would increase the price on some things because the tax would be combined with the state tax. To this, Cain said that it was like comparing apples and oranges. Mitt Romney had a really funny answer to that saying at the end of the day they would have “bushels of apples and oranges.”  Many of the candidates were confused about how this plan was supposed to create jobs. It was very clear that the other candidates felt threated by Herman Cain’s growing popularity and decided to attack him on his policies.

                What made the debate really interesting was the obvious tension between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney particularly on the issues of immigration and healthcare. The debate about immigration started when Anderson Cooper asked Herman Cain about his electric fence remarks. However, the debate soon turned uncomfortable when Rick Perry and Mitt Romney began to attack each other’s previous records on immigration. Mitt Romney accused Rick Perry of being compliant to undocumented immigrants by allowing them scholarships to college. He also brought up the fact that Texas’ undocumented immigration is growing, while Florida’ and California’s is not. Perry accused Romney for hiring “illegals” to do his landscaping. When Romney tried to explain what happened, Perry cut him off. Romney told Perry to allow him to speak, saying that if he wanted to be president he needs to learn to allow other people to speak. At one point Romney even put his hand on Perry’s shoulder. Another issue that turned into an exchange of words between the two was healthcare. After Romney criticized “Obamacare” and said he would repeal it while in office, Perry essentially called him a hypocrite. He said that “Obamacare” was structured on the healthcare policies of Massachusetts while Romney was governor. Romney answered back saying that even though the healthcare policy is working is Massachusetts, it does not work on a national level. He said that he even mentioned it in his book that he does not want this policy for the whole country.

         I really hope all presidential debates are this entertaining from now on. Although, Rick Perry’s “feistiness” was hilarious to watch I think Mitt Romney was the clear winner. Aside from the whole should touch incident he seemed very presidential. He was always cool and composed which makes him seem like the right candidate for the Republicans.

Being a Delegate in the 1992 Democratic National Convention

Delegates discuss their experience on day one of the 1992 Democratic Convention in New York. Not all of them are delegates for Bill Clinton, delegate Young was there to support Jerry Brown. Delegate Stanton shows of her passes that all of the delegates need to have to get into the convention. In 1992 the pass changed every day and it said the day of the week on it. Also some delegates had VIP passes such as delegate Stanton.Apparently, there was a controversy over letting Jerry Brown speak at the convention.

Being a Delegate in the 1992 Republican National Convention

Mr. Stephens, Mr. Roy and Mr. Early discussed their personal experiences as delegates in the 1992 Republican Convention. Mr. Stephens says that for delegates the Conventions are a lot of fun because you interact with people with the same interests as you. Mr. Early also talks about what it is like being a chair of a delegation at a Convention. It seems very mundane because it’s a lot of planning and a lot of work. However, all three of them say that the experience of being a delegate at a convention is fun.

Predictions about Day Three of 2008 Republican Convention

In this video Andrew Malcolm from the Los Angeles Times discusses what he thinks the reaction will be to day three of the Republican Convention. This is an important day because Sarah Palin is set to speak since being announced as the vice president nominee. He said that the convention expects to get a lot of viewers since Sarah Palin people are curious about her. He says that she brings a lot of excitement.

GOP Jobs Act

                      Since Obama took office in 2008, he has been haunted by a growing statistic and that is the unemployment rate. When Obama became President the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent (Silver). However, it has reached  9.1 percent in September 2011 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Moreover, the president’s job approval rate has been declining from 66% in January 2009 to 41% in September 2011 (Bertane and Newport). People have become frustrated and have turned their blame on the current administration. The mains issues voters are concerned with right now is the economy and unemployment. President Obama is trying to give hope to Americans with his “American Jobs Act”.   Obama had been trying to override the opposition in Congress by going straight to constituents. He has been going straight to the voters all over America telling them to encourage their representatives to pass the bill. In some cases it has been on top of failing infrastructure projects or in home states of his opposition in Congress. However, this week the jobs bill failed to be passed in the Senate due to Republican opposition. According to the Associated Press article found on The Washington Post, the Republican Senators had a problem with “higher taxes on the wealthy and spending proposals” (Washington Post). According to the Associated Press, the Democrats plan on breaking up the bill into pieces and hope to pass some parts of it.  President Obama is not feeling discouraged and instead he’s going straight to the American public again. After the defeat, President Obama had this to say in a weekly address “And if they vote ‘no’ on that, they’ll have to tell you why. They’ll have to tell you why teachers in your community don’t deserve a paycheck again. They’ll have to tell your kids why they don’t deserve to have their teacher back. They’ll have to tell you why they’re against common-sense proposals that would help families and strengthen our communities right now” (Associated Press/Washington Post).

However, it seems that the Republicans finally got fed up with being portrayed like the enemy of the middle class and unemployed and have presented their own jobs act.  The bill was written by Senators John McCain, Rand Paul, and Rob Portman and called “Jobs Through Growth Act” (Grant). So what is in this “Jobs Through Growth Act”? Not much and most of the ideas in this act are borrowed from previous pieces of legislation.  The “Jobs Through Growth Act” proposes a balanced budget amendment just like the summer Republican favorite “Cap, Cut and Balance.”  The act also proposes the “repeal of the health care reform legislation and cuts in EPA regulations” (Adams). Once again more cuts in social programs and bureaus. There is a proposed maximum of 25 percent on corporate and income taxes (Grant). In addition, the bill would “eliminate or sharply reduce taxes on profits made by American corporations outside the US”(Grant).

When I read all of the proposals I thought that it was a joke. First let me say that I think it is a good part on the Republicans to put a jobs act out there. Now they can say that they have a jobs act, but it is the Democrats not passing it through. However, proposing a flat tax and a tax reduction on corporate profit seems like a dangerous idea to me. This past week thousands of people showed up for the “Occupy Wall Street” protest in Times Square. Also, cities all over the globe saw protests this past week.  People are becoming more and more frustrated with this coddling of the wealthy and corporations, so this proposal seems like it will aggravate more people. I’m also confused about how this proposal is supposed to put people to work.

                                                                                Works Cited

Adams, Susan. "Do the Republicans Have a Jobs Plan? - Forbes." Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. Forbes.com. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2011/10/14/do-the-republicans-have-a-jobs-plan/.

Bertane, Clancy, and Frank Newport. "Obama's September Approval Rating Remains at Term-Low 41%." Gallup.Com - Daily News, Polls, Public Opinion on Government, Politics, Economics, Management. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. http://www.gallup.com/poll/149966/Obama-September-Approval-Rating-Remains-Term-Low.aspx. 

"Current Population Survey (CPS)." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. http://www.bls.gov/cps.

Grant, David. "What's New in the GOP Jobs Plan? - CSMonitor.com." The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/1014/What-s-new-in-the-GOP-jobs-plan.

Press, Associated. "Obama Praises Trade Deals and Pushes Congress to Pass Elements of Jobs Bill - The Washington Post." The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/obama-praises-trade-deals-and-pushes-congress-to-pass-elements-of-jobs-bill/2011/10/15/gIQAiwChlL_story.html.

Silver, Nate. "On the Maddeningly Inexact Relationship Between Unemployment and Re-Election - NYTimes.com." Election Forecasts - FiveThirtyEight Blog - NYTimes.com. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. <http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/on-the-maddeningly-inexact-relationship-between-unemployment-and-re-election>.

Journeys with George

              Journeys with George is a 2002 documentary directed and written by Alexandra Pelosi (IMDB). Alexandra follows George W. Bush around the country on his 2000 campaign for president. It is a worthwhile documentary to watch. Unlike other documentaries, Journeys with George is entertaining, funny, and insightful at the same time. Not only did I learn a lot about what it is like to be a journalist on the campaign trail, but I was also laughing for most of the documentary. Bush is always cracking jokes and the other journalists are very comical. This film is a must see because it gives the viewer an intimate view of George W. Bush as a man, and shows the audience the complex relationship between press and politicians.

To start I have to say that I dislike the George W. Bush administration. Not only do I disagree with his economic policies, but I also am appalled at the complete disregard of his administration towards human rights. However, watching Journeys with George made me really like George W. Bush as a person! I’ve seen interviews with Bush, but I’ve never enjoyed his personality as much as I did in this documentary. Even though, I know that he was raised in a very wealthy and politically prominent family, this documentary makes him seem very approachable and very normal. In the documentary, he says some of his favorite things to eat are Cheetos and bologna sandwiches. For some reason, I really like the fact that he enjoys junk food like the rest of us. He also seems like he genuinely cares about his constituents as demonstrated by the fact that he tries to shake everyone’s hand that came out to support him. I also like the fact that he can laugh at himself and not act too seriously. I assume that this likeability played a big part in his election and reelection.  

One important thing I learned is the role of the press in presidential campaigns. First I did not know that the press traveled on a private jet with the candidate. I assumed that the press would take commercial flights and would go to only a few events and not to every single campaign stop. It seems to me a little inefficient because if they are all traveling to the same events, then all of these newspapers will have the same story. I also did not realize how intimately the journalists get to know the candidate. There were times when Bush came on the plane and on the bus and would talk and joke with them. However, at some point when Dick Cheney was announced as the vice-president, Bush became off-limits to the press. I also feel bad for the journalists that have to leave their family for months. One journalist puts a comical spin on it saying that his wife tells the kids that he’s “no longer with us” about him. Not only are you away from your family, but the jobs itself seems frustrating and stressful. At one point, Alexandra starts losing her hair from all the stress. When Bush becomes off-limits to the press, some journalist becomes angry. Also I had no idea that their job depends on how well the candidate does, which totally makes sense to me now. If a candidate does not win the presidency than not a lot of people will care what kind of information the journalist have about that candidate. As Alexandra points out if Bush does not win, then all of them are out of a job. I know that the journalists are supposed to be impartial, but this creates a personal investment for them as it concerns their future. There was a point when Bush was telling Alexandra why she should vote for him in the primaries. That made me wonder if journalists actually try to get the candidate they are following elected.  I’d like to believe that the journalist keep their integrity and report from a neutral point of view.

                                                                               Works Cited

"Journeys with George (2002) - IMDb." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 16 Oct. 2011. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312848/>.

Politicians Speak Out about Occupy Wall Street

The Occupy Wall Street Movement has been growing since it first began on September 17th. I have to admit that at first I did not pay much attention to the protests and wasn’t really sure about what their demands were. I think confusion was most Americans reaction. However, the movement has become more organized and after learning more about what their issues are I have become more and more inspired to join the protests myself. I haven’t done so yet, mostly because my mom says she doesn’t want me to get arrested, I really do admire them for what they doing. It is interesting to hear politicians speak out about the protests because many were mum about it in the beginning. I am still a bit confused about what their main issue is because when I walked by the protestors I have seen signs with very different messages.  However, from what I gather the main issue Occupy Wall Street is concerned with is the economic disparity in our country.  The wealth distribution has become too great and as most of the signs are pointing out the top 1% is controlling most of the wealth. In recent years the unemployment and poverty rate have been growing, so it’s easy to understand how this frustration manifested itself into a movement.

Until very recently, I have not heard any politician speak out about the movement. In my opinion, I think that’s because of how unorganized it was and nobody knew exactly how they should react. However, as their message became clearer, I think it became easier for politicians to express their opinion. As expected the Democratic politicians have expressed their understanding for the movement. Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, has recently said, “God bless them for their spontaneity. It’s young, it’s spontaneous, it’s focused and it’s going to be effective”(Kim). I find this a little funny since Pelosi herself is a multi-millionaire and part of the 1%.  President Obama also commented on the situation saying, "I think it expresses the frustrations the American people feel, that we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country ... and yet you're still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on the abusive practices that got us into this in the first place”( Oliphant).On the other hand,  the Republican side had some less than nice and in my opinion hypocritical things to say. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had the following to say “I, for one, am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country” (Martinez).  This is funny since he is the House leader of the party that launched the Tea Party and I’m pretty sure that the Tea Party has a habit of organizing in mobs. I loved Pelosi’s counter attack on Cantors statement saying “I didn’t hear him say anything when the tea party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of Congress right here in the Capitol, and he and his colleagues were putting signs in the windows encouraging them”(Oliphant). The most offensive remark about the movement has come from Herman Cain. On CBS’s “Face the Nation” Herman Cain called the protestors “a distraction.”  Also according to Cain the fact that people are protesting against Wall Street and the bankers makes them“anti-American” and “anti-capitalist” (CBS News).  

It’s interesting that these protests get compared to the Tea Party. I agree that both of these movements started with the frustration of people towards the government. However, as much as I hate to admit it the Tea Party has been more organized and actually had goals they hoped to achieve from the beginning. Another thing that helped the Tea Party be successful is the fact that they had candidates running on a Tea Party platform. The Occupy Wall Street movement has not really outlined a specific plan about how to fix the wealth inequality. Also, they have not endorsed any politicians. I’m interested to see if this movement will cause the left to be more progressive in their politics.

                                                                 Works Cited

""Face the Nation" Transcript: October 9, 2011 - CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/02/ftn/main20117827.shtml.

 

Kim, Seung. "Nancy Pelosi: ‘God Bless’ Wall Street Protesters - Seung Min Kim - POLITICO.com." Politics, Political News - POLITICO.com. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65368.html#ixzz1aEVbwncE.

 

Martinez, Jose. "Occupy Wall Street: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Blames Obama Administration for Protests." New York News, Traffic, Sports, Weather, Photos, Entertainment, and Gossip - NY Daily News. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/10/07/2011-10-07_occupy_wall_street_house_majority_leader_eric_cantor_blames_obama_administration.html.

 

Oliphant, James. "Herman Cain Steps up Attacks on Occupy Wall Street Protests - Latimes.com." Los Angeles Times - California, National and World News - Latimes.com. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-cain-occupy-wall-street-20111009,0,972806.story>.

The Mormon Issue

So the big story this week was the blatant attack on the Mormon faith. In case you missed it, Robert Jeffress a Texas pastor and Rick Perry supporter, called the Mormon faith a “cult” and “not Christianity.”  The pastor made these remarks at a Values Voters Summit in Washington and has since said that he has not changed his position (Wiley). I thought those remarks were disgusting and extremely offensive. I also found it interesting that when Rick Perry starts doing worse in the polls, a Rick Perry supporter makes a remark directed at Mitt Romney’s faith. Coincidence? Maybe, but I find the timing and location to be very suspicious.

                Another thing that surprised me about this whole debacle, was the civility shown by some of the Republican politicians. Foremost, Perry tried to distance himself from the pastor saying "I don't think the Mormon Church is a cult. People who endorse me or people who work for me, I respect their endorsement and their work, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I endorse all of their statements"(Camia).  Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich also had a very mature opinion on the whole situation saying, “None of us should sit in judgment of somebody else's religion”(Camia).  On the other hand, Herman Cain disappoints me more and more with the things he says. At first I was impressed with how he handled the issue, saying the following on a CNN show, “I am not running for theologian in chief. I am not going to get into an analysis of Mormonism vs. Christianity. I'm not getting into that"(Wiley).  However, then on CBS he said the following, "I believe that they believe they are Christians"(Camia).  That last comment seems very underhanded and offensive especially when discussing someone’s religion. Also, I think it’s strange that somebody who is hoping to be the next Republican presidential nominee is saying this about one of the most conservative groups in society.  

                       Mormons in the U.S account for only 1.7% of the total population (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life). The Catholic and Protestant population are much larger accounting for 23.9% and 26.3% of the U.S population (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life). Although they are a small demographic, they are very  beneficial to Republicans.  About 65% of Mormons identifies themselves as Republican ( Pond).  Only 22 % of Mormons identify with the Democratic Party (Pond). Mormons are also extremely conservative when it comes to certain issues. According to Pond, 70% of the Mormon population says that abortion should be illegal. That is an interesting statistic since only 65% of the population identifies with the Republican Party. Also, 56% of Mormons say they prefer a smaller government (Pond). These statistics make Mormons sound like a very beneficial demographic for Republicans. However, to this day people still have negative views towards the Mormons. According to a Gallup poll, 22% of Americans said they would “not support a Mormon for president”( Camia). This statistic makes me curious to see if the Republican Party will overlook the Mormon issue and nominate Mitt Romney as their nominee.

                                                          Works Cited

Camia, Catalina. "GOP Rivals: Romney's Mormon Faith Off-limits in Campaign." News, Travel,   Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/10/herman-cain-mitt-romney-mormon-/1.

 

Pond, Allison. "A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S.: Social and Political Views." Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. http://pewforum.org/Christian/Mormon/A-Portrait-of-Mormons-in-the-US--Social-and-Political-Views.aspx.

 

"A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S." Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. http://pewforum.org/Christian/Mormon/A-Portrait-of-Mormons-in-the-US.aspx.

 

Wiley, Judy. "Texas Pastor Stands Ground on Cult Comment about Mormons| Reuters." Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com. 09 Oct. 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/09/us-usa-campaign-jeffress-idUSTRE7982DV20111009>.

Socialist Party 1992 Elections

Barbra Garson was the Socialist Party’s Vice President nominee in the 1992 presidential elections. She says that the Socialist Party in America doesn’t want everything socialized and nationalized because they take a more practical than philosophical approach to politics. She says one of the biggest issues facing them in the 1992 elections is healthcare and providing more coverage. In 2010, President Obama announces a new health care reform act which would expand coverage to Americans who are uninsured. That is interesting because many people accuse him of being a Socialist.

Libertarian Party and the 1992 Elections

Nancy Lord was the Libertarian Party’s Vice President nominee in the 1992 presidential elections. She believes that people will support her party because they see that working for “the common good” is not working as seen with the fall of Communism. She says that the Libertarian party in terms of votes beats all of the other “new” parties and they receive calls of interest from people daily. She says that the government has become too big and has to be reduced. What is interesting is that the Libertarian party’s politics are almost the same as the Tea Party’s which gained a lot of support in 2008/2009. So it took 16/17 years, but they did manage to grow and gain seats in Congress meaning that their messaged resonated with Americans.

Governor Lowell Weicker About His Choise to Run as an Independent

Governor Lowell Weicker discusses the Independence Party. He left the Republican Party and ran as an Independent. He believes being an Independent allows him to work with both parties more because he does not have to take a partisan approach to policies. I believe that this is true especially during these times. Sometimes I feel politicians take a particular stance on issues because of party pressure. This partisanship has made it difficult for politicians to compromise.  

Obama Losing Support

                  In my last blog I discussed the voter turnout in the 2008 presidential elections. As I pointed out, Barack Obama won big support with the minority and young adult communities. Of all of the young people who voted in 2008, 66 % supported Barack Obama (Horowitz Keeter and Tyson). The African American community had the highest number of supporters for Obama, with 95% voting in his favor (Lopez and Taylor). The Hispanic community also preferred Obama to McCain with 67% casting their ballot for Obama (Lopez). If some of us don’t remember, Obama ran on the platforms of “Hope and “Change we can believe in.” Those two slogans were very inspiring to everyone, but they resonated with those three communities. However, as recent polls show, the communities that so fervently supported Obama in 2008 are becoming more and more dissatisfied. So the question arises can President Obama recapture the majority vote with those groups. In my opinion, President Obama will once again win with those groups in the 2012 reelection, but it will not be as big of a landslide as it was in 2008. Here I will discuss why those three groups are
              Although the Hispanic community voted majorly Democratic in the 2008 elections, they are still considered a swing vote. In 2004, President Bush captured 40 % of the Hispanic vote (Lopez).  As a recent Gallup Daily poll shows, the Hispanic job approval for President Obama has a hit a new low. In August the approval rate for the President among Hispanics was just 48 % ( Saad). This is down from 60% in just January (Saad).  The current dissatisfaction with the Presidentis due to the lack of attention to issues Hispanics see as important. The most prevalent being immigration reform. President Obama has been trying to recapture the Hispanic support by going back to the issues deemed important by the Hispanic community. Obama has continuously stated his support for the DREAM Act, which would pave a way for undocumented students to go to college or join the military and eventually become citizens. He has also stated that there needs to be more comprehensive immigration reform (Mason). Although over the summer, Obama hosted numerous Latino groups at the White House and made appearances at Latino events, many Latinos feel Obama is not doing enough to recapture the Hispanic vote for2012 (Mason). It will be interesting to see what will happen with the Hispanic vote this time around. The Hispanic community tends to sway politically so I am wondering if a high percentage will actually vote Republican.

The next group with growing dissatisfaction for President Obama is the young adults. In an article published by The Hill, I read a very scary statistic. “Earlier this year, the total amount of student loan debt owed by Americans surpassed the amount of credit card debt owed by Americans for the first time in history. The total amount of student loan debt is expected to pass the $1 trillion mark by the end of this year”(Williams). As a student who has taken out student loans, this fact scares me. I really am terrified of an economic climate where I am not able to pay off my student loans by myself. This economic uncertainty is the main reason for dissatisfaction with the administration among young voters. In a poll conducted by Generation Opportunity, 44 % of18-29 year olds disapprove of how the President is handling the job situation (Marcos).  As Williams points out, the President has been trying to regain the young vote by “overhauling the federal loan program” and allowing kids to stay on their parents health insurance up until the age 26. Although, those were very important issues they do not address the job situation. Very frequently I think about my future and whether or not I will be able to support myself after college. The “American Jobs Act” has eased some of those worries in the sense that the administration is doing something about jobs. However, the Act will not benefit me at all as a young adult going into the employment market. Although, I really don’t think the President is doing enough for job creation I still will vote for him because I don’t have any other options. President Obama is at least trying to do something for young adults. I am a little shocked to read the following in The Hill article, “Pew finds Republicans have an 11-point advantage among self-identified young white voters” (Williams). It will be interesting to see if young adults actually vote Republican in this election.

               The African American community had the most support for President Obama in the 2008 elections. As pointed out earlier, 95 % of African Americans voted for Barack Obama (Lopez and Tyson). However, even among this community support for the President has been slowly declining .A September Washington Post-ABC News Poll revealed that only 58 % of African Americans view Obama as “strongly favorable” (Thompson). This number is down from 83 % which was just 5 months ago (Thompson).  So what is behind the growing decline for the President among African American voters? The issue once again is jobs. The unemployment rate for African Americans is 16 % compared to the national average of 9.1 % and African Americans believe Obama is not doing enough to help that (Thompson). Obama continuously defended his policies, saying that the programs he passed benefit everyone. However, some CBC members are calling for more focus primarily on the issue of African American unemployment (Thompson).  
             Overall, I am really curious to see the numbers for the 2012 elections. I understand that those groups feel somewhat abandoned, as do I, but simply not voting will not help things. Imagine what would happen to immigration or unemployment insurance if a Republican were in office. However, I do wish that the president was more progressive.

                                                                  Works Cited                           

Keeter, Scott, Juliana Horowitz, and Alec Tyson. "Young Voters in the 2008 Election." Pew Research Center. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1031/young-voters-in-the-2008-election.

 

Lopez, Mark, and Paul Taylor. "Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History." Pew Research Center. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1209/racial-ethnic-voters-presidential-election.

 

Lopez, Mark. "How Hispanics Voted in the 2008 Election." Pew Research Center. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1024/exit-poll-analysis-hispanics.

 

Marcos, Cristina. "Poll: Younger Voters Dissatisfied with Obama's Handling of the Economy." The Hill. The Hill. Web. 2 Oct. 2011. <165937-poll-younger-voters-dissatisfied-with-obama-economy>.

 

Mason, Julie. "President Obama No-show Miffs Hispanics - Julie Mason - POLITICO.com." Politics, Political News - POLITICO.com. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57313.html.

 

Saad, Lydia. "Obama Approval Sinks to New Lows in August Among Whites, Hispanics." Gallup.Com - Daily News, Polls, Public Opinion on Government, Politics, Economics, Management. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://www.gallup.com/poll/149351/Obama-Job-Approval-Sinks-New-Lows-Among-Whites-Hispanics.aspx?utm_source=tagrss.

 

Thompson, Krissah. "Obama’s Favorability Numbers Start to Drop among African Americans - The Washington Post." The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-ratings-among-blacks-falls/2011/09/21/gIQAqzJdlK_story.html.

 

Williams, Juan. "Opinion: Dems Must Worry about Young." The Hill. The Hill. Web. 2 Oct. 2011. <http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/juan-williams/183761-dems-must-now-worry-about-young?page=2#comments>.

Demographics of the 2008 Election

           For this week’s assignment we studied voter turnout. So what is voter turnout? According to the Mirriam Webster dictionary, turnout is “the number of people who participated or attended in an event.” So voter turnout means the number of eligible adults who voted in an election. I was really interested in seeing the statistics for who voted in the last presidential election and whether or not the turnout has been increasing or decreasing with time. Why is this important? Well I think it is interesting to see how a certain group receives a candidate’s message. Also if a candidate used a particular strategy of campaigning and won the presidency then others can use the same strategy. So first let’s look at the overall voter turnout and then move into the trends within that voter turnout number.
             According to the U.S Census Bureau, in the 2008 Presidential election 64 % or 131 million people actually voted. That number is up by 5 million people from the 2004 elections. In the 2008 presidential election the total percentage of turnout for African American voters was 64.7 %. That is compared to the white voter turnout of 66% in 2008 (U.S Census Bureau). The Hispanic turnout also increased in 2008 to 49.9 %. Asian-Americans had a voting turnout rate of 47. 6% in 2008 (U.S Census Bureau). According to the U.S Census Bureau, the voting turnout among 18-24 year old also increased from 47 % in 2004 to 49 % in 2008 and that was the highest increase among any other group. Adults in the 25-34 year old age group had a turnout rate of 66.4 %. However, adults between the ages 45 to 64 had a decrease in turnout from 70 % in 2004 to 69% in 2008.
               What I also found interesting is the unemployed had a lower turnout rate than those who were employed. The turnout rate for unemployed adults was 64.1 % compared to the employed turnout rate of 72. 8 % (U.S Census Bureau). I found that to be very interesting because I would expect an unemployed person to be more invested in choosing the president. Females had a higher turnout rate than males 65.7 % to 61.5 %. To summarize, the total voting turnout stayed about the same from the previous presidential election. The young adult age group saw the biggest increase in total turnout; however, they still have the lowest turnout rate among any other age group. African-Americans and Hispanics also had a high turnout rate. The African American turnout rate was almost matched to the white turnout rate. I was also interested in seeing how the different groups voted in the last presidential election.
               According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2008 the Hispanic community favored Barack Obama in the polls. The number of Hispanics who voted for Barack Obama was 67% compared to 31% who voted for John McCain (Lopez). Voters under the age of 30 also preferred Barack Obama with 66% voting for him to be President in 2008 (Horowitz Keeter and Tyson). However, the biggest support came from African American voters with nearly 95% of all of those who voted casting their ballot for Barack Obama (Lopez and Taylor). McCain won more support with the white voters, winning 55% to Barack Obama’s 43% (Lopez and Taylor). From the demographics it is clear to see that Barack Obama won his presidency with big support from the young adults and minority communities. In my next blog I will discuss how President Obama has done with those groups while in office.

                                                                 Works Cited

Keeter, Scott, Juliana Horowitz, and Alec Tyson. "Young Voters in the 2008 Election." Pew Research Center. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1031/young-voters-in-the-2008-election.

 

Lopez, Mark, and Paul Taylor. "Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History." Pew Research Center. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1209/racial-ethnic-voters-presidential-election.

 

Lopez, Mark. "How Hispanics Voted in the 2008 Election." Pew Research Center. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1024/exit-poll-analysis-hispanics.

 

"Turnout - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/turnout.

 

"Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008." U.S Census Bureau. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.   <http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p20-562.pdf>.

Grassroots Movement and Voter Turnout

Michael McDonald first discusses how in the 19th century political machines would encourage people to vote. The machines were obviously very corrupt and provided people with incentives like money for their vote. However, his example shows that the grassroots movement is effective in getting people to come out and vote. With years politicians turned to a mass media approach of campaigning. However, the parties rediscovered the grassroots movement. In 2008 the Democrats centralized their campaign to encourage a higher voter turnout. Candidate Obama took the campaign into his hand and organized things internally. It worked out really well for Obama, showing that “grassroots” movement still works really well. McCain didn’t really do an internal movement to encourage voter turnout. Earlier in the video, he discussed how the voter turnout in some red states has declined, so this could be used to explain that trend. People obviously respond well to the grassroots type of campaigning.

Voter Turnout 2008 Elections

Michael McDonald discusses voter turnout in the 2008 Presidential election. Since the actual numbers were not out by the time this video was made the numbers given are estimates. In the video it is estimated that 61 % of eligible adults voted in the 2008 election, which is pretty similar to the last Presidential election. The turnout has been in the 50’s and 60’s for the last hundred years. What was interesting about this video was that we had a higher turnout than Canada in their last presidential election. Also I did not know that some “red states” have been experiencing a decline in voter turnout.

The Hispanic Vote During 2010 Midterm Elections

Brent Wilkes discusses the Hispanic vote during the 2010 midterm elections. He discusses how they plan on motivating more Hispanic adults to vote. He says that the Hispanic community is very localized, therefore they plan on going straight into the communities and doing a grassroots type of campaign to get adults to vote. The Hispanic vote played a huge role in the 2008 Presidential elections; however, some polls show that they are not “enthusiastic” for the 2010 elections. This is due to lack of focus on immigration reform and other policies. It is interesting because the Hispanic vote is very crucial and is a swing vote, as stated in the video over 40 % of Hispanics voted for Bush in 2004 so if they are not happy with the administration they can vote for the other party. I also think it is interesting how political analysts look at a community and develop a strategy based on their findings.