There have been loads of pieces worth reading since the presidential conventions. Here’s one of the many: What a Community Organizer Does.

here is what Giuliani and Palin didn’t know: Obama was working for a group of churches that were concerned about their parishioners, many of whom had been laid off when the steel mills closed on the south side of Chicago. They hired Obama to help those stunned people recover and get the services they needed–job training, help with housing and so forth–from the local government. It was, dare I say it, the Lord’s work–the sort of mission Jesus preached (as opposed to the war in Iraq, which Palin described as a “task from God.”)

After reading the Time piece, you might want to check out Community Organizers Fight Back.

“I have ‘actual responsibilities,’” said Jacqueline del Valle, a community organizer in the Bronx. “If Mayor Giuliani and President Bush cared more about working people instead of just people who can hire high-powered lobbyists, maybe I wouldn’t have so much responsibility. Maybe working people would have an easier time in America today. But that’s not our reality, and they don’t have to mock us while we’re trying to clean up their mess.”

But don’t miss the comments section at the bottom of the Time article. It’s full of tidbits like this:

What Cindy McCain wore last night - from the rings on her fingers to the dress to the shoes on her feet - cost $300,000 according to Vanity Fair.

Now that is elitism you can believe in, my friends!

How many of you reading this put down a fraction of that (or are saving up to do so) to buy your (one and only) home? How many Americans won’t see that much money in a decade?

And this:

Giuliani’s idea of community organizing is starting the wave at a Yankees game.

And then there’s a comment from a member of an Elks lodge in San Jose that has a membership larger than the population of the town of which Palin was mayor.

Maybe one of the most important points of all comes in this:

I hate to harp on this (not really) but this sad state of American politics has been brought to us, in part, by your friend, Frank Luntz. Luntz taught a generation of Republicans how to lie with impunity. It is quite easy, really. Say whatever you need to say to win elections, i.e. refer to the Estate Tax as the Death Tax (which Palin did last night). When anyone in the media questions you, just say “there goes that liberal media again.” When Democrats call you on it, well, now you’ve got Democrats talking about taxes. Everyone hates taxes. Republicans win!

So, be careful what you get talked into.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Blather, politics, the written word. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.