Democracy for New Mexico

Obama on Financial Meltdown vs. McCain's Head in the Sand

SEIU is spending $2 million+ to air this ad in 6 battleground states – NM, OH, PA, MI, WI, IA

In response to the recent tumultuous events in the mortgage banking industry and the financial markets, Barack Obama issued a statement taking the GOP's economic policies to task. Excerpt:

The challenges facing our financial system today are more evidence that too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren’t minding the store. Eight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation, and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans have brought us to the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.

I certainly don’t fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. It’s a philosophy we’ve had for the last eight years – one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. It’s a philosophy that says even common-sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise, and one that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises.

Well now, instead of prosperity trickling down, the pain has trickled up – from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms of Wall Street.

Meanwhile, it's evident that John McCain still has his head in the sand:

You know, that there's been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street and it is -- people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think, still the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult times.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan begs to differ, seeing our current situation as the worst economy he's ever seen, by far.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton had this to say: "Today of all days, John McCain's stubborn insistence that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what's going in the lives of ordinary Americans ... apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis."

As we go forward, it will only become more apparent to everyone that McCain still believes in the deregulated, trickle down economics that have resulted in this worldwide meltdown. His campaign offers nothing to address and fix the problems that are causing havoc. McCain offers only more of the same. Like it or lump it.

We need to get this message to voters. You can help. Click.

Quote of the Day: Obama Takes Pledge, Hits McCain on Taxes

Video Obama in Dove NH, September 12. Excerpt:

"[McCain's] plan gives absolutely nothing to about 100 million American households. I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.

"And my opponent can't make that pledge, and here's why. For the first time in American history, John McCain wants to tax your health-care benefits. Apparently, Senator McCain doesn't think it's enough that health care premiums have doubled, he thinks that you should have to pay taxes on them, too. That's a $3.6 trillion tax increase potentially on middle-class families. And that would eventually leave tens of millions of you paying higher taxes or losing your benefits. That's his idea of change."

Keep it up, keep it up, keep it up

Technorati Tags:

NM-Sen: Study Proves Pearce Ignored Root Cause of Higher Gas Prices

GOP Senate candidate Steve Pearce likes to spout off about energy, but what he says often has no basis in fact. Take gas prices, for instance. Pearce constantly proclaims that the only way to help lower gas prices is to -- as rightwingers love to chant -- drill, baby, drill, everywhere, regardless.

First off, we all know by now that any positive affects on price of much of the proposed expanded drilling wouldn't kick in for 8-10 years. No help for prices in the short term. And now we know, for a fact, that out of control speculation was the primary culprit in recent gas price hikes. Unfortunately, Pearce sees no merit in trying to fix that. His loyalties always seem to lie with the speculators and tycoons, not with ordinary people.

An independent study by Masters Capital Management said that speculation by large investors was the primary cause for the rise in oil prices this year, not supply and demand. The Associated Press reported on the study on Wednesday.

According to a statement by the Tom Udall campaign, that means Steve Pearce’s July vote against the Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act, which would have cracked down on excessive oil speculation, was a vote that ignored the primary cause of high gas prices and only put more money into the pockets of Big Oil.

Tom Udall voted for the bill, which narrowly failed to pass the House.

“If voters are looking for someone to blame for high gas prices, look no further than Steve Pearce and other disciples of George Bush’s failed energy policies,” Udall campaign spokeswoman Marissa Padilla said. “Steve Pearce’s record on energy has been abysmal. His vote against cracking down on oil speculation only reinforced Pearce’s refusal to put the interests of middle class Americans ahead those of Big Oil.”

According to the Associated Press: “The report by Masters Capital Management said investors poured $60 billion into oil futures markets during the first five months of the year as oil prices soared from $95 a barrel in January to $145 a barrel in July. Since then, these investors have withdrawn $39 billion from those markets as prices have retreated dramatically, the report said.”

Technorati Tags:

Obama on GOP Convention: You Haven't Heard a Word About ...

Today in York, PA

Sarah Palin may claim to be on the side of ordinary people, but Barack Obama really IS on the side of ordinary people.

Do YOU Know How Many Houses You Own?

Dems to Protest Failed Bush-McCain Policies in Las Cruces Tomorrow

Things you might not know about McCain's economic policies ... and his wealth

John McCain will be holding a town hall meeting at the New Mexico State University Pan American Center Gym Annex in Las Cruces tomorrow starting at 10:00 AM. No doubt he'll be doing what he always does at such events -- launching underhanded personal attacks at Obama, pretending to be against the unpopular and damaging Bush policies he has long supported and generally trying to be something he's not. In other words, he'll be trying to convince people that he's offering fresh answers to new challenges when all he's really doing is serving up warmed-over remnants of what got us in this trouble in the first place. More of the same from the ultimate Washington insider.

We should never let McCain's dishonest posturing go unanswered. So it's great that folks from the Democratic Party of New Mexico, County Commissioner Bill McCamley, City Councillor Nathan P. Small and DNC Committeewoman Mary Gail Gwaltney will be there to protest the Bush-McCain economic policies that promise to keep us on the road to ruin. If you live anywhere near the Las Cruces area, you can too.

"Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike are looking for change this election year," said Josh Geise, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. "Maybe while he's here, John McCain can explain why his only plan for New Mexicans is to give them more of the same Bush Administration policies that have resulted in job losses, record foreclosure rates and sky high gas prices."

WHAT: Demonstration and Press Conference

WHO: County Commissioner Bill McCamley, City Councillor Nathan P. Small and DNC Committeewoman Mary Gail Gwaltney

WHERE: Intersection of University and Treviz in Las Cruces, NM

WHEN: Wednesday, August 20th at 11:00 AM

Technorati Tags:

NM-01: Heinrich Talks About Issues Important to Working People

Martin Heinrich, NM-01's Dem candidate for Congress, talks about the Employee Free Choice Act, health care and his work with the labor movement in a video from the AFL-CIO posted on NM Labor 2008. Numerous labor unions have endorsed Heinrich. An article on the NM Labor 2008 site has this to say about Martin as part of a series called Meet Our Endorsed Candidates:

Martin’s past work with the labor movement includes leading the fight to raise the minimum wage in Albuquerque. Thanks to hard work from Martin, AFSCME, CWA, OPCM, UFCW, and the Building Trades unions, Albuquerque is one of only three cities in the U.S. in which the minimum wage is higher than both the federal and state minimum wages.

Martin also believes in affordable health care for all working families. “We need to make sure that health care is portable, that people don’t loose health care when they loose their jobs, that pre-existing conditions don’t keep people from having health care, and we should require the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices for our seniors,” says Martin.

“One of the most influential things that union members can do to support pro-working family candidates in this election is to phone bank, canvass, pass out worksite leaflets, and talk to friends and co-workers about why they are voting,” says Martin. “It is also crucial to vote early and to vote by mail.”

Martin Heinrich is a True Blue New Mexico candidate. Please do what you can to help him get elected. His campaign needs volunteers and financial support to defeat his backward-leaning GOP competitor Darren White. We don't need a Repub representative in NM-01 who wants to extend the horribly damaging Bush agenda into the coming years. The complex problems we're facing need to be addressed by someone who understands the issues and will represent the people, not the special interests. Don't just nod your head in agreement -- sign up to volunteer for Heinrich's campaign and donate to the cause.

Technorati Tags:

NM-02: Sign Petition to Tell Tinsley to Support NM Families

Harry Teague, our Congressional candidate in NM-02, wants you to sign a petition urging his Republican opponent to wise up on what's important to New Mexico's hardworking families. Tinsley, hanging out at his high-priced digs in Santa Fe's exclusive Las Companas development or his prime real estate in Capitan, is clearly out of touch with the pressing needs of ordinary working people in Central and Southern New Mexico. Ed Tinsley doesn't get it. Harry Teague gets it.

From a campaign email: Recently the minimum wage increased to $6.55 an hour. But Santa Fe's own Ed Tinsley, our opponent and a Washington, DC lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association, thinks that workers deserve less than the minimum wage. In his words: "The people who want to raise the minimum wage must have never written a check to cover labor." [Testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, 9/14/2000]

Harry Teague disagrees. Harry provides his employees with good wages, health care and free college tuition for their children. Southern New Mexico needs a Congressman who will stand up for working families, not look down on them. Will you stand with us and tell Ed Tinsley to support working families? Sign our petition here!

As gas and food prices are spiraling upward, not only does Ed Tinsley think that hard working families in New Mexico don't deserve a raise, he thinks that they don't know how to spend their own money.  In his words:  "I feel that teaching them how to create a savings plan ... is very important... Understand that the educational level of a lot of our workforce is on the lower side." [New Mexico FBIHOP, 6/27/2008]

Tell Ed Tinsley to treat our working families right.

Harry wants to change Washington so that it fights for our working families. You don’t have to wait until November to tell Ed Tinsley that workers deserve respect.  Go to our new website today and stand up with Harry for Southern New Mexico. Together, we can make sure that our Southern New Mexico values are represented in Congress. 

Technorati Tags:

Obama Slams McCain-Bush Economy

The economy may well be the issue that will bring us victories up and down ticket this year. Obama gives it to Bush-McSame but good (and by implication, Steve Pearce, Darren White, Ed Tinsely et al.) in the clip above. Here's the prepared text of Obama's complete remarks at the townhall meeting on the economy in Springfield, MO today.

Do watch Sen. Claire McCaskill's intro that calls out the trad media for their negative and inaccurate characterizations of Obama. Then continue if you want to watch the whole town hall.

Technorati Tags:

Thursday: Labor & Environment Groups to Parody McCain & Pearce’s Pro-Industry Energy Plans

Are you in the mood for some lampooning? Some satire? Some pointed parody? Feeling so upset about how things are going that you need to laugh or you'll cry? This is the event for you. I'm informed that New Mexicans affiliated with labor and pro-environment groups will gather on Thursday, July 31st, to highlight Big Oil’s latest round of billions in quarterly profits -- at a time when people are paying record prices at the pump.

Donning their tiaras and puffing their cigars, a troupe of ‘Big Oil Billionaires for McCain & Pearce’ will be on hand to toast John McCain’s plan for a $3.8 billion tax cut for the top five oil companies. They'll be sniveling over Barack Obama’s plan for an immediate $1,000 tax cut to provide American consumers with real relief, while putting us on the path to energy independence through a $150 billion investment in clean, renewable energy. The troupe will also raise a glass to Rep. Steve Pearce for voting time and again to extend and maintain billions in tax cuts for the oil and gas industry, while opposing any increase in fuel efficiency standards -– all for only about $650,000 in campaign contributions. Be there tomorrow to join in the revelry:

• WHERE: ConocoPhillips gas station, Lomas & San Pedro (6121 Lomas Blvd, NE), ABQ
• WHEN: Thursday, July 31, 2008 – 4:30 PM

WHAT: Visibility event – including the ‘Big Oil Billionaires for McCain & Pearce’ troupe – on oil companies’ record profits and McCain & Pearce’s pro-industry energy plans   

WHO: Sierra Club, AFL-CIO International, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, and AFSCME Council 18

VISUALS: ‘Big Oil Billionaires for McCain & Pearce’ troupe, mock gas station sign with top 3 oil companies’ profits and other informative graphics on presidential & senatorial candidates’ energy plans

According to event organizers, the largest oil companies are together expected to post more than $35 billion in profits for the second quarter alone –- putting them on pace to exceed last year’s all-time high of more than $123 billion. The event will also draw attention to campaign contributions that John McCain and Steve Pearce took from oil companies, and expose how their energy plans stand to benefit Big Oil rather than hard-working consumers.

Don't miss it. It's not often that we get tiaras, cigars and billionaires in one place in this town!

Technorati Tags: