Don’t we deserve a governor who’s more articulate than this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Full debate available after the jump.  

Well, here’s my first very short clip from On The Hot Seat:

More stuff coming to the Todd4VTHouse channel as I can upload…

todd

[Update: for those of you who get Comcast up in the St Albans area, Channel 16 is running more of the Franklin-2 candidate forum and my appearance with Dave McWilliams this week:

• Sunday, October 24, 2010, 1:00pm – Franklin-2 Candidate Forum
• Sunday, October 24, 2010, 9:00pm – Franklin-2 Candidate Forum
• Wednesday, October 27, 2010, 8:00pm – Franklin-2 Candidate Forum
• Thursday, October 28, 2010, 9:00pm – Franklin-2 Candidate Forum
• Friday, October 29, 2010, 11:00pm – Todd Pritsky – On The Hot Seat
• Saturday, October 30, 2010, 7:00am – Todd Pritsky – On The Hot Seat
• Saturday, October 30, 2010, 4:00pm – Todd Pritsky – On The Hot Seat

Tune in at your convenience!]

Given that the Free Press most recently endorsed Jim Douglas for governor, this has to be a major blow to Dubie, especially given that the free Press endorsed both Scott and Gibbs, but not the top of the ticket.

I’ll start with Hoffer:

Hoffer understands the importance of public accountability in government, and the key to that accountability is public access to information. He sees secrecy as the breeding ground for government waste and inefficiency. Hoffer can make his mark as auditor by exposing what closed government is costing the people of Vermont.

I don’t say this a lot about Free Press editorials, but I agree fully.

On to Shumlin:

In politics, the safe route is to stick to generalities and avoid leaving a public trail that could come back to haunt a candidate. In the general election campaign, Shumlin’s willingness to speak out on contentious issues and talk about specifics of his platform leaves him open to equally specific criticism. He has been direct. Again, this is part of being open and accessible as a representative of the people.

The piece ends with:

Vermont needs a doer.

Peter Shumlin of Putney will be that governor.

For Dubie, that’s got to really sting.

Quite recently I was talking to a friend of mine about Dubie and we were asking “what’s he actually claim to have accomplished.”

Every politician in the world manages to make up some sort of stuff on their web site about what they’ve done.  Dubie, however, avoids this.  He talks about his 3-point (I’m rounding down) “plan,” which I still think can be best summarized as follows:

But the sum total of what he has actually accomplished as Lt. Governor?  I can’t find much of anything.  He talks about committees he’s on that have accomplished a few things, but when it comes to anything that he’s really done?  

The shallowness of that well is, quite frankly, astonishing.

Update: Susan Bartlett led the march; Madeleine Kunin and Cheryl Rivers flanked Shumlin at City Hall; Doug Racine led by modest example simply by showing up; Melinda Moulton vowed her support after telling a moving story of her mother’s early (and likely childbearing-related) death. There were women and men in attendance from as far away as Windsor County. It was a good turnout despite the weather. And good for Bartlett and Racine for continuing to turn out to get Peter Shumlin elected.

Today, Sunday, October 24, at noon, women will march from the Unitarian Church at the top of Church St in Burlington to City Hall. Women will express their support of the only major party candidate running for governor who fully believes in a woman’s right to medical privacy in reproductive decision-making and has pledged to protect that right: Peter Shumlin.

As Deb Markowitz said last week, “Brian Dubie has had the chance to answer this question at least five times: So Brian, would you restrict a woman’s right to choose if you become governor? Yes or No?”

And for those who think this issue “doesn’t matter,” here’s what front pager Julie Waters had to say in a comment on another diary:

Actually… his stand on abortion matters quite a bit[. I]f Dubie appoints a lot of similarly anti-abortion people to key AHS positions, they might not be able to legally prevent women from making their own choices, but they could set up scenarios designed to play on the fears of women who might be inclined to terminate their pregnancies, especially if they’re women seeking public services.

Not to mention potential bureaucratic roadblocks and backlogs, such as those facing people who need food assistance (more than 30 day delay in review of applications) in the new “streamlined” system engineered by the Republicans.

Join us in Burlington. For yourself and your daughters.

The New York Times just ran a story entitled “Climate Change Doubt Is Tea Party Article of Faith” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10…

Are you ready for the most authoritative source on why global warming can’t be true?  Read it and weep!

Climate change is

” a flat-out lie,” Mr. Dennison said in an interview after the debate, adding that he had based his view on the preaching of Rush Limbaugh and the teaching of Scripture. “I read my Bible,” Mr. Dennison said. “He made this earth for us to utilize.”

Here is another:  

“Carbon regulation, cap and trade, it’s all just a money-control avenue,” Ms. Khuri added. “Some people say I’m extreme, but they said the John Birch Society was extreme, too.”

It’s a great story, frightening actually.  Recommended reading to understand how far we still have to go.  Pray for the polar bears!

If Chittenden County is the heart of Democratic Vermont, Franklin County is it's arthritic right shoulder.  I can say that because I love the place and am one of the stalwarts who regularly apply the necessary analgesic. Be that as it may, Bernie Sanders is generally  a good draw up here, and he was the headliner in this morning's breakfast rally at the Franklin County Museum for Peter Shumlin and the entire Democratic Roster.  

Sharing the stage with Bernie and Peter were candidates Steve Howard, Jim Condos, Doug Hoffer, former candidates Doug Racine and Susan Bartlett, and Franklin County Democratic Senator Sarah Kittell. Randy Brock challenger Michael McCarthy provided coffee and treats from his "Cosmic Bakery;" and reps. Jeff Young, Kathy Keenan, Michel Consejo and Dick Howrigan were all in attendance. For that sizeable delegation of elected representatives and hopefuls, there was an audience of about sixty enthusiastic Democrats and Progressives on hand.

Last evening's smaller local rally at Dem Headquarters on Main St. did almost as well, as over fifty individuals packed the tiny space, cheek to jowl, downing hot cider after a  brisk honk-and-wave to cheer speeches by Peter Welch, Peter Shumlin and Sara Kittell. I saw some duplication in the crowds, but many people who were in the Friday night group didn’t make it to the Saturday morning event.

The message at both events was resoundingly GOTV.  This morning Bernie was at his rousing best, emphasizing all that is at stake in this election, not just for Vermont but for the whole country.  We were well-reminded of the unique role our little state can play in spear-heading a move to single-payor and truly clean energy industries with the potential to bring a vibrant middle-class back from near extinction after many long years of Republican dominance over the nation's economic outlook.

Peter followed Bernie, reiterating his commitments to single payor, early childhood education and rational penal reform.  He placed particular emphasis on his support for marriage equality and a woman’s right to make her own reproductive choices.  As he had done the evening before, he promised that no matter how many lies Brian Dubie rolls out in his attack ads, he will never stoop to that level.

Susan Bartlett and Doug Racine held the final spot on the agenda, both reiterating their unwavering support for Peter Shumlin and urging the audience to step up to the plate and GOTV. I thought Doug was in particularly good form, looking rested at last, bringing with him all of the sincere conviction that we saw in his own grassroots campaign.  After the last round of standing applause, the crowd was exhorted one last time to sign up for a spot on the duty roster for GOTV as they filed out of the auditorium with yard signs and bumper-stickers. These Franklin County Democrats want everyone to know that they are most definitely not for Dubie!

On Thursday Vermonters heard from the group I called “the gang of four,” the Democrats who ran for the chance to lead Vermont.

BURLINGTON–Susan Bartlett, Matt Dunne, Deb Markowitz and Doug Racine took Brian Dubie to task for his despicable campaign of lies. The former Shumlin rivals said Dubie had to run a campaign of distortion and cover up to hide his plans to decimate health care, education funding, seniors services and reproductive rights. The following are the highlights of the transcript from today’s press conference in Montpelier.

[press release from the VDP]

Good. More like this please, exposing the slick, twisty rhetoric (alternating with his slack-jawed, creepy stare) Dubie’s been mouthing.

Not to mention his wife’s  shrill insistence, ‘my husband is not a bully!’ Maybe not in person, but politically, he’s already said he’s targeting the most vulnerable for cuts in services. That’s definitely what a bully does.

And playing the ‘victim’ card is what bullies do when confronted. QED.

Presenting a united front against the Rovian campaign Dubie signed on to is a terrific use of these four credible, popular, experienced Vermont candidates who roused Vermonters in a non-presidential year to turn out for what are usually sleepy – if not pro forma – primaries.

Rally ’round, folks. Fire up the base and their families and friends by straight talk – and it would be especially effective for the Go4 to rally up in the regions where they did best.

More quotes from the press conference (via VDP press release) below the fold. Video of the press conference is available here.

Doug Racine:

If you check out the video, you’ll see Racine also take the press to task for promulgating the idea that ‘all politicians lie to get elected.’ He reminds them that it’s their job to find the truth.

This is a guy who, a couple of weeks ago, said that he was going to stop the negative advertising. And if you look at his latest ad it’s like a compilation of the worst charges that he’s been making against Peter Shumlin throughout this campaign. It’s about character assassination.  …

Who are the most vulnerable, in your mind, Brian? And who are those who are receiving services who you do not think are vulnerable? Tell us what human services programs you are going to cut and who is going to be affected. … [H]ow much pain and suffering are you willing to inflict on those Vermonters who are relying on a little bit of assistance to pay for your tax cuts for the wealthiest Vermonters who, by the way, are not asking for those tax cuts?

Deb Markowitz:

They don’t care if they destroy Peter Shumlin’s character and his reputation. They just want to win. And that’s not the Vermont way. 

Brian Dubie has had the chance to answer this question at least five times: So Brian, would you restrict a woman’s right to choose if you become governor? Yes or No. What about family planning or abstinence only sex education?

Matt Dunne:

I am disappointed to see Brian running the kinds of ads, again, that aren’t about the issues at hand. The tenor has gotten increasingly nasty …  And I am hoping he will see the anger that it’s causing voters.

My son goes to the same small school I went to: Hartland Elementary. … Brian, why do you want to eliminate local control from our education system?

Susan Bartlett:

It’s obvious that the Republicans’ approach to campaigning is to instill fear and to, even when corrected, to continue to say ‘this is the truth, this is the truth, this is the truth.’

In 2009, 50% of the households in the State of Vermont at some point during the year were called by collection agencies over their health care bills. Don’t tell me, Brian Dubie and Republicans, that the system we have is OK, and that we just need to nibble around the edges to make it better.                                                    

You can control the outside money and what they say if you choose to do it. And Brian is not choosing to do it. Brian is choosing to be negative. He is choosing to avoid issues. Vermonters deserve better. 

Brian Dubie can’t campaign on issues because he has no plan. Therefore, he’s campaigning with fear and smear. Don’t let him win.

We need more straight talk like this from a united Democratic front. Now is the time: 10 days to the election.

New Hampshire’s Union Leader has long been known to have a somewhat conservative bias.  They Endorsed John McCain in 2008 and in 2004 they endorsed Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary.

But that pales in comparison to this:

[Union Leader Editor] McQuaid said in a statement to WMUR the Union Leader, the largest newspaper in New Hampshire, is “not anti-gay,” but has a constitutional right to print or not print whatever it wants.

McQuaid continues:

“This newspaper has never published wedding or engagement announcements from homosexual couples. It would be hypocritical of us to do so, given our belief that marriage is and needs to remain a social and civil structure between men and women and our opposition to the recent state law legalizing gay marriage.”

Shorter McQuaid: we’re not anti-gay, but even if we were, it would be our right to be bigots, so screw you.

Paul Hodes, however, gets it right:

“The Union Leader’s disgraceful policy of exclusion harkens to a different time in this country when people were denied opportunity because of their race, religion and ethnic origin,” Hodes said in the letter.

The thing is, while technically the paper has the right to say whatever it likes, there is actual a question as to whether or not this is a constitutional right.  They have the right to print or not print wedding announcements, but I think there’s a valid question here: if they, as a policy, print all wedding announcements without vetting them (I am not clear that this is the case, but it appears to me that it is, and their policy doesn’t seem to place any restrictions on this), it would seem to me that this is a public service, in which case it needs to be provided universally.

I’d like some input from lawyers on this: how do you view this case?  While I fully support freedom of speech, I don’t see wedding announcements as a speech issue as much as I do see them as a public accommodations issue, in which case, refusing to include them sounds like it might fall afoul of anti-discrimination laws.  

Obviously, this would be different if it were a paper that as policy, only included weddings from people from certain organizations.  A Jewish or Catholic paper, for example, could be expected to provide wedding announcements specifically from Jewish o Catholic couples, and that seems like an acceptable policy, but a paper that doesn’t include specific organizations as part of its wedding policy?  It seems to me that that paper has the legal obligation to print any wedding announcement which is legal and fits its announced timelines.

I don’t think we’ve encountered this problem in here in Vermont so far: no major paper that I know of has refused to include same-sex wedding announcements (when we got married we didn’t send any announcements out because we didn’t want people making a fuss, but everyone found out anyway).

Regardless of the constitutional issue, I do think it’s time to call for an active boycott of the Union Leader.  What do our friends across the River think?