JenniforHillary Radio Transcript

The following is a transcript of an interview between Jenniforhillary and Darragh Murphy of Puma PAC on KPFT November 13, 2008. The first call-in listener is also on the transcription.

JenniforHillary: Hello, first of all I want to thank KPFT for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Jennifer and I am an American. I have always voted for the Democratic party, but this year something happened. In the general election, the democratic party lost its way.  Instead of encouraging one of the finest candidates ever to run, who happened to be a woman, the national Democratic party told Hillary Rodham Clinton to quit. They told her to quit when she was winning and they told her to quit when she was losing. The Democratic national party and the media told her this over and over and over, describing her and her following, which numbered over eighteen million Americans in terms that were misogynistic and downright unAmerican. they kept telling us to vote for Barack Obama,  but they never really told me why.  In the end, even though Hillary Rodham Clinton had more people vote for her than any candidate ever in the history of the United States of America, I was told that Barack Obama won.  Because my mother raised a smart girl, I decided not to believe them and I found P.U.M.A.  The day after Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign speech in Washington D.C. From that day on, my life will never be the same.  Puma started fighting that day, and will never stop fighting, until the massive media fraud, voter registration and actual voting fraud, delegate selling, the lying,   and the misogyny are exposed and ended.  I probably voted a straight Republican ticket this year and I’m now both independent and P.U.M.A.  I am very concerned about the lack of democracy and the dumbing down of the American voter, and because of this I have asked Darragh Murphy, the founder of P.U.M.A. to speak tonight on KPFT and tell us about her group, and what PUMA plans to do to save America.  I would like to introduce Darragh Murphy.

JenniforHillary Interview Transcript

The following is a transcript of an interview by Isiah Carey for Insite Houston News and Information with JenniforHillary posted 10/22/08.  (The video of this interview is the one that was photoshopped by Wonkette and Rumproast but quickly taken down after Pumapac and the Confluence wrote about it.)

This appears to be a hostile interview. The camera zooms in and out wildly during the whole thing and at the end the questioner does not address the issues raised but merely labels them “emotional”. I have tried to show the camera movement in the transcript. [See more Carey on video here (NSFW-language) and here harassing coworkers behind the scene while live on camera by recording them on his cellphone.]

Isiah Carey: Tell me your situation. You have McCain and Palin posters there (camera zooms out) or billboards and you said you were a  (camera zooms in) Democrat only a couple of months ago (closeup shot of face)

JenniforHillary: Yeah (crosstalk)

Isiah Carey: What happened?

JenniforHillary:  What happened was Hillary Clinton won the primary but the Democrats decided that they didn’t like her (camera zooms out quickly) and wanted Barack Hussein Obama so they (camera zooms in) fiddled with the votes in Florida and Michigan and then (quick zoom to closeup) they strongarmed people at the convention and I’m a member of Puma, People United  Means Action,

Isiah Carey: Um Hum.

Peggy Agar’s sweetie rematch

It is probably the best kept secret in the blogosphere, but remember back when Presidential candidate Barack Obama called a reporter Sweetie? Then he apologized and promised to give her an interview later. Well, someone left a message on a thread here earlier today saying Agar was going to get her interview. But when I googled it, I found out the interview had already taken place–back in June.

What did Peggy Agar want to ask a presidential candidate back in May?

I wanted to ask him what he plans on doing for, you know, auto workers in America, which of course specifically means Detroit…. you know, he’s shaking hands with auto workers, he’s running for president, he hasn’t been here in ten months, you know. That’s the time to say what you’re gonna do for these people, how you’re going to help them keep their jobs and keep their homes.

When the interview did take place on June 2, that’s exactly what Agar asked him about. Then she went on to ask about seating the Michigan delegates at the Denver convention, about education for Michigan’s children, continuing with questions about how his answers for Michigan differed from McCain’s.

Early in the interview, she even got a laugh from him

AGAR: Most people I think are probably saying now that they think you’ll have the nomination. If that does come to fruition, do you think Hillary Clinton will vote for you?

OBAMA: Yes, I do.

Not a difficult or hostile interview, and not one that asked any tough questions, but to the point and done in a way that let him give his prepared answers to the issues. About what you would expect from a local reporter in a major metropolitan area–if one who got an unexpected 15 minutes of fame.  And since everyone wants to comment on how women look these days, let me just say that Agar looked very put together and so did Obama.

Transcript and video here.

On Chicago’s South Side, “You got a check comin.’”

I get all my best rumors from McDonald’s on the South Side of Chicago. Today I was drinking my coffee while at the table on the other side of the tray return area came the following conversation from a group of African Americans:

“I’m a Republican.”
“You shoulda voted Democrat, you’d have a check comin’.”
(The Republican leaves.)
“Whether he’s Republican or Democrat, he’s got a check comin’.”

Will the “historical” candidate have a “historical” cabinet?

Last night I turned on the television long enough to hear McCain’s concession speech and Obama’s victory speech.  And of course between speeches the pundits had a little time to fill.  “A historic candidate”, they said about Obama.  Changing channels, “…historic…”  Changing channels again, “..historic…”.  Well, at least they all agree.

Today the pundits are asking who will be on the staff of the executive branch. Good question. Currently the the United States ranks 69^th in the world with regard to women in government.

Surely the new president who says he wants to unite people will have an inclusive staff? Doesn’t look like it. Obama’s people say there “aren’t enough qualified women” and call the idea “stupid”.

After the last Democratic Primary was over and it was clear Senator Clinton was not going to get the Democratic nomination, myself, and a small group of Clinton supporters met with Senator McCain.I personally explained to Senator McCain that women comprise well over half of the population, yet you will not see a single picture of a woman on paper currency. Women are underrepresented in every branch of government and there has never been a female president or vice president. I personally asked Senator McCain to choose a woman for the Vice Presidential slot and to increase the number of women in the cabinet and on the Supreme Court. Senator McCain listened respectfully to my request. Little did I know then that he heard me and the millions of women of this country who have gone unrepresented in the Executive branch of government for far too long.

When I made similar requests of the Obama campaign, I was laughed at by the canvassers outside my home, told there weren’t enough qualified women by a member of his Finance Committee, and asked by a member of a policy committee why I was making such a stupid request.

But that’s just the finance and policy staff, right? Obama himself really stands for fairness, doesn’t he?  Maybe not.

Obama’s female staffers, on average, make just 83 cents to the dollar his male staffers make.

Ooops.  And it looks like Vice President Elect Biden’s pay practices are even worse. Despite the fact that Biden employs 27 women and only 14 men, very few of the women and men share common titles.  The one job where there is overlap is staff assistants.  These are traditionally entry level low-wage jobs in congressional offices.

So how do Biden’s salaries stack up?

The average male staff assistant in Biden’s office (based on the most recent salary figures) made $39,162 in the time period.

The average woman in that position made $21,323.

McCain’s promise:

By the end of my first term, I promise you will see a dramatic increase in the presence of women in every part of the government. You have my word on it.

For those of us who don’t have a trust fund, this could be a looooong four years.
(Thanks to Madamab at The Confluence)

History, if faced with courage, need not be lived again

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.
History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage,
Need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.
Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.
Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts.
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.
Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me,
The rock, the river, the tree, your country.

This is part of a larger, more well known poem, Maya Angelou’s “The rock cries out to us today.” The themes of hope, change, self-determination, and new beginnings, are of course cyclical in American politics.

An electoral map to color while watching election returns

Waiting for the election results can be tedious.  And how to keep track of those pesky electoral votes as the states are called.  Here is a little electoral map with plenty of space for doodles.  You can color the states in as they turn red or blue.  If you prefer jpeg format, for importing to a Word document or whatever, a slightly higher resolution is here.

Me?  The weather is perfect for a little stroll by the lake.

Voting early and often in Chicago

They say politics in this town has been cleaned up a lot, but I this is the day I always feel closest to those who have passed on. Are they still with us today and out there voting somewhere?
Yup. This is the place all right.

Spanish and ….Korean?

Who wants Sarah Palin dead?

Last night I wrote a post about Chad Micheal Morisette in West Hollywood, California who thinks lynching Sarah Palin is nifty Halloween art.

Already this morning I had a creepy comment. Someone with the handle “Buzzometer” left a message saying:

If only this was real!

Now this isn’t exactly a political blog. Sometimes something about politics catches my eye and has enough depth to write about it, but only when it intersects with culture or language or the general topic of understanding between divergent groups of people. When I wrote about Barack Obama’s church, long before it became popular to do so, and then wrote about it again after attending a service, I got a range of comments, some of them difficult to process, but all of them sincere.  Many had strenuous disagreements, but none of them said they wished Obama dead.

So who exactly is this “Buzzometer”? A quick check of Arin’s Whois shows an IP address from Comcast in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. And another search shows the IP is listed on a spam database. Spammers, huh. But even more interesting, he left his blog address and his email address, even though none of that is required to post a comment. Apparently he (yes, the name is male) doesn’t see anything at all wrong with what he is saying and isn’t worried in the least about having his name associated with that comment.

Oh, and the website?  Well, I’m happy to say that although he left a link, absolutely NOBODY has clicked on it.  But just for giggles, if someone were to click on it this is what they would see.  The title “Buzzometer (DOT)net” , and the subtitle “internet buzz, measured rectally”.  Yeah, I bet. It’s nothing but a series of polls. Clicking through one of the polls will lead you to an advertisement, the same one, no matter which poll you click :

And who are the corporate sponsors for this little gem of a website (whose archives go back a whole two months)? One is Consumer Incentive Promotions with an address in Davie, FL. The other appears to be FedEx, whose name is also featured prominently on the page.

I wonder if either Consumer Incentive Promotions or FedEx is aware that someone is using their corporate brands to wish for a genuine Sarah Palin lynching.

Lynching Sarah Palin? Not “intense”–it’s only a white woman.

Whatever you think of Sarah Palin’s politics, there is no excuse for the hate speech that has been unleashed against her.   The latest is some guy in West Hollywood, California, Chad Michael Morrisette, who thinks hanging Sarah Palin with a noose makes for good art.  Is anyone else as dumbfounded by this as I am?  Here is the link.

Listen to the video too. The guy who put it up, Chad Michael Morrisette, says:

I know if we had done it with Barack Obama people probably would have thrown things through our windows…I mean, the image of a hanged black man is a LOT more intense than the image of a hanged white woman…

I am thinking of one person who has the eloquence to talk about this disgraceful episode in the way it deserves to be talked about.

A year ago, a certain candidate for president stood up for justice in Jena , Alabama :

Today I stand with those who stand for justice in Jena. The thousands of Americans from every race and region who have descended on this small Louisiana town carry forth the legacy of all those who sat at lunch counters and took freedom rides to strike a blow against injustice wherever it may exist. When a noose hangs from a schoolyard tree in the 21st century and young men are treated in a way that is not equal nor just, it is not just an offense to the people of Jena or to the African-American community, it is an offense to the ideals we hold as Americans. I renew my call for the District Attorney to drop the excessive charges filed in this case, and I will continue my decades-long fight against injustice and division as President.

Yes, it was Barack Obama who uttered those words.

During the last presidential debate John McCain was asked whether he approved of threats that Barack Obama said were shouted at his rallies (the accusation was later found to be untrue). McCain unequivocally said he did not.

Then McCain brought up the t-shirts (language alert) with degrading slogans (NSFW) worn by Obama’s fans. Obama talked and talked around the issue, but could not bring himself to say he did not approve.

Now imagine this scenario–Obama makes the following statement about the Sarah Palin noose:

When a noose hangs from the roof of a house in the 21st century and young women are treated in a way that is not equal nor just, it is not just an offense to the people of West California or to the women and girls of this nation, it is an offense to the ideals we hold as Americans.

Does anyone think Barack Obama is ready to utter these words as part of his  “decades-long fight against injustice and division” this time? Will Barack Obama stand with those who stand for justice?

Nope. Not gonna happen.

UPDATE: The contempt for women behind this display is especially poignant since the last person to die in a lynching assault in this country was actually female–6 year old Hanna Mack.