Does that count as a pun?

Anyway, the College Repubicans in Minnesota did a masterful job of demonstrating to Minnesota voters (and evening news viewers) what Obama’s energy plans are: a couple of inflated tires and a tire guage.

While Barack Obama’s plan encourages everyone to inflate their tires, turn down the temperature, and turn off your lights early, John McCain is proposing an “all of the above” solution to our energy crisis: drill now, invest heavily in alternative fuels, and get off foreign oil.

The video of the news broadcast is below and the here’s story from Politico.com.

Yes, to counter the GOP’s successful efforts at exposing the truth the liberal Democrats don’t want you to hear (namely that Dems don’t want to vote on oil drilling or anything that would bring down the price of oil/gas), MoveOn.org is planning a counter-protest (read: astroturf) tomorrow afternoon at the Capitol.

So, while Republican leaders in DC are demanding that we actually debate the American energy crisis and try to solve some problems for Americans who are suffering daily at the pump…MoveOn.org will help their Democrat friends by creating a distraction by waving their hands frantically in a nearby location.

Hopefully, they will behave with some dignity, but their history suggests otherwise.

Here’s the email they sent out to their membership in the DC area (names of spies protected):

—— Forwarded Message
From: “Noah T. Winer, MoveOn.org Political Action” <moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:11:__

To:

Subject: URGENT: Emergency rally in DC

Tomorrow (Tuesday), we’re organizing an event at the Capitol to highlight the GOP’s extensive ties to Big Oil. We’ve invited the media, and having a good crowd is critical to show them that voters don’t want oil industry gimmicks, they want real solutions like alternative energy to solve our energy crisis. Can you make it at 4 PM?
<http://pol.moveon.org/0805oilrallyrsvp.html?id=13396-9767871-GTosdix&amp;t=1> Click Here <http://pol.moveon.org/0805oilrallyrsvp.html?id=13396-9767871-GTosdix&amp;t=2>
Dear DC-area MoveOn member,

Republicans have been escalating their attacks on Obama and the Democrats over oil drilling, and we need to push back hard. Will you come to our emergency rally outside the Capitol tomorrow (Tuesday)?

House Republicans have been “protesting” ever since Congress adjourned on Friday because Speaker Pelosi blocked their offshore drilling plan. Speaker Pelosi blocked their plan because it won’t help lower gas prices—but it will line the pockets of Big Oil executives, the same people donating millions of dollars to Republicans.

But Republicans are working hard to make it seem like they’re fighting for cash-strapped commuters—and not the oil companies who wrote their plan.

So tomorrow (Tuesday), we’re organizing our own protest to highlight the GOP’s extensive ties to Big Oil. We’ve invited the media, and having a good crowd is critical to show them that voters don’t want oil industry gimmicks—they want real solutions like alternative energy to solve our energy crisis.

Can you make it at 4 PM on Tuesday?

Here are the details:

What: Rally to Stop Big Oil Gimmicks
Where: US Capitol Building
Meet in front of Grant Memorial (statue of Grant on a Horse)
On the Mall, 1st    Street, between Pennsylvania Avenue and Maryland Avenue,  below the west front of the United    States Capitol Building Click Here for a Map <http://www.moveon.org/r?r=4008&amp;id=13396-9767871-GTosdix&amp;t=3>
When: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 4 P.M.
RSVP: http://pol.moveon.org/0805oilrallyrsvp.html?id=13396-9767871-GTosdix&t=4

Republicans have been dominating the debate around gas prices for weeks with their sham drilling plan. Oil drilling is a gimmick and the only reason they’re pushing for it is because their donors in the oil industry want it.

Their latest stunt is getting a lot of press coverage. But no one has challenged their ridiculous arguments, so we have to.

Here are few key facts about oil drilling:
It’s a gimmick. The US only has 1.6% of the world’s oil. And drilling could take over a decade or more to produce any oil.1
It won’t lower gas prices. Even after a decade-long wait, the price will barely drop a few cents per gallon.1
America knows drilling won’t work. According to a recent poll, 54% of poll respondents said they did not believe more drilling would lower gas prices. And 63% said opening up public lands to oil and gas drilling is more likely to enrich oil companies than to lower gas prices for American consumers.2
Voters are ready for real solutions.  The public overwhelmingly believes (76%!) that policymakers should focus on investing in new energy technologies including renewable fuels and more efficient vehicles rather than expanding exploration and drilling for more oil.2
Tomorrow, we’ll call out the Republican stunt and remind the media and the Republicans that voters want real solutions—not oil industry gimmicks like drilling.

Can you join us at 4 P.M. on Tuesday in front of the Capitol?

http://pol.moveon.org/0805oilrallyrsvp.html?id=13396-9767871-GTosdix&t=5

Thanks for all you do.

–Noah, Lenore, Ilyse, Nita and the rest of the team

Sources
1. “Correcting the Record: You can go to the Energy Information Agency,” Office of Speaker Pelosi, June 18 2008
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1390

2. “Americans Don’t Believe Bush, Industry Claims on Gas Prices, Poll Shows,” Wilderness Society poll, July 24, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/5v7mgp

Want to support our work? We’re entirely funded by our 3.2 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here <http://political.moveon.org/donate/email.html?id=13396-9767871-GTosdix&amp;t=6> .

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. This email was sent to Tierra Warren on August 4, 2008. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here <http://moveon.org/subscrip/coa.html?id=13396-9767871-GTosdix> . To remove yourself from this list, click here <http://moveon.org/s?i=13396-9767871-GTosdix> .

—— End of Forwarded Message

The below video covers the opening of the Washington (state) HQ for McCain as part of the Street Team ‘08 journalism effort from MTV. Notice anything? I’d say the average age of the volunteers manning the phones is somewhere around 20 years old and the guy they interview on screen is shown as 29.

The youth believe McCain truly means it when he says he will work to change the way Washington works, not because of some digengenuous lofty rhetoric, but because of his long record of doing so while serving our country. That’s why we support him for president over The One.

MTV’s Street Team ‘08 reports can be viewed here.

Very interesting. I thought maybe this had begun to die down, but that is certainly not the case. The heavy-handed Obama machine continues to disrespect and exclude former supporters of Hillary Clinton.

For the whole scoop, click here to read the PJM article.

McCain Memo on Fundraising

Take a look. Together with the RNC, McCain’s campaign looks to be in an excellent financial position when compared to the Obama campaign and the DNC.

…And CR’s get a plug from our alumnus.

Karl Rove sees some incredible similarities in the Obama ground game and with the BC’04 operation. Utilizing the internet to allow volunteers to self-direct their activity, the effort to expand the electoral map, and creating an army of volunteers are all lessons learned from the Bush/Cheney campaigns.

However, Mr. Rove finds some faults with the program they are running:

There are problems, however. Mr. Obama’s people admit they want to sucker Mr. McCain into spending money. To be successful, a bluff must be credible. In places like Nebraska and North Dakota, Mr. Obama can’t rely on local issues – like Mr. Bush did with coal in West Virginia in 2000 – to unexpectedly win a critical state. Organization alone won’t suffice. And putting Obama dollars into Texas, for example, to help win five state House seats may simply cause Texan Republicans – not Mr. McCain – to raise money and work harder to counter.

In addition (and here’s where we come in):

Democrats don’t have the same large volunteer pool the GOP does with its Federated GOP Women, College and Young Republicans, and local party committees. In the primaries, Mr. Obama instead moved hordes of volunteers from state to state. It was a brilliant tactic, but Nov. 4 is different. The volunteers adequate for primaries held over five months will simply not be enough to compete in 51 separate elections (all 50 states plus the District of Columbia) all on one day.

Of course there is always Barack Obama’s problem with flip-flopping:

By taking Nixon’s advice, Mr. Obama is assuming such dramatic reversals will somehow avoid voter scrutiny. But people are watching closely, and by setting a world indoor record for jettisoning past positions, Mr. Obama may be risking his reputation for truthfulness. A candidate’s credibility, once lost, is very hard to restore, regardless of how fine an organization he has built.