I have been mostly holding my tongue about the president this past season, because I didn’t want to muddy the waters in a country where you only get two choices, but Mr. President, there’s no third term. So you may as well throw caution to the wind.Read More…
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Bill Maher: Won Direction
Vanessa Gonzalez-Plumhoff: Latinas Tipped the Scale
Latinas have always been a powerful force, but the 2012 elections demonstrated to the rest of the country our capacity to alter the course of an election and American history. The message remains clear: Latinas are watching, and we do vote.Read More…
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German Pirate Party Provokes With ‘Pirated’ Big Brand Poster Campaign
Founded in 2006, the German Pirate Party has enjoyed several successes in its relatively short life. Most notable was its win in the Berlin state parliament elections in 2011 where Pirates picked up 9% of the vote.
In April 2012 the Pirate Party polled at 13%, elevating them to the third largest party in Germany, ahead of the Green Party at 11%.
After victories in the federal states of Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland, the Pirate Party will be hoping for a good turnout among their supporters when the state of Lower Saxony goes to the polls in January 2013.
During a conference yesterday the Pirates presented their 2013 election campaign promoting free access to knowledge, education and culture.
“Public goods must be open to all citizens,” said state parliament candidate Katharina Nocun.
“Unhindered access to basic infrastructure, to public streets and squares, to schools and universities, and to the Internet plays a key role in deciding who will be able to participate actively in public life. Access free of charge to nature of our state, to the beaches and lakes, to the rivers and forests needs to be possible for all and be included into our state’s constitution as a general right,” she added.
The Pirates’ election bid also includes a rather provocative poster campaign. In line with what both supporters and detractors alike expect of the party, the poster designs are based on the colors, imagery, logos and slogans of some big consumer brands.
You’ll probably guess most if not all, but in the unlikely event that you don’t we’ve included the party’s message for each as an extra clue.
Although we don’t sell fast food, by working together we can quickly make grassroots decisions. (Text translation: I’m Voting It)
We build no Swedish furniture, but we still want to learn from the Scandinavian countries for our social policies. (Text translation: Discover your polling station)
We don’t produce any cars, but we still want seamless mobility in Lower Saxony. (Text translation: The slogan)
We don’t sell cat food, but we want to strive to ensure that every citizen can consume what they want. (Text translation: Citizens would go voting)
We may not have Alps in Lower Saxony, but we want to ensure that students continue to know that cows are not purple. (Text translation: The tenderest temptation since parties were invented)
We don’t offer a hotline, but we know how important it is to have nationwide infrastructure and keep the Internet in users’ hands. (Text translation: Vote what connects)
“We do not want to offer hollow elections messages and campaign promises,” says Torben Friedrich, a Pirate Party candidate for the State Parliament.
“Our focus is on the content, the topics were born out of dealing with the citizens’ needs which we will include in our work in parliament. We promise no gifts, we advertise for reading election programs, to obtain information and to go out and vote.”
Source: German Pirate Party Provokes With ‘Pirated’ Big Brand Poster Campaign
Dissident Georgian minister returns from exile and is imprisoned
Former Georgian Defense Minister Irakliy Okruashvil
A former Georgian Defense Minister who had been forced to leave the country because of his criticism of the Saakashvili regime has returned to Tbilisi only to be arrested by the new authorities.
Iraliy Okruashvili was detained under a court order dated March 2008. Then Okruashvili was sentenced to 11 years in prison in absentia on charges of embezzlement.
The case, however, was much more complicated as corruption charges were pressed after the young and popular minister publicly accused former ally newly elected President Mikhail Saakashvili of corruption and murder of political rivals. In response Saakashvili accused Okruashvili of embezzlement and bribery and had him arrested. In prison Okruashvili withdrew his accusations against the President and was released on $6.5 million bail. Immediately he fled to France and said his change of mind was made under pressure and the accusations remained. A short time later the French authorities granted the former Georgian official asylum.
The trial and sentence in absentia followed, and the Georgian Interior Minister announced that if Okruashvili decided to return he would be immediately arrested.
After the latest parliamentary elections brought to power Saakashvili’s rival Bidzina Ivanishvili, Okruashvili decided to return and he was arrested.
Okruashvili returned to Tbilisi together with relative Iosif Giguashvili, who also was arrested over charges of forming illegal armed groups and illegal possession of firearms.
Georgia’s Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili built his successful electoral campaign on criticism of Saakashvili’s authoritarianism and promised to restore good relations with Russia. However, after the elections his rhetoric became more cautious – he said that he would still seek the country’s territorial integrity, hinting at possible return of breakaway Republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Ivanishvili also announced that he would maintain the course for NATO membership.
Top Aide: Obama To Keep "Social Movement" — And Use It
Campaign Manager Jim Messina suggests enduring political organizing operation for Obama to help on fiscal cliff. “Social movement,” that's here to stay.
Image by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
WASHINGTON, DC — Former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina pointed to an enduring role for President Barack Obama’s campaign operation and social tools Tuesday — but said the president is likely to keep tight control of his technically sophisticated political operation.
“You can’t just hand this to the next candidate for president,” Messina said at a Politico Playbook breakfast, referring to the campaign's unprecedented database, grassroots operation, and social tools.
“People want to be involved in supporting the president’s agenda in the next four years,” Messina said, noting that exactly how that will be done will have to be decided by Obama's supporters.
Messina said the campaign will not immediately turn over the operation to the Democratic National Committee, but he also suggested Obama will not repeat what is widely seen as a mistake of his first term: switching off his grassroots operation at the behest of Congressional Democrats, who bridled at its organizing in their districts.
This time, Messina suggested that the campaign's vaunted “Dashboard” social media system would be helpful during the fiscal cliff, allowing Obama supporters to call members of Congress.
“People just spent five years winning two presidential elections together, now they’re not just walking away,” he said.
On Sunday night, the Obama campaign e-mailed its vast mailing list a long questionnaire asking supporters how they contributed to the campaign and how they hope to contribute to the campaign in the future. The list of areas of focus for the potential future organization ran 24 check boxes long.
Would the Obama campaign move it's operations to the DNC? Messina said, “We don’t know,” but hinted at a negative.
Messina said he hoped that other campaigns would use Dashboard-like tools, pointing to it as the campaign tool of the future, but categorically said Obama would not sell access to it.
And Messina shed some light on his own future.
“I think my future is probably outside the White House and helping him,” Messina said, saying he would likely be involved in running whatever “social movement” Obama's campaign becomes.
From the Obama For America Survey:
Rep. Allen West concedes to Patrick Murphy
Citing “inaccuracies’ in the vote, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) conceded to, and congratulated, Democrat Patrick Murphy on Tuesday morning. “While there are certainly still inaccuracies in the results, and the actions of the St. Lucie County and Palm Beach County Supervisors of Elections…
Israel’s media joins the war
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