Top Ten of 2012! from BOLD PROGRESSIVES 31DEZ12

HERE are the top ten BOLD PROGRESSIVE victories of 2012, and we will be celebrating more in 2013!

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From Elizabeth Warren to our victory yesterday on Social Security, 2012 has been a great year.
We've compiled the Top Ten Highlights Of 2012. Check it out below, and let us know what you think.
Thanks for being a bold progressive! We look forward to doing big things with you in 2013.
-- Stephanie Taylor and Adam Green, PCCC co-founders (@StephanieTaylor, @AdamGreen)

P.S. If you like what you see below...We have a tiny staff, but we fight hard and think big. Please consider being a $3 monthly donor to continue our effective activism in 2013.

#1. Senator-Elect Elizabeth Warren!  

Doesn't that feel great to say? PCCC members held "Draft Warren" house parties across Massachusetts, and tens of thousands of us signed a petition urging Elizabeth Warren to run for Senate. Then, we made 574,000 calls for her campaign and contributed more than $1.15 million dollars (through 69,000 grassroots donations) to help her win! As she said right after the election: "PCCC members were with me before there was a beginning. Thanks to you all." Now we'll stand with her as she holds Wall Street accountable from her position on the Senate Banking Committee!
#2. We Won...A Lot.  
In 2012, over 30 of our endorsed candidates won races for Senate, House, Governor, and State Legislature. We supported these candidates with deep staffing and infrastructure help, phone calls, and volunteer hours. Over 1,000 media stories were written about our work this cycle. And through 250,000 small-dollar donations, we donated $2.7 million to candidates. PCCC members got a whopping 73% return on our investment. Compare that to Karl Rove, who got a 1% return on his investment. You are more politically savvy than Karl Rove. Congratulations!
Please consider being a $3 monthly donor to continue our effective activism in 2013.
#3. Call Out The Vote!
Over 3,200 volunteers made 2 million phone calls for progressive candidates through Call Out The Vote, our national phone program. Our ambitious goal was 1 million calls, but we doubled that! 82% of those calls helped winners! We also worked with campaigns to ensure their scripts used the most up-to-date persuasion methods. Many candidates like Elizabeth Warren, Alan Grayson, Carol Shea-Porter and Chris Murphy personally thanked volunteers. You can listen to Elizabeth Warren thank volunteers here.
#4. Saving Social Security! And Medicare/Medicaid!
Just yesterday, we had a big victory. The terrible "deal" that would have cut Social Security benefits was declared dead...for now. The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel tweeted, "Kudos to Progressive Change Campaign Comm 4 giving Dems' spines in 2012/ Reid says Social Security is off the table." We released polling showing these cuts were unpopular, and thousands of PCCC members called Congress opposing benefit cuts. Our friends at Credo, MoveOn, and Social Security Works also applied major pressure.
This victory shows that activism works. In 2013, we'll keep fighting any proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits.
#5. Remembering Paul Wellstone.

October 25th was a very busy day on the campaign trail. But we paused to remember the tenth anniversary of the death of Paul Wellstone, the great progressive senator from Minnesota. Over 500 PCCC members joined Senator Wellstone's son, his former chief of staff, Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, and other Wellstone friends on a conference call to remember his legacy. There was laughter and definitely some tears. You can listen to the call here. We miss you, Senator Wellstone.
#6. Dump ALEC.

After Trayvon Martin's death, people became aware of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the right-wing group that pushes union busting, voter disenfranchisement, and Shoot-First gun laws in the states.
Our friends at ColorOfChange led a great campaign to pressure corporations like Coke, Pepsi, and Amazon to stop funding ALEC. Over 100,000 PCCC members piled on (see the picture of a PCCC organizer protesting outside Amazon's corporate meeting). So far, over 35 corporations and 49 moderate Democratic lawmakers have publicly dumped ALEC, causing a major right-wing institution to lose power.
#7. Chicago Teachers Strike.
29,000 Chicago teachers went on strike to get textbooks, smaller class sizes, and air conditioning in their classrooms. At moments like this, it's important for progressives to support unions. We made the only television ad to air in support of the teachers, showing how teachers, parents, and students were standing together. We aired it in Chicago during Meet the Press, so that political movers and shakers would see that the teachers had national support. (In case you missed it, you can watch the ad here.)
#8. Standing Up For Women In Michigan.
When Republicans tried to silence Michigan legislators Barb Byrum and Lisa Brown during a debate on women's health care, we fought back. We delivered more than 115,000 petition signatures on the steps of the Capitol with Rep. Byrum and our friends at Democracy for America. Our activism received major media attention and publicly shamed the Republicans who censured these female legislators. You can see video of the petition delivery here.
#9. State Victories!
Vermont Democrats boldly passed the first step toward single-payer health care -- and were under attack. So PCCC members supported Governor Peter Shumlin, State Treasurer Beth Pierce, and state legislators Kesha Ram and Jill Krowinski with 26,603 calls to key voters and thousands in donations to their campaigns. They all won, and single-payer is moving forward.
Wisconsin State Senator Chris Larson is an ally who often communicates with PCCC members through national conference calls and emails. Recently, he was elected Senate Democratic Leader! Chris will lead the fight against Gov. Scott Walker's war on working families. He'll be helped by PCCC staffer Katrina Shankland, who won a 7-way primary and general election for Wisconsin State House with support from PCCC members. She's now the youngest legislator in Wisconsin!
We were proud to support other great progressives like State Senator Angie Buhl in South Dakota and State Representative Matt Lesser in Connecticut in their re-election campaigns. When Washington DC depresses you, remember that inspiring progressives are building power in the states with your help!
#10. Organizing Congress
Behind the scenes, we're ensuring the people we helped elect get a strong start. We are vetting over 1,000 resumes with a goal of giving incoming members of Congress access to great staffers.
We also organized an event where current members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus met incoming freshmen, to help build early solidarity. And we hosted a meeting between Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig and several incoming members of Congress to discuss the in's and out's of campaign finance reform.  
There is so much more to do in 2013, and we can't wait! With your help, we're building real progressive power. Let's keep it up!

Class Wars of 2012 30NOV12

WORDS of wisdom from Paul Krugman on the CLASS WARFARE being waged in America. The gop and tea-baggers and their plutocrat owners will wail how wrong it is to promote the concept of class warfare in our country, describing it as deceptive, manipulative, based on fear and so very uncivil and the perfect example of what is wrong with America and why any agreement hasn't been achieved on avoiding going over the fiscal cliff. THE fact is these are the people who have been waging this war on the majority of Americans for at least the past generation. They are shameless liars and use deception, manipulation, fear, misrepresentation and racism to take more and more from the majority of Americans to feed their immoral, wanton greed for more wealth and power. They expected this years presidential election to provide a major step to establishing the Plutocratic States of America. We, the people, defeated them on 6NOV12, but the battle is far from over and we can not, in the words of Paul Krugman, allow them to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

On Election Day, The Boston Globe reported, Logan International Airport in Boston was running short of parking spaces. Not for cars — for private jets. Big donors were flooding into the city to attend Mitt Romney’s victory party.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Paul Krugman

They were, it turned out, misinformed about political reality. But the disappointed plutocrats weren’t wrong about who was on their side. This was very much an election pitting the interests of the very rich against those of the middle class and the poor.

And the Obama campaign won largely by disregarding the warnings of squeamish “centrists” and embracing that reality, stressing the class-war aspect of the confrontation. This ensured not only that President Obama won by huge margins among lower-income voters, but that those voters turned out in large numbers, sealing his victory.

The important thing to understand now is that while the election is over, the class war isn’t. The same people who bet big on Mr. Romney, and lost, are now trying to win by stealth — in the name of fiscal responsibility — the ground they failed to gain in an open election.

Before I get there, a word about the actual vote. Obviously, narrow economic self-interest doesn’t explain everything about how individuals, or even broad demographic groups, cast their ballots. Asian-Americans are a relatively affluent group, yet they went for President Obama by 3 to 1. Whites in Mississippi, on the other hand, aren’t especially well off, yet Mr. Obama received only 10 percent of their votes.

These anomalies, however, weren’t enough to change the overall pattern. Meanwhile, Democrats seem to have neutralized the traditional G.O.P. advantage on social issues, so that the election really was a referendum on economic policy. And what voters said, clearly, was no to tax cuts for the rich, no to benefit cuts for the middle class and the poor. So what’s a top-down class warrior to do?

The answer, as I have already suggested, is to rely on stealth — to smuggle in plutocrat-friendly policies under the pretense that they’re just sensible responses to the budget deficit.

Consider, as a prime example, the push to raise the retirement age, the age of eligibility for Medicare, or both. This is only reasonable, we’re told — after all, life expectancy has risen, so shouldn’t we all retire later? In reality, however, it would be a hugely regressive policy change, imposing severe burdens on lower- and middle-income Americans while barely affecting the wealthy. Why? First of all, the increase in life expectancy is concentrated among the affluent; why should janitors have to retire later because lawyers are living longer? Second, both Social Security and Medicare are much more important, relative to income, to less-affluent Americans, so delaying their availability would be a far more severe hit to ordinary families than to the top 1 percent.

Or take a subtler example, the insistence that any revenue increases should come from limiting deductions rather than from higher tax rates. The key thing to realize here is that the math just doesn’t work; there is, in fact, no way limits on deductions can raise as much revenue from the wealthy as you can get simply by letting the relevant parts of the Bush-era tax cuts expire. So any proposal to avoid a rate increase is, whatever its proponents may say, a proposal that we let the 1 percent off the hook and shift the burden, one way or another, to the middle class or the poor.

The point is that the class war is still on, this time with an added dose of deception. And this, in turn, means that you need to look very closely at any proposals coming from the usual suspects, even — or rather especially — if the proposal is being represented as a bipartisan, common-sense solution. In particular, whenever some deficit-scold group talks about “shared sacrifice,” you need to ask, sacrifice relative to what?

As regular readers may know, I’m not a fan of the Bowles-Simpson report on deficit reduction that laid out a poorly designed plan that for some reason has achieved near-sacred status among the Beltway elite. Still, at least you can say this for Bowles-Simpson: When it talked about shared sacrifice, it started from a “baseline” that already assumed the end of the high-end Bush tax cuts. At this point, however, just about all the deficit scolds seem to want us to count the expiration of those cuts — which were sold on false pretenses, and were never affordable — as some kind of big giveback by the rich. It isn’t.

So keep your eyes open as the fiscal game of chicken continues. It’s an uncomfortable but real truth that we are not all in this together; America’s top-down class warriors lost big in the election, but now they’re trying to use the pretense of concern about the deficit to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Let’s not let them pull it off. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/opinion/krugman-class-wars-of-2012.html?emc=eta1&_r=0 

The nineteen new Republican House committee chairmen are all white males 27NOV12

THIS reminds me of the skits Billy Crystal and other cast members of SNL used to do where one would tell about hating it when he did something painful to himself, repeatedly, and then the other would tell about doing something worse to himself and hating it and they would keep one upping each other with more self-inflicted, painful experiences. The gop is doing the same thing, hating loosing elections like this, hating loosing the women and youth and minority votes and then appointing the white men to chair US House committees, alienating women, youth and minority voters. DUH! From the Daily Kos....

It didn't take Jennifer Bendery long to figure out what 100% of the new GOP House committee chairmen have in common, as she reports in House Committee Chairs Will All Be White Men In Next Congress.

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced who will chair all of the major House committees in the next Congress. And it turns out they all have something in common besides party affiliation: they're all white men.
There isn't a single woman or minority included in the mix of 19 House committee chairs announced Tuesday -- a stark reality for a party desperate to appeal to women and minorities after both groups overwhelmingly rejected Republicans just weeks ago in the presidential election. The one female committee chair that House Republicans currently have, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), is stepping down because her term is up. While there are still two lower-tier House committees awaiting a chair assignment -- the Ethics Committee and House Administration -- neither committee has any women or minority members. ...
"Disappointed to see House committee chairmanships in the 113th Congress will not include a single woman. -PM," tweeted Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who included a link to Boehner's press release announcing the chair posts.

Remember all the discussions about the Republican Party learning valuable lessons about the need to reach out and broaden their appeal to women and minorities? It doesn't look like they are getting off to a very good start.

Photobucket It didn't take Jennifer Bendery long to figure out what 100% of the new GOP House committee chairmen have in common, as she reports in House Committee Chairs Will All Be White Men In Next Congress. WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced who will chair all of the major House committees in the next Congress. And it turns out they all have something in common besides party affiliation: they're all white men. There isn't a single woman or minority included in the mix of 19 House committee chairs announced Tuesday -- a stark reality for a party desperate to appeal to women and minorities after both groups overwhelmingly rejected Republicans just weeks ago in the presidential election. The one female committee chair that House Republicans currently have, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), is stepping down because her term is up. While there are still two lower-tier House committees awaiting a chair assignment -- the Ethics Committee and House Administration -- neither committee has any women or minority members. ... "Disappointed to see House committee chairmanships in the 113th Congress will not include a single woman. -PM," tweeted Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who included a link to Boehner's press release announcing the chair posts. Remember all the discussions about the Republican Party learning valuable lessons about the need to reach out and broaden their appeal to women and minorities? It doesn't look like they are getting off to a very good start. 
 

A look back at the campaign in numbers 23NOV12

I know, I know, the election is over. But this is interesting, especially considering we were up against the money of the 1%. Check this out to see just how we, the people, and President Obama, won....

A look back at the campaign in numbers

By Mary on November 23, 2012

• 

Between April 2011 and November 2012, you built the largest grassroots campaign in history to re-elect President Obama. Here's a breakdown of what that looked like in communities across the country.

• 813 field offices
• 10,000 neighborhood teams
• 2.2 million volunteers

But it wasn't just about offices and volunteers, it's about what you achieved:

• 1,793,881 voters registered
• Over 150 million calls made and doors knocked on
• More than 25 million calls made and door knocked on during the last four days alone

The President's victory on November 6th was thanks to you.
http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/a-look-back-at-the-campaign-in-numbers?keycode=68d2218c8d7732e656178c1da22be2bd56aadf265ff0dce6c6f357e12ae1eba7&utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_content=check+out+this+blog+post+for+some+other+incredible+numbers+on+the+work+you+all+did+in+the+field&utm_campaign=em12_20121128_jb_surv&source=em12_20121128_jb_surv

Sins of the son: Sad treatment for Billy Graham & Franklin Graham's New Obama-Muslim Conspiracy Theory (with video) 8NOV12 & 21MAR11

I believe Ms Quinn is correct, and that franklin graham not only used his father's good name to influence the election he is probably the one who ordered the change on the BGEA website reversing the description of mormonism as a cult. I do not believe Billy Graham would have done either, and I do wonder if he even knows either took place. I still have the highest regard and respect for Billy Graham, I believe he is a true man of God. Be sure to read more about franklin graham's support of right wing politics and conspiracy theories, and watch the video of his newsmax interview in the Mother Jones article following this from the Washington Post.....

By Sally Quinn

On Sunday, two days before the election, a full page advocacy ad in The Washington Post featured a huge picture of the Rev. Billy Graham, along with a signed statement by the world-famous evangelist advising readers to  ”VOTE BIBLICAL VALUES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6.”
Of all the sad things that have happened during this year’s seemingly endless, divisive and vitriolic campaign, this ad was the saddest.
It read: “The legacy we leave behind for our children, grandchildren, and this great nation is crucial. As I approach my 94^th birthday, [which was Nov. 7] I realize this election could be my last. I believe it is vitally important that we cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel. I urge you to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman. Vote for biblical values this Nov. 6 and pray with me that America will remain one nation under God. “
Billy Graham has been admired as the pastor to presidents and has prided himself on never endorsing any one politician. He is a man of God and ministers  to everyone, becoming more and more accepting and pluralistic as he has has aged.
So how did it happen that he virtually endorsed Mitt Romney the weekend before the election?
On Oct. 11, Billy Graham and his son,  the Rev.Franklin Graham, who is head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association,  met with Romney. The photo op and the meeting were seen as a virtual endorsement of Romney at that time.
What was so surprising was that the Billy Graham Evangelical Association Web site at that time considered Mormonism  a “cult.” Graham had once described cult members as those who “reject what Christians have believed for 2,000 years, and substitute instead their own beliefs for the clear teachings of the Bible.”  Shortly after the meeting, that listing disappeared.  According to Ken Barun, the Association’s chief of staff, “we removed the (cult) information from the website because we do not wish to participate in a theological debate about something that has become politicized during this campaign.”
So calling Mormonism a cult is a “theological debate that has become politicized” while the debate over abortion and same sex marriage is not?
I ask this because just last spring the association bought 14 full-page ads in North Carolina newspapers from Billy Graham for North Carolina Amendment 1, recognizing  marriage between a man and a woman as the only legal domestic union. Franklin Graham has made his position on that issue very clear. “It grieves me, “ he said, “that our president would now affirm same sex marriage, though I believe it grieves God even more.”
Franklin  also said in Decision Magazine, “there is no place for compromise or straight forward moral issues such as abortion and same sex marriage.  God has given us clear biblical direction that we must follow and obey. “
Billy Graham has not escaped controversy. He had a very bad moment in 2002 when tapes of conversations from 1973 with Richard Nixon became public. In the tapes, Nixon railed against Jews and Graham responded  that Jews befriended him  but “they don’t know how I really feel about what they are doing to this country.” The rest of the conversation was decidedly anti-Semitic. When the tapes came to light, Graham said he didn’t remember the conversation but apologized profusely.
 Graham also was  rejected by some  fundamentalist Christians as a legitimate evangelical voice when he gave this interview in 1997. “I’ve met people in various parts of the world in tribal situations,” he said. They had never seen a Bible or heard about a Bible, had never heard of Jesus “but they’ve believed in their hearts that there is a God….” In fact , he was accused of being a heretic by many of these fundamentalists for suggesting that Jesus is not the only way to salvation and for his willingness to work with liberals and Catholics.
But Franklin Graham is no Billy Graham. Where Billy Graham has always been a voice for inclusion, even of religions other than his own, Franklin has not. In fact, in April 2010 the Pentagon rescinded an invitation for Franklin to attend their National Day of Prayer service because, after Sept. 11 he had referred to Islam as a “very evil and wicked religion” and said that Muslims are “enslaved” by their own religion.
Franklin has always leaned toward being more political than his father. He owns a house in Alaska and befriended Sarah Palin. He invited Palin to come visit his father in North Carolina. Shortly afterward, his father issued a statement saying that “Sarah and her family will always be welcome in the Graham family home.”
Today, at 94, Billy Graham is feeble, has hearing, vision and other health problems, and uses walkers and wheelchairs. He spends most of his day watching television. He has never been as active in the Association as has Franklin. He is a revered figure around the world, particularly because he has stayed above the fray, never using his religion for political purposes or personal gain. 
I do not believe that Billy Graham would have instigated the ad essentially endorsing Romney. I wouldn’t be surprised if Billy Graham didn’t even know about it.  I think that he is being exploited by his son to further Franklin’s political objectives. I also believe that it is a travesty because it is not the legacy he would have left behind, had it not been for Franklin using his father’s name and taking advantage of his father’s popularity.
Billy Graham was and is a great man. 
Franklin should stop this exploitation now.
On the outcome of the election, the Rev. Gary Hall, the new dean of the National Cathedral, had this to say: “This year’s election has proven to be as divisive as any in recent history, which is all the more reason that we must move through the challenge of political partisanship and come together as Americans.”
I believe that’s what the real Billy Graham would have said.
More on On Faith:
Anne Graham Lotz: Does God hear our cries?
Lisa Miller: A time to compromise    
Compassion in chief: Why Obama won
Figuring Faith: Examining the election results
What lies ahead for the Mormons?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/sins-of-the-son-sad-treatment-for-billy-graham/2012/11/08/a31f5de2-29f4-11e2-96b6-8e6a7524553f_print.html 

Franklin Graham's New Obama-Muslim Conspiracy Theory

Billy Graham's son says the president has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate the US government.

—By David Corn

| Mon Mar. 21, 2011 11:01 PM PDT

Zuma/Robin Nelson

Yes, there's a new Obama-Muslim conspiracy theory on the right: The evangelical son of one of America's most famous evangelists says that President Barack Obama has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to become part of the US government and influence administration decisions.
In an interview last week with Newsmax.com, a conservative website (that pushes the Obama-was-born-in-Kenya conspiracy theory), [see clarification at the end of the article] Franklin Graham, an evangelist like his father, Billy Graham, claimed that the fundamentalist Islamic political group has burrowed into the Obama administration and is shaping US foreign policy. Sounding a bit like Glenn Beck, Graham explained:

The Muslim Brotherhood is very strong and active in our country. It's infiltrated every level of our government. Right now we have many of these people that are advising the US military and State Department on how to respond in the Middle East, and it's like asking a fox, like a farmer asking a fox, "How do I protect my henhouse from foxes?" We've brought in Muslims to tell us how to make policy toward Muslim countries. And many of these people we've brought in, I'm afraid, are under the Muslim Brotherhood.

Infiltrated every level of our government—that's quite a claim. Yet Graham did not name a single Muslim Brotherhood infiltrator or cite a specific Obama administration decision that has been manipulated by these crafty behind-the-scenes Islamists. (The quotes in the Newsmax article reporting Graham's remarks differ slightly from what he actually said during his interview with Newsmax, according to the video of the interview, which is posted below.) CLICK to link to the Mother Jones article at the bottom of post to view the video.
Though Graham did not back up his charge that Obama has opened the US government to the Muslim Brotherhood, he did say that he believes the president is more concerned with helping Muslims than Christians—both in the United States and abroad. When the Newsmax interviewer asked Graham if Obama has been doing enough to support Christianity and Christians at home and overseas, Graham replied, "No...If anything, it's the opposite." He added, "The Muslims are protected more in this country than Christians."
Graham did not cite specifics on this point, either. A spokesman said Graham was unable to comment on his remarks to Newsmax since he was en route to Africa.

While Graham did not question Obama's Christian faith during this interview, his comments tracked with the extremist right-wing claim that the president is a secret Muslim. And Graham has raised the matter of an Obama Islamic connection in the past. Last August, he told CNN that because Obama's father had been a Muslim, Obama had a perception "problem." The president's father, who was not involved in Obama's rearing, was born a Muslim, but as an adult he was an atheist. Obama was not raised as a Muslim.
It's no surprise that Franklin Graham is worried about Muslims sneaking into the US government. He has declared Islam "a very evil and wicked religion." Last year, he was disinvited from a National Prayer Breakfast event at the Pentagon after his Islam-bashing became an issue. (Sarah Palin quickly rushed to Graham's rhetorical rescue, pronouncing his excommunication from this ecumenical breakfast a travesty.)
For his part, Graham was not at all apologetic about his attacks on Islam. Instead, he called the revoking of his invitation "a slap at all evangelical Christians." He blamed the White House for orchestrating the move: "I don't know if it's exactly from President Obama. But I'm certain that some of the men around him are very much opposed to what we stand for and what we believe." Graham added, "I just don't understand why the president would be giving Islam a pass." Could it be precisely because the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated Obama's circles? Graham didn't say so back then. Perhaps that was before he had discovered this plot.
CLARIFICATION: After this story appeared, Newsmax sent a note taking issue with the article's characterization that it "pushes the Obama-was-born-in-Kenya conspiracy theory." The conservative site says,

Newsmax does not 'push' that Obama was born in Kenya. What Newsmax has written about in the past is that Obama was born in the U.S., but should reveal his birth certificate in order to put the matter to rest. Here is an example: http://www.newsmax.com/Ruddy/Obama-birth-certificate/2009/12/12/id/341849. And in this case, Newsmax columnist Ron Kessler makes it clear that Obama was born in the U.S.: http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/obama-birth/2008/12/08/id/326987.

Indeed, the site has not championed the Kenya conspiracy; we apologize for the error. But it has generally aligned itself with birthers who suggest there is some sort of conspiracy afoot involving Obama's birth documentation. During the 2008 election, the site ran a piece asking, "Where Was Obama Born?" In 2009, anti-Islam activist Pam Geller wrote a Newsmax article that noted there "might be something more sinister at work here," regarding the president's birth certificate. But the site has not gone Kenya.

David Corn

Washington Bureau Chief

David Corn is Mother Jones' Washington bureau chief. For more of his stories, click here. He's also on Twitter and Facebook. RSS | Twitter

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• How Billy Graham Brought Us the Tea Party

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  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/franklin-graham-obama-muslim-brotherhood-conspiracy-theory 

DEMOCRATIC PARTY INCREASES SEATS IN U.S. SENATE 7NOV12

33 U.S. SENATE races in 2012 and the Democratic Party won 23, Independents (who will caucus with the Democratic party) won 2 and the repiglican / tea-bagger cabal won 8, so the Democratic Party still controls the Senate 53-47. The koch brothers, karl rove, grover norquist and all the other plutocrats who spent billions in an attempt to buy this election have been defeated by the American people. Now on to the business of governing with the best interest of all the American people in mind.

You’ve never let up. You refused to quit. And you just did the unthinkable — you not only saved the Senate from a Republican takeover, you increased the Democratic majority!

Washington Post: “Senate Democrats… actually expanded their Senate majority — something basically nobody would have guessed even a year ago.” You’ve never let up. You refused to quit. And you just did the unthinkable—you not only saved the Senate from a Republican takeover, you increased the Democratic majority! From the bottom of my heart—thank you. Many said we had no chance to keep the Senate, let alone gain seats. But you refused to let Karl Rove bury Democratic Senate candidates with money. And we did not only what many said was unthinkable— we did what most said was impossible. We defied the odds and gained two Democratic Senate seats (take a look at the results below): You elected a record number of women candidates. You elected our first openly gay Senator. You elected our first Asian American female Senator. You defeated Todd “legitimate rape” Akin and Richard “God intended pregnancy from rape” Mourdock. If Karl Rove thought that millions of progressives couldn’t stand up to a handful of billionaires—you proved him so wrong. I am so proud. You did it. Words can’t express how grateful I am. Thank you. Sincerely, Patty State Democrat D% Vote Republican R% Vote Arizona Richard Carmona 45% Jeff Flake 50% California Dianne Feinstein 61% Elizabeth Emken 39% Connecticut Chris Murphy 55% Linda McMahon 43% Delaware Thomas Carper 66% Kevin Wade 29% Florida Bill Nelson 55% Connie Mack 42% Hawaii Mazie Hirono 63% Linda Lingle 37% Indiana Joe Donnelly 50% Richard Mourdock 44% Maine Angus King (I) 53% Charles Summers 30% Maryland Ben Cardin 54% Daniel Bongino 27% Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren 54% Scott Brown 46% Michigan Debbie Stabenow 58% Pete Hoekstra 38% Minnesota Amy Klobuchar 65% Kurt Bills 31% Mississippi Albert Gore 40% Roger Wicker 57% Missouri Claire McCaskill 55% Todd Akin 39% Montana Jon Tester 49% Denny Rehberg 45% Nebraska Bob Kerrey 42% Deb Fischer 58% Nevada Shelley Berkley 45% Dean Heller 46% New Jersey Bob Menendez 58% Joe Kyrillos 40% New Mexico Martin Heinrich 51% Heather Wilson 45% New York Kirsten Gillibrand 72% Wendy Long 27% North Dakota Heidi Heitkamp 50% Rick Berg 49% Ohio Sherrod Brown 50% Josh Mandel 45% Pennsylvania Bob Casey 54% Tom Smith 45% Rhode Island Sheldon Whitehouse 65% Barry Hinckley 35% Tennessee Mark Clayton 30% Bob Corker 65% Texas Paul Sadler 40% Ted Cruz 57% Utah Scott Howell 30% Orrin Hatch 65% Vermont Bernie Sanders (I) 71% John MacGovern 25% Virginia Tim Kaine 52% George Allen 48% Washington Maria Cantwell 59% Michael Baumgartner 41% West Virginia Joe Manchin 61% John Raese 36% Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin 51% Tommy Thompson 46% Wyoming Tim Chesnut 22% John Barrasso 76% 25 races won (two independent) 8 races won

ELECTION RESULTS FOR HERNDON & FAIRFAX COUNTY 7NOV12

ELECTION RESULTS for Herndon, VA, and a link for the results for Fairfax County, VA. HERNDON AND FAIRFAX COUNTY AND VIRGINIA ROCKS!!!!!! This from Anne Alston, a beautiful lady and a great team leader, and from PaHua Cha, another beautiful lady and our fearless leader for Herndon-Reston...

We did it!  We put Virginia in the winning column for the President.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for the time and energy you put into this effort.

Herndon ROCKS!

Here are Fairfax County results:

Here are the County results.
http://electionresults.virginia.gov/resultsPREC.aspx?type=PRE&rid=3545232527424045364&cty=059&osn=0

Thanks again.

Team, we did it. Fairfax county carried the Commonwealth of Virginia, and we held our ground here in Herndon. I'm sending you the results for this year and 2008 so you can all look at your own handy work. I do apologize if I've been slow getting back to you. I had to wake up early to drive Daniel to work. Now I'm on some work conference calls, but we must all celebrate together soon!

2012 Precinct Results.xlsx 13K   View   Open as a Google spreadsheet   Download

President and Vice President
	Candidate Votes Percent Mitt Romney 1,785,147 47.72% Barack Obama 1,896,487 50.70% Virgil Goode 13,601 0.36% Gary Johnson 30,397 0.81% Jill Stein 8,447 0.23% Write In 6,875 0.18% Total Votes 3,740,954

    County Results

	FAIRFAX COUNTY Precincts Reporting: 244/244
	Candidate Votes Percent Mitt Romney 172,480 39.51% Barack Obama 257,742 59.04% Virgil Goode 619 0.14% Gary Johnson 3,776 0.86% Jill Stein 1,099 0.25% Write In 847 0.19% Total Votes 436,563

319 - HERNDON #1
	Candidate Votes Percent Mitt Romney 968 38.28% Barack Obama 1,512 59.79% Virgil Goode 4 0.16% Gary Johnson 25 0.99% Jill Stein 9 0.36% Write In 11 0.43% Total Votes 2,529
	320 - HERNDON #2
	Candidate Votes Percent Mitt Romney 818 30.91% Barack Obama 1,784 67.42% Virgil Goode 4 0.15% Gary Johnson 29 1.10% Jill Stein 8 0.30% Write In 3 0.11% Total Votes 2,646
	321 - CLEARVIEW
	Candidate Votes Percent Mitt Romney 1,318 43.56% Barack Obama 1,659 54.82% Virgil Goode 1 0.03% Gary Johnson 36 1.19% Jill Stein 6 0.20% Write In 6 0.20% Total Votes 3,026
	324 - HERNDON #3 Candidate Votes Percent Mitt Romney 750 31.54% Barack Obama 1,583 66.57% Virgil Goode 3 0.13% Gary Johnson 29 1.22% Jill Stein 11 0.46% Write In 2 0.08% Total Votes 2,378 325 - HUTCHISON Candidate Votes Percent Mitt Romney 381 24.50% Barack Obama 1,136 73.05% Virgil Goode 4 0.26% Gary Johnson 18 1.16% Jill Stein 2 0.13% Write In 14 0.90% Total Votes 1,555 327 - SUGARLAND Candidate Votes Percent Mitt Romney 1,000 46.47% Barack Obama 1,121 52.09% Virgil Goode 1 0.05% Gary Johnson 20 0.93% Jill Stein 3 0.14% Write In 7 0.33% Total Votes 2,152

Member House of Representatives - 11
	Candidate Votes Percent Chris S. Perkins 103,812 35.54% Gerald E. /Gerry/ Connolly 177,525 60.77% Joe F. Galdo, Jr. 2,013 0.69% Christopher F. Decarlo 2,790 0.96% Mark T. Gibson 3,479 1.19% Peter M. Marchetti 1,792 0.61% Write In 718 0.25% Total Votes 292,129

    County Results

FAIRFAX CITY Precincts Reporting: 7/7 Precinct Results Candidate Votes Percent Chris S. Perkins 4,522 40.11% Gerald E. /Gerry/ Connolly 6,305 55.92% Joe F. Galdo, Jr. 95 0.84% Christopher F. Decarlo 123 1.09% Mark T. Gibson 140 1.24% Peter M. Marchetti 71 0.63% Write In 19 0.17% Total Votes 11,275 FAIRFAX COUNTY Precincts Reporting: 115/115 Precinct Results Candidate Votes Percent Chris S. Perkins 79,471 37.48% Gerald E. /Gerry/ Connolly 124,809 58.87% Joe F. Galdo, Jr. 1,412 0.67% Christopher F. Decarlo 1,977 0.93% Mark T. Gibson 2,647 1.25% Peter M. Marchetti 1,184 0.56% Write In 512 0.24% Total Votes 212,012 PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY Precincts Reporting: 35/35 Precinct Results Candidate Votes Percent Chris S. Perkins 19,819 28.79% Gerald E. /Gerry/ Connolly 46,411 67.42% Joe F. Galdo, Jr. 506 0.74% Christopher F. Decarlo 690 1.00% Mark T. Gibson 692 1.01% Peter M. Marchetti 537 0.78% Write In 187 0.27% Total Votes 68,842

United States Senate
	Candidate Votes Percent George F. Allen 1,750,185 47.20% Timothy M. Kaine 1,928,646 52.01% Write In 29,125 0.79% Total Votes 3,707,956

FAIRFAX COUNTY Precincts Reporting: 244/244 Candidate Votes Percent George F. Allen 167,423 38.94% Timothy M. Kaine 260,489 60.59% Write In 1,989 0.46% Total Votes 429,901     Precinct Results for FAIRFAX COUNTY 319 - HERNDON #1 Candidate Votes Percent George F. Allen 969 38.81% Timothy M. Kaine 1,521 60.91% Write In 7 0.28% Total Votes 2,497 320 - HERNDON #2 Candidate Votes Percent George F. Allen 821 31.36% Timothy M. Kaine 1,794 68.53% Write In 3 0.11% Total Votes 2,618 321 - CLEARVIEW Candidate Votes Percent George F. Allen 1,301 43.28% Timothy M. Kaine 1,697 56.45% Write In 8 0.27% Total Votes 3,006 324 - HERNDON #3 Candidate Votes Percent George F. Allen 735 31.49% Timothy M. Kaine 1,595 68.34% Write In 4 0.17% Total Votes 2,334 325 - HUTCHISON Candidate Votes Percent George F. Allen 416 27.33% Timothy M. Kaine 1,101 72.34% Write In 5 0.33% Total Votes 1,522 327 - SUGARLAND Candidate Votes Percent George F. Allen 960 45.01% Timothy M. Kaine 1,170 54.85% Write In 3 0.14% Total Votes 2,133