Vote Pact

Democracy Now had a good segment this morning with Geroge Farah of Open Debates. I’m Twittering some of the VP “debate.”

Many people are “for” a third party or independent candidate and don’t know it because they can’t see third party and independent candidates as “viable.” Here’s a thought experiment:

“Imagine Obama and McCain are tied and you are the swing voter. Who do you vote for?”

Now, try this:

“Imagine Obama, McCain, McKinney, Barr, Baldwin and Nader are all tied. You are the swing voter. If you vote for McCain, he wins the presidency, if you vote for Obama, he wins, if you vote for McKinney, she wins; if you vote for Barr, he wins, for Baldwin, he wins, for Nader, he wins.

“Who do you vote for?”

The second question tries to get at what people want.

Very glad that Campaign for Liberty has linked to VotePact. I’ve long admired Ron Paul — remember seeing him speaking forcefully against the sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s. Also, been thinking about how VotePact is in a way an expression of Love: Two people overcome their divisions and build up trust to unite for a shared noble purpose.

A few thoughts/responses to some excellent comments at C4L:

If you’re forming a vote “pair” with someone, please post a comment or email me (sam [at] votepact.org). Would be interested in highlighting articles people have co-written about why they did this, or perhaps YouTube videos. Note that you don’t even have to have decided for sure who you will vote for, just that together, you won’t cancel each other out and vote for your “lesser evil” — but instead will vote for candidate(s) that more closely reflect your values.

If you’re already supporting a third party candidate, great. VotePact doesn’t apply to you directly — but you might want to be a “match maker” and help people you know get to a better place, so please spread the word about it.

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Yesterday, a defacto coalition of conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats defeated a Wall Street giveaway backed by Bush, Obama, McCain, the Democratic and Republican congressional “leaderships” — and most of all, the financial interests that back all of them.

Three weeks ago, Ron Paul held an event at the National Press Club where he announced that Ralph Nader (Independent), Cynthia McKinney (Green Party), Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party) and Bob Barr (Libertarian Party, though he was notably not in attendance) all agreed with a set of principles around foreign policy, privacy, the national debt and the Federal Reserve.

On the core issues of fiscal policy, foreign policy, civil liberties and trade, conscientious conservatives are at odds with the Republican establishment — just as principled progressives are at odds with the establishment of the Democratic party.

The main thing holding together the establishment of the Democratic Party is the phoniness and hypocrisies of the Republican establishment. And the main thing holding together the establishment of the Republican Party is the phoniness and hypocrisies of the Democratic establishment.
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I was on Free Speech Radio News with Leigh Ann Caldwell and Uprising Radio with Sonali Kolhatkar on KPFK in Los Angeles. Also had a piece on Palestine Chronicle specifically addressing Arab and Muslim American Voters, as well as Latinos.

Inter Press Service reports in a piece titled “Obama Clear Winner in World Opinion” that “In a new international poll by the BBC World Service, all 22 countries surveyed would prefer that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama wins the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4.

“The 22 countries, drawn from six continents, preferred Obama over his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, by an average four to one margin.”

The notion that if people from around the world, from Asia, from Africa, from Latin America could vote, Obama would definitely beat McCain, has been stated over and over again, especially since Obama’s speech in Berlin in July.

This thought is probably considered obvious by political people across the political spectrum in the U.S. today, it seems like the BBC wouldn’t even need a poll to document this.

It’s all a big lie.

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Here is Ron Paul’s statement from the Campaign for Liberty from the event on Wednesday. Here’s the first chunk of video on YouTube with Paul introducing the news conference and his four principles on foreign policy, privacy, the national debt and the federal reserve.

Part 7 begins with me asking the candidates about VotePact and McKinney and Baldwin respond. Part 8 begins with Nader’s response, which was the most to-the-point, though he slightly mischaracterizes VotePact by saying that it would have voters “cancel each other” out. A better way to say it would be that to date — in election after election — millions of spouses, friends, neighbors have been canceling each other out with one voting for the Republicans and one voting for the Democrats. With VotePact they free each other to build something they believe in rather than negating each other. The establishment parties divide and conquer. VotePact unites and frees.

Ron Paul organized a news conference today with Ralph Nader (Independent), Cynthia McKinney (Green Party) and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party). See Kevin Zeese’s writeup: “Ron Paul Press Conference Unifies Third Party and Independent Candidates Around Four Key Positions.” I asked about VotePact and was well-received, will post video or transcript as soon as I get either.

Via the Institute for Public Accuracy — full disclosure: I [Sam Husseini] work there:

GEORGE FARAH, gfarah@opendebates.org

Executive director of the group Open Debates, Farah said today: “Sen. Lindsay Graham of the McCain campaign and Rep. Rahm Emanuel of the Obama campaign have negotiated a detailed contract that dictates the terms of the 2008 presidential debates, including who can participate and the structure of the formats. The Commission on Presidential Debates has agreed to implement the debate contract.

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Rasmussen Reports:

A week ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following a Vice Presidential acceptance speech viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% hold an unfavorable view of the self-described hockey mom. …

Perhaps most stunning is the fact that Palin’s favorable ratings are now a point higher than either man at the top of the Presidential tickets this year. As of Friday morning, Obama and McCain are each viewed favorably by 57% of voters. Biden is viewed favorably by 48%.