Barackface

Thursday, July 15, 2010

A 1,000 Phone Calls For Reshma Challenge: An Open Letter To Aaron

Darren Rowse's Seven Links Challenge

Hello Aaron.

I so enjoyed making the 100 phone calls when I dropped by Tuesday evening, (A Few Hours At The Reshma 2010 Headquarters) I want to take this experience to a whole new level. I want to show up Sunday and see if I can do 1,000 phone calls for the day.

You do the same thing you did for me on Tuesday. You sit me in front of a computer with the Voter List software. You give me a fully charged MetroPCS phone. And if the battery drains out on one, you keep a second fully charged MetroPCS phone handy. You give me 2-3 bottles of vitamin water.

And once I hit that magic number of 1,000 phone calls made, you show up at my table with a bottle of vitamin water: my reward.

If I as a volunteer showing up one day a week can do 1,000 phone calls, the full time staffers should be able to do 2,000 phone calls per week for a total of 20,000 phone calls in a week. And I think we should get into a habit of leaving voice mails when people don't answer: "This was a call from Reshma for Congress." Her first name is her political brand name. One word is enough. We will g-i-v-e her the name recognition Maloney has, one call/voice mail at a time.

And every volunteer who does 1,000 phone calls in one day needs to be rewarded: you show up at their table with a bottle of vitamin water. And maybe you send them a thank you tweet later.

143-145 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor

Reshma's Momentum: 70% Vs. 7%, 24,000 Vs. 8,000 Signatures, $2 Vs. $1.2 Million

Image of Reshma Saujani

These numbers tell me the gap is narrowing and fast. Carolyn Maloney has reason to be scared. Reshma has two months to wipe out the small lead Maloney is left with by now. That is ample time.

In May the Maloney camp did an internal polling. They claimed Maloney stood at 70% and Reshma at 7%. I got the impression they called up people who had made campaign contributions to Maloney.

More recently both candidates submitted petition signatures. The 10:1 ratio had evaporated in a matter of weeks. It was now down to 3:1. Maloney's 24,000 signatures to Reshma's 8,000 signatures.

But then look at the money. Reshma so far has raised $1.2 million. I think by now we are looking at a 2:1 ratio. If from May to mid July Reshma can move a 10:1 ratio to a 2:1 ratio, she has two more months.

These numbers are before the debates. These numbers are with the name recognition that a 18 year incumbent has. These numbers are when Reshma is still largely unknown.

But the momentum is there, sure and certain. The numbers speak for themselves. The gap has been narrowing fast. And I am using publicly available numbers.

The longer Maloney takes to agree to debates, larger will be the national media's interest in Reshma. She has already been on Hardball. She has already been on Bloomberg TV. She has been on the front page of The Washington Post. We want the debates for the media coverage. Looks to me like Maloney's refusal to debate is also earning us all that extra coverage. People in the media are wondering, why is Maloney running scared? Who is this Reshma person that Maloney is so scared of? Why is everyone talking about this race?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Reshma Laxmi Saujani: Third Bumper Quarter In A Row

Image of Reshma Saujani

Reshma Saujani has had three bumper quarters in a row. During Q4 of 2009 she raised twice as much as Maloney. Reshma has been raising money like she were an incumbent. The powers that be will have you believe she has raised her $1.2 million so far from maybe four or five Wall Street PACs. That is the lie that is being circulated over and over again. She has not taken a dime in PAC money, either from Wall Street or from any other industry. Maloney on the other hand has taken a ton of Wall Street PAC money, including through some fundraisers that might have been ethics violations. All of Reshma's money has come from individual contributions. Some people working on Wall Street might have given the legal max, and their spouses might have given the legal max, but mostly Reshma has been riding on the strength of small donors spread across the district.

(Laxmi, by the way, would be the Hindu goddess for wealth.)

She did work on Wall Street. But she did not invent it. I wish she had. We would not have had the meltdown we just had. Maloney, on the other hand, was in Congress when Congress passed all those deregulatory laws that brought about the meltdown. Maloney is responsible for the Great Recession.

Reshma has been for Wall Street reform from day one. She has stood with Barack Obama on this one. Carolyn Maloney voted for the Iraq War and the Patriot Act. She used to be a Bush Democrat. Now suddenly I am to think she has become an Obama Democrat? I have my suspicions. I was one of Obama's earliest supporters in New York City. I know an Obama Democrat when I see one. Maloney is not one.

Carolyn Maloney has not been for Wall Street reform. She might have voted with the herd, but she has been responsible for some of the watering down of the reform efforts that has been going on behind the scenes.

To reform Wall Street, you have to understand how it works. Maloney does not understand how it works. Reshma does.

What Reshma has been opposed to is a wholescale demonization of Wall Street. That she has opposed. That she opposes. Carolyn Maloney on the other hand has exhibited multiple personalities on the issue. She has participated in a wholescale demonization of the bread and butter industry of the city she claims to represent, she has claimed she has been in some kind of a leadership role for Wall Street reform, she has worked behind the scenes to water down the reform efforts in exchange for campaign cash from Wall Street PACs. These conflicting tendencies come from political dishonesty, desperation in the face of a serious political challenge, and a fundamental lack of knowledge of an industry she does not really know what to make of. Heck, I don't know a whole lot about nano tech either. It's not just her.

Politico.com: Maggie Haberman On New York: Saujani's Quarter Haul

raised nearly $400,000 in the last quarter, for the third straight period. ..... $373,333 is money for the primary, which is the strongest quarter she's had so far in terms of money for the pre-general matchup. She raised $394,000 overall this quarter, and $1.2 million for the race. ....... 7,250 signatures ..... only 25 percent of her donors are affiliated with the banking industry. ...... Sixty-eight percent of donations this quarter were $250 or less. .....the first time in 18 years that Maloney will have a challenger on the primary ballot, and Saujani did it with volunteers, and no political clubs. .... Saujani's cash-on-hand is $426,000

Washington Post Video: Reshma Saujani On Bloomberg TV

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A Few Hours At The Reshma 2010 Headquarters

Image of Reshma Saujani

I dropped by at the Reshma 2010 headquarters for a few hours earlier in the evening. It is on Madison Avenue between 31st and 32nd.

I made 100 phone calls. About 21 of them went through. Then I picked up some literature to go work a subway stop. Aaron suggested the 23rd Street stop. Once I got there though I decided on a change in plan. I walked over to Little India. I was going to leave the literature at the various stores. I was so impressed that the campaign had been all those places before me. The first store I walked into, they already had Reshma 2010 literature on full display. It is not often that an Indian American runs for Congress. And you could feel the quiet pride the people felt.

It was that same thing I felt talking to a lot of elderly white women on the phone. They said they were for Maloney. I respect that, I said each time, and meant it. These were women who would be home when others were at work.

Similarly I can see how Reshma appeals to young professional women, and to young professionals in general. I have been trying to figure out what the Reshma style is, for Obama that has been the new kind of politics, one that is about positivity. Reshma's style is in formation, sure. But I think it relies much on sheer excellence. You work very hard. You do the best work you can. You raise the most money. You flesh out the best policy proposals. That style can appeal to professionals in general, men and women alike. Her appeal is based on excellence.

Reshma is intellectually challenging in a way Maloney is not. Maloney is safely pro-choice. Reshma is pro-choice plus. Maloney's generation tried their best, and they did good work, but they have not achieved equality for women. Reshma's task begins where Maloney's ends. Maloney's best is but Reshma's foundation. This is not a race to demolish Maloney. This is a race to succeed Maloney. This race is about suggesting Maloney's best has not been good enough, and so a more capable, more energetic person needs to step in.

And that applies to more than gender. The thing to note is not that finally some work is being done on the Second Avenue subway line, but why it took so long. That subway line has been a work in progress the entire time Maloney has been in Congress. That is not my idea of excellence.

Maloney has been safely Democratic. The leaders in Congress have not had to fear she might go vote with the Republicans. But she has not been any sort of a guiding light. She has not been that Congressperson who Democrats in various parts of the country have quoted. She has been humho. She has been mediocre. She has been "ordinary," as the Washington Post article described her. Only today I realized that article in the Post was on its front page. I read it online, so I did not realize if it was on the front page, or where it was.

Not only is this Reshma-Maloney race the most talked about race in the state of New York, it also has attracted national attention.

At the Niagara falls, the water collects, and collects, and collects, and then the waterfall part happens. At this point we are in the water collecting part of the campaign. I suggested that metaphor to Aaron and to Reshma while at the office.

There is much joy in talking to voters on the phone: you hear all sorts of unexpected stuff. One voter said, I don't like to get my political information on the phone, can you please send it to me in the mail instead? Another said, I need a number I can call so I can get my information.

My final call went something like this.

"Have you heard of Reshma?"

"Yes."

"Will you be voting for her on September 14?"

"Yes."

There were quite a few people who said, I have heard of her, but I don't know enough about her to decide one way or the other.

There is much joy to meeting people in person.

And on my way out Aaron told me Reshma was on Bloomberg TV today. I need to get the YouTube clip for that, I said.

We did the petition thing, Megan said with quiet pride. You sure did. That was a lot of work.

I try to offer some strategic thinking digitally. And that is fun. But it is in talking to and meeting people where the big fun part is. I told Aaron I will try to show up once a week for that fun part.

Bloomberg Video: Saujani Sees Private Sector Jobs Crucial To Recovery

Monday, July 12, 2010

BP

BURBANK, CA - FEBRUARY 01: An Exxon gas stati...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

There is a great article in the New York Times about BP. There is a panoramic feel to the article. It tries to look at BP from many different angles. I am going to quote from it at length, and I am going to comment on it.

New York Times: In BP’s Record, a History of Boldness and Costly Blunders

Despite a catalog of crises and near misses in recent years, BP has been chronically unable or unwilling to learn from its mistakes, an examination of its record shows. ...... In little more than a decade, BP grew from a middleweight into the industry’s second-largest company, behind only Exxon Mobil, with soaring profits, fat dividends and a share price to match. ...... From its base in London, the company struck bold deals in politically volatile areas like Angola and Azerbaijan and pushed technology to the limit in the remotest reaches of Alaska and the deepest waters of the Gulf of Mexico — “the tough stuff that others cannot or choose not to do,” as its chief executive, Tony Hayward, once put it. ....... an incredibly complicated set of events with individual decisions and equipment failures that led to a very complicated industrial accident ...... BP was born in 1908 when a rich Englishman named William Knox D’Arcy struck oil in Iran and formed the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Treating the locals as little more than imperial subjects, the company, partly owned by the British government, expanded across the region, its fortunes intertwined with those of the British Empire. ........ Unlike some of his more cautious competitors, Mr. Browne ignored small projects and went after the riskiest, most expensive and potentially most lucrative ventures — “elephants,” in industry jargon. Under him, BP’s share price more than doubled and its cash dividend tripled, making it a darling of investors. ....... he became the toast of Britain’s business world and was made a knight and member of the House of Lords ....... “I transformed a company, challenged a sector, and prompted political and business leaders to change.” ...... March 23, 2005, when 15 people died and more than 170 were injured in America’s worst industrial accident in a generation: a huge fire and explosion at Texas City. ...... A year later, there was a new calamity: 267,000 gallons of oil leaked from BP’s network of pipelines in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. ....... The near sinking of Thunder Horse in 2005 was caused by a shockingly simple mistake: a check valve had been installed backward

My first reaction when the disaster struck was to try to put it on the geopolitical map. This was an environmental 9/11 with no Bin Laden in the picture. No one person could be blamed, but an entire civilization should be.

But I have only a layperson's knowledge of the details, of what has happened, of what all happened that led to the crisis in the first place.

This has been an accident. This is the magnitude of the Space Shuttle exploding. This was big. And when something like this happens, there is a lot of Monday quarterbacking. Cleaning up had to happen. BP needed to compensate those who needed to be compensated. But this disaster could not be measured in dollar terms.

Money is in the human realm. Money, stock prices, business cycles are human, they are artificial. What had happened was at that borderline where humanity interacts with Mother Nature. The entire pond that is the Gulf had been messed up for a long, long time. There is no cleaning that. There is no compensating that.

I have seen a lot of diagrams and a lot of amateur videos suggesting how best to unplug the leaks. They all have uniformly missed one fundamental point. The pressures at those depths are huge. You are not at sea level pressure.

We saw the oil that surfaced. But we will never account for the Amazon forests we have destroyed down there. We know much more about outer space than we do about our ocean depths.

Too bad this is how democracy works. We need a big accident like this one to jolt the population to seriously start thinking in terms of a zero emissions future. You need something this big, and this bad to finally make the emotional connect among people to do the right thing. We should be able to do better than that. Intellectual extrapolations should be good enough reason.

BP is responsible, and it needs to take responsibility. But this goes beyond BP. The Gulf Oil Spill is a civilization level incident.

Gulf Oil Spill
A Dirty Bomb Just Went Off In The Gulf

New York Times: Cap Connector Is Installed on BP Well

a new cap that could contain all of the oil spewing from its out-of-control well in the Gulf of Mexico ..... If all goes as planned, the new cap will be lowered on top of the pipe and connected with a tight seal. ..... The new cap should eventually enable BP to contain all of the oil from the well, estimated at up to 60,000 barrels a day ..... a relief well that will be used to stop the leak and permanently seal the well was on pace to intercept the blown-out well at the end of the month, and that the procedure to stop the flow of oil by pumping mud into the well, followed by cement, could take several weeks after that.

New York Times: Tests to Determine if Cap Will Halt Oil

effectively ending the three-month gusher. ..... there could be delays, especially if ice-like crystals of methane and water form when the new cap is put on. .... Given the number of engineering efforts that have failed .... the first relief well was now only about five feet away horizontally from the runaway well.

New York Times: Anti-Car Crusade, Fueled by Gulf Spill, Takes a Station Hostage

“People have to be motivated and give up some of these comforts,” said Janel Sterbentz, a 32-year-old demonstrator from San Jose who said she had never owned a car..... an opportunity to push the environmental movement further — beyond merely green, mass transit first, or pro-cycling. ...... For some, the mission now is anti-car. ..... “We need to use less fossil fuels,” he said. “We need to have simpler lives.” .... “We need to treat people who are addicted to their cars like people with an illness, people who are sick, rather than people who are intentionally destroying the planet,” he said. ...... He has not owned a car since 1999 and stopped flying in 2006 when he took trains and a cargo ship to travel to graduate school in England. ....... the toll automobiles take on society is greater than drivers pay. ...... “Would they have said to the abolitionists, ‘You should tone down the rhetoric?’ ”

Reshma Saujani

Reshma Saujani Is Back

Video: NY1 Online: Saujani Makes Case For Unseating Carolyn Maloney

Reshma 2010: A Post Mortem
Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
6,000 To 16,000 Votes
On To Reshma 2012
Reshma Saujani: My People's Chief Guest
Four Interactions
110 Knocks (2)
110 Knocks
Bill Clinton Endorsed Maloney, Or Did He? Read Carefully
Reshma's Afghanistan Remark And The Wise Guys/Gals At FireDogLake
Okay, So Maloney Has Been A Democrat, And A Woman
Hillary Means More To Reshma Than Barack Means To Me
Bill Clinton Just Endorsed Reshma Saujani
Reshma Saujani On NY1: The Big Moment
Reshma Featured On Rediff Property
Assigned To The Astoria Office
Reshma 2010 GOTV: What Does It Entail?
Victory Now, Victory This Very Time, Victory On September 14
Maloney Lied Repeatedly In Radio Debate
Radio Debate: Reshma Saujani, Carolyn Maloney
New York Observer Endorsement: Reshma 2010 Now Unstoppable
Crisis: Opportunity For Greatness For Obama
JFK, Primaries, Social Media, DirectConnect
Maloney Reshma Radio Debate Aftermath
New York Daily News Is Da Bomb
New York Times Also Endorsed David Yassky: Yassky Who?
Or Maybe Bill Clinton Is Running On Empty
The Nitty Gritty Of Politics And Idealism
Get Out The Vote For Reshma 2010
Maloney Dismantled Glass-Steagall And Gave Us Great Recession
Reshma Saujani: New Solutions To East Side Problems
Maloney Should Concede To Reshma Saujani
One Detail Missing In AP Article On Reshma
Send Maloney An Absentee Ballot In DC
Obama Needs To Ride The Reshma Insurgency Wave To November Victory
NY1, NY1, NY1, NY1, NY1
Roosevelt Island: Community Conversation
Nikki, Bobby, Reshma
Maloney's Fantassy: That Reshma Had Not Run
We Intend To Swamp Maloney: The East Side Is Going Electric
A President Is Like A Political Billionaire
Brian Lehrer's Message To TV Journalists In Town
Charlie Rangel: Monkeyface
Carolyn Maloney: Radioface
The Brian Lehrer Show: Reshma Saujani, Carolyn Maloney
Carolyn Maloney Is No Mother Teresa
Extrapolations
Faux Recovery?
Community Conversation: Upper East Side
Power Shoe
Fears Of A Double Dip Recession Are Very Real
Yes, Maloney Is A Crook
Charlie Rangel: An Unrepentant Motherfucker
Dress Code
Hillary's Support For Reshma Can Not Be Spinned Away
Hillary Clinton Just Endorsed Reshma Saujani
Credit For Credit Card Bill Goes To Barack Obama
Maloney, You Are Not Reshma's Role Model
Wayne Barrett: Suspicious Package
Digital Cheerleader
Village Idiot Wayne Barrett
Reshma Is Bigger Than Hillary
Reshma's Lower East Side Community Conversation
Cordoba Controversy: America In Early Stages Of War On Terror
Political Office, Political Essence
Carolyn Maloney Is The Problem
Maloney Should Skip Radio Debate And Create Jobs For An Hour Instead
The Debate Format
Mainstream Media Kept Saying John Liu Was Losing
Arthur Schwartz, Jeff Kurzon, Reshma 2010
An Empire State Of Mind: The Final Countdown
Baruch Plus Radio Plus NY1 Could Work
Reshma Saujani Loves America
Carolyn Maloney: Feeling Ugly?
Barack Obama Just Endorsed Reshma Saujani
Carolyn Maloney's Newest Lie
And I'd Like To Take Credit For The Brooklyn Bridge
Finally A Debate? Is A Non Debate A Debate?
Carolyn Maloney's Work On The Second Avenue Subway Line
Debating Is Not About Media Attention To Reshma Saujani
Charlie Rangel: The Bear Stearns Of US Congress
Maloney Refuses Debate Yet Again
Sep 15 - Oct 31: Obama-Reshma Should Crisscross The Country
September 14 Will Birth The New Woman
MyFoxNY: Reshma Saujani
Carolyn Maloney: The Alan Keyes Of District 14
Carolyn Maloney: Chicken
Reshma's Is Top Primary Race To Watch In America: BusinessWeek In May
Reshma Saujani Is The Second Stimulus Bill This Country Needs
Al Hagan, Carolyn Maloney: Did They Apologize Yet?
Reshma's Integrity On Ground Zero Mosque And Wall Street
Reshma: Obama's Number One Weapon For November 2010
Reshma, Obama And The Ground Zero Mosque
Gandhi, Reshma And Tornadoes
Perfect Time For Congress Reform
Uptown Upstart
Millstones And World Peace
Al Hagan: Capable Of A Hate Crime
Nadler Should Vacate The Maloney Sinking Ship
Hard Fact For Al Hagan: Maloney Failed To Pass 9/11 Health Bill
Organized Labor Bosses Backing Maloney Are Acting Blind And Stupid
Please Fund My Work For Iran Democracy: Email
Reshma Is Gujarati Like Gandhi, I Am Bihari Like Laloo
Extrapolations To Reshma 2016
Reshma On CNBC
Iran, Obama 2010, Reshma 2010
Positivity, Excellence, Dark Matter
Rangel Has Gone Radioactive
More Than 100 Voice Mails
Reshma Event With Deepak Chopra August 11
July 2010: The Busiest Month At This Blog So Far
Who Is The Congressperson For Ground Zero? Not Maloney
Look Who Is Talking: Carolyn Maloney's Dipshit Lies
Charlie Rangel, Carolyn Maloney And Their Ethics Violations
Reshma 2010: Queens Office Opening Party: August 9
Charlie Rangel: Motherfucker
Making The Blues Go Away
The First Time I Heard The Obama Name
Carolyn Maloney: Missing In Inaction
Rangel And Maloney Need To Vacate The Premises And For The Same Reasons
The Rangel Drama
Vogue India Features Reshma
Organized Labor Has No Business Endorsing Maloney
We Will Debate An Empty Podium If We Have To
First Debate August 26, Thank You Baruch College
Obama, Reshma
Reshma Is Taking Over
Standing At 40-60 Now
July Looking Good
Maloney: Stifling Debate, Stifling Innovation, Stifling Job Creation
Firefighters Booing Hillary: Sexist
September 1-14: The Niagara Falls Part
Phone Calls, Dress Code
Reshma On Track To Taking Over This Blog
Keeping The House And The Senate
A Clean Tech Experience
Reshma Saujani: Top 10 Women To Watch In America
Reshma Saujani Makes Top 10 List
Barack Obama: The NRA's Candidate
Bhangra, Cricket: Exotic To Me
Reshma 2010 Clean Tech Event July 27 Tuesday
Recruited 60 For Reshma 2010
Reshma Saujani At The Netroots Nation
Sarina Jain: YouTube: Reshma Saujani
Pelosi Will Continue As Speaker
Reshma Aur Shera
Why I Am Pressing The Like Button On Al Sharpton
John Liu: Mayor Of NYC: 2013
Carolyn Maloney: The Al Sharpton Of Gender Relations
Ed Koch And Carolyn Maloney: Bush Democrats
Reshma 2010: Digital Volunteering: Some Tips
Domestic Violence Can Be Ended Like Polio Could Be Cured
The Anti Maloney Brigade
Reshma 2010: Twitter Action
Reshma Saujani: South Asian Powerhouse, National Candidate To The Tech Sector
Obama Has No Business Kissing Maloney
Maloney Is Too Ordinary To Be Representing District 14
A Shift Towards Digital Volunteering
Carolyn Maloney's Six Sins
Reshma 2010: Firing Up All Cylinders
Reshma's Momentum: Line Graph Or Curve Graph
400 Phone Calls In 5 Hours For Reshma 2010
Immigration Now?
I Am Angry At Chris Matthews
Joke Of The Day: Carolyn Maloney
Reshma For Congress YouTube Channel
DNAinfo.com: Reshma Saujani
Maloney Wrote A Book Saying Her Best Is Not Good Enough
A 1,000 Phone Calls For Reshma Challenge: An Open Letter To Aaron
Reshma's Momentum: 70% Vs. 7%, 24,000 Vs. 8,000 Signatures, $2 Vs. $1.2 Million
Reshma Laxmi Saujani: Third Bumper Quarter In A Row
A Few Hours At The Reshma 2010 Headquarters
Chris Matthews Repeated The Lie That Reshma Is Wall Street's Candidate
Reshma Saujani And The Chris Matthews Band
Maloney's Idiotic Debate Non Stand Can Be Countered Through Use Of Social Media
Debating Is "Stunt" In A Maloney Democracy
Reshma 2010 Party Tonight
I Want To Go Full Time With Reshma 2010
Reshma Is Better At Raising Money, Way Better
Reshma 2010: New Office: Party: June 21 Monday
Randi For Reshma
Zuckerberg Has Stature
Reshma 2010, Square, And Pro.Act.Ly
Reshma Saujani At The Huffington Post
An Afternoon At The Reshma 2010 Headquarters
A 14-7 Office For Reshma 2010
My Political Resume, Reshma 2010, And September 14
Reshma Saujani, Carolyn Maloney
My Talk With Kevin Lawler Of Reshma 2010
Reshma 2010 Get Together In Little India
Reshma Saujani Ad Spotted At The New York Times Website
Reshma Saujani, Scott Heiferman, Chris Hughes: TechCrunch Disrupt
Reshma Saujani, Haiti Earthquake, Harvard Yale, And 2016
Reshma Saujani "Gets" Tech
Reshma Saujani: Innovation, Ethnic Pride, Thought Leadership
Do I Know Rajiv Shah?
Bloomberg Video: Saujani Sees Private Sector Jobs Crucial To Recovery

Bollywood And Switzerland

New York Times: A Beloved Bollywood Extra Draws Indians

But not everyone shares the dream. In June, the Zurich newspaper Tages-Anzeiger featured an article with the headline “Into the Luxury Hotel with a Gas Cooker,” noting that “in some hotels an entire caste of guests is no longer desired: the Indians.” ...... The article catalogued the complaints of hotel managers: guests who cook curry dishes on camping stoves in their rooms; guests who use bath oils that blacken tubs; guests who book for a husband and wife, only to show up with the entire family. ...... In Engelberg, where a visitor is more likely to encounter a woman in a sari than hear the clang of a cowbell, some European tourists are unsettled. ..... “I can imagine that a German or a Dutchman might not imagine Switzerland this way,” Mr. Casanova said. “They want the Swiss pastoral idyll.”

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Chris Matthews Repeated The Lie That Reshma Is Wall Street's Candidate

Image via Wikipedia

Getting on Hardball is the next best thing to getting Maloney to debate you for all the exposure, but I lost a little respect for Chris Matthews when I watched the clip when he had Reshma on his show.

Basically he was saying to Reshma, you are Wall Street's candidate. And he read from a list of her donors. Many of them were people working for the various banks in New York City. Well, Chris, have you heard of the Upper East Side? There is a reason Democrats across the country come to the Upper East Side of New York City to raise money. There is a reason Obama and Pelosi had a fundraiser on the Upper East Side a few months back. There are a lot of moneyed people living on the Upper East Side. And that Upper East Side is part of District 14, the district Reshma is seeking to represent in Congress. If people in your district are making individual contributions to you, where is the mud in the picture?

Reshma Saujani And The Chris Matthews Band

The real story is as to how she has managed to raise all this money. During the last quarter of 2009, Reshma outraised Maloney two to one. She is obviously tapping into a hunger for leadership that a lot of Upper East Siders feel. Maloney comes across as vacuous to many of them.

Reshma Is Better At Raising Money, Way Better

Maloney on the other hand has been taking PAC money from Wall Street. T-h-a-t is Wall Street's candidate. Reshma has not taken a dime in PAC money. She has had hundreds of people who have given the legal max. But she also has hundreds of people donating to her small sums of 20 dollars and 60 dollars and 200 dollars. This has been a very grassroots effort. And if a house party in Astoria is grassroots, so is a house party on the Upper East Side.

Maloney has not only taken gobs of PAC money from Wall Street, she just might have crossed the line recently when she out and out organized a fundraiser among Wall Street people when at the same time she was supposed to be shaping Wall Street reform. There might have been an ethics violation. Where is the outrage? Where is the investigation?

And then there is the policy part. Reshma has been for reform for Wall Street from the very beginning. She stands with Obama on this one. And she feels like she is also standing for her constituents who work on Wall Street. Because only a reformed Wall Street has a bright future.

Reshma Saujani At The Huffington Post

And then there is the issue of just knowing what you are talking about. Having worked on Wall Street for a few years after having earned degrees from three of the fanciest schools in the country - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Harvard, Yale Law - when Reshma talks Wall Street reform, that is like a doctor talking medical issues. I trust Reshma on Wall Street reform like I trust Dr. Howard Dean on health care reform. Dean actually is a medical doctor. He would know a thing or two about health care. Don't you think? Maloney has none of the expertise but all the hot air on the topic. All of a sudden I am supposed to think Maloney is a woman of the people? Give me a break.

Reshma's Wall Street experience is a plus. That makes her informed.

She is the national leader to the tech sector. There her appeal is bi-coastal. Her appeal is national.

Reshma Saujani "Gets" Tech

Maloney takes Wall Street PAC money, and Reshma does not, and she is the Wall Street's candidate? If we are going to blame Reshma for the Great Recession, we might as well blame her for the earthquake in Haiti. That is so misplaced that I am going to call it demonization. Maloney, on the other hand, can partly be blamed for the Gulf Oil Spill. She owns oil stocks. Don't tell me that did not shape her motivations when she voted the way she voted on oil over the past decade. Follow the damn money.

There is a term in Hindi: safed jhooth. Or, white lie. When someone looks straight in the eye, and says something utterly untrue, that is a white lie. Calling Reshma Wall Street's puppet candidate is a white lie.

And then there are people who make it sound like her having gone to Harvard and Yale is a bad thing. Obama went to Harvard. Clinton went to Yale. Reshma went to both. Look at it that way, because that is the only right way to look at it.

Reshma Saujani, Haiti Earthquake, Harvard Yale, And 2016

So stop demonizing Reshma Saujani and start instead asking as to why Maloney refuses to debate her. Debating is the essence of democracy. The people deserve an open discussion. The two candidates need to tell the people in the district as to where they stand on all the issues.

Debating Is "Stunt" In A Maloney Democracy
Reshma Saujani, Carolyn Maloney

Reshma is not Wall Street's candidate. Reshma is a candidate for a district that a lot of Wall Street workers live in. Reshma is a candidate for Wall Street reform. Reshma is the only candidate in this race who has not taken PAC money. Stop spreading the white lie that Reshma is Wall Streets' candidate.

It is a sorry day for democracy when a reputed journalist like Chris Matthews repeats a white lie.

And you want me to tell you how Reshma Saujani and Carolyn Maloney are different from each other? Where do you want me to begin? I'd like to start with the brains part.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Reshma Saujani And The Chris Matthews Band

If this is the Reshma Saujani we are going to see on TV during her debates with Carolyn Maloney - i-f there are debates that is, and that is a big i-f, Maloney has been running scared, can you blame her? (Debating Is "Stunt" In A Maloney Democracy) - we win hands down. This woman is dynamo. This woman is brilliant. This woman is cutting edge. I have said this before and I will say this again, this woman is going to be hitting the national headlines on September 15.

Carolyn Maloney, dove, hawk or chicken? Dove on Wall Street reform. She has been taking all the Wall Street PAC money, has she not? Hawk on the Iraq War and the Patriot Act. I knew she was from North Jesse Helms Carolina, did you? Chicken on debating Reshma.

Carolyn Maloney, dove, hawk or chicken? All of the above.

Ugh, it's been a few weeks since my last Reshma event. There has been the World Cup. And there have been some stuff I have needed to work on. But I hope to stay in touch with the campaign, and I hope to keep volunteering.

Maloney's Idiotic Debate Non Stand Can Be Countered Through Use Of Social Media
Spain: The Octopus Was Right, I Was Wrong
To Iran, With Love (2)
To Iran, With Love (1)
To: Brad Feld, Subject: Iran And Me (Digital Ninja/Commando)
Happy July 4 Fred Wilson, Brad Feld

My favored way of volunteering is digital. When people google up her name, I want them to come across my blog. So my blogging for Reshma 2010 is a gift that will keep giving. And I want to show up at the campaign office here and there, pick up some literature and go work the nearest subway stop. And, of course, I want to show up for all the key events. You got to party. When you are having fun is when you know you are winning.

The Democratic Party is on its way to an intellectual bankruptcy by the time Obama's eight years are over. Reshma Saujani is the party's insurance against that bankruptcy.

Carolyn Maloney is too "ordinary" - as described in the Washington Post article - to keep representing District 14. District 14 functions as the ATM for the entire Democratic Party, it is a solidly Democratic district. You need a Super Star Congressperson to represent this district. Reshma is that Super Star. She is dazzling. Check out the video above.

The idea that Reshma Saujani is Wall Street's candidate was a lie six months ago, and it is a lie today. She does recognize the fact that Wall Street is an integral part of the New York economy, and indeed the national and the global economy. Many people who work on Wall Street live in her district, many of them have made individual contributions to her. You have to wonder. She is the stronger between the two for Wall Street reform, and still so many people on Wall Street support her. Why? Because the truth is a lot of people on Wall Street themselves are for reform. They realize Wall Street needs to reinvent itself if it is going to see robust days ahead. And that is Reshma's point. Work for meaningful reform. But stop demonizing Wall Street wholescale. Reform the bad aspects, keep the good aspects, and let's see brighter days ahead. Carolyn Maloney is slow. She is thick. When Maloney talks Wall Street reform, she does not know what she is talking about. When Reshma talks Wall Street reform, that is like a doctor talking medical issues. She knows what she is talking about. She has the vocabulary.

Get the debates on, yo! I think Maloney should do it, a debate a week. It is like dipping your toe into cold water. It is daunting, but you can do it. Maloney, you can do it. Let's get the game on.

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