DFA-MC » Message & Framing

Gov. Dean Gives Urgent Update on Healthcare

Webstaff — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:52:53 +0000

Next week, Congress will begin making the actual decisions about what reforms will make it into this year’s healthcare bill.

Our actions over the next few days and weeks will be critical in building the support we need to win.

Meanwhile, conservative groups have launched a new assault on inclusion of a public healthcare option like Medicare. Their million-dollar ad campaign claims that healthcare will be rationed and “bureaucrats” will “decide the treatments you receive.” It’s an old message that you and I know isn’t true, but it will stick if we don’t fight back with our message of Choice, Competition, and Comfort.*

So we’re holding an emergency online briefing on Monday night with Governor Howard Dean, M.D. at 9pm Eastern to make sure we’re all ready for the fight ahead. This is a joint Stand with Dr. Dean event hosted by MoveOn, one of our biggest campaign partners.

All you need to join in is a computer with speakers and an internet connection. Please join us.

Emergency Online Briefing with Dr. Dean
Monday, May 4, 9pm Eastern / 6PM Arizona[Mountain]

Hosted on MoveOn.org’s web site at:
http://www.moveon.org/drdean/?id=16038-3139585-xg0J2sx&t=7

Last time Democrats tried to pass comprehensive healthcare reform, it failed. And it failed in part because the opposition was better organized and spread a bunch of lies that progressives weren’t prepared to rebut.

It’s up to us to make sure that doesn’t happen again. We need all hands on deck, well-armed with the critical information, and motivated to keep the right from blocking real change. Dr. Dean will give us an update and inside look at the battle for real healthcare reform — and the key actions we’ll take to achieve a historic victory.

With an important Senate committee meeting on Tuesday to start shaping legislation, plus the right wing’s escalating attacks, this couldn’t be more urgent.

I’ll be part of the emergency briefing, and I really hope you can join me at this crucial moment. Join us online Monday night at 9pm Eastern — that’s 8pm Central, 7pm Mountain, and 6pm Pacific — this way everyone in the country can join us at the same time.

CLICK HERE ON MONDAY AT 9PM EASTERN TO JOIN US ONLINE

I look forward to ’seeing’ you on the call.

- Arshad Hasan, Executive Director, Democracy for America

P.S. If you would like to share a personal healthcare horror story or submit a specific question for Dr. Dean before the event, you can do that by clicking here.

* Check out www.StandwithDrDean.com/FAQ for talking points on how an open-access public healthcare option offers Choice, Competition, and Comfort.

New Al Gore Slide Show on the Climate Crisis

Webstaff — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:52:49 +0000

In Al Gore’s brand-new slideshow (28 min.) given at the Feb. 2008 TED Conference, he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of “generational mission” — the kind of feeling that brought forth the civil rights movement — to set it right. Gore’s stirring presentation is followed by a brief Q&A in which he is asked for his verdict on the current political candidates’ climate policies and on what role he himself might play in future.

Solving the climate crisis means first solving the democracy crisis.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/243

3 Trillion Ways to Outspend Bush

Webstaff — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:06:21 +0000

Just counting the zeroes on the $3 trillion price tag of the Iraq War is enough to induce hyperventilation. But what does $3 trillion really mean? It’s difficult even to comprehend a number that big. Well, try filling your shopping cart with what the cost of the Iraq War could buy: healthcare for every American? A new home for every subprime borrower now facing foreclosure? An Ivy League university? You haven’t even gotten started. -Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz

The cost of the Iraq War is a grave issue. Our friends at Brave New Films are committed to spreading awareness about the devastating financial toll the war is taking on each and every one of us, let alone our economy.

$3 trillion. That is what Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates the war will cost our country. Make no mistake, this $3 trillion bill is crippling our economy and causing our Iraq recession. To put this colossal amount of cash into perspective, we’ve designed a game to help people really understand what $3 trillion dollars can buy. Get ready to go on a 3 Trillion Dollar Shopping Spree!

When the war was already hurting our economy two years ago, President Bush announced that Americans should go shopping-a brilliant plan to remedy our ailing economy. So follow the President’s advice in this virtual shopping bonanza and rack up a $3 trillion tab like he has in real life. All you have to do is stroll down through our online store, add items to your cart for yourself or friends, and check out. It’s just that easy!

Whether you buy serious gifts like health care for all Americans or frivolous ones like building the world’s tallest building, we hope you’ll begin to see just how far $3 trillion could go and help others understand the cost of this war.

This “game” is designed to build further awareness, and we need your help to make that happen, just as you have done on previous successful campaigns from FOX Attacks to the War on Greed to Hurricane Katrina recovery. Please buy gifts for your all your friends and loved ones, and send them e-mails to let them know you’ve found better ways to spend our nation’s money than the President. We need to help Americans understand the war’s economic toll.

Yours in shopping,

Robert Greenwald and the Brave New Spenders

Watch the video:

http://3trillion.org/?play=1?utm_source=rgemail

I’m From The Democratic Party and I Vote For Democratic Candidates

Webstaff — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:57:13 +0000

As sticklers on proper framing of the Democratic message, you often hear DFAers correcting other Democratic party members if they repeat the republican frame when naming our party. We are not the Democrat Party, we are the DEMOCRATIC PARTY!

From Crooks & Liars Post: McCain and the ‘ic’ factor

Poor John McCain isn’t especially good at grammar, either.

Given McCain’s reputation for reaching across the aisle and his daily pledge to treat Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton with respect, Washington Wire was a little surprised to hear McCain using the [”Democrat Party”] language.

“One thing I’m not any good at predicting is the outcome of Democrat elections,” he said Tuesday aboard his bus, dubbed the Straight Talk Express. A day earlier, he had mentioned his “Democrat friends” to a Cleveland-area audience.

Asked aboard his bus about the “ic,” he replied, “I’m sorry, I usually say Democratic. They prefer Democratic, so I try to say Democratic… It offends some members of their party, so I’ll say Democratic if that’s what makes them feel better.”

But his resolve didn’t last long. Later on that same ride, he was talking about his annoyance that Democrats take credit for the improving situation in Iraq. “To say, as Sen. Obama has said, that it’s because of the Democrat majority that we have experienced success in Iraq, that’s just beyond comprehension.”

For the record, it’s not a matter of “preference,” or “feeling better.” “Democrat” is a noun, “Democratic” is an adjective. This isn’t optional; it’s English. “Democrat Party” isn’t bothersome, it’s just wrong.