Doug Schoen: Random Comments About Occupy Wall Street

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Polling the Occupy Wall Street Crowd - In interviews, protesters show that they are leftists out of step with most American voters. Yet Democrats are embracing them anyway. (By DOUGLAS SCHOEN, Wall Street Journal)
• What we learned from Occupy Santa Ana’s failed Wal Mart flash mob (New Santa Ana - blog) Douglas Schoen, a Democratic pollster, reported in the Wall Street Journal that “Occupy Wall Street is a group of engaged progressives who are disillusioned with the capitalist system and have a distinct activist orientation. Among the general public, by contrast, 41% of Americans self-identify as conservative, 36% as moderate, and only 21% as liberal. That’s why the Obama-Pelosi embrace of the movement could prove catastrophic for their party.” WITH VIDEO

HANKSTER SPECIAL REPORT: Dr. Omar Ali, Professor at UNC Greensboro Speaks Out About Occupy Wall Street and Need for Political Reform

SPECIAL REPORT: Omar H. Ali Speaks Out About Occupy Wall Street and Need for Political Reform

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Representative Darrell Issa Leads List Of Wealthiest Member Of Congress (Written by USA Today) VIDEO: Ali on CBS discussing money and politics, emphasizing the need to increase the political participation of the 99% through structural reforms as opposed to trying to regulate the 1% (which has not worked since McCain-Feingold).
NC Occupy movement takes stock - Occupy movement in NC takes stock after 2 months (WAVY NBC Channel 10 - Portsmouth VA) NOTE: Above AP article also picked up by Boston Herald
Race and Occupy Wall Street (by Frank Stasio and Ginny Mueller, WUNC North Carolina Public Radio) AUDIO The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread across the country and captured the attention of millions of Americans. The movement deals with national issues, but it doesn't necessarily represent all factions of society. Are minorities being well represented in the revolution of the 99 percent? Host Frank Stasio talks about Occupy Wall Street and race with Derrick Johnson, president of the Mississippi NAACP; Omar Ali, an African-American studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and Marcella Robinson, an Occupy Raleigh protester and member of the group Mortgage Fraud in North Carolina.
A New Poll Reveals Only 17% of Americans Are Happy With The Direction Our Country Is Headed (Written by Rosemary Plybon, CBS Good Morning Show, WFMY News 2)
Occupy Greensboro Movement discusses social equality (by Yasmine Regester, Carolina Peacemaker) The Occupy Greensboro Movement stemmed from the Occupy Wall Street protests that began in New York in early September directed against economic and social equality. The protests have since spread across the U.S. The slogan for the movement has been "We are the 99%" which according to Dr. Omar Ali, University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) Associate Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and panelist, it refers to the 99 percent that are not wealthy and have been hit hard with the downturn in the economy.

Occupy Greensboro

Dr. Ali, a long-time activist in the independent political movement in the US and a founder of  is an Associate Professor of the African American Studies Program & Department of History at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of In the Lion's Mouth: Black Populism in the New South, 1886-1900 (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010), foreword by Robin D. G. Kelly and In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third Party Movements in the United States (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008), foreword by Eric Foner, among other books.



OCCUPY WALL STREET
'The New Tammany Hall' (By MATTHEW KAMINSKI, Wall Street Journal) Fred Siegel: The institutional barriers to change have grown, too. The Working Families Party, founded in 1998, is the political arm of government unions and a driver of turnout in local elections. Though little known outside New York, the influence of this third party can be seen on the City Council, which has come to tilt heavily left. So far, says Mr. Siegel, the party has a better political track record than Tammany. "With the exception of Giuliani, they've never lost an election. No matter who wins, they're OK."

Occupy Redistricting Pennsylvania

PA REDISTRICTING

• FINAL: Occupy movement disrupts redistricting commission meeting (By Eric Boehm, PA Independent) Protesters said the redistricting process put political interests above the concerns of the people. In particular, they said Friday’s hearing did not include everyone who wanted to speak.

 RECOMMENDED VIDEO
"What makes you more uncomfortable: children starving or gay marriage?"

• Winner in Redistricting Is Still to Be Determined (By MICHAEL D. SHEAR, NY Times/ The Caucus) If you listen to officials at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, things are looking up for their candidates. They point to states like California, Illinois and Nevada, where independent commissions or legislatures under Democratic control have increased the party’s chances of gaining seats… Both parties are also watching the process in Virginia and Pennsylvania, where the legislatures are still not finished with their maps.

The Removal at Zuccotti Park

OCCUPY WALL STREET
Whose Police? (Posted by Philip Gourevitch, The New Yorker) The N.Y.P.D. descended on the park with deafening military-grade LRAD noise canons and several stadiums’ worth of blinding Klieg lights, and while they worked, they drove journalists steadily back further and further from their area of operations.

Occupy Wall Street Gathering, Losing Support

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Fascination and Fear (Rick McGahey, an economic policy adviser to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, is a professor of professional practice in the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at the New School, NY Times/ Room for Debate) Democrats want to tap Occupy’s energy, but there's a risk of losing independent voters.
• Poll: Occupy Wall Street movement losing America’s support (Matthew Borghese, Gant Daily) Where the movement begins to lose support most dramatically, is among independent voters. A month ago, independent voters supported the movement (39 percent) but now a majority (42 percent) oppose the protests.
• Poll: Tea party trumps OWS (by Kyle Wingfield, Atlanta Journal Constitution) If a recent opinion survey by Public Policy Polling is any indication, the end of the full Occupation of Wall Street might have been the best thing that could have happened to the movement. Not because it will earn them public sympathy, but because the occupation itself had become the least sympathetic thing about the group.
• Buddy Roemer Slams Mike Bloomberg for Cops Clearing Occupy Wall Street (Kevin Derby's blog, Sunshine State News) "The mayor of New York City is standing on the wrong side of history. His actions in the midnight hours against the Occupy Wall Street protestors are unjust, uncalled for, and unconstitutional," said Roemer in a statement on Tuesday. “The First Amendment right of assembly and speech exists to protect America from this kind of government power abuse.

Race and Occupy Wall Street: Blacks and Independents in America

Race and Occupy Wall Street

Tuesday, November 15 2011 by Frank Stasio and Ginny Mueller

 The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread across the country and captured the attention of millions of Americans. The movement deals with national issues, but it doesn't necessarily represent all factions of society. Are minorities being well represented in the revolution of the 99 percent? Host Frank Stasio talks about Occupy Wall Street and race with Derrick Johnson, president of the Mississippi NAACP; Omar Ali, an African-American studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and Marcella Robinson, an Occupy Raleigh protester and member of the group Mortgage Fraud in North Carolina.

mp3 download

Occupy Wall Street: Most Americans Agree With the Movement

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Pols and protesters - Trying to get close, but not too close (EDITORIAL Chicago Tribune) Tea partiers have clearly pushed GOP presidential candidates rightward in their early campaigns. That could prove a big liability once the eventual nominee turns his or her attention to independent voters and disaffected Democrats.
• Fox Panel Bashes OWS As ‘Toxic,’ ‘Marxist,’ ‘Anti-Democratic And Un-American’ (By Marie Diamond, Think Progress.org) [A]ccording to the CBS/New York Times poll taken just one month after the start of the first encampment in New York, 43 percent of Americans said they agree with the movement. Another poll for the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found a similar level of support. Most importantly, in both polls, support for the movement was stronger among independent voters.
• Out Of The Shadows (Bruce Gyory, NY The Capitol) Victory since 2006 has come from the voters within what I have called the “40 within 40.” Nearly 40 percent of voters describe themselves as independents, and within that group, 40 percent describe themselves as moderates.

Buddy Roemer Reaches out to Occupy Wall Street

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Rabble in Arms (By Keith Kreitman, Daily Journal - San Mateo CA) Meanwhile, as I have written before, the candidates for the Republican nomination for the presidency march along from debate to debate, not recognizing and addressing the growing middle class dissent in the land they wish to rule, ignoring the Occupy movement and clueless that, with their ever more extreme programs that gain them love and kisses from their slivers of extreme right admirers, they are alienating more and more of the moderate middle class and independent voters and the Occupy movement will eventually rule. 
• Mulling Third Party Bid, Buddy Roemer Reaches Out to Occupy Wall Street (By: Kevin Derby, Sunshine State News) As their candidate’s path to the Republican nomination becomes increasingly difficult, this week the Roemer camp threw out signs that he is considering launching a third party or independent bid for the White House.

Open Primaries Trump Partisan Elections for Voter Input

2012

• Election results 2011: Voters signal that GOP overreached (By Mark Trumbull, Christian Science Monitor) Recent nationwide opinion polls reveal a frustrated electorate, with a large majority seeing the nation going down the "wrong track." Yet that frustration is fueled partly by a desire among independent voters for more moderation in policies – such as compromises by both parties on core issues such as taxes and spending.
• GOP: Benefits for rich could go (By: Marin Cogan and Manu Raju, Politico) The Occupy Wall Street movement has generated enormous media attention for its protests across the country as it tries to highlight income inequality — so much so that the language is creeping into Republican talking points and interviews.
• Too many story changes for Cain (By Em Gorham, Duquesne Duke - Dusquesne University) Republican voters are not the only people that Cain needs to worry about. In the United States, 20 states have open primaries, meaning that Democrats and Republicans can vote in whichever primary they'd like, including the ever important early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, as well as my home state, Virginia.

Hankster Sunday Morning Chronicle November 6, 2011

Hey hey Hanksteristas!

Most recently I have tried to "segment" my posts so that they are more specific to the particular topics of the day for followers of the independent movement. Hope you have found this helpful.

However, today I present some of the most pertinent news and opinion articles for independents.

Enjoy!

-NH

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Books: Tom Brokaw writes about changes in America (By ROBMERRILL, AP, Fayetteville Observer NC) Each chapter of "The Time of Our Lives" begins with a box divided into two sections, FACT and QUESTION. Some sample facts: Independent voters make up about 30 percent of the electorate...
• New Louisiana Voter Registration Figures for Each Qualified Party (Ballot Access News) Independent voters, plus those registered in unqualified parties, equal 23.41%.
• Ind. candidates ditch party labels on campaign material as voters claim their independence (TOM LoBIANCO  Associated Press, Daily Reporter - Greenfield IN) Indiana politics expert Andrew Downs says ditching the party ties may be as much about appealing to the state's growing pool of independent voters as about the simple logistics of keeping campaign signs easy to read.
• Unaffiliated voters remain key part of South Jersey electorate (By STEVEN LEMONGELLO, Press of Atlantic City) Political parties go to great lengths to get their message across to an important segment of the electorate — the unaffiliated voters, or those not registered with a particular party.
• Ohio voters can strike a better balance (BY DAVID KUSHMA, THE BLADE EDITOR, Toledo Blade) More recently, we've seen nakedly partisan efforts by Columbus Republicans to cement their political dominance by working to disfranchise voters who aren't likely to support them, and by drawing new maps for Ohio's U.S. House delegation and General Assembly that mock the idea of fair representation. And much of this has occurred without any pretense of allowing political opponents -- or citizens -- a piece of an open, inclusive policy-making process.
• People’s Veto is move in wrong direction (By Doug Rooks, Sun Journal - Maine) Hearings on LD 1376 yielded no evidence that the 38-year practice of Election Day registration, or EDR, caused any problems… Is there evidence, at least, that banning EDR would benefit Republicans? Sadly, yes. In 2008, Democratic EDR registrations (13,910) surpassed Republican (5,452) by better than 2-1. But both parties were dwarfed by independent voters (22,210). Independents are those, by and large, the GOP would shut out.

2012

• A year from election, Obama faces tough road ahead (By Dan Balz, Jon Cohen and Chris Cillizza, The Washington Post in the Denver Post) Independents, whose allegiances have shifted rapidly, hold the key. But Obama's hopes also depend on rebuilding the coalition of African- Americans, Latinos, younger voters and suburbanites that elected him. NOTE ASSUMPTION:  AAs, Ls, YVs and "suburbanites" are not independent, they are Democrats, because all liberals are Democrats. NEXT!
• SUNDAY ISSUE: Obama not winning over Pa., but beating GOP foes (By Marc Levy, Associated Press, Meadville Tribune) When Obama is not lined up against a named opponent, 52 percent of those surveyed by Franklin & Marshall said Obama doesn’t deserve re-election next year, versus 42 percent who say he does. Independent voters, an important swing group, broke along similar lines: 51 percent to 42 percent.
• Romney, Perry target independent voters with bipartisan, cooperative tone amid political risksIn GOP campaign cooperative tone arises amid risks (By STEVE PEOPLES, Associated Press, Newser, Washington Post) "This is not the Democrats' country or the Republicans' country. This is our country," Perry said during a recent campaign stop in Iowa, arguing that the country's troubles are ideologically blind and not Democratic vs. Republican.
• Legislators trying to get down to most basic issues (Kevin Landrigan, Nashua Telegraph) Still, there’s little doubt today that [McCain's] crushing victory over Bush in New Hampshire’s primary was in no small part linked to that anti-deficit, anti-party partisan message resonating especially with independent voters.

OCCUPY WALL STREET
'Move Your Money' march winds through downtown Saturday with support of Occupy Portland (Mike Francis, The Oregonian) Roughly 200 people marched through the drizzle Saturday morning in a noisy but peaceful demonstration supporting "Move Your Money" day. Chanting "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out," the marchers left citizens' arrest warrants at downtown branches of Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase banks, all of which were closed.




LOOK FOR a Hankster Special Report on OWS, coming soon!

Working Families Party Organizing Campaign in Support of Taxing Wealthy

OCCUPY WALL STREET
Pressure to Raise Taxes - Democrats, Labor Push Cuomo to Drop Opposition to New Levy on the Wealthy (By JACOB GERSHMAN, Wall Street Journal) Entering the ring is the labor-backed Working Families Party, an influential force in state politics that stood on the sidelines during budget season last spring. Its detente with Mr. Cuomo appears to have ended, as party officials say they're organizing a media and field campaign in support of taxes on the wealthy. "We're in this fight full-throttle because the times simply demand no less of us," said Dan Cantor, the party's executive director.

Occupy Wall Street Drummers Beat the Weather in Zuccotti Park

Occupy Wall Street drummers, Zuccotti Park, NYC October 31, 2011

Demand for Open Primaries and Congressional Hearings on Status of Independent Voters Appears at Occupy Wall Street Protests

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Start by listening (Star Press - Indiana, Written by AUDREY KIRBY, Muncie) Not every person lining Wall Street is a jobless hippie or just another loquacious liberal. Many of those protesting are independent voters with no commitment to one political party. They're exercising their First Amendment right, and quite frankly, they are sick of the extreme imbalance of the nation's wealth as well as the dishonesty associated with those who have most of it.
• Occupy Harlem Campaign launched (By Donna Lamb, Black Star News) Two political proposals sought endorsement of the Occupy Congress campaign to occupy the local offices of members of Congress unless they sign a pledge to vote down any proposed cuts to working people's programs and for a congressional hearing in Washington, DC to address the second-class status of independent voters, which make up 41 percent of the electorate.
• Local Occupy Wall Street chapter targets lobbyists (By JASON NEVEL, State Journal Register IL) On Saturday, about 300 Occupy Springfield protesters marched through downtown before placing a notice of eviction for corporate lobbyists inside the east-side doors of the Statehouse… Cahnman, who is a candidate in the 96th District legislative race, told the crowd that lawmakers ignored the majority of their constituents when they voted against having open primaries in Illinois.

Occupy Wall Street Weathers the Storm

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Occupy Harlem! No One Has Suffered More Than Us From Plutocracy (Glen Ford, Executive Editor of BlackAgendaReport.com)
• #OccupyWallSt Roundup, Day 42 (By JILLIAN DUNHAM, NY Times/ City Room) with links to main stream media including a piece from NY Observer called "A POPS Up Gallery: Aritsts to Occupy Midtown Plaza Sunday"
• WFP lauds David Soares on Occupy Albany (Posted by Jimmy Vielkind, Capitol bureau, Albany Times Union/ Capitol Confidential) Demonstrators at Occupy Albany have also shared praise with Albany Police officials for resisting the eviction edict, and, it seems, rightfully so. But Soares is perfectly positioned to pick up the endearment of the left-leaning supporters of Occupy Albany, including the WFP, which is composed of labor unions and progressive groups.

Occupy Wall Street Letter-Writing Campaign

OCCUPY WALL STREET
Occupy Wall Street barrages banks with letters - Joined by foreclosure victims and activists, protesters Friday will deliver more than 6,500 personal letters collected in less than two weeks to bankers across the city. (By Daniel Massey, Crain's New York) The Occupy the Boardroom website, a collaboration between Occupy Wall Street and the advocacy groups Alliance for a Greater New York and New York Communities for Change, has received international attention since it launched earlier this month. “Just got evicted while your banker gets bonuses?” the site asks. “Share your special story with someone who ought to know.”

Occupy Wall Street Hits a Stride

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Tent Pressure (Gotham Gazette/ Wonkster) It is getting cold out there and the protesters at Occupy Wall Street are starting to notice. So, Bill Lipton of the Working Families Party sent out an e-mail to supporters this morning asking them to put pressure on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to allow tents  in Zuccotti Park.
• Occupational Therapy (By Lisa Fabrizio, American Spectator) However supportive he may be of their aims, Barack Obama and his messiah-like campaign of light did much to erase the memory of the left's propensity to participate in angry demonstrations against the American Way of Life and so attracted many independent voters to his side. But riding to the rescue like so many socialist cavalrymen come the largely unoccupied occupiers of Zuccotti Park, just in time to remind America what a nation where 99 percent of its population consisted of slackers and malcontents would look like. And if the Obama Administration makes the critical mistake of hitching their wagon to this group of losers, he will soon join their ranks.
• Poll: Election 2012 Shaping Up To Pit Doom Against Gloom (by Frank James, NPR) Seniors, who gave Romney an advantage in August, have begun to desert the Republican front-runner, who is now losing these voters by a 3-point margin. More dramatically, Romney was winning 52 percent of independent voters in August; he is now at 45 percent with this key bloc. His biggest drop has come among independent women—who swung for Romney by a 22-point margin in August. Obama is now winning independent women by 2 points.
• Occupy Politics (Democracy Corps, Carville-Greenberg) The biggest shift against the Republicans has come from independents, who are increasingly turned off by what they see and hear out of Washington.  According to exit polls, Republicans won independents last November by a 19-point margin.  Their advantage had narrowed to 17 points in August.  Strikingly, Republicans are now winning independents by just 7 points. Seniors have also pulled back from these Republicans in big numbers.  In last November’s exit polls, Republicans won seniors by a 21-point margin.  This advantage has completely disappeared, with the vote among seniors now basically even (45-46.)

Pollsters and Pundits Jockey to Control 'Occupy Wall Street' Message

You can follow global Occupy Wall Street livestream here

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• NOM trying to appeal to anger over Wall Street to raise money for its N.Y. PAC (By Sofia Resnick, American Independent) A banner reads: “Same Sex Money Dance for the NY GOP Four – Fundraiser Sponsored by Billionaires.” The ad was in response to an Oct. 13 fundraiser held for the aforementioned senators, hosted by Republican supporters of gay marriage, such as Mayor Bloomberg, hedge fund managers Paul E. Singer and Daniel S. Loeb and software entrepreneur and philanthropist Tim Gill, who founded the LGBT-rights organization the Gill Foundation in 1994.
• Protests Present Dilemma for Democrats Views of Some Occupy Wall Street Demonstrators May Turn Off Moderates Party Seeks to Attract (By DOUGLAS BELKIN in Chicago, TAMARA AUDI in Los Angeles and DANNY YADRON in Washington, D.C., Wall Street Journal) Of the protesters interviewed by Journal reporters at random in New York, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area, about a third said they are unemployed and nearly three quarters said they have college degrees or are pursuing them. About a quarter identified themselves as Democrats. Most called themselves independent or unaffiliated. The median age was 26.
• Swing voters respond better to ‘99 percent’ than ‘Occupy Wall Street’ (Posted by Suzy Khimm, Washington Post/ Wonkblog) So far, it’s not “Occupy Wall Street,” but its companion slogan, “We are the 99 percent,” that most effectively captures independent support, according to preliminary findings by Celinda Lake, a leading Democratic pollster…. By contrast, “ ‘We are the 99 percent’ had a much more immediately political, values-oriented connection. ‘That’s me, that’s what’s wrong, the 1 percent is greedy,’ ” Lake explained. (She adds that the slogan was explained to focus groups as pitting the 99 percent against the 1 percent.)

Occupy Wall Street Scenes

Independentvoting.org organizer Bryan Puertas gathering support for Congressional hearings on the second class citizenship of independent voters.

Occupy Wall Street Interviews

Report From the Field: Occupy Wall Street