Poverty is not a contest. More and more Americans of all colors are living in their cars. And more and more people now buy clothes from the thrift shops in the next neighborhood so that their kids can keep up appearances in school. And both blacks and whites have had enough of a handful of powerful people taking it all for themselves, usually white men with a member of a minority or a woman occasionally included. Hunger does not know the color of one's skin. And neither do basic dignity and civility.
While we all realize that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, James Webb knows exactly how much richer and he knows that we must reverse the direction of this trend - and soon. Have Afro-Americans had more to overcome in the United States? Yes, they have. Does that improve conditions for disadvantaged whites? No, it does not. And it never has. It's part of the spiral. As long as poor whites and blacks blamed each other for their problems, the wealthy don't have to worry about any backlash.
The Democratic party is the party of inclusion. Webb knows that we must continue the fight against poverty while we continue the fight for inclusion - not one or the other. In sharp contrast, however, Harris Miller's work for the defense and technology industries has directly resulted in lost opportunity for many Americans. Through his work as President of WITSA and President of ITAA he has diligently lobbied to import cheap technological labor to benefit the corporations that belong to his organizations.
Miller has benefited enormously by making a living as a Republican, working for Republican corporations, for Republican politicians, and advancing Republican principles. He talks proudly about living the American dream. But from here that dream sounds like "I've got it all and I want more." We have far too many dreamers like this in Congress already. We do not need another one.
In the company Miller just left, ITAA, there are 15 members on the board, all powerful industry executives at some of the largest defense and technology corporations in the world. Only one of them is a woman. So meet your new rich white guys, version 2006. They are Harris Miller's colleagues. From opensecrets.org, one or two have made contributions to Democrats. But seven or eight of those board members are politically active as Republicans or their companies have PACs that contribute largely to Republicans. Three of those PACs have contributed to George Allen, Miller's opponent.
Now it looks like Miller is trying to cash in on his lifestyle - Republican by day, and Democrat by night. He points to his Democratic record, while his campaign pursues Republican style whisper campaign and swiftboat tactics with a vengeance for the purpose of covering his own shortcomings and lack of substance. Here are a few.
Swift Boat Attempt #1: Miller's folks tried to spin Webb as a sexist, when in fact, Miller himself just left a lucrative position as President of an outfit whose board was over 93% male.
Swift Boat Attempt #2: Miller questions Webb's commitment to the Democratic party, when he, Miller, has been working for Republican interests for years and building up his Democratic creds to leverage his Democratic friendships precisely at a moment just like this.
Swift Boat Attempt #3: Miller folks out and out lie about James Webb's stand on affirmative action, while Miller's idea of affirmative action is to bring over cheap tech labor who happen to be ethic minorities. This meshes well with Miller's immigration "plan."
The good news is this. Miller and his cronies are worried in spite of their remarkably deep pockets. The emergence of this negative campaigning from what amounts to a Republican sleeper cell indicates that they've spent their substance. So what is next from the Miller campaign? Purple bandaids?
And what can we do about it? We will continue to put the facts out there. We will talk with our friends, our families, and our neighbors and get the truth out there about Jim Webb. And we will contrast them with the real facts about his opponent.
A Miller win is an Allen win, and a loss for us all. I made a decision to support the best candidate, and I choose to support James Webb. He does not need to focus on smearing his opponent since he possesses the ethic of service and hard work required to implement thoughtful and doable positive plans so that basic security and dignity can be restored in our country and to those who live here.
It's disgusting enough when Republicans try to use our God-given gender and ethnicity to advance their agenda. A real Democrat does not resort to these tactics. And a real statesman does not even consider initiating this approach.
Friday
Miller in Norfolk
Sean Holihan
Miller spoke for about 15-20 minutes and then took about 5 questions from the room. One was about off-shore oil drilling, which he said he was firmly against. Some of the others were basic questions you'd ask any candidate. One person (not me) stood up and asked him what was going on with the endorsements of Marsh and all the talk of affirmative action.
Great lead in.
Miller quoted Webb on affirmative action and then mentioned that local legislators Lucas and Spruill were backing him. Big impact. You could see all around the room people shaking their heads and having a general look of disgust. You couldn't have asked for anything better.
I really think that Harris Miller made a good impact in Norfolk on Thursday. Talking about his resume and his history as a chair of his local democratic party earned him some good points.
posted by Alice Marshall
I saw that Alice Marshall post yesterday and was equally as disgusted. It does illustrate the negative campaign that the Miller folks are pursuing, and no doubt that is why they deleted it. Thanks for pointing this out, because I don't think I would have gone back there to notice.
Webb's hero has always been his own grandfather, who had the guts to speak up to discrimination. This says it all about Webb's views on equality and valuing the courage to speak truth to power.
People either have a lifelong commitment to equality or they don't. Cowardly keyboard jockeys can't be relied on to take a real stand for justice, and they don't even have the spine to stand behind their own words.
Damn! I certainly wish somebody had informed the fine D's in Norfolk of this when I ran for office last year.
Seriously - do you guys think that race doesn't play in EVERY contest? Why pile on ole Harris when it happens every day, every where? Ole Harris just played the card early and openly. Usually, it's a behind-the-scenes kind of thing.
Oh really? Did he? Or, did Harris share a "massaged" resume which perpetuated the myth that he is a "tech executive", "business man" or some sort of "IT leader"?
I suspect that Miller's version of his "resume" is sharply at odds with the increasingly known FACTS.
The facts are that Miller is a pro-outsourcing and anti-American worker corporate lobbyist -- the president of the corporate ITAA and WITSA lobbies
(Miller's apt nickname among some detractors is Harris "the shiller" Miller for his subservience to elite corporate paymasters.)
Did Harris stand up and describe his legislative triumphs as head of the pro-outsourcing and pro-worker replacement ITAA lobby?
He didn't discuss the hundreds of thousands of non-immigrant "business" visa Third World workers he has helped enter the U.S. where they are used to replace American workers and fill white collar information technology jobs?
He didn't discuss the phony studies and media manipulation he engaged in while hawking mythical "labor shortages" in the IT jobs sector?
I'm not surprised that Harris didn't share these "triumps" on his way to achieving the "American Dream" (as he is fond of saying in his public statements.
Keep in mind that Miller's achievement of the "American Dream" (wealth and power) came at the cost of hundreds of thousands of American jobs and the lost dreams of millions of Americans.
My own son would have been the third generation in his family to enter software engineering. Harris Miller and his corporate accomplices have made this highly unlikely -- the equivalent of career suicide.
Harris Miller and his allies undermine the American Dream and render the entire idea of upward mobility through education and hard work untenable where unlimited outsourcing and importation of low wage replacement workers is completely legal and politically acceptable.