Kos Pumping Fundraising for Joe Garcia

The lead story on DailyKos right now is by Kos on a Zogby poll showing Obama with a big lead in South Florida. But it also includes this little gem regarding raising money for Joe Garcia:

"We are almost halfway to our goal of 1,000 contributors to our new ActBlue page. But I'd like a secondary goal as we close out the fundraising quarter -- Garcia is at 160 contributors as of this writing. I'd like to get that to 250 contributors. I know lots of people want to send a message to Bush that raising money for his most loyal lieutenants will cost him. I also know there are more than 90 south Florida readers of this site, and here's your chance to give a boost to one of your locals fighting the good fight for the good of our country.

So let's get Garcia to 250 contributors and help paint South Florida a delicious shade of Blue."

Can't we help Kos and Joe Garcia out?

Full story here:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/24/134034/392/841/541230

Bill Nelson in Bradenton Today

Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson is holding another Town Hall meeting in the Bay Area today. Nelson will be at the Bradenton City Hall at 3:30 this afternoon.

Earlier this month, Nelson held a Town Hall meeting in Pasco County. That's where he ran into Susan S. The result of that encounter was a diary by Susan atop the Rec List at DailyKos.

As Susan wrote it on DKos, that encounter went like this:

Nelson decided that since no one else had brought up the Iraq War, he would tell us his take on it. Unfortunately for him, he began his explanation with a disclaimer about how he and the Congress had been lied to about the intelligence going into the war. Well that was it for me. I yelled out to him:

"Then why, when you know they can't be trusted, when you know they lie to you, did you vote for the FISA bill that gives the incompetent Bush administration more power to spy on American citizens?"

Then, when the St. Petersburg Times mischaracterized her confrontation with Nelson, Susan wrote an excellent letter taking the Times to task for their careless reporting.

So, fellow Kossacks, anybody going to be in Bradenton today?

The Face(s) of the Democratic Party

I purposely did not embed this as a YouTube link. That's because I just want you to focus on this picture.


What is remarkable about it? Is it the words that were said on this program? Follow me below the fold...


On Sunday, August 11, 2007, Markos Moulitsas and Harold Ford Jr. faced off on Meet the Press to talk about the future of the Democratic Party. The words that were spoken on this program have sparked dozens of diaries and probably thousands of comments by now.

That a conversation between the founder of DailyKos and the Chairman of the DLC would even be on Meet the Press is remarkable enough in and of itself. But take another look at this image. What do you see? I see a 37 year old black man (Harold Ford, Jr) and a 36 year old Hispanic / Greek man (Markos Moulitsas). I see the future (and the present) of the Democratic Party. This is the Democratic Party whose contenders for the Presidential nomination this cycle include a woman, an African American and an Hispanic.

This is the Democratic Party that always has and still does look more like America than the other guys. The values of the Democratic Party are the values of the vast majority of Americans. This is the Democratic Party that proudly displays its diversity. This is the Democratic Party that shares the values of The Progressive Majority in this country.

So take another look at that picture. While you are doing so, remember that the values that unite us are greater than the issues that divide us. If we can remember that, we will retake the White House in 2008 and expand our majorities in Congress.

A Picture To Use - Over and Over Again

I just posted the following comment on Jeffrey Feldman's DKos diary Frameshop: The Photo The GOP Wants To Hide :

The Gopers have been trying very hard to make inroads with African Americans here in Florida. Florida Kossacks should take full advantage of these photos in making our case to the black community.

The photo is of the Republican Presidential candidates who showed up at the NAACP Convention. All one of them - Tom Tancredo.

So the next time you hear of GOP efforts to make inroads into the African American community, make sure and get this photo out there, along with the message:

Here's how much the Republican Party really cares about you.

Florida Kossacks Unite

I have been trying to put together a list of Florida Kossacks (DailyKos users from Florida for the uninitiated.) We can blame this whole thing on Susan S. She thought a Tampa Bay Kossack email list would be a good thing to put together after the election. I thought that was such a good idea that I have been trying to expand it across Florida.

Well, it's been pretty much hit or miss here so far. So, I put on my thinking cap and said to myself, "Self, how are we going to go about getting more Florida Kossacks onto this list?" Can you see the light bulb coming on now? So Self answers back, "Well you dummy, why don't you set up a blog for Florida kossacks and other interested folk?"

So, here we are at Florida Kossacks. I thought maybe if we had a central place to post our diaries maybe more Floridians would see them. I know that we have a lot to say about things of particular interest to Floridians. I don't see why you couldn't post them on DKos and cross post them here. Or maybe there are some things you would just want to post here - or whatever.

Anyway, my hope is to start something here that would be useful to Florida Progressives in coping with the problems and opportunities that we face here in the Sunshine State.

I want to invite all Florida Kossacks and anyone else who has an interest in all things Florida to drop by the blog and see what's going on. If you are interested enough to want to publish, drop me a note at:

gatordem at verizon dot net

and we'll set you up for that.

I am certainly open to any suggestions about how to do this better and / or make it more useful or more interesting or just plain different than it is. So hurt me, but not too bad.

I hope to see you all around the FL-Kossack blog soon.