SVGOP chair: elected women are "angry and bitter female politicians"

Imagine my surprise when the new Chair of the SVGOP made this comment yesterday:

"For all the Reagan Democrats who had supported Hillary, this decision clinches it for the McCain ticket," Mullen said. "Having Palin locks these women in. Women are looking for a positive role model, not the angry and bitter female politicians we've seen so much of lately."

Angry and bitter female politicians? Does Mr. Mullen think that Dolores Carr, the elected Republican District Attorney of Santa Clara County is a "bitter and angry" female politician? Or how about Laurie Smith, elected Republican Sheriff of Santa Clara County? How about the rest of the few Republican women who hold elected office in our county?


But then again, if I were a local Republican, man or woman, chances are that I would be bitter and angry given the leadership of the SVGOP.

Mr. Mullen, time to take your foot out of your mouth.

And for those of you who had any questions left about the reasons our local Democratic Party is so strong, well, as Mr. Mullen demonstrates, the SVGOP just isn't ready for prime time.

Cross posted at SCCDP.org

"The hope we confess."

Whatever your politics, there is no doubt that last night Obama gave not only a historic speech, but a speech that defined a turning point in this election. Earlier I wrote a post about why the local Democratic Party is so strong, and in that post I mentioned our Democratic ideals, our values. Today I would like to share with you a most extraordinary article, written by a conservative, about Obama's speech last night.

In the introduction the writer, Andrew Sullivan, talks about liberalism, and how Obama spoke of liberalism, and Sullivan explains it better then I could ever have done:

It was a liberal speech, more unabashedly, unashamedly liberal than any Democratic acceptance speech since the great era of American liberalism. But it made the case for that liberalism - in the context of the decline of the American dream, and the rise of cynicism and the collapse of cultural unity. His ability to portray that liberalism as a patriotic, unifying, ennobling tradition makes him the most lethal and remarkable Democratic figure since John F Kennedy.

Locally and nationally the political discourse has never been worse. Local labor leaders and the Democratic Party are vilified for their work, and what exactly is that work? To make sure that the people who work each day in our city are paid fair wages, to make sure that all children in our city have health care, local labor leaders are not perfect, the Democratic Party is not perfect, I am far from perfect, but our shortcomings do not somehow translate into something to be feared and mocked.

I do not always agree with labor, and I have supported candidates that they did not. Make no mistake though, while I have had my disagreements with labor, I honor, respect and cherish all that labor stands for, because without our labor movement we would not be the America we are. Labor has given us a strong middle class, they have fought and died for safe working conditions, for an eight hour day, labor has ensured that no American child can be forced to work 12 hour days in factories as was once the norm in our nation.

My liberalism, the liberalism of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, is not evil, it is not unpatriotic, it is not divisive, rather it is the exact opposite of all those things, as Obama and Sullivan point out.

And though local Democrats were divided in the primary, we are more then unified now, we stand together, and will do all we can to support a man who comes from humble roots, a man who worked hard for everything he has, a man who represents all that is great in our nation, a man who proudly shares our Democratic values and ideals, Barack Obama.

Why is our local Democratic Party so strong?

I have read endless diatribes on other blogs, which will remain nameless, that do nothing but attack our local Democratic Party. Sadly, those who attack the party are the ones who really haven't done much besides further their own agenda for decades.

And when they call the local party corrupt, they are calling me corrupt, when all I am is someone who works for a living, a person who has a family, who doesn't have a personal agenda, just an average person who believes in the values and ideals of the Democratic Party. What, exactly, is so corrupt about wanting health care for all of our residents? What is so corrupt in seeking fair wages? Good schools? Land use policies that work for everyone in San Jose? And it is these ideals, and the fact that our local Democratic Party actively works for the betterment of all our residents, it is these very things that makes our local party so strong.

Our local Democratic Party is successful because we represent all people who live and work in San Jose, we have wealthy members, we have very poor members, we have religious and non religious members, we have gay members, straight members, and we all share a desire to work towards policies that do not put money into our own pockets, rather they are policies that help and assist our community, our city, and those in our community that sometimes need a boost up.

Those who attack the local Democratic Party don't really know the party, they don't know the people who are the party. Oh, it makes for nice copy to attack the Democratic Party, makes some feel so superior, makes them feel so moral, the reality is so much different. Those doing the attacking are not the people you find knocking on your door, they are not in the trenches doing the hard work needed to win campaigns, no, you won't find those detractors doing much of anything other then throwing stones.

For instance, most of the members of the Democratic Central Committee work for a living, they are teachers, doctors, janitors, nurses, part time workers like me. We have families, some of us attend church on a regular basis, we volunteer our time and serve on city and county commissions, we work hard to help elect fellow Democrats. We register voters, we stuff envelopes, walk precincts, we make phone calls, and we do this all for our fellow Democrats, not for ourselves.

The next time you read about how corrupt the local Democratic Party is in, ask yourself who is making that claim, ask yourself what that persons agenda really is, and ask yourself who is really corrupt and out of touch.

Our local Democratic Party is strong because of the volunteers we have, because we work together on the issues that effect so many of us here in the valley, we want good jobs, we want health care, good schools, and our message resonates with voters.

When the local GOP finally figures out that two people of the same sex getting married in no way effects my personal life (or yours for that matter), when the local GOP figures out that the separation of church and state is a good thing, when the local GOP understands that "labor" means working class folks, then the local GOP might also start to understand that their agenda is out of touch with the residents of our city and county.

Our local Democratic Party is strong because of people like Phyllis Ward, Jim Brady, Clark Williams, David Cohen, and so many others, some you have heard of, most you have not, but all dedicated, hard working folks who volunteer their time and energy for what they believe in.

And this, this is what makes our local Democratic Party strong, people who believe in justice, fairness and democracy, people who are willing to work in the trenches in support of these ideals.

I'm in

Ok, so no one has a clue who San Jose Revealed is, I sure as hell don't, though I have my guesses. On this blog you will know at least one person by name, me. You may not agree with me, but you will know me. Oh, I guess I should sort of explain who I am.

My name is Jacquie Heffner, and I have lived in San Jose for over 20 years, before that I lived for three years in Monterey, and before that I lived in San Francisco, where I was born. I work part time, and have done a bit of political consulting, currently I also serve on the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee.

Why am I involved with politics? Because I believe that through politics we can work together for the greater good. We are very lucky in our area to have, for the most part, great elected officials, people who really care about serving the public, people who try to do the right thing, sometimes fail, but at least seek to serve something greater then themselves.

Through politics we can help those who need our help, we can further policies that help us all achieve our American dream, we can work together to improve our schools, medical insurance, better mass transit, better housing, fair wages, we can create and maintain programs that will serve our youth and keep them off the streets, there is no end to what can be done through political means to make our society a better place for all citizens.

We also have in our area a very disorganized and ineffective Republican Party, which, for the most part, has made my job as a Democrat that much easier. The local GOP is, in a word, meaningless. Now that is not a bad thing if you are a Democrat, because one can count on the local GOP to get behind and support some of the worse candidates on record. Two recent ones come to mind: Hon Lien and Ram Singh.

Both of these folks were endorsed and actively supported by the GOP, and both were unqualified, had no experience and little or no community involvement. Who can forget the YouTube videos of Hon Lien's performances at the D4 debates? And while there is no video online, I can assure you that Ram Singh was no better in the D2 debates. And guess what? Both candidates lost, continuing the SVGOP's record of losses, and Singh lost to a non-candidate.

In our current round of elections Republican Dean Andal is seeking to unseat Jerry McNerney for CD-11. Andal is no different from the GOP of today, and that means that he is mired in a scandal that makes keeping CA CD-11 in the hands of democrats all the easier.

And we also have local Republican Pat Waite (running for SJ City Council seat 8) creating his own mini-scandal just recently with his slight of hand on his endorsement page. Seems he included the San Jose Mercury News as one of his "endorsers," when in fact they had endorsed his opponent, Rose Herrera. Of course he also abbreviated the quote on his page, leaving off the most important part about how he would not build bridges on the city council. Of course we heard excuses and the offending information was pulled, but the damage had already clearly been done.

For the most part I will just post some thoughts on whatever local issue grabs my attention, once in a while I might have a tidbit or two for you. And by the way, I love living in San Jose, and why I love it so is a whole other post ; )

Welcome To The San Jose Post

This is a little experiment we're undertaking to broaden the voices heard in San Jose.

Modelled (extremely loosely) after the Huffington Post our goal is to share the readership of San Jose Revealed with nearly anyone interested in getting a point of view across. Neighborhood activists, candidates for office, schizophrenic Council gadflies - all are welcome.

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