Is there any way to set it up so we can track how many people from Balloon Juice donate to Barack? It would be interesting to see how much the collective readership of this site can raise.
*** Update ***
Ok, here is an ActBlue page we will try to use:
JGabriel
You could try joining Blue America. Of course, that would entail working with Jane Hamsher…
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Conservatively Liberal
That would be interesting to see, but how to do it, keep personal information private and yet show that the contribution was made is the big question. The ‘honor system’ would not work as it would be trolled to death by Hillbots and anyone with an axe to grind.
Any ideas people? I need coffee before I engage my thought processes too much. I was up late because the daughter’s laptop croaked on her (on her birthday, no less). Turns out it was a bad SODIMM module (RAM) but luckily I had a spare matching pair of 512’s on hand for her. One more late unplanned gift for her I guess…lol
Good thing ol’ Dad fixes cars and computers, I sure save her a lot of $$$.
Ninerdave
I thought TZ was doing something similar a while back. If I recall you can have people donate via your my barack page and that will tally it for you.
eastriver
Or how about how much your readers give to Hillary?
dougie smooth
Yeah, you can make a my.barackobama homepage for any group you want. Remember the black panthers BS? And his website has a fundraising widget where you can see your fundraising progress and set goals, etc…
Lee
I’ve already donated some to Obama. If you set up a page for this blog to donate thru, I’ll donate more….
4tehlulz
I’ve pretty much maxed out what I can afford to give to the MUP for awhile; if you have something by the fall I could probably spare a dime or two then.
MIWolverine
You can set up your own fundraising page at Act Blue and then keep sending your readers over there to raise money. That’s what most of the other big blogs do.
dougie smooth
Get on the stick already, John. I’ve got $25 burning a hole in my pocket, and it’s 70 and sunny with Leinenkugels on about a dozen taps in a five block radius. (suck it Michael! suck a big fat berry weiss.)
I also think you should pick a fundraising fight with another site. Who else is in the bag for Barry and has similar traffic?
HeartlandLiberal
$150.00 to date. That was after an initial $200.00 to the Edwards campaign.
HRC will never get a dime or my vote. Guaranteed. I returned latest Democratic National Committee fundraising questionnaire with no money and an explanation why they would not get another dime, namely, the evil words and deeds of the Clintons, the DLC, and the failure of the Democrats in Congress to restore the Constitution and the rule of law.
I will ONLY donate directly to specific candidates or groups that I know are doing the work needed to get us out of the mess the Bush/Cheney regime has gotten us into.
And you know, that does NOT include nuking Iran, among other things, H. Clinton!
KCinDC
Okay, I got it started. Can’t afford much at the moment, since I’ve been giving elsewhere. Let’s get that total up!
Michael
Gave!
Luke
This reader has and will donate to Hillary.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
I already have something like $70 in to Obama through ActBlue already, though I’m pretty sure I can’t retroactively add it to our total.
KCinDC
Mark Penn thanks you for your contribution to his new mansion, Luke.
PeterJ
Do you get a thank you note from Mark Penn for every donation to the Clinton campaign? For helping to pay back the money that Clinton owes him…
jenniebee
I’m really looking forward to only one of these two things:
1. Somebody asking Obama if a nuclear response is off the table should an ally of ours be subject to a nuclear attack. He’ll of course say that it isn’t, because if he doesn’t, we’ll get:
2. McCain’s new theme: we can’t consider deterence to be a viable option in our nuclear foreign policy anymore because we already have a serious contender for the White House say that he wouldn’t consider responding to a nuclear attack with a nuclear counter-attack; therefore, we have to attack Iran pre-emptively and make sure they can’t get nukes (whether they’re developing them or not).
I know it’s hard to get over the urge to hate Hillary and wax apoplectic over anything she or anybody supporting her says, but on this one, the MUPpet frothing really takes the cake. It’s going to be entertaining watching you explain how it’s ok when Obama says it but not when Hillary did. And if he’s asked, and he will be, what his response would be to Iran attacking Israel with nukes, he will say that he’d push the red button because not to do so would be a huge tactical mistake, in both domestic and international politics.
I like Obama. I hope he wins the nomination – I’m outright confident that he will. But the brouhaha over this is not only absurd in and of itself, it’s comical that you don’t even get that acknowledging that we have the ability to “obliterate” any nation that uses nuclear weapons also “obliterates” the neo-con argument for acting pre-emptively to stop other nations from developing WMDs.
ThymeZone
jenniebee, it’s not about acknowledging our nuclear power. It’s about chest-thumping about it on the eve of a primary election, to stir up that kind of talk and get some good demagoguin’ going on election day, and at the same time lay down a marker on the world scene that the United States is run by a bunch of crazy fucking idiots who are jonesin’ to drop a mushroom cloud on somebody.
That’s my opinion. And the correct answer to “would you push the red button if Iran nuked Israel” would be, “Yes, but I think our policy toward Iran needs to be based on a lot more than weapon-rattling. Iran deserves better than to contemplate suicide over its disagreements with Israel, and I’ll pursue a foreign policy that emphasizes that imperative.”
Surabaya Stew
Darn it John, I just gave Obama $25 early this morning. Thanks to your good idea, I will have to do it again tonight! I’d donate now, but I left my wallet by my computer table at home while looking for an appropriate Credit Card to use for the last donation. Oh well, just reading how much HRC supposedly raised makes me wanna puke, so perhaps giving $25 endlessly to Obama is an appropriate antidote…
Notorious P.A.T.
You don’t go around saying “if someone attacks X, we’ll do Y” like Hillary did. That isn’t how deterrence works. And it’s borderline insanity to say we’d “obliterate” Iran if they used a nuclear weapon, which our country’s own intelligence says they are years and years away from having anyway.
I dontated to Obama inspired by this site a week ago, and I’d be willing to do it again come my next paycheck.
Thomas
Just matched the first 5 contributors’ $260
P.Nitty
John, I started reading this blog a couple years ago, before your “conversion”. As a liberal, i disagreed with a lot of what you said but always enjoyed your writing and appreciated your convictions and ability to argue on behalf of them. that being said, i never thought i’d live to see the day when you would put up a post with a link to ActBlue and encourage your readers to donate to a democratic candidate, especially one as (ostensibly) liberal as Obama!
Michael D.
I think the page would have gotten a lot more attentiomn if you titled it:
B-J for Obama.
Throwin Stones
Gave $25 to Obama this morning
Stooleo
I’m in for 20.00. I’ve been donating small but increasing amounts whenever there are moments of manufactured outrage (Wrightgate, Bittergate). The way things are going, I presume that I’ll be much poorer before the end of it all.
Michael D.
I can’t donate (non-citizen) but I sent the page to several friends.
qwerty42
John, why don’t you put a permanent link to the donation site on your page (and for those who want, yes there is an HRC donation site at ActBlue as well – not associated with John, of course)
Say, should there be a “Yearly Balloon Juice” (I’ll leave it to others to come up with the inevitable name).
Dreggas
I’m in for 10, it’s all I can do at the moment until May but will probably be in more then.
Dreggas
I’ve organized events like this for other online stuff. Could easily organize something like it in Vegas or pretty much anywhere if enough people were game.
flitterbic
Contributed $100 last week. Sent in another $25 this morning after hearing her say “the tide is turning” on NPR.
All I could think of was the occasional “red tide” from my childhood days on Long Island. And when that tide turned nobody went in the water unless they felt like itching their eyes and barfing for a spell.
Suzan
I’m in for $100. If you keep this near the top of your page so I see it often…I can prolly drop some more as is my wont every time HRC pisses me off.
matt
i donated $15 early on, and then another $15 further along… both to Obama.
I may give more later, but for now, i’m a tad tapped out.
Zuzu
Too late for me. I donated $100 to Barack last night, for what it’s worth.
Will try the Blue thing next time.
Ninerdave
Yeah we can hold it in Orgrimmar.
Zuzu
Oh yes, I think I gave at least $50 before that.
For whatever it’s worth.
Billy K
I donated Monday. I’ll use this page next time (I give a little every month or two).
Yes, please post a permanent link on the front page.
Andrew
In like Flynn.
Tip ActBlue while you’re at it!
flavortext
I’ve already given $60, but looks like I’ve got an excuse to donate again, muahaha.
Pooh
~$700 to the MUP, prior to this, but will hit the jar again under direction of Fearless Leader Cole.
tjproudamerican
Thank you John Cole & Balloon Juice!
I am a (more than weekly) Mass attending 31 years married man. My wife & I have a soon-to-be 25 year old daughter and we live in Hillary’s home state.
We all despise her and Bill and wish they would go away. But really, here in Western New York, there are usually about 4 out of 5 people who hate her.
How did she win?
Are there that many racists?
Are there that many people who are so old they think Hillary is a leader?
Would anyone in their right mind follow Hillary anywhere?
Even Bill Clinton sleeps and does everything else far away from Hillary.
My wife and I donate to Obama through a site my nephew put together. I will be 60 soon. This is the first election I have seen young people interested in a candidate since McGovern. Hillary and Bill win because they triangulate and turn people away from politics.
Obama cannot say it, and neither can the fakes like Armando and Jeralyn at Talk Left, but working class older whites are stuppid (they voted for Reagan while he took things away from them) and racists (“The Greatest Generation” served in a SEGREGATED Army in WW2).
They are not evil, and blacks certainly pre-judge whites too, but they are racist.
This fight of Obama’s is a good fight.
we gave him 500 before and we are giving him 500 today through my nephew’s site.
Obama is the future and Hillary and Bill are the Archie and Edith Bunker of the Baby Boomers.
Memo to The Clinton’s: Go home.
John Cole
Which one? Illinois, Arkansas, New York, or Pennsylvania? She has more homes than a foster kid.
Josh E.
This argument is nonsense. Deterrence doesn’t “obliterate” the neo-con argument that Iran is non-deterrable. The neo-con argument is wrong, but the “obliterate” argument does nothing at all to rebut it. It similarly does not address the neo-con argument that a WMD-possessing state could transfer WMDs to a non-state actor after developing them without the United States being able to determine which nation had developed the WMDs. Finally, threatening Iran in this way may deter Iran from using nukes, but it certainly encourages them to develop them.
The Umbrella of Deterrence is the kind of simplistic argument that shallow thinkers think is profound, which is why dipshits like Armando Llorens are so impressed by it.
KRK
I gave $50.
re Clinton’s “obliteration” comment, check out this post at Americablog with comments from Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative at the New America Foundation and founder of the leading blog on nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, ArmsControlWonk.com.
Opening quote: “She handled it exactly wrong.”
Criticism of these Clinton remarks aren’t much ado about nothing; it gets to the fundamental issue of her hawkishness.
flavortext
I think that answers your question John. Snark aside, I just added $65 to make it an even $1700 for Balloon Juice, hurrah!
cleek
my wife gives me exasperated looks when i donate, now. so, i’m down to just a $50, this time ’round.
plus, the guy’s got $42M in the bank!
jenniebee
That’s not the argument they make publicly though. They assert that Iran could get the bomb. Period. Hillary just filled in the rest of that statement: Iran might, maybe, let’s just say hypothetically, get the bomb. And then they’d have a bomb they can’t use offensively anyway because doing so is national suicide. Pointing that out, by the way, is not “encouraging them” to develop the bomb. They already know that the only value of having a nuclear weapon is as a deterrence factor. McCain threatening conventional air strikes is encouragement to get nukes to deter him; Hillary giving a preview of the standard welcome to the nuclear club is not.
As for the possibility of supplying a terrorist group, nuclear material has a clear signature from the reactor in which it was made, so even if a state passed weapons-grade plutonium to a non-state actor who used it, it would still be possible to determine the origination and retaliate against the responsible (for lack of a better word) state. Because of this, if deterrence is a legitimate strategy against direct state action, it follows that it is a legitimate strategy against indirect state action (i.e. supplying a third party with nukes) as well.
Broad assertions backed by neither evidence nor reasoning is the kind of simplistic rhetoric that shallow thinkers think is convincing. In spite of broad nuclear proliferation over the last 50 years and a very hostile cold war, deterrence has worked, at least insofar as it has been the strategy most actors have embraced, we’re all still here, and very few of us glow in the dark.
To TZ: I can appreciate the view that she’s just trying to look tough, but I’m just not into (obviously) the idea that everything Hillary does is wrong by virtue of her doing it, even if what she did is to say something truthful (anybody going to contest its truthfulness – that we can “obliterate” Iran? or that she was saying anything Iran and everybody else didn’t already know?). And I think your answer is a much better, more balanced response to her question. But I also think that it’s exceptionally valuable for the American people to get out of the mindset of vulnerability that has set the stage for erosion of civil liberties and pre-emptive war. We’ve got to stop thinking that it’s the end of the world if we don’t invade, or if Iran gets the bomb, or if the government can’t listen in to DNC headquarters phone calls without a warrant if they want to because otherwise we’re all dead.
Nineteen guys found a ridiculously low-tech hole in our security once and killed 3,000 people with an economy pack of box cutters. Before that, a single guy got hold of a truck, fertilizer and gasoline and took out the Murrow building. Another fellow drove a truck into a barracks, another killed 17 sailors with a dingy and an explosive invented in the 1860’s. And from this, the lesson the neo-cons have learned is that the real threat is from nukes.
Josh E.
Oh no?
Sure it is. When you tell someone you’re willing to use nuclear weapons and “obliterate” them, they have an increased incentive to attempt to level the playing field by obtaining the ability to impose disastrous consequences of their own.
This is an overstatement, to put it mildly.
I can only assume this is self-criticism, since you made one false assertion and one wild overstatement in this comment. And since I actually did provide reasons why the Umbrella of Deterrence theory has little to do with rebutting pre-emption arguments.
Again, broad claims about the history of nuclear deterrence are non-responsive to the objection that your claim that the umbrella of deterrence “obliterates” the pre-emptive war doctrine is false. Try to keep in mind what is and is not being asserted.
HRA
I am a Western New Yorker, too. My husband and I are white, middle class and in our 60s. We never voted for a Clinton. We changed our political party when Bill became president.
We support Barack Obama. We give a set amount once a month through his online site. This is the first time we contributed to any political campaign.
It’s also the first time I have to guard the TV. My husband goes a bit ballistic whenever anyone criticizes Obama. Hey, I figured out it’s keeping me in shape when I have run to protect the TV.
Keep up the good work, John. I am new to this blog and I enjoy it every day at work and at home.
Surabaya Stew
There ya go John, my $25 makes it an even $4900. Barack got a double serving of my hard earned cash thank to you!
ThymeZone
That’s a pretty astute observation.