The Year of the PUMA

Before I start making a fool of myself, let me preface my remarks with the disclaimer that I didn’t do much research and this isn’t meant to be an authoritative article.

Why even write the article then. We need to stop fooling our self to think that the PUMA movement actually amounted to anything. It was a complete failure that did not live up to the hype.

how so?

I came on board as an online activist when I saw what the Oborgbots were up to early on during the primary. Once there was a PUMA movement, I identified with it, to show solidarity. I always voted Dem prior to this election, but the lust for an unqualified symbolic idol candidate by the misguided social engineer party elders has changed that. Now that the election is over, I don’t identify with PUMA. I am indy and shall remain for the foreseeable future. Neither party expresses who I am, not in what they say, but in their behaviors and lack of sound judgment demonstrated by their actions.

Hey Steve, thanks for a great article. You can be a PUMA! Anyone can be a PUMA, we are not an exclusive club.

As for what PUMAs will do now, I am not sure. But I do believe that the rage at the injustice done to women and to democracy will not go quietly into the night. The seeds of revolution have been planted… when they will come to fruition is hard to say, but I believe we are now going to see the Fourth Wave of the Women’s Liberation Movement.

I, too, am shocked the Republicans let Obama win. Many Repubs voted for him in the primary to keep the contest going, a risky move, I thought. And why did Repubs stay home in November?

I’ve also thought to myself, am I now a closet Republican? I think I’m a centrist, whereas before this election season I would have called myself a liberal – no more! I’m a centrist in need of a party that has principles…

PUMA was not a complete failure in any way I would define. It was a celebration of our way of life: participation in the democratic process! Did it fail at stopping Obama? Obviously yes. Was there hype? Campaign rhetoric freely flowed from all directions. The “hype” was for troop morale and propaganda value. That also flowed from all directions. I think PUMA was fundamentally a success. Mac came pretty close. Without the MSM in the pocket and the illegal cash advantage, I believe Mac would have won. We need to face the reality this president was selected in a smoke filled backroom deal by dangerous folks acting foolheartedly. Hat’s off to all PUMAs for fighting the good fight!

Obama won by what, 4% in a year that should have been a landside for Democrats. I’d say that the PUMA people did have an effect.
Put this another way had the mortgage meltdown not tanked the economy it might be President-elect McCain or only a 1% Obama victory.
Another factor was the media blo-job on the Empty Suit. Obama had problems with his associates that would have ended the career of a less beloved by the Chris Matthews crowd politician.

9.8 million people who voted for McCain said they were Hillary supporters. Hmmmm..that’s failure? The GOP lost because 14% of their voters did not bother voting. If they had, they would have won. We have enough people to form a new party or to create a revolution. Failure? We have not begun to fight.

What a great piece of “rambling!” I too have come to love NoQuarter; I don’t know about it remaining a PUMA site. I consider it a patriotic, investigative journalist site, as well as allowing for its readers to share opinions. The writers are the best! And the links to information posted by the commenters save hours of searching – so it’s a collective information database to me. As all NQ readers know, network journalism finally completely died this year, so I am doubly thankful for the hard work of all the contributors to NQ.

You spoke as well for me, Steve. Thanks.

Johnnie:

What would you know, hater!

Stop the hate!

I have a lot of thoughts on PUMA that will eventually end up in a longer article on my blog at some point.

Considering that PUMA had to organize really quickly in the face of the primary fraud, it was difficult to get anything really concrete going in such a short period of time. The upshot of this is that we had defacto spokespersons who frankly probably weren’t entirely up to the job.

Will Bowers is OK, but Darragh Murphy with her “People United Means Action” seems to have been a wash – she’s gotten a bad rap for a former McCain donation, and the change in the PUMA name, not to mention the lack of coordination between the main PUMAs, hurt us in the long run, I think.

When this whole thing started blowing up, I thought about taking on more of a leadership role with my blog, but I felt I wasn’t personally ready to handle the publicity and scrutiny that might come along with it.

I feel, however, that PUMA leadership is sorely lacking. The best leader we seem to have had in all this is Harriet Christian, who was articulate and was the only PUMA who got on national TV and CLEARLY said the words “caucus fraud.”

The rest of the PUMA leaders were simply in over their heads. We did NOT effectively get the message out about caucus fraud. The message was totally diluted over delegate issues and the fraud was never widely publicized. BIG MISTAKE.

Going forward, I am going to turn my blog into a site fighting misogyny in politics and working towards a woman president. I will work towards creating a new feminist movement. I am not interested in PUMA at this point as I do not see there is any strong leadership in PUMA with vision at this time.

LOL!

Where is Donna these days? Has Obama thrown her under the bus yet?

Why even write the article then. We need to stop fooling our self to think that the PUMA movement actually amounted to anything. It was a complete failure that did not live up to the hype.

Sixteen percent of Hillary supporters came out to vote for McCain, which was more than enough to swing the election in McCain’s favor. Like the author said, the Republicans did not come out in the same numbers as 2004. If they did, McCain would have easily won the Presidency.

Hi there, Steve in KC. What a great post. I think you’re asking many of the same questions lots of us are asking.

I don’t know if there’s a definitive answer to “what’s a PUMA”. For me, being a PUMA means that I chose, for the first time in more than 30 years of being a die-hard Dem, to NOT fall in line in the name of unity and vote for the Democratic nominee. For me, it was Party Unity My Ass, to the extent that I changed my affiliation to Independent. I still consider myself a PUMA, though, and I’ll continue to hold the feet of the Dem AND Repub parties to the fire.

I don’t know what the future of the PUMA movement is. Over at The Confluence, I think Riverdaughter is working on ways to move PUMA into the mainstream.

Tough question on whether or not you can support the new President-(s)elect, and the comparison to the hate directed at Bill Clinton. Personally, I have no problem in not supporting The Pretender. I won’t forget how he got to the position he’s in. It has nothing to do with whether or not I agree with his positions on the issues (don’t even know what those are, in fact, as he seems to change them regularly); I can’t support the means he used to achieve the ends. I personally see my non-support of The Pretender as a bit different than the hate of Clinton; that was pure hate because the upstart redneck from Arkansas dared to win the White House! Nothing they tried to pin on him was based in reality (well, except for the Monica interlude, which was just nonsense in my opinion). There’s a bit more juice with The Pretender; let’s just start with the Birth Certificate, shall we?

I for one don’t know how the Repubs could have let The Pretender win so easily. It boggles the mind. A number of people have suggested that they wanted a Dem in the White House to take the fall for the mess that’s likely going to continue for the next 4 years. It’s possible, sounds plausible.

I don’t know where the PUMA movement will go from here. I doubt it’ll ever be a political party, but it could certainly become an organization with a good deal of clout!

And like you, I intend to stay around NQ. It’ll be interesting to see what unfolds.

I, like most other LOYAL Obama supporters, have been judged by That One and have been found wanting:-)

Stop the hate!

P.S. Why can’t Kerry be SOS?
Why isn’t McCaskill Secretary of the Fan Club?

Great post Steve_KC !! Loved it and can relate to many of the things you write about.

Thank you.

I identify with the uncertainty element of Steve’s article. I don’t consider myself a PUMA. I had never heard of PUMAs until I stumbled onto NQ. (after reading Texas Darlin’s blog) But after reading the wonderful articles and posts here, written by others who were as appalled by the Democratic Party’s selection of Barack Obama as I was, NQ became a daily must-read site.
The election is over, but the articles continue to be insightful, entertaining, and diverse. Keep it up, NQ!

PUMA was very important this year. None of my friends and colleagues were PUMAs but we worked with a lot of them to achieve our goals. Just because Fraudbama got in the WH (well we hope he never gets there) doesn’t mean PUMA wasn’t effective. I am glad they existed to tell the DNC they wouldn’t take the fraud. If PUMA had been ten people or ten million it wouldn’t matter. It is a statement and one I am grateful for. I love my PUMA friends. I hope they are around for the next time this happens. If they need to organize better, whatever, that’s not my wheelhouse. But I do appreciate them for trying. It’s very easy to argue who to blame for Fraudbama getting where he is. But, truth be told, the only people to truly blame are the Dems who nominated him, the DNC, ACORN, the media and the perpetrators of fraud throughout the Primary and GE. If the PUMAs came out to fight for the truth, God bless them.

I don’t know where the PUMA movement will go from here. I doubt it’ll ever be a political party, but it could certainly become an organization with a good deal of clout!

Could be. But I think we need to remember why it was formed: Hillary got a raw deal from here own party. I think if she would have revolted like Lieberman did when he was pushed out, it would be easier to see PUMA continuing. My point is, the reason the movement started has moved on herself. Sure, the DNC needs to be reformed and caucuses gotten rid of. I don’t see that happening considering they “won,” albeit with a huge cost to our basic rights. I certainly will never forget my vote made meaningless by criminals.

BINGO! Low republican turnout helped Obama.

We PUMAs held our nose and did the unthinkable and voted republican for the first time ever.

But some republicans could’nt put their country first before their dislike of McCain.

So where does the real responsibility lie??

SFIndiePuma…You know I love you. But the Repubs didn’t put Fraudbama in the WH. He’s y’all Dems’ candidate. ROFLMAO. I do think you are on to something. I think the GOP knew they had a really f**ked up, uphill battle this year because of Dubyah. So I think they would have rather taken the hit with Fraudbama and watch him screw the entire Dem party for the next 30 years, than watch Hillary succeed. Not saying they threw the race…maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. But I bet they’re thrilled that the Fraud is steering the Titanic into open waters.

McCaskill is baking some sweet potato pie for President-Elect Sweetie.

That’s ridiculous. The DNC and Obama Campaign committed the fraud to steal the nomination for Fraudbama and put him on the ballot. WTF were the Repubs supposed to do about that? My God…Do the Dems, no offense, ever take the blame for anything. He was YOUR nominee. You guys found him, your party cheated HRC, and now it’s the GOP’s fault? That’s silly.

Caucuses will be gotten rid of. Texas is already doing it. Although the Fraudbama freaks are fighting is so they can cheat some more. But I bet they are pretty well useless or gone by 12.

Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. We did NOT choose him. The vast majority of Dems voted for Hillary but she was ROBBED.

We were fighting 3 fronts; the media, Obama’s koolaid campaign and a DNC run by the most corrupt far left bunch we have ever seen. Two years ago Carville tried to block Howard Dean from the chairmanship because he knew what Dean is like.

So considering this unholy alliance of the mass media, a hijacked DNC and even some republicans who registered as Dems during the primaries to vote against Hillary what more could we have done??

If 16% of Clinton supporters could show up to vote for a republican what was the excuse of 6 million republicans who stayed home on election day???

Bottom line:
I don’t consider myself a PUMA or any follower what so ever.
But I haven’t bought any Disney products or watched any ABC programming since they broadcast that hit piece The Path to 911 in an attempt to sway the mid-term elections.
I will not contribute to any Democratic candidate or vote for any Democrat until the caucus system is gone.
I’m still a registered Democrat so I can vote for the candidate who has the least chance of winning the general election in the primary.

Yes, PUMAs were very important this year! They inspired me and I found a group of people who believe in priniciples, integrity, and country before party. I thank them for the effort. We need more patriotic Americans like them!

Hey B

Yes the caucus is a fraud against the concept of one person one vote.
Here in Latte Land we have a caucus worth everything in delegates and a primary worth nothing

results of caucus 66% Obama 33% Clinton
results of primary 52% Obama 47% Clinton

At my precinct their was several buses with bused in folks from outside the area..ACORN

Steve: I doubt they want to do the same thing to Obama. Think about it, impeaching the first black president. I doubt it. I believe the Republicans powers that be did want Obama, because things have gotten so screwed up in this country, the Dems are just as neocon as the Reps. I also believe Obama would do anything to further his ambitions, so he’s probably in bed with the corporate elite and we will see him catering to them as Bush did.

This is the funniest part yet. Kerry gets thrown overboard or under the bus for the person he stabbed in the back.

PUMA as a movement was both a victory and a defeat. A victory in that it was able to attract far more attention to itself, up until the Convention, then was justified; and a failure in that what should have been an internal party movement for reform of the primary process was allowed to become just an anti-Obama yell-fest that squandered whatever political capital they had managed to gather. As an early PUMA I warned that the movement should aim to recruit and support delegates who intended to make reform a part of their local campaigns, building alliances and working for long term reform. Instead the PUMAs allienated themselves and are today shunned and there is no one to lead the reform movement.

I personally believe that only about 20% of Americans are hardshell Repubs and that the party has been winning by getting the votes of Reagan Dems, which strongly tend to be cultural conservatives. This year, many must have either voted for Obama or didn’t cast a ballot for Prez. I know of Yellow Dogs and union members who held their noses and voted for him. A good deal of people, as usual, probably fell for the no-taxes or tax-rebate rhetoric. I was just flabbergasted that BO won.
I think most of us who identify as PUMAS will remain thus. We oppose the far-left fringe of the Dems who (temporarily we hope) seized control and illegitimately put a candidate in. It definitely looks like Obama has kicked these wingnuts to the curb and is going for a nuts-and-bolts administration. He’s reportedly going to put at the top of his cabinet a woman whom the party fringers and the O-bot media have insanely vilifed. (They’re STILL throwing verbal bombs at her.)
PUMAS continue to oppose unity with the likes of Brazile and Dean. And we may forever keep that label just like someone who was a soldier in WWII will forever be so, even when the party is solidly back in the hands of politicians like the Clintons.

Several Republicans in my family voted for Obama. They said their churches supported him because under Bush the churches only cared about getting rich, they forgot their mission to the poor. Others were worried about the economy and felt betrayed by Bush on several issues.

No one is saying it’s the GOPs fault. Steve is saying what lots of people are thinking: where was the Republican Mean Machine this year? They gave Obama a pass.

Coalescing around PUMA sent a very powerful message to the Obama administration that we are WATCHING. To paraphrase the movie title, we know what he did last summer (spring). Perhaps Hillary’s inclusion in the cabinet was driven by the PUMA movement. We should become more organized, so that never again will the media be permitted to air outright lies, misogyny and totally biased coverage on the airwaves and bandwidths we pay for one way or another. But how do we do this? Letter writing campaigns to congressmen, our newspapers? Not enough. Perhaps we should take the time to picket stations and their affiliates, get loud, and call the SOBs on all the baloney they’re trying to sell us. Remember how the media sold us the Iraq war??? Where is their culpability and responsibility?? We should say NEVER AGAIN! So, PUMA organizers, No Quarter, let’s create action groups and make the truth known. Blogging isn’t enough. Nasty actions require effective responses.

You wrote: “the Party Unity My Ass group started by Will Bower, and the People United Means Action group started by Darragh Murphy.”

Correction Steve: PUMA was not started by Will Bower. A poster, SM77, posted at Riverdaughter after the RBC disaster, when they blatantly broke their own party charter and gave Obama delegates for MI, even though he was not on the ballot. Then for good measure–based on exit polls, unopened absentee ballots, and phantom voters who “might” have gone to the polls–they gave him 4 of HRC’s delegates (totaling approx. 18,000 votes). This was unprecedented, and done in a closed door meeting to pressure HRC supporters to cave for the “sake of party unity.” Harold Ickes gave a brilliant summation of the hypocrisy and fraudulent methods used, violating the Democratic Party Charter, and many of us were either in DC or watching it on TV aghast. We met online at Riverdaughter to discuss the travesty, and SM wrote:

P arty
U nity
M y
A ss

and PUMA was born. Many other like-minded souls had the exact same reaction, and sites sprouted up instantaneously. Darragh was also at the forefront, along with Will and the Just Say No Deal coalition. If you want specifics about the mission and defining principles, check out the tabs at the top of riverdaughter.wordpress.com.

And no, you do not have to be a Democrat. Many PUMAs are registered Independent or unaffiliated–especially after May 31st.

That’s just your opinion Sierra Cat–you do not speak for all PUMAs. The PUMA “movement” was organized and propelled by a handful of people who were working on their own time and dollar. They created intense political pressure in an extremely short period of time. Grassroots movements take years to coalesce. A lot has been accomplished with few resources and minimal time. Exit polls show that at least 2.5 million HRC supporters defected. McCain lost because Republican voters did not turn out, and Obama spent $600+ million to buy the election. A larger discussion is going on now to decide what the priorities are, and how to structure and build a long-term coalition.

And “shunned” by who? PUMAs never gave a damn about “belonging” to anything–that’s the whole point. It’s based on fundamental democratic principles and the hypocritical violation of those principles by our own party. Just because you are not actively involved does not mean others are not working for long-term reform.

Steve, there was never a litmus test for the PUMA movement beyond a rejection of the DNC’s outrageous behavior on May 31st, the caucas fraud and the raw sexism that we’ve been told “to get over.” You can only imagine what the attitude might have been had raw racism been allowed to flourish during the primary.

But sexism? No big deal.

I joined PUMA then, sent a small contribution, and then followed the blogoshere on updated activites and issue alerts. I think it’s important to remember that 3 million Dems from Hillary’s supporters voted for McCain [I'm one of them]. I voted for McCain not because I’m a Republican [never voted off-party in my life] but because I was outraged by what the DNC had done, willfully, without batting an bashful eye. And I’ll be honest, I will never look at the Democratic Party in the same way.

But . . . McCain’s loss was not because of the PUMAs. It was because of his own party. The Republicans did not come out this year. McCain was “not” their man. Too moderate, I think. Certainly, not in lockstep with the ultra-conservatives, the right-wing nuts.

In the same way, I’m not in lockstep with the far-left. They’re just as crazed and fanatic. Currently, I live in a state where there is no need to declare party affiliation. I’m an Independent by default for the moment. My history is with the Dems, but I will never again follow them blindly. From now on, it’s the candidate, not the party.

Puma gave me the wake up call I needed, which is to never align myself with a party again. I am now an Indy, and will forever remain so. No party ever gets my loyalty again; that loyalty is reserved for my country. RiverDaughter has a great post regarding this thought as well, the Puma movement and what it really did. I think it was a wonderful way to come together and find out some things we, may have already realized, but were disgusted to see how far many of those “things” would go or end up doing to a person. What PUMA provided then and does now is an understanding of the need to question our government, the media, and ourselves. Blind Faith, will never serve anyone, save those who choose to remain in the dark. PUMA has come to mean a true understanding of independence for me. Politically United Motivated Americans-Country First

And in case you didn’t notice, HRC has been successfully leveraging the increased power she has attained from the 18 million supporters who voted for her. You think the Dem Party is not aware of that and do now know we are watching? You betcha they do!

[...] The Year of the PUMA : NO QUARTER I think most people associate PUMA with Hillary Clinton supporters who were upset she didn’t get the nomination. Most of you know that’s not accurate, that the real issue is the way the Democratic National Committee flagrantly broke … [...]

Don’t forget the $600+ million BO spent from “small donors” (including Wall St. & $300 million in undocumented sources).

Great post Galt! I concur.

NQ keeps me from getting anything done, LOL. I tell myself…I will just take a few minutes and read some of the articles. The next thing I know it’s 4 hours later.

I do love NQ and all of it’s writers and bloggers, even the nefarious ones. And you know who you are, LOL.

I have always been a reg. Democrat but this year I question myself. I don’t think I was ever a died in the wool Dem because there were years that I wouldn’t vote because I didn’t like the candidate. Like Kerry.

It was easy for me to vote Repub this year and the more I watched Fox news the more I leaned to the right. So, I believe I will reg. as an Indy and vote my conscience.

My hope is for all of us here at NQ, to get to the point that we can look at all politicians with a skeptical eye and not be blinded by loyalty. Some of us are still clinging to our candidate and not willing to look at their flaws and under handedness in this past election too.

Yes fif, the first time I ever encountered the PUMA acronym was at the Confluence in Riverdaughter’s blog. Interesting history!

Steve in KC, your essay on PUMA was immensely enjoyable–well written and witty. And contrary to what some have said here, the spirit of PUMA is alive and well. For many of us, it is a symbol that freed us from servile bondage to party loyalty. Who knows what will arise from these ashes!?! The spirit of PUMA lives. I remember back in the 50′s, we would scrawl “Bird Lives” as graffiti to celebrate the free spirit of Charlie Parker’s jazz. Nowadays we might be largely senior citizens, but the motto “PUMA Lives” may come to mean much the same thing.

Yeah, you’re right, the Repubs didn’t put The Pretender in the WH (hanging my head in shame). The Dems did do it (giving Dems the finger). But hey, I’m not one of them thar Dems! I’m an Indie and proud of it!

And whether the Repubs did it deliberately or not, there’s some karmic retribution their sittin’ back with drink in hand, watching The Pretender slowly, slowly, slowly sink into the abyss, knowing they can point the finger at the Dems, all the while planning their 2012 comeback. OMG, I may be a closet Repub after all!

Hey Galt, I do agree that the reason for the birth of PUMAs has gone to SoSland, but if there was a strong, focused leader, it could turn into a group dedicated to reforming the electoral process. I won’t hold my breath, though it would be nice for it to lead to something rather than fall into oblivion.

I kind of like Hillary or Bust’s direction of creating a new feminist movement. I was a part of the old one, but those leaders are following The Pretender into the abyss.

And there’s still a little tiny wee bit of hope deep inside that The Pretender will be found NOT eligible to be POTUS.

A girl can dream, can’t she?

Hey Tampa,
“NQ keeps me from getting anything done, LOL. I tell myself…I will just take a few minutes and read some of the articles. The next thing I know it’s 4 hours later.”

This is the modern day watering hole. Much more efficient and without the booze and brawls.
We have all become better writers and thinkers as a result of NQ and the alternate medium.

Thanks to NQ and all of you.

Oh you are so right Seattle. I guess I should just consider this my hobby

I concur with fif–excellent post, Galt.

PUMA

And “shunned” by who? PUMAs never gave a damn about “belonging” to anything–that’s the whole point. It’s based on fundamental democratic principles and the hypocritical violation of those principles by our own party. Just because you are not actively involved does not mean others are not working for long-term reform.

Exactly. I don’t give a tinker’s cuss about being shunned. Those who are doing the shunning are part of the problem, certainly not part of any future solution. They can go to blazes for all I care.

I barely got anything production done during the election. Now I am finally able to focus on my work and then use NQ as a mental break.

I can’t answer why some Repubs stayed home. For the record, until the DNC pulled their crap this year, I was a registered Independent. Now, I am GOP for life. Never again for the Dems, never and I will fight in 2010 to get them ALL out of Congress. I’m pissed as hell. I can’t for the life of me figure out how any of them sleep at night at the DNC after the HRC thing and Fraudbama. I guess from my side, and this is NOT PARTISAN, I will NEVER forgive the Dems who brought us Fraudbama and voted for him. Never. He wouldn’t BE in this race or BE in the White House if it didn’t start with screwing Hillary.

Yeah and it’s chock full of saccharin.

I loved this post, Steve in KC. Being an indie myself, I can relate to a lot of what you say. I remember how angry I was during the 90′s, when the Clintons were eviscerated on a daily basis, & I wonder if I’m hypocritical when I bash Obama. Last year, I toyed with the idea of registering as a Dem, but now am glad I didn’t. I’m staying indie. The repub & dem parties have both let their people down. I do think the PUMA movement was the most exciting thing to happen to politics in years. I hope they get stronger with time.

Moss, have you bothered to watch the film we are making? If you haven’t, ughhh…go see what caucuses have done to our voting system. I really think they are a total violation of voter rights.

For the record, until the DNC pulled their crap this year, I was a registered Independent. Now, I am GOP for life. Never again for the Dems, never and I will fight in 2010 to get them ALL out of Congress.

Love ya OIAF. Ditto ditto ditto, except I was a Democrat (:shock:) for 20 years until this summer. Now I’m a proud GOP member for life.

SFIndiePuma..I am still dreaming that I will wake up to some HONEST judge somewhere doing his job and determining that Fraudbama is an illegal alien and should be deported immediately LOL. Yeah, a girl can dream.

I posted on Murphy’s blog, PUMA PAC, for most of the summer. Then, around the time I realized the only way to fight BO would be to keep him off the general election ballots in the states, and tried to organize actions in each state where such challenges were allowed, to file timely challenges in these states. However, at the same time, Murphy kicked me off the blog due to my complaints to her that, she allowed posters to remain on the blog whose language was often racist or anti-Semitic. (I had previously pointed out to her in a private email that by calling another woman a piece of [fecal matter], she had perhaps unwittingly set up this tone for her blog and, urged her to apologize for her own indiscretions.) Anyway, suddenly without a forum, I had no time to effect on a national scale what several litigants are now attempting to accomplish in a few states, after the fact.

Am I in your movie?

I was a victim..Big Time!!

that is funny!!!

Because Obama and his psychotic faithful cried racism every time That One was in the least bit criticized, and the Republican leadership kowtowed to the pressure.

You know socalannie, even though I hate how this election turned out, it was mucho exciting.

I couldn’t sleep for fear I’d miss something. I think someone should make a movie based on the stuff we found out here at NQ.

True. It was very exciting here over the summer wasn’t it? I sat up a lot of nites myself. I’ve said before, nq is the wild wild west of political blogs.

SFIndiePUMA

Expressed it well, I see already in groups that were HillaryClintonForum and now mostly moved to HillarysVillage.net are attempting to define our goals. Go after MSM confront them , and grow that movement. Sexism etc point it out and deal with it with an on-going program.

I see groups that want to refocus on womens issues that NOW and Emily’s List failed to address. Groups that don’t care which party you favor but women’s issues altogether. I think alot of good will come from this horrible time .

I do think we women need to do a better job of making sure to include and thank the many men who stood with us on all the issues and continue to. So that definately is something that needs a focus as well.

I guess with my rambling I’m saying as you we are at a point or getting to the point for some of reorganizing and refocusing goals .

Some groups will go , just move on with their lives others will go to work to seek change like some of the stars Heidi etc. and some little people like me that just wants to be involved the best I can.

tampagurl…I am making a movie about it. ALL OF IT. Start to finish. Believe me, I want to make sure that every dirty minute of this election is preserved in history. And I want the Obots to see it and know WTF they did to this country when they had their heads up their azzes. We want to expose the media bias, the sexism, racism, voter fraud, ACORN, corrupt DNC, you name it. We’re ready to go. We have the first 30 minutes of Caucus Fraud but we’ll get as much of it in as we can in two hours.

Phooey. The DNC and Dem Party inflicted this nightmare on us with their lies, spin and chicanery. The Republicans have some culpability but don’t you dare lay the blame all on our shoulders. Where were those so-called Reagan Democrats? They voted for OFraud.

We’re not done yet Moss. Do you want to be in it? If you really did see fraud we want you!

Wouldn’t that be spectacular? It all comes down to December 5th, I take it.

Actually, that goes for anyone here who wants to come forward who saw fraud or has something to say about the phony roll call, Denver, etc. A lot of people are afraid to be on camera. We had to black some people’s faces out. But those who are not scared of the thugs at the DNC, etc. should let us know.

I more interested in this movie of yours

She Had Brains, a Body, and the Ability to Make Men Love Her

Love ya too Kathy…we’re going to have some fun work to do looking towards 2010. My goal in life is to get rid of Pelosi.

LOL that’s actually NOT my movie. Did you get that off IMDB? I have a Jennifer Love Hewitt movie, but that’s not it. They got confused.

B,
I’m Italian..My grandmother was born in Turin. Beautiful name you have!

Yes I’m photogenic enough and stage confident to star in any movie about politics. However,I’m not sure if I can prove what I actually saw.
ACORN in force with bull horns intimidating the Hillary supporters. I still got up warned the bots what they were getting into but they were brainwashed and chanting on queue.

we do chat on puma because after all these months we are actually all friends. but the main focus is anti-obama. we do not agree with sexism or racism and thats what he based his entire campaign on. btw u r not the only male…i am black and male:)

Thank you Moss…did you see the middle name too? I kind of made that one up though LOL. My mother must have been on the drugs still because she put “Susan” in the middle and that didn’t fly with the two heavy Italian names I am very proud of being Italian. I love the people and the country. My grandparents came from Sicily and started a spaghetti company. How funny is that? And Shelley Winters was the spokesperson WHEN SHE WAS SKINNY. Hahahhaha…

Well if you know anyone who can speak to the fraud, let me know. This is important. If you didn’t see the flick yet, click on my name and then go to where it is youtubed. If you only see one part of it, go to part 3 – that’s the one that breaks my heart.

Really, you posted on Puma Pac? Under what name? I highly doubt a puma would be defending an anti-puma. I know what you are talking about. Nice try.

Thanks fif and ferd. Maybe someday our votes will be counted fairly and the election results not be decided by the elitist ego monsters who think they know better than the electorate. This was more an issue in the primary, but obviously the primary sets the stage for the GE. There’s a reason we have elections. And just because there was the APPEARANCE of an election and the Oborgbots and MSM think we did not notice, well we most certainly noticed and we won’t shut up ever about it.

I sent you an e-mail Hollywood.com

You sent email? Where? Oh goodie an email from Moss LOL.

“The Year of the PUMA”

That’s a pretty grand title. I thought it was going to be on all that Puma was about. That would take some time though…

It was about standing up to misogyny, and bias media, and cheating, and lies, and corruption, and standing up for our country. It was about outrage at so much of what was unjust during the primaries and election. It was about standing UP to fight for what is right.

No Quarter is its own site, and it’s a news site with fantastic investigative work and wonderful commentary. I love No Quarter.

Other sites, like Puma Pac, also followed the news but it was about forging alliances to make words into action.

Every PUMA site played its own role, and continues to do so.

If you want to know why Obama won, it has nothing to do with PUMA–they came out to vote in droves. You need to look at how the republicans failed to show up en total, how misogyny dies hard, and also the cheating, and the horrendous MSM propaganda that brainwashed a nation of obots and misinformed millions of Americans.

Thank you for your kind comments, Margaret. As for the “closet Republican” question, I guess I enjoyed being involved in a political movement that involved moderate Republicans and Democrats working for a common cause, but I could never stomach the flavors of Kool-Aid either party served! So for me, it’s BYOB!

If you think you’re a Puma, you are one.

Pumas define themselves.

You’re a Puma, all right.

Steve, PUMA is from the gut. Either you are or you aren’t. If you aren’t sure then your aren’t one.

Here’s my take on PUMA and a glimpse as to how I came to be a PUMA and what I felt on June 8th:

PUMA sprung to life as a true grass-roots coalition of like minded people. It came about due to a shared history and experience of small steps as well as giant leaps throughout this year and will hold sway on how we view future elections. I don’t call PUMA a movement, I call it a coalition since different blogs and factions had similar but not the same mind-set.

My story fits many of us. I was a loyal and active dem who voted straight D for decades. Although I was pretty sure I wanted to support Hillary, (she was my Senator when I lived in NY and Bill was my favorite president) I was willing and ready to give this guy Obama a chance and I remembered the excitement of his speech at the last convention and thinking this guy might go places back then. When I first started to research him I was immediately concerned with some of his past. One article led to another as I poured though the Chicago papers and all of it was sending up red flags. Alice Palmer, Hazel Johnson and Rezko for starters but when I read the NY Times piece on Exelon bells and whistles rang and I said “this guy is starting to scare the crap outta me.” I had no idea I would end up with hundreds of reasons why I could not trust him or vote for him.

I poured more and more time into working for Hillary as she knocked my socks off. As I watched the debates and in every way she earned it. And every day there was something new about obama that made my blood curl – dems for a day, Ayers, Wright and TUCC, caucus fraud… on and on.

But it wasn’t till May 31st that I filled out my unaffiliated registration. PUMA was born when we saw Harriett Christian speak with her mouth and our voices. Slowly I went from Hillary or Obama TO I’ll leave the top line blank and vote all down ticket dems TO some down ticket dems TO maybe vote for McCain TO I will vote for McCain TO making a small donation the day he announced Palin TO attending rallies and holding signs for McCain.

I wrote this a week after the RBC and it might explain why am STILL a full-blooded PUMA today:

Toxic act for Dems

That was the last straw. I had outrage at many things during the long campaign, but I brushed them off or wrote a few letters and felt relief after a day or two. They hurt, like the reports from Texas about lock-outs or the Gary Indiana eternal waiting. And the statements by the DNC mobsters that flew in the face of reality. But I kept thinking “all’s well that ends well” and got back to business.

Then things were really heating up, and I kept saying THEY have one shot to right the wrongs and do the right thing – May 31st. So we waited and we wrote more letters and we read the proposals which offered little sign of fairness.

And then the day came and people were outside protesting to Count The Votes and Dean started talking about sexism – finally – and there was a glimmer of “the old dem party” that was core to who I am for decades. And Donna Brazile was all pouty and miserable so I figured there might be a Miracle yet. But no, it was worse than I thought it could possibly be, way worse.

I somehow, from all the decades of following MY party, thought it will all HAVE TO work out right.

But no.

And I listened to Ickes and every fiber of my core was coming from his mouth.

Everything MY party stood for was at stake. And I imagined the very air in the room was tingling and his words were cutting through all the deception and they would all have to see this is urgently critical.

But no.

What do I do with THAT outrage?

How do I get over THAT?

When 2000 happened it was easy to say “they robbed us! bastards. They’ll see what they did when they realize how much better our candidate is…” and even better and more proud to be a dem when we were proven RIGHT. Bush tanked and Gore was exalted with a Nobel. Justice for MY party.

What now? They ate their own. And they did it with a pre-planned fix that railroaded it the way they wanted it to go.

That the choice they made was entirely the wrong choice by a zillion light years to me is besides the point. That they did it at all is the whole point.

If some miracle or disaster occurs and they swing back the other way in August and Hillary wins, it is still a huge blot on the party that will take an enormous amount of work and actions to remove.

For starters – remove the entire upper eschelon. Then admit everything, come clean on it all. Has anyone seen the LaRouche Video? He says he has a story to tell about the Superdelegates.

I’m all ears. And full of scars that won’t heal.

Ferd,

There are a lot of people working 24/7 on this. I think even if these 17 lawsuits fail, people will file more. They will just keep trying to get around the reasons they are dismissed. Eventually the press will have to mention it and, whether or not we get rid of Fraudbama and James Brown in a Dress, people will still know they got taken by Obama-of-Kenya.

ADMIN: Let’s use facts, not suggestive name-calling.

Up til now, Puma has meant anti-Obama, but that’s about to change.

Hillary is about be be assimilated by the Borg, but the Borg will burp a bit and will never be the same afterwards. Perhaps it is the Borg that will be assimilated…..

As a water freezes it becomes a crystal with a pattern. As the Obama administration crystallizes, the Hillary molecule will transform it.

The Pumas will remain Hillary’s base outside the Borg which will be her reason for making the Borg burp and do the right thing.

I posted under the name, jbjd. Remember me? I am the one who discovered there are 13 vote binding states, and tried to organize prowls to contact Attorneys General and Secretaries of State in each of those states to remind pledged delegates they had to vote for their candidates at the Democratic Party’s nominating convention. This meant, looking up the laws in each state, and the contact information for state officials, as well as state party chairs; and then drafting individualized letters to these state officials, with copies to the pledged delegates. (Murphy refused to post this enormous task as a prowl, too. She insisted there were only 1 or 2 pledged delegate states, anyway.) Someone who heard about my work with binding vote states put me in touch with Ricki Lieberman, who distributed my work in her newsletter, and posted it on Alegre’s Corner. I was also put in touch with someone at the Convention who was rounding up HRC delegates for a floor vote. But I could have accomplished so much more in the best interest of the country; if only Murphy had put the needs of the organization before her personal animus toward me.

Moss, I didn’t even know what Hollywood.com is. But I got it. I can’t respond back obviously LOL. Boy is that site out of date though. Did you go look at my doc?

B
You can also leave a message on that site for me if you like..

Oh ok, so why would you be concerned about a comment directed at an anti-puma who dedicated a blog to stalking pumas, and who was a zealous and fanatical obama supporter?

OIAF,

I have been following your comments for the past few days and as far as I’m concerned you are right on the money. So far everything you have posted has been a reflection of what I feel.

I haven’t gone so far as to join the Republican Party, but I have changed my registration from Democrat to Independent. After being a Democrat for thirty years it was a wrenching experience, but I want no part of the “New Democratic Party” ala Dean, Brazile, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd and the rest of the bums who took the party I loved and turned it into a sewer.

I’m right there with you in wanting all the bums out and will work just as hard at that endeavor as I worked for HIllary and for McCain/Palin.

In my estimation Nancy Pelosi is another Lady Macbeth.

leeM…Thank you. We’ll be in this together. I have never seen more vile people than the ones you listed in the DNC. I know about party loyalty, but how can ANYONE be loyal to those criminals, liars, thieves and cheats? When I saw that Pelosi has made 92 Million Dollars on the backs of us taxpayers I almost puked. Never mind Dodd and all the jackazzes lining their pockets. Now we will have NO control over what they steal. Ughhh…

Nijma, I love your analogies.

PUMA here

Sorry if this is incorrect or has already been said but I believe the Republicans stayed home on election nite. Had they voted in high numbers -McCain would be POTUS.

Also, approx 18-21% of Dems defected and voted for McCain, 3rd Party or write-in. That’s big.

You know, I don’t have much experience with PUMA PAC but my impression has not been all positive, which is why I stayed away from that website. It sounds like jbjd has a valid complaint here.

Nah, jbjd is sticking up for an obsessive anti-puma terrorizer, who dedicates an entire blog shitting on pumas, on puma pac, and No Quarter, and someone who is an obama *fanatic*…and jbjd is generalizing pumas who posted on puma pac (who also post on No Q and all over the net) as people who, in general, supposedly post racist or anti-semitic comments.

jbjd doesn’t sound like ANY puma I’ve ever seen on the internet.

Oiaf, sounds great. Let me know if I can help with research or whatever.

There are many things we have yet to accomplish, so PUMA lives on. I voted Dem for 36 years, no questions asked. Then my party betrayed one of the best candidates they will ever have, and in turn, betrayed me. There is a lot of work to be done. Bring the misogyny to light, hold msm’s feet to the fire, change the DNC elite, and get rid of caucuses. I will never look at elections/the DNC, the same way again. I am a PUMA, and proud to be one.

Another PUMA here.

We are lurking everywhere.

No, John Smith… The PUMA’S showed up to vote for McCain. The Republican base did not.

I know there has been a lot of talk and a lot of organizing on where Pumas go from here. I think Murphy has a place on her blog now for people to sign up for different areas of interest. Some are going to work on monitoring the media and its sexism, with the aim of getting Tweety Bird fired. And some are on Obama watch for flip flops, missteps and lies. Some are on Hillary watch. Every Puma site I think focuses on something unique to their interests, I know most Pumas have also signed on to the New Agenda to fight the open blatant misogyny and to promote more women in politics. The unifying principle behind Pumas was very simple. No Obama. Under that large of an umbrella you can fit a whole lot of Pumas, Dems/Independents/Republicans. Didn’t matter what your color/gender/sexual orientation/political ideology was, or reasons why you didn’t want Obama. Just mattered that you didn’t. We are still here, we haven’t fallen in line, we still reject Obama, we are still fed up with Dean/Pelosi/Reid/Brazille/ and we are still determined to make sure the DNC hears from us. Don’t forget they will need us in 2010 and 2012 if they have a prayer of defeating a new Energized, focused and well funded Republican ticket. and after 2 years of Obama, the whole country will want a new Republican revolution. Guess who will come calling then?

Many in the conservative base voted for Obama to teach the Republicans a lesson. The belief being that Obama will be so bad, it will show people that the conservative route is the only way to go.

I went from Independent, to Democrat, and now back to Independent.

After watching the machinations of the local party, I find I do not have the stomach for sausage making.

Political parties, and unions, remind me of the tree fungus in the woods: They grow parasitically on the trees, offer nothing in return, are interested only in their survival, and all at the expense of a once healthy entity.

Now I will be working for Term Limits. Perhaps it’s time to take the profession out of politics and make it as desirable as jury duty. Something that we should all be responsible to do, as a small sacrifice to our community.

Oh. and turn that capitol building into a museum, make congress stay at home in their own areas. If they must be influenced by lobbyists, let them be home grown.

Sounds great. I admire you for taking it on.

Let’s face it. The 2008 election was a very close election. McCain could have actually made the electoral vote very close. Look at how close the popular vote was Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, Missouri,Virginia, and Ohio I consider myself a Puma having voted Republican for the first time since Ronald Reagan. The key numbers are Obama receiving 98% percent of the black vote and 43 percent of the white vote. The lack of white support is why Obama needs Hillary.

JS you’re an ass.

Steve in KC, great post. You nailed the whole experience. Democrat or Indy, male or female, what we share, those savvy enough to get it, is a kick-in-your-face insight to the way of the world. And what PUMA will always mean to me whether or not the term survives is that I will no longer define my political self or beliefs as a particular party.

I’m a liberal and will remain one, but now when I hear someone say “the Democrats are just as bad” I’ll have to agree. This is a wake up call for all of us to question the motives behind the pandering rhetoric, no matter where it comes from. If we can put our self-interests aside, we may someday make a difference.

I know plenty of W voting Reps that went for BO this time. Talk about your over compensation.

And I’m sure he got help in the red state caucuses. Even barry said his campaign was surprised at the grass roots efforts there. Yeah right, it stunk of CDS then and it still does. They probably realized too late that they helped create a monster.

Nah, this was a group effort. A perfect storm.

I agree completely. After February 5, I was beside myself wondering what people saw in Obama. Was I the only one who took issue with him? Was I the only one who did not trust him? Didn’t anyone else hear the racist and sexist comments in his speeches in Louisiana and South Carolina? I turned away from the media and in desperation turned to the internet. I believe I found a reference to NQ on Hillary’s sight. I have never looked back. I was so grateful to have found out that there were millions of Americans who saw what I saw and felt the same way that I did. It was such a relief.

No, the Puma movement is not dead and it is a success. It helped people like us connect our thoughts and feelings to fight for something we feel strongly about.

My Puma husband and I are now registered as neither a Democrat (for the first time ever) nor a Republican…we are now registered as just ourselves…firmly in the middle, free to choose as we see fit.

oops…I mean Hillary’s site…sorry, new at this…

Another PUMA here. Lifelong Dem, but Bra & Ho decided to throw me and my loyalty under the bus, all in favor of little easily hypnotized, non-reading, and non-thinking, koolaid drinkers. No Nobarrogant for me! I chose the smart ones instead.
I want my real Party back, but will vote as an Indie until then…

No problemo. Welcome aboard the USS Freethinker Express!

Thanks!

The lack of white support is why Obama needs Hillary.

I have to think about that, but what popped into my head is the following: I think the problem was the white vote was based on qualifications or lack thereof, for the most part. The black vote was more in line with identity. Having Hillary helps with qualifications. I don’t know if you meant Hillary because she is white, but if you did, I don’t necessarily agree that is even an issue. I hope this makes sense.

Barak Obama probably wasn’t even born in the US. Please visit democraticdisaster.com and Obamacrimes to learn about the many law suits being fought to force examination of Barak Obama’s actual birth certificate. Democracy has died this year and it was my own party that killed it. Don’t be idol, call the FEC and demand that they investigate Obama’s small internet donations. Also fax Justice Clarance Thomas 202-479-2971 and politly demand that Barak Obama submitt his birth certificate for evaluation.
Barak Obama has never won an election clean in his entire political career. Please stand up and demand that the FEC and congress the supreme court defend the constitution and democracy, or what is left of it.

Yes, many PUMAs still go ballistic if it’s pointed out that HRC is an Alinsky practitioner, too, and may be headed to the same place OFakir is, just more indirectly. IMO, OFakir was a big roll of the dice, and “all-in” push by THEM, and while HRC is undoubtedly ripped at not heading the move (so far), she’s quite possibly on board with their goals and Global POV.

But that’s anathema for many PUMAs, tho’ not all. Many feel deeply betrayed.

I agree fully …both with Steve and with Noproblema. But I do think that only God can save us now….this whole disgusting Obama charade turned me from an atheist to a Christian (of course not a radical one at that). Along with about a decade of fervent exporation of world history and with a special focus on European history, I have been on a quest to understand who I am, WE are, they are, and HE is. I am finally getting a grasp of how we got here…trying to self destruct ourselves (ie those who belong to this western civilization). The path is repleat of self-loathing and anti-human nature ideologies, 100-year embrace of fascist docrine, and hatred of Christianity. Its pathetic to watch an empire (not in the Neoliberal definition) self destruct….it is (I should say “was”) truly the crown jewel of human achievement–never rivaled by any civiliztion. Like it or not….it is almost dead…and you all let it happen by taking it for granted–thinking it could take any type of abuse and disrespect BUT IT OBVIOUSLY CANNOT…ITS DEAD BECAUSE MANY OF YOU THINK ITS FUN AND COOL TO SHUN AND MOCK GOD AND YOU BANISH GOD AND DISGAIN HIM. Good luck with giving regular men the honor and glory which should be given to first to GOD. Good luck with being God!

I’m very sad and very worried for a civilization that sees itself as the reincarnation of the devil yet pretend GOD is only to be found in MAN…not just any man but Obama and co.

Sorry for the pessimist but I just don’t see the ” go gettem, don’t whine, can-do” American attitude existing into the future…instead we are likely to continue abopting the “victim, oh so sensitive types with no confidence but confusion instead.

And, not only that, but there was no organized effort. There were a number of Hillary factions – some voted for McCain, some wrote in Hillary’s name, others stayed home. It was a tough assignment to convince political activists that the only way to vote against Obama was to vote for McCain.

It is difficult to make the case PUMAs did make a difference. But they did! If we had been organized to one-way of voting, we would have made quite a statement. We must go on from here and figure out what it is we must do to revitilize the women’s movement and the power we have. We are looking pretty bad after the Hillary and Sarah bashing and being disregarded by many as a non-issue. And the worst part is that women participated in the sexism and disrespect. We have our work cut out for us.

why, for opposing name-calling? for supporting civility? for being too reasonable?

I love this place for all the reasons Steve mentioned and the regulars here agree to disagree without too much partisanship. This election was a perfect storm, oiaf. I became an indie the Monday following the May 31 RBC meeting and don’t intend to go back until the current leadership is gone.

But, lets face some facts about the Republican Party. Several of the better known spokesmen were very vocal in their opposition to McCain and that is demoralizing in any election. They gave up in the first round, perhaps because everyone had been saying for two years this would be a disaster given Bush’s low approval rating, the war and state of the economy.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party allowed this leadership to stage a coup and put a flim flam man into office. If we want to take back our country, we need to put aside the labels and work together. We will have to cast out the slease and start again.

Who knows if PUMA will survive as it is now. Will Bower is a courageous man and he made an honest effort to bring some truth to this election process. What he and others began shouldn’t be allowed to die. This country we all love is dying from a lack of a moderate voice and voters who really are willing to work together and compromise.

I’m a liberal on most issues, but I’m ready to talk. I’m not going to change my views, but I promise to respect yours.

oiaf, this is elise again. I don’t promise not to argue.

Hey Elise,

OIAF has gone to Vegas for the week

Just thought you might want to know

shaking my head in agreement, with my hand in the air!

I stayed Dem, although I’m a proud PUMA and can’t wait to vote Republican again in two years to try to oust the Dems in Congress. If this election did one thing for me, it opened my eyes to the fraud and corruption in both parties. However, I’m a little more motivated to get rid of certain Dems. As for McCain/Palin – they ran as honorable a campaign as I’ve ever seen. Since Hillary wasn’t on the ballot I was proud do vote for them. I’m still mourning the fact they didn’t win – thanks to ACORN and fraud and illegal campaign contributions we’re stuck with you know who starting January 20.

That is not an excuse. I would do it any way. This year they didn’t want the white house, and republicans are all about self interest and nothing else.

Amen with you all the way
PUMA should not be allowed to die. It spells GRASS ROOTS.

>>Where was all that Republican viciousness when we needed it? Did they WANT him to win?

Yes, apparently. It surprised me, too. Maybe the plan is to blame Obama for all of Bush’s failures and use the huge amount of material against him that McCain didn’t. All the right wing has to do is seduce the corporate media to go along with their negativity on Obama, and it may have already started.

All those people who said they didn’t want Hillary because of all the drama have no idea what kind of drama they’re in for.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

That and the fact that some of them lost money in the market and they wanted to punish their party for it. My tin hat on now, that was exactly the purpose of that jazz that happened before the election

Great questions Steve! I have been trying to figure it out too…

My opinion at the moment –

PUMA has become a pretty well known name, at least to those who watch FOX.

However, PUMA = Hillary Clinton supporters.

With Hillary becoming SoS, and therefore probably taking herself out of the 2012 election, it seems pointless to carry on being known as her supporters.

But I do think there is a HUGE need for some sort of group for those disaffected Dems (and even Repubs??) that are appalled at what happened this year (and heck, even in 2000?)

I don’t know how or what, but it seems like there is a need for something. Not sure if an *anti-Obama* group is enough or useful (?), but something more about how the Dem party operated this year, and trying to eliminate caucuses, and ousting bad Dem leaders…And then there is the whole sexism issue.

Where is this film I have been hearing about for ever?

There is a need for continued activism. It is really beyond Hillary Clinton as it should be. It has to do with the back room dealings, the stupid dem primary system and the sexism in the media and in our society.

The naivete of the Obots, which is really our fault for not raising our young ones better. They believed in the “change” hype even though we all knew that is was just “hype”. Obama made the “Clinton administration” a dirty word and brought them all back anyway. What else was Obama going to do. Most of his associates are going to jail. During the republican primaries people supported Mitt because “he looked presidential”..People supported Ronald Reagan because “he looked presidential”. Bush was “born again”. So I really can’t say that the some republicans use any better criteria for choosing a candidate than the dems. What defeated McCain was George Bush and the “conservative base” of their own party. McCain believed he had to pander to this fringe group, who never liked him, and lost many independents and dems along the way.

PUMA was not a failure. If dead people had not voted, had some not been allowed to vote several times including in mutlitiple states I think PUMAS would have put McCain over the top. I think Obama knows the realty of PUMAS – which is why some of what he is now shaping appears centrist. The spirit of PUMAS is in no way finished. No way.

Holy cow. I meant multiple states.

Here! Here!

Say listen: where exactly would any of us be without an ass?

“Where is Donna these days?”

She is preparing to take over for Howard Dean and lead the Democratic Party.
That is enough for me never, ever, ever to return to the unDems.

“I don’t know if you meant Hillary because she is white, but if you did, I don’t necessarily agree that is even an issue. I hope this makes sense.”

Did you mean he chose Hillary for her expertise, not for her skin color? That’s what I think you mean Galt.

Grand opening suggestion: Galt’s spices – chili today hot tamali.

Steve_kc, so many thanks for your comments. Yours are questions we all entertain from time to time, especially now, as what I like to call our Phase III, or Ongoing Movement begins to gel.

FWIW, PUMA is indeed a spirit…it is organic, and embraces [or should!] anyone who resists being defrauded and compartmentalized by an old Party Line, regardless of which party is perpetrating it; who longs for change and is willing to work for it; who embraces true unity from diversity, eschews sexism and partisanship, and can be registered to any party they choose. There is a huge majority of Americans, about 80%, that really tends toward centrism and moderation, and it is this cross section of Americans who have been, IMO, forgotten and ignored by both the Republic and Democratic parties. Each coalition under the PUMA/JSND umbrella is free to address these issues in their own way and my hope is that we can all continue to work together in a loose coalition, toward our shared goals.

I, for one, have absolutely NO doubt that the PUMA Spirit lives, alive and well, and continues to grow exponentially. We have just begun to fight–for our country and its people, for its Constitution and Bill of Rights, for all of those things for which our forefathers fought and risked so much.

I am absolutely thrilled with the success we achieved in the incredibly short time since we pounced into existence! The 300 Delegates program, the branding and exposure of the PUMA name and spirit–we are a worldwide recognized brand and our spirit goes with it! I have no doubt that we will continue to be a growing force in political and media reform.

One terrific sight I would recommend is http://www.thenewagenda.org. We’re a non partisan group founded to combat sexism and we welcome BOTH MEN AND WOMEN! Please visit and join, and urge your friends to to the same, for this is where I believe our futures lie–in both men and women working together!

Again, I thank you for your most salient and compelling post. It is from posts like yours that we all can continue to evaluate ourselves and our progress, our participation and our effectiveness, and to remember that basically, we all share mutual concerns and goals.

This was a terrific post. Thank you.

Stickers, sad but true.

one can only hope…at least, if not bo, then someone else.

type, you are correct. if she is successful at completing her heist, it will only make it that much easier for PUMAS to grow and flourish!

Yeah I think that is what I meant. I was trying to contrast that with the comment I was replying to. And this for the weather report / menu selection.

And THANKS for the weather report / menu selection, that is.

steve_kc, p.s.

If you’ve got time, I would ask that you visit my blog and contact me there. I’d like the opportunity to speak further to the very salient issues you raised.

Many TIA,

truthisgold

Fran, wonderful! We are many and varied, but no less present than before!

)

I wondered the exact same things last February. I too thought I was the only one, and like you, discovered the blogosphere for the 1st time. I had been relying on CNN, MSNBC, etc. but that didn’t last long. I found my way here through Hillary is 44, then Taylor Marsh, and various blogs along the way. This is the 1st place I come for my morning news, every morning. I was a life-time Democrat ~ 30 some years, but couldn’t bring myself to support the Party or Obama. I had been wronged, dreadfully wronged, and I will not soon forget that. I voted McCain, and do not regret my decision. Since the election, I have gone through several stages of recovery. I do not consider myself a Republican by any means. I still identify more closely with Democrats. Until the Party comes clean, I will vote for the person I believe is best for the country, at local, state, and national levels. I can’t foresee a time when I would ever again align myself strictly with any Party. Things change, but what the DNC did, along with the compliant media, is pretty darn unforgiveable. Thanks for the post. For not being all that familiar with PUMAs, you did a darn good job. Salut!

Can there be a better example why the PUMA movement was marginalized then these comments?

Could you give me the sources for the sexism in BO’s speech in Louisiana and South Carolina. I would really appreciate it.

McCain was considered a weak candidate. When he agreed to sign the bail out package and offer bail out to people losing their homes the ultra conservative base just did not show up to vote. Sarah Palin was not the problem. It was her handlers. She only had 2 months to get ready for the onslaught of Dailey Kos and the Obamabots. Obama was less qualified than Palin. He has never held a job except community organizer. At one point, MO was the sole supporter of the family. The GOP completely mismanaged this campaign. They need to get rid of the “old guard” and bring in the modern young Republicans. The Republicans have got to stop using language such as “welfare payments” and “handouts” when referring to assisting people to independence. Bobby Jindal got it right when he said “we have to offer solutions”. PUMA had over 300 groups and a grassroots operation trying to form. They needed big time donors and a consistent message. PUMA did not have the money or time to develop into their rival MOVEON.org. If PUMA had the money of George Soros supporting their cause, I think they could of beaten Obama. Many dissenting Democrats such as myself, have become Indies and many PUMAS as well. The consistent message we need to remember, what brought us together is the fact “our voices were not heard”, “our vote did not count” and for women the “sexism and misogyny”. PUMA may have to redefine their goals, but the grass roots movement could turn into moveon.org.

Can you give me the sources to BO’s sexism in his speeches in LA and SC! THANKS!

I saw within the PUMA movement a lack of cohesiveness in their message and an unwillingness to get along with each other. There were factions within the movement battling each other. The work they accomplished was phenomenal and their mark on history will be noted. I believe if they could of united together with a consistent message, with continuity, and work in harmony, this grass roots movement would of been a force to be reckoned with in the Democratic Party.

This is what I was talking about earlier. The consistency and continuity, and on the same message. In order to teach the DNC a lesson every PUMA should of voted for McCain/Palin. This would of helped tremendously. There needed to be an education on the political reasons to vote for the GOP ticket. The main lesson, Obama won! Republicans voted for Obama just to teach the GOP a lesson. They did not write in a name or vote 3rd party. The moderates have to realize that this is the “New Socialist Party” the moderates have been kicked out of the party. We didn’t leave the party, the party left us! The only to defeat Obama was to vote McCain/Palin! A lack of consistency in message and goals in the PUMA movement.

Kerry the scumbag deserved it!

great post noproblema! You Betcha!

We need to identify as Americans now and not bipartisan identities. There is a lot at stake within our country. People are losing their jobs, homes and we are in the 6th year of an unpopular war. Obama is planning a civilian army and secret service that entails G-d knows what in our country. The Obamabots are still enraged even though their “Obamamessiah” has stolen the election. Our economy is fixing to completely tank and we are bickering over parties and PUMA factions. Americans who are dissatisfied with their government and parties need to come together without this incessant fighting and make real changes in our country.

Obama received a lot of foreign money that was broken down into small increments. This money came from foreign countries not to mention he had a blogging center on the GAZA strip. Hint! Hint!

Your message clearly demonstrates what I stated before about the grassroots “PUMA” movement. There was not a clear, concise and consistent message with concrete goals and objectives. The Obama camp was right on message with a consistent doctrine and rhetoric. They were extremely disciplined with being fed a daily dose of “The Dailey Kos” and “DU”. The “hope” and “change” mantra is being replaced with experience and same old Washington insiders. The bots were punked, but we all knew that anyway!

Some Republicans voted for Obama as well. I don’t get that rational, but I think they are disillusioned with their own party.

I agree with you that Hillary should of pulled a Lieberman. She was the “icon” of a grassroots movement that rebelled against caucus cheating,
misogyny, sexism, registration voting fraud and voting fraud. Then she led us to “the One” who committed these crimes and we didn’t know what cause we were fighting. She was telling us to vote for Obama and yet within our hearts and minds; somehow, we knew this was not right. Our “icon” followed the party line and where did that leave us now. This is not a condemnation of HRC or her decisions because I do not know the reasons. I do know I feel betrayed to some extent,if I support her, I have to support Obama.

The problem with PUMA was the fighting and backbiting, there were problems with grating egos and organizing together to create a unified force. There were many diff factions of more than 300 groups. Can you imagine the power if they all came together. They probably could find a donor like George Soros. Even on the blogs there is a real lack of respect on differing opinions. I guess it is because the leader who is the “icon” of the movement decided to follow the party line. This created a lack of direction and leadership.