BlogHer contributing editor Mata posted on this today – Is it a joke, or is it hatred disguised in Biblical language?

She quotes Frank Schaeffer who appeared on the Rachel Maddow show last night. Here is a video clip (you need to get about 50 seconds in)…

This is beyond disturbing, it’s down right scary.

I’m interested in knowing what others in this community think about this extreme hatred toward our president. Is it going too far? Let us know what you think in comments.

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Have you heard the latest phrase from the McCain-Palin stomp speech? It consists of two very powerful words. “I’m angry.” To place the statement in context, Palin has said, “There is anger about the dealings of insider lobbyists, anger about the greed of Wall Street, and there’s anger about the arrogance of the Washington elite, and there is anger about voter fraud.” McCain has himself said, “You’re angry and I’m angry too.”

However, the issue I have with the “angry” statement is this: What are all these angry people supposed to do with their anger? The election is not until November 4th. Until then, are folks to let their anger simmer until it boils over into something ugly? God forbid McCain actually loses the election— then what are they to do with their anger? Are they to do as some extremists in the McCain-Palin crowd have suggests when they shouted “Off with his head,” Kill him! Get him!?”

McCain may want to say that he is utterly appalled, and state that he totally rejects Congressman John Lewis’ reference to John Wallace, in his condemnation of McCain’s campaign rally etiquette. However, the fact is, if McCain refuses to fiercely and immediately— on-the-spot—denounce such statements that come from the crowd at his campaign rallies, he is inadvertently condoning them.

I believe that that Congressman John Lewis—in his statement that “McCain and Palin were sowing seeds of hatred and division”— was simply saying that to allow such unbridled anger and hatred to bubble up and fester is dangerous, and has the potential—if unchecked—to lead to violent acts on the part of some. The campaign has a responsibility to not incite it, allow it or condone it.

Instead of pulling back on the rhetoric that solicited very troubling outbursts at their rallies last week, McCain and Palin decided to step-up the intensity this week by launching a new “You’re angry and I’m angry too” campaign slogan. It’s an interesting approach, but is it the right approach?

I believe that how individuals conduct their campaign is an indication of how they’ll conduct their presidency. Since its inception, the tone and tenor of the Obama campaign has consistently been one of hope and inclusion—focusing on what unites us, not divides us. Yes, the Obama campaign is pushing back against the McCain attacks with attacks of their own. However, within the last few weeks, the entire tone and tenor of the McCain campaign has grown increasingly cynical and mean-spirited—even inciting the “angry mob” effect at its rallies.

Maybe McCain hopes history won’t repeat itself in his case—or perhaps he just doesn’t know— but historical precedence demonstrates that the “angry” candidate doesn’t win.

Six months ago, Obama referred to some small town Americans as “bitter.” As a result, he was lambasted, labeled an elitist and suffered a dip in the polls as a result. Now, McCain and Sarah Palin are stirring up their crowds by proudly proclaiming “You’re angry and I’m angry too.”

Hey, I understand. We all get angry. Judeo-Christian teaching instructs us to “be angry but sin not.” So fine—McCain, Palin and their audiences have every right to be angry—that’s fine. It’s the “sin not” part of the equation that worries me.

Is the McCain campaign having it’s cake and eating it too? Are they for or against calling Barack Obama a terrorist?  Do they think the only way they can win, is to scare the voting public into thinking Obama is not a true American?

Did you ever wonder who started the rumors about Obama? If so, here is a very interesting article in the New York Times – The Man Behind the Whispers About Obama…

The most persistent falsehood about Senator Barack Obama’s background first hit in 2004 just two weeks after the Democratic convention speech that helped set him on the path to his presidential candidacy: “Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion.”

That statement, contained in a press release, spun a complex tale about the ancestry of Mr. Obama, who is Christian.

The press release was picked up by a conservative Web site, FreeRepublic.com, and spread steadily as others elaborated on its claims over the years in e-mail messages, Web sites and books. It continues to drive other false rumors about Mr. Obama’s background.

This one really takes the cake.  I’m no theologian, and I won’t claim to know what God is thinking.  But, I’m just going to take a wild guess here, and assume God doesn’t like this kind of thing very much.

Is this guy kidding? Did he just threaten God? When did this election become a war between the good Gods and the bad Gods? Personally…I think there are good people and bad people, not good Gods and bad Gods. What do you think?

On the lighter side…

Resignation Letter From the McCain/Palin campaign

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Although the story I’m about to tell you is personal and happened to me and my family, it’s not just my story. It still happens everywhere, everyday. It’s a story of what it’s truly like to be gay in America. I don’t speak much about this these days, but I’m telling it to you today because I fear the country we face under John McCain and Sarah Palin. Under their virulently right-wing rule, this type of disenfranchisement and gutter treatment could spread exponentially throughout this nation.

I once worked for what I believed was one of the best Fortune 500 companies, a company that I had been loyal to since joining them in 1974 and I expected some type of loyalty in return. I was naïve back then. What I have learned is that companies expect loyalty, but they absolutely do not return it at the same level. No company name will be given, but let’s just say that with the advent of some new management came some discrimination. In this case, it was based on my sexual orientation (which, by the way, had not been an issue prior to management change). In 1997, after several ugly encounters between myself and my boss, I was roundly fired.

The circumstances are not important. The fact is that I signed an agreement not to sue (I was stupid, in retrospect) in exchange for a severance package. At the time, I had a small child under a year and a very sick partner, who had contracted pre-eclampsia during the final twenty weeks of the pregnancy and was saddled with a diagnosis of perinatal cardiomyopathy post-pregnancy. I saw no other way to survive and keep them both healthy and safe. One decision I had made, however, was that I would never again give my all to a corporation.

My new career begins

One of the benefits I received was the opportunity to get up every day for nine months and go to work at an outplacement center. Here, I got help with my resume and use of the phones to find a new job. What I really did, however, was take the time to start my own small advertising agency. For several years, it went gangbusters, but it had to. By then, I was paying over $1,000 a month for health insurance. Because my family was gay and not recognized, each of us had to carry an individual policy. Now, in my previous company, I had domestic partner benefits and Bill Clinton had worked on passing a law so that we could continue that type of coverage. However, actually getting that benefit from any insurance company at the time was a joke. The insurance company I used made damned sure that any kind of family health insurance for gays was off the charts. It was more cost-effective for each of us to carry our own.

In three years, my partner’s cardiomyopathy had remitted. She worked really hard at it and I was very proud of her. Things were going well, and we had always discussed having two children. I was nervous about her trying again, but she wanted our daughter, Thalia, who was then about two-and-a-half, to have a sibling. She was willing to take the risk and I made a conscious decision to support her. That’s what couples do, whether gay or straight.

The detail isn’t important here, so what I will just tell you is that the second time around, fertility was an issue. It took nearly two years and more than 1,000 shots of fertility meds to make this happen. The second time around, there was no pre-eclampsia or cardiomyopathy. However, my partner did get hyperemesis (24/7 morning sickness), and we had to pay for several rounds of inseminations out of pocket because my partner was over 40 during this time and insurance would only cover so many. Finally, on March 13, 2001, our son, Aaron, was born six weeks early. Thalia had turned four the previous November. During the delivery process, however, we had several problems with a prominent Boston hospital. My partner’s water broke early and she went in but could not advance the dilation. The plan was to put her in ante-partum. During this time, I had to leave the room to call and make arrangements for the evening for Thalia. There was no other way. In the time I was gone, my partner had gone into “back” labor and all hell had broken loose. The nurse would not allow me back into the room, in spite of the fact that we had medical powers of attorney. This was the worst of all possible situations for my partner as she had suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for years from her father’s physical abuse. She had a break that evening and things would not be the same for many, many years. I lost my business six months later, and this is where the story gets really ugly.

The bottom falls out of my business

With a six-month-old little boy and a little girl just over four, we were living in Beverly, Massachusetts. My partner had completely fallen apart and had been hospitalized, and we were looking at having to move since the woman who owned our building wanted to sell and move south with her husband. I started looking around and we found a place closer to Boston, since most of my clients were on the south shore. My business was doing well when we moved (2002). I had lost some smaller businesses, but I had also gained two new fairly active clients.

We were living in Winchester, Massachusetts, when the bottom fell out of my business. I had $52,000 in billings outstanding when one of my start-up biopharm clients fired their entire marketing staff. They then refused to pay the bills and, in fact, wiped out all evidence that I’d done any work. This issue has never been resolved to this date. Let me tell you, in this America, the companies get the benefit of the doubt, not the freelancers. About one month later, I had another client go under and cancel all of the work I had just started. In desperation, I took work from somebody out of state after taking a down payment from him, which cleared my bank easily and helped me keep afloat. This included paying the rent. I was in the desperation zone at this point and I had a partner who could not emotionally function.

I then went ahead and did more work for this client to the tune of about $110,000. I sent an invoice at $45,000, and waited nearly six months for payment. The check bounced. I then called the client and told him what happened and told him I needed all $110,000 in bank check form. I received that one week later. By now, I had been unable to pay the rent at all and was facing eviction.

At this point, my partner was unresponsive. I had two children under the age of five. I went to court to hold off eviction. I managed to do this for eight months. Then, a check for $110,000 arrived and I immediately went to the bank. The looked it over and said it looked fine. They gave me an advance to cover my rent and my business expenses. I immediately brought a bank check to my landlord, and we agreed together that we would sign a new lease. I felt great. I paid my electric and phone bills, and had my car repaired. The bank deposited the check. Two days later, I went to make a new withdrawal to cover some more expenses and they met me at the door. The check was counterfeit. I was questioned by the bank and the FBI, thinking that I was in collusion with whomever had given me a check. I turned all my files over, but they never located the person who had scammed me. The bank let me off the hook, knowing I was not involved.

Unfortunately, the landlady sat on the check and never cashed it. Eviction was a reality now. There was no avoiding it.

Welcome to the system

We got as much of our personal stuff out as we could before being evicted, but we essentially had to sell everything we had anyway. We moved to an Extended Stay America hotel until I could figure out how to get myself into the welfare system. We had about $3,500. It didn’t take us far. We had about two or three months of safety, all four of us living in one room with two cats. The kids had lost everything; we refused to get rid of their pets. After the money ran out, my partner’s mom helped to keep us afloat at the hotel.

We immediately went to get food stamps and welfare money. They gave us food stamps and cash for three of us. I would not be included. Just the children and the birth mother. Gay people just did not fit into the system. It did not matter that my partner and I had made a commitment in 1992, that we had the children together on my company’s domestic partner insurance, and that we had a civil union in the state of Vermont. We were not a real family because we were a gay family. They told my partner that “if you get rid of her” (those exact words, by the way) they would place her and the children in a group shelter. If they had put my partner in a shelter like that, with just our two children, she would never survive and the children would become wards of the state. I knew that. I called a free legal service specializing in such things. They told me what would happen: We would be denied placement in Malden, Massachusetts and we would immediately appeal to Boston. That would get us placed. Prior to the placement, I pulled out all the stops on my partner’s mental health, worked with her therapists, and got a dispensation so that we would not be put in a group shelter with shared baths. At this point, she needed her privacy. She was having panic attacks with vomiting and a shared bath just would not be a good situation for her. They placed us in a hotel on the north shore of Boston, where we stayed for eight months in one room. There were so many homeless people at this hotel, that they had welfare and DSS (Department of Social Services) staff on-site.

When you are in this system, your life is not your own. They walk into your room unannounced at any time for inspection. They watch every single thing you do. They treat with you with great disrespect and make you feel less than human. Why? Because they can. Mitt Romney was our Governor at the time and the 2004 Democratic National Convention was coming to Boston. He wanted everyone out of hotels. I came home one day, just after my son had been diagnosed with autism, to find a message that we needed to be ready to move the very next day. That is the way the system works. There is no compassion. There is no support. It’s just you and them. And they run the show.

Because my partner could not be placed in a group center, they moved us to what is called a “scattered site,” or an apartment. Most of these apartments are in a town named Lynn, Massachusetts. When we arrived, there were two rats waiting for us on the porch. Their friends were all in the back yard. There were cockroaches everywhere. The water was leaking under the sink. The bathroom was lopsided and didn’t even have a door. It was disgusting and inhuman; nobody should have to live under those conditions. My car, which had long been sold, would have been cleaner and safer. And all around us, drug deals were going on. The building next door had a guy who drove a Mercedes come in and out every night. There was gunfire. I appealed the placement. In three weeks, we were moved to another apartment in Lynn. It was definitely cleaner and the rats were at least confined to the outside of the building (mostly near the trash), but the place was freezing and we all slept in donated down coats during the winter. Within the first two months of arriving, two men were shot to death two doors down because of a busted drug deal. My children were not allowed outside. We spent two years there.

My partner (now my wife in Massachusetts) and I got out of homelessness on our own just three months shy of our benefits running out. We moved up to Amesbury, Massachusetts. Our children are now eleven (Thalia) and seven (Aaron), and happy. I’m not sure that Aaron remembers much of this, but I know Thalia does. It’s amazing to me how resilient children can be. My partner has now recovered somewhat. She is functional, having decided to take herself off most of her medication, and is working on it. However, I must tell you that, in retrospect, it was good that she was medicated the way she was given what was going on. It insured her survival.

Let me tell you why this is not okay

At the height of my family’s problem, I was a parent who learned what I had to learn to make sure that my family stayed safe. I made sure that I completed a second parent adoption and ensured that my children would stay part of the family by sealing it with a permanent legal guardianship (my partner actually came up with the idea to ensure we’d stay together). I learned about the McKinney-Vento Act, which guaranteed that my children could be bused back to Winchester to stay in a familiar school. My son was diagnosed with autism and my daughter diagnosed as legally blind in one eye while we were homeless. I made sure that they got the care they needed without fail. I met faithfully with welfare and DSS and completed all assignments as asked. I made sure my partner was kept separated and safe from the abuses of the system because I knew she would never survive any other way.

This is not okay because this is America and it should be a government for all the people, black, white, Hispanic, gay and straight. When my partner and I were doing well, I was working for a Fortune 500 company and paid anywhere between $5,200 and $7,300 per month in taxes over a 15-year period. The government had absolutely no problem taking my gay money. Yet, when the chips were down, I did not exist and my family was not real. Do you think this is an aberration? Do not put your heads in the sand anymore. It is not an aberration. It happens every day somewhere in this country. This is something that I never talk about if I can avoid it. It’s personal and it’s painful. I am doing it because I believe myself to be extremely politically astute and I pay attention. I have heard the rhetoric and firmly believe that a John McCain-Sarah Palin regime would disenfranchise and oppress everyone who doesn’t fit the approved mold. He will be the de facto president, but I have heard her speak and I hear what she is saying. The whole prospect of their election should be terrifying to anyone who believes in democracy and freedom for everyone. I am here to tell you from personal experience that it is a sham.

[Read more by Deb Della Piana  at Turn Left]

Sarah Palin Interview with Charlie Gibson (part one)

Sarah Palin Intervew with Charlie Gibson (part two)

More on Sarah Palin with Charlie Gibson on Nightline

ABC Pundit Break Down the Palin Interview

ABC Factchecks Sarah Palin Interview

So. What do you think? Please let me know in comments.

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

Ooh That Smell…

Obama is getting my Hold The Nose vote. I’m sure he won’t care if I’m holding my nose or not. And it’s not because I drank the Kool Aid – I just feel the gun at my head.

Many people I know are mad at me. Oh, well, they will have more stress than I will. Lambert at Corrente says I can still be a PUMA anyway, lol. YES, I know how much vile BS Obama spewed during the primary. The media treatment was just as abhorrent to me as it was to them. I used to really like Olbermann; now I can’t stand the sight of him. The sexism has really sunk in, and the men did it to themselves. In the end, however, there are more reasons Not to vote Republican than Not to vote Democrat, or not to vote at all. And no, I won’t include the SCOTUS or Roe v. Wade, because I think they should not be part of it, either.

If you are a Dem, and vote for McCain, then maybe I could say You have fallen for the Republican Kool Aid. It has always made me wonder, the people who started this movement, are they really Republicans in stealth, who have set out to do this ON PURPOSE to split up the Democratic Party? And not just for PUMA itself, but for a lot of the bloggers that banded together early with PUMA? If that’s true, then the Republicans have succeeded. So far. Meaning we ALL drank the Kool Aid.

Someone said, or I read somewhere, that PUMA reminds them of Jews for Jesus. You know, the ones who convert Jews into Christians? Now, there’s also Jews for Judaism, which is a group that combats Christian Missionaries that wish to convert Jews by stealth. Thinking of “Jews for Jesus” as being PUMA, and then “Jews” as “Hillary Democrats”, and the “Christians” as “Republicans.” The point of PUMA is to convert Hillary Democrats into Republicans, by having these stealth Republican missionaries pretending to be Democrats. We’re not really that dumb, are we? Maybe we are….menopause does weird things…I know from experience….!

I know that the Democratic Party doesn’t seem to represent me any more. But these women that find Palin appealing can NOT be anything other than Republican at heart. She is not “of the people” – I don’t know any “people” who pay themselves $16K to work from home…. McCain is incontinent incompetent and a warmonger, but Palin is the scary one. Outside of the Religious Right connection, Sarah Palin is a liar, she is a cheat, she is like Teflon – all these lawsuits, all this crap going on all around her, and everyone is ignoring it except the left bloggers. Oh, and on the RR tip, God wanted the pipeline built. Please, spare Moi…

The DNC should be busting heads, and getting the Dem voters back. But they aren’t. True to form, they are limp. So much for Dean’s leadership. I think it’s a reason for some of the female Hillary supporters not to want to vote for Obama….they just don’t realize that’s what’s doing it. Even tho Joe’s got his share of testosterone, there’s more coming from the other side…..

No, after the convention, it finally sunk in that the Hillary supporters who are not voting this election, or who are voting McCain, are really fighting a battle that no one can win. Movements begun from hate don’t change things for the better. It may wreck the Democratic party, but it will not change the system or the DNC; the Republicans will just reign forever as a result. Which, of course, is what they want. Two wrongs don’t make a right. And I do not intend to stop criticizing BO if it’s warranted.

The PUMAs think that not voting for Obama will enable Hillary to run in 2012, or that it will serve the DNC right. Several have told me they want revenge. They are using fuzzy math. If Obama does not get in this election, after four more years of Republican Rule, they really think that she stands a chance to win in 2012. Um, I don’t think Obama voters will be inclined toward voting for Hillary in 2012, and they will then be getting their revenge against YOU. And who’s to stop Obama from running again?

No, the only way to real change is to educate. Did anyone ever teach you that knowledge is power? Women need to KNOW, and those of us that DO know need to be organizing to teach them, and to do it NOW. Daughters by the droves voted for Obama in primaries over a woman. WHY? We need to start grassroots organizations specifically targeted toward women, girls & politics. There are plenty of foundations that give money for this stuff. So there’s no excuse, and we can only blame ourselves if it happens again.

We need to make sure that an election like this NEVER happens again, that women who run for office are NEVER treated as shamefully again. But not voting Obama into office (or voting McCain in) isn’t the way to that goal.

So…Even if you’re o.k. with four more years of a Bush economy.

Even if you’re o.k. with four more years of Bush healthcare (crisis) policy.

Even if you’re o.k. with four more years of Bush foreign policy and the Iraq war.

Even if you’re o.k. with four more years of Bush corporate welfare.

Even if you’re o.k. with skyrocketing gas prices.

Even if you’re o.k. with eroding women’s rights.

Even if the last eight years of the Bush administration have served you well…How do you feel about four more years of lies and deception?  Are you o.k. with that?  Just in case you are not o.k. with that, you should know how much lying and deception has been going on in the last ten days.

McCain and Palin are not just more of the same Bush policies, they are more of the same Bush deceptions.  Is this really what you want for the next four years?  If not, here are some ways to fact-check the McCain/Palin ticket.

The Associated Press:  Fact Check the Palin Bridge To Knowhere

THE FACTS: Palin did abandon plans to build the nearly $400 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport. But she made her decision after the project had become an embarrassment to the state, after federal dollars for the project were pulled back and diverted to other uses in Alaska, and after she had appeared to support the bridge during her campaign for governor.

As always FactCheck.org is a great place to get to the truth.  Here are some recent analyst of the misleading claims from both McCain and Palin…

We checked the accuracy of McCain’s speech accepting the Republican nomination and noted the following:

Sarah Palin’s much-awaited speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night may have shown she could play the role of attack dog, but it also showed her to be short on facts when it came to touting her own record and going after Obama’s.

McCain’s campaign launched a TV ad touting his running mate, Palin, and offering a comparison to Obama. Some of its claims are off the mark:

Also See:

Laura Manning from the Obama/Biden Blog has recently added fact checking of McCain/Palin to their blog.

From Slate – The Sarah Palin FAQ:  Everything you ever wanted to know about the Republican VP nominee.

ThinkProgress has put together a document compiling what we know about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) vice presidential running mate. Here are the issues:

* Foreign Policy
* Earmarks
* Environment
* Energy
* Big Oil
* Science
* Women’s Rights
* Ethics
* Troopergate
* Radical Right
* Civil Rights
* Health Care
* Economy

So.  If you were for lies and deception, before you were against it…The McCain/Palin ticket may be right for you.  Is Palin the kind of woman you can see yourself having a beer with?  Has feeling like you could have a beer with a candidate become a prerequisite for the presidency?  Let me know what you think in comments.

Personally, I really question whether the Iraq war was God’s plan (seemed like it was a GOP Bush/Cheney plan to me).  And, did God also want the Bush administration to lie to get the war started?  That seems like a stretch.  However, I won’t presume to speak for God.  Let me know what you think in comments.

Three months before she was thrust into the national political spotlight, Gov. Sarah Palin was asked to handle a much smaller task: addressing the graduating class of commission students at her one-time church, Wasilla Assembly of God.

Her speech in June provides as much insight into her policy leanings as anything uncovered since she was asked to be John McCain’s running mate.

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

Part One –

“Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God,” she exhorted the congregants. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.”

Part Two –

(“God” appears in quotes because the “God” of Bush and Palin bears no relation to the God I grew up with.)

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Last week the Republican party heralded the themes of “Country First” and “Service” at their national convention. Throughout the week they highlighted numerous examples of bravery and courage among service persons and civilians alike. Service is a core value of this party and its 2008 convention.

Then came a series of speeches on Wednesday night—particularly the speeches given by Rudy Giuliani and Governor Sarah Palin. What I heard astounded me. Both speakers blatantly belittled and mocked the little-known (now more well-known due to Barack Obama) role of community organizer.

I was utterly appalled when I listened as Giuliani eagerly waited the audience’s response after making the remark, “He worked as a community organizer. What? … OK, maybe this is the first problem on the resume.”

I couldn’t believe it.

It didn’t stop there. In her acceptance speech, Governor Sarah Palin stated, “I guess a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer… except that you have actual responsibilities.”

One can argue that Governor Palin was simply comparing the responsibilities of the office of President with that of the responsibility of a community organizer. Definitely there is little comparison. However, to diminish the role or value of community organizers is despicable.

Certainly the responsibility of a neighborhood community organizer doesn’t equate to the responsibility of the President of the United States—nothing can— but Giuliani and Palin didn’t make that distinction. Rudy Giuilani called Obama’s service as a community organizer the first “problem” on Obama’s resume, but nothing could be further from the truth.

A community organizer is a grassroots warrior. A community organizer is someone who sacrifices his or her time, energy, resources—and very often higher earnings— to rally and empower families and communities to fight for the causes in which they believe—whether it’s working to improve educational opportunities for neighborhood children, ridding the neighborhood of abandoned homes and drug havens, organizing to bring job training and jobs after plants have closed, fighting to get fresh produce at neighborhood grocery stores, or rallying for affordable housing and reliable public transportation.

Community organizers bring the various sectors of the community together to solve problems—real problems that are affecting real people in real neighborhoods across America. Community organizers help communities recognize their own power by mobilizing them to stand up to “the powers that be.”

In essence, community organizers organize individuals into a stronger, more effective unit for change—similar to how a union organizes its members to provide a collective voice to demand better pay and working conditions.

Community organizers come alongside individuals to help them define what success is for them and help them acquire the resources needed to accomplish the task at hand.

Most importantly, community organizers inspire hope. Whether they’re your next door neighbor or neighbors from across town, by investing their time, energy and enthusiasm, community organizers inspire other community members—many of whom have been down trodden and disenfranchised—to believe again.

Community organizers inspire individuals to believe in themselves and to come together to create the change they want to see. It’s called self-determination. It’s the foundation of a democratic society. It’s also the embodiment of the self-help, individual-responsibility doctrine so often associated with the Republican Party.

So when it comes to creating change at the grassroots level that positively impacts people’s everyday lives—that’s the kind of change community organizers help create. Good, old-fashioned, hard work and bottom-up change that’s actually worthwhile.

It’s this kind of real-life, impactful change upon which Barack Obama has built his career in public service—a deep-seated belief that individuals have within them the power to make their communities a better place if they can come together.

The irony of the Republican’s community organizer-bashing is that Senator Barack Obama’s incredible success emanates from his community organizing skills and his ability to listen to, understand, relate to, encourage and help empower others. In his amazing, historic, campaign—which is made possible by the contributions of everyday people volunteering and making multiple small donations— Barack Obama is employing community organizing 101—only multiplied by 1,000.

The community organizing experience that Giuliani and Palin belittled in Barack Obama cuts to the very core of Obama’s philosophy of service, and it is the preeminent value that has produced the kind of following and enthusiasm Senator Barack Obama is experiencing.

Community organizing is service. And it is very unfortunate that a party whose theme for their convention is “Country First” and “Service” would be so blind as to not recognize service in its myriad of forms.

Twenty years ago Barack Obama helped empower a community to bring change on Chicago’s Southside. In 2008, Barack Obama has brought that same courageous spirit of community to the national scene. This time, however, he’ll not only change the Southside of Chicago. This time, Obama is mobilizing individuals in communities across America, and inspiring all of America to believe that together we can change this nation, and together we can change the world.

[Anita S. Lane is a public policy advocate and former full-time community organizer in Detroit, Michigan.]