On 8.28.2010, Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally was held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The purpose of the rally, which Beck claimed to be “non-political” despite featuring Tea Party-favorite Sarah Palin as a speaker and its being attended entirely by conservatives, was unclear. The participants spoke abstractly about the need to restore “honor” and “pride” to a country that had lost it. When pressed for when our country had lost its honor, most cited the election of Barack Obama.

8.28.2010 also represented the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and Glenn Beck has been criticized for by civil rights groups for trying to misappropriate the occasion.

Last year, Beck referred to Barack Obama—our country’s first African-American President–as a “racist… who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.” When offered the chance to respond to Beck’s statements, his fans either agreed with him or simply refused to believe that he had ever made them.

While the speaker list was diverse, the overwhelmingly white crowd expressed paranoid and conspiratorial fears of multiculturalism—that atheists or black liberation theologists or radical Muslims or “free-loading” Latinos were going to ruin our country. There was the constant suggestion that white Christians and their way of life are somehow under assault, and that the attendees of this rally were here to put an end to it and return the country to what it used to be.

Rachel Maddow made this assessment of the war in Iraq:

Two American things have been accomplished in Iraq. Tens of thousands, more than a million Americans served their country in a horrible war for seven and a half years under horrible circumstances and under political leadership that was not honest about why they had been sent there. Those Americans are to be honored for what they did and what they gave and they are to be taken care of as veterans now that they’re home.

The other accomplishment in Iraq is that we have finally found a way to leave, to get combat troops out, now.

Those two accomplishments belong to this president, who’s overseeing the withdrawal from Iraq, and to the people who served — the people who served honorably for these seven and a half long years.

Credit for all the rest of it, for the made-up reasons for going in, for going in in the first place, for letting Afghanistan spill out of control in favor of this war, for the constant revisions for the justifications for war to obfuscate the craven petty radicalism that really started — Republicans, you guys can go right ahead and take that credit. Go right ahead. Credit where credit is due.

Republicans, this one’s yours. It’s got your name on it.

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Starting this weekend, hundreds of volunteers are hitting the pavement to start getting out the vote for Democrats. This is the earliest we’ve ever started and it’s all thanks to your support.

And it’s just the beginning. We’ve set a goal of knocking on 200,000 doors across the country. We’ll need your help! See the video below, or click here.

 To volunteer this weekend …

• Canvassing on Saturday, Aug 28, Noon-3 pm
  Meet at Barb’s house, near Huntington Metro
  2701 Farnsworth Drive, Alexandria
  RSVP, click here
• Canvassing on Saturday, Aug 28, 4-7 pm
  Meet at the Starbucks in Beacon Hill Shopping Center
  6754 Richmond Highway, Alexandria
  RSVP, click here 
• Canvassing on Sunday, Aug 29, 1-4 pm
  Meet at Barb’s house, near Huntington Metro
  2701 Farnsworth Drive, Alexandria
  RSVP, click here  

See more information from Virginia DNC Member, Frank Leone (DemRulz.org):

• DNC General Meeting Report – Part 1
• DNC General Meeting – Part 2
• DNC Communications Report and Meeting Speeches

This is a direct result from the recent “Citizens United decision” holding that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited under the First Amendment.

Watch the video below, or click here.

The President discusses a new Medicare Trustees report showing Medicare to be on much stronger footing as a result of the reforms in the Affordable Care Act. In addition, seniors are also already getting help with prescription drug costs when they fall into the infamous “donut hole.” See the video below, or click here.