Friends don't let friends not vote!

One of the most effective, and funny, viral e-mail campaigns of this election season is the "Get out the Vote" campaign of MoveOn.org. People who receive the e-mail click on a video of a fake newscast one week from today that reports John McCain beat Barack Obama by ONE VOTE, and that one vote was YOURS ! Your name is shown in the news report on the headline of a newspaper, the caption on the newscast graphics and even on graffiti identifying you as a "Loser!" It's hilarious!
Once you get the e-mail you can forward it to many more people. Enter their name and e-mail address and when they click on the video, they'll be the one blamed for losing the election for Obama!
MoveOn.org writes: "Studies show that by far the best way to get people out to vote is to convince them that (a) everyone else is voting, and (b) everyone will know if they don't vote. This video does both—with a smile (or smirk, in some cases)."
Here's where to start.

Undecided voters

Polls show some 5 to 6 percent of voters are undecided in the race between John McCain and Barack Obama. My only question to them would be, "How do you get dressed in the morning?" Do you stand before your closet torn between the blue shirt and the red shirt and decide, "I can't make up my mind. I'll just stay in my bath robe all day. But should I wear the blue bath robe or the red bath robe?"

Man-on-the-Street Interviews

And so you won't think of me as a self-righteous, humorless dick, I offer you this.

The lament of racism in the presidential race

I’d heard for months about the venomous, racist, hateful, lying e-mails circulating about Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate and had, luckily, been spared having them pollute my Inbox. Until Monday. I received, from someone whom I won’t identify, an e-mail link to a radio piece whose source appears to be “Sal,” a character on the Howard Stern Show.

A message accompanying the link from the original sender, whom I’ll identify as “Richard,” begins “I will go to my grave convinced that I am not racist or biased.”

But…

Richard believes the people interviewed in this radio piece, who are apparently African-Americans, are unqualified to be able to vote for president because of their ignorance.

The report was made to see whether black people who are supporting Obama are doing so only because of his race. To test them, Sal portrayed John McCain’s policies as Obama’s in interviewing Obama supporters. So he went to…are you ready for this?...Harlem. Just so we would be clear that he was interviewing black people, just to reinforce preconceptions people – you know, people who live in “real America” -- may have about people who live in Harlem.

After one interviewee indicated they’re voting for Obama, Sal asks, “Are you more for Obama’s policies because he’s prolife or because he thinks our troops should stay in Iraq until we finish this war?”

Voter: “Because I think our troops should stay in Iraq and finish this war. I’m really for him with that.”

To the next Obama supporter, Sal says, “Obama is anti stem cell research; would you agree with him on that?” Voter: “Yeah I wouldn’t do that either. I’m anti stem cell [research].”

Sal also gets two of the three Obama interviewees to back Obama’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate: Sal: “And if he wins would you have a problem with Sarah Palin being vice president?” Voter: “No, I would not.”

I am not including the link to that radio interview in my post because I don’t want to spread it further. The very premise of this report is racist. The reporter went to Harlem with the specific intent to interview blacks and mislead them in an effort to make them look foolish.

Richard, in his message accompanying the link, continues, “I will strongly prejudge their qualifications to vote for the next president. God help us if Obama is anointed by the ilk in these interviews.”

As politely as I could, I clicked “Reply All” and responded to this e-mail by arguing that if Richard is going to mock the people interviewed in that report as unqualified to vote for president because they are uninformed and unintelligent voters, “then you should mock the uninformed and unintelligent people who insist that Barack Obama is a Muslim, that he ‘pals around with terrorists’ and who yell at McCain or Palin rallies ‘treason,’ ‘terrorist’ and, most despicably, ‘kill him.’”

Some of them can be found here. In this video, McCain-Palin supporters jeer Obama-Biden supporters, with epithets such as “commie,” “fag,” “terrorist,” and, oddly, that Obama supporters should “move to Russia” (someone’s stuck in the 1950s there). Reminded that as Wasilla Mayor, Palin had rape victims pay for their own rape evidence kits, a McCain supporter shouted back that “she [the victim] should die.” A McCain supporter ran his index finger across his own neck in front of the Obama supporters, simulating a throat slitting.

Sadly, these people get to vote, too, Richard.

Bob Schieffer on presidential debates

Bob Schieffer of CBS News, the moderator of tonight's final debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, has some suggestions for revising the debate format. I covered a speech he made in 2004 at a Commonwealth Club event in Palo Alto soon after he moderated one of the debates between George Bush and John Kerry. At such events, audience members write their questions on cards and the host reads them to the speaker. Schieffer was asked my question, "Should the debate rules be changed so that..." and before the host could finish the question, Schieffer said, "Yes."

Business Ethics: What would Michael Scott do?

On a different subject, I wrote this item on spec for a business Web site. It didn't meet their needs but you might find it interesting. RJM

Out of the mouths of sitcom writers comes the latest lesson on how businesses should handle ethical issues in the workplace. Check out the Oct. 9 episode (perhaps on your TiVo or on NBC.com) of the TV series “The Office,” which was devoted to educating the employees of the fictional Dunder-Mifflin paper products office in Scranton, Penn., on ethics The episode proves the adage, “It’s funny because it’s true.”

The sitcom, in its fifth season, stars Steve Carell as branch manager Michael Scott, a character marked by a total lack of self-awareness of how incompetent, insensitive and clueless he is.

In this episode, the new human resources manager, Holly, puts on a business ethics seminar for employees at the insistence of corporate in New York City, which is placing renewed attention on the subject after corporate VP Ryan Howard is busted double billing sales as both offline and online. He’s been kicked back to the Scranton office where he started as an intern. Why Ryan isn’t in jail, much less still on the company payroll, even in the Scranton outpost, is never explained.

Holly invites employees, under a vague promise of immunity from Michael, to disclose unethical behavior in which they may have engaged. A few relatively minor infractions are admitted. Accountant Oscar Martinez admits sometimes taking a long lunch. Kelly Kapoor admits to downloading pirated music onto her company computer (which in the real world opens the company to significant liability). But Meredith Palmer, a customer relations rep, trumps them all by admitting that over the previous six years, she’s had sex with a manufacturer’s rep in exchange for discounts on supplies that D-M sells, plus, as she added, discount coupons to a steakhouse.

Holly, who wishes Michael had not extended the immunity offer, thinks Meredith should be fired, but Michael resists. In private discussions with Holly, Michael is reluctant to act, describing his employees as “family,” which Holly says is, legally, not the case. This illustrates a conflict that likely occurs in real workplaces where mid-level managers disagree on how to deal with an ethical situation and managers who are required to enforce a corporate ethics policy fail to do so because of their aversion to confrontation.

“It turns out being the morality police does not make you popular,” Holly observes.

And when Holly tells corporate about Meredith’s breach, the corporate HR executive, “Kendall,” completely undercuts Holly.

“I’m not sure these circumstances warrant any action,” says Kendall, in a speakerphone conference call with Holly and Michael in Michael’s office. In the scene, the door to Michael’s office is wide open, enabling everyone else in the office to hear the conversation, violating the basic rule that HR issues are to be kept private.

Sadly, ethics issues are trumped by the bottom line. “To be honest the company’s getting a discount during a tough time on our balance sheet,” says Kendall. “I don’t think the right thing for our company to do is turn our nose up at that.”

To be sure, in a sitcom as off-the-wall as “The Office,” the situations are exaggerated for comic effect, but who hasn’t encountered dilemmas that pit ethical concerns against financial ones?

The episode also highlights another issue where management wishes only to be “in compliance” and nothing more. Before hanging up, Kendall admonishes Holly: “Your task was to get signatures from employees that they had completed the training.”

Who hasn’t heard that before?

Even the madcap comedy of “The Office” contains a pearl of wisdom. Amid a discussion of copping office supplies or hanging out at the water cooler too long, Oscar argues that business ethics shouldn’t be just about enforcing “the corporate anti-shoplifting rules.”

“Ethics is a real discussion about competing conceptions of good,” he said.

Think about it

Sen. John McCain said this in a speech today in Virginia:


"The hour is late; our troubles are getting worse; our enemies watch. We have to act immediately. We have to change direction now."


Is he talking about:

A: The American economy? or
B: The state of his campaign?

The downside of 24/7 cable news

I've often thought that the problem with 24-hour cable news channels is that they have way too much time to fill and not enough decent content to fill it. So the networks let people go on and on about something until they eventually say something totally stupid. My thesis is confirmed by items like this. It's a Fox News segment on complaints that Newsweek's extreme closeup photo of Sarah Palin's face is sexist because it shows minor flaws on her face. Huh? Let me ask you something, Fox: Did you have another segment planned for that time slot that fell through at the last minute and you had to scramble to find something else? Then did somebody see Newsweek lying on a coffee table and say, "Hey let's make a big stink out of this!" Was that what happened?
Note the dubious use of "some say" sourcing in the anchor's introduction.
This leads to another point of concern for me as an observer of the cable news channels, and it's also a concern I have with the blogosphere. This is hardly a new phenomenon, but the fragmentation of the media into scores of TV channels and hundreds of blogs is that people gravitate to the media that reflect their own beliefs. This point was made clear to me the night of the Biden-Palin vice presidential debate. Both Fox News and MSNBC invited viewers to text their votes as to which candidate they felt won the debate. Foix News reported that 86 percent of their viewers who called in thought Rep. Gov. Sarah Palin won. MSNBC reported that 81 percent if its viewers felt Democratic Sen. Joe Biden won. Sigh,

It's funny because it's sad

One of my cousins sent me this link, which I think you'll enjoy: Sarah Palin's Debate Flow Chart.

It’s Ne-VAD-ah, not Ne-VAH-da

I had the privilege of making three new friends this past weekend and joining them in an effort of common purpose: helping to elect Sen. Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States.
Given that California is regarded as a state expected to go blue this Nov. 4th, Obama supporters have been encouraged to help in neighboring states that are tossups, including Nevada. I have to be careful in writing this post not to reveal any campaign trade secrets or write anything that could reflect badly on the Obama campaign, so no Sarah Palin or “McCain is so old…” jokes here.
I set out early Friday afternoon with three Obama supporters I’d never met before, but by the end of the weekend we had bonded well. Passengers in my car for our trip to Reno were Laurie Terrat, a career counselor from just outside Los Gatos, Sarita Johnson, a gynecologist from Saratoga, and Gary Tang, a Stanford student from Palo Alto going for his PhD.

(L-R, Laurie, Gary and Sarita)

On the long drive to Reno, including through a rainstorm on the dark and windy roads through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we shared our stories of why we are Democrats, why we support Obama and our view of the campaign so far. The vice presidential debate had been broadcast the night before so we had plenty of fresh material to discuss. I also regaled the passengers who hadn’t seen “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report” with lines from the comedians’ sarcastic take on politics. Stephen Colbert: “We don’t cling to our guns, we shoot them. THEN we cling to them because they’re so warm!”
Early Saturday morning we gathered at a temporary Obama headquarters in Reno and as soon as I arrived I understood why the campaign rented a warehouse! A block long line of volunteers snaked around the parking lot and down the street waiting to sign up to help register voters and canvas neighborhoods looking to identify Obama supporters. Besides getting information on how to canvas neighborhoods and register new voters, we were given one important piece of advice: It’s pronounced Ne-VAD-ah, not Ne-VAH-da, so as not to alienate voters of the state we were visiting.
My friends and I were dispatched to neighborhoods in nearby Sparks, a few miles down I-80 from Reno, and started knocking on doors. Although we did find a few McCain supporters, a few undecideds and a few doors closed in our faces, we were always heartened by the smiles and enthusiasm from voters happy to tell us they were voting for Obama.
Even in casual encounters with people we heard encouragement about Obama. I had dinner in a restaurant in the casino/hotel in which we were staying and when I paid my bill, the waitress noticed my Obama buttons. I gave her one of them and a couple at one of the tables behind me in the restaurant showed their support. The man shook my hand and thanked me and the other volunteers for their efforts.

(L-R: Gary, Sarita, Laurie and Robert
at Obama HQ gathering)

We worked from 10 o’clock Saturday morning until 4 in the afternoon going from house to house and, let me tell you, there is no such thing as “comfortable shoes.” While exhausted, we were reenergized by meeting hundreds of other supporters at a pot luck supper put on by the campaign at the warehouse. Many other volunteers also traveled from California, a mix of college students, boomers and many in between, all motivated by the prospect of the change that only Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden can bring to this country.

Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) addresses
Obama volunteers at a Reno rally, Sun. Oct. 5)

Sunday, we made one more canvas before driving back to Silicon Valley. We got a sendoff at a Reno grocery store parking lot pep rally from Gov. Janet Napolitano, Democrat of Arizona, who was making campaign visits to Nevada on behalf of the Obama campaign. Gary, who was raised in Arizona, was among many getting their photos taken with the governor.

Gary Tang with Gov. Napolitano

Nevada went for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 but the latest polls show the state is “leaning Obama” and Laurie, Sarita, Gary and I hope we have helped turn it blue.

UPDATE: Here's an interesting take on the Obama campaign in Nevada from Salon.

It's not bailing out Wall Street; it's bailing out all of us

I recommend this analysis piece in today's New York Times for anyone who thinks the bill in Congress is a bailout only for the Fat Cats on Wall Street: "When Trust Vanishes, Worry"

Also, this column by Thomas Friedman makes a lot of sense. "You can’t save Main Street and punish Wall Street anymore than you can be in a rowboat with someone you hate and think that the leak in the bottom of the boat at his end is not going to sink you, too."