Down With Community Organizers

John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin disagree on at least one thing: the importance of community organizers.

“Of course I respect community organizers,” said McCain, responding to a question about whether he agreed with the evisceration of community organizers at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. (During the convention, Palin and former mayor Rudy Giuliani, among others, mocked the community organizer job, which Obama had after law school, as meaningless and without real responsibility.)

Speaking during a forum about service tonight at Columbia University, McCain added, “And Senator Obama’s record in that area is outstanding.”

McCain also blamed the poisonous tone of the presidential debate on Senator Obama’s decision not to accept his invitation to appear in town hall meetings together around the country, which he suggested would have gone a long way in keeping things civil.  read more »

Yesterday, Republicans, seemingly at once, started attacking Barack Obama's experience as a community organizer.

"What in God's name is a community organizer?" asked George Pataki at a breakfast.

"What do they do?" Giuliani implored during his speech last night.

And Sarah Palin, in her enthusiastic address, said, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

So community organizers are now organizing themselves.

John Raskin of the West Side of Manhattan, founder of Community Organizers of America, has already launched a Web site (Community Organizers Fight Back) demanding that Palin apologize.

Of course, they're not exactly the target demographic for Republicans, especially in New York.  read more »

ST. PAUL—Sarah Palin’s at-times combative, at-times homespun, but consistently successful speech to accept the vice presidential nomination prompted unvaryingly ecstatic reactions on the floor here at the Republican National Convention.

“She did more about setting the record straight about her experience than could have been asked,” said former New York Senator Al D’Amato, who called the speech “marvelous.” He added, “She left you thinking of Obama, ‘Where’s the meat?’”

Chris Medlock, an alternative delegate from Tulsa, Okla., screamed, “Joe Biden doesn’t have a chance!” throughout the speech. When it was over he said, “If it was a fight, they would have stopped it early.  read more »

MINNEAPOLIS—In what may be a preview of his keynote speech tonight to the Republican National Convention, Rudy Giuliani spoke to the New York Republican delegation at a downtown Marriott this afternoon and attacked Barack Obama on matters of national security and experience.

“At the top of the ticket they have someone who is the least experienced candidate for president in 100 years,” said Giuliani.

Speaking about the war in Iraq and the surge, he said, “I can’t figure out for the life of me how the Democrats think it’s a mistake.” He suggested that the Democrats supported dictatorships.

“Do they want Saddam Hussein back?” he asked.  read more »

ST. PAUL-Former governor George Pataki doesn't think too much of Barack Obama's post-college, biography-anchoring work in Chicago as a community organizer.

Speaking at the Ohio delegation's breakfast this morning, Pataki went on the attack to dispel talk about G.O.P. vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin's inexperience.

"They talk about her résumé," he said. "You know, she was mayor of a small town."

"He was a community organizer. What in God's name is a community organizer? I don't even know if that's a job," he said. He received laughter and applause.

Pataki, who slipped almost entirely out of public view when he left office 20 months ago, has been on a rather active schedule out here, mostly speaking to individual delegations in support of Senator McCain.