My quick hits on Carney

I think the Carney people could have done more to capitalize on the social capital that was there. 1) ask each speaker to say their name and place of residence. 2) Have staffers get email or phone from each of those people for more follow through and (don't know election laws) pass them to campaign staff for as potential volunteers. I mean that technical school teacher and Iraqi veteran. Come on! he was brilliant! He knew about Enron and California! 3) Ask people to write down their questions on a card, and mail or email. Afterwards compile all unanswered questions and push them out to those people in attendance. 4) Video and YouTube anyone...? Unless they don't want that kind of overlap of message. Maybe they hope he needs to be present as more moderate in some arenas, more conservative in others. That seems to pose risks down the line as being painted as phony. 5) Do these in the evening and work with local groups to have child care so that working

My quick takes:

"American democracy is alive and well. I enjoyed seeing so much aroused citizenry prodding and challenging their representative. Rep Carney looked like he was having fun.”

“People are worried about the border. I understand that. At the same time, I think it is hard to discuss this issue as a politician. A lot of people want the government to break the bank to make an impregnable border. The cost of that would surely make Iraq look like a park clean up in the federal budget. We live in a world of global flows. A fortress America approach will cost us. Brilliant people won’t come to America to learn in our universities. Companies exporting and importing will face higher costs. Tourists won’t come. Isolation weakens us.

Poor Mexicans and Central Americans are not waking up saying “I want to go break US laws today and be labeled an outlaw!” The trade policies we have enacted, including those by centrist democrats like President Clinton, and corporate welfare for US agribusiness a have set off waves of economic turmoil. That turmoil pushes people to migrate to better opportunities. And US companies are all too happy to employ them. What is a tank on the border going to do about that?”

“I think Rep Carney is getting a win-win when he describes the US as the ‘Saudia Arabia of green energy.’ But we need to know more about how federal policy can lead to healthy markets. Coal is cheap. How will green energy compete with cheap black energy?”

“People are fed up with Iraq. Several people demanded Congress defund the war. People cheered when others talked about getting out now and defunding. Rep Carney is cautious to a fault on this. I don’t know if its his own military background, or fear of the ‘weak on security’ label. The naked truth will help him. I think he saw that when people applauded him saying ‘Our troops won the war. The politicians lost the peace.’”

“Guantanamo bay, and all the other illegal and murky detention practices, area dishonor to our nation and a profound strategic mistake. I didn’t get to ask Rep Carney why he won’t help shut it down. Like John McCain said about torture, its not about them (the enemy). Its about us and who we are. We can not try and lead the world as a democracy while we let this rot fester. I wish I could hear Rep Carney defend his lack of action on closing Guantanamo. How can we win a global struggle for hearts and minds while we reek of hypocrisy?”