Referring to his struggle to overcome near-blindness, Gov. David A. Paterson yesterday told the Democratic National Convention that only presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama could usher in a new era of economic opportunity for the disabled and all citizens.
Paterson, who made history four years ago as the first blind person to address such a gathering of Democrats, recounted his early years in Brooklyn and Hempstead, and being discriminated against.
But Paterson said his success as a state senator over 21 years and as governor for five months was part of the larger American Dream nurtured by previous presidents. He then blamed the Bush administration for rising unemployment among the disabled, including nearly 90 percent of the deaf and 71 percent of the blind.
"Let's give [Republicans] four more months and then elect Barack Obama," Paterson said to cheers from the New York delegation and others inside Denver's Pepsi Center. "Barack Obama will restore prosperity and will make the changes we need to write a new chapter in the story of the promise of America."
The governor, who lost his vision because of an infection while an infant, said Obama would work with congressional leaders to overturn U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have undermined the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act.
The five-minute speech was the most militant and partisan that Paterson has made from a national stage since becoming governor on March 17 when Eliot Spitzer resigned. There also were echoes of Paterson's praise of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry at the 2004 convention in Boston.
On both occasions, Paterson showed flashes of his trademark humor. He feigned "shock" yesterday when the sparse crowd, responding to his open question, shouted "no" that Republican presumptive presidential nominee John McCain wasn't capable of bolstering the economy.
Paterson then cut into McCain, noting he had touted the Bush administration's economic policies. "If he's the answer to the question, the question must be ridiculous."
by Kareem Dale, National Disability Vote Director, Obama for America Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 10:17 AM
[Note: This video comes from YouTube, so it is not captioned and I am aware of that. The campaign has not yet processed the video for Barack TV, but once it does, the video will be fully captioned.]
Please see the below blog posting by Seth, the Co-Chair of the Disability Policy Committee.
For months now, Barack Obama has been talking about disability issues with voters on the stump: how to break down the barriers that exclude people with disabilities from jobs; the importance of universal health care to Americans of all kinds, including people with disabilities; and providing the supports that people with disabilities need to live independent lives in their communities.
Unfortunately, we don't always have video of these discussions on the campaign trail. But click here for one user-generated video that's available on YouTube showing Barack Obama answering a question from the mother of a child with Down's Syndrome. Barack doesn't just show his support for Americans with disabilities and their families, although he certainly does that. He also explains why he strongly supports full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I encourage you to spend a few minutes. It's worth watching.
As a contrast, click here for a video of Senator McCain's statement about the fact that he doesn't support the Community Choice Act. And click here for McCain's prior public statement against the CCA.
I thoughts some of you might be interested in John McCain's recent remarks about health reform and his interest in making more "home care" available. While I guess he wants more personal assistance services for all Americans EXCEPT for those with Medicaid.
The Obama and McCain campaigns released the following statement on the Presidential Debates
The Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns have agreed to hold three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate in September and October sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The campaigns have come to the earliest agreement on presidential debates reached in any general election in recent history. This announcement reflects the presidential campaigns' agreement on dates, locations, and the formats for the fall debates. Campaign-appointed debate negotiators House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said they were pleased to have reached an early agreement to provide the American people with the opportunity to see and hear the candidates debate the critical issues facing the country. The two campaigns have accepted sponsorship of the debates by the Commission on Presidential Debates, subject to the debates being conducted under the terms of their agreement.
Summary of McCain-Obama Debate Agreement
The two campaigns agreed today on a framework for four General Election debates, to be sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Key elements of the agreement are:
1. First Presidential Debate:
* Date: September 26 * Site: University of Mississippi * Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security * Moderator: Jim Lehrer * Staging: Podium debate * Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment
2. Vice Presidential Debate
* Date: October 2 * Site: Washington University ( St. Louis ) * Moderator: Gwen Ifill * Staging/Answer Format: To be resolved after both parties' Vice Presidential nominees are selected.
3. Second Presidential Debate
* Date: October 7 * Site: Belmont University * Moderator: Tom Brokaw * Staging: Town Hall debate * Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.
4. Third Presidential Debate
* Date: October 15 * Site: Hofstra University * Topic: Domestic and Economic policy * Moderator: Bob Schieffer * Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table * Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate * Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.
All four debates will begin at 9:00pm ET, and last for 90 minutes. Both campaigns also agreed to accept the CPD's participation rules for third-party candidate participation.
(Schenectady Daily Gazette - March 9, 2006; also attached: Silver, Key Assembly Members Call For Ending Mental Health Care Discrimination Urge Senate To Join In Passing Timothy's Law Assembly March 8 News Release)
September 2005 Newsletter Newsletter includes information about the candidates endorsed by the 504 Democratic Club running for election in the September 13th Democratic Primary
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