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McCain Volunteer Sends Out "Obama is an Arab" letters 

More at http://www.theuptake.org Gayle Quinnell, a John McCain supporter says at a McCain Rally that "Obama is an Arab". She is quickly corrected by John McCain who takes away her microphone. This is an interview with her done by a live streaming cell phone. Interviewers include Noah Kunin, Senior Political Correspondent from The UpTake, Adam Aigner of NBC News and Dana Bash of CNN. Quinnell cited that she obtained the information on Obama being an Arab at "her local library" and from a pamphlet obtained at a local McCain campaign office (provided by a fellow volunteer not the campaign itself). She has taken it upon herself to redistribute the information as widely as possible by making copies of the pamphlet and sending it to random names in the phone book.

**http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/933/

Adam at Ft. Dodge 
Chuck talks to a Republican voter. **http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1527/

Kline Paid Consultant Disrupts Opponents' Campaigns 

Remember the uproar over a supporter of Democrat Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton asking a question at the Republican Presidential debate? The problem was not that Retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr asked a question. It was that he and CNN didn't identify him as a co-chairman of Clinton's National Military Veterans Group.

A similar case of non-transparency happened recently involving a person with strong ties to Minnesota Congressman John Kline and his campaign. The UpTake investigated and found the lack of transparency was only the tip of the iceberg in this story. More in this video from Mike McIntee.

Video Transcript:

Transparency and accessibility are very desirable in our political system. Without accessibility you can’t ask the questions that need to be answered. And without transparency, it’s hard to trust what people tell you.

For example, I’m about to tell you a story about Republican Congressman John Kline. But if I didn’t tell you I was a supporter and occasional volunteer for his Democratic opponent Steve Sarvi, that would not be transparent.

Transparency was at the heart of Kline’s opening salvo against his Democratic opponent last election cycle.This flyer accused Coleen Rowley of “playing dirty tricks” when one of her volunteers tried to get on Kline’s mailing list and didn’t identify himself as a volunteer for Rowley.

This is the woman who’s word the advertisement was based upon. Diana Bratlie was staffing the Kline campaign office when the volunteer, David Bailey, asked to be on the list. She wrote that Bailey used “false pretenses and deception to misrepresent himself.”

Fast forward to this election cycle…Kline’s new opponent, Democrat Steve Sarvi, holds a news conference about how high gas prices are forcing a local gravel pit operator to lay off people. Bratlie was there and didn’t reveal her history with the Kline campaign before she went in front of the TV cameras and started arguing with Sarvi about oil drilling in Alaska.

Sarvi: “I just don’t think we should be drilling up there”

Bratlie: "So you don’t want any oil exploration whatsoever anywhere."

Sarvi: I didn’t say that.

She was trying to get Sarvi to say he was against all oil drilling. And even claimed he had done so when our videotape showed that not to be the case.

Bratlie: "Gosh, I stood right there and I watched him say no. And I said 'nowhere, you wouldn’t drill anywhere?'and he said 'no'."

McIntee: "No he said he wouldn’t drill in Alaksa.

REWIND SOUND EFFECT

Bratlie: "So you don’t want any oil exploration whatsoever anywhere."

Sarvi: I didn’t say that.Bratlie: Yeah you did.Sarvi: I said in ANWR. No I didn’t.

Bratlie: "yeah well you said"

McIntee: "You’re putting words in his mouth."

So is this just a case of someone forgetting to reveal she’s working for the other candidate…or was it a planned ambush? I say working because Bratlie told Sarvi she was a Republican, but made no mention that she is a long time Kline volunteer ….a “volunteer” who has made a thousands of dollars as a paid Kline campaign consultant.

Bratlie and her husband own a company called “Family Celebrations” that operates out of their house in Lakeville. Since 2004 the Kline campaign has regularly bought research services from Bratlie’s company.

Kline’s payments to Bratlie’s company started in January 2004 with $5,385 for “analysis and conversion of database”… followed by another payment of $6,450 in August and $7,925 in November.In 2005 Kline paid her company 10,000 dollars for research. Another 12-thousand dollars in 2006 and as recently as April of last year Kline paid her company 3 thousand dollars. (not included in video- payment of $6,125 for caucus and convention planning in May of 2004)Total so far more than fifty-thousand dollars.

Ironically, Bratlie once wrote a letter to the editor accusing Democratic letter writers of being on a candidate’s payroll. She wrote that a few months after her company billed John Kline’s campaign for Ten Thousand dollars and just a few months before her company billed Kline for twelve thousand dollars more.

Bratlie was being paid by Kline when she was involved in other activities designed to disrupt Kline’s opponent’s campaign. She was with John Kline’s District Director Mike Osskopp when he attempted to disturb a campaign rally by yelling racial slurs at cars as they pulled into a parking lot.

Osskopp: "sure enough... another Jap car. All your buddies are supporting these Jap and German cars."

Osskopp later apologized for his remarks.

Kline’s opponent Steve Sarvi has been giving people such as Bratlie plenty of opportunities to ask him questions…holding more than a dozen pre-announced question and answer events in the first week of the campaign alone. However, John Kline has been reluctant to do so in an uncontrolled situation.

This is Kline at his last open and face-to-face meeting with constituents. He did it only after hundreds of people signed a petition requesting it. You can see why he might be hesitant to do another. The topic was making college tuition more affordable.

Kline:"and so I'm looking for solutions. If you got one, I'd love to hear about it."

Student:" Would you like to hear my solution?"

Kline: " Yes"

Student: "OK, well maybe you can roll back the tax cuts on the on the very wealthiest Americans."(Applause & cheering from crowd)

Kline’s office promised many more meetings like that one. Since it happened more than a year ago, Kline has not lived up to that promise. Instead holding “tele-town hall meetings” where residents are randomly chosen to listen to Kline answer questions on a phone call.Constituents are given no prior notice that Kline is calling, so there is little time to prepare any questions.

So why doesn’t John Kline hold more press conferences to answer questions like his opponent Steve Sarvi does? I asked Kline’s paid consultant Diana Bratlie that question.She said Since Kline has a record he doesn’t have to do that.For The UpTake, I’m Michael McIntee

Related coverage:

Bratlie letter in Eagan's "This Week" newspaper insisting that Sarvi opposes all oil drilling in the United States.

I then asked if, hypothetically, the oil companies gave up their current leases, would Sarvi be amiable to allowing them to drill in ANWR and/or off shore? A trade of sorts. He answered, “no.” I responded, “Would you ever consider drilling anywhere in the U.S. … ANWR or off shore.” Answer: “No.”

Video:

Kline's paid consultant challenged on camera about her oil drilling disinformation

Bratlie: If the oil problem is going to be corrected by the Arabs drilling more oil, why wouldn’t it be corrected if the Americans drilled more oil?

McIntee: Wouldn’t it have something to do with most of the oil in the world is there as opposed to here?

Bratlie: But that’s not proven. Theirs is running low.

McIntee: The last geo-survey of oil which was printed in the Star Tribune has a nice big map you can see. And if you look at the relative sizes of the countries and the oil, Saudi Arabia pretty much dominates the entire picture while the US makes up like a very small portion of that. And that’s known reserves.

Bratlie: That includes ANWR and that includes off-shore drilling and that includes North Dakota and everything? That includes oil shale and all the rest of it? Well then you have me there, I’m going to have to go read that.

Journalists Trapped Between Police, Protestors And Pyrotechnics 

Outside the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, UpTake Journalists Corrine McDermid and Oliver Dykstra find themselves caught between police and protesters when there are suddenly explosions.

Video edited by Michael McIntee.

**http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/695/

RNC: Cop Attacked 

The UpTake captured video of a St. Paul police officer dragging a "black bloc" protester away from a bus, only to get tackled from behind. The officer sprayed a chemical agent all around him but ultimately lost the suspect and called for backup. Video by Corey Becker.

**http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/692/

Ron Paul Takes the Radissson 
Ron Paul supporters, frustrated by his exclusion from the Republican Debates, find out that much of the media is staying at the Radisson. An impromptu noise demonstration ensues. **http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1532/

On Suspending Campaigns & Disbelief 

This is Sock Le Puppet with breaking campaign news.
Senator John McCain says he is going to suspend his Presidential campaign so he can focus on the nation's financial crisis. He has challenged Barack Obama to do the same.
However, John McCain did not define what "suspend" would mean.

To help fill the this void of information, I, Sock Le Puppet offer a list of items that should also be suspended so we can all focus on this financial crisis.

First : Sex. You can't think about money when you're having sex. Unless of course you're being paid for it.

Next: Mortgage payments. Isn't this what started this whole mess anyway? Give the consumers a "banking holiday" and get on with it.

Third: Disbelief. The suspension of disbelief is important for any entertainment presentation. And what is politics but entertainment? Or as some washed up actor put it... watching Sarah Palin run for president is like a "Bad Disney Movie". We must suspend disbelief in our government's inability to control the economy. We should forget that the deregulation of the past 30 years has left our government powerless and given all the power to the world corporations. if this is so important to the economy why the fuck aren't Coke, Pepsi and Microsoft proposing a bailout for financial firms?

Next we have a list of things that have already been suspended:
Habeas Corpus -
The right to free speech,
The right to assemble
And of course Vikings starting left tackle Bryant McKinnie for fighting outside a Miami Bar.

Do we miss any of these things? I only have to point to the debacle of journalists' arrests at the Republican National Convention to confirm this was a bad thing. That and the Vikings started out their season oh and two without McKinnie.

For those and many reasons... suspending the things we depend on whether it is civil rights, a left tackle or a political campaign is BULLSHIT.

This is Sock Le Puppet.

Goodnight. **http://presidential-politics.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1061/

Poop and Politics 
Name says it all **http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1541/

Cat Fish Caucus 
Politics and giant cat fish in Des Moines, Iowa. What more could you want? Oh, insane ramblings - check **http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1528/

The Positive Side Of Campaigning 
So often you hear about how negative politics and campaigning can be. But it can also be fun and create great memories. The UpTake's Richard Hall is following Wayne Bledsoe a candidate running for the Missouri legislature. In this episode of "Left In The Ozarks" Richard finds himself and Wayne in the middle of a St. Patrick's Day parade steeped in 100 years of tradition and campaign memories. **http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1545/

Obama Victory Speech-uncut 
Barack Obama tells his supporters at the St. Paul Xcel Center that he will be the Democratic nominee. Obama finds fault with John McCain's claims of being an "independent". McCain is expected to accept the Republican nomination for President in September in the same building that Obama claimed his victory. **http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/10

"We need God in our governments" 
more at http://theuptake.org These Christian fundamentalists in Lynchburg, Tennessee explain why they're supporting Mike Huckabee for president, their misguided ideas about Barack Obama and the Koran, the Iraq War, President Bush, and of course the ever-popular End Times. **http://top-videos-2008.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/1540

Fox Ambushes Bill Moyers at NCMR2008 

At the National Conference for Media Reform 2008. Fox personality Bill O'Reilly producer, Porter Barry ambushes PBS Bill Moyers to pepper him with questions regarding his political affiliations and his "refusal" to appear on O'Reily's show. Moyers disputes Fox's "facts."

Uptake Political Correspondent Noah Kunin was nearby and obtained this raw video.