DCDL

This Thursday, April 12 we are pleased to host author/blogger Jeffrey Feldman discussing and signing his book Framing the Debate. The evening starts at 6:30 in the back room of Timberlake’s (1726 Connecticut Ave NW, Dupont Circle Metro). Drink discounts ($1 off drinks) until 9:00. Appetizers will be supplied. Books will be available for purchase courtesy Olsson’s Books.

For decades, the powerful communications machine of the conservative movement has controlled our national political discourse. One of the biggest obstacles to progressive victory has been seeing what American political speech looks like when it is not “framed” by the Republican noise machine.

Framing the Debate: Famous Presidential Speeches and How Progressives Can Use Them to Change the Conversation (and Win Elections) is about unleashing the power of communication in contemporary progressive politics. The book presents fifteen key speeches by American presidents — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George Bush — in order to define the big ideas and images — the “frames” — that each speech evokes to show how those framing techniques can be applied to today’s political debate in order promote a progressive perspective.

An essential book in today’s political climate, Framing the Debate will be instrumental in helping to reshape progressive political language and rhetoric.

More on Jeffrey Feldman:

An expert on speeches and messaging, Jeffrey Feldman is the editor in chief of the influential political blog Frameshop. He has been a contributor to the The Thom Hartmann Show on Air America, and travels the country offering seminars on language and progressive politics.

A message from Micha, an organizer of the Wednesday Drinking Liberally group (which is moving to Capitol Hill next week):

This Wednesday, at the Olsson’s Books in Dupont Circle (1307 19th St. NW), Andy Stern, President of SEIU International, will be speaking about and signing his new book A Country That Works: Getting America Back on Track. Details about the Author and Book are below.

The Signing will be at 7pm. Afterwards, starting around 8pm, we’ll be gathering at The Big Hunt, also in Dupont Circle (1345 Conn. Ave. NW) for discussion and drinks with Andy.

About the Book:
In A Country That Works: Getting America Back on Track Andy Stern, one of the country’s leading advocates for ordinary Americans who go to work each day, describes the serious economic challenges facing the vast majority of Americans, and uses compelling facts and figures to illustrate how close millions of American families are to crisis.

Stern argues that our political leaders, instead of pushing through vital reforms, have put us in jeopardy by manipulating the tax system in favor of the richest, failing to fix our education system, and not making desperately needed reforms to the health care system. He criticizes labor unions for not adapting to the changing economy and current political landscape, and for using ineffective, outmoded strategies that fail to unite more workers to improve their lives. In A Country That Works, Stern ultimately lays out a practical but visionary plan for reforms that would protect Americans from the looming crises, including an overhaul of the tax system, a transformation of the health care system, simple fixes to the retirement system, and overdue innovations in education.

About the Author:
Over the past decade, Andy Stern has been the head of the SEIU, one of the largest and fastest growing unions in North America. After launching a national debate about the fundamental change needed to reverse labor’s decline, Stern led SEIU out of the AFL-CIO to focus on uniting the nine out of 10 American workers not yet in a union, and was the driving force behind Change to Win, a new labor federation of seven major unions representing six million members.

Determined to build a truly 21st century union to help ensure that workers, not just CEOs, benefit from today’s global economy, Stern has initiated partnerships with overseas unions as well as multinationals to form effective, win-win alliances. He chairs Wal-Mart Watch, the advocacy group responsible for challenging the retail giant to become a leader in corporate responsibility toward its employees and host communities.

Stern began his union career in 1973 as a Pennsylvania social service worker and member of SEIU Local 668 and rose through the ranks before his election as president in 1996. He serves on the board of directors for diverse organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, Rock the Vote, and the Broad Foundation. A frequent blogger, he weighs in on economic and political issues on SEIU.org and as a regular contributor to online outlets such as the Huffington Post.

I hope to see lots of people there, in preparation for the first DC DL Wednesday night in our new location next week!

You may have seen Andy Stern on the Colbert Report last night.

In October 2004, journalist Ron Suskind gave us the term “reality-based community”, in a New York Times Magazine article. Now his new book, The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11, is burning up the blogosphere with further revelations about the Bush White House.

Monday, June 26, at 7pm, Suskind will be doing a book event at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW. Several DCDL Thursday regulars will be going, and we’ll likely go out for something to eat or drink afterward. Join us if you like — look for the Drinking Liberally buttons.

Update (June 26): Suskind appeared on the Diane Rehm Show this morning. The audio should be available on the WAMU site within an hour.

Tonight at a special event hosted jointly by the Wednesday and Thursday chapters of DC Drinking Liberally, blogger and author Glenn Greenwald(who’s in town for the Take Back America conference) will be reading from and signing his book How Would a Patriot Act?: Defending American Values from a President Run Amok.

Happy hour starts at 6:30 tonight (Wednesday, June 14) at Mark & Orlando’s, 2020 P Street NW (Dupont Circle Metro). Glenn will speak at 7:30, but get there early, since space is limited. The book will be available for $12.

Update (June 17): There are photos of the event here and here, and others may appear under the DCDL tag at Flickr.

Three interesting book events this week, and I’m going to try to make it to all of them:

• I just got this message from MoveOn about an event tonight that’s on the theme of this MyDD post by David Sirota:
  

  Tonight, Tuesday, May 9, our friends at The American Prospect magazine and the AFL-CIO are hosting a book launch party and panel discussion entitled, “Fighting the Hostile Takeover in America’s Red States” Speakers include Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D), author Thomas Frank, columnist Harold Meyerson, David Sirota and, ah…well me. I’ll be joining the panel to talk about how MoveOn members make a difference across the country.

  You are invited. Here are the details.

  What: “Fighting the Hostile Takeover in America’s Red States” panel discussion and book party.

  Who: Special guests include Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D), author Thomas Frank, columnist Harold Meyerson, David Sirota and MoveOn’s Tom Matzzie.

  When: Tonight: Tuesday, May 9, 2006 at 7:00 PM.

  Where: AFL-CIO Building, 815 16th Street N.W., Washington, D.C
  (Metro: Red Line Farragut North or Blue/Orange Line McPherson Square)

  Books will be made available for purchase at the event by Politics & Prose bookstore.

  The book explores how corruption is supported in Congress and takes a critical look at the dealings of politicians in both parties. It is a useful reference book. For example, when you hear an issue discussed — like energy — you can look up all of the big ideas progressives have for dealing with energy issues. At the same time it provides the facts for de-bunking the right-wing spin. […]

  —Tom Matzzie

• The insanity of the prison-industrial complex and how it affects elections and other facets of our politics is something I’ve been getting more interested in lately. It also ties into the prisoner abuse scandals perpetrated by Americans outside the US. This event on Wednesday at Busboys & Poets (2021 14th St NW) features authors of two books on the subject:
  

  6:30 - 8:00 PM (Langston Room) Two Authors/One Event! — Sasha Abramsky and Marc Mauer — In his revised edition of his seminal book on race, class, and the criminal justice system, Race to Incarcerate, Marc Mauer, executive director of one of the United States’ leading criminal justice reform organizations, offers the most up-to-date look available at three decades of prison expansion in America. The book tells the tragic story of runaway growth in the number of prisons and jails and the over reliance on imprisonment to stem problems of economic and social development. Race to Incarcerate documents the enormous financial and human toll of the “get tough” movement, and argues for more humane and productive alternatives.

  In his new book Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House, Abramsky takes us on a journey through disenfranchised America, detailing the revival of antidemocratic laws that came of age in the post-Civil War segregationist South, and profiling Americans who are fighting to regain the right to vote. Sasha Abramsky is a freelance journalist. His work has appeared in The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, New York magazine, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone. This event is free and open to the public.

• Finally, on Saturday, there’s an event at Politics and Prose (5015 Connecticut Ave NW) that several of us from DCDL are going to go to (e-mail dcthu@drinkingliberally.org if you’re interested in joining us):
  

  Saturday, May 13, 1 p.m.
  ERIC BOEHLERT
  LAPDOGS (Free Press, $25)
  Boehlert, a former Salon.com journalist, has written an extended indictment of the mainstream media in their coverage of the Bush administration. Rather than performing the role of watchdogs, such media giants as the New York Times, CNN, and CBS, he contends, have committed journalistic malpractice with their soft coverage and failure to challenge President Bush.