Drinking Liberally

Super Tuesday didn't pick a winner, bit it showed
that lower-income voters dislike Romney,
more and more women dislike Santorum
and everyone dislikes Newt Gingrich.

Super PACs are prolonging, not deciding, the race,
promising a protracted pummeling of the candidates,
leaving them less popular than their party in DC.

Super Delegates still threaten to abandon Romney
and force the GOP to choose a new nominee
the public knows less and therefore likes more.

Super Tuesday, Super PACs, Super Delegates,
yet subpar turnout, subpar support, subpar choices.
Forget Super Tuesday -- they're subpar every day.

Yet, compared with the Tea Partiers in the House,
these guys actually might be right on par.

React, distract & interact with a beer & good cheer
as you share a night with like-minded lefties
at your local progressive social club.

DRINKING LIBERALLY
Find - or start - a chapter near you.

When Romney wins a state, he's quickly criticized:
he should have won by more, he spent too much,
it was his to lose & the next one will be tougher.

When he wins a debate, vulture analysts swoop in
to pick at him for winning by flip-flopping positions
or for being too aloof, then becoming too aggressive.

When he wins a news cycle, it's never to his credit:
it's due to his Super PAC, or support from GOP elites
or the absurd extremes of his radical right-wing rivals,
& everyone just waits for his next Richie Rich gaffe.

Mitt's tied with a guy who has come out against
contraception, college and Kennedy,
voters love him less the more they know him,
and he had to battle to eke out his home state.

Maybe Romney will win this thing
but he sure doesn't sound like a winner

Poor Mitt Romney - even when he wins, he loses.
Which is how Bain's holdings felt all those years.

Share reactions, trade predictions, enjoy libations
as you spend an evening in left-leaning company
at your local progressive social club.

DRINKING LIBERALLY
Find - or start - a chapter near you.

In the final scheduled GOP debate,
the rivals looked out of steam & out of sorts,
running out of time (and out of money)
to get out their word & break out of the pack.

Railing against the pill and marriage equality,
the candidates were out of the mainstream,
& as they focused on hard-right wedge issues,
they just seemed increasingly out of touch.

When Mitt & Rick dueled about Arlen Specter,
we knew they'd run out of worthwhile topics.
Newt was practically sitting out-of-sight
…while they're all a little out-of-mind.

Out of time, out of topics, out of touch --
you'd say they're "out," but that'd be an insult
to the gay and lesbian community everywhere.

Instead, let's just say the GOP is out...of luck.

Share your thoughts, challenges, ideas & jokes
as you share a liberal drink & political night
with your local progressive social club.

DRINKING LIBERALLY
Find - or start - a chapter near you.

Right-wingers call themselves "pro-life,"
but what's life-affirming about fighting against
affordable clinics & family planning support?

The religious radicals say they want fewer abortions
but crusade against all contraception,
an effective way to reduce unwanted pregnancies.

They pray for American's physical & spiritual health
while chipping away at healthcare options
that are comprehensive, accessible & vital.

Since when did calling yourself "pro-life"
put you so firmly on the side of anti-health?

It's the GOP candidates whose health and lives
are both going to suffer as they follow extremists
out of the mainstream, out of reality...and out of a job.

Join a healthy conversation & a lively night
of good company, good politics & a few drinks
at your local progressive social club.

DRINKING LIBERALLY
Find - or start - a chapter near you.

Won't you be our liberal Valentine? We sent this love letter to our members across the country and around the world today. Enjoy!
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On this Valentine's Day, Living Liberally wants to make sure your bleeding-hearts feel a little left-leaning love.

You usually hear from your local hosts, but we at Liberally Headquarters wanted to share five stories we love about liberals from the Drinking Liberally happy hours and across Living Liberally universe:

1) We love the liberals in Idaho Falls who hosted a screening of the award-winning "Inside Job" with the local Occupy organizers, leading a Republican State Representative who attended to vote AGAINST an anti-Occupy
resolution.

2) We love that nearly 50 members of our Liberally network are running for office in 2012 as part of the Candidate Project! We?re excited to see who among you will soon be Leading Liberally in elected office.

3) We love that our Des Moines Drinking Liberally chapter recorded a congratulatory video to the state of Washington over Marriage Equality -- applauding Washington "for becoming as progressive as Iowa."

4) We love that Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, a Vice Chair of the DNC, has made return visits to his local chapter, even donning a Drinking Liberally shirt.

5) And we love that Holly and Ravi, who met at a Los Angeles meeting, have tied the knot. With marriages in Cincinnati, Nashville, Des Moines and elsewhere, our members are truly Wedding Liberally -- as well as Parenting Liberally as we raise a new generation of liberals.

How's that for a Valentine's Day update that will lift your liberal spirits?

What do you love about Living Liberally? Tell us now!

And know that you can find local lefties at nearby Liberally chapters...or you can always start a group. We'd love to have you.

Liberally,
Justin, Katrina, Matt, Amie, Mark, Linda, Chris, Robyn, Dan, Kathleen, Bill, Steve, John & Jeremiah

Though our Drinking Liberally members don't always know each other personally, they do know they are part of the same larger Liberal community.

We were reminded of that when we saw this video that the Des Moines Drinking Liberally group recorded and shared with Liberally groups throughout Washington State -- congratulating them on passing marriage equality.

As one of the Iowans notes, Washington is "finally as gay as Iowa."

Share with us your stories of how your Liberally chapter has helped your community, or what you love about being a member of Living Liberally.

The theory of change behind Living Liberally is that you can sometimes connect to people through culture in ways you can't simply through argument.

Look to Idaho Falls -- a chapter in one of the nation's reddest states -- for proof of that.

Idaho Falls sponsored a Screening Liberally event in December with the local Occupy group: “Inside Job” was shown with a panel discussion afterwards. Two GOP State Representatives attended, and one of them -- Rep. Janice McGeachin -- voted this week against an anti-Occupy bill in committee. In her statement, she mentioned the movie as her reason for doing so.

Our gatherings can speak to new people, can change hearts and minds and can make a difference. Thanks, Rep McGeachin and thank you to the liberals of Idaho Falls.

Share with us your stories of how your Liberally chapter has helped your community, or what you love about being a member of Living Liberally.

In December, we announced our partnership with the Candidate Project, an effort to urge progressives to run for office and to help them run better campaigns. Their "2,012 for 2012" campaign is working with MoveOn, Rebuild The Dream, Color of Change, Democracy for America, CREDO and other partners to field a movement of liberals to run for local office all over the country.

We're proud of Chris Blazejewski, our Providence host and Rhode Island State Rep; Greg Leding, our Fayeteville leader who has been elected to the Arkansas State Assembly; Jason Haas, a Milwaukee county commissioner who left the helm of his local DL group for that new role; and Mid-Cities, Texas, host Kathleen Thompson who ran for city council.

So we urged all of our members to run. While we don't endorse candidates, we all want more, better progressives...and we're excited to see more of our Liberally family Leading Liberally.

Well, 49 candidates have signed on through Living Liberally -- and more are coming all the time. In fact, the 2,012th candidate in this project was one of our own: Nathan from Michigan.

We'll keep you posted on this next generation of proud liberal leaders and how Running Liberally looks in the months ahead.

Share with us your stories of how your Liberally chapter has helped your community, or what you love about being a member of Living Liberally.

Who says liberals are lonely?

Recently two members of the Los Angeles chapter of Drinking Liberally tied the knot. Holly and Ravi met at DL -- proving that we do build lasting relationships when we share politics and share an evening together.

You might not think to call LA the "City of Love," but hey must be putting something in the beer at the chapter in Santa Monica. This is the second marriage to come from the group. Chapter hosts Mary and David became co-hosts in Living Liberally and in living together after meeting at the group.

Nashville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Des Moines, New York and other chapters all can boast of their own tales of Drinking Liberally nuptials. And there are even a few little Liberals being born of these unions. For some, it's time to start Parenting Liberally.

Share with us your stories of how your Liberally chapter has helped your community, or what you love about being a member of Living Liberally.

Clint Eastwood spoke of half-time in America
driving some conservatives half-mad at this icon
since they half-hoped Obama would let Detroit fail.

Republican voters' half-hearted support for Romney
means this primary isn't even half-over
as half-crazed right-wingers deliver half the delegates
to anyone else they can halfway tolerate.

And more Americans find half-time & full-time work
but we're still only seeing half-measures from DC
as the Tea Party's half-baked ideas fully stall Congress.

While Clint tells us it's half-time in America.
on the Right, it's half-hearted, half-crazed & half-baked.

If you have a half a mind to mix politics & fun,
spend some of your night with all good company
at your local progressive social club.

DRINKING LIBERALLY
Find - or start - a chapter near you.