God this stuff is soooooooooo tired.

There’s not a dimes worth of difference between the two military-industrial-pharma-agra-media corporate complex parties. They are two branches of the same bloodthirsty corporation.

QUOTE, E.J. Dionne, Jr.:

Obama will thus be the conservative in 2012, in the truest sense of that word.
___________________

That part of Dione’s desperate corporate party promotion is true, because it is (D) liberals who have made America’s fascism so sustainable.

Jill Stein for President:

http://www.jillstein.org

Voter Consent Wastes Dissent:

http://chenangogreens.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=498&Itemid=1

It amazes me that we still see such ridiculous partisan blogging. When we see Obama and his supporters willing to spend an estimated 1 billion dollars on his election campaign—what part of this is to help the poor and support the downtrodden? As a nation are we really that stupid and hypocritical as to spout such nonsense?
  What person out there in Internetland is stupid and gullible enough to believe that this is really about helping anyone but the status quo?
  It never ceases to amaze me that people still cling to their ideological teddy bears in the desperate hope that “teddy” will ultimately save them merely because they “believe.”
  For all the attacks on the ” rabid fanatical christian right,” no one really wants to talk about the “rabid fanatical atheistic left.”
  It begins by bloggers choosing the middle path—the path of sanity. If bloggers can’t disengage themselves from their ideology and look to rational problem solving mechanisms, why should we critice the average person for refusing to do so?
  Our real problem is the systemic corruption on both sides of the political divide. Contrary to the above assertions, the Left has no more moral legitimacy than the Far Right. Obama is just another long line of political hacks trotted before a beguiled public more interested in glitz and glam than reality. Obama is a member of the one percent.
  It was Jesus Christ who said it is as easy for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven as it is for a camel to slip through the eye of a needle. If you have no idea what this means, you must be first and foremost a blogger.

dystopia…great word…usually associated with the left…well think again…a Republican government would only take away the stuff that actually benefits the 99%...to better help the 1% ...and big brother…well tell all those people in Wisconsin under Scott Walker that his government isn’t oppressive and heavy handed and dictatorial…all that social engineering requires….BIG government…and big military to make sure we all behave ourselves…

You wrote, “The GOP is engaged in a wholesale effort to redefine the government help that Americans take for granted as an effort to create a radically new, statist society.”  I don’t dispute you but I wonder whether the great mass of voters understand that?

Keep up the good work.

Limp and pale, E.J. The entire column depends on that one sentence in which
you describe Obama as…  “a guarantor of fair rules of competition, a
countervailing force against excessive private power, a check on the inequalities
that capitalism can produce, and an instrument that can open opportunity for
those born without great advantages.” 
He looks and sounds like a working class hero when he needs to stir up the
base, but, like an earlier comment puts it, you have to look at what he does. 
Gitmo, Wiretaps, Banksters bailed out and then employed by his regime, the
fade on the NDAA’s martial law provisions, his regime’s attack on medical
marijuana, failure to campaign for one man, one vote, and against voter
disqualification… he’s been walking through the door and into Republicanism
since he entered the White House. 
He looks more like Nixon than any other politician I can think of, though maybe
less oily and more slick.

One of the things this author ignores is that Obama has nominated Jerome Powell, a senior official at the Treasury Department under President Bush, to fill an opening at the Federal Reserve Board - in other words a Republican!- This is why all Dems and Repubs should be renamed Republocrats

From now on in, let’s called a member of either the Republicans or Democratics a “Republocrat” - a two-headed beast who serves the same corporate master.

Citizens should try to get enough signatures for a third party (Greens or Ralph Nader) to get on the 50 state ballots so they can vote for someone else besides the two headed beast “Demopublican”. To see just how democratic the Dems are, just try bringing the required list of signatures to the state govt bodies - they will kick you out - however, ensure you have enough media with you to have as witnesses. This direct challenge should open everyone’s minds.

Dionne-
“But Romney’s sleight of hand is revealing: Republicans are increasingly inclined to argue that any redistribution (and Social Security, Medicare, student loans, veterans benefits and food stamps are all redistributive) is but a step down the road to some radically egalitarian dystopia.”

Dionne should be careful not to lump student loans in with Social Security, Medicare, food stamps etc. Student loans are actually part of the problem and largely a conservative creation designed to make students indentured servants to the banks, and corporate class. They are not the same as SS and Medicare and other progressive social programs. Student loans are only redistributive to the banks and servicing companies, and are something we do actually need to get rid of. Including them in the same category is only buying into conservative propaganda.

Student loans actually represent a conservative victory of the 80’s and 90’s and was one of the first issues that the democratic party sold out on. Progressives already lost the war with conservatives on education funding for higher education and we are now losing on SS and Medicare. I know this is a side issue as far as this article is concerned, but I thought I would point it out.

the basic structure of language that nearly all politicos [clergy, et al] use now or have used in the past [may continue to
use if public does not cry in anguish] appears so: always blame individuals and/or govt, make oodles of promises, build
conclusions upon other conclusions instead on facts.
that’s all folks. just remember these three linguistic behaviors and you’d be semanticly a free human being.
all promises i evaluate as lies. and most of the time lies are posited intentionally and in order to deceive.
msm columnists do not behave that much differently. they, too, mostly blame a govt or some individuals or praise the
ones they like, even if the ‘praiseworthy’ ones often lie even more brazenly than the ones they blame for their real or
imagined egregious behavior or thinking.
i hope OWS wld not make a single promise or criticize a single person or any govt.
let it just look at the SYSTEM OF RULE AND STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY.
criticizing individuals cannot bring us an enlightenment about what really goes on.
if to OWS the system of rule and ten-tiered structure of society [in military-politico-educational power] is alright it shld
then tell us that.

one cannot obtain more economic justice [let alone THE JUSTICE, and i’ll leave it undefined; others wld call it utopia,
nonsense; that is, try to define/salt it to taste].] if one cannot obtain more educational, military, political justice.
in short, if 99% of americans have zero or next to zero control over generals and cia/fbi agents, all other endeavors wld
be useless. tnx bozhidar balkas, vancouver

It’s too late for us to salvage anything from within
this corrupt and gangrenous system.

For nearly 50 years the christianists and other
rightist extremists (funded, advised, promoted and legitimized by big money elitists) have been slowing,
methodically and successfully putting all the
foundation bricks in place for their complete
subjugation of the People.

We are left but three options:
1. Cave and accept our enslavement (or do what we are
doing now)
2. Organize and coordinate the mother of all general
strikes
3. Begin open warfare against the state

That’s it, plain and simple. Choose one now because
in less than a year, option number 1 will be the only
one left on the table.

My problem is that I now hate nearly everyone in government and I want them gone.  We need to throw them out and start again.  As for Obama, I can’t bear the thought that I will have to vote for him merely because every Republican candidate is a piece of sh*t.

Well said, Glider:
“The only bit I see pivotal regarding this election is whether the current state of inverted totalitarianism will be accepted without a whimper from the masses.”

But Ron Paul isn’t the answer.

And to you too,kimsarah:

“By the way, Dionne is part of the mainstream media that unfortunately continues to legitimize Republican talking points as if they have merit or are valid.

Dionne is wasting our time here.

Everytime, I see TruthDig’s donation appeal, I think “Dionne”, WTF are they talking about claiming they are keeping us informed?

The only bit I see pivotal regarding this election is whether the current state of inverted totalitarianism will be accepted without a whimper from the masses.  That is will the outright fraudulently elected “hope and change” SOB in the oval office, now be re-elected as the “it could be even fucking worse” option in 2012.  In other words will the public just give up on the notion of democracy.

For me its Ron Paul for the Republican primaries, or a Green Party protest vote for me if he does not make it.  No way in hell is Obama getting my vote.

By the way, Dionne is part of the mainstream media that unfortunately continues to legitimize Republican talking points as if they have merit or are valid.
Example from his column here: “Today’s Republicans cast the federal government as an oppressive force, a drag on the economy and an enemy of private initiative.”
While Republicans may actually believe that, and many other talking points on issues fed to them by their masters, just broadly painting such a characterization ought to have at least a sentence casting doubt about its truthfullness.
Example: “Today’s Republicans cast the federal government as an oppressive force, a drag on the economy and an enemy of private initiative.
Yet Republicans have failed to demonstrate which parts of government are oppressive, how it has been a drag on the economy, or how it has been the enemy rather than the partner of private initiative.”
There.

History can be a great teacher if we want to learn from it. Unfortunately, time and again the Dems are prone to repeat their same missteps. After 43 years of it, it kind of makes one wonder why. Options include stupidity, weakness, blackmail or bribery.
Meanwhile, if anyone is wondering whether the Big O and his Jell-O Dem Army will continue to cave in 2012 on all the big issues, history tells us that yes, we can expect more of the same.
Here is a link to a good article on this from AlterNet:
http://www.alternet.org/story/153559/the_gop’s_long,_sordid_history_of_shameless_hostage-taking/

Obama has put the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid on the table.  He is not defending government ‘entitlements,’ and has signaled that they need to be ‘restructured.’

Casting Obama as the savior of Progressive era social gains is just totally wrong and a dangerous attempt to continue to legitimize this system and not look for more radical solutions.

Obama is a conservative because he supports America’s global military and economic empire that cannot co-exist with a democratic republican form of government. You either have empire or a democratic republic. You cannot have both. Obama supports assassinating US citizens abroad without due process and covert wars that only create more terrorists, all in the name of defending empire. The man is a vicious right winger and I’m sorry my fellow liberals including EJ Dionne are looking the other way in denial.

Who will The Justice Party choose as Rocky Anderson’s
VP nominee? WE need a smart woman, maybe Liz Warren.
She could still also run for Mass. senator. I’ll
waste my vote on Anderson rather than embrace the
“lesser evil” again.

The only difference between Obama and the Republicans is that Obama believes that
government should implement the plutocracies agenda, while the Republicans believe
that the plutocratic agenda should be implemented directly by them without a
government acting as the middle man.

Either way through lies, Medicare will be dismantled, the FDA will outlaw fish oil so big
pharmacy can turn it into a costly prescription med, the Internet will be tightly controlled,
social security will be privatized, and there will be war with Iran.

After the election, Obama will be missing in action, if he wins. And if Ron Paul wins, he
better stay out of light planes. Either way it’s a done deal.

The criminals in congress will do exactly what they are paid to do by the bankers, and
not ask any questions.

The majority of voters have traded their rights for
either the next Whopper, or the next Big Mac. A life
based on “windowfood” and “salespitch” gadgets is not
worth living. Even the Obama administration has
become obsessed with food and eating (Michelle’s diet
campaign), and the best way to make people eat more
is to tell them they are fat and stupid.This might be
a fairer election if we got fries with every ballot.

As you will in 2012, electoral decisions made will in no way alter this nation’s inexorable march further into the quagmire of progressively authoritarian fascism. Obama is the biggest fraud in presidential history and the republicans are just plain nuts pandering to an ever intellectually diminished base primed to begin the domestic immolation of designated scapegoats as well as conjured up enemies of convenience beyond our boarders. OWS or what have you will surely need to progress from overcome to overrun with no consideration given to compromise or progressive change. All such manuevers achieve is the allowing of breathing space for the forces of kleptocratic capitalism to regroup and return! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!!!!!

Never trust the Democrats;never trust the Republicans. Two parties, one dream—corporate/military rule. Continue to Occupy Wall Street.

The Republicans now more than ever have vocalized and embraced extreme ring wing views in defending the rich through tax breaks for the wealthy, costly wars in foreign lands, eroding civil rights and bailouts (corporate welfare) of large companies all at the expense of the average American. The only problem is: Obama does the exact same thing under his watch except his language is much more subdued.  I don’t know about other readers, but I follow someone’s actions, not their words, so Reps and Dems are two heads of the same beast - now is the time to mobilize people to get a third party i.e. Green Party or Ralph Nader - on the ballot in time for the election. We know Ralph Nader’s background and actions - and we know third parties work - see other social democracy countries like Canada which is still capitalist. There is a monstrous task ahead so if people like Anonymous would use their powers for good combined with the will of the people sick of the lesser of two evils, there truly will be hope.