Tesla, September 19 at 7:32 pm Link to this comment

It is obvious that ardee is a DLC operative (either paid or unpaid), or a simpleton. We here in America
have lived through the past 30 years of
(uninterrupted) Reaganomics know that both the
recognized “legitimate parties” work exclusively for the corporatists.

An amazingly surface analysis of my post here as well as my history of posting on this site. But thanks ever so much for trying so hard with so little ability.All your vituperative shows is an inability to deal with reality thus your attempt to diminish the messenger.My history of posting might show a brighter bulb that I am a constant critic of both the DLC and its parent organization. As to the charge of mental midgetry, I think you reveal far more about your own limits than mine.

Mardy, September 18 at 4:04 pm

An astonishing dismissal of my comments re: your simpletons approach to voting for Democrats. I stand by my words though your twisted logic may result in you hurting yourself in defense of the indefensible.

Bush managed to pass his entire agenda with no more than fifty three votes in the Senate while the Democrats have had sixty votes available to them and managed to do nothing with them. Your attempt to blame a portion of your party for its incompetence, continuation of the policies of George Walker Cheney including torture and war, falls flat indeed.

But, considering the impossibility of your task, I applaud your effort. The few defenders of the Duopoly that rule our nation for its masters and dump on the rest of us face long odds and show an infinite ability to draw upon a past that no longer exists in the present.

My long-term solution is for people to found and cultivate non-coercive relations and institutions in place of coercive ones.

My short-term solution is to try to stop the wars and imperialism; it would also be nice if we could reactivate the Constitution, at least, since it attempts to set some reasonable limits on the powers of the government.  This would mean (for instance) ending the extraordinary surveillance of law-abiding people and such favorite entertainments as the Drug War.  These seem to be such major issues that it is hard to see immediately beyond them.  What would the U.S. do if it didn’t have a war cooking somewhere?  God knows.

I am dubious about the progressive mode in politics since, in the 20th century U.S. at least, it has been so regularly associated with war and imperialism.  I refer not only to the post-World War 2, practically unbroken attempt to run the world which continues today, and has resulted in military operations against dozens of countries, but also to the works and theories of (Theodore) Roosevelt, Wilson, and their associates, which set up the project in the first place.  Progressing is good only if you’re progressing in a good direction.

Anarcissie, right off the bat I can’t agree with your
statement “all regimes are repressive”.  Also, the
word “regime” conjures up thoughts of countries with
one-man rule, far from the case here.  We are a
representative democracy but of course with lots of caveats to that.  You’re looking for specifics but
then have your overall impression.  My overall
impression is that Obama did not live up to the
expectations many progressives had for him.  I’m
disappointed in that.  He could have been much more
progressive.  But would it have worked?  We don’t
have a dictatorship here.  Again, think of the party
of no and the lobbyists.  Why don’t you cast some of
your blame to the system itself instead of just Mr O? 
It’s true there’s too much corporate influence.  The
real question is: How are we going to change things? 
Can we?  Yes, by electing more progressives to
Congress.  How can we do that in the face of the
media propaganda?  I didn’t answer your question
because I’m like you: I haven’t made a close study
but I have general impressions.  By the way, what is
your solution to the problem?

Mardy—You haven’t answered my question.  Regardless of whether a regime is a democracy, all regimes are repressive.  The question here is whether the current one is more, less or equally repressive as previous ones, and in what ways.  I’m looking for specifics.  I haven’t made a close study, but my impression is that few or none of the many assumptions of government power of the last few decades have been rescinded or abandoned.  The president has also famously ordered the assassination of an American citizen without trial, which strikes me as something of an advance in repressiveness.

I also believe the bailouts (both Bush’s and Obama’s) were repressive in that substantial funds or credit of working people—that is, parts of their lives—were passed to the control of banks and other institutions of high Capital inaccessible to public review, much less governance.  So much for ‘democracy’.

So, how about a shot at answering the question, instead of name-calling?

“Which U.S. regime would you say was more repressive
than the present one?  And why?  As far as I know Mr.
O has not rescinded any of the new powers assumed by
Bush 2 or his predecessors (for example the
destruction of the 4th Amendment brought about
through the Drug War, of which Mr. O approves).”

Your first question is a ridiculous one and spoken
like a true Tea Partier.  The present “regime” is not
repressive.  This is a democracy.  Imperfect, yes,
but still a democracy.

Mr Obama has not rescinded all that he could, but he
does not have limitless powers.  Remember, this is an
imperfect democracy but still a democracy.  Remember
there is a Party of No, a cowardly MSM, and thousands
of lobbyists.

Now, I’m sure my statements are going to make you
throw up in disgust, Anarcissie.  Instead, why don’t
you just go join the Tea Party movement, assuming
you’re not already a secret member.

Mardy, September 19 at 8:27 pm:

Hey, Tesla, I think you’re confusing me with ardee.
I can understand.  ardee does rhyme with mardy.

Wow, “the most repressive, secretive and anti-citizen
government in our history.”  Spoken like a true Tea
Partier.  You want your government back!  Maybe you
are a Tea Partier. ...

Which U.S. regime would you say was more repressive than the present one?  And why?  As far as I know Mr. O has not rescinded any of the new powers assumed by Bush 2 or his predecessors (for example the destruction of the 4th Amendment brought about through the Drug War, of which Mr. O approves).

Hey, thanks very much, Inherit the Wind, for your
comment.  I was beginning to wonder.  These types are
indeed angry, and maybe could form an inverted Tea
Party on the left to match the one on the right?  In
order to turn this country around, don’t you think, we
have to understand the complexity of things and not go
off the deep end in sweeping Manichean tirades.  We on
the left ought to stick together and find common ground
for changing this country instead of battling one
another and making it easier for the right wingers.

Until reading your diatribe, Tesla, I never believed
there were left wing crazies to match the right wing
crazies, a view peddle by the MSM.  But unfortunately
I guess the MSM is right in this case.
*****************

Welcome to my world Mardy.  I’ve been dealing with the Tesla types on TD for several years.

Hey, Tesla, I think you’re confusing me with ardee. 
I can understand.  ardee does rhyme with mardy.

Wow, “the most repressive, secretive and anti-citizen
government in our history.”  Spoken like a true Tea
Partier.  You want your government back!  Maybe you
are a Tea Partier.

“Had Obama strapped some manhood on he could have
beaten the cretins into submission or made their non-
cooperation too dear for them to continue to stand in
his way.”  Pretty big talk that!  It would have
taken a lot more than “some manhood”.  Try to
understand the real world, Tesla.

“Go peddle your drivel and dis-reality to people who
don’t rely on the MSM and party communiques for their
view of reality.”  Wow, you’re mad, aren’t you?  I
understand what you’re trying to say in that sentence
but did you mean “who do rely on the MSM and party
communiques”? 

Until reading your diatribe, Tesla, I never believed
there were left wing crazies to match the right wing
crazies, a view peddle by the MSM.  But unfortunately
I guess the MSM is right in this case.

Consider this before the stream goes to bed:
  The demise of moderate Republicans was inevitable, considering their unmitigated support of capitalism and their hysterical response to all counter-suggestions, whether radical or reasonable.
  Capitalism unbridled lacks any sense of moral responsibility.  Where, in the rules of multiplying wealth by wealth does it say anything about morality or the life of the spirit? Never did. Never will.
  It’s arithmetic, impure and unsimple, now completely divorced from the virtues of ancient math, tied as it was to the Pole Star and the idea of a distant God and laws that assured some sense of balance and justice. 
  Now it’s all electronic manipulations divorced from the bothersome nonrational compassions of the human soul that cause investors in investments to investigate beyond the dollar sign.  It is the human head gone mad, breaking hearts, bodies and spirits and strewing them piece by piece along the way.  Road-kill. Simply road-kill, nothing more.
  When my great grandchildren’s education is not even half as adequate and humane as their great-great-grandfather’s, something important is amiss.

It is obvious that ardee is a DLC operative (either
paid or unpaid), or a simpleton. We here in America
have lived through the past 30 years of
(uninterrupted) Reaganomics know that both the
recognized “legitimate parties” work exclusively for
the corporatists.

As far as not being able to get things through the
Senate without 60 votes is a load of crap. Had Obama
strapped some manhood on he could have beaten the
cretins into submission or made their non-cooperation
too dear for them to continue to stand in his way.

No, we got the “no insurance company left behind”
legislation Obama had always envisioned.

If Obama was anywhere close to what you try to
portray him, we would not be experiencing the most
repressive, secretive and anti-citizen government in
our history. Even his Justice Dept hasn’t changed a
whit from “W"s.

Go peddle your drivel and dis-reality to people who
don’t rely on the MSM and party communiques for their
view of reality.

Shenonymous, you are so right!  I know some such all too well—to my sorrow. Believing the vacuities of TV is secondary.  Why do they believe, absorb uncritically, follow unconsciously?  Root cause: lack of sufficient education in critical thinking and the psychology of advertising.  Subsidiary causes:  Boredom, lack of imagination, feeling powerless and overwhelmed, wanting to escape from what they see as the inevitability of destruction, with the only way open to achieve relief being to close off questions they cannot answer—cannot even frame to ask.
  Their behavior, tastes and reactions are pitiable, infuriating and terrifying, all at the same time.
They arouse in my very soul a complex mix of love, fear and hate—an emotional complex that is debilitating to deal with and to keep under control.  Yet shouting doesn’t work. Nor weeping.  Nor laughing.
  Worse yet, coming together as an army of blind believers, they have at their thoughtless disposal the primitive power of ignorance plus a stubborn conviction that can bring reason to its knees.
  Because they fear reason they do not want to talk.  Only argue.  Conversation instantly becomes defensive/aggressive.  Refusal to engage with them seems to work best for “keeping the peace”—and yet at what cost?
  One obvious missing quality is a sense of humor. Sarcasm and irony are totally lost on them.  The grossest of inconsistencies escape their recognition.
  They call for the ultimate in Christian forebearance and are all too likely to become one of those insousciants who stone martyrs and chew gum while hammering nails into some future Cross.
  Yet, in all conscience I must confess that occasionally I have been the recipient of glimmers of affection reminiscent of petting the family dog.

To what can we attribute the sinking liberal spirit in America?  I will
nominate the incessantly repetitive partisan news and news editorial
pundits and mind numbing entertainment programming that feeds
the lazy minded public who sit hours on end at pathetically morally
vacant often moralizing dramatic and comedic entertainments, who
rarely if ever critically thinks about what they are watching and simply
absorbs the opinions of the most appealing of vacuous characters
that parade across the television screen.

These two well-designed avenues of information destitute as they are
of reality is what malleable minds gobble as a daily diet.  It is
demoralizing but the sponge minds of the public are unconscious to
this psychology and their being manipulated to think certain ways.

Mardy, September 17 at 9:35 am Link to this comment

Will you guys stop blaming the Democrats for
everything?  Oh, you’re so smart!  Fighting to see who can be the farthest to the left.  Oh so clever!  No recognition that it’s next to impossible now to get anything through congress with the 60-vote requirement
in the Senate.  It’s miraculous Obama got through what he did.

Err, Obama HAD a sixty vote majority in the Senate and still failed pass much of anything. Ranting and raving is fine,including your particular reason so many here are so critical,but facts will continue to get in your way I fear. Facts such as Bush having had no more than 53 republican senators at best, yet passed his own agenda rather easily.

Perhaps you might offer to defend your hero and explain to us why Obama is Bush lite…..War, torture, economic ruin and a sell out to criminals in the financial community all beg for your explanation.

The Tea party is a leftover figment of what Ron Paul started last election.

A large disaffected portion of our society is feeling ripped off by an out of control tax and spend government, this transends political parties. 

Cultists like Palin and Beck have hijacked that momentum and are morphing it into something manevolent and more befitting neocon dogma.

IMO, the Tea Party is not the problem. It’s the vast sucking sound left by the vacuum of a sinking liberal spirit in America—and that consequent massive amount of energy still being poured into a silly materialistic individualism unwilling to join with others already working for years to hold onto liberal gains under seige by a ravenous capitalism that knows no limits and admits no controls. What did I miss there?

Anyway, chop it up, chew on it, spit it out—whatever.  The radicalism of the Republican right only indicates the degree to which the (sacred?) democratic spirit of America has hurled itself into the arms of conventional wisdom and conservative fears and loathings. 

Surveillance is all, and the key is the word “veil.”
Don’t speak the truth; the lie tells me what I want to hear. Torture is enhanced interrogation technique.
War is forever.  Peace is weakness.  Gandhi was a madman wrapped in a sheet.  Pass the anxiety meds.
H - e - l - l - o - o - o - o .....

”Civil war empowers the most extreme elements, and over time, more people gravitate to the extremists on their side. The alternative is the extremists on the other side. Advocating moderation becomes dangerous as it equates to treason of one’s own community.” –Peter W. Galbraith

I can’t help but wonder if the democrats aren’t misunderestimating their conjoined twins, the republicans. The so-called American right frowns upon what it sees as godless, unpatriotic, democrat capitulation and selling out of every vestige of the principles that made Western society the greatest to have ever existed on this miserable planet. 

You dems might not be laughing in November.

I wouldn’t worry about Huffpo. Its in a lot of
trouble. Being the tool that it is… She borrowed a
HUGE amount of money (borrowed, no less, not funded,
which is so stupid I can’t even mention) ALL BASED
UPON HER WORK FOR OBAMA AND THE NEW WORLD ODOR. 
Which, her efforts, and those of her cohorts, have
been a total failure, every day, and those around her
discredited. I’ve even caught her with ads for
settlements in Israel on her site!

This would not be a problem if you play with your own
money and are not expected to get results. Not the
case with her. I predict a huge crash of the so-
called liberal tool websites after the election. Like
Jeff Goldblum once said, in a famous movie, first the
OOOH and the AAAH….. but later, the screaming…

The rest of us can run our sites pretty cheap. Our
networking is genuine and real. These people can’t do
anything other than accept backing from the devil and
live high on the hog. Well, its time to pay the
piper.

Huffpo is one of the most censored, warped and filth-
pot ventures going right now. She doesn’t even know
what a democrat is, what a progressive is, what a
liberal supposed to be and what is the difference.
(having been a repub) But soon the party will be
over. Patience.

Of course you are correct Kiwi.  As in any group, there must be disagreement within the ranks. The more “the powers that be” condemn Christine O’Donnell, the better chance she has. Is she a corporate puppet? The campaign contributions will give the answer.

Will you guys stop blaming the Democrats for
everything?  Oh, you’re so smart!  Fighting to see who
can be the farthest to the left.  Oh so clever!  No
recognition that it’s next to impossible now to get
anything through congress with the 60-vote requirement
in the Senate.  It’s miraculous Obama got through what
he did.

“It will be interesting to see how the corporate power structure stops the tea party tide” - elisalouisa
Why would the corporate power structure want to stop the tea party tide? The Tea Party are obsessed with controlling other peoples sex lives, with keeping Muslims out and with not letting their money being given to ” inferiors” They dont harm the corporate power structure at all In fact because of their anti green and no regulation views they benefit the corporate structure greatly.

Tesla—one of the purposes of Truthdig is to expose establishment types like Washington Post writers to ridicule and abuse.  You know, like the geek booth at the State Fair.

Does anyone actually read anything this sorry excuse
for a progressive writes.

Twenty-two per cent unemployment.  Twenty-two.  It was 25% at the height of the Great Depression.  A poorly educated and poorly informed nation that gets its news from corporate television.  Those who could attempt to do something about this won’t because they don’t want anything done.  And since fear is the prevalent human emotion, don’t be so sure that a Christian Stalinist like O’Donnell won’t win.  Perhaps the majority of Americans have concluded that the time for thinking is over.

Moderate Republicans?  Moderate anybody?  In this climate?  Forget it.
  What with one thing and another, the US must seem absolutely mad to other occupants of Planet Earth.
Spending billions it doesn’t have on wars, bases, weapons sales all over the world.  Giving billions it doesn’t have to 2% of the population at the top of the economic ladder who already have so much there’s no place big enough to hide it anymore.  Trying to turn back the pages of history to pre-Civil War white-folks dominance and imaginary pioneer virtues, all the while with the volume turned up to EXTREME everything till nobody can hear him/herself think.
  And over all, hatred, fear, hysteria, religious craziness and the Department of Universal Surveillance crawling around, looking under everybody’s bed for some imaginary bugaboo. 
  Get a grip, America!

Let’s try again, and hope the browser doesn’t pop off.  I’ll quote ardee in another thread: ‘We have had two years of a Democratic President and a majority of Democrats in Congress. In that time frame we have seen a tepid and emasculated Health Care Bill passed into law, but its provisions are set for far in the future and its only guarantees are for more and higher profits for the industry.In almost every other instance we see Bush policies retained, war continued, rendition and torture go on, Guantanamo remaining in business, the middle east even more estranged than ever before, corporations thriving and working class people absolutely not thriving. This past month alone there were almost one half million foreclosures nationwide.’  (I myself would refer to a health care bill as having been eviscerated rather than emasculated since I think of health care as sort of femmie.)  The gist is that Mr. O is pretty much continuing the policies and practices of Mr. B, that is, keeping things the same, that is, being conservative.  Would you say his administration has not been conservative in this sense, and if so, why?  Where?  This is not a rhetorical question—maybe I’ve missed something.

The conservative Obama is evidence to me of the degree to which the Democrats have taken up the ideological space formerly occupied by the Republicans.  If the establishment Republicans can’t either absorb, co-opt or suppress the Tea Party, the Democrats are going to be taking in a lot of citizenship applications from the occupied territory, too.

Shenonymous—the following were conservative, in the sense of keeping things the same and following past policies:

Big B, September 16 at 9:57 am Link to this comment

Ardee

I will agree to disagree on single payer. However, when he was elected, a clear majority of americans favored single payer. Although difficult, he could have staked his reputation and presidency on it and been successful, instead he chose to back MIC and keep sending our treasure overseas to throw down the hole that is the middle east

Of course you have a right to your opinion, but on the single payer thingie you post as if Obama reneged on a promise. He never intended to advance the cause of single payer health care, he made that perfectly clear even prior to his election.

In order to take up that challenge he would have to alienate one of the Democratic Party’s largest contributors, the Insurance Industry which is simply thriving under this awful system that allows so many to die for profit. This issue alone clearly demonstrates why those who continue to see the Democratic Party as a solution live in the past .

Anarcissie, September 16 at 1:30 pm – maybe so, but I will state
it my way, since he is being criticized as being conservative then
examples of that is the burden of the accusers.  I just say, wait
and see. 

berniem, September 16 at 4:20 pm – As a member of the educator class,
I couldn’t agree more.  They get to be one of the reviled and criticized
groups too!  Yayyyy!  Let’s hear it for the chronic revilers.  And I will stand
tall as an educator in the face of it.

The death of “Moderate Republicanism” is a direct result of the purposeful and determined destruction of the American public education system by the monied, ruling elites and their acolytes! Fear and loathing of intellectualism along with the ever louder drumbeat of fundamentalist christian dogma as well as insistence on blind obediance to the non-stop nationalist and xenophobic mantra of the corporatocracy have turned a vast number of people in this nation into flag waving potential Sieg Heilers!

Shenonymous, September 16 at 11:08 am:
‘... Whether Obama is really as conservative as you and others make out remains to be seen.  If you gave specific instances instead of generalizing then and only then will you allow a response.’

Well, one could put it the other way around.  What has he done that has not been conservative?  I mean ‘conservative’ in the general sense of the word, not in the sense of ‘beady-eyed frothy-mouthed crazed radical reactionary’ which is what it seems to mean to some people.

The business about letting the rich folks’ tax breaks expire occurred, I am sure, only because the proggies, after being absolutely betrayed and abused since the spring of 2008, were finally tearfully throwing their undies in their suitcases and calling the taxi service.

Big B - I am not apologizing for the Democrats. I have already
criticized the current bumper crop of thralls to the wealthiest of
Americans and corporate power.  However I remain a Democrat
because I believe in the basic welfare of the people and their right
to share the wealth and resources of the nation to which they give
their bodies and minds but do not receive proper remuneration or
respect.  I agree that we need to Hold the Party to a Higher Standard,
it is imperative if this country is to be one for all of the people.  And
I believe they will prevail in time.  You seem to gloss over when I say
things like that and focus only on what you wish to criticize.  It is the
way of most limited minds here.  The 31 turncoat Democrats need to
be posterized and run out of office without further thought.  But the
Blue Dogs are notorious for siding with Republican battlelines against
the needs of the people.  The need to let the Bush tax cut for the
wealthy is so obvious that it physically hurts to think about it and how
it would reduce the deficit immeasurably.  It is one of the reasons,
along with preemptive war, that the surplus in the treasury was
depleted without conscience by Bush and company.  Whether Obama is
really as conservative as you and others make out remains to be seen. 
If you gave specific instances instead of generalizing then and only
then will you allow a response.

Ardee

I will agree to disagree on single payer. However, when he was elected, a clear majority of americans favored single payer. Although difficult, he could have staked his reputation and presidency on it and been successful, instead he chose to back MIC and keep sending our treasure overseas to throw down the hole that is the middle east. Where we would be today if FDR had pussied out on the New Deal?

shenonymous

Sorry, copitulance would be Slick Willy’s gig wouldn’t it (but he did manage to screw around in the white house all the while selling out the liberals)

Of all the “names” that poor Barry has been called, Failed President may be the worst. Because at a time when we so desperately needed bold, liberal leadership to pull the nation from the crisis that conservative policies (and Clinton) created, Barry sat in the oval office like Jed Clampett, not quite sure how he got there, and unwilling to do anything of consequence that may draw attention to himself, for someone may finally notice that this emperor never has had any clothes.

I have said before that the dimmos plan this election year is to look like they none. They have failed miserably to turn the course of our nation around, and unwilling to try anything that will piss off their new corporate masters, they are turning to that oldest of dimmo stategies, play the victim. Because of their failure they see that Barry’s only chance in 2012 is to give the congress and senate back to the repugs. With the economy going nowhere fast, they can once again blame the evil repugs for all the nations evils, and put themselves into the position of being the “outsider” again in 2012 to hopefully lure the tired, beat down electorate back to the “put-upon” democratic party (Clinton succeeded in 1996 using this very stategy, however, running against his McCain, Bob Dole, certainly didn’t hurt)

Sorry Shenonymous, and all the other democratic party appologists out there, all dimmos need to do what we liberals now do, HOLD THE PARTY TO A HIGHER STANDARD. The dimmos are in trouble in this election year because they have not given the voters a choice. To run as a “light” republican is a losing stategy.

(I see this morning that 31 dimmos members of the house signed a letter in favor of continuing the Bush tax giveaway to the wealthy. These are your modern dimmos people! I do stand corrected on one point, modern dimmos and Barry are not reminicient of Nixon, for they are far more conservative that Nixon ever was)

Castle’s defeat at the hands of Christine O’Donnell, a perennial candidate who may be the least qualified Senate nominee anywhere in the country, does indeed mark the collapse of the Republican Party not only of Nelson Rockefeller . . . .
********
So what are the qualifications for the Senate? Could being a puppet of the corporate power structure be #1? The fact is people realize something is very wrong and want their power back. The magic word for Obama was “change.” Christine O’Donnell also conveys this sentiment without using that word. As Chris Hedges tells us: Fear the underlying corporate power structure, which no one, from Barack Obama to the right’wing nut cases who pollute the airwaves, can alter.  It will be interesting to see how the corporate power structure stops the tea party tide.

” gerryhiles, September 16 at 7:56 am Link to this comment

Of couse I made a typo, should have been ‘posting’, but the fact remains that I am now banned from HP. “
************

and what does that have to do with us?  Ariana’s web-site is, like most web-site, private property.

Meanwhile this article is about a direct trajectory of GOP politics.  Connect the dots: Nixon’s 1968 “Southern Strategy”.
Ronald Reagan emerging from the Far Right to win in 1980.
The “Contract With America” that put Newt-the-cold-blooded-salamander in the Speaker’s Chair in 1994.
Bob Dole giving his Senate Majority Leader’s chair to old-time Southern racist Trent Lott in 1996 to run against Clinton.
Tom DeLay sending bully-boys to Florida in 2000 to intimidate Broward County election officials.
Tom Delay.
The Bush Regime’s Patriot Act, plans to move more wealth into the hands of the wealthiest, and lies to get us into Iraq.
The Swift Boat attacks of 2004.
Claims that Barack Obama isn’t an American, is a Muslim and “pals around with terrorists” in 2008.
Teaparty victories in 2010 primaries.

What you see is a straight-line trend toward an American “Christian”-fascist dictatorship, similar to the Islamic Council in Iran, the Taliban in Afghanistan, or the other pseudo-religious fascist movements of the last 100 years. 

Meanwhile, the saner and more reasonable Republicans have been pruned off of the tree over time until the Senate has, at most, 4 sensible Republicans out of 40, and 36 raving lunatics, who will HAPPILY destroy the nation to achieve power again.

The Teaparty has capitalized on peoples’ irrational fears and reminds of us Franklin’s wisdom that those who would exchange a little freedom to get more security will lose both and deserve neither.

It’s hard to identify a Democrat these days.  The party of Clinton went to the middle as Republicans went right in the hope that all the disenfranchised Repugs would find a new home.  Just look at the breadth of the Dems to see their problem.  They have left wing reactionaries like Weiner and Grayson and ultra conservatives like Blanche Lincoln and Nelson.  How can a party put forth a coherent platform or strategy with extremes like that?  A party needs a heart and a center it can form around.  When the 50 state strategy gave us this hodge podge of philosophies, how can we find any coherence.  The old system worked because each party staked out a territory and everyone was expected to defend it.  Not any more.  The Dems are all over the place which makes them seem incoherent while the Republicans are hard right and easy to understand but hard to support.  In my view, these are not good positions for either party.

“There was a move of moderate Republicans becoming independents, and independents becoming Democrats.”

Cudos to E.J.—The first writer to state the obvious, which is mysteriously absent from the media storyline.

As someone who has lived in a very conservative part of the country, I’ve seen time and time again the noise this bunch makes. It always sounds louder than it really is.

This so-called movement is not a lot of people, though seems like a lot. Even without the alliance of moderate Republicans abandoning that Party’s nonsense, the right can be easily beaten. With even a small turnout of moderates and a good turnout of Democrats, they can be trounced.

I’ve seen it.

PUNISH REPUBLICANS. Vote Democrat.

“f the dimmos lose the house and senate, they have only prez
Barry to blame, for his timidity and copitulance, his lack of vision
(he’s a piss poor Jedi) and his refusal to be a 21st century FDR.”

Maybe, maybe you mean capitulation.  Maybe it is the Democratic
Congress that are piss poor Jedis who is collectively to blame more
than Barry.  Maybe it is the Democratic Congress that has capitulated at
every turn.  With his appointment of Elizabeth Warren maybe he has
made a hugely good step towards restoring financial credibility.  While
the prez is the Man, and I do not absolve him by any means, but maybe
Congress has been prostrate before the minority Republicans.

There is no reason why they have not passed every bill that would
strengthen the Democratic base.

There is no reason those tax cuts only for those making under 250,000
bucks should be held hostage by Congressional Republicans.  Exactly
how does Obama act like a Nixon Republican?  It is so fashionable to
call Obama every name under the sun.

Nixon’s ‘Southern Strategy’ doomed the Republican Party to breakup sooner or later; we’re seeing the final working-out of that doom in the Tea Party insurgency.  The Religious Right, social conservatives (that is, racists and homophobes), business-interest types, and libertarians have very little in common with one another.  The best they can do now is inflate the illusion of a monstrous common enemy, which happens to be poor Mr. O, actually a cautious conservative; but he’s all they’ve got.

part deux…....

The democratic party still has not figured out how they manage to lose elections to mediocre conservative wackos. It is because they do not give either side, republican or democrat, a reason to vote for them. The repugs have moved to right, the dimmos have in turn moved to the right in the vein hope that frustrated republican moderates will flock to their side. But this strategy has proven faulty and just plain wrong on two fronts. First, by moving to the right, a dimmo alienates all left leaning liberals. Second, republican voters are not so stupid. They look on a dimmo candidate that moves to the right as weak and despicable. When given the choice between one of their own, even a wack-job, and a sell-out democrat, they will choose the wacko nearly every time.

Dems seem to have fared pretty well during the last national election, the White House, the Senate and the House as well, but perhaps you are correct at least in part, McCain/Palin was an absurd ticket, at least back then before Democrats bungled and mishandled every damn issue until even Palin seemed more credible ( shudder). The inability of the entire Democratic Party to stand up to even the most absurd comments and distortions is contributory in their decline I am forced to add

President Barry and his coven of sell out moderates have cost the democratic party its base. He deluded himself into thinking that he won the office of POTUS because of his views and ideology, when we all know the only reason he won was that he WAS NOT JOHN MCCAIN! But now everyone sees him as a center-right copitulator. A man who could have done so much more. He could have given us single payer healthcare, real financial and big business regulation, and a stimulas plan big that wasn’t 30% tax breaks and big enough to have a chance to succeed.

Barack could not have possibly given us single payer health care, an idea whose time is not yet come. Remember where that three quarters of a billion he raised to win office actually came from? I do not look upon him as a capitulating President though, only as an incompetent one.

If the dimmos lose the house and senate, they have only prez Barry to blame, for his timidity and copitulance, his lack of vision (he’s a piss poor Jedi) and his refusal to be a 21st century FDR.

Hopefully, the american electorate will grow a brain between now and November and reject the out-of-wack views of the new Birchers. But don’t hold your breath, for what alternatives have the dimmos offered? If Barry keeps acting like a Nixon republican, he will find out that people will just as soon vote for a real (white) repug instead.

There is plenty of blame available, Obama is only entitled to his fair share. It is the usual case that the midterm elections see an erosion of the party in power, this time of course it just may be a rather sharper decline than one normally finds….we shall see.

I do recall several revolutionary figures ( not ours) saying that the worse things got the better their chances for said revolution.

Nice talking with you.

Big B, September 15 at 6:28 pm Link to this comment

It has become painfully obvious that the reason you see lunatic fringe republicans running for office and almost never see a true liberal candidate is finance. Neo-cons have all the money in the (corporate) world at their disposal, while a liberal has a megaphone and a handful of prints from kinkos.

I do find your entire post an interesting exercise, worthy of an in depth discourse, if you are so inclined. Truth be told I do not believe I understand what a true liberal candidate would look like, having seen neither hide nor hair of one in quite some time. Perhaps Governor Moonbeam here in California might qualify as such. He will certainly set a record should he win the job. Jerry Brown would be the youngest and oldest to win the governors mansion..oh yeah he sold it last time he was elected….

I agree that much money piles up on the side of the reactionary and the right wing thses days, but there are certainly a bunch of dollars to be found amidst the “liberals”, especially in the form of George Soros, the Hollywood crowd, Perhaps even Gates and Buffet though I am unaware of their political allegiances to date. Certainly Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Ben and Jerry et al contribute to “green” or liberal causes.

Nope, I think the real truth of our current politics lies in the demise of the free press in this nation and its replacement by agendized reportage, propaganda even, creating issues out of whole cloth and slanting all political news and views until the electorate has swallowed the fairy tale completely.

The biggest reason you will see these new John Birch republicans win offices this November is the loyalty of the republican voting base. Conservatives vote with their hearts and not their heads. Liberals do the polar opposite, even at the expense of staying home.

Not very many appear to vote with their heads in my own opinion, and Ive seen no statistics suggesting that liberals stay home in greater numbers than do conservatives. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that these “moderate republicans” who seem to have disappeared altogether are staying home of late. Remember it was the outpouring of the youth vote that seems to have carried the day for Obama two years ago.

If Barry Goldwater was alive today, he would get elected.

It has become painfully obvious that the reason you see lunatic fringe republicans running for office and almost never see a true liberal candidate is finance. Neo-cons have all the money in the (corporate) world at their disposal, while a liberal has a megaphone and a handful of prints from kinkos.

The biggest reason you will see these new John Birch republicans win offices this November is the loyalty of the republican voting base. Conservatives vote with their hearts and not their heads. Liberals do the polar opposite, even at the expense of staying home.

The democratic party still has not figured out how they manage to lose elections to mediocre conservative wackos. It is because they do not give either side, republican or democrat, a reason to vote for them. The repugs have moved to right, the dimmos have in turn moved to the right in the vein hope that frustrated republican moderates will flock to their side. But this strategy has proven faulty and just plain wrong on two fronts. First, by moving to the right, a dimmo alienates all left leaning liberals. Second, republican voters are not so stupid. They look on a dimmo candidate that moves to the right as weak and despicable. When given the choice between one of their own, even a wack-job, and a sell-out democrat, they will choose the wacko nearly every time.

President Barry and his coven of sell out moderates have cost the democratic party its base. He deluded himself into thinking that he won the office of POTUS because of his views and ideology, when we all know the only reason he won was that he WAS NOT JOHN MCCAIN! But now everyone sees him as a center-right copitulator. A man who could have done so much more. He could have given us single payer healthcare, real financial and big business regulation, and a stimulas plan big that wasn’t 30% tax breaks and big enough to have a chance to succeed.

If the dimmos lose the house and senate, they have only prez Barry to blame, for his timidity and copitulance, his lack of vision (he’s a piss poor Jedi) and his refusal to be a 21st century FDR.

Hopefully, the american electorate will grow a brain between now and November and reject the out-of-wack views of the new Birchers. But don’t hold your breath, for what alternatives have the dimmos offered? If Barry keeps acting like a Nixon republican, he will find out that people will just as soon vote for a real (white) repug instead.

Sorry, but I think you are both wrong.

Flummox - It’s both. Aside from that revolting
development, we have a Depression on our hands and like
any Depression people become frightened and when people
are frightened enough and desperate enough they put
nationalistic demagogues in place to run things.
(That’s exactly why and how Hitler rose to power in
Germany.)

What ever is Dionne talking about? How ridiculous. Moderate Republicans have for a long time now had a home in the Democratic party. The whole Democratic establishment danced with glee when Obama’s Moderate Republican healthcare bill was passed. It’s not the Moderate Republicans who don’t have a party, it’s the Liberal Democrats.

It is really too bad that moderate Republicans are an endangered
species.  They used to provide a counterpoint to rampant liberalism.
But they may all be dead now that reactionism rules their roost and
the fanatical shriekers are leading all of the chickens.