Being a centrist on the left side of the middle, I aim to be the best pond scum
there is!  And sitting comfortably on me ass in my well designed computer desk
chair is a far finer thing to do than sitting on prickly pear catcus.  If I ever salute, it
would be to make a Sicilian Salute.  You, John Crandell, forgot to mention the
trumpeting lunatics of the left who are equally as rabid as those on the Right.  It
hardly looks like Obama’s anticipated action regarding troops he will send to
Afghanistan is doing so for political gains as his party will not be too thrilled with
that decision.  And the Right has so few numbers that it won’t do him much good
in that segment of politics either.  So then what is the point of bringing in the
straw men Bush&Cheney;? Is it to do a male puff-up a dance routine?  At this
point isn’t it 52 card pick’em up?

Keith Olbermann is going to have a special commentary tonight in preparation for the propaganda fest tomorrow so you can bet it won’t be nice to Barry. It will be a warning to him that if he continues with this useless evil war it would weigh heavily on his chances of showing us he is a good man at all and not just the Reagan legacy carried yet again unbroken since 1980 to more horrors.

As the elephant and jack ass show goes on the road (not talking Palin here)  and as the reminder of the left becomes more right, what happens to the right seems to be what we now see happening with the GOP.

As we are watching two drunks fighting in the street, seemingly stumbling around making much ado about ado’s, when the conjured dust settles, each drunk will the others coat on, such seems the opportunist’s grand manipulation of things.

A basic premise quoted from Abraham Lincoln, with minor or major embellishments as one wishes to entertain, working from memnory here!

I believe it is the “We,” Purple Girl, that eludes “them” not “the People.”  “We” is
a word of inclusion of the “all” and while they (I am guessing you mean the
bluedawgs along with their conservative Republican brethren) are acutely aware
of the people, since “they” are attempting to woo all the voting public’s
emotional votes, and because of their utter self-interest, they cannot bring
themselves to envision that the interests of the all outweighs their small
subgroup interests.  What they claim is always rhetoric without much
substance, and they have learned to put it into sloganisms that have popular
appeal.  It is a strategy, old as the hills.  People’s imagination are amplified by
catchphrases, “The Looney Left,” “I’d Rather Be a Conservative Nut Job than A
Liberal With No Nuts and No Job,” “Old School Conservative (with Reagan’s mug
included.)” are just a few of the most noxious. 
http://www.rightwingnews.com/humor/slogans.php
is a website that will give the top 20 conservative slogans.  The real Democrats
who are true to their ideology simply do not have that same skill at catchy
phrasing, I don’t know why, but they seem to have some impediment on how to
counteract the virulent effects of the populism of conservatives, blue or red. 

You are absolutely right about the need to return to a more mercantile-based
economy where production reascends to where it once was and had remarkably
less unemployment problems.  I do wonder though at the disappearance of the
small farmer.  While they, sadly and with all sentimentality, have become
history, I think that culture need some rethinking.  The large combines do
provide the amount of food this country is in need of given its population, yet
it is seasonal.  For instance, I am getting fresh berries from Chile, Mexico and
Canada.  But when in season they are right from this country.  I pay attention to
such a small detail as where the berries come from as they are a big part of my
diet!  The enormous increase in food production does provide a huge
cascading number of jobs.  Complexity describes the market place and it really
needs a more analytical vision in order to see precisely where the problems
are.  Throwing the baby out with the bath water is only a defeating exercise. 
Seeing problems clearly then allows solutions.  If a great number of the people
would return to buying from small businesses and farmers mercantilism would
return, maybe not blazing but would have a high branching effect.  Instead of
rushing to the large corporate shops and markets, the buying public would give
reason for small business and farmers to regenerate.  There is more quality in
buying from boutique shopping anyway.

Free market outsourcing developed into the monster it promised to be from
the beginning but few saw the leviathan it became, or were ineffectual in their
influence to put “regulation” in the mix.  It is a truism that deregulation is a
culprit and we all know where the benefits go with deregulation.  Aren’t they,
the fumbling politicians, now scrambling to repair the damage?  Did they catch
it in time?  Hindsight is only helpful if it determines present and future
advantages.  I have always maintained that humans rarely learn lessons from
studying history.  I believe history is noted, given a nod, and then ignored while
the culture proceeds blithely on its own path of delirium.

What part of ‘We the People’ Eludes them or revolts them??
First we must concede the Fact that those rats that jumped ship from the GOP in the ‘80’s (DLC ‘Third way’) have fucked the Dem party, and the country. Lincoln, Nelson, Baccus are no more ‘Democrats’ than Spector or Hillary. Corporately sponsored and owned.
By our very founding The People come first, in their demands and needs. Nothing comes before them (Inalienable rights, Life, liberty..). A true Demcratic Gov’t is not some imposing overseer, but a singular entity operating by virture of it’s citizens- not birth Rights,socio economic status, force or ‘anointment’. So to hate the Gov’t, esp as an employee, means you hate democracy and thus the American People.
And it shows, because they have done everything they can to bar access to the market to average citizens- as labor, consumers and producers.
They claim they want to give the American People as many choices as Possible- then give US back the Right to be the merchants!!
‘We the People’ have the Right to work the other side of the Market Table. Not just as individuals, but as a collective in competition with other ‘collectives’ (Corps).
Our Founders vision of a Free market had nothing to do with Deregulation- it had to do with accessiblity to All, including as a UNITED front. Call it a Logo or a Family Crest, the restriction imposed by them are a Direct violation of our Rights as Americans.

tabt, November 27 at 7:02 pm

They are Republicans.  They were bought and paid for by the same corporate money and are required to provide the same votes.  I have called myself a far left Democrat for decades and hoped for change.

A quite accurate portrayal of our “two party” system.

I am now looking for a third party, something I have always vigorously opposed, because of their lack of power and their splitting of liberal votes. 

It seems to come down to an educational effort, in my opinion. As neither major Party supports a so-called progressive agenda where else does one turn to advance that platform? Remember, Nader first went to both candidates in advance of the 2000 election, asking for the inclusion of planks in the platform that were supportive of progressive ideas and ideals. Gore refused and Bush wouldnt even meet with him.

I think we will see more and more on the left disenchanted with the Democrats and thus benefiting third party growth. It is, after all, a slow progress, being that we live, as Che Guevara noted so well, in the belly of the beast.

I don’t want people to easily buy and carry guns. I want higher taxes that are spent on building a better society.

I’m feeling lonely and angry.

Perhaps, rather than higher taxes you might consider seeking a better use of those dollars. As to feeling isolated, you are certainly far from alone in your wishes for this nation. One cure for said isolation might be volunteering at your local Green Party offices, or at least finding like minded people and working alongside them….

It would depend further, Dominick J., on what you define liberal as.  I would not
be too sure that Ted Kennedy’s values would be kept by his replacement.  If you
yourself would make sure your Democratic candidates are liberals and not Demo-
rats in disguise then your elections might be satisfying.  How will you predict
what they will be once in office?  If you would also hold them accountable, your
elected officials might also be forced to have integrity.  But I don’t think you can
do that by yourself.  Seems like you will have to enlist others in your electoral
district to help you.

Sometime if the website is extra busy, comments take a bit of time to show up.

I recieved an email letting me know that ThomasG just posted BUT I don’t see it here. 

Moderator what happened???

There is more to the problem than Blue Dogs.  There is the problem of the “New Democrats”, the Democratic Leadership Council, DLC, democrats that cooperated the Democratic Party into parody with the Right-Wing Conservative EXTREMISTS of the Republican Party, the “New Democrats” that by contrived political duopoly and orthodoxy formed an alliance with the American Aristocracy that represented both the “Professional Middle Class” as a political singularity together with the American Aristocracy and excluded the American Populace, the 70% MAJORITY Common Population from representation in both houses of the Congress and the government of the United States with regard to the legislating and enforcing of law and order that is inclusive of the 70% MAJORITY Common Population of the United States.

For one to go for the fiction of “Centrist” and “Moderate” one would have had to have been under a rock somewhere in the desert and have missed the Republican Revolution, the Contract with America, Supply-Side Economics and all of the other scams of the Right-Wing Conservative EXTREMIST Republican Revolution that stretched from Goldwater through Reagan, Bush I and Bush II; that borrowed and spent the United States into bankruptcy, deindustrialized the United States for cheap labor, created a financialized economy for short-term profit, and created a financial bubble that brought down the economy of the United States and the world, and so far has cost TENS of TRILLIONS of DOLLARS in an effort to clean up the mess that has turned out to be nothing more than a “moral hazard” scam, a Ponzi Scheme, used to recapitalize private capital for the benefit of the capitalist scammers at the expense of the victims, the American Populace.

Thanks for your post Shenonymous.  And after reading your explanation/interpretation I decided to look them up and came across this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dog_Coalition

I don’t think my idea is just an ideal of what Democrats are and how they govern.  Democrats are still Liberal in their thinking and governing and there are quite a few still in office at the House and Senate level. 
One very prominate and vocal Democrat Liberal was Ted Kennedy and I’m sure his replacement will hold his values.  When we have an elected official runing for office ona Democtat ticket we need to check further to make sure they are NOT Demo-rats in disguise, but Liberals and hold them accountable for our vote.

Dominick J., Someone please correct me if I am wrong, or add to it, but I
believe the fiscally conscious BlueDogs are the somewhat heirs of the old
Southern States’ Rights Democrats called Dixiecrats, who split the party in a
protest against Harry Truman.  The Dixiecrats were very unhappy with the fiscal
actions of the Democrats and even further with Truman’s stand on civil rights
and as Southerners couldn’t see that all people are created equal by virtue of
the Constitution.  In more than a couple of ways the Dixiecrats were closer
brothers to Republicans in their disfranchisement of African Americans,and the
complex structure of Jim Crowism, malapportionment practices to try to
influence voting patterns with the South always having been one-partyism
Democrat.  The Republicans were thrilled to death with the split of the
Democratic Party.  The same thing has happened with the present company. 

I also believe Dominick J., you may have an ideal idea of what Democrats are
and do.  As corporate money increased to influence politics, Democrat politics
has moved more to the right, sometimes as some complain, right into the lap
of the Right.  Democratic ideology may not have changed over time but the
Democrats of today seem to have amnesia of what that ideology is, and they
have a soft spine.

It is nearly impossible to find a soul who could be a charismatic,
knowledgeable politician with integrity (which could arguably be an oxymoron)
to be a candidate with Democratic ideals.  There is one such from Florida, so I
hear, Alan Grayson, but personally I don’t know much about him.  He might be
worth a good look at.

I have also understood for years that if a Republican wanted to get democrat votes they would list themselves as “Moderate”-BUT Democrats have always been Liberal!!  Now the Liberals are being presented as Progressives!

I don’t care what excuse these simple politicians have.  When they run on a Democrat ticket they should run and be what it is they call themselves and vote the party line as a Democrat!  They got elected as one and they didn’t get elected for being a Conservative!!  AND becuase of this now we have Progressives running to discern the difference.  OH and those Democrat Blue Dogs, are you kidding me?  How did they emerge? Can someone ‘splain that to me?

“to insure that the House did not act recklessly,”  you mean like a
mindless mob?  That is exactly what the founding fathers wanted to avoid.  TJ
despised the ruleless so-called democratic voting structure.  That is why this is
a republic, a representative democracy, not a free-for-all one-man-one-vote
democracy.  We are not a democracy the way you seem to imagine.  Classic
democracy works only at the very local level.

I agree with you djnoll, that there should not be any surprise that the minority
whips the majority to those who are consciously involved in the political
environment.  It is always baffling to watch drum beaters act surprised at what
was plainly the score from the beginning.  The clutzy majority do not know
how to confine the richly powerful minority.

“It is time for a real change, and it must begin with us at the state level
demanding a new Constitutional Convention be convened.”  Have you
started this movement in your state? Have you made this demand?  If you have
any success you will be sure to let us know.

Unlike some who will throw up their hands in frustration and stroll away, I will
dauntlessly continue to work for a better country.  Defeatism is the tool of the
opposition and I refuse to be the instrument of their treachery.

Although there is much for which he is being criticized, for me the jury is still
out on Obama.  His detractors are having a field day.  If he pulls through this,
though, they will be buried in their own dirt.

They are Republicans.  They were bought and paid for by the same corporate money and are required to provide the same votes.  I have called myself a far left Democrat for decades and hoped for change.

I was stupid because I knew from the inside, (briefly), how much money and power insurance companies control. They control many companies, unrelated to insurance, by investing our huge amounts of premium dollars and their refusal to pay so many claims.

I am now looking for a third party, something I have always vigorously opposed, because of their lack of power and their splitting of liberal votes.  It’s a problem,  because as some witty and insightful person said, “Progressives are just Republicans who want weed and heterosexual sex.”

I favor a strong central government to provide the same rights for all citizens, so I don’t fit in with the states rights groups.  I don’t want people to easily buy and carry guns. I want higher taxes that are spent on building a better society.

I’m feeling lonely and angry.

djnoll:  YES!  but whatever move anyone were to make to attempt to contend with all the perfidy, they’ll up and block the way forward, instill confusion and distraction at every turn and nanosecond.

With Obama’s coming move on Afghanistan, forty years after all that I witnessed in Vietnam, in Chile, and here in the environs of America (rural and inner city) meanwhile, I now refuse to spend myself further. Like Japhy Ryder, I only wish to register my absence with The Null and Void Trust Company.

Let the nation come to naught. Let it go, extinguish itself. Let new republics emerge. Based on eternal human decency, let the better of them be rid of the red state of mind and every Mideast element and issue forever.

As to Barak Obama: just like Bush and Cheney, may the bodhisattva of tragedy sit on your face forever, for all of the horror you will bring. All of the progressive changes you made are only common sense after all. But in their totality,  they will pale in comparison to the coming horror.

I think of two American politicians who got particularly and exactly what they deserved - McCarthy and Wallace. May you, as well. So many would abjure on that. But I’ve witnessed horror and the least that I can say is that your perfidy is incomparable.

I have had a little time recently to consider the issue of politicians who are not representatives of those who elect them, and am faced with a quandary.  Our Senate was originally going to be the only legislative branch in our government, but under pressure from the Anti-Federalists a House of Representatives was added for the purpose of representing the interests of the citizens. 

We established a two-house legislature, with the Senate being given the greater power because it was suppose to act as a check on the House.  The reason for this:  the Federalists believed that the common citizen was too ignorant to understand their own needs or how to govern, and therefore could not be trusted to govern.  The Senate, made up of appointees of governors, was to be from the educated, business/professional class, like the House of Lords in the British Parliament, and was to insure that the House did not act recklessly, in the estimation of the Senators.

Now the quandary comes in.  If the Senators, who are completely bought and paid for by corporate interests since the beginning of this nation, are to decide what American citizens may or may not have, how can we call ourselves a democracy where the majority rules, when it is obvious that it never has?

Blanche Lincoln is a perfect example of this kind of elitist rule.  She comes from money, she panders to money, and she can be bought, obviously.  She is no different than the original Senators of this nation’s history, so why is everyone so surprised when a MINORITY of Senators from some of the smallest states in the Union, dictate what the MAJORITY CAN HAVE ACCESS TO?  I used the word elitist to describe this Senator, but the word could apply to all the Senators, and most of the House these days from both parties.  These are people who have millions in their own rights, gather millions of dollars in campaign funds annually from corporations and special interests, and who do not live in the real world of homelessness or joblessness.  In fact, as their employers, we allow them to determine their own salaries, their own perks, their own health care benefits.  These are the true ELITISTS, not those of us who pay student loans or have no retirements anymore or whose children go hungry. 

It is time for a change in how we govern ourselves.  We are no longer ignorant, uneducated farmers and laborers.  We may not be as well educated as we once were, but we do know when we are being sold a bill of goods by the likes of Blanche Lincoln or Max Baucus or Harry Reid or Stupak-Pelosi-Hoyer in the House.  It is time for a new Constitution where the first 10 Articles are the Bill of Rights, and where a new form of legislature is established where elitists have no right to overrule or gut the will of the People.  A new Constitution with term limits and popular vote elections that insure that the voice of the people is heard.  A new Constitution where the Federal government deals only with those issues that affect all the states collectively, and we return to the states the responsibility to their citizens for such things as education, health care, environment, housing, jobs creation, agriculture, and let the Fed deal with monetary policy, diplomacy, social protection networks that cross state lines like Social Security, and national defense as it was originally intended to be - a National Guard under the control of the governors without a standing, permanent military.

It is time to rethink this nation and how the MAJORITY should be the ones ruling it, not corporations, not millionaire elitists, not the Catholic Church or the Mormons, not the generals and admirals, but the MAJORITY OF CITIZENS OF ALL RACES, BACKGROUNDS, GENDERS, AND AGES - WE THE PEOPLE.  It is time for a real change, and it must begin with us at the state level demanding a new Constitutional Convention be convened - or we just accept the status quo and perish under the rule of the Blanche Lincoln’s of this country.

stephunter, your link does not work.

Great insight and article!  I really believe the public option needs to be getting more attention from the lawmakers because it’s already enjoyed a lot of success in Ohio.  http://cli/gs/z3AtaY/

The mental illness called OCD has now gone political. Those that are most
affected imagine that they are wealthy and independent of government assistance.
There is help on the horizon.  A surgical procedure called cingulotomy has cured
hundreds. Doctors drill deep into the skull and thread wires into an area called the
anterior cingulate. It connects to emotional centers of the brain where political
choices are made. The surgery can be recommended by the courts for those that
express violent views.

It is called being a whore for votes.  But that is what this country’s politicians
have been reduced to by the lobby industry in cahoots with self-serving
corportocratic conservative Republicans. The name of the game is to win.  The
cacaphony that Americans have had to suffer since Reagan up through the
older Bush and his miserable Republican philosophy of trickle down crap,then
his son to top it off is the real cause of the downsledding of the American
economy that has now crashed into a tree and has changed the politicians’
landscape.  To salvage any social program has been a scramble for the scraps
of voter sympathy.  The voters are conditioned to be moved by glitz and
slogans. 

It is crystal clear that Republicans are better at being clever and unfortunately
not the more plenteous Democrats who have ideals in their fuzzy revolving
heads rather than pragmatism and revolution on how to preserve their social
hearts that are always for the benefit of the population.  Now they have to
barter their ideals in the worst ways to save their political office since now
money and empty populism intentionally and smartly the program of the
Republicans are the controlling factor.  The Democrats really need better
psychology and PR companies.   

The centrist Democrats who can’t see the forest for the trees of their own
political career need to be removed, but they will not be removed unless those
in their district or state will remove them.  So it isn’t them that needs to act,
but the voters.

I remain a centrist Democrat, and while I definitely support social programs, I
am more to the right of the radical left (but not on the Right, let me make that
clear!) it is because for me Democrats as a party have a tendency to spend
themselves out of oblivion, which they have done and has scared the poop out
of the voters.

As a (forced) constituent of Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Pryor and Mr. Ross, I have a three-fer of folks I will never again be voting for.

In a friendly tone and respectful language I have made this abundantly clear to all three, as have many Arkansans. But the only Arkansan to really get through to this greedy troika is the guy who runs WalMart.

So much for every vote that counts. So much for democracy. If you can’t bribe the bastards, don’t even bother calling.

It’s all here folks:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/25/the-muppets-do-bohemian-r_n_370298.html -

featuring John Kerry at his Hamlet best, Rush Limbaugh in horns, a red haired Joe Biden and bringing up the rear-guard (figuratively & literally) is Hillary, singing “Nothing really matters, but war!”

All perfect commentary regards the “no drama” run amok that has become the Obush administration.

>>What is to stop the senate from expanding Medicare’s budget to cover Medicare for all and being a budgetary issue it could be passed via reconciliation requiring only 51 votes.<<

If nothing else the lack of profit for corporations and politicians in taking such an action.

Lingering loyalties die hard. It is the power of money that sways opinions like that of Sen. Lincoln. She understands, and all too well, that large and continuous advertising, paid for with money from Big Pharma and the Insurance industry may win her re-election. Or may not.

The way the Republican Party is unified and in step contrasted with the way Democrats are divided and cacophonous in message lends itself to GOP victories among voters who are swayed too easily.

While Democrats deserve to lose, we the people do not deserve another GOP majority or another Bush in office. Despite my own antipathy towards both political parties, despite my own leaning towards independent and third party presence in our Legislature as a way to lessen the power of the corporation therein, I cannot help but think the Democrats the lesser of two evils. Small consolation huh?

There is a school of thought that adheres to the concept that meaningful change will only occur when things get bad enough to sponsor said change…Not a pretty picture.

Mr. Conason doesn’t understand that both official parties have been taken over by fascists “F” no matter if they have a “D” or “R” with their name. You need to see that too </b>Samson.</b> It is the only thing that explains why we are going down the bung hole to the ash heap of history for republics before they turn into empires. Not this hybrid we are right now but a bonafied pure totalitarian corporate/church state. We are on that verge where the shock doctrine here will do its job on us.

I know Mr. Connason is easily confused.  Apparently his main problem is that he can’t accept the reality that most of the politicians with (D) after their name that he so enthusiastically and uncritically supports really are ‘party-line Republicans’.

If Mr. Connason would accept the fact that today’s Democrats really are just party-line Republicans, then he would find his confusion would quickly disappear, and he could see the world as it really exists.

Maybe age gives the perspective to see that.  For instance, I remember back when Democrats were really Democrats and supported a national, single-payer, health insurance program in their platform.  It was the Republicans who opposed that.  Nowadays, its the Democrats who oppose single payer and instead make sure the popular anger over health care won’t lead to any reform before 2013.

Of course, Mr. Connason would have to find a new line of work, since his current job is that of convincing voters who don’t in any way want to support party-line Republicans, to instead vote for and support all the party-line Republicans who claim to be Democrats.