The Michael Moore/Cindy Sheehan wing of the Democratic party

[murdoch]

I have been watching corporate television and the conservative pundits on it seem to have a talking point where they talk about the Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan wing of the Democratic party. I guess by that they mean that Moore and Sheehan are way out there, and unconnected to the average American.

This never makes any sense to me. When I see Cindy Sheehan on TV, she seems like the most normal, average American woman I can think of. Michael Moore's father was an auto worker, and Moore was a dead-broke thirtysomething Midwesterner when he made his first documentary by maxing out his credit cards etc. They seem to be the most average, normal, everyday people you could meet. They also are usually articulating views which polls show the majority of the country supports - to end the war.

On the other hand when I look at Bush, I see someone whose father was a senator and president, whose father's father was a senator, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had everything handed to him on a silver platter. He went to elite prep schools, got into the Ivy League as a legacy, and even after boozing for years was still handed millions by government largesse via connections. How come I never hear about the Bush wing of the Republican party? The Bush/Coors/Mellon Scaife/Olin/Walton wing of the Republican party? They are who is out of touch with the US.

The majority of workers in the US prefer the policies of the Democrats. The only way the Republicans win is by a method going back long in the US (as well as in the English parliament days). The method is many workers can't vote. In the 1960s it was blacks in the south who can't vote. Nowadays in California, one out of five people is an immigrant. They're allowed to work here, tacitly or not, but they can't vote, thus the two of five beats the three of five. All this means however is political change will have to take methods other than voting or political parties.

[HereSince1628]

1. Anyone other than the DLC is "way out there" the DLC has done

a hellofa marketing job. The media seem to think they actually ARE the democratic leadership

[blm]

2. This is how media works to keep the Dem party divided while the GOP is

in deep doo doo.

[formernaderite]

35. I must know some real left wing freaks...

because everyone I know aligns themselves with Sheehan and Moore. Maybe it's regional, I just don't see it pulling the democratic party apart. Any democrat that doesn't relate to the two of them...isn't really a democrat anyway.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I agree with you 100%

Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore are regular folks who have done some extraordinary things. I like your idea of talking about the Bush wing of the repuke party--this needs to be used again and again by leftists.

[bush_is_wacko]

15. Oh how I've tried but usually to no avail.

A repub member of the family ( THE ONLY ONE, THANK GOD) told me he would not pay to keep the Kerry mansion up until he (Kerry) died. I explained to him that the Kerry mansion was really Kerry's wife since she was married to one of the Heinz ketchup boys, who died and she inherited her money from him. I told him Kerry "came from money" compared to him but compared to the Bush's Kerry was equivalent to a pauper before he married Teresa.

I asked him just how many Bush mansions he was willing to pay for with his tax dollars for the rest of their lives, not to mention the two presidential libraries. I explained to him that GWB was NEVER a "normal guy" and his family had money coming out of their ears and none of them were ever average guys. I told him we were likely paying for upkeep and security on several Bush mansions already since Daddy bush has more than one and now we were just going to add a few more to the pot because GWB certainly has more than one house.

I can tell you, it amounted to nothing. It did not change his mind in the least, but it did shut him up that particular night. It is exhausting trying to keep up with these diehards/blowhards. They just won't listen to truth or reason.

[NCarolinawoman]

18. Tell this guy that Carl Rove had Bush buy a pig farm,

called it a ranch, and they have all the reporters stand in front of the former pig farmer's place so Bush will look like one of the "good old boys". Bush's "real house" on the pig farm is behind the scenes and a lot more impressive. Then end up by saying that Bush is so afraid of horses that he won't even allow one to grace his pig/farm fake ranch.

This will at least give your Republican relative some negative images to think about: Bush=fake poor-boy/cowboy.

[BlacknBlue in Red NC]

4. Just another example of Republican spin

used to their advantage.

[Maat]

5. Good points. I agree.

And I'm proudly a member of the Michael-Moore/Cindy-Sheehan wing of the Democratic Party.

I always get the feeling that they are trying to say that I'm part of the Democratic wing of the Democratic party, or a Progressive Democrat ... and they are correct.

I stand proud.

[tularetom]

6. Where do I sign up?

[AntiCoup2K4]

7. Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan or Al From & Marshall Wittman?

Damn, there's a tough choice........ NOT.

Count me among the real Democrats. And proud of it.

[PassingFair]

19. Proudly rubbing shoulders with you, AntiCoup2K4!

It's a sorry, but perhaps not unusual state of affairs when truth-telling is beyond the pale.

:puke:

[NativeTexan]

8. Bush isn't just out of step....

....I am starting to believe, literally, that he may be out of his mind. But I digress.

That family's connection to the Saudi Royal Family, the Wealthy Elite, every oil cartel on the face of the earth, the Carlyle Group, etc., makes them so far out of the mainstream, that I have never been able to see just exactly WHY so many poorer REPUBLICANS trust them!!

Michael Moore came from the same kind of place that the last REAL President of the United States, Bill Clinton, came from. Poor, salt of the earth, seeing the world thru eyes that only living in and near poverty can allow you to see.....they are like many of US. They KNOW what it is to really hurt. Not the kind of hurt that you get when you fall off of a couch drunk out of your mind in the White House family quarters....but REAL pain.

[HughBeaumont]

9. They're normal, but the problem is, they're not Republican.

They don't genuflect lockstep to Der Fuhrer and his band of merry Reichmarshalls; ergo, they're branded loony-leftist moonbat kooks.

It's like "Michael Moore! Cindy SHEEEhan! The GALL of these people, standing up against the second greatest president this nation has ever had the privilege to be governed by (next to Ronald Wilson Reagan, of course)! Don't they understand about FREEDOM? FREE MARKETS? TAX CUTS?? Look at all of the JOBS we've created!! LOOK at the tremendous unemployment rate! More Americans are working NOW than ever beFORE! Victory against those Godless terrorist Iraqis who attacked us on September The Eleventh (TM) will arrive any DAY now!! How DARE they denigrate the service of our fine young fighting men and women! Freedom's not FREE you know. Can't make an omlette unless you break a few eggs!!"

This line of thinking, much thanks to the work of the propaganda-laden conservimedia, is why it's always bad, bad, BAD to be even slightly left, but being as far to the right as possible without donning a bedsheet costume is a GOOD thing.

[Canuckistanian]

10. That's why you never hear about the "X" wing of the Republican party

The whole party is out there an the extreme fringes of the right.

[xultar]

11. Michael Moore supported CLARK for PRESIDENT!!!

[Clark2008]

14. Yes he certainly did.

In fact, he was one of the first to mention that Clark should be THE candidate.

[AZBlue]

26. I knew MM was a good man!

Didn't know that about him - thanks for the info!!

[hughee99]

12. Not to nit pick...

But when was Poppy a senator? Other than that, well said.

[Bridget Burke]

25. Bush the Smarter did run for the Senate. He lost. Twice.

That was after he served two terms in the House of Representatives.

Then he was appointed to a series of high-level positions: Ambassador to the United Nations, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Chief of the U. S. Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gb41.html

He ran for the Presidential Nomination. And lost. But he got to be Reagan's Vice President. Then he was elected President. Once. (Thanks to family friend John Hinkley, he almost beceame President sooner.)

So--Bush actually won 3 elections in his life--plus 2 as VP.

[hughee99]

27. I remember that he ran and lost a few times...

That's why I was confused when the OP said that he was a Senator and President.

[Jamison]

13. It's all a big RW smear campaign.

The RW'ers want everyone to think that patriots like Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan are extreme leftist nut jobs who aren't like "you and me."

[AtomicKitten]

17. and thus not to be taken seriously.

It's an institutionalized attempt to marginalize the truth-tellers.

[adigal]

36. Hannity says this ALL of the time

things like, "Chuck Schumer, who is from the left wing, Michael Moore/Cindy Sheehan wing of the democratic party..." like it is some disgrace.

On the other hand, my repub friend told me the other night that he would NEVER, EVER watch Fahrenheit 9/11: why would I watch that guy, he asked. I don't believe a thing he says, he added, while listening to Michael Savage like the good Catholic he is. (I am Catholic, just a liberal one, not a wingnut one, like he is.) I asked him if his beliefs were so weak he couldn't bear to listen to a different perspective, and he walked away.

[Peace Patriot]

16. The "Michael Moore/Cindy Sheehan wing of the Democratic Party" consists

of the great majority of Americans, 58% of whom opposed the Iraq war in Feb. 2003, BEFORE the invasion (didn't trust the Bush Cartel even then), 63% of whom oppose torture "under any circumstances" (May 2004), and the great majority of whom in fact oppose every major Bush policy, foreign and domestic, way up in the 60% to 70% range.

It has been the rather amazing achievement of the war profiteering corporate news monopolies that it has convinced many of the members of this great progressive American majority that they are in the minority, and has been successful in making them feel isolated and alone. They do this by giving minority rightwing views a big trumpet, way out of proportion to their numbers. They also do it by direct and pointed falsehood and malfeasance, such as their doctoring of their own exit polls on everybody's TV screens, late on election day 2004, to make the exit polls (Kerry won) "fit" the results of the Bushite-controlled electronic voting "trade secret," proprietary programming code (Bush won)--thus depriving the American people of major evidence of election fraud (the real exit poll numbers).

But, as we gather strength, exchange information, and get organized to restore democracy in this country, they will end up losing everything, these liars and warmongers. My break with them came a few days after the election--with the help of people like Jonathan Simon, Steven Freeman and DU's TruthIsAll--when I finally realized what they had done to the exit polls--that the numbers they gave us were false. I have ceased believing anything the news monopolies have to say. They have broken faith with me, big time. And I imagine many others have had similar epiphanies at different points, perhaps on different issues. That was mine. If we can't trust them to monitor our elections, and to give us correct numbers, what can we trust them on? Nothing!

Jerks.

So let them prattle on, with their diabolical illusion-creation, and their White House-dictated "talking points." We're on to them! And when we restore our right to vote--county by county, state by state, throwing their infernal election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor'--they will have hell to pay for use of our public airwaves, and for their news monopolies, when they see what proper regulation, conducted by an empowered and re-enfranchised democratic citizenry, looks like!

[radio4progressives]

28. How will anyone know about the new Boston Tea Party if it isn't covered

in the "news"..

that's the wall i keep running up against, but we have to climb over.

[Lefty48197]

33. Proud member of the Moore-Sheehan wing checking in

.

[Strawman]

20. Yeah that's a real friggin' head scratcher isn't it?

Restrictive regsitration laws and other tricks help, but it's not just denial of the vote that keeps them in power. Take a look around. There are a lot of dumbasses out there. About half the people in the country (or at least the ones that bother to vote) vote for them and believe that bullshit. It shouldn't even be close, even with the current electorate.

[zulchzulu]

21. Moore and Sheehan are modern American heros

Sure they have some faults. But they both have taken a stand against the stream of lies. My hat tips to both of them with solemn tears and I hope they live long lives to see change in this country.

[radio4progressives]

30. There are a score of du members who join the Repukes in this

cacophony of Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan bashing, especially if their favorite 'prezidenchul cannon-date' is HRC. They contuniously repeat the portrayal of themselves (and their heros)as "moderate", simply by saying this is where the political "center" is, (it's where they say it is) as if that's all the proof needed to qualify that assertion, and of course, that's where "most Americans" fall and any one Left of this so called point of "center" (index finger in the air)is of course framed as "far left" and "left fringe".

Not once when asked directly, have any these shills, EVER (Not Ever) DEFINED those labels in terms of actual positions on policy matters or even issues in general. Every single time I've asked for a simple clarification, that request goes ignored. These people should be exposed for who and what they are and spanked good and hard with every single one of these types of postings, at every turn imo.

This action together with a broad understanding that serious activism around the media need to be undertaken with sharp focus and relentless vigor.

Because the fact is, hardly a week has gone by these past five years, where it has been revealed in the print media that the president and the vice president has committed a impeachable acts, but because the Corporate Broadcast Media never amplifies these events, the general public does not hear about it except recently..

And even when serious impeachable offenses are being covered in the broadcast and cable media, the countering rhetoric is given much more amplification, (take the domestic spying for instance)lending credibility to the lies that are allowed to be repeated without question or correction, and let by as if they were facts, making it less and less clear to the general public what the hell is actually going on.

we've seen this every day for the past five years.

But I've gotta say, that it's pretty damn strange to come to this board and find one media hyped canard after media hyped canard repeated in discussions from time to time on this board. I've seen staunch defense of the WMDs in Iraq canard to other urban myths with absolutely no berth given to the actual facts, i.e. Nader cost Gore the 2000 election etc. (NYT press reported in December of 2001, that Gore actually won both the Electoral Election and Popular vote.)

End Rant... ;)

[Douglas Carpenter]

22. marginalizing progressives is some peoples full-time job

[eridani]

23. Where are the Repubs who insist that all Repub politicians--

--must work hard to dissociate themselves from the likes of Coulter and Limbaugh? Why then should Dems dissociate themselves from Sheehan and Moore, who are much more "normal" than the typical whackjob screamer?

[obreaslan]

24. I'd take them over the Pat Roberts/Jack Abramoff wing of the Repuke party.

eom.

[Terran1212]

29. The Martin Luther King Jr/Daniel Ellsberg Wing ...

[radio4progressives]

31. yes Indeed!

[Lefty48197]

32. They just can't help but slander their opponents

What kind of demented human would refuse to listen to their critics. How ill must they be to immediately shift into "slander mode" as soon as they are criticized?

[catmother]

34. wait a minute. wasn't daddy bush director of the CIA? n/t