*sigh* You only need to know one thing

[CornField]

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

That statement is probably more true today than it was when Eleanor first said it. So, hang with me for a moment...

DU -- we spend a great deal of time discussing Bush, Rove, Cheney, et al. It's time we moved above the flap and really began a serious and healthy discussion of ideas. (When you really think about it, these men aren't important at all. They are only the current figureheads of an ignorant and self-depreciating movement. I don't know about the rest of you, but I could care less about the men, it is the movement which concerns me.)

For instance, it isn't unusual for there to be threads of impending doom (another attack on our soil, for instance). Instead of launching into a debate on who was responsible for 9-11, why can't we come together to form a plan of action if there is another attack? While discussions on the official story have their place (and I do believe they do) the topic at hand is what can we do as liberals/democrats/progressives in the face of another attack?

What would have happened to the "no one could have imagined a terrorist using a commercial airplane as a weapon" argument if we (or anyone) had been able to blast everything we know now to the media immediately after it was uttered? What can we, as humanitarians, do to help our fellow citizens who are suffering? What can we, as political activists, do to help all of America understand that we cannot survive in a state of constant fear and looking over our shoulders? What can we, as people of tolerance, do to help the religious among us understand that any call to hate will not be allowed in our society?

The Nameless -- Please go back to the top and read again.... Okay, what do such sites bring to the idea table? That's right. They bring NOTHING. Why should we take time to perpetrate their hate? Whenever they are mentioned it only adds credencee to their lowly existence. Let's face it, folks. They aren't part of the solution and, therefore, should be of no more concern to us than a cloud temporarily blocking the sunshine.

The small-minded will come and they will go. They will venture into our midst and attempt to disrupt us as we plan for the future of America. It's true. They will discuss us as individuals in order to puff up their own chests in false bravado. Shoo them away as the flies they are and hang a few strips from the ceiling for good measure.

Although I've posted this before, it bears one more view: The Democratic Party isn't weak because we would rather try every other peaceful avenue before going to war. We aren't weak because we believe that ALL life - not just American life - is precious and should be protected and cherished. We aren't weak because we want to make sure that every American citizen has adequate healthcare, living wages and food to eat each night. We aren't weak because we refuse to favor one gender, one religion or one race over another. Our weakness doesn't arise from our platform or from our Democratic ideals. Our weakness boils down to politicians who are unwilling to make a stand based on those ideals.

Our Democratic ideals are important. Let's spend more time discussing those and leave the personal attacks to the small-minded who have nothing else of substance to discuss.

[applegrove]

1. I love that!

[rodeodance]

2. Eleanor' s quote brings to mind this:

Probably exactly the opposite of response you want but the title hit me.
And you are tight--too too emphasis on 'discussing' this little man.

This was posted in Editorals section:

Wed Feb-08-06 01:14 AM
Original message
Garrison Keillor: The Little Man


History will remember Bush as an incompetent and incurious man overwhelmed by a world too big for him.

Feb. 08, 2006 | The headline of the AP story was "Bush Urges Confidence in His Leadership" -- which is like "Author Says Memoir Is True" or "FEMA Offers Contingency Plan" -- and I didn't bother to read further. The Old Brush Cutter never got the knack of urging, and whenever he tries, he looks small and petulant, like a cartoon of himself. He photographs well in formal situations, and he is good at keeping a low profile when necessary, which is a key to survival in politics, as in boxing, but when it comes to the hortatory, he gets all hissy and squinty.

As a preacher, he is not in the top 50 percentile, and if his name were J. Ralph Cooter he would be hard put to find work in any of the persuasive professions. But there he is, giving the State of the Union, more or less in charge of the shop, or on a first-name basis with those who are, and so long as he refrains from perjury and tax increases and doesn't wear a dress to the Easter Egg Roll, he will probably slide along OK.
(snip)

Republicans believe in smaller government and deregulation, but it takes more and more of their friends and loved ones to not regulate us, and who can blame them? Washington is the perfect place for the slacker child who flubbed his way through college and flopped in business and whom friends and family kept having to prop up -- find him a government job. Government service is a broadening experience. It certainly has been for Mr. Bush. He has traveled to China and Europe and other places that never interested him before. He has come into contact with the poor people of New Orleans in a way that never would have occurred to him in his earlier years. He has met opera singers and jazz musicians and journalists. This is all good.

And he has met the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and visited with young people horribly wounded in the war, which would be a soul-searing experience for any commander. To see a beautiful young woman who must now live without an arm as a direct result of decisions you made -- who could see this and not scour the depths of your conscience?

(snip)

So why does he still seem so small, our president? In his presidential library, he'll be portrayed as Abraham Lincoln after Chancellorsville and FDR after Corregidor, but to most of us, the crisis in Washington today stems from a man intellectually and temperamentally unequipped to rise to the challenge. Most of us sense that when, decades from now, the story of this administration comes out, it will be one of ordinary incompetence, of rigid and incurious people overwhelmed by events in a world they don't dare look around and see.

more…
http://salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/02/08/keillor/

[wicket]

4. Garrison Keillor rocks!!!

:kick:

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. He sure does

[PATRICK]

5. too too kind

doesn't care about his inabilities to rise to the challenge because he can sink to the opportunity like a carrion bird on a wounded man.

Sometimes even a critical assessment of Bush is too sentimentally flattering. Why bother knowing your limitations so long as they don't matter in obtaining what you simply want? And it never ever is in terms of others or society but in the "me". And if the "me" gets to the top and gets what he wants and gets suddenly overwhelmed by catastrophe, you can bet that catastrophe can only be some better people getting fed up and tossing him out on his ear. You say challenge or competence, he says entitlement, an opportunity with impunity. Engaging the suckers in the challenge is what it's all about and the "idiot" laughs all the way to your bank account.

[CornField]

7. Not exactly what I had in mind. eom

[bryant69]

3. I agree with some of this and disagree with other bits of it

I do think we need to pay attention to the arguments and rhetoric of those we disagree with, in order to counter it. That goes all the way from President Bush down to the morons on Free Republic.

That said, I do agree that there are too many posts of "Look at how dumb those guys are" and not enough self examination of if they are so dumb how come they are in the white house and the congress?

Bryant
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