When progressives turn out in mass

[edhopper]

With true grass root protests, hundreds of thousand strong, come out to stop a stupid war, the media yawns and treats them like kooks.
When a few orchestrated astroturf kooks turn out to disrupt a very real and dire need for health care reform, the media treats them as the lead in the debate and voice of the American people.

We are so f@#ked.

[rainy]

1. you are so right and it is making me crazy. I can't stand the double standard.

It is so outrageous to me right now. How can the American people be so STUPID........... It is so sickening.

[SoFlaJet]

2. Have faith Ed

Health Care Reform IS getting done-it may not be exactly what we all wanted-yet, but they'll tweak it as time goes on. Limit what you're watching and listening to these days-it's better for your mental health.

[edhopper]

6. health care reform

without a robust public option at a minimum, is no reform at all.

[scentopine]

3. You have perfectly captured the problem and weakness of democratic

leadership. We don't fight for what is right. Our democratic leaders have turned their backs on the rank and file and sold us out to big banks, big pharma and big insurance and extra big "free market" voodoo.

We handed Obama the mandate and weapons for change and he is using them to keep us under control. Republicans still control the debate and, in turn, all three branches of government. Rahm Emanuel is incapable of advancing progressive policy.

Our leadership should be fired. They are worthless windbags. What the hell is "bi-partisanshiop"? When republicans re-gain control, and they will because democrats continue to be rightly perceived as politically weak as they don't stand up to their principals, they will wipe out the superficial changes being made by our president and congress.

Neville Chamberlain is in the white house carving up health care (and our treasury) for peace in our time with enemies of good public policy. This administration and congress is starting to stink like dead fish. You are correct and we are indeed, so completely utterly, totally fked.

[Orsino]

4. The quietest war has usually been the one being waged on us, here at home.

The real revolution won't be televised.

[Echo In Light]

5. One problem is non-rightists tend to downplay the serious damage a strong, minority right-wing does

I've encountered that sentiment time after time: oh, don't worry about it ... they're a small, fringe group of zealots. Rational, sane people have nothing to worry about b/c our systems of checks and balance will prevent them from getting much mileage.

After the last horrific decade, the real question is what systems of C & B? The Right ALWAYS gets their way as 'their' way strongly intertwines w/the aims of nationalism/empire.

[Johonny]

7. I was thinking the same thing this morning

Some boring clod called Stephenie Miller and I was thing about why progressive radio hosts love having RW callers. Even though all his talking points were old, boring and pointless he still get's on the air. I'm so tired of the stupid controlling the debate. And it came to my mind the Iraq war. Here was a case where the vast majority of Americans agreed with the left. The left mobilized and protested. The result was total ignoring of them by the media. This wasn't a fringe group, the vast majority of Americans agreeing with them. Yet a small minority of the angry stupid controlled the prewar debate in this country.

Now with this Health Care reform the vast majority want change. Yet the same small minority that was so wrong on every subject for 8 years, is controlling the story again. The big difference being their the protesters this time. Result their protests get coverage. The worse blow is these protesters after making fools of themselves on national TV get invited to have MORE air time. How often have you see a Code Pink or PETA disruptor invited back to the studio for even more air time. The whole thing is disgusting.

The whole thing sort of reminds me of Nixon. There is a whole silent majority out there. They do go to work, pay their taxes, obey the law etc. They are so sick of the one sided pointless "debate" in this country. The division in this country isn't coming from the left, it's coming from the complete ignoring of the left, middle and even conservative Americans at the expense of almost total air time to a few corporate lead know nothings. It's become boring. I'm tired of having to "debate" the stupid. They generate distraction that's only purpose is to prevent positive change in peoples lives in order to keep the current profit of a few people. It's all very boring.

[Hamartia]

8. Nature's intent for omnivores...

I believe that nature intended for all omnivores to consume meat whenever available. Hence the label of omnivore. If you do not believe that humans are omnivores, name one completely herbivorous creature in the wild that has canine dental structures as people do. If there is a prey animal available to an omnivore they will eat it over the consumption of vegetation. The reason for this is logical and scientific. Prey animals typically contain more fat and water than vegetation, and in the wild omnivores first consume the digestive system of their commonly herbivorous prey in order to obtain the nutrients from which vegetation is their primary source. A beast in the wild can go much longer without many essential nutrients than it can without fat and water. Enough with the science. PETA members should know that given the choice between starving to death or killing and eating you, your cuddly little fuzzy wuzzies will always choose killing and eating you. Now this is not because your cuddly little fuzzy wuzzies are evil or even mean but rather because they value their life over yours. This is, say it with me, completely natural. PETA members should also know that given the choice between letting a single human die and personally clubbing 100 baby seals to death, I would not hesitate in bashing the brains out of 100 seal pups. This is not because I hate animals or am a sicko sadist, but rather because I value human life over animal life in every instance. I have several pets and love them all but I would rather all of them die than one human suffer at my behest, regardless of how much I like or dislike the person. Call me crazy but i think people are more important than critters.

[Johonny]

9. Thanks for sharing

you really seem to care, about I have no idea. I'm not even a member of PETA. So you can see how uninterested I am in your view of the fate of it's members. Technically omnivore doesn't mean eat meat whenever possible, it simply means feeding on both animal and vegetable substances. Thanks for giving a perfect example of protesting nothing in order to avoid real life issues.

[LostInAnomie]

10. Because we don't do it right.

No one gives a fuck about marches anymore. A bunch of people carrying signs doesn't make good TV. The media loves conflict. That's why they are covering the screamers. They are aggressive and in your face. They put congressmen and senators on the defensive.

That's one of the downsides of all the peaceful protest shit that progressives have accepted as gospel. It's easy to push around and marginalize people without the will to actually fight (and I mean that in every sense of the word) back.

[RagAss]

11. True... a little less MLK and Ghandi...and a little more Malcom X !

[redqueen]

12. Come on... you're acting like the reason for M$M bias is ratings.

It isn't... they're interested in influencing public opinion. Manipulating it, acutally.

[LostInAnomie]

15. So, if the screamers would have made some kind of stupid march...

... or came to town hall meetings with concise and well thought out questions delivered in a calm manner they would receive the same media coverage? No, the media wouldn't give a shit.

That's our problem. For some reason we think that we should receive coverage for disorganized, and poorly executed protests where nothing happens. We've been led to believe that conflict and aggressiveness is something that should be avoided, and we're the weaker for it.

[spanone]

13. think about it. the media owns the microphones and the cameras and the editing machines

[anaxarchos]

14. The Right-Wing Kooks have the support of the Republican Party.

Party officials pander to and fear the fringe. In turn, the fringe is fully integrated into the right-wing-proper of the Rebublicans, who regard them as shock troops. Right wing ideology is dominant and surprisingly inclusive in a very narrow way. Perhaps most importantly, the rivers of cash which float the Party actually reach the fringe... this in addition to the obvious support for the fringe from Republican media and foundations.

The Democratic Party is exactly the opposite. It cannot wait to denounce and lecture its left-wing, let alone its "fringe". It sees itself as a Party of the Center, with all "left" rhetoric playing the role of inconvenient necessity, adopted just before every election and ditched immediately after. The coverage of the town meetings is correct, because 50 Fascisti nut-jobs count for more in the actual political calculus than hundreds of thousands of progressives demonstrating against war (or anything else).

The recurring problem is that the "center" has no ideology, has no "principles" and has no shock troops. It is the spongy middle which holds power only in the absence of something else and fails to do anything with it.

Politics is a contest that has always been fought from the wings. It's just a fact.