There is about to be a turning, but I fear we don't have the stomach for it.

[WingDinger]

The teabaggers have set about inventing words, or changing definitions. Rupert got caught red-handed as a criminal thug. The repubs have not one leader, just whiners. The teafeaks cant get a crowd anymore. The economy is about to kill many. Food insecurity, both nationally, and individually is growing. Repubs are in a civil war.

And yet, few Dems show any oomph. We should be positioning for a win, and instead, we talk of burying our heads. Fuck this dragging ass. If we pull together, we have the demographics. We have the sanity. The ideas. The answer to WWJD. Why are we so pathetic? Obama is not the problem. It is our fat ass satisfaction with less. To contemplate risking life and limb to protest seems unimaginable.

Worse, we are too timid to bring the fight to them. Dumbasses spew in public, and we demur. Keep our cool.

We don't deserve a movement. we are not worthy. Best we suck up the concern troll chow.

I am ashamed of Dems. And I will continue to be so till we stop singin, and start swingin'.

[madmax]

1. "Kumbayah" n/t

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. No one has to risk life or limb.... just go to the polls.

If the electorate of '08 had voted in '10, there is no problem. House is still Speaker Pelosi's. Reid has a reduced majority, but he never really had 60 votes on anything substantive, so no change there.

[WingDinger]

3. In addition to voting, we must SHOVE our leaders. In fact, this is exactly what Obama asked for.

[Missy Vixen]

6. Do you believe there isn't SHOVING going on already?

There's only so many times in a day the average person can call, write, FAX, e-mail, beg and plead for the President to actually do the right thing. He ignores the results of those phone calls, etcetera, at will. What's more, he's blaming those who actually spoke up!

[WingDinger]

9. More like coodie touching. Our leaders should be flat on their cans.

Shock, fear and double stepping to get out front of our parade should be their only option.

[Missy Vixen]

11. How do you expect that to happen?

How many marches over the past 10 years were ignored or marginalized by media, for instance?

I'd also like to know how you propose to knock them "flat on their cans" when the average Congressperson is so well-insulated they don't have to respond to their constituency. Imagine how many people have called the White House, too.

Those who speak up are not the problem. The problem is those who WON'T LISTEN, and that trickles down from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Anyone who doesn't think so hasn't ever met reality.

[WingDinger]

14. Then how do you explain Obama begging us to shove him left?

Oh, and we should not seem so safe. Although I have gotten threads closed for this, we must seem a credible and hostile threat.

[Missy Vixen]

45. There is no "shoving him left"

He has NO intention of budging from his view of how things will proceed. He's shown that plainly over the past two years.

As far as being a "credible and hostile threat" to electeds, they're now doing stuff like utilizing police and private security to make sure they don't have to encounter the little people at formerly public events like town halls. Ninety-nine percent of them made it clear they're not in office to aid their constituents. It's all about feathering their ne$t$.

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Here is how

FORM a parallel organization to the Democratic Party... and RUN people to the left of them in primaries. YES Primary every dang democrat, from inside the democratic party... take it over.

Strikes.

There are ways to do this, but I fear people are so dispirited people will not do it.

People are waiting for SOMEBODY else to do it... that's the truth.

Me... I know I will look into option one, and very soon. Won't be cheap... but yes, I am willing to primary my Democratic rep.

[WingDinger]

47. That sounds EXACTLY like the Tea Party. Yes, we need unprofessional

organizations that can show rage. Without the nanny judgement of same. They dont need to run candidates though.

[jwirr]

25. I used a new method of protest today - I unsubscribed from his email

site. If enough of us did that he might just get the message.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. I did that over a year ago

I even sent all the Obama stuff back to the WH... he got a mug and a T-Shirt back... hope they enjoyed it.

[jwirr]

38. Good. If enough of us do it they will realize that their numbers are

dropping if nothing else. I hadn't been reading them anyhow since I have had a hard time trusting him. He talks a great line and I do not want to get sucked in.

[Big Blue Marble]

4. The polls really do not seem to be working anymore.

Voting is sort of like beating a dead horse. You get to feel like you are doing something. But the damn thing
just keeps laying there.

Your premise is wrong. After the 08 cycle, the Dems held Congress and the Whitehouse with solid majorities,
yet the Republicans controlled the agenda. They blocked meaningful health care reform, pushed through
the renewed the Bush tax cuts for the rich, and limited the stimulus. They did this with the help of
the Blue Dogs. The Blue Dogs were the reason we held majorities in the first place. They would
never agree to the liberal policies needed to move this country forward. They are DINOs afterall.

After all these wins, the Republicans came at the Dems with a vengeance and beat them to a pulp.

it is a myth, that it is our fault. Do not blame the victims of these crimes. For God's sake,
blame the criminals.

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. Your solid Democratic majority...

...in the Senate was an illusion.

Go find a good whip count for the public option. That's the extent of the Democratic majority in the Senate -- 35, 38 votes.

There are three parties in the Senate, the Democrats who are Democrats, the Democrats who are Republicans, and the Republicans who are Republicans.

The last two command a majority -- the fact that they have different labels notwithstanding.

[Big Blue Marble]

15. I think we are saying the same thing.

At this time, it is impossible to vote in a majority that would support liberal polices, period.

Until the electorate wises up and demands campaign financing (and that is hard to imagine with
the full court press propaganda machine,) we are stuck with the entrenched makeup of representation, you describe.

[Davis_X_Machina]

23. Because liberals aren't a majority anywhere bigger than a handkerchief...

...in this country. Tops 25-35 Senate seats, maybe 80-90 reps. Six or seven state houses.

It's coalition government, or government by the other fellows altogether.

[jwirr]

27. Okay I hear what you are saying and I kind of agree - in the past I

have lived in two blue dog states (Iowa and Nebraska). I do not see them changing any time soon unless we end up in a second Great Depression. So what do we do when we truly are a minority to at least save things like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? I think those three issues are supported by true Democrats and most Blue Dogs and even some rethugs if they were honest. How do we go about getting anything done in a broken government?

[Big Blue Marble]

28. Again, I agree with you.

We do have a de facto coalition government. I suspect we always have.
The problem for the people of this country is, the center and the right are
joined in representing business interests at our expense.

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. Remove labels and ask Americans what they want

it reveals a left of center country. Add the labels back in and the same people vote against their self interests... propaganda works,

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. I got a thread locked yesterday for

pointing this out.

[Doctor_J]

5. This is absurd fantasy

First of all, thousands of voters are having their right to vote taken away every day in WI, NJ, PA, FL, ME, and the Justice Department isn't doing anything.

Second, the tiny teabagger minority has accomplished more than the huge Dem majorities did in 2009-2011. Reid should have invoked the nuclear option but was too cowardly.

3rd, speaking of cowards, the current resident of the WH can't backpedal fast enough whenever the other side says, "Boo!". and this started BEFORE the 2010 elections, not after.

4th, Since 2008 Citizens United has been blessed by the crooked court, making voting next to useless.

Finally, the reason the electorate of 2008 didn't vote again in 2010 was because the "hope" that we'd flocked to the polls for in 2008 turned out to be an appeasing DINO who was closer in ideology to Boner than to the usual Dem core. And he's done almost nothing over the last 8 months to rally the 2008 troops.

[Davis_X_Machina]

8. They're having their rights taken away by majority votes of their own state legislatures

Unless there's a violation of the Voting Act, the Justice Department cannot intervene just because state legislatures enact legislation that you, or for that matter, they don't like.

[Doctor_J]

17. Losing an election does not mean you forfeit all of your constitutional rights

You can blame the victims all you want, the Republican Party is still a criminal organization that needs to be wiped out just like the Capone mob was 80 years ago. And just because this particular corrupt supreme Court says something is constitutional doesn't mean it is.

Edit: Losing an election also doesn't mean that your political opponents can burn your HQ down with impunity, but that's what's happened in WI

and you skipped the other 3.

[Davis_X_Machina]

21. Isolate the constitutional violation...

...in the various pieces of legislation, and we've got something to discuss.

Till then, it's more "DUnconstitional", in other words "I don't like it".

[sabrina 1]

10. The electorate DID go to the polls in 2010 and kept good Democrats

in office who deserved to remain.

Those who betrayed them, lost. The tactic of voting for anyone with a 'D' after their name will never work again. So it's best to drop it.

What is needed is a strong Progressive Congress that is not beholden to Wall St. Voting for bought-and-paid-for Corporate Tools has done ZERO for Democrats.

The Dem Leadership better learn from what happened in 2010 and refrain from trying to sell more of the DLC/Blue Dog betrayers of Democratic Principles to their base. We know better now. Those days are over.

We saw where having a majority by voting for just anyone with a D after their name got us. And we also saw how the leadership refused to back real Progressive Democrats, preferring to lose a seat rather than allow a true Democrat to win.

Now that we know, we know where to put our energy and who to go to the polls for. No more voting 'against' as that strategy has been a major failure for Democrats and the American people.

[Davis_X_Machina]

12. We saw where having a majority by voting for just anyone with a D after their name got us

Yep. My kid's covered on my insurance till he's 26, while he looks for work, and if he has to buy it non-group, he can't be refused coverage because he had asthma in middle school.

He and my daughter, benefit from income-based repayment schedules for their tuition loans; her loans cheaper and easier to get because the schools, not the banks, are handling their origination.

That's what having a majority by voting for just anyone with a D after their name got me.

[sabrina 1]

20. Well I'm very glad that two people have benefited from Dinos

in Congress. Truly, I am.

However I can list for you millions who have not and are about to lose the little they already have. Not to mention the millions who have already lost their homes, their jobs and have little hope at this time. I actually know a few of them personally.

I also know that Americans are still dying for lack of HC, 44,000 of them a year. That is and was a national security emergency which required an emergency response. Instead we got a bill that funnels even more our public funds set aside for the poorest Americans, through the Private Health Insurance Ind. That saved THEM from collapse as they were teetering on the brink of, thankfully, but it takes 20% of money previously spent on the healthcare of the poor and pours it into the accounts of the health profiteers.

So, again, what we need are real Democrats in Congress who actually care about their constituents more than they care about about the bottom lines of Corporate America and this is why I believe this next election will be very different than the last several elections.

[Davis_X_Machina]

24. I look forward to contributing to your campaign.

[sabrina 1]

29. Wait, all citizens who do their duty by speaking out when they

disagree with bad Government policies must run for public office before they will be listened to now? Over two million candidates? Is that in the Constitution somewhere? Or is it that, as I suspect as you can always tell think tank 'strategy' after seeing it repeated over and over again, the memo for the Third Wayers has been sent out.

I imagine their latest strategy to shut down citizens who disagree with them will work as well as all the other boring, jaded tactics they've used over the past few years. Maybe addressing the problems would be a more worthwhile tactic, than using Third Way think tank 'strategy' to shut down citizens' voices.

I must say though, this is probably one of the least intelligent 'talking points'. Maybe their funds are drying up? I sure hope so as their policies have brought this country to its knees so far.

[Davis_X_Machina]

30. You're articulate, and engaged, and fired up. Don't waste it here.

[sabrina 1]

43. Lol, yet another tactic. Do you feel like discussing substance at all?

Tactic #11 on the list of 'shut down criticism' ~ deliberately make false claim that commenter does nothing other than post on the Internet. Force them to divert their attention away from the substance of the criticism to defending themselves'.

Mmm, I'll say this, they must have spent more money on the new tactics. Either that or they should pay YOU to write them. Yours a lot more creative.

Meantime from this little diversion, I have learned that you are afraid to discuss the issues brought up by those who are opposed to the policies of this president.

And while you nicely side-stepped that discussion, you actually confirmed that they cannot be defended.

A better tactic always is, supporting good policies which are easily defended and which generate support, negating the need to spend money on 'tactics' which could be spent electing real progressive democrats.

Your lack of defense of these policies spoke volumes. But I did like the creativity of your tactics. 'So you want Ponies or Palin' etc. lacked creativity especially after so much use.

[DearAbby]

13. +1

[jwirr]

31. The Blue Dogs must be dealt with in caucuses and primaries

because if we wait until the general election many will be replaced by rethugs and we lose control of the committees and any hope of saving the SCOTUS. This is not an easy thing to do because many of those Blue Dogs come from conservative states who do not want a more progressive representative. i.e. Iowa and Nebraska.

[Davis_X_Machina]

34. There are 26 of them left in the House....

...so as of today they're 50% smaller than the CBC, and less than a third the size of the House Progressive Caucus.

They were cut in half in the last election. People were voting for real Republicans, their temporary satisfaction with fake Republicans having ended.

[jwirr]

39. LOL

[thelordofhell]

46. So according to your logic......Alan Grayson was a bad Democrat

try again

[Beam Me Up]

16. "You will have no sensation of a leash around your neck if you sit by the peg.

... It is only when you stray that you feel the restraining tug." -- Michael Parenti

[Doctor_J]

18. Thanks for that Parenti quote

I have repeatedly e-mailed hartmann asking him to replace one of his many loony right-wing regulars with Michael, to no avail.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. "And yet, few Dems show any oomph."

[damntexdem]

22. That turning you feel IS your stomach.

And that's what all good Democratic stomachs should be doing -- especially at the 'look at all the good sides of the deal' crowd. That really turns my stomach.

[WCGreen]

26. Battered spouse syndrome...

The right has so pummeled the "professional" left for years while attacking the lefts' safety zones, Unions and Minorities, by making each at once irrelevant to the national discussion or co opting them by the false promise of that rising tides lift all boats bull shit that the left has nowhere to go without facing questions about their relevance.

The media doesn't help either because of decades of charges that they are radicals and left when all they were really doing was pointing out the excesses in our society. Now, questioning the status quo will get you branded as a radical, soft on our enemies or worse, my favorite, a pointy headed intellectual. And what self-absorbed stud muffin of a desk jockey wants to be considered as such.

At one time, when most every town of size had at least two newspapers, they did line up as either supporting te democrats or republicans. But now that all news comes from the tube, there is only right wing news perhaps balance by an occasional feint to the center.

[county worker]

37. Obama is the problem. Just look how people reacted when they thought there was going to be

real change and hope. You need a leader. Someone up front. We don't have that anymore. What we have is to vote for Obama because at least he is not far right. That's all. There is no more hope in a progressive movement. There is no one on the radar screen right now that people can support.

Those in Wisconsin are the heroes today because they have a cause.

How many years have we asked for a labor bill? Labor is not even on the radar screen anymore. Those who gave up looking are forgotten.
Unless there is a new party with a real progressive leader there will be apathy from now on.

[Davis_X_Machina]

40. Those in Wisconsin are the heroes today because they have a cause.

But, strangely enough, they don't have a leader.

Proving that without a leader, you can't accomplish anything.

Wait a minute...

[county worker]

42. They have a leader or leaders, the Dems in the Senate

[Fire1]

41. This is class warfare. Plain and simple. Cuts in benefits

(entitlements) and this austerity plan might be the best thing that ever happens to this party. Maybe when we can no longer deduct the interest on our mortgages and forced into destitution we will wake the fuck up! If we just stopped "buying" shit, other than food and gas there's a good chance we might be taken seriously. But THAT will never happen, so it will take extreme measures and a threat to their very existence to get people off of their asses.

[XemaSab]

44. There isn't a single sport in the world

that you can win by being afraid to hit hard.

Football, baseball, gymnastics, diving... all of them take fearlessness to win.

Yes, you can get hurt by hitting hard, but if you retreat, bunt, wobble, or just curl into a ball you not only continue to risk getting hurt, but you're never going to win.