Three Crazy Things Democratic Politicians Believe

[yurbud]

How many times, in how many ways, does this have to be said before the fuckwads in ties and hair plugs get it?

You would think now that Bush and the GOP's poll numbers are in the toilet, the Democrats would act like an opposition party. Since they aren't, it's painfully obvious they care more about courting the GOP's corporate donors than they do getting the votes of regular Americans or looking out for our interests.

Cenk Uygur

1. My base is the loony left. The Republican base is the mainstream.

The only thing crazy the Democratic base has done is vote for the spineless representatives they have now. Other than that, they thought it was a bad idea to go into Iraq -- they were 100% right. They thought the Bush administration was lying about Iraq's connection to 9/11 -- they were 100% right...

<snip>

2. If we oppose Bush's ridiculously aggressive foreign policy, we will be seen as weak on defense.

No,

you will be seen as weak on defense because you are seen as weak on everything. Republicans win elections based on the strength of their convictions (right or wrong). Instead of learning the lesson to run on the strength of their convictions, the Democrats learn the lesson to run on the strength of Republican convictions.

Strong on defense does not equal attacking random Middle Eastern countries that did not attack you. The pre-emptive strike doctrine is madness. It is wildly destabilizing, has made us less safe, created more terrorism and has brought us into the quicksand of Iraq. And Democrats still think they can't speak against it because it wouldn't be tough.


For number 3 and the rest:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/three-crazy-things-democr_b_17454.html

[MrSlayer]

1. Dead on.

There have been a whole lot of editorials with this tone lately, as there should be. The question is whether or not they will heed the words. I'm rather doubtful that they will. It's beginning to be painfully obvious that a good bit of our officials are right in with the neo-cons.

[longship]

2. The Young Turks are great.

Everybody who cares about these issues need to tune into the Young Turks. They are on Sirius Left and also streaming live on RadioPower at 6PM EST (3PM PST) weekdays. It's a very cool show.

And, yes, Cenk Uygur is near the top of the heap.

Merhaba, Cenk.

[NMMNG]

3. Right on

This was good for a chuckle: The Republican base believes they are going to get sucked up into the air by the Jesus Hoover vacuum during the Rapture. That they are literally going to be sucked up into the sky! And the liberals are the crazy ones? :rofl:

[mrcheerful]

5. What I don't get about the rapture is that it came out of england in

1898 or somewhere around there. It was an english fundie who came up with the whole concept of the rapture idea. Before that there was no mention of anything like it, almost 2000 years of religious history and it wasn't until 1898 that someone came up with it. Just goes to show how the religious can build a belief out of nothing in less then 100 years. Back when the rapture first started the people that were saying it were looked down on by the same people that swear to it today. Can you say........snow job?

[yurbud]

6. towards the end of the Roman Empire, people believed in the end of

the world.

[NMMNG]

8. Fundies are good at pulling outrageous stuff out of their behinds

and turning it into a major deal that people actually think is real. "War on Christmas" anybody? :eyes:

[yurbud]

7. no shit--ignore us to go after a toothless Klan member afraid of anyone

darker than a paper bag, sure that anyone speaking a foreign language is planning to kill them in their sleep, and thinks that we shouldn't have any "foreign influence" on our laws, forgetting that Moses didn't live in Alabama (at least not the original Moses).

[rpannier]

4. Agreed

Many of us have been saying that for years.

[phantom power]

9. "Amazing fact..."

Amazing fact: Nineteen Democratic Senators who are still in the Senate voted to censure Bill Clinton for receiving oral sex, but those same Senators are now refusing to censure President Bush for breaking a federal law and ignoring Congress.

Democrats: running on the strength of Repubican convictions. Nicely said.

[yurbud]

10. yep--and the conviction is "never offend a potential corporate donor"

[ninkasi]

11. What I don't understand

is WHY our politicians don't understand that we need to actually be the opposing party. There are a few who have the courage to speak out, loudly, and not backtrack as soon as some whiny conservative starts to blubber. Feingold, Conyers, Kennedy, Kerry, Murtha, Boxer, and several others stick to their guns, and don't back down. With such low polling numbers, how can the others be afraid of attacking harmful policies?

Cenk is absolutely right when he says that Americans hesitate to have confidence in Democratic politicians to protect them, when they won't stand up to the conservative smear machine. In addition, in my personal opinion, I would suggest that we stop reacting by trying to out-Republican them. Bush's actions have been illegal, and his words have been lies. He has made us less safe than we were before.

Keeping Americans afraid of terrorism stops them from worrying as much as they should about the outsourcing of jobs, the lack of affordable health care, the terrorism of our infrastructure, and rising poverty rates. I was born during WWII, and remember my mother and grandmother speaking of how what was routine during ordinary life was suspended when we were at war. There were gas rationing, food rationing, and other things that would have been unthinkable before.

This is why Bush keeps Americans afraid of finding a terrorist under every bed and in every closet. Democrats should turn this around, and explain why getting out of Iraq and repairing our relations to other countries is a far better strategy in combating terrorism. Bush's actions have made it worse. A terrorized America is not a strong America. Instead of trying to outdo them on their own issues, we need to prove our strength by standing up to them, and speaking the truth about their failures.