Have We Been Defeated by the Crippled Corpse of the GOP and the Media?

[K Gardner]

I find myself quite sad these past few days and I don’t know why. Like many Democrats, I spent eight years fighting, screaming, dreaming and hoping for the day George Bush and the GOP would be out of power. And though we may have rooted for different candidates in the primaries, the long two-year battle kept me – and I assume many of us – going. From election night to Inauguration, the adrenalin surged. The first 100 days seemed to be filled with brilliance and innovation, despite media and our own party critics, and the elation continued along with the hope for a brighter tomorrow for our country.

And now? I can barely turn on the news. Rarely even watch Olbermann. I am filled with a strange listlessness, pervasive and almost drowning in its intensity. I amble through a silent house without even the motivation to tune into DU, or write, or even dream anymore. I don’t argue with the Freepers at work – just sit silently through the repetitious monologues and insults straight from Beck and Hannity and Rush.

I feel like someone died. It’s that kind of nothingness.

I try to pinpoint when it started and I think it was the Torture. Hearing about it day after day wasn’t so bad when it seemed something was going to be done. FINALLY ! And then it all went askew, didn’t it? The GOP did what they always do and we, the Party in Power, were once again powerless to stop it. Impotent. They’re going to get away with it. Pelosi gave them the distraction, they took the ball and ran with it over the goal line.

Today, I hear that only four Senators voted to close Guantanamo. I began wondering who was being held there. Are they really 250 “terrorists”? I don’t know if we’ll ever know, since the Tribunals are being started up again. If there are innocent men being held there, guilty of nothing but being Muslim, well – it’s a “state of the art facility”, right? And since no photos are being released, what we don’t know won’t hurt us, I suppose. I imagine some people died in Iraq and Afghanistan today, and will tomorrow.

Oh, there’s the credit card thing and the health care thing and DADT – that we seem powerless to control messages on. And to be clear, I am not disappointed in my President. I am weary to the point of apathy at the spineless Democrats in Washington and their inability to act or even speak out with the overwhelming mandate we gave them in November. What can Obama do without support in the legislature? I am sick to death of the media and the fact that they totally get away with framing whatever message they want, irregardless of facts.

I see other posts over the past few days, other people bone-tired and weary. How long before the American people - the millions out of work, without insurance, losing their homes, unable to feed their families – begin to lose the Hope we fought so hard to gain? Can those who voted for Change and yet tune in every day to hear what I am hearing, continue to believe that it will, indeed, come?

Someone tell me – tell all of us – that the GOP, floundering and broken as a party, haven’t managed to cripple us. Because I don’t understand any of this. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day. My apologies for being so.. maudlin .. but I don't have the energy to be angry anymore.

[Triana]

1. The lame$tream media - corprat pwn3d - props up the GOP

So - yea.

[pnwmom]

2. Perhaps many of us here are suffering from a case of Post Election Depression

when we realize that electing Obama wasn't the end of anything, but merely the first step on what will be a very long and rocky hike out of the wilderness we've been lost in for the last eight years.

[K Gardner]

3. PED - I think you have it right. It'd be nice to be able to just leap to the last mile on that

hike, but I don't suppose that is realistic. Still, sometimes instead of playing chess, you'd just like to see someone open up a big can of WHOOP ASS :-)

It'd be good for morale and all that.

[pnwmom]

4. Yes, this game of chess is very stressful. But if anyone can play it,

Obama can.

That's what I keep telling myself.

[Uncle Joe]

13. The problem is I believe the Republicans are playing poker.

Whether they have anything worthy in their hands or not, they love to bluff, because this has been so successful for them.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. That says it all.

Poker is a high stakes game. Players with a lot of chips up front can force out players with better cards who can't afford to see their raise.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Yes and I believe a large pile of Republican chips

consist of owning the corporate media, this is their insurance, they know the corporate media will be more sympathetic to their corporate supremacist cause and I believe too many Democrats are intimidated by those chips.

[emulatorloo]

5. NO - the GOP is having minimal impact, and their approval #'s are going down

Really.

[tridim]

6. I'm still suffering PTSD from the past 8 years

Obama's election was very therapeutic, but I'm still not cured.

The prosecution of BushCo will help.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

7. If Americans do not realize the collusion between the M$M and the GOP

and DLC Corporate Democrats, then there's no hope for this country. My biggest fear is that President Obama will be corrupted by this culture in Washington. I live here and it is mystifying. Everything is done based on the desire for more and more power. If Obama goes along with this and finds that it is virtually impossible to change that culture, then he will have failed. I think he's incredibly naive to believe that he could change things.

[K Gardner]

8. "I live here and it is mystifying." That's a frightening statement.

[redqueen]

11. He never implied that *he* could change things. He said *we* could.

And we can, if we want to.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

30. Not if the corporate powers that be have their way. And the way things are going these days,

looks like we're losing.

[flyarm]

9. No we must keep fighting , but for the right justice..no commissions of white wash..we must fight

for real truth..they count on us being weary and run down..so they can shove another bogus commission on us..it is just what they did to the 9/11 families and a nation too tired to fight the fuckers.

We must fight for a Independent Special prosecutor..

I have seen for days the propagandists pushing for another fucking bogus commission..we can not let that happen..it is the way they cover their own asses! and those of their predecessors..now i see Church Commission being brought up.. but all the church commission did was let these bastards change how they commit their crimes..it never gets rid of the criminals!!..and consequently they come back on us..Cheney anyone?? Rummy anyone?????

We must stay vigilant and hold our own accountable to get real investigations, real prosecutions, and real justice!..For once we must not capitulate.

I did public speaking events in 2004 with Max Cleland, he to vets, me about 9/11, he and i discussed 9/11 and the bogus commission numerous times..he knew damn well, as Did I that that commission was nothing but an icing coated white wash..

Do you want another white wash?? if you do then keep cheering for a commission..do you really want justice..then keep fighting and let your voice be heard..no matter who is propagandizng this bullshit..it is not a matter of either or..it is a matter of truth or no truth..

the choice is all of ours..we can sit back quietly and let people bully you into a commission of bullshit..or you can fight the propagandists ..even here..about a real investigation and real justice..or you can have another damn white wash and cover up of the crimes, we all know have been committed in our names.

People have died trying to get the truth out about these crimes..many people..will we let them down now????????

Or will we stand with our convictions and our values and our principles..or will we sell them out ..and sell out our values??????
Our soldiers died for no damn reason other than damn lies to war..innocent Iraqi's have died for the greed of the MTF'ers who brought us this war of lies...do we let another bogus commission continue the lies?? Or do we really hold people for once accountable?

It is up to all of us..and there are guilty on many sides of this ..we have to really want to stand for truth..or see our nation go down in a ball of fucking fire..because it sure as hell will!

How many commissions have brought about real change or real truth????

I know of none.

Warren commission anyone..now the magic bullet crook..is one of our own..doesn't that warm your cockels????????

This government of ours ..many, many involved committed crimes in our names..who is willing to accept that??

A commission will forever seal that as our legacy!

Keep fighting..don't let anyone bully you out of what you know is right and wrong...I don't give a rats ass who they are.

don't forget this..........

“We'll know our disinformation program is complete when
everything the American public believes is false.”
-- William Casey, CIA Director (from first staff meeting, 1981)

Keep fighting...and remember..we are the government..we as a collective whole can make the changes and demand an independent prosecutor..with enough pressure!

The CIA controls the media ..the Church commission maybe slowed it a bit but held no one in our CIA or those in power accountable.

Look up:

OPERATION MIND CONTROL

PROJECT MONARCH

Project MKULTRA

Project ARTICHOKE

Project Mockingbird

COINTELPRO

[K Gardner]

10. I agree with all of this and admire your passion. This is the game that is played so well

by the other side: Distract, dissemble - and make them feel THEY have won when they get less than they wanted. IOW, if we just get a "commission" we'll feel like we did something.

It's not enough, not this time.

[Locrian]

12. it's not just the GOP + Media

Its GOP + Media + CORPORATIONS / FINANCE.

Follow the money. The people who own this country are the ones that run finance (ie bankers) businesses (ceos, etc). The media is their mouthpiece and the GOP their bitches. And the DEMs are too.

The DEMS **sometimes** want to look out for the people - but they get their $$ form the same sugar daddy. The GOP, hell, it barely pretends to care about the people so it's that much easier.

The media makes it all possible with their constant spewing and twisting.

[OwnedByFerrets]

14. Moreso by the complicit media. And the military industrial complex.

And by those who consider humans as nothing more than fodder to stoke THEIR fires of enrichment.

[grantcart]

17. The people you dislike are counting on you getting discouraged

The President, fortunately, is the most persistent SOB we have seen in a long time but he needs your help.

[FrenchieCat]

18. The is what we were given to work with.....

and the GOP/MEDIA is counting on us either giving up or turning on Obama. That's their bet,
and I'll be damned if they win!

Why do you think the media is sooo concerned with the plight of the Republicans. They have been talking about the Republicans for the last 3 weeks....which is an eternity in the life of politics.

[K Gardner]

26. You know I'd never turn on mah main man, Frenchie :-) I agree with your point, and also Grantcart's

in this thread somewhere ! It just got to me today for some reason. I'll be better tomorrow :hi:

[billyoc]

19. When you concentrate your fire on the left, you risk being outflanked on the right.

[Uzybone]

20. The media is trying to quench our fires

This is Iraq War level of propaganda that I see everyday. The corporate media "left" seems only intersted in complaining about what hasn't been done yet, while the right continues thier assault on our values. The congress ....fuck them

The only one I stand with is the President.

[WeDidIt]

21. Pretty much

Thought the Dems had grown a spine there for a while, but it turned out to be a noodle.

[Patsy Stone]

22. I posted this in another thread, in another form, but it fits here too.

It's the same MO everytime.

Step 1) Something is leaked or published by a "spokesman", or our old friend "anonymous" (read: BFEE planted mole). Sometimes this all happens in advance of a scheduled appearance/speech/hearing on the subject just to control the news cycles.

Step 2) The media (and, sadly, some on DU) go off half-cocked, screaming that this isn't change, and look at how he flip flopped, and, see, he's just like Bush after all.

Step 3) Obama, or a member of his cabinet/administration, comes out a day or two later to address the stories which have been circulating and explains the administration/Obama's position.
Step 4) The media mentions he's so smart to have done that and he said all the right things, completely forgetting that a day or two ago they were berating the President for something he didn't do. The Republicans (and the trolls), of course, will ignore what he said and continue with the lies.

It's going to happen tomorrow, watch. Obama will come out and speak on the state of national security, and Gitmo, and I imagine it won't be nearly as bad as everyone's made it out to be. In fact, when he's done, the general response is usually, "That makes perfect sense."

I wish we could all just take a day or two to digest things before taking the bait left by the BFEE and the complicit MSM and running with it.

So, in one way, the answer to your question is yes. They are still in control of the timing of the message. The good side is that the MSM and the GOP haven't caught on that the it doesn't seem to work for very long, and makes them look silly.

[K Gardner]

25. I just told someone this a little while ago - "you watch, tomorrow Obama will come out and make me

feel stupid for getting so discouraged." And you're right - it's generally how he works, taking a few days to let talking heads and GOPers go wild - then BAM.

My friend remarked, "I don't think the Republicans realize how unbelievably SMART he is - I mean really, scary smart." And he is.

Thank you, also, for reminding me !

[Cha]

23. No we have Not..it's an

ongoing battle that we WILL WIN.

I understand your mood though but I'm thinking that it will pass with renewed spunk and vigor!

[polichick]

24. Neither Congressional Dems nor Pres. Obama are standing up to an already dead party...

It's depressing and pathetic.

[Vidar]

27. Brave Sir Robin should be the mascot of the democrats.

[opihimoimoi]

28. Change on this scale is rarely rapid.....then there is the transition from 8 years of EVIL

to what we have today in the form of PRESIDENT OBAMA.

Things will slowly change until the pace quickens as the damage from the GOP Wanes...their recent rhetoric indicates DELUSION as evidenced by Jesse Ventura's appearances on TV in the past 2 days....Brian on Fox almost got squished....

[MasonJar]

29. It isn't only Congress; Obama has not gone to bat for torture prosecutions,

public options in health care reforms, many other things he promised. He got out there for the bailout though and the stimulus package, which more or less benefitted corporations.