Best Daily Kos article EVER

[NJmaverick]

Read the whole thing. Everything written just as easily applies here at DU

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/1/20/827654/-Dont-Call-Me-A-Progressive

[Silver Gaia]

1. Wow... EXCELLENT!

Thank you for posting this. I needed that. I've been sitting here all night thinking and stewing, unable to sleep. Maybe now, after reading this, I can manage to get a couple hours sleep.

[firedupdem]

2. Excellent! n/t

[mr1956]

3. Says what I've been thinking for a while

I understand that Democrats are a diverse group but there are lessons we haven't learned from the Republican fight between teabaggers, Conservatives and moderates. We've seen them go down in the polls as they alienate some of their constituents. As a group we should work together to make steps in the correct direction. Instead we've fragmented as much as the opposition. The public wailing and moaning does indeed play into the hands of the right wing. It demoralizes Democrats and Independents, the very group we need to bring to our side. Why would they want to join a group as dysfunctional as we now appear to be?

Maybe Americans as a whole need to grow the fuck up.

[goclark]

4. Proud Prag Checking In!

Wow! That is the best article I have seen on this issue.

It is excellent!

Of course we dare not put it in you know where because it would sink in 1 second.

The Progressive Army would do their duty in 2 seconds. They are highly organized I have noticed. Have you noticed how quickly they hit the keys when anything is put up that they need to crush?


But I feel better this morning because of that article.

It is a must read for every person that reallly cares about the direction of our country.

I am now officially a PRAGMATIC LIBERAL That says it all, love that article.

[TicketyBoo]

17. Be careful, please.

Some people out there think that "pragmatism" is a dirty word.



(I've deleted the i.d. so the moderators won't think I'm calling someone out, because I'm not.)

[Born_A_Truman]

5. Fragging

is an excellent term for what has been happening.

[euphoria12leo]

6. Excellent article

The Progressives wanted to send the president a message. They know how to get exactly what they want. They stayed home or voted for a Republican. The new Senator doesn't stand for anything they/we are fighting for.

The Pros: We sure showed him (Obama) and the rest of the Democrats. Didn't we?

[SeattleGirl]

7. That article puts into words just what I've been feeling. n/t

[Cha]

8. YES~ I think we've

all come to realize the difference of those who are calling themselves "progressives" on DU anyway.. and reality.

Fucking scott brown in the Senate better not hurt the Climate Bill.

[rebel with a cause]

9. I feel betrayed..and I don't know what to do about it.

There is not one person who I feel betrayed by, it is a big part of a group. I want to smack some heads together. Oh I know violence doesn't solve anything, but I think I would feel better if I could just visualize smacking some heads together. I am sick, literally sick, of these people who cry about the world not being what they want when what they want is so unreasonable that none of their demi-gods would be able to make it that way. And yet they think it only because these idealistic beings that sabotage anyone in their party who is in office that does not do things their way, would somehow perform a miracle and create a new world order if only they could get elected president. Never mind congress or any other part of the government, never mind world happenings, their guy would change this country into the ideal they hold. :grr:

I backed Obama for president and I still stand with him, even though I don't always agree with him. I refused to call bush the president not because of his actions but because I never felt like he was really elected to the office. I do think that Obama was elected and because of this he deserves a chance to do the job he was given. That does not mean turning on him as soon as he takes office and sabotaging everything he tries to get done. But the thing is that if Obama succeeds, their demi-god will lose the opportunity to become all they want them to be.

Something to that strikes me is that no one is pointing out how slick the republicans are. They were the party that was suppose to be falling apart, but they pulled a fast one on us and the democrats (uncapitalized because I am upset with so many of us) are the party that is infighting and farther apart than the repubs are.

"Many blogs stating how "betrayed" they felt, and how they weren't going to vote anymore. Depress the base? Sure thing. You did a hell of a job of it." This quote from the article says it all and why I am upset with other democrats.

[Scurrilous]

10. Beautiful.

:thumbsup:

[quiet.american]

11. Agreed - best ever. nt

[Number23]

12. Fantastic. The thinking behind some of these people I will never understand

[BeyondGeography]

13. The anti-progress progressives

Quite good.

[angee_is_mad]

14. DAYUM!!!!!

You go Norbrook!

[treestar]

15. Excellent

the best parts to me:

want to be taken seriously? You don't attack the very people who are working the hardest to implement your agenda. You don't waste your time trying to persuade the people who are already on your side. That was done. You persuade those who can be persuaded. Disagree with the President and various Congressional representatives? Fine. Expected, even. There's a way to do it. You're reasonable. You push saying "we can do better than this." You state disagreements in terms that appeal to the "better angels." That's smart.

That's why I'm not a progressive anymore. Too many people claiming that label have torched its reputation as a label. I'm a pragmatic liberal. I hate losing. I hate being in the minority. I don't like being the "victim." I'm planning on the long term, a long hard slog through the trenches to get what I want. I recognize that it's not going to happen in a year, or even a generation. That I may have to take an inch now to gain a yard down the line. It's work, and I plan on keeping at it. "Progressives"? I don't trust you. You're going to jump ship the first time things don't go your way. You'll be trying to stick a knife in my back, or fuck up something that took a lot of work. With "friends" like you, one doesn't need enemies. You want to blame everyone else - but you have just as much to share in it as anyone else. Me? I actually thought you people were dedicated and serious. That was my mistake. I won't make it again.

Exactly. Of what good are they in reaching any serious goals?

[Hekate]

16. Thanks, I like it. nt

[TicketyBoo]

18. Well, pooh!

I feel like a true progressive is what I am. I'm for progress. And I'm not quite far enough left to be a true liberal.

I may have gone with the qualified "pragmatic liberal" before pragmatism was equated "out there" with "Hypocrisy. Historic Betrayal. Cowardice." (See my post above.)

Now, I guess I'll skip the label. I'm a Democrat, and that's that.

[TicketyBoo]

19. Oh, and thanks

for posting the link.

Right on the money.

[cliffordu]

20. Sure wish I could Rec this, so kicketty kicketty, kick.

I wonder if this is over in gd...

:rofl:

[TicketyBoo]

21. Highly dubious.

[BlueCaliDem]

22. Thanks for this NJMav. It describes how I feel to a "T". eom

[Hamlette]

23. This current mess reminded me that the Obama haters were the Nader supporters

and they defended their vote for him in 2000 to the death. That was the first real flame war I went through here. The people who were rabid Nader supporters are the ones posting everyday how evil Obama is.

My guess is Skinner feels the same way or he'd try to tamp it down or give them their own thread. I venture on to GD on occasion and come running back here.

For years ppl have said "the looney right is the same as the looney left" and I've said "name me one person as crazy as Rush on our side". What is it that when the looneys come out on our side they attack us and not the republicans?

[TicketyBoo]

24. Yes,

it seems that they are even loonier in some ways. At least Rush doesn't chew off his own foot.

I came to DU for sanctuary. This isn't what I had in mind.

[goclark]

25. Daily Kos nails it ~

[Lindsey]

26. Excellent! Thanks for posting. n/t

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

27. The author has to be a DUer...

or at least spend some time here. The post describes exactly what goes on here and exactly where there the ideological purists are just as much our enemy as the right-wingers.

[Peacetrain]

28. Nailed it!!

because there are many (not all) but many so called "critical" ops.. that are nothing less than a knee capping of liberals.

With friends likes these who needs enemies.

[azmouse]

29. Awesome!

:thumbsup:

[Cha]

30. Bunch a fraggers..

"They haven't done much to recruit strong primary challengers for many races. Even worse, while they advocated strongly, they advocated dumb. You want to be taken seriously? You don't attack the very people who are working the hardest to implement your agenda. You don't waste your time trying to persuade the people who are already on your side. That was done. You persuade those who can be persuaded. Disagree with the President and various Congressional representatives? Fine. Expected, even. There's a way to do it. You're reasonable. You push saying "we can do better than this." You state disagreements in terms that appeal to the "better angels." That's smart.

Instead we got tantrums. Long screeds about how Congress was inept, a failure. Heavy opinion-making editorials and television appearances feeding into the right-wing memes that Democrats were inept, incompetent failures. Even joining up with right wing groups to help "advocate." Many blogs stating how "betrayed" they felt, and how they weren't going to vote anymore. Depress the base? Sure thing. You did a hell of a job of it. "We'll show them!" It was exactly the sort of thing that conservatives prayed for. Boneheaded. Outright fucking stupid. It's amazing that in less than a year, "progressives" have managed to do such a great job of fragging."

Piling on the victimhood.

[uponit7771]

31. "...Instead we got tantrums...", yeap, explains DU to a T