How the Right pissed me off, and the Left turned me off.....

[FrenchieCat]

For some time now, I have been passionate about my politics. As an immigrant who didn't get "Turned on" to politics till quite late in the game (Election theft 2000), I believed that I have made up for it since.

Before I found DU, I was an avid reader of Buzzflash and Mediawhores.com and a few other progressive websites. I looked for anything and everything that would counter the propaganda that I was being fed daily via my cable television screen. I stayed up all night to hear what Ray Taliaferro had to say that morning on my local KGO radio station(he came on at 1:00 a.m.), and before him, I'd listen to Bernie Ward. I was frustrated, upset, and disturbed by what the Bush administration was doing to this nation.

I happened upon DU back in December of 2002, and in August of 2003 (under a different name)I joined in the discussions.......and have posted ever since, and currently have over 60,000 post under my current non de plume.

During those hard years (my hubby called me depressingly obsessed, and I was), I dedicated a large part of my life to making a political difference. I worked hard and fought hard to get Republicans out of office. I canvassed, donated, called, wrote, organized, etc... I also fought hard against the media. I wrote and called them daily (my email contacts were the who's who in the media world). At that time, I couldn't quite wrap my head around why the media, who was supposed to be on the side of the people, wasn't. I detested George Bush and all of his cronies. I marched against Bush BEFORE 9/11 (there were only about 200 of us in S.F. marching with our anti-Bush Banners). I marched again in October of 2002, and again in February of 2003. I couldn't believe what was happening to this country that I had loved from afar prior to becoming one of its citizens.

My lowest peak during my activism was that I was unable to affect our march to war, and felt utterly depressed that I couldn't make a difference; and yet still I kept on fighting.

Then John Kerry lost the election, and I was truly devastated, and couldn't figure why not enough folks saw things as I did. And yet....I kept up my fight. I was determined not to let the country down with my inaction, come hell or high water!

Then it happened! After doing all what I needed to do to get it done, my objective was realized, and Barack Obama was elected and Bush left office. I understood then that the nightmare was primarily over. I wasn't expecting to see things be rectified all at once, but I did expect that we would get back to where we were before Bush, the interloper, who in my eyes, had interrupted this country for 8 long ass devastating years.

.....However, instead of being able to enjoy the new president's actions in restoring us to some normalcy, and all that he was to bring us as we worked with him to repair 8 years of total shit....I began suffering from a different type of anguish and my political interest has gone downhill ever since.

As much as I hate the Right for its evil-spirited made-up hyperbole and constant unfair criticism of this administration that is given much play in the press, I have started to feel even more let down by those whom I long considered my political brethens in the trenches fighting to restore a semblance of fairness to this country.

I now find myself as puzzled as I was with this country as I was when Bush stole the election. I don't understand how some on the Left and Right can dismiss everything this President does that is good, and focus with laser beam on what they don't like. Ever since inauguration, I have been constantly worn down by all of the criticisms that I hear from every direction toward this man and his administration, and I no longer feel as interested in politics as I once was.

I no longer watch News television, because I know just about everything reported will be exaggerated and slanted to reflect badly on this administration. I read here or elsewhere less every day, because I already know that just about everything will be a negative critique of what is being done, versus what should be done, etc. I know that the Right and the Left will each be having their say, and that very few will support this President.

In other-words, although I support and want to help this President like I promised I would, I feel cheated and tricked......not by the administration as much as by the 95% negativity that I hear constantly around me from every direction. I fought so hard in trying to restore a certain normalcy to this country, and yet, I now realize that there will never be a normal....ever...and that this country really just was never what I naively thought it was; a country that was not really all bad, and in fact, had and still has a lot of good in it.

So what should I do now?
Do I give up and just say Fuck it.....I don't have any more strength to go on....?
or do I find like minds, who like me, believe that this administration although not perfect
needs allies that will cut through that negative 95%, and fight to allow this administration
to be all that it can be (not all that I want it to be....cause one thing I learned in politics, is you rarely get all or even half of what you want...and then it takes forever).

I don't know what I will do right this moment.....but I do know that as pissed off as I am at the Right's twisted hatred campaign to rid this country of this Administration, many of the voices on the Left have totally turned me off, and have made me wish for my good old days of apathy....

and if apathy can creep back into my life, after all of my willingness to fight the good fight for what seemed to have been a very long time, I can only guess what is happening with all of those others, who like me, understood that everything wasn't going to be peaches and creams, but that it was going to get better. So yeah...the Right has pissed me off for some time now, but the trouble is that now, the Left is turning me off.

[elleng]

1. Heading in your direction, Frenchie.

:hug:

[ismnotwasm]

2. Know I what I do?

You may be younger, or not here at the time, but I just remember the Ronald Reagan days. I was a young myself then and very left wing. That hasn't changed. But I saw through that evil fucker--I was horrified actually and I learned something about American politics in the subsequent and slowed but not stopped Golden Calf idolizing of Reagen.

After that, I ignored mainstream politics; "They're all the same" I thought. "The system sucks" I thought. "There is no way you can get to higher office without being corrupt or corruptible" I thought. "You can't fight money" I thought. "All politicians sell out their constituency, it's just a matter of degree and where. And when" I thought.

And something I still believe "It's the patriarchy" (And another thing I don't believe anymore; "and nobody gives a shit" I thought)


Didn't vote for Clinton, always voted Socialist or Democrats or write-in. Cynically happy in my hubris, casting a jaundiced eye toward political cheerleader of any stripe, because I knew, deep down, it didn't matter who was in office. They're all the same.

I thought.

Then came Bush. Fucking Bush. He waltzes in, proves to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was wrong, wrong, wrong. And Bush used the ghost of Reagen, that horrid, horrid excuse for a human being again and again in his presidency. And Reagan's ghost isn't dead. I think Stephan King should write a horror novel about it. His racist, classist, sexist, paranoid and sociopathic policies still exist and are still deeply entrenched in politics today. Reagen didn't invent them, he just was great on capitalizing on them.


I'll listen to folks and their constant complaining about Obama once we open those ALL those old, infected sores and get the pus out, leaving some room to heal. At least try to put some of the blame where blame is really due.

Until then, he has my support. The left, well we all want the right things I think, some of us just have the wrong enemy in our sites.

[Cha]

3. We've had a similiar path on DU,

Frenchie~ I wasn't into politics until 1999 & got a computer in 2002 with the specific purpose of joining DU that I had learned about from The Nation, which I picked up in NYC at New Year's Eve time in 2001, as part of my early education.

Your frustration sounds all too familiar and I can't help but think it's a good thing that you don't watch the predictable corporatemedia( who gave us bushcheney & the war on Iraq) anymore(though they're going to miss all that activism against their propaganda machine that you relentlessly took part in over the years!) but as one of my favorite poster's says.."I'll give up when Pres Obama gives up"..and that will be never.

I didn't wait all this time for someone like him to come along to let the degenerate haters across the board make me lose sight of what we've fought so long for and how far we've come. :patriot::patriot:

One of the best parts of the struggle against the bushcheney coup & the subsequent Obama victory has been getting to know there are others out there like you, Frenchie, who want what's good and true for this country and willing to work for it..very inspiring when we've gone through the darkest times.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[Kind of Blue]

5. I get your frustration, Frenchie. But I could never

claim a fifth of your incredible activist work.

Like you, I'm an immigrant, always told growing up to look at and appreciate - if not love - what is possible in American government and what is not possible elsewhere, especially dissidence. Therefore my take is that everything is possible and everything is allowed and it leaves room for expecting the unexpected. But the other thing is acceptance - not accepting (I don't mean condoning) the situation as it is right now really heightens the frustrations.

Sheesh, I argued a poster who was incensed by your byline to fight to keep Republicans out of office. Impossible to me that was a point of contention on a Democratic board. And it really sank in again that Democrats are not a monolithic group.

Sheesh, I'm not happy in the least with the party not doing all it can with the African-American community. I've known liberals who believe in equality, but get really antsy and unfriendly when AA's or Mexican Americans move into their neighborhoods - I'm talking Hispanics/Indians who've been on this side of the border since time immemorial. Liberals who'd fight discrimination but don't like gay marriage. Or so-called Dems who unbelievably voted for Bush the first time because they were pissed off at Clinton. And I could go on about how I feel about liberal pretense but as far as this fracture in the party, as KO said tonight, "I'd like to be more outraged but I'd have to be surprised first."

I don't know but I don't think apathy will creep in and take root in fighters such as yourself. I remember hearing that many, many African-Americans were pissed off at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for rocking the boat. Their lack of support didn't stop him. I remember reading about the hostilities Jackie Robinson faced on the field and in his neighborhood. That didn't stop him. I've read of the Lovings and their illegal love - I wonder how much love they got from blacks and whites. But that didn't stop them. And recently the lawsuit against Prop. 8 by a brave couple. They didn't stop fighting when all seemed lost here.

I don't think Fighters remain apathetic for long. They accept that no matter the outcomes the fight never really ends. So if apathy does prevail and republicans takeover in November - and you know they'll fuck the country up again because that's what they do. Then in the meantime, as we lived and loved hard during the Bush era, we'll be back to clean up and further our universal agenda again because that's what Dems do.

I'm still holding out that when push comes to shove, they'll come to their senses - but then again I'm not holding my breath.

[SoxFan]

11. Frenchie's an immigrant?

OMG! TERROR BABY! ZOMG!!

Obviously kidding; all four of my grandparents were immigrants.

[Kind of Blue]

14. LOLOL... The way I see it, we're all immigrants in this country.

And unfortunately history shows, proficient at growing our own hatemongers and terrorists *sigh*

[Kind of Blue]

15. Forgot to add except for Native Americans. n/t

[nevergiveup]

6. Thanks so much Frenchie

You expressed exactly how I feel.

[Lindsey]

7. Yea, you said it perfectly. I'm still going to get behind Democrats

based on the platform. It scares me to death to think of another Republican Administration in my lifetime (and I'm only 52). I also am fed up (to put it lightly) with the left. My hope is that it's the fringe of the left even though it doesn't seem like that (DU included). I feel it may be the greens and others who are doing their best to try to tear the party up. Don't forget - Karl Rove is still alive and IMO continuing to do all the damage he's capable of -which is a lot.

[stevenleser]

8. Things have reached a pretty pass. I feel alienated from about 1/2 of DU. I have 113 on ignore

and at any point, 75% or more of the items listed on the front of the DU forum page as the top "Greatest Page" articles, were contributed by people I have on ignore.

These folks that I have on ignore have forgotten that classic lesson we learned when Nader challenged Gore as not being "Left enough" and said that "Democrats are the same as Republicans" and "Gore is the same as Bush".

We all learned just how wrong that was. The ignored have forgotten that lesson.

Oh well. They will get a reminder very soon. Unfortunately, the rest of us will have to live with their shortsightedness and stupidity.

[bobburgster]

9. Right there with you, but I'm willing....

to fight off all the negativity. Don't give up there are many just like you.

[madamesilverspurs]

10. Empathy!

It's interesting, though. The last couple of years have been rather spectacularly surprising on DU; I lurked for a long time until I could start posting. By that time DU had become the first place I checked each morning, second only to my email inbox. I learned so much from you and others on this site!

When the extreme nastiness infected us, here, I considered just going elsewhere. But somewhere in my genetic makeup there is a feistiness chromosome that just gets its back up at being nastied out of a good place. I confess that I posted a couple of OPs for the sole intent of hastening the process of adding to my 'ignore' list, and it worked. Set the spring, place the cheeze...

Anyway, I couldn't have guessed that my experiences here would help to hone my abilities to withstand teabaggers, glennbeckers, Tancredoists. And we just had a wild Dem v. Dem primary (Bennet/Romanoff) that had a lot of Democrats hurling invective at other Democrats. Today in Denver there was a Unity Rally. Seems that staffers from both campaigns knew that we'd need a reunion to strengthen us for the fight to November, so they planned this event months ago. Romanoff pledged to support and work for Bennet's election and encouraged his supporters to do likewise. On Facebook, campaign staffers from both sides have reached out to the other and are happy to be working on the same team.

We face a very interesting couple of months. Our opponent in the Senate race is presently my DA, Ken Buck. He is about as nasty as it's possible to be without having flies buzzing around. He famously dissed high heels while mentioning the bullshit on his boots; this is, after all, cattle country, and we are well acquainted with that particular aroma. He oozes it. Teabaggers love him, as do the Dobsonites in the southern part of the state. Did I mention that he was a campaign manager for Marilyn Musgrave and a protege of Dick Cheney? And he has publicly equated liberals with criminals -- on tape. He's a bigot, a misogynist, and he has very serious difficulty with ethics.

A few years ago I heard federal agent talk about counterfeit money; he said that the easiest way to spot the fake is to study the real thing. Simple and sound advice, applicable in many venues. So, I'm spending my time with Democrats who talk and walk like, well, Democrats. At the end of the day I'm usually pretty tired, but I'm not nearly as frustrated and exhausted as when I was trying to make Democratic sense out of non-Democratic stuff. If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a bear, I'm outta there.

Please hang in there, Frenchie Cat. And if you'd like to sharpen your claws on our Senate race, I have a DA who'd make a marvelous scratching post.

[GoCubsGo]

12. Me, too.

I always considered myself to be fairly left-of-center. I still do. However, these days, I don't feel like I can associate myself with many others on the left. I read BartCop from nearly Day One. He lost me for good this Spring. I rarely read BuzzFlash these days, and forget about Firedoglake. Last week, I hit the mute button on Keith Olbermann for the first time ever, and I've been watching him since early 2004. It was when he had Michael Moore on, whom I used to love. Now, I can barely stomach the guy. I'm getting ready to turn it all off. The sad thing is, I thought these were the "smart" people--the ones who understand how things work, and who understand the part about "you rarely get all or even half of what you want...and then it takes forever." I guess I was wrong about that.

I live in a right-wing hellhole, and I come to places like DU to escape the idiocy and hatred. But any more, I can hardly tell the difference between this place and the comments section at my local wingnut newspaper's web site. I'm as sick of the teeth-gnashing, hand-wringing and the Obama-bashing from the Left as I am the lying and fear-mongering from the Right. I think I'll just stay away from the GD and GD/P for now.

[firedupdem]

13. I agree

The sad thing is, I thought these were the "smart" people--the ones who understand how things work, and who understand the part about "you rarely get all or even half of what you want...and then it takes forever." I guess I was wrong about that.

I'm starting to realize that it's all about the mighty dollar with these folks. I think they make more money bashing and hand-wringing. They get more attention and get more popular. Laurence O'Donnell is another one that is always negative. He went so far as to bash the president for saying his wife watches The View! Like really, who cares? I don't trust these folks at all. When nothing the administration does is good enough, there is something up. They are looking out for themselves.