Eleanor Roosevelt was a woodchuck

[scheming daemons]

This is from a letter she wrote to a member of the DNC in 1935, in response to heavy criticism that her husband was getting from the left:

"The ups and downs in peoples’ feelings, particularly on the liberal side, are an old, old story. The liberals always get discouraged when they do not see the measures they are interested in go through immediately. Considering the time we have had to work in the past for almost every slight improvement, I should think they might get over with it, but they never do.

Thanks to Pirate Smile for providing this and much, much more in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x407004

[LoZoccolo]

1. Up to three recs until.... n/t

[LoZoccolo]

3. The count is actually kind-of holding; they must know we're on to them.

That is, if there is an unrecommended squad, which I'm not necessarily saying.

[NanceGreggs]

6. No, no one would say that ...

... because it ain't necessarily so. Not necessarily.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Common Sense Party]

15. Which other site?

[wyldwolf]

30. ... "progressives" try to bury it so no one else here will see it?

[Forkboy]

52. Until people saw it for the crap it is.

[Zoeisright]

2. The problem with that statement is that the incredibly destructive policies on the right

all seem to be enacted quickly, while we have to struggle for the slightest movement toward ethical policies and laws.

[LoZoccolo]

4. "Seem"..."seem"... n/t

[Chulanowa]

5. The right is willing to break the law to get what they want

Nice guys finish last, you know.

[Luminous Animal]

7. It's a good thing that she wasn't President, then.

[Scurrilous]

9. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Hissyspit]

10. delete nt

[Political Tiger]

11. K & R & Bookmarked! n/t

[Hekate]

12. Dang it, the woman even wore sensible shoes. My hero. KnR.

[Scurrilous]

48. ...

[Common Sense Party]

13. That's just mean.

Her overbite wasn't THAT bad.

Eleanor:



Woodchuck:



Nothing like a woodchuck's, I'd say.

[sandnsea]

14. DU Unrecommends Eleanor Roosevelt

lol, too funny.

[scheming daemons]

37. Isn't it, though?

[pnorman]

16. K & R!

FYI: I just recently UN-rec'd another posting here, suggesting that Robert Gibbs will soon be on Faux Noise! I LOVE my DU Community, but frankly a few whining weenies are beginning to get on my nerves! After 2008, the upcoming election WILL be the most important one for a looooong time. So keep your eye on the ball for at least till November. Is that asking asking for too much?

[Waiting For Everyman]

17. Oh, I'll openly unrec this for you - and the linked op thread as well.

Obama is not like "a second" FDR by any stretch of the imagination. His performance so far is not at all like or equivalent to FDR's. And his critics and their criticism has nothing at all in common with FDR's.

And if Eleanor Roosevelt were alive today, I would bet everything I have left in this world that she would not be standing up beside Gibbs and patting him on the back and defending what he said to progressives, here and now in this context today.

I. DON'T. THINK. SO.

That post and this one applauding it is some of the the most shameless propaganda I have ever read on this site... and against DEMS. Un-frickin-believable. But then, that's just how bad it is today. Pathetic.

[EFerrari]

19. I myself don't remember Mrs. Roosevelt telling any disenfranchised minority

to stop pouting for their pony. Do you? She was pushing equal rights for women and for black people, for all kinds of people and uphill, too sometimes, when the rest of the cabinet wasn't in favor.

A post like this is the equivalent of tagging DU. Seriously.

[Waiting For Everyman]

20. Exactly so.

[LostinVA]

28. SHE is also the one who got the Tuskegee Airmen overseas

She had a bully pulpit and used it, both in words in deeds.

The OP is disrespectful to ER.

[JohnnyLib2]

35. Right.

I bet she'd have something to say about this one!

[girl gone mad]

21. Yes, the OP is moronic.

JFK was too far to the right for Eleanor. And this doofus thinks she would align herself with today's "centrists"? Blasphemy!

[treestar]

53. The OP is a direct quote from Eleanor Roosevelt!

The critics from that day sounded just like those of today. It's almost as if they went back and researched it for their own purposes.

[EFerrari]

55. Yes, they did. And she JOINED them much more often than not.

Good grief.

[myrna minx]

27. Thank you. n/t

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dappleganger]

61. Agreeing with you.

I love ER but the OP is pure, contrived BS.

[eridani]

18. So FDR put universal health care in the hard left crackpot category--

--a perfect mirror image of Father Coughlin's rants? On what planet?

[Kahuna]

22. Oh no, she did'int!

:wow:

[midnight]

23. While there was criticism of specific legislation, most were pleased that something was being done

"When the smoke had cleared and the panic eased, critics and supporters alike had an opportunity to evaluate the first stage of the New Deal. There was something to please--and annoy--everyone. Some progressives felt that Roosevelt had not gone far enough and some conservatives feared government interference with industry and increased executive authority, but the urgency of the national crisis seemed to take precedence. While there was criticism of specific legislation, most were pleased that something was being done and Washington was in motion." http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/volpe/newdeal/hundred_days.html

I think most people want to see jobs, education, and peace. I think most don't like the tax payer money being spent on bankers big salaries, war, and tax breaks for the wealthy.

[Warren Stupidity]

24. k&U.

do keep up the attack though. It certainly is an interesting way to try to influence people. Here is what the Roosevelts actually stood for:


In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.
Among these are:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

[Number23]

25. k&r

[Fumesucker]

26. Unrecced..

Obama hasn't said anything remotely resembling "I welcome their hatred" when referring to the wealthy and powerful and to imply he is a second FDR is so far beyond ridiculous as to be pathetic.

[LostinVA]

29. This is OP is disrespectful to Eleanor Roosevelt's legacy

I sincerely mean that. She walked the walk and talked the talk, and used her bully pulpit to advance civil rights for everyone. Taking one statement out of context to align her with a frigging right centrist agenda is vile.

[scheming daemons]

36. Eleanor was awesome.... no disrespect at all. Pointing out that she was pragmatic isn't an insult.

[LostinVA]

45. No, you are misrepresenting her beliefs and statements for your own gain

[scheming daemons]

57. In what way was her letter to the DNC misrepresented?

[pipi_k]

31. And Jeremiah was a bullfrog n/t

[MadHound]

32. Another one who is historically ignorant,

The fact of the matter is that Eleanor Roosevelt was much more liberal than her husband, and much further to the left than a lot of the country. Your attempt to claim her for the mushy middle fails. Go educate yourself, cure that historical ignorance of yours.

[pnorman]

33. To all those of the Unrec. Squad:

When FDR took office in March of 1932, he did so an OVERWHELMING mandate, both in electoral votes as well as popular votes. He didn't have to jump through hoops to get a sixtieth Senator. He had WELL more than enough (including a substantial fraction of the "progressive" Republicans). The equivalent of the Blue Dogs, the Southern Bloc (much later to be the Dixiecrats)? They were well under his thumb, and remained "loyal" to him until AFTER the 1936 election. His opposition? Small in number and in disorderly disarray, AND clearly perceived by most as the Party of the Plutocracy.

What Eleanor Roosevelt said then was both APT and appropriate to this moment in time.

[JohnnyLib2]

34. We greatly need someone like Mrs. Roosevelt now.

The White House would be a very different place and the OP would be seen as preposterous. ER might very well write to say so!

[quiet.american]

39. And the old, old story continues. Even right here on this thread. Relentless. :) nt

[EFerrari]

56. Oh you bet. A long, proud history. One that every American on this board

has benefited from in some way.

[quiet.american]

60. Yes. I suppose the "professional circular firing squad" has its place, too.

Even if it's just as "the old, old story" that never seems to end.

[joeybee12]

40. gee, in a private letter, instead of saying to the whole world specifically to appease the

right...yeah, that's the same thing...nice try, apologist.

[kiva]

41. Quick, I think you can still lay claim to Woodrow Wilson,

Andrew Johnson, and Martin Van Buren if you move fast enough...

[yurbud]

42. this makes a false assumption about the current situation: that the president wants

and is trying to do more when in fact he has undercut efforts by others to strengthen legislation and publicly praised the ''leadership'' of the most corrupt members of his party who undermined it.

[yurbud]

43. this is kind of like the Reagan people comparing him to FDR or the righties saying

MLK would approve of their affirmative action policies.

FDR did far more than Obama has attempted. Obama had the public support to do far more and pressure the amoral, corrupt minority in the Democratic Party to vote for more.

[yurbud]

44. this is kind of like the Reagan people comparing him to FDR or the righties saying

MLK would approve of their affirmative action policies.

FDR did far more than Obama has attempted. Obama had the public support to do far more and pressure the amoral, corrupt minority in the Democratic Party to vote for more.

[NJmaverick]

46. K & R!

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ignis]

49. So why are some DUers using an icon showing violence against ER?

:shrug:

[scheming daemons]

58. ????

[Ignis]

59. "ER was a woodchuck" + icons w/ a bloody woodchuck (gunshot?)

[dflprincess]

50. Eleanor Roosevelt had courage and stood up for what she believed

When the DAR refused to let Marian Anderson perform at Constitution Hall, ER resigned her membership and helped arrange the concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

Not an especially popular or expedient thing to do - but not caving into bigots was (and is) the correct thing to do.

[demmiblue]

51. Indeed! Here is a copy of her letter to the DAR:

"You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed." Powerful words.


And a pic of the results:





http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/eleanor.html

[dflprincess]

54. Thanks for posting the letter!

I don't believe I ever saw the text of it before.