"PROFESSIONAL LEFT" is a Public Relations scam - a war of words - a new nomenclature

[grahamhgreen]

meant to divide the left.

It's the old divide and conquer strategy you more commonly see the right using.

It's a new propagandistic meme sent out by the administration trying to let the "little guy" (their words - n ot mine) know that these 'pro's' are different from them - that really the little guy has nothing in common with the pro's and that the administration is really their "friend".

It's sad.

Cause private mandatory crapsurance, and endless war for profit, promoting outsourcing, killing EFCA, torture, rendition, and Bush light policies are not not in us 'little guys' best interest.

"professional left" - we will hear this term repeated until people believe it has meaning when really it is a phantasm born of a sick PR firms' twisted mind.

[leftstreet]

1. K&R

Spot on!

And kudos for using the proper HCR term "crapsurance"

[Nite Owl]

2. K&R

Excellent!!

[Robeson]

3. I think you just peeled the onion back another layer, grahamhgreen...

...a very astute observation.

[Electric Monk]

9. Just think for a minute how many really are on the "Professional Right"

on cable news etc.

Seems like most of em, some days.

[Robeson]

10. Indeed. It would seem THAT should be a clear focus of attack.

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. Oh, I'll be watching this to be kicked tomorrow.

Meanwhile, K&R.

[KT2000]

5. I think you are right

too bad their foray into PR was not focused on the RW.

[ibegurpard]

6. who is this working on?

[EFerrari]

7. It's just the thing to appeal to authoritarian followers

who never really think about the terms floated out to them.

[yowzayowzayowza]

8. I bet you that the administration never deploys...

yer alleged "professional leftist" meme betwixt now and the elections, let alone "repeated until people believe it has meaning when really it is a phantasm born of a sick PR firms' twisted mind."

[EFerrari]

17. It's already been planted to be picked up by the noise machine.

They don't have to repeat it themselves.

[yowzayowzayowza]

18. Then if the "professional leftists" refrain from hyperbolic horseshit...

they've nothing to fear from said meme.

[grahamhgreen]

19. Wjo is the "Pro Left"? The 70% of Americans that wanted a public option? nt

[yowzayowzayowza]

20. wtf?

"Wjo is the "Pro Left"? The 70% of Americans that wanted a public option? nt"

Bills are not passed by popularity contest.

[grahamhgreen]

24. Oops - "Who is the pro-left" Democracy, by definition

means that you at least TRY to pass the bills the people who elected you expect you to pass, cronie capitalism, OTOH, means you ignore the wishes of the people and pass what is good for your cronies.

Which country do you really want to live in?

[yowzayowzayowza]

29. Silly question that has nothing whatever to do with Gibbs comment. n/t

[grahamhgreen]

40. What kind of health care should we be working towards?

[yowzayowzayowza]

41. I'm all for single payer, but unless you've got...

some US Senators up yer sleeve, tiz really a meaningless query.

[TheKentuckian]

44. Yet that is the excuse given and not just for failure but for even making the attempt

[yowzayowzayowza]

51. Yep, Don Quixote for President!!! n/t

[TheKentuckian]

66. Sure beats President Fredo Corleone

[yowzayowzayowza]

72. Good thing we're not reduced to such silly dichotomies. n/t

[KakistocracyHater]

50. strange, I thought winning the election was just another popularity contest

& that ALL such things that require a large majority to vote 'yes' meant it was passed by being the most popular. I guess I'm:crazy:

[yowzayowzayowza]

52. Not you, the US Senate. n/t

[Poboy]

26. " hyperbolic horseshit"?

I think it was GIBBS who first started down that road.

[yowzayowzayowza]

27. Not even close. n/t

[EFerrari]

30. LOL. Funny! Just like if Obama refrains from socialist activity the teabaggers will love him!

Good one!

[yowzayowzayowza]

31. Lame sidestep, but telling equivocation. n/t

[EFerrari]

33. I usually try not to step in cr@p. n/t

[yowzayowzayowza]

34. Good thing yer not President, cuz...

tharze crap everywhere that cannot be simply sidestepped.

[Forkboy]

47. But why seek it out?

[yowzayowzayowza]

54. Antiseptic politics ... in America....

:rofl:

[Forkboy]

55. Not antiseptic, dumb and self deafeating.

You think this was smart politics?

[yowzayowzayowza]

59. Yep, as I said below.

:hi:

[Forkboy]

46. Well, they've seen how politically inept it is.....

[yowzayowzayowza]

53. As a recurrent meme, certainly, but some push back was waaaay overdue. n/t

[Forkboy]

56. Yeah, that's why the left did so.

[yowzayowzayowza]

58. T'aint bean bag.

The admin made their point about the hyperbolic horseshit from the "professional left". Nuf said. We share far more important future issues.

[Forkboy]

60. Well, tell that to all those upset by a cartoon before bitching at those upset at Gibbs.

Politics ain't bean bag, indeed. So why did so many get bent over a woodchuck?

We share far more important future issues.

Pretty much, but this IS fun. ;)

[yowzayowzayowza]

61. If we didn't enjoy the sport of it, we wouldn't be here...

would we? :hippie:

[Forkboy]

63. Nope.

:toast:

[PassingFair]

64. It's not a "sport" buddy.

Real people are really suffering.

[yowzayowzayowza]

65. Are you a member of Congress? n/t

[laughingliberal]

11. I keep seeing the argument here that Gibbs didn't mean 'us,' but the left wing media

The left wing media is all those of us on the left who disagree with many of the President's policies have to give our voices any weight. I am under no illusion our floods of emails and faxes have any effect. Even our protests are ignored or laughed off. Attacking our left wing pundits who report our dissatisfaction is meant to silence them and leave us feeling alone and isolated with no one to validate that we are not all alone in our struggles.

It is intended to isolate and marginalize criticism.

Good post. Rec

[alfredo]

12. No, it is to make Obama's administration look more centrist.

Diss the extreme, gain the middle. I'm pretty far left, and if I hadn't been in the game for a long time I may have taken offense.


They are in campaign mode, they have to move to the center to bring the independents back into our camp.


Principle means shit when you are in the minority. We got to win in Nov. If we gain seats or at least do much better than expected, it could cause a circular firing squad in the GOP.

[EFerrari]

16. It does both, though. Very efficiently. n/t

[alfredo]

22. We might not like what was said, but politically it was

very smart.

Compare how the Reps deal with the extremes in their party. I don't see the Dem left as extreme, but the Reps have had decades to paint anyone left of Tancredo as a Socialist.

Yeah, his Press Secretary can speak unkindly of me if it helps in Nov.

[EFerrari]

25. It's short-term smart only, though. Because it re-enforces all the RW bs

about the left.

[alfredo]

36. They won't think any worse of us. It really doesn't matter what they think.

[Forkboy]

49. It's not even short term smart.

It was plain old dumb all the way around.

[TheKentuckian]

45. It is not a win to discredit our best policies nor to equate Virginia Foxx with Barbara Lee

That is a big fat loss.

If independents wanted Republicans then they would have voted for them.

[alfredo]

68. It makes it harder for the reps to claim that Obama is catering to the left.

[TheKentuckian]

69. Who the fuck cares? The Republican ideology has utterly failed they should be in the corner

with a dunce cap on for a couple of generations instead we are in their rightful place cowering that they might call us <GASP>LIBERALS<GASP>

If you won't stand up for your values then you might as well not have them and if you don't have values then you may as well be a Republican.

That seems to be the gist of the debate, that some stupidly believe we must assimilate Republican ideology but without the batshit and bigotry to win. Well, once you go there you have already lost and I mean utterly defeated.

The logic is idiotic. If you want to be a Republican then go clean the nuts out of your own party.

[alfredo]

70. Do you know many who identify with being a radical. I always saw myself

As being moderate, but in reality, I'm very far to the left, somewhere in the Noam Chomsky left libertarian category. Gibbs wasn't talking about me, he was talking about those professional leftist.

Gibbs' statement is meaningless if you consider yourself a professional leftist, I'd guess you'd be insulted, but until his remark I never heard of such a category.

[TheKentuckian]

71. You are off on a tangent the subthread was about not cowering like chumps playing GOP

to avoid rocking the boat or whatever the tactic you are promoting.

Am I pissed at Gibbs? Not as such, I'm furious at his boss for being a triangulating conservative. I don't care what the flunkies say other than if it represents their bosses as is the case here.

You are the one preaching a tactic that dismisses our best people and ideas for "wins", forgetting that after the fire sale on values there is no victory.

Obviously, Fibbs invented the term out of whole cloth but the intent behind it is clear and doubley so in context of other murmers out of this out of touch and ideologically conservative administration.

Whoever the so called professional left is I stand with them and welcome the hatred of the petulant and arrogant White House.

[alfredo]

73. We have to grab the center or we will lose. That's reality

You play to the base during primaries, then move to the center in the general. I feel my positions stand a better chance with Democrats in office than Republicans. If Obama has to play to the center to get their votes, fine.

I'm nearly off the left side of the political compass scale. Yes, I could be called the "professional left" but I'm also thick skinned and realistic enough to know that sometimes my position might be too far left for the general public and political suicide for Dems to openly espouse. I know a politician that thinks like me would never get elected in my state and most other states.

Politically pure is fine for the coffee house, but not on the campaign trail.


I'm further to the left than Ron Paul is to the right. I'm more Libertarian/Anarchist than Alan Keyes is Authoritarian.

[TheKentuckian]

74. I'm not a leftier than thou person. That is not my point at all

I'm a lifetime NRA member, I don't miss Kentucky games, I'm a Zionist, and a self described Christian.

I'm sure you paste me well on who is more of a leftist but my thing is right and wrong, functional versus unworkable, good outcomes versus poor ones.

I don't care about ideological purity since I am not ideologically pure myself but abandoning our principles is chickenshit and ultimately the death of those ideals.

Distinctions without difference is political death far more final than losing elections.

It is a two party system as many can't help but to go on about. Eventually, the ideology in office will fall from favor and when it does you win by giving voters an actual choice and then you get to implement your policies.

The permanent majority folks on both sides are missing the entire point, in my opinion. Plus, the Reich's ideology is a complete clusterfuck and has utterly failed, not for the first time. Their policies are fucking garbage and shouldn't be emulated because they are awful for the nation.

I'm on the side of playing to win even knowing that I might lose. It sounds like you are a champion of the play not to lose school.

I wanna get laid and I'm gonna go for it. Feel free to kiss your sister, that's a good thing but giving her a peck on the cheek every day is never going to get you a lover (and if it does you're worse off by light years from being alone and a loser).

I tried for decades to be a good little sister kissing woodchuck but it ain't me. I'd rather not go quietly into that goodnight.

[alfredo]

76. I recognize that the Dems is a very diverse party. At this time the right

Of our party is in control. Sometimes the left prevails, sometimes the right. It's my party in good times and in bad.

I knew Obama was right of center, but I felt he was a much better candidate. Sure he's pissed me off, compromised where I felt he shouldn't, but that's the way things work in politics. I don't get upset over the daily chatter and election year posing. So far he's gotten results, made some positive changes, but there are areas that need to be changed, like the war, surveillance, and clamping down on wall st thugs.

Politics is the art of compromise. I hate it when our side compromises, but that is the only way things get done in our system.

[TheKentuckian]

77. Alfredo, if you will not stand up for what you believe then who will?

If ideals, values, and principles are not important then why bother to carry the luggage?

How can one call themselves practical, sensible, or pragmatic when they accept solutions that cannot match the scope of the problems? The man going down for the last time is not going to make it if he is 50 feet away and you throw out a 5 foot line and declare mission accomplished.

It would be different if there was no more rope but everybody sees a huge length or two on the dock and others want to swim out with a life jacket.

I can't do it. I can't keep flinging 5 foot ropes and watching all these people drown with strong swimmers, life jackets, and a helluva length of rope. It's fucking busy work and a lie.

I'll take the walk on part in the war over the lead role in a cage. I've played not to lose far too long and it has become toxic and seems more dangerous to the roots than wisdom.

Better to lose than to defeat yourself.

[alfredo]

81. I pick my fights. My fight is against corporate power and

torture.

The positioning during election years is not going to have much to do with what happens the day after.

If they want to call me names, I don't care. I want torturers to be put in prison, and I want to overthrow the corporate power corrupting our government.

Being gassed and clubbed is more of an affront that Gibbs saying something unkind about me, or Obama not adhering to my agenda.

[TheKentuckian]

82. and Obama sucks Donkey Kong ass in both area. I'm not calling you names we are having a little

dialog and have differing perspectives.

I simply point out that you're not moving toward your goals and allow your fundamental principles, goals, essential needs, ideas, and very best and true people to be ridiculed, reviled, sold out, diminished, made impotent, silenced and forgotten in the name of "winning".

In the end everything you struggled and sacrificed for has been thrown away in fruitless compromises with the very bastards every breath is a struggle against and lost in puffs of foul smoke to talented shills

[alfredo]

83. I'm responsible for my reaction. Politics is real nasty. I don't

like it that way, but it's been that way since humans first formed any group. You know, we back the person we hope will be good, sometimes we're right, sometimes not. On the balance Obama is doing OK considering the mess we are in. I'd like him to get the hell out of Afghanistan, I'd like single payer, and strict controls on Wall St. I'm astonished he got what he got on healthcare, and financial reform. We would not have gotten that if we lost in 2008. So yeah, winning is important.

Locally is where the fight is fought. Finding and developing new like minded leaders. Garbage in, garbage out is what made the GOP what it is today. We have to recruit quality people, and support them.

[Forkboy]

48. Politically is was stupid as Hell.

Especially when you need left votes to carry your Party through an election 3 months down the road. It doesn't even matter what he meant, in politics perception is everything. And the perception this has caused was not even remotely worth the potential gain. I'm not upset at what Gibbs said, but from a purely political sense it's one of the most inept things I've seen come down the pike in awhile.

[boston bean]

67. they have calculated that the pl will still vote for them

and it's more important to diss the pl to gain center left/right centrists who have bought into the Obama is a socialist meme.

I do however think they underestimate the level of anxiety they have created on the left with their policies and words.

[Hydra]

39. It's not bringing the independents back though

Because they only care if they are doing well...and they aren't.

Frankly, I don't think the WH is worried about midterms- this is the first election where unlimited contributions will be allowed. If you want to talk about "strategy," the Admin's current best strategy is to tell all of us to go to hell and start kissing corporate ass in an even bigger way.

[Kablooie]

13. Well, at least we are not the amateurish left. (Like the tea party)

[readmoreoften]

15. The tea party are neither amateurish, nor the left.

[readmoreoften]

14. Total cooked-up PR fodder. Notice how we are the "professional" during economic crises.

We are equated to "upper class", "spoiled", "not-working class", "not the folks you wanna have a beer with", etc. during a time of horrific economic crises. Moreover, this little bit of agitprop doesn't even make the tiniest bit of sense.

The Administration might as well've called us "Latte Liberals" or some other concoction usually invented in right-wing circles.

These people are not my friends and I am not in the habit of voting for collaborationist connivers who demonize and use ME while tiptoeing around protofascist organizations.

What passes for politics in the US is disgusting.

[xiamiam]

21. much like the term ' liberal media'..which people believe as well..nt

[Robeson]

23. k&r.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. The "old" nomenclature was "Red Baiting". Same song, different singer.

[Land Shark]

32. The message is: "Ignore "Professional Left" ON MEDIA" and assert a "Silent Majority" 4 Admin policy

[grahamhgreen]

38. Exactly. nt

[Odin2005]

35. It's typical Neo-Liberal ideological doctrine used to stifle the will of the people.

[Individualist]

37. A nomenclature that has the stink of DLC all over it.

[mod mom]

42. So Gibbs is working to divide the left? Great for the party. Whose side is he on then?

[grahamhgreen]

43. Easy to answer

Into whose pockets are our tax dollars now being funneled?

[boppers]

78. Pointing out an existing division is not creating the division.

I think Gibbs was doing the former, not the latter.

[Stinky The Clown]

57. "Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours"

[Safetykitten]

62. Really? Is this a joke?

[meow mix]

75. gibbs outted himself as a total freeper.

he sounds exactly like drugball

[earth mom]

80. Yep-Gibbs totally sounds like a freeper.

:puke:

[earth mom]

79. The divide is alive and well here on DU and no doubt the powers that be love it.

:grr:

[Marr]

84. I think it's more directed at Corporate America, honestly.

DLC-type Democrats make a point of showing that they are not part of "the left", and actually brag about how liberals don't like them. That's how they court corporate cash.