Will Liberals/Democrats Get What They Deserve on Election Day?

[YankeeLeft7x]

November 1, 2010

Why Liberals Will Get What They Deserve on Election Day
Don't Act Don't Sell

By STEVEN HIGGS

“....The list of reasons why the Democrats must purge their own ranks before the radical right does it for them is long and sadly predictable, starting with the way they treat their base: labor, social justice, peace, environmental and women activists, as well as disenfranchised minorities…….If there has been any political lesson 30 years of Republican ascension should have taught the Democrats it's that the base is vital to success in a political duopoly. Yet the party of Roosevelt and Truman not only ignores its core constituencies, except when their votes are needed, it openly holds them in contempt, a la the rhetoric of Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs....Another entry on the purge list is the Democrats' failure to understand that the public and the times demand leadership, not capitulation. Civically abandoned by the news media, the majority of the American electorate is clueless about the issues; forget about the answers. Rove and George W. Bush didn't position themselves to steal two elections with their stance on the issues. They nurtured their base and projected strength and principle for everyone else….How many times did Obama think he could reach out to his enemies and get smacked upside his head before the public would realize he's not the leader the world needs?....If he thinks Americans respect retreat in the heat of battle, he's wrong and doesn't deserve to be in power. If he doesn't understand this is a life-and-death battle for the radically religious racists who confront him, he's learned little from American history, ironically, and can't prevent its ugly repetition….Evidence that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party failed to understand they were elected to act started accumulating before the new administration assumed the mantle, when the president announced he was hiring Wall Street to oversee Wall Street, after what Wall Street did....The surrender has continued unabated to this day, as evidenced by administration policy on don't-ask-don't-tell (DADT), the Clinton-era rule that bans gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. There are few injustices the president has promised to remedy more loudly and more often than DADT. And yet, when a federal judge declared the policy unconstitutional, his administration appealed the ruling....”

Read the Entire Article @:
http://www.counterpunch.org/higgs11012010.html

[emulatorloo]

1. Off topic but reminds me: Republican funded ad tells Latinos: "Don't Vote" for Democrats

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/univision-pulls-plug-on-dont-vote-ad-targeted-at-latino-reid-voters.php

Univision Pulls Plug On "Don't Vote" Ad Targeted At Latino Reid Voters

Ben Smith breaks the news that the Spanish-language network Univision will not be airing a controversial segment by the conservative group Latinos for Reform urging Hispanic voters to stay home on election day in Nevada.

"Univision will not be running any spots from Latinos for Reform related to voting," according to network spokeswoman Monica Talan. "Univision prides itself on promoting civic engagement and our extensive national campaigns encourage Hispanics to vote."

[Deep13]

2. Respectfully, it's not a question of what politicians deserve...

...it's what we deserve. And those of us who have been pushing for social justice will probably not get what we deserve.

[Aramchek]

9. people who believe the shit this OP is spewing are akin to self-flagellists

They think they are punishing the Democrats, yet they are only punishing the People.

[Speck Tater]

3. It doesn't matter how often they are told what they need to hear...

Power has gone to their heads and they think they know what's best for the rest of us, namely that we all need to shut up and fall in line.

[One_Life_To_Give]

4. We will pay for the sins of our leaders

If the polls are to be believed. Our leaders will find their majority trimmed and the loss of one chamber. For us it means a big question mark next to repeal of DADT. No ENDA in the near future, roll backs of marriage. Probably some tweaking away what little was gained in health care. Obstruction of environmental legislation, confused/mixed foreign policy objectives.

To think only 24mo's ago predictions were for the Republicans to go the way of the Whigs. Who would have dared think that what Shrub had done to them could be so easily erased.

[Aramchek]

5. unadulterated horseshit

Stephen Higgs is a fucking idiot.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Now there's a cogent argument.

Care to elaborate?

[Aramchek]

8. Sure, the person who wrote this is a dullard, if they actually believe what they typed.

But I'm sure all the Obama haters think this is the Word of God.

Some peoples' brains never go through the final stage of development.
They remain childlike in their comprehension as well as their temper tantrums.

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. Childlike comprehension? Are you looking in the mirror?

The writer goes into detailed examination of how the core constituencies of the Democratic party have been ignored or outright insulted by this administration, those same constituencies who are expected to vote in support of said administration, and I ask for what ISSUES he brought up you take issue with. Your reply, not unexpectedly, is blah blah blah Obama hater.

So, again, what particulars do you take issue with? What is your alternate explanation for the administration's stance?

[Aramchek]

11. this writer has a personal beef with Democratic Leadership

and they are extending that to the public at large.

Just because one idiot believes this, doesn't make it real.

Well, make that two, since you bought it whole hog.

You want someone to be pissed off along with. I guess that is understandable.
But please, don't pretend that you represent the masses.

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. Again, specifics.

"Yet the party of Roosevelt and Truman not only ignores its core constituencies, except when their votes are needed, it openly holds them in contempt, a la the rhetoric of Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs..."

Is this wrong? Who did Rahm call 'fucking retards' - tea partiers or progressives?

Just what makes you think YOU represent the Democratic electorate?

"If he thinks Americans respect retreat in the heat of battle, he's wrong and doesn't deserve to be in power. If he doesn't understand this is a life-and-death battle for the radically religious racists who confront him, he's learned little from American history, ironically, and can't prevent its ugly repetition..."

Do you think the other side is NOT representative of radically religious racists, who hate him simply for being him? His policies are center-right republican issues, from the watered-down HCR bill (remarkably similar to the Republican bill of 10 years ago), the anti-labor 'Race To The Top' education initiative which defunds public schools in favor of corporate (non-union) schools, his continuation of the wars, his failure to close Gitmo (within the first year, was the promise) and trying its prisoners in the federal courts - as opposed to the boosting of the military kangaroo courts.

Again - what are the specifics that you claim to be childlike Obama bashing?

Do you have ANY fucking argument at all?

[Deep13]

14. Oh good, I don't want any of that adulterated horseshit!

I want my horseshit to be pure and unspoiled. :evilgrin:

[leftstreet]

6. Vote Democratic! Force the leadership to retain the majority! n/t

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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

[spanone]

15. 30 years of republican assension? lost me there.

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. How so? 80-92, they held the presidency. 94-2000, they held congress.

2000-2006 they had the presidency AND congress. 2006-2008 they retained the presidency. 2008-present, they (and their blue dog allies) prevented any substantive changes to the Republican way of politics.

That isn't 30 years?

The republicans have controlled the debate for 30 years, and leaving the Dems to be, on occasion, more or less effective reactive to the Republicans.

How would YOU describe it?