The Progressive: "I’m tired of the Democratic Party’s excuses, and Barack Obama’s apologists"

[Better Believe It]

Nov. 2: The Death Knell of Corporate Liberalism
By Matthew Rothschild
Editor of The Progressive
November 3, 2010

I’m tired of the Democratic Party’s excuses, and Barack Obama’s apologists.

Obama didn’t help himself by trying to placate the Republicans and by muddling his messaging.

He didn’t help himself by lowballing the stimulus and by rejecting a moratorium on foreclosures.

He didn’t help himself by playing a Washington insider game, by trying to buy off a couple of Republicans in Congress and by playing footsie with huge industries, like the banks and the pharmaceutical companies.

Obama was given a mandate for change, and he squandered it.

He never mobilized the base to take on the vested interests.

Please read the full article at:

http://www.progressive.org/wx110310.html

[Dinger]

1. K & R For A Reality Check (For Some) (nt)

[Name removed]

209. Deleted message

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[stillrockin]

262. Sadly, this is true.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

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[jgraz]

3. K&R for truth

[vi5]

4. The last 2 years

Progressives: "Hey great. We have the White House and the House and the Senate. Let's get to work. First we should...."

Democrats/Obama: "Hey yeah, great. We got this. Just sit back and watch us go to town."

Progressives: "But what about...."

Democrats/Obama:" Relax. We got this."

Progressives: "But um...hey you're doing this thing and maybe that's not..."

Democrats/Obama: "Chill out. We know what we're doing. Let the big boys handle this. Stop causing a ruckus and making our jobs more difficult."

Progressives: "Yeah, but you didn't..."

Democrats/Obama: "Stop! Just keep quiet and we'll handle it. Don't raise a stink. You'll see. We got this covered."

Cue the bloodbath of November 2nd, 2010

Democrats/Obama: "Well why didn't YOU guys DO something?!?!?!? You know you guys could have spoken up or something!"

Progressives: "WTF????"

[Autumn]

13. You nailed it,

but hey we on the left are the ones to blame.

[Beartracks]

185. Didn't the Democrat Party work better when....

... ALL Dems were on the left?

:shrug:

---------------------------------------

[reggie the dog]

207. I have read that its true but

i was born in 1979 so i never saw anything like that.....

[femrap]

259. And multi-national corporations

didn't rule the politicians, the economy, our rights....hell, the entire f*cking world. The Corporations are the ROOT of this evil.

[wildbilln864]

279. It's the Democratic Party...

not democrat party! Thank you.

[Beartracks]

313. Whoops! I was in a hurry and tired.

Please accept my apologies. When I hit Post, I remember thinking that didn't look right. LOL

-------------------------

[Autumn]

323. Why yes, I believe it worked MUCH

better. Silly us for wanting Democrats in our Party instead of Republican light. No matter how you spin it, republican light is still a fucking republican.

[Zenlitened]

31. .

:thumbsup:

[Goblinmonger]

49. Exactly right. n/t

[metapunditedgy]

67. Consider adding a first line:

Obama (pre-election): Hey, I've got all these progressive policies, just looking for a White House and a Congress to do this thing. Can you help?

[polichick]

68. LOL (Don't forget how "retarded" our ideas were.) nt

[Jackpine Radical]

275. You oughtta be tested for drugs

The very nerve of bringing up something like that "retarded" business.

Next, you'll be blathering on about the Admin supporting Blanche Lincoln when the Professional Leftists tried to primary her.

[jgraz]

80. NAILED IT.

:applause:

[Lucian]

103. That's the truth in a nutshell, right there.

[grahamhgreen]

106. !

[leeroysphitz]

116. nice.

[XemaSab]

136. So much word

:(

[LWolf]

143. Yep. nt

[donco6]

147. And thus the 2010 bloodbath is blamed on Progressives. The End. n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

278. And Kristallnacht was blamed on the Communists.

[calimary]

151. If only I could recommend a post...

ABSOLUTELY nailed it!

[defendandprotect]

157. Exactly....good article... said many times before ... but where's PLAN B????

I do indeed think the "chess game" crap is over --

What is Plan B -- ?

[JJ]

164. Roll over completely and ask Boehner what he wants to do.

Plan B in a nutshell.

[defendandprotect]

182. Well ....

what I meant was what is OUR Plan B -- ???

[eilen]

229. My Obama fantasy

Obama stands true to his convictions, listening to concerns of the deficit he vetos any bill that extends the Bush tax cuts.

He is bold, he tell repubs and centrists-- f-u mutha fuckers. Because he knows, even if he signs it, they will still call him a socialist and a deficit making son of a Kenyan terrorist and knock him down and will filibuster any legislation he tries to push.

When the voters write and demonstrate and wring their hands because the richies aren't getting their federal subsidies-- and Katie Couric asks him what he has to say-- he could say-- "I gave you healthcare and you shellacked me in 2010. No I'm working on reverse psychology with you feebeminded, Limbaugh listening, Fox Snooze brainwashed bullying teaparty loudmouths. I'm bringing your country back to the days of "I like Ike". By the way, by executive order, I'm reinstituting the draft. We start with those over 50 and work our way down. That should cut our medicare costs by half, save the states unemployment, and beginning with those registered Republican, seriously improve our numbers in 2012."

[Catherina]

162. ++++++++++10,000 n/t

[beforeyoureyes]

178. Make me do it. Shutting down the phone lines with demands for real health care reform

All they did was shut off their answering machines.

Literally.

That is what they did.

[Lugnut]

181. They blew it.

We were looking for guts and we got compromise. The Repugs don't compromise and they won't be anytime soon now that they've clobbered the crap out of the Dems. Dems turn the other cheek and Repugs stuff it up our noses.

I don't like those Repug tactics but being a wuss doesn't help either. Sometimes you have to give what you get. When bullies shove you around a swift smack to the snoot wouldn't hurt amd might actually help.

[truedelphi]

200. But what if both sides, the R's and the D's, work for the same

Overall Controllers? It is so hard for me to believe that anyone in the White House and most in the Senate are working for We the People. They seem to be far more concerned about their friends in industry.

I mean, come on. We had a majority in the House, we had a majority in the Senate, and the Democratic leadership came up with the notion that almost everything they did needed sixty votes.

If yesterday the Dems had gotten a landslide that gave them 80 % control of both houses, they would have put together some arcane rule that they now need 82% to pass any major bills.

Then you read Matt Taibbi in the Rolling Stone Magazine, and he discusses how Reid shoved aside the Democrats that wanted a really tough and significant Financial Reform Act. Reid went around those people and got two Republicans to help him put together the watered down package that we got.

[whathehell]

292. Curious....

Are you saying it was Reid who picked Geitner and Summers?

As I said, I'm just curious..I know BO would have to sign off on it, in any case, but I just wondered whose "big idea" it was in the first place.

[truedelphi]

298. As far as the Financial 'Reform' Act

Summers and Geithner are not in Congress, and so supposedly they did n't help draft it. They are advisors to the President with Tim Geithner wearing the head of US Treasury cap as well. Tim's office is in fact just down the hall from the Oval Office, and Obama repeatedly has called Tim his "good buddy."

The bill was actually drafted by Bernie Sanders, one of the truly fine people we have in the Senate. With principles that FDR would be hard pressed to fault, even if Bernie has an "I" after his name.

However, the Senatorial Masters of the Dark Overlord saw to it that it went through whatever committee maneuvers that would be able to tamper with it and water it down.

I no longer remember which people in Congress wanted help with their own maneuvering in order to ensure that it remained a hard hitting bill. But Reid side stepped these two people and went off with two Republicans to get the bill watered down.

[whathehell]

307. His bad.....These corporate friendly dems better smarten up. n/t

[Lugnut]

316. It's that watered down thing that gets me.

Yes, a lot was accomplished and I'm grateful for that. They failed to go big. They didn't even try to do more. I just don't get it.

[indy legend]

254. +1. But all we got was someone who was all talk and when the bully

shoved him he gave the bully his lunch money, and said please don't hurt me anymore. Thanks for the fuckin change. Tea baggers want their country back? I want the three years of my life, time, effort,work, and money back I waisted on a gutless turd that said he was going to fight for me. Now he wants my help again? sorry, I may be a "retarded" progressive liberal but I'm smart enough to know a gutless coward or a bought and paid for empty suite when I see one Mr. president. I got you compromise right here.

[Lorien]

204. Yep. And now Team Obama will blame us for forcing them to go to the hard Right

and cater to every Big Corporate GOP idea out there. It's easy to see from the comments made by the usual suspects that that was the plan all along.

[Dappleganger]

218. Brilliant! nt

[peace frog]

219. YES YES YES

It hurts only mildly less, knowing we were right. It hurts greatly, knowing they didn't listen and didn't care. We don't matter.

[Myrina]

221. +1000

He's been telling us since Day 1 that we "need to make him" do what we want done, and we've tried, mightily, only to be shot down and derided at every turn.

Grrr. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[tomp]

234. ummm...he's a liar.. nt

[disillusioned73]

222. Bingo - Bango!!!

:dem:

[MissDeeds]

226. Exactly

Arrogance, hubris, and timid leadership. Obama has placated the right side of the aisle far too often.

[Le Taz Hot]

227. THIS needs to be a seperate post. n/t

[AuntPatsy]

233. Please make this an op, it is more than perfect......

[Lost4words]

236. BINGO - Bells DING DING DING

truth rings out

[BrklynLiberal]

239. Exactly...spot on...well said...

[Melissa G]

260. EXACTLY!!! n/t

[harun]

276. +1

[Raster]

294. On the money, except for....

Democrats/Obama: "...three-dimensional chess...?

Democrats/Obama: "...pony ... whiners... professional left..."

Add the above wherever in the dialog.

And how could we forget: "I will be a fierce advocate for just one song and a two-minute prayer."

[byrok]

299. ...

:applause:

well said.

[Agony]

309. WTF? is right!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. He was elected with more enthusiastic supporters than I have ever seen in my lifetime

and a smart politician would have mobilized them from the very beginning. In January 2009, if he had said, "I want you to write LTTEs, e-mail all your friends, lobby your Congressional Reps and Senators, and hold demonstrations in favor of (public option health care/breaking up the banks/placing a surtax on companies that outsource jobs/whatever)," they would have been happy to do it.

Obama's attitude seemed to be more like, "OK, you elected me; now I can safely ignore you and pal around with the Wall Street types."

That is NOT the way to get things done or to retain one's popularity.

Obama didn't dance with them what brung him.

[Tansy_Gold]

+millions to you, too

spot on.

[OhioBlue]

15. bull shit

He did that exactly - he did rally his supporters, he did ask us to write LTTEs, e-mail our friends and lobby Congressional Reps & Senators

And We DID it!!!!!

Have you ever heard of OFA?

Jesus Christ. He even PERSONALLY asked us to do it on conference calls.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. Maybe he was sending messages only to DLC types, because if he was doing

such things, I sure didn't hear of them.

[OhioBlue]

86. no. he wasn't sending messages only to DLC types

that doesn't even make a bit of sense. if you thought you were taking a cheap shot... fail.

he was sending them to supporters. To people signed up to get Organizing for America information. My guess is you are not signed up for OFA and/or do not read their e-mails. They don't know you're a supporter if you haven't signed up.

[polichick]

75. But he had to do his part too - instead of capitulating to Republicans and corporations,..

...and filling his administration with corporate hacks.

[GeorgeGist]

126. bull shit.

He chased Republicans on his Honeymoon.

[MsPithy]

158. This is the hands down, single most awesomest comment

I have ever read in my whole entire life! Is there some COMMENT HALL OF FAME, or something? GeorgeGist, I gotta tell you right now, I am going to write this everywhere, and sometimes even credit you! Thanks!

[Desertrose]

194. Exactly...he chased Republicans ....on his HONEYMOON!

What a waste of energy & goodwill.

And unfortunately surrounded himself with really crappy advisers.

[Angry Dragon]

268. What you say may be true

However he did not bother to listen to the phone calls or read the letters.
I wrote, I called, and what did I get??
I got compromise starting from the middle and then going right from there.

This president talks a very good game but he then stops there. He has no idea
how to fight.

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

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

[polichick]

74. All true - wonder who he'll dance with now. nt

[Lorien]

202. Agreed as always, Lydia!

Sad that the lesson still won't be learned.

[Raster]

295. Absolutely! I will NEVER forget the night Obama was elected.

People of all ages, all colors, with tears in their eyes thinking that our worst nightmare had passed and we were moving into the light. There was a time of national cohesion unlike we have not seen in decades. We COULD HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD. And that moment slipped away with: "chill out, I got this."

Perhaps we should have checked the resume a bit more carefully.

[CBR]

6. Well I am sick of the professional complainers... so fuck them

and the horse they rode in on.

[Tansy_Gold]

9. The horse they rode in on. . . .

. . . was Barack Obama.

Just like you.




TG

[jgraz]

11. Two snaps and a circle.

:spray:

[NJmaverick]

25. You seem very happy

[CBR]

32. ...ate lots of thick, soft dumplings last night in victory.

Victimhood reigns for two more years.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

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

[Bobbie Jo]

56. Delete

[kick-ass-bob]

57. Call me

Captain Obvious. :P

[Bobbie Jo]

61. Not exactly what I had in mind.

[kenfrequed]

197. You know...

That new Democrat symbol.... the D in a circle. It looks entirely too much like a damned target. Who designed it anyhow?

I think at best what you are seeing (and being annoyed with) is a combination of gallows humor and the bittersweet taste of a bunch of the progressives here actually being right about some of the things (though maybe not all of them).

The fact is that little snippets and edits and marginal alterations in policy doesn't seem bold or strong enough and thanks to Blue Dog blockage and the most obstructionist political minority in American History, that is what was accomplished. Rather than being able to hold up a strong policy or program and say "Hey, we did that!" our congressmen had to run on a gray mass of undifferentiated glop. Sure some of the fixes here and there were clever and some of them were even good, but there wasn't something that stood out properly and all of it was entirely compromised from the get go.

Meanwhile Evan Bayh got to betray the party at every stage and sell us all out. And his final 'fuck you' was pulling out of running with 20 million dollars that had been given to him to run again a day before the cut off time for a Democrat to register to run for his seat.

Sad but true.

[kenfrequed]

196. I half agree

though the joke wasn't really that clever.

Still neither is calling progressives professional complainers.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

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[Kalun D]

124. Too Bad

that horse wasn't real

[Bobbie Jo]

53. +1,000,000

[Name removed]

102. Deleted message

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

[Webster Green]

225. Do you put bread crumbs in your meat loaf?

Or maybe just pieces of bread? You know, as a filler (meat extender)?

Any criticism of the current president or his administration, or his policies is seen as complaining, whining or hating, so I'm guessing that this "political discussion board" would be more friendly if we just traded recipes or something.

What about scrambled eggs. Do you add milk or water to make them fluffy?

[stillrockin]

265. Stick your head back in the sand then.

Obama is making a mockery of our party.

[Jester Messiah]

269. Should be said loudly and often. [nt]

[Eyerish]

7. K&R

[Greyhound]

8. Cut off his own coattails rolling over for the Banksters and nibbling around the edges.

Yet again, we told them this would happen, and they ignored us, and once again they got the same results.
:kick: & R

[bobbolink]

131. Its too bad there is no joy in being able to say "We told you so."

Even worse, the lesson wasn't learned, and we are in for more of the same, only cranked up several notches.

Oh well.... its only a country. Not like its something important.

[Greyhound]

138. Yeah, it's going to keep sucking and the crabs will get more aggressive

as they pull each other back down into the bucket.
:(

:kick:

[jonnyblitz]

10. K & R. nt

[Waiting For Everyman]

12. K&R

Truth - those who oppose it can ignore it (at their peril), but they can't change it.

[Dappleganger]

14. I found his speech very disappointing.

Plenty in there for the republicans and nothing for the liberals.

[theHandpuppet]

19. And unfortunately...

.... just what I expected.

[niceypoo]

249. "Plenty in there for the republicans and nothing for the liberals"

Obama bragged that the healthcare bill contained, 'every republican idea.'

This is a very disturbing pattern. If it carries over to tax cutting for the rich, I will be done with him and will support a primary challenger.

[Poboy]

16. K&R

[ej510]

17. And now he is getting ready to triangulate.

The republicans are going to be even tougher to work with, because they believe their strategy worked.

[sadbear]

101. Their strategy did work

[RaleighNCDUer]

241. It's the DLC strategy that didn't work - unless, of course, you're of a mind

that the DLC ARE Republicans, which kind of changes the definition of success.

[xocet]

172. Is it going to be triangulation or capitulation? n/t

[disillusioned73]

224. And as the triangulation and 12 quad squared chess move is pondered,

they're sharpening their weapons as we speak....:banghead:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. They voted for an end to "politics-as-usual". They got "politics-as-usual" and a lot of excuses.

And, the Democrats got shellacked for their non-efforts.

[Vinnie From Indy]

20. The next battle should be for the soul of the Democratic Party

The Obama people fucked up royally if they ever truly wanted to govern as Progressives. Sometimes I have my doubts about that.

The fact is that if Obama will not lead a true Progressive agenda, he should face a primary challenge. I will proudly proclaim to be a Democrat and help in the effort to wrest control of the party away from the DLC'ers and Obama if he continues to ignore and ridicule progressives. I'm tired of the lies and bullshit from this Administration.

[laughingliberal]

21. I don't even think the inadequate stimulus was such a problem. The problem was selling it as more...

We lost this election the day President Obama's team declared the stimulus would keep unemployment from going over 8%.

It should have been made clear the stingy Republicans in the Senate prevented spending enough to get help for jobs and after every bad jobs report, we should have been reminding the people who was responsible for that. It's one thing to pass weak legislation. It's another thing to raise the expectations to an unreasonable level.

[Poboy]

27. Overpromise and under deliver, and let your opponent define you.

Great strategy!

[Mimosa]

134. That was it, Poboy.

Republican strategists -Rove, Limbaugh, Beck- are defining us to the undereducated. They are running with the ball.

[pokercat999]

211. The "undereducated" are the majority of your fellow citizens.

Your apparent attitude toward them is exactly what allowed the RW Elites to convince people that rethugs were, by the people and for the people, when the opposite is true. That you and those with your attitude toward the common man are elitists may be true after-all. This last election should solidify the fact that every persons vote is counted the same. Allowing the corporate elite to buy those votes through the use of the likes of Rush tends to show what your "EDUCATION" is worth.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

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[NJmaverick]

37. + 1 billion!

[Donnachaidh]

115. one billion deletes

:rofl: :rofl:

[Hassin Bin Sober]

120. LOL ... +1

:rofl:

[Chisox08]

301. - 1 billion!

:rofl: :rofl:

[polichick]

23. "They lived by corporate liberalism. And Democrats around the country died by it."

Exactly how I feel about it - excellent piece!

The question for this 30+ year liberal Dem activist: Should I continue to work for this party, or look elsewhere for the progressive movement that will replace it?

[glitch]

173. Progressives should run as splinter Dems, like the teabaggers did.

They were able to rebrand themselves yet continue to have the "machine" work for them. By primarying Republicans they got to appear in debates, something the two parties always manage to prevent Greens and other "third" parties from ever doing. That enabled them to motivate dissatisfied (but lazy and low-information) republicans with an easy option to switch to.

Think about that. They basically created a third party with all the privileges of the duopoly.

[reggie the dog]

208. glitch, you are on to something there....

[glitch]

231. Yeah, but it will be a lot harder without the billionaire backers and corporate wurlitzer blasting

our tune and our tune only for year(s) ahead.

Still, we've got the people. The "alternative" power source.

[Radical Activist]

24. In what media outlets will I find those Obama apologists?

:shrug:

I certainly wont find them in left publications like the progressive that decided to not lift a finger to help while Obama tried to pass a progressive agenda through a conservative Senate. I won't find it in publications who thought it was more important to spread death-panel fear mongering about the "catfood" commission.

Tell me where I would find those apologists in the press, and after you can't, tell me how ANY President is supposed to pass a progressive agenda with no support in the progressive media.

[flamingdem]

65. great point nt

[Name removed]

113. Deleted message

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[Kalun D]

128. BS

""tell me how ANY President is supposed to pass a progressive agenda with no support in the progressive media.""

he got no support from progressives because it WAS NOT a progressive agenda

[treestar]

160. +3000000

Really! Repuke Media never fails to cheerlead them on 10000%!

[pychicfakes2]

171. Apologist?

Radical Activist, I am in agreement with you on that.

We are supposed to mobilize ourselves and not the other way around. Just when did this become his job too? All I hear all day is "he failed us" or "he has no balls" The so called left has seriously changed since I have grown up. A real progressive would take action. Progressives started organizations to help people. Real progressives created Cooperatives, funded after school programs, or opened shelters.

I think that the term "progressive" is used a little loosely. Progressives make things happen. This is not progressive this is regressive. I for one am phucking tired of it.

OUR PRESIDENT IS A REAL PROGRESSIVE!!!!!
HE WAS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER, I TOO WILL BE A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER.

HE IS PRINCIPLED, HE IS STRONG, HE IS THE FIRST OF HIS KIND !!!

You are not real progressives, your Obama Bashers, it is sickening to watch.

HUFFINGTON POST, DU, ED SCHULTZ, YOU ALL OUGHT TO BE ASHED OF YOURSELVES !!!!

YOU ARE THE ONES THAT DON'T GET IT !!!!!

[Radical Activist]

184. Exactly.

Right on. Welcome to DU.

[Angry Dragon]

274. You are right about one thing

He is regressive, he has moved this party farther right than when he ran for office.

He is not strong, he does not know how to fight for his principals
unless his principals are going back on ones' word.

And tell us what we do not get.

[sabrina 1]

199. No one has to spread fear of a Commission that is headed by

the epitome of the looney Rightwinger, Alan Simpson. What WAS this president thinking? Not to mention that he stated clearly in the campaign that he was against such commissions, because, he said truthfully, 'they are nothing but an end run around Congress which is where these debates should take place, publicly and openly'.

And then, as with so many other promises he made in the campaign, like offshore drilling etc. he turned around and set up a Republican dominated Commission to which Grover Norquist was invited to give advice on the Government Budget (can it get any more insane than this?) headed by a long-time enemy of Social Security. And he makes no excuses, no apologies for it. He is arrogant towards the people who elected him.

That Commission needs to be feared. And here we go again. I don't want to have to say 'I told you so' when we see the 'recommendations' from this disastrous excuse for a democratic Commission. But you are defending it, so don't complain when people do say 'I told you so' because they are going to lie as they have done already, about SS. They are going to make the false claim that SS had anything to do with the deficit, which it COULD NOT since it is a separate fund from the Government. But that won't stop them, and it hasn't stopped this President from doing so already. I'm afraid a deal has already been made, in secret, regarding SS. I see they finally silenced big mouth Alan Simpson without whose penchant for insulting the 'lesser people' we would not even know what they are up to. So much for openness.

Sometimes you have to face reality. We've been punked. Now what do we do?

[jgraz]

263. Yes, how dare we spread fear about a commission run by a DLC thug and a senile right-winger.

I'm sure everything will be just fine. Bruce and Alan will come through for us in the end. :eyes:

[Autumn]

308. I find it amazing that an "activist" and I

hesitate to use a word that has such wonderful meaning, would resent a publication letting people know that there is a nasty ass group of people out to harm some of the most helpless among us, our seniors and disabled.

[Better Believe It]

26. The Progressive: "Crushed by Feingold’s Defeat"

Crushed by Feingold’s Defeat
By Matthew Rothschild
Editor of The Progressive
November 3, 2010

How ironic it is that Feingold, who more than any other Senator tried to limit the poisonous influence of corporate money in politics, succumbed to that very disease.

Progressives across Wisconsin, and across the country, are feeling crushed by the defeat of Sen. Russ Feingold, one of the finest Senators ever to represent the Badger state.

Now Russ Feingold is gone.

And Wisconsin is a less proud place to live in today.

Please read the full article at:

http://www.progressive.org/wx1103b10.html

[ecstatic]

28. So wait... is the plan to continue bashing Dems? Wasn't that plan an epic fail

last time?

[Codeine]

30. Madness is a self-perpetuating thing. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

33. You mean like Rahm and Gibbs bashed Democrats?

[ecstatic]

38. Rahm is gone, can we move on please?

My God. I wasn't a fan or a hater of his, but this continued obsession with Rahm is disturbing.

[metapunditedgy]

70. Lots of Democrats are gone now too. Maybe we should just "let it go."

If the party doesn't want to learn from its mistakes, too bad for them.

When guilty parties want to "move on," it's bad for the Democratic party and it's bad for the country.

[datasuspect]

96. he isn't gone for us in Chicago.

the field of candidates is dropping like flies because him and axelrod are in the race.

[mod mom]

220. So sorry. Please defeat his sorry ass & send him packing back to investment banking

Those assholes deserve each other!

[tomp]

117. you want to move on without summing up the mistakes...

....and changing course? that will never happen. so i strongly advise you, if you know what's good for you, NOT to hold your breath waiting for it to happen. we will keep going around in circles until we face th truth. it's why not prosecuting bush/cheney is INCREDIBLY BAD JUDGMENT. because we don't get to sum up and move on. we just moved on and nothing changes.

OBAMA NEEDS TO SAY HE CHOSE THE WRONG STRATEGY AND THE WRONG PEOPLE! HE MUST CHOOSE AN OVERTLY PROGRESSIVE AGENDA WITH A PROGRESSIVE STAFF AND ADVISORS IN PLACE AND WITH NO COMPROMISES. HE MUST TAKE HIS CASE TO THE PEOPLE 24/7/365.

then and only then can we move forward.

prediction: won't happen.

[Caretha]

215. Rahm was a large part of the problem

and one of the reasons why we are having this discussion today. If you fail to learn history, there is an insanely large chance you will repeat it.

Anytime I hear the words "can we move on please? reminds me of children who do not want to face the consequences of their errors.

[stillrockin]

264. He's not gone! He's in Chicago!

[NJmaverick]

47. Rahm didn't bash the Democrats

[Goblinmonger]

50. Just the retarded ones

ETA: :sarcasm: because some people are dense

[NJmaverick]

52. Please provide the quote where he attacked the Democrats

which you will not do because none exists

[Goblinmonger]

69. I'm sorry, I meant the "fucking retarded" ones. My bad.

So saying a plan of the liberal Dems was "fucking retarded" was not attacking the Dems? Interesting.

[PassingFair]

112. He meant the PLAN...the PLAN...and it really depends on what your ....

definition of "fucking" is; and of course
what "retarded" is.

:sarcasm:

:crazy:

[donco6]

150. It's sorta like Separation of Church and State not being in the Constitution.

You have to think like O'Donnell.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

54. also wrong since the only thing he called retardeld was an pan/idea of theirs

[jgraz]

59. You mean the "retarded" idea that compromise with the Repukes will lead to electoral victory?

Is that the idea you meant?

[sabrina 1]

300. Nancy Pelosi and other Congressional leaders twice went to the WH

to ask them to stop attacking Democrats, lumping them in with Republicans when the president would say that 'Washington is Broken' and it is 'both sides'. She and they explained to Axelrod et al that it was harming them before the November Elections. They asked that rather than do this, the president come out and stump for Democratic candidates. They didn't get much support and now we see the result. Rahm was a part of that and it should not be forgotten, any more than Gibbs underhanded attacks on another great Democrat, Howard Dean, should be forgotten.

I guess the Congressional Dems. were wondering 'with friends like these, who needs enemies'?

[sabrina 1]

312. + 1,000 n/t

[NJmaverick]

36. I guess failure is dependent on what one's goals are

[HughMoran]

42. Yep. Aiming at 2012 now.

[felix_numinous]

34. K + R

No more pandering, no more trying to create an illusion of compromise with people who have no intention of compromising.

It is the RW who are tearing down the country, and by insisting President Obama stand up against them, we will have a chance for real change.

[Naturyl]

35. Kickity Reccity

Auto-K&R for anything anti-DLC.

[democrank]

39. "....and he squandered it."

Squandered indeed.

[LittleBlue]

40. K&R. Completely correct.

The enablers have been utterly destroyed today.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

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

[TexasObserver]

46. recommend

[blindpig]

48. Heh, it's always been 'corporate liberalism'

It's just that for reasons hard to fathom they're not even trying to disguise it anymore. Not even a little.

The Money Party rules, regardless of party affiliation.

[Raksha]

I don't think it's so much that they're not trying to disguise it

as that they CAN'T. When you throw away the kind of mandate Obama had in January 2009, with the WH and BOTH houses of Congress...well, it becomes sort of obvious.

[Lucky 13]

51. K&R - I'm tired of the corporate ass kissing.

It has to stop. I thought that's what we'd be doing by electing Obama. It's not what we got.

[yurbud]

55. sadly true. And he didn't try to strong arm the corrupt conservative Dems in the Senate

but instead, let them roll him.

[Kalun D]

130. No

he rolled with them

[cliffordu]

58. Wellll...Go elect Kucinich, or whoever....

[MadHound]

62. Funny how Kucinich has survived and thrived as a definitive liberal,

In what is a red state. Hmm, maybe being a real liberal instead of a corporate liberal is the ticket.

[jgraz]

72. interesting how that bit of reality is lost on some

:crazy:

[bobbolink]

139. Well, damn.... what are they gonna do when it doesn't fit into their narrative?

Tilt.

[Dr.Phool]

91. They did.....again.

[reggie the dog]

210. he won for the 7th time in a row

in very right wing ohio..... despite the best efforts of the republicans to defeat him as he is their arch nemesis

[DevonRex]

60. Rothshild can stick it up his ass. I'm fucking SICK of all the Dem bashing

today. Really fucking sick of it.

[jgraz]

63. dup

[jgraz]

64. Yeah, we should really ignore the part where he happens to be right.

Because we want to repeat last night's performance in 2012. :eyes:

[tomp]

118. why be right when we can be slaves to the democratic party? nt

[bobbolink]

140. You seem to be veering off the approved script.

:yourock:

[dionysus]

88. !!

:woohoo:

[DevonRex]

89. ...

I'm in :nuke: mode now. :hi:

[Name removed]

93. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

105. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Howler]

66. Hell Yes!!!!!! n/t

n/t

[Peacetrain]

71. Well Matthew.. let me tell you what I am tired of..

A knife in the back.. while trying to pull your lazy ass along.. I did not see you worthless hind end out there.. when the rest of the Democrats were trying to fight this battle.

Where the hell were you when we were trying to save our judges.

Oh yeah.. sitting there typing your angst.

[jgraz]

79. Really. You're calling the editor of The Progressive lazy.

What color is the sky in your world?

[Peacetrain]

81. Right now pretty damn gray...I will call him a bull frog if I want to

[jgraz]

83. OK, that made no sense.

Once more in English, please?

[Phlem]

161. Dude

They came out of the wood work last night when I vented on how I'v lost respect for Obama for pissing away the advantage we all worked for and gave him. I really felt like a progressive standing in the middle of a national tea party convention.

Seems if your not cheering for him your not fighting for our country or some shit like that.

I'm with you 1000 bajillion % jgraz, I mean if we can't be critical of our leaders then we should be called republicans.

-p

[Egnever]

273. lol out of the woodwork

says the guy no one knows about a longstanding highly recognizable du poster.

Out of the woodwork indeed.

[Phlem]

318. Who gives a shit sack

how many f'ing posts anyone has put on here. I didn't know you had to fucking break a 1000 posts to be anyone.

Your as completely ignorant as the ass hats I had to deal with last night.

If I put out a millions posts of shit then I'm somehow worthy?

Most of you and your ilk live in happy fairy land were attitude, hopeful thinking fixes everything.

Sorry if the truth hurts FF. :puke:

-p

[AtomicKitten]

73. I'm tired of the incessant harangue and inaccurate accusations from the fringe left. nt

[jgraz]

76. Interesting. Which part of the article is inaccurate?

:shrug:

[NJmaverick]

78. All of it

[jgraz]

82. HAHAHAH

Seriously, could you possibly be more obvious?

[YOY]

87. Ya know Mav this isn't part of the conversation but you seem to be in such a bad mood...

You know that movie Naked Gun?

Whenever I'm in a bad mood I like to remember scenes from it!

Like that scene where Frank Drebin says "The truth hurts, maybe not as much as jumping on a bicycle without a seat, but it still hurts!"

I tell you...bad mood or not. I sure cheers me up to think of that movie!

[Peacetrain]

94. Mav does not seem in a bad mood.. Me on the other hand.. I am in a real pi$$y mood

A good movie sounds about right for me..

[Autumn]

107. I just dug out that movie. thank you . I think

that's just what I need.

[PassingFair]

110. n/t .....LOLOL n/t

[girl gone mad]

111. And we're tired of seeing the fringe center..

destroy everything progressives fought so hard for over the last century in the name of "bipartisan compromise" with a group of nasty far-right thugs.

[Lord Helmet]

121. +1 thanx

[Name removed]

169. Deleted message

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

[AtomicKitten]

266. .

[MellowDem]

77. Obama tried to work within the system...

instead of fighting the system. Can't say he would've done much better doing the latter. It's a hard road to hoe regardless.

[jgraz]

84. If he was going to do that, he should have said so in the campaign

Running on CHANGE made it seem like we actually had a choice between him and Hillary. It turns out it wouldn't have made any difference whatsoever.

[MellowDem]

85. He ran on change against the Republicans...

I only voted for Obama over Hillary because I thought he was more electable, not because of any (very small) policy differences. And yeah I liked his personal style. But I was never under the impression during the campaign that the change was directed against Hillary at all. It was directed against Republicans, period. Hillary unfortunately was the one to start trying to attack Obama as she was losing, but it was all a farce, as there was no real difference in their policies. It just came down to who would be better at initiating the same policies. And Hillary even went so far as to say McCain was more qualified than Obama. That's how crazy it got.

There was no real choice, in terms of policies, between Hillary and Obama, and that was abundantly clear to everyone here. The fighting was over shallow stupid stuff. I doubt it would have made a difference if we had elected much of anyone to the Presidential office, considering how the Repubs could easily control things as a minority with the filibuster rule. And that's what is depressing.

And he did say, repeatedly throughout his campaign, he was going to work with the other side. It was very obvious. Of course, it is pretty obvious now that when you're working with a psycho, you won't get much done. But even if Obama had tried to go it alone with the rather wobbly Democratic coalition, he couldn't have done much the way our system is set up so that a determined opposition party can pretty much stop anything they want to.

[speppin]

95. I could discern 2 important policy

differences. One was that Hillary said that she would dismantle NCLB and start from scratch. Now we have MORE of NCLB and a dismantling of teacher unions.
Second, she was for Medicare for all (the public option). she would have fought hard to include that option-that I believe. That said, it is water under the bridge.

[mitchtv]

174. she had a better position on nuclear power too

His was scary

[marmar]

90. "Corporate Liberalism"

I like that phrase. McLiberalism. :think:

[deutsey]

92. Excellent

Says what needs to be said.

Let anyone with ears to listen, hear.

[upi402]

97. His corporatism showed

and team Obama called us crybabies and effing we-todds.

I hope there really IS a hell for all Republicans and the DINO's in this party.

[Name removed]

98. Deleted message

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

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

99. Can you back up the claim progressives didn't vote?

They voted at a higher rate than centrists. They always do.

[mistertrickster]

100. "He never mobilized the base to take on the vested interests." Boy, ain't that the truth.

Did he not want to have to owe us?

Was he afraid it was too partisan to call out the troops?

Did he feel he had to placate the big money power brokers as we teeter on the brink of a major depression?

I don't know what he was thinking, but it sure wasn't what I was expecting.

YES, WE CAN! didn't mean sit and watch Washington bicker from afar . . .

[CommonSensePLZ]

104. To play "apologist"

He didn't squander his "mandate," he tried to work with the republicans as one united country, something Bush NEVER would've done or even think to do with us.

He didn't "mobilize the base" like we were an android army with no minds of our own, that's what republicans do.

I bet he would've liked to take Wall street to jail like they deserved but then he might've gotten called socialist.

Obama isn't the one I would've picked for the primary and I think he's better than whoever the republicans would pick, but I'm wondering what's it gonna be? Are we going to keep ragging on him, being 'apologists' or pick some new person as leader?

At least Obama can beat Palin.

[grahamhgreen]

108. He missed his chance to be a historical figure. Too bad. No legacy.

[CommonSensePLZ]

109. Yes, he's COMPLETELY dead.

::http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Oliver_%28comedian%29">do they get it?::

[Name removed]

119. Deleted message

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

[ProSense]

122. You're right

What legacy?

[Name removed]

114. Deleted message

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

[Kalun D]

123. AMEN

BROTHER

he had the power and he neglected to do anything with it.

you blew your chance, you won't get another one

I have a feeling Obama is another one termer like Carter

[Starry Messenger]

125. k & r

[TBF]

127. K&R nt

[ClarkUSA]

129. Matthew Rothschild is a bloviator who is also "Envious of Sarah Palin and the Tea Partiers".

He "respects their tactics": http://www.progressive.org/wx101910.html

What an idiot.

[ProSense]

132. I see, this is about Democrats not being more like teabaggers

:rofl:

[Luminous Animal]

145. It is not like that at all. It is about employing political tactics that is working for them.

As the article states:

"Where they saw Republicans who were too wishy-washy or too compromised, they went after them and took them down, and ran the most avowedly ideological candidates they could find.

They didn’t bother offending the party establishment. They went around the establishment.

And now they’re flexing their muscle and all but daring that establishment to stand in their way."

In other words, building a movement and staying unified to achieve the goals of that movement.

[kenfrequed]

243. What a crock

Your post is absurd and you attempt to pull one line out of an entire article to pretend that he actuall likes the Tea Party. Though I have to thank you for providing a link to look up the guilt by implication that you made. Maybe you figured with an actual link, that no one would look it up.

Let us see what he REALLY says about the Tea Party.


-------------------------
"Now I don’t share their politics at all. Not at all. I detest them. And I understand that the tea party movement was on the receiving ends of millions upon millions of dollars from the Koch brothers and other corporate interests."
-----------------

Amazing... and if you want to know who called Democrats out for coddling the Tea Party and the Republicans in congress too much with that BS Bipartisanship, well lets see it was the progressives democrats and The Progressive magazine.

Now let us see Why he admires the Tea Party?

-----------------

"Where they saw Republicans who were too wishy-washy or too compromised, they went after them and took them down, and ran the most avowedly ideological candidates they could find.

They didn’t bother offending the party establishment. They went around the establishment."
----------------

Wow, I can't imagine why any progressive would envy being able to run hard core progressive candidates? I wonder what that must be like?

Please, spare me your distortions.

[Egnever]

280. is there something stopping you?

Oh I know the fact that like the tea party you couldnt get one of the left fring folks elected dog catcher.

[kenfrequed]

302. Maybe

Maybe you should answer back on the distortions you posted about Rothchild's article before you start making even more absurd accusations. Oddly enough the progressive candidates that stood truer to their principles hung onto their seats at a much higher rate the the Blue Dogs so I think your argument is unsupporatable and inflammatory.

If you want to blame someone for the failings this election blame Evan Bayh. He cut the ankles out from under the entire democratic party when he organized his senate blue dogs before Obama even took his oath of office. They held out against progressive legislation repeatedly and railroaded healthcare away from even having a limited public option with triggers.

As a last 'fuck you' he held onto a 20 million dollar election war chest and then stood down from being reelected the day before the cut off date for running for the State parties endorsement, thereby screwing over anyone seeking to succeed him.

[DainBramaged]

133. If I could rec this 100 times......

[votesparks]

135. they always, always

have excuses for losing to obviously morally inferior people, all the time. Frustrating to say the least.

[slipslidingaway]

137. knr "He never mobilized the base to take on the vested interests."

Exactly!

[Better Believe It]

142. And I believe that's because President Obama had no intention of challenging the business interests

What else can one conclude?

[slipslidingaway]

146. Sadly, I do as well. He had no problem marginalizing the "little single payer advocates"

while making deals with Billy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCRO0g9CfAw

So what else is there to conclude.

:(

[ibegurpard]

141. k&r

[LWolf]

144. Tired doesn't even begin to cover it. nt

[Endangered Specie]

148. Wonder what Hillary would have done

*flamesuit on*

[Skittles]

191. couldn't have been worse than this

no fucking way; except for her asinine support for those wars, she had it all

[Better Believe It]

149. Does President Obama want to go down in history known as "The Great Compromiser"?

President Obama said at his news conference: “I’ve been willing to compromise in the past, and I’m going to be willing to compromise going forward, on a whole range of issues.”

I bet he is.

Like compromising with Republicans on cuts they'd like to see in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits, ....

We shall move forward in 2011-2012 with an "austerity" plan that will include huge cuts in social programs in order to reduce the federal deficit on the backs of working people and the elderly.

That's just for starters.

We need to begin organizing now against the austerity plan.

Let's hear what mass organizations like Move-on, labor unions, civil and human rights groups, progressive minority and women's organizations plan to do.

We need to build on the October 2nd March on Washington.

That should be just the start.

[Gold Metal Flake]

152. K&R

[Phlem]

153. Dude!

Thanks for posting this

I wish all the repliers were around last night when the cheerleaders and apologists started just saying all kinds of crazy shit to me for a similar op. Mine, more of a vent. The vitriol isn't reserved for republicans only. On top of that an admin here locked it and was kind of dick. Are there different groups of democrats here cause I want to hang around you guys. I used to love DU, but they just lost one Donator.

More of this please. If we can't be critical, even brutally critical of our leader then we are no better than Republicans.

-p

[yourout]

154. KnR....in a big way.

[defendandprotect]

155. OK ... this has been going on for decades ... what's Plan B .... ????

[Individualist]

156. K&R

[FourScore]

159. Absolute truth in this article. n/t

[Catherina]

163. Rec'd n/t

[hulka38]

165. I wonder if he's seeking out Rahm to get him out of this mess. n/t

[adnelson60087]

166. Hells ya.

[unkachuck]

167. K&R....n/t

[donheld]

168. k & R

[BzaDem]

170. And we should care because?

Some of these incessant whiners are about to learn what happens when they stay home and 60 Republicans get elected. Those that think that this somehow moves the government to the left are in for a rude awakening.

[Better Believe It]

175. "incessant whiners"???? Like the Nation, the Progressive and just about every progressive

publication and organization you can think of.

We must be that "professional left" that somehow managed to throw the House election to Republicans even though none of us voted for or campaigned for Republicans.

Right.

It's our fault.

Obama and the Democratic party leadership in Congress had nothing to do with it.

What was the writer saying now about excuses and apologists?

[BzaDem]

180. Yes, incessant whiners. Sorry that makes you feel uncomfortable.

While individual writers at the Nation may fall into this group, the Nation in general certainly does not (and does not coddle or pamper people who don't vote Democratic, as if these people are somehow "liberal.")

[jgraz]

195. because the strategy you supported for two years just lost us the House.

Any more silly questions?

[MessiahRp]

205. [phone]

No shit right?

Rp

[BzaDem]

206. Uh huh. The loss of the House is the fault of me (who voted), rather than the people who didnt vote

Democratic (but still pretend to be "liberal").

:rofl:

[jgraz]

247. you have no clue who did or didn't vote

Your hatred for progressives and your vicious desire to hippie-punch has blinded you to reality. "The Left", once again, were the people who donated and volunteered and voted this election (what did YOU do, btw?).

The people who didn't show up were the youth voters, the swing voters and the casual voters who turned out in 2008 based Obama's message of CHANGE. In short, the people who stayed home were exactly the people progressives said would stay home if Obama refused to deviate from his losing political strategy.

But you're too busy haranguing The Left to educate yourself on what really happened. You've got a narrative to validate. I suggest you save it. If you and the rest of the sensible Dems fail to learn from this disaster, you're going to need those excuses for 2012.

[Riverman]

176. We Are the Frogs in the Pot of Slowly, maybe more rapidly, boiling water!

Obama is telling us the water is warm but getting better. A nice man, who does not know how to organize the people who got him there. He surrounded himself with corporatists and apologists and we see the results. He either stay on the that course and is retired in two years or he fights for us!

[Name removed]

177. Deleted message

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

[Phlem]

179. Subscribed

Great Publication and am more than happy to send my DU money that way.

-p

[SocialistLez]

189. +1

Payday is Friday...I'll be gladly subscribing to them.

[inna]

183. Oy vey.

OT - but it's sort of mind-blowing how thoroughly propagandized and controlled the American people are.

Lots and lots of, well, *growing* is... in order, before any meaningful changes are likely to take place.

[sohndrsmith]

186. None of us are in his shoes, but please: present what and whom you deem superior n/t.

[truedelphi]

317. Well, for starters, Feingold and Grayson, for two.

A ticket I would vote for in a heartbeat come 2012

[SocialistLez]

187. They are making it really hard to say NO to not subscribing to them. December..

It will be a gift to myself.

I loved reading The Progressive on my breaks during classes.

[pnwmom]

188. How could Obama have gotten a higher stimulus past the Rethugs

and their filibusters?

[jgraz]

192. Which one of the Republicans kept him from properly handling the politics?

Which one of the Republicans told him to sell the obviously inadequate stimulus as the greatest thing since sliced bread, instead of railing against 'Puke obstructionism and vowing to come back with a real stimulus if unemployment didn't go down?

Which one of the Republicans did that?

[Angry Dragon]

285. I never saw ANY filibusters

Tell me one filibuster .......... can you??

All I saw was a threat.

Really tired of this talk of filibusters that were never there.

[pnwmom]

311. They happened according to Senate rules, unfortunately.

And Senate rules currently don't require "old-fashioned" public filibusters. And that's not Obama's fault.

[Skittles]

190. PREACH IT! SAY IT LIKE IT IS!

HELL YES!!!

[upi402]

193. ^+1,000 kick & rec n/t

[inna]

198. K&R btw... in case I forgot

B-)

[Lorien]

201. SO TRUE; from the article:

But basically, he didn’t give people enough tangible benefits to say, OK, I’m with him. He’s helped me. I’ll vote for Democrats again.

You can’t tell an unemployed person that you’d have been twice as unemployed without my help. You need to give that person a job now.

You can’t tell an elderly person you’re closing the donut hole on prescription drugs—by the year 2020. You need to close it now.

You can’t tell an adult with a pre-existing condition that you’ll force insurance companies to cover you—by the year 2014, when you may be dead. You need to cover people now.

You can’t tell families being foreclosed upon that you’re trying hard to keep them in their homes. You need to keep them in their homes now.

But to do any of that, Obama would have had to confront corporate power head on. But he, and Rahm Emanuel, and Larry Summers, and Tim Geithner were unwilling to do so and ideologically unprepared to even consider it.

They lived by corporate liberalism. And Democrats around the country died by it.

[Nihil]

321. That's another set of impressive quotes (in addition to the OP ones)

Thanks for posting them (but sorry that you had to).

:-(

[grantcart]

203. Yes it is so impressive to see how somebody who was raised in the lap

of one of the wealthiest families in the world with an intact family has done so much more for the world than Obama who basically raised himself from high school on and took on real challenges in a real world.

I look forward to see Mr. Rothschild's candidacy for political office so that he can demonstrate how simple the whole process is.

Time for tea.

[maryf]

212. morning k&r

thanks

[xchrom]

213. recommend -- for naming it -- corporate liberalism. nt

[urgk]

214. Tim Kaine didn't exactly over-perform either. And it's his *main* job. (n/t)

[Lost4words]

238. this term was made for Timmy Kaine "Milquetoast"

but OH what a LOGO :puke:


Logo, LOGO,

we dont need no stinking logo!

[madrchsod]

216. maybe someone should send obama this for his desk...

maybe we should start yelling "give`m hell barack"

[creon]

217. whatever it takes.

Form a third party. organize
Do the necessary legal work to do that
Find members
Find money
find candidates
Get them elected to office.

Do what you need to do.

Get to it.

[TomClash]

223. No shit. Ok now what?

I say give them no quarter. No compromise. At all.

[BrklynLiberal]

228. One of the most painful truths I have ever read....

My question is...why? Naivete, ignorance, over-confidence, what? WHAT? WHAT????? WHY???????????

The squandering of the good will and support brings to mind another analogous situation that I will not mention.

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Lost4words]

235. 911

[BrklynLiberal]

237. ...

;(

[Daemonaquila]

230. So, what's next?

Since we're having such a morning of lefty resurgence, shall we lefties kick some ass, take government and the media back from the right, and stop playing nice?

[Lost4words]

240. no there is no unity among dems = no will or strength

we are the pasty party

[WILLIAMSCAROL5]

232. 38%?????

30% of the people in this country are bat-sh!t CRAZY! Well.....I just read voter turnout was 38%! CRAZY PEOPLE AWAYS VOTE!!!!!

[Jefferson23]

242. If there is any hope left at all for the next two years it may be seen if

Obama takes to the bully pulpit. Half the Blue Dogs are now gone, and I have not seen the advantage to the Democratic
party as their vote required a great deal of watered down compromised bills in the first place.

Max Baucus has been an asset to Democrats?

I do not blame Obama for the corrupt system we have, I believe we must fight for public funded elections yet
that doesn't mean Obama gets a pass from me on his decisions.

When it came to health care reform, he was threatened and ended up making back room deals, the insurance lobby and pharmaceuticals
would have spent tens of millions of dollars going after him...no surprise. BUT, he did not take the risk of expressing those facts
to the American people. Americans could have had his back, it is not as if the news cycle could have ignored him if he spoke out
clearly about the threats. The MSM sucks, yet, they would have been hard pressed to ignore a newly elected president fighting back
for we the people. Russ Feingold called him out on this too, among others and Obama continued to ignore the warnings.

There are other decisions he made that did not fare well for Americans. I point out only health care here b/c if there was
ONE damn policy that could have made a dramatic impact on Americans, this was one of them. The amount of money people have to
spend on health insurance in this country and what they receive in return is criminal..and he knows it.


When you win by more than 10 million more votes than your opponent you have an opportunity to press forward and fight
the corruption.

I truly hope he decides to do that now.

[old mark]

244. I wish I could recommend this an infinte number of times. Mr. Obama, please read this article!

I voted for the candidate I understood to be the "most liberal Senator", a candidate who scared and angered the right wingers and who promised to bring real change to this sorry assed nation.

I was expecting Harry Truman, would have been delighted with Lyndon Johnson, wound up with Richard Nixon, a President who sounded tough, but went oput of his way to appear to please his opponents.

Now I see media experts gleefully stating how far to the right the Democratic Party will be going and how the accomplishments of the Obama administration will soon be undone by the GOP. Meanwhile, Mr Obama seeks MORE compromise and appeasement wirth those whe hate him and have pledged to destroy him and his presidency...Oh, yeah, and the "Liberals",
too...like we need help destroying ourselves.

I see locazl businesses displaying large signs thanking "Patriots" for voting the Democrats virtually out of office here in PA - it was a rout and a near toatal sweep from Governor on down, despite Dems having over 1 million more registered voters than the GOP. We gave it all away.

Mr Obama, you might as well change your party affiliation now in the interest of that "transparancy" thing, but I suppose the right would hate you anyway.

I'm sorry to say you have lost many of us on your left, but you didn't seem too concerned with us over the last 2 years and I expect we will be blamed for the failure of the Democratic Party over the next few years, too.

Maybe it is time to consider a REAL change in Washington.

mark

I just emailed a link to that article to the WH email contact, with a strong note.

[67 Mercury]

245. The Dems sharpened their message.

"A Vote For Us Is A Vote For LOW-FAT IMPERIALISM!"

Thank you for calling PolitiChoice®

These are intended to sharpen the Dems' message, defining what they stand for and how they’re different from Republicans.

1. "We Surrender."

2. "Please don't yell at us, we're frightened."

3. "Would you like us to roll over on our backs now, or do you prefer that we remain on our knees?"

4. "Let's bomb Iran."

5. "We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the President."

6. "We stand for rule by a kinder, gentler military-industrial complex."

7. "What's good for MobilExxon, Citicorp, and Northrop-Grumman is good for America."

8. "If you like venal cowards and betrayal, vote for us!"

9. "Please don't ask us to stand up to the Republicans. They get very angry if anyone opposes them -- and it's really scary!!

Whonnnnnngk.
Click.
Beep.

(crackle) Thank you for calling PolitiChoice®. Your call is important to us, so please stay on the line.
...

If you would like to pursue reform from within the Democratic Party, press 1.

If you would like to effectively counter the DLC within an existing mainstream political party, press 2.

If you would like to help with DFA, press 3.

If you miss the seventies and want to join the DSOC/DSA discussion group, press 4.

If you would like to feel "underground" from the comfort of rightward-drifting centrism that calls itself "left," press 5.

If you don't know which button to press, press 6 and you'll be directed to the appropriate caucus.
...

Thank you for calling PolitiChoice®. Please bear in mind that internal reform is the only permissible focus...

only permissible focus...

only permissible...

-Thank you

... (crackle, click)

[TwilightGardener]

246. What drivel. The man worked his ass off, got passed what he could

pass in the last two insanely difficult years, spent a lot of political capital keeping this country afloat and making improvements, and I'm proud of him.

[niceypoo]

248. "The healthcare bill contains every republican idea"

But got zero republican votes

One sided bipartisanship and compromise = giving away the farm for non existent political reasons

[TwilightGardener]

250. And it barely got passed. And it's not perfect, and will need to be improved.

But it's there, and it will start making some people's lives better, and I am PROUD.

[niceypoo]

251. It is not being improved as promised

We were promised that it would be 'fixed.' There are no fixes forthcoming. At every iteration, more and more was stripped from the bill. Every republican 'idea' was added. Democrats got a couple meager scraps, the republicans got everything.

The bill basically allows insurers to rob everybody blind for five more years. That is why we have seen 30% - 50% increases in premiums and deductibles since the bill passed. Everything was compromised away for ZERO republican votes.

[TwilightGardener]

253. It's barely started. Will take a while to fully swing into action. And as for

insurers jacking up prices (and I would need to see some national statistics on that)--were they going to LOWER everyone's costs and cut everyone a break if no HCR was passed? Were they going to improve their delivery of service, cover more people? Don't think so. I am going to see how it all shakes out in a few years--but for now, I am proud of what was achieved.

[niceypoo]

257. The insurers hiked them in response to the bill

Because there was nothing in the bill to stop them from doing so.....for the next five years that is.

[Phlem]

255. Sorry to tell you this but it is not going to get better

and the r's are going to try and dismantle it. Given recent events, I don't see HCR being there at all by the end of the next 2 years. Maybe for insurers it'll get better, hope you an insurance company.

-p

[Egnever]

271. And your crystal ball tells you this?

pretty suck attitude you have there.

[Phlem]

319. your kidding right?

Living in happy fairy world is better?

Yea that's really going to give you an accurate assessment of the situation at hand.

Sorry but kumbaya aka bipartisanship is why were here.

maybe you'd like to hang out with my niece, she loves the tinker bell movies, you two would get along swimmingly.

:eyes:

-p

[Angry Dragon]

286. It will be gutted or repealed in the next two years

[Jamastiene]

320. Yup. The Republicans will jump right in on that, especially

the Medicaid Expansion. That is why I said back during the numerous debates on DU that those of us who would have benefited from the Medicaid Expansion will never see it actually happen. I know they are going to kill that as soon as they possibly can.

[Egnever]

277. Best president of my lifetime

Easily. what he has accomplished considering the shape the country is in is nothing short of miraculous IMHO.

Course the perpetual martyr crowd crones on and on.

[TwilightGardener]

284. Yep.

[Shining Jack]

322. delete

Tired of this shit.

[Phlem]

252. It's amazing that

our high water mark for our leaser is "He did the best he could" or "No one could have accomplished what the professional left wants", etc....

Really?

It's seems we have what republicans want in an electorate, Zombies!! Maybe if we all keep repeating those words, it'l come true. Wait....

-p

[FourScore]

256. This thread has received 78 unrecs. Unbelievable.

I think this article is spot-on!

[Egnever]

272. its drivel

why would anyone rec this crap?

Most productive admin in decades but they did nothing....:roll:

[Dinger]

282. How Do You COunt The Number Of Unrecs?

I gave it a rec.

[FourScore]

305. At the top of the Greatest Page there is a tab called "Top Tens".

If you click on it there are 4 categories, one of which says "just recs". From there, you can do the math. It's quite an interesting tab that doesn't get much attention, I think. One caveat: the post has to be within the top ten of each individual category of the top ten page to be listed. You can't see the total rec count for just any post.

[The_Casual_Observer]

258. "Progressives" keep kicking themselves because Obama isn't Stokley Carmichael

They were looking for a complete revamp of the government in a 2 year span & didn't get it.

[Better Believe It]

270. Most progressives would like Obama to be same Barack Obama who ran for President

[bvar22]

303. Yeah, like this guy:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-15-2010/respect-my-authoritah

[paparush]

261. Will Rogers' Quote -

"I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat"

[FourScore]

283. LOL! That's a great one! n/t

[davidwparker]

267. I will make this comment many, many times: 2012 is

opent to any Democrat who wants to challenge Obama for the nomination.

[katty]

281. K&R

[Shrader]

287. So sad. So true. n/t

[valerief]

288. He pleased who he wanted to please. nt

[Shrader]

289. "Obama was afraid to come on too strong. So he came on too weak."

And now the Republicans will fight against the strong policies he should have enacted but didn't, as if he had. Pushing us even further to the right.

[Kurovski]

290. K&R

Will the president listen? Or will his presidency also "die" like the Blue Dogs did?

It's miserable out here, Mr. President. Please help.

[emilyg]

291. k/r -

[wildbilln864]

293. **k&r! nt

[beforeyoureyes]

296. Yes we are.....

[Raster]

297. Kicked and HIGHLY Recommended!

Yes, I want to take my country back, and first, I think I'll start with my party.

[alarimer]

304. I am too.

It is long past time for Democrats to acknowledge that they lost because they were not progressive enough, not bold enough, rather than too progressive or bold.

[Better Believe It]

314. The "blue dog" Democrats who "lost" expect to now get a huge increase in their income.

They may have "lost" the job working for the vested business interests in Washington but now they will be rewarded handsomely for services rendered.

Many will now go directly to work as lobbyists or in some other capacity for Wall Street, lawyer and corporate firms in Washington, D.C.

Being a member of Congress is a nice stepping stone to personal enrichment.

That's how the revolving door works in D.C.

[meow mix]

306. hes great at running a campaign on the left platform, and then going hard right

immediatly upon winning. sick of that bs

[Agony]

310. Squandered support about sez it all! Kicked and Recommended because this

is dead on. It gives me no pleasure to say that.

Cheers anyway,
Agony

[LawnLover]

315. I'm tired of people who supposedly know a lot about politics

discounting what it's like to work in D.C. You play the insider game because you have to. If you don't play the game, not only will the opposing party go against you, your own party will as well.

These armchair pundits seem to think there's nothing to it. Just go in, wield a heavy hammer and get what you demand. Yeah? Well, Clinton tried that his first two years and look what it got him.

I'm not an Obama apologist, because I don't think there's anything to apologize for. People conveniently forget what he stepped into when he took office.

[Better Believe It]

324. For Weekend DU'ers