Progressive Stand

[demwing]

Driving home from work, I turned on my local NPR station, and heard the program "Fresh Air." On the program, someone was talking about Boehner and his "Hell No!" tactics as minority leader. They also discussed, in some depth, how the GOP will have a challenge transition roles. It's easy to yell hell no when you're the opposition, but your can't lead with NO! You must do more than obstruct.

And it occurred to me with some clarity that the 2010 wasn't a mandate for Republican philosophy. It wasn't a call for bipartisanship, and it wasn't a demand to move toward the center.

Voters' liked what they saw in the Republican party, so lets analyze what they saw:

They saw NO. Then they saw Hell No. Then they got unlimited quantities of NO FUCKING WAY, before circling back toward NO!

Voters saw a minority party stand up for what they believe in, and they respected them for it. That's a very American emotion.

Voters also saw Democrats try to bend around their principles, like a contortionist.

We didn't lose because we're not enough of the center - many of the blue dogs lost as well-we lost because we failed to fight for our progressive principles. We did not take a determined stand. We don't need to move to the center - we ALREADY moved to the center, and we lost.

Now it's time for a stand. Not Hope. Not change. Just a stand - a progressive stand. Bipartisanship be damned.

[tabatha]

1. I also heard on Countdown

that young voter numbers were down and older voters up.

It may be as simple as that.

Would that have happened with Howard Dean?

[deacon]

2. They're hard to hold and they saw tuitions go up due to the economy-and even though the dems did

good things for education, there was no true instant gratification. They'll be back when the GOP goes after education and attempts to make huge cuts.

[rhett o rick]

3. I just want to thank Rahm Emanuel. Fuck you Rahm you bastard. nm

[kctim]

4. Same old same old...VERY tiring

So how about this: EVERYBODY, including moderate Democrats, all write groups like moveon and beg them to run and throw total support behind a progressive in the 2012 Missouri race against Claire M.
Primary her, beat the Republican challenger and win that Senate seat for the progressive cause. It can't be that hard, seeing how EVERYBODY agrees with and wants progressive policy. You have plenty of time and those groups have plenty of money 'inform' us dumb ol rednecks of what we 'really' want.

Can we get to some serious issues now?

[demwing]

6. Typical

Telling progressives that prorgessive issues aren't serious.

Same old shit that brought us here, thanks for underscoring my point.

[MissMarple]

5. The blue dogs lost because their districts went back to same old, same old. That's pretty much it.

Honest.

[kctim]

7. Absolutely

But promoting the head-in-the-sand lie that they voted to the right of Blue Dogs because the Blue Dogs were not far enough left, is NOT going to work.

[demwing]

8. I Never Said The Issue Was About Right vs Left

I said the issue was about the tendency for American's to reward people who take a principled stand, and punish those who blow with the wind. We like fighters. It's part of our self-image.

Do you want to know why the opposition considers us weak? It's because we don't fight back enough.

In this game, it does not always matter what your ideology is, but it often matters to what degree you'll defend it.