Letter to a whiny young Democrat

[mzteris]

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/11/03/notes110310.DTL#ixzz15B1tyDCd

"Oh, now you've done it.

See? You see what happens when you young liberal voters get so disgruntled and disillusioned that you drop all your party's newborn, hard-won ideas about Hope™ and Change™, without any patience, without really giving them sufficient time to mature, without understanding that hugely foreign, anti-American concept known as "the long view"?

See what happens when you wallow in hollow disappointment, trudging all over your liberal arts campus and refusing to vote in a rather important mid-term election, all because your pet issues and nubile ego weren't immediately serviced by a mesmerizing guy named Barack Obama just after he sucked you into his web of fuzzyhappy promises a mere two years ago, back when you were knee-high to a shiny liberal ideology?

Well, now you know. This is what happens: The U.S. House of Representatives, the most insufferable gaggle of political mongrels this side of, well, the rest of Congress, reverts to GOP control like a brain tumor reverts to a more aggressive form of cancer, and everything gets bleaker and sadder and, frankly, a whole lot nastier.

MORE

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/11/03/notes110310.DTL#ixzz15B1pgnW6

[Catherina]

1. No Mark. This is what happens when people discover they were lied to and strung along n/t

[Skidmore]

2. After much stress and anxiety and worrying since this past election,

I've come to the conclusion that if the younger generation wants to refight all those old battles that put in place safety nets and civil rights soon to be stripped away, they can knock themselves out.

[Catherina]

9. We're having to fight so hard because your pursuit of some illusory American Dream betrayed us n/t

[Skidmore]

13. The "American Dream" has always been

a marketing ploy perpetuated by those who profit from it. The idea of justice has similarly been corrupted and manipulated. Go ahead kneecap someone else.

[Catherina]

19. Did I misunderstand you?

On second read, your original answer doesn't appear hostile and I think I may have jumped the gun.

I've come to the conclusion that if the younger generation wants to refight all those old battles that put in place safety nets and civil rights soon to be stripped away, they can knock themselves out.

You admit they're soon going to be stripped away, so isn't there a need to refight? They're being stripped away right now. Under a Democratic presidency that had a majority and is doing the opposite of what we elected it to do.

Stopping the wars was number one and not only haven't those stopped but they were expanded. Blaming Bush only goes so far when you continue Bush's agenda.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

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

[Catherina]

30. You are being deliberately obtuse. The American people elected someone

who said he was against stupid wars and acted like a little dove. Little did we know it was all hollow wordsmithing, saying different things at different times depending on the audience.

[Skidmore]

36. I'm saying I am exhausted.

And disheartened. I think that those fight should not have to be fought from scratch if there was an effort to hold ground on the left. I think there are people on the left who are abetting the right wing, either intentionally or because they are so singly focused that the whole picture is no longer in their view.

I'm exhausted and physically not well right now. Been at this for decades and remember how bad it was back when. Sickens me to see it be handed away.

[bluestate10]

45. I am tired, but will keep fighting. You must fight on also.

I was a mere pike when Reagan was elected. I know how distressing the Reagan years and the long fight to Bill Clinton were. Now we have President Obama, who I must admit is a disappointment as far as his administration having the savvy to understand the political landscape and take advantage of republicans. Maybe the mid-term slap up side the head will focus President Obama and make him as good as Clinton was during the last two years of his first term. But what I am hearing from President Obama and senior administration aides give me little hope. From what I have read of him, FDR gave good speeches but also fought bloody to the mat on policy. President Obama has shown that he gives good speeches, but looks to cut a deal when the sledding gets tough, Obama is no FDR.

I contributed enough money to democratic causes during the recent midterm to have been invited to call into a White House conference call held the day after the mid term debacle. There was no way I was going to call in. I had watched President Obama leave Russ Feingold for dead when polls indicated Feingold would likely no win his race. I would want to think that FDR would have went to Wisconsin during those final days before the election and fought like hell for every possible vote for Feingold. Would the people that sat at home and did not vote have come out for Feingold if President Obama had been traveling the state fighting? We will not know, because President Obama did not fight. President Obama is not a celebrity. President Obama is the democratic leader of this nation and he faces a right wing horde that is focused on tearing him and the country down. I have to admit that if he does not fight now, I will vote in 2012, but will leave the ovals for President blank.

[bluestate10]

44. So the solution is to sit home and allow dozens of right wing extremists to get elected?

Some scary stuff is coming out of the mouth of those people already. Have you heard some of the stuff coming out of the mouth of that guy, West, recently elected to Congress from Florida? Lady, prepare yourself for a tough fight. If you were disappointed in the last two years, watch the next two.

[SargeUNN]

5. What lies?

Obama has pretty much done what he said he would. He has disappointed me in some ways but I live in the world of reality. I said during the campaign that he was no liberal, I said this country is under corporatism so bad I didn't know if George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt or FDR could do much, and then I listen to those like you and wonder if you think we should throw away what we have gotten done just because it isn't enough for you. I have seen the damage done first hand by the Republicans and this group is worse so you want to unleash them on us because you think you are lied to. Well, thanks but I have no sympathy for you. Get busy working now because if you don't you think Bush was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet, and if you think I am trying to scare you then think it, but I am telling you reality and if you can't accept it then fine but don't take the rest of us with you.

[Catherina]

8. Stopped reading at "world of reality". So predictable. n/t

[SargeUNN]

10. Like I said I saw it first hand and in the worse way

I dealt with Katrina Crap and I had friends die, I saw my world go to hell in a handbasket, so tell me about reality because I SAW it and if you think it was pretty then you are out of your mind.

[Catherina]

15. Get over the drama. Many of us watched friends die during Katrina and other disasters.

Furthermore, that has nothing to do with the subject at hand.

Get back to me when your kid kills himself because he's gay and the main advisor tells you it's a lifestyle choice. Or when you're homeless and hungry, with no safety net, because the pragmatists believe in the pragmatic support of war.

Could you try better please?

[Skidmore]

20. No one person has cornered the market on suffering and pain.

And no one person's experience of either is greater than the anyone elses. We all bear scars from living. Sad that the capacity to empathize has been so eroded in today's world.

[SargeUNN]

23. Hey why don't you get over your silly anger?

as for kids let me tell you that I had a child, my only one and emphasis on had. OK enough said for you? As for homeless I have been, I came to Arizona after with only a suitcase and a little bit of money thanks to Mike Malloy show listeners and Jeff Farias show listeners to rebuild my life with. I got hurt in the military and got medically discharged and screwed out of most of my pension and I saw first hand a terrorist group called the Badder Meinhoff with a weapon that didn't work as they tried to get to the C-5 I was guarding. So tell me who the hell set that up? Was it Democrats, hell no it was republicans and you think they give a damn about your child or mine? Do you think you going to get something done through them? If so you really need to just go back and look at the Bush admins., Reagan Admin. and stop looking at it as you are then look at what we will get with the Republicans and see that as disappointed in Democrats as we have been, we are more likely to get things closer to what we want than with Republicans. If you want change as I do, then the answer is to get good candidates running in the primaries, make the calls and do what you can to elect them. If that is dramatic you are damn right, but that is the world we live in and as for support of war you really need to stop generalizing. I am against war especially the class war.

[mzteris]

26. +100.

:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

Ah - youth. It's so - young.

[mzteris]

25. so you think allowing the teapublicans to regain power

IS GOING TO HELP IMPROVE THAT???????????

[mzteris]

24. you should read it. every word applies.

Failure to comprehend the "world of reality" is part of the problem, Catherina.

Idealism is a wonderful thing. Dreams help steer the boat in the direction you want to go. But when you're on the rocks, you have to get down to it and do what has to be done in order to keep from sinking and drowning.

[originalpckelly]

3. No, this is what happens when people get fed up with bullshit.

Seriously, we need an herbal tea party for the left. It's called mounting a primary challenge, and we need to help people do it more often.

[Skidmore]

6. This is scorched earth politics, burning everything to the ground and

salting the soil so nothing can grow. Tearing down much that took generations to put in place and it does nothing for the common man or the goals of the left, but definitely strengthens the right.

[originalpckelly]

12. I'm just a young whipper snapper, but I'm gay.

And gay people of all ages are coming to be quite fed up with Obama's bullshit.

[Skidmore]

14. I understand your anger, however there is one very large group

of people in Congress that are very deserving of a swift kick. They make the laws.

[BlueCaliDem]

22. Exactly! But for most, bashing Obama instead of Congress for not

being more gay friendly has become popular activity everywhere.

[Occulus]

37. Obama has repeatedly and unapologetically stabbed GLBTs in the back

beginning on Inauguration Day.

He is not now and never was a friend of GLBTs.

[BlueCaliDem]

39. That's your take. Not mine. And not The Human Rights Campaign

either.

Obama to gay group: 'Still laws to change, hearts to open'
GAY RIGHTS

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-10-10/politics/obama.gay.rights_1_gay-rights-human-rights-campaign-gay-community?_s=PM:POLITICS

October 10, 2009

President Obama delivered a rousing speech Saturday night to the nation's largest gay rights group, praising the gay community for making strides in equal rights and pledging to deliver on major campaign promises that some say he's left on the back burner.

"For nearly 30 years, you've advocated for those without a voice," Obama said during his address at the dinner for the Human Rights Campaign. "Despite the progress we've made, there are still laws to change and hearts to open."

Obama's speech came as gay rights activists continued to lose patience over the lack of change to key issues for the gay community -- including the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. It comes on the eve of a major gays-rights rally in Washington.

"This fight continues now and I'm here with the simple message: I'm here with you in that fight," Obama told the applauding crowd.

The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement praising the speech, saying it was a "historic night when we felt the full embrace and commitment of the president of the United States. It's simply unprecedented."

Yeah, he's real hostile towards the GLBT community.

[jonnyblitz]

50. ack. many rank and file gays cannot fucking stand the HRC.

all those rich white fucks care about is getting their picture taken with whomever is president at the time at their expensive fund raisers. They are the DLC of gay groups and often support REPUBLICANS and LIEBERMAN. I see you had to dig back to 2009 for that speech. lots has transpired between the Obama admin and the GLBT community since then though I am sure that doesn't matter to the "A list" gays of the HRC.

you can have those pompous assholes. :puke:

[BlueCaliDem]

51. Dig back to 2009? FYI it's only 2010, little over a year after.

So, let me get this straight. What you're saying is, the Human Rights Campaign is not part of the GLBT community? Is that what you're saying? Perhaps I need a list of the real GLBT community from the fake ones.

Because the poster to whom I responded declared that President Obama is no friend to the GBLT community, and as far as I can tell, the largest gay rights group, the HRC, are very friendly to the President.

But, whatever.

[mzteris]

27. so by all means - let's give more power to

the homophobic fundamentalist assholes.

[JVS]

34. Has it occurred to you that homophobic fundamentalist assholes make the same decisions regarding...

gay rights as centrist politicians who are afraid of angering homophobic fundamentalist assholes?

[JVS]

33. herbal tea party! I love it.

[Swede]

4. Out of the park in one swing.

K&R

[walldude]

7. Hollow disappointment?

Another fucking asshole who just doesn't get it. Yeah it's all the fault of the Gays, the whiners, and the "liberal arts students". Democrats did the best they could. We only handed them 2 complete elections, the first one in 2006 when we asked them to stand up against the Bush administration. That worked out well. Then since the house wasn't enough we handed them the Presidency and the Senate, and they used that power to throw a few bones to idiots like Mark Morford, who lapped them up while he was being stabbed in the fucking back with constitutional violations and continuations of shitty Bush policies.

Mr Morford, when you are told you can't join the military, you can't get married, and you are an abomination before "god" then you can come back and tell us all about how wonderful those Democrats are treating you. You ass.

[Skidmore]

11. When the Rs have destroyed the work of generations, when

the laws have all been gutted and the system dismantled, have fun. It's all yours. Start over. From scratch.

[walldude]

17. Thanks I will. I couldn't do any worse than

you geniuses..

[mzteris]

28. you have NO idea, do you?

How old are you anyway?

It can be worse - MUCH MUCH WORSE!! I remember when it WAS WORSE!!

We HAVE come a long damn way baby - andn yeah, there's more distance to go - but wtf would you want to GO BACKWARDS??? Makes no damn sense.

[walldude]

40. I don't want to go backwards..

I'm almost 50. What I don't want is to go forward with this crowd. Yeah the Republicans suck but you know what? Dems ain't so great either. And the people on DU who keep insisting they are and who keep blaming the election loss on "Gays" "whiners" "liberal arts students" are the ones who "don't get it".

Democrats are alienating people. No one wants to admit that. Sure they want to blame the "base" or the "fringe" or whatever you want to call it for the loss but they never seem to want to admit that they might be part of the problem.

When a persons civil rights are no longer treated as a political tool by the Democrats, they can call me. And yes this is a one issue thing for me. When human rights are at stake it's the only issue.

[mzteris]

41. Maybe some of them "ain't so great" - but they're a damn sight

BETTER than any Republican or Teabagger!!!

I'm not blaming "the Gays" - but I AM BLAMING ALL THOSE WHO REFUSED TO SUPPORT THE DEMOCRATS and allowed assholes like Rand Paul and RON FREAKING JOHNSON and Scott Walker to get in a position where they will do NOTHING to help and everything in their power to HURT!!!

Enjoy your "one issue" - and see how far putting rightwingers in office gets you. Oh - and let the other 700 issues go hang, too.

You show 'em buddy. Just take your toys and go home.

When "THEY" come kicking down your door because they hate you because you're not white anglo-saxon right-wing fundamentalist MALE, then maybe you'll understand that you take your victories and your advances where you can get them.

Sometimes you gotta march down the field one yard, one down at a time - you can't expect a TD runback - as wonderful as that would be. There are OBSTACLES IN WAY that must be overcome, circumvented, worn-out, out-lived, out-played, out-maneuvered! And just taking your players OFF THE FIELD because they haven't progressed far enough fast enough to suit you will only ensure that in the end - you will LOSE EVERYTHING.

[walldude]

42. Yeah they'll be kicking down my door soon.

Paranoid much? Were you one of the ones in the Bush era talling me about concentration camps that were being built for liberals? :rofl:


The Democrats had many chances to make touchdowns. I am not angry at what the Dems didn't do I'm angry at what they did do. The list of crap they foisted on us is almost as big as the crap they promised but didn't deliver.

The appeal of the DADT ruling didn't have to happen. The Dems, in spite of what everyone seems to love to spew here, did not have an obligation to challange the ruling, it specifically states in the law that the PRESIDENT, you know Obama has the right to use his own judgement when challenging a constitutional ruling.

So I'll "take my toys" and leave because I don't want to hang out with someone who cares nothing for my rights as long as their fights are firmly in place. When you are told you can't marry, or can't join the military, or can't adopt children because of who you like to sleep with then you can talk to me about taking your ball and leaving. It's pretty easy to sit there and talk smack when it's not your rights being violated.

It's a nice Republican mantra DU has. " I got my rights, you can be patient, some day you'll get your, when it's politically expedient".

[mzteris]

43. Are you sure you're 50? and not 15?

Do you not remember what it was like for GLBT just a few short years ago? I was speaking metaphorically, (should I provide you the definition?) about how they will come and take back what freedoms HAVE been achieved. Those states with Gay marriage? DADT? Yeah, they'll repeal that with ASK, FIND OUT, and DISHONORABLY DISCHARGE. Gone protections and advances and inroads made. No GLBT's in any pulpit or allowed in ANY classroom or being allowed to foster or adopt.

You really don't understand do you? If it's done by Presidential fiat - it can be taken back by the same method. Having it done PROPERLY helps ensure it is ongoing and doesn't get "taken back". Why is that so difficult to comprehend?

correct word

[Skidmore]

46. It's not just the civil rights of the

GLBT community but of all minority groups and those deemed second class citizens by the 'baggers. It is blacks, Hispanics, Asians, women, children, you name it. The civil rights won thus far for every single group listed here is on the agenda to be stripped from them. They were hard won and are a foundation on which to build future gains. Nothing like throwing the baby out with the bath water.

[walldude]

47. I see so what you are saying is "be patient"

Wait, hang out, it'll come, needs time, next election, or my favorite "look how far you've come". Are you fucking kidding me? That's like saying hey, you may have to sit at the back of the bus but we aren't doing public lynchings anymore.

The reason you can't understand my position is you have no way to relate to it. No Empathy. You have no perspective other than your own, and you stick by your limited perspective through thick and thin. That may work fine for you and DU but it does not work for me. I do not support people that do not support me. I do not support people who cannot stand up for what they believe in in the face of adversity. I do not support people that say one thing and do another.
The bar has been lowered so much that what we are willing to accept as a nation is not reflective of what I am willing to accept as a human being.

Good luck with your wars, your torture, your CIA Death Squads, your privacy invasions, and your Homophobia, all courtesy of spineless Democrats. And I call them spineless because the other option is they are happy doing it and there is no way out.

[Skidmore]

48. I think the ice we are skating on now is thin, very thin.

I can look back half a century and I haven't seen this much entitlement among the racists and regressive peoples of this nation since I was a very small child. We are ceding power and ground, like it or not.

And you are so wrong in your personal attack. So off target.

[mzteris]

49. you know nothing about me and how I "relate"

now do you?

Good luck with getting all those BAGGERS and Republicans in office. I bet that works out real good.

[BlueCaliDem]

31. The devil's in the details,

First off, Democrats DID NOT have power in 2006. They won the election in 2006 BY A SLIM MAJORITY. But guess who was still pResident in 2006, 2007, 2008, up to January 2009, WallDude? Did the Democrats have a VETO-proof majority? No. Was Bush sympathetic to equal rights of gays and lesbians? Hell no.

Democrats DID NOT have a "super majority" in 2008, 2009, and 2010. That's a Republican myth perpetuated by an anti-American corporate media.

Democrats had 58 seats in the Senate - of which four or five were DINOs {Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Bill Nelson, and three or four interchangeable names here as fifth}, and we have 1 Liberal/Socialist, Sen. Sanders, and 1 RepubLite, Lieberman who was NO friend to the Democrats.

We didn't get Al Franken until ... when? Six, seven months after the elections?

In the meantime, almost a day after Obama's inauguration, Mitch McConnell had come out to say he vows to make Barack Obama a one-term President and instructed his minions to form a united front against him. And today, you see the result of it.

Like I said. The devil's in the details.

[noamnety]

16. Oh God, that's funny.

See what happens when you refuse to be mindlessly manipulated by empty campaign slogans based on focus groups?!

BRANDING | Yes We Can: The Remix



"OUR BRAND IS CRISIS is an astounding look at one of their (Greenburg Carville Schrum) campaigns and its earth-shattering aftermath. With flabbergasting access to think sessions, media training and the making of smear campaigns, we watch how the consultants’ marketing strategies shape the relationship between a leader and his people.

"Shaping" is exactly what GCS accomplished - and with exacting skill. One of the team's first achievements was the branding of de Lozada's campaign with a slogan that communicated his mission, and it was a good one... "Si Se Puede" "Yes it can be done." Sound familiar? That's what I thought too. It seems that now-President Obama's refreshing and forward-looking campaign mantra was not as clever as many of us had assumed."

http://miyostudiosblog.com/yes-we-can-the-remix

[Warren Stupidity]

18. Perhaps if the Democratic Party hadn't run away from everything it did

over the last two years, as if it were a bad dog that had peed on the couch, there might have been a bit more enthusiasm in the young ones.

[BlueCaliDem]

32. Perhaps if we had a true Fourth Estate type media in the past two years

that didn't cater to the Republicans every chance they got, the Democrats wouldn't have to "run away from everything it did", and the young ones would've shown more enthusiasm because they would've SEEN and HEARD the truth, that although the Democratic Party isn't perfect, it's a helluva lot better than the party they inadvertently helped regain power in our legislative body.

[BlueCaliDem]

21. Incredible letter and very appropro

My daughter, an unapologetic Liberal, was so frustrated this last election. All her friends on Twitter, Facebook, in and around here, were complaining about the economy, and that President Obama didn't walk on water like he promised, and all that, but only HALF went to vote!

Since our group of 40 are mostly made up of young people {except for me}, I discovered how hard it was to go after them this time. Half had no problem meeting with me at my home, and the other half eventually trickled in over the course of several days, but what struck me was, the first half of our group was vigilant and focused. The second half? Meh. Not so much. I did get them all up to date on the Propositions and why they should vote for Democrats as opposed to Repubs.

But it was clear. With the second half, it was like pulling teeth!

I mean, here in California you don't even have to leave your house for chrissakes! You can even go permanent absentee voting if you want, but these ADHD young peeps were even too lazy for that. So, it'll be another two years of whining for them as the Repubs continue to work to destroy everything President Obama worked so hard to build for us.

Anyway, thank you so much for this letter. It was a nice one to read, my first for this morning here in SoCal.

:kick: & R!

[Edweird]

35. Lulz. More of a tired fallacy. It's not the SPEED - it's the DIRECTION.

It's the relentless RW ideology advocacy.

[jonnyblitz]

38. HA, It's obvious where Morford has his lips firmly planted. nt

[SidDithers]

52. K&R...nt

Sid