Are we kidding ourselves?

[Dees]

I'm feeling a shred of optimism about 06 and 08. I think my butt may be out running my brain however.

You would think with all of the atrocious nonsense the Bu$h Rouge has pummeled this country with over the last few years that a Democratic candidate is a sure thing. I'm afraid not.

The Democratic Party could run Jesus and lose and here's why. The first thing the GOP is going to do is drag out the old dreaded liberal tag. He/she's too liberal. Of course "tax and spend" will be dusted off and repeated ad nausea regardless of who the real spenders are. The candidate will be "swift boated" on some insignificant issue. God and prayer will be an issue. Guns of course. Abortion of course. Terror and national defense will paraded around and lied about. But the GOP has the real power and WMD...Diebold. I think it really won't matter that Bu$h and his thugs have been the worst government in our history. It will simply come down to the ninth inning and how much dirt and smear the opposition has used. But what really matters is that the Republic Party has the ace in the hole. Diebold.

By a vast majority most Americans feel Bu$hCo is an utter disaster.
That doesn't mean they aren't willing to vote for and support another Repuglican't. Especially when they crank up the old dirt machine and drag out terminology that is tried and true. Once again I'm a little optimistic but am I kidding myself?

[applegrove]

1. We will need all our might & discernment. And boots on the ground.

And bridge building so that we can put aside pet peeves and do the right thing. Voting Dem is the only way to reform anything about the system.

[Hardrada]

2. But....but the emperor

is nekkid?? Isn't he?



In plain truth, I think they are running out of tricks.

[babylonsister]

3. No, we are not.

Katrina exposed this admin for the frauds they are. If DHS and FEMA are supposed to protect us for anything, they did a damn poor job. At the moment, I'm happy it wasn't a terrorist attack, because who knows how they might have reacted to that?
So now what? Who's going to call this admin out?

[marmar]

4. I kind of think the "liberal" insult has run out of steam...

That can be turned around very easily. Look at what "conservatism" has gotten us - A war that's going to break the bank, a gutted emergency response agency that let a major city drown, and the largest government in history that's not doing a damn thing for its people. If that's conservatism, I think America will take to "liberal" in a heartbeat.

[Coastie for Truth]

7. Even The Red Counties of Northern California are pissed about NOLA

has hundreds of miles of . And the has run a series on the condition of these Levees.

This is rich agricultural land - America's produce store.

The Sacramento Delta consists of a myriad of small natural and man-made channels (locally called sloughs), creating a system of isolated lowland islands and wetlands (defined by dikes or levees). The extensive system of earthen levees has allowed wide-spread farming throughout the delta, one of the most fertile agricultural areas in California. However, a burst dike can result in the flooding of a vast tract of land. On June 4, 2004, a 350 foot (110 m) section of a levee 10 mi (16 km) west of Stockton collapsed, flooding the Upper Jones Tract, a 648 acre (2.6 km²) "island".

And this region sits on top of earthquake faults.

Even in Pombo's conservative, agricultural 11th District - the Red Voters are pissed at FEMA and the Corps of Engineers. This is becoming a cause celebre in the most "un-New Orleans" region of the country.

[melody]

5. Hey, now there's the enthusiastic pick-up we all needed!

This kind of diatribe fits with the psyops crap pulled by the GOP - depressing and demeaning the "opposition". "Give up now, we are all doomed".

That's the same garbage posters were saying on the old online service bulletin boards - before Bill Clinton ran and won.

[Dees]

8. What is your upbeat prognostication? Given

the eventuality and probability that the last two elections were stolen. Diatribe, garbage? I think reality trumps your giddiness.

[melody]

10. I'm not giddy in the least...there's middle ground between dark and light

Why do the work of the right-wing for them?

There is more anti-Republican/anti-corporatism energy in this country than I've seen in my whole life and I'm 45. All the young people I know are politically active and aware. The monster has nowhere to go but down.

If we build the wall high enough, we never have to worry about climbing over it. If we think everything is hopeless, it will be. It's not - it never has been - we just need to understand what we need to do constructively.

Depth pessimism is as irrational as giddy optimism...maybe more so.

[Dees]

11. Not hopeless. Just a long, hard, uphill road.

As I said, I have some optimism. What is troubling to me is what I have seen and heard lately ...Republicans are self destructing...we're in. I'm afraid it's a fight to the end. We are up against people who will use any means at their disposal to keep wealth concentrated in this country. What is so critical is that every vote counts in a fair and honest election.

The wall is high, but I've been fighting the good fight for 30 years and I won't quit now.(I was convinced that McGovern was going to beat Nixon)

Now is not the time for chest thumping and I toldyousoism and suppose that anti/Rethug/corporate energy will translate into votes. One could hope.

Pessimism equals reality...it's true I read it on DU!

[melody]

14. Pessimism for many people leads to hopelessness and inaction

I have clinical depression. There are many, many like me in the arts and biz arts community and most of us are liberals. We don't need to be told about the dark realities - we live with them everyday. We have to be focused on positive signs and hopeful trends.

I'm NEVER sure of ANYTHING...so I have to be optimistic about the potential.

[GrantDem]

6. I don't think so...

The Repug spin machine has managed to turn the word Liberal into the "dirty L word". However, look where the conservative "ownership society" BS has taken this country. Reminds me of a quote from Frederick Douglass

"Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."

The endurance of the oppressed grows thin and people are ready to resist. Sure the GOP will spin and lie, but that will only go so far in the minds of the people. Shrub's line of "stay the course" grows old after a while.

[left is right]

9. perhaps, I'm feeling particularly pessimistic, but yes, we are

Today on Talk of the nation, one conservative caller after another, claimed to be disappointed in the way Bush has handled things but they were convinced that all Democrats were worse than any Republican. One claimed to be appalled at all the pork in recent bills but said that the Dems were even worse about that than the Pukes

[VPStoltz]

12. Of course they will do all this...

but it will only work if the Dem's put up another softy. Every distortion the pukes throw at us can be refuted but there must be someone who has the balls to blast back. For the life of me, I can not figure out why that can't be done - who are we going to offend?

[degreesofgray]

13. the liberal tag

is such baloney, but it works. This past election my mother voted for Kerry, but she was worried he was "too liberal." I asked her what that meant, and besides vague notions of his positions she didn't really know why she thought that way. Most likely she'd been hearing her ultra-conservative church friends repeat the meme.