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Edited on Wed May-10-06 07:16 PM by jackbourassa
After reading the Cohen piece in the Washington Post, I can't help but detect a pattern of behavior. Clearly, we are beginning to have an impact on the Washington Establishment's way of thinking, because ignoring us is no longer an option to them. Now they have resorted to a concerted effort to discredit us. Recently there have been several articles, all from inside-the-beltway types arguing that we, the net-roots of America, are nothing but a group of petulant children who need to either become more pragmatic or go away and let the "experts" run the Democratic Party. These are, of course, the same "experts" who advised us to support the Iraq war, to go along with an ill-conceived tax cut which will be paid for by our children, to play nice with the Bush Administration, to ignore illegal acts, to ignore the people's interests in favor of the lobbyists. The "experts" of the Washington Establishment have been on the wrong side of every issue that has come up since George W. Bush became President. What must keep them up at night is the fact, that it was us, in the net-root community, that was right. Here are only some examples:
1) WE WERE RIGHT ABOUT THE IRAQ WAR.
The Washington Establishment were almost unanimous in its support for this wasteful and unnecessary war. Many on our side argued that Iraq posed no threat to the United States. The Administration never provided sufficient evidence to show Iraq had WMDs. And even if it did, that Saddam was not crazy enough to use them. We argued that attacking Iraq would bring more problems than it solved, given the perilous relationship between the different Iraqi factions. We argued we would be stuck there for years, maybe decades. We argued that an Iraq war would create more terrorists than it would vanquish. For this bit of foresight, we were accused of being "out of touch," "inherently Un-American," and even "defeatists." The Washington Establishment saw themselves as being more sophisticated about such things. That we were not to be listened to, since supporting the Iraq war "makes you look strong on defense," as Al From once said. Yet, even now after all of our predictions have come to pass, the Washington Establish still fail to acknowledge that they were plain wrong on Iraq. Because doing so would mean that they are not as smart as they like to pretend to be and that supporting this war has actually put many Democrats in a box which they have found extremely difficult to escape.
2) THEY DO NOT WANT TO END CORRUPTION, ONLY CHANGE THOSE WHO ARE CORRUPTED.
I have always said that the DC establishment aren't upset by the corruption, only by the Republicans being in charge of it. We in the Democratic party have way too many of our own who work as lobbyists for giant corporations, that with a Democratic Administration in charge, they can profit from. They are not upset by redistricting, only that Tom Delay (R-TX) was the one drawing the district lines. They support telecom companies over people. They support credit card companies over people. They support any corporation which writes them a large enough check over the people. I'm reminded of what Al From once said. He is, of course, the founder of the DLC. The one who advises his "clients" to turn their back on minorities, women, labor, etc. Well, after many Democrats joined Republicans to support "Tort Reform" which limited the liability of punitive awards. The same Al From chastised those Democrats. Not because people would collect fewer punitive damages, that would be too decent. He was upset because trial lawyers, who give Democrats a lot of its campaign money, would collect lower fees, if such a law went through. We have to show, he said, that the "Democratic Party can be counted on by its supporters." As you can see, we have our own corruption problems.
3) THEY HAVEN'T WON AN ELECTION IN MORE THAN A DECADE AND EVEN THEN...
We keep hearing about how we can't win elections without them. Yet, even when our leaders in Washington accept their recommendations, we still lose elections (1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004). Even the elections we won (1992 & 1996), were not runaway successes. After all, we failed to win 50 % of the vote either time and actually lost Congressional seats in both elections. A couple of weeks ago Mike McCurry, former Clinton Press Secretary and current lobbyist, even suggested that following our advice would lead to the Democrats "winning 38%" in a national election. Now forget the fact that no Democrat has gotten 38% since 1972, that the closest we ever got to that was Jimmy Carter (41% in 1980), Walter Mondale (42% in 1984), and Bill Clinton (43% in 1992); also, forget the fact that the Washington Establishments favorite Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, usually polls 38% herself; it seems relevant to note that many issues that we, in the net-roots, advocate actually enjoy wide popularity among the general American population. Upset by corporate greed and rising energy and gas prices, we support a new energy policy that puts a premium on conservation and alternative energy sources. So do most Americans. We support a national health care system, as the most cost-effective way to insure the largest number of Americans. So do most Americans. We want to end the war in Iraq. So do most Americans.
We are not children. We are working class and affluent. We represent every race, creed and orientation. We are young and old. We are America. We're not going anywhere, and maybe this is why the Washington establishment are so upset. They are afraid of us because we are right and they are wrong. Because ultimately, they aren't as necessary as they once were.
Now if only they'd stop trying to destroy those of us within the party that are actually right on issues - damn, maybe we'd actually win an election or two.
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