Spitting on their graves

[ProfessorPlum]

When I think about all of the women who marched and protested for women's rights, who were beaten and shunned and mocked . . .

When I think about all of the brave leaders of the labor movement, who pressed forward despite broken kneecaps and bludgeoned heads and assassinations and other violence from the bully-boys hired by management to keep them down as they struggled for workers' protections and decent pay and a reasonable work week and heath care . . .

When I think of all the women and girls who died or were maimed in back alley abortions, and all of the brave women who even now have to force their way through racketeering mobs to make their own reproductive choices . . .

When I think of all the confused young American kids fed to the German machine guns to prevent the spread of fascism . . .

When I think of all the people who braved lynchings and beatings and fire hoses and dogs to try to win equality under the law for people of all races . . .

When I think of the brave journalists who stood up to the Pentagon and the President and huge, well-connected corporations to expose the truth, despite death threats and firings, to maintain the importance of freedom of the press . . .

When I think of all the people who have taken to the streets, despite tear gas and billy clubs and horses and riot gear and domestic surveillance, to maintain the freedom of assembly and to send messages to their leaders with an urgency that emails and letters will never have . . .

When I think about all of these people, toiling, sweating, worrying, fighting, dying, the lost lives, the shed blood, the tears, the despair, and finally the triumphs in all they have done to make our lives, collectively, better . . .

AND THEN I THINK about the way the Democratic leadership, with its mumbling, bumbling, fumbling, stumbling, bloviating, clueless and feckless non-leadership is just going to lay down and let the modern day fascists roll right over them and take it all away, I just cannot stand it. Biden acts like the most important thing about the Alito hearings is the sound of his own voice and how much air time he gets. DOESN'T HE UNDERSTAND what is at stake here?

Doesn't the Democratic leadership understand that they are spitting on their graves, all of those people, who suffered to achieve a little balance between the haves and have nots, between the oppressed and the oppressors, between the rich and the poor?

What will it take to wake them up? We cannot just capitulate and let them fall from their own incompetence, as they so richly deserve, because we will all fall with them. Yet, when we prop them up, all they can muster is more of the same foolishness, lack of focus, lack of a sense of what is important.

There is a conversation in Washington going on now, between the ruthlessly evil and the hopelessly mediocre. And all we can do is watch in horror as the whole lot of them spit on the graves of our benefactors.

[mopaul]

1. america gives up with a wimper

and without a fight

[PassingFair]

2. I have taken to calling bush voters cowards.

So afraid for their sniveling little lives that they are willing to joyously hand over their constitutional rights.

What about all that "Freedom isn't Free" bullshit they champion?

I am becoming less popular at work....

[deutsey]

5. Fear and greed...that's what keeps the GOP in power

[cally]

3. Thank you

Everyone needs to read this.

[deutsey]

4. I was thinking last night that all these children of privilege (like Bush)

who are successfully rolling back all that the people you mention accomplished must be mighty proud of themselves.

Causing quite a stir in their private clubs as they slap each other high-fives like they see the commonfolk do.

[ProfessorPlum]

6. Seriously

it's as if they can't appreciate all of their own wealth and power unless they are taking all the wealth and power from everyone else. Like having to treat someone else as a human being is the worst fate anyone ever suffered.

[deutsey]

7. It's not enough that they win...we have to lose

:evilfrown:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. Politicians don't lead. The people do.

All of the instances you cited of heroic struggle were by the people in defiance of the political "leaders". And, at the time of those struggles were an unpopular and usually scorned minority that the politicians avoided.

It was only when the causes that they fought tenaciously for became "acceptable" that the politicians began to chase their votes out of fear of losing their seats.

We must get past the notion of a struggle based on political parties that try to be "not as bad" and fight for what is right despite the "politics as usual" and political game playing of politicians.

The ONLY way to change this country is to vote and support issues, not parties or politicians. Make your vote valuable by making it hard to get.

[ProfessorPlum]

10. 50% of Americans have already made their vote hard to get

and I don't think it has done them much good.

But you are right about people leading - that's been absolutely true for so long. In Vietnam, the people led the way, as just one obvious example.

[hobbit709]

9. The Tree of Liberty

once again needs to be nourished.

[Batgirl]

11. pretty much nails it

If the current Dem leadership doesn't wake up they'll have to be replaced with people who know how to fight and who understand why it's important.

Isn't this period we're living through unusual, in that there are so many of us alarmed citizens, willing, ready and able to be put to work if our leaders had a clue as to our existence or how to utilize the resource we represent? We need our own "mighty wurlitzer" to counteract the lies and propoganda of the right and their media servants.

We've found our way here, or to some other similar place on the web, because for some reason we detected Bush's evil early on, possibly on some instinctual level. In my case, I never had much political awareness and never thought anything important was at stake come election time. (I can't believe I just typed that but it's the truth.) Until 1999 when I became increasingly convinced that Bush was going to be a dangerous person to have in charge. I couldn't watch him, I couldn't listen to him, without this visceral reaction, a gut feeling that's been validated over and over since then. I've never felt this way about any public figure.

Have to assume most of us experienced something similar, otherwise what would motivate us to be here, day after day, for YEARS now, of stubbornly trying to figure out how we can derail this thing? We reported for duty but our "leadership" is either unwilling or too fucking stupid to incorporate us into some kind of organized resistance that can break through the media fog to be an acknowledged part of public discourse.

[ProfessorPlum]

12. Peter Daou wrote about the amazing disconnect between

the people - including grass roots and bloggers - and the Democratic leadership yesterday: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-daou/the-broken-triangle-pr_b_13691.html

It's what got me thinking along this line.

I know your feeling - I sort of paid attention to elections since about 1992, but I don't feel I really "woke up" to the dangers to this country until "monica-gate" made me realize just how in the bag the media is. Since then, it's been a nightmare.

[Batgirl]

13. I agree, Daou's article is an absolute must-read nt

[Batgirl]

14. Oh and also

this may not be an original thought, but our "leadership" needs to stop acting like their job description is to wait around for the Repubs to pull some shit, and then react to it with impotent sputtering. They need to get off their asses and start pulling shit -- make the Repubs react for once.

The Repubs never rest, they never stop thinking about how to create and stage-manage reality, and whichever of their scams is in the news at any given moment is already old news to them, since they're about 3 scams beyond that by now.

Then our side engages in a bunch of "jesus christ, how could they do something so nefarious???!!!"
Nothing the Repubs do is unpredictable if some thought is put into it. And nothing should surprise us anymore.
We spend too much time expressing horror and outrage, when we (our leaders) need to be anticipating their next move and strategizing accordingly.

edit for spelling

[PassingFair]

Have you met Howard Dean, Batgirl?

He tells the truth, and they think it's HELL!

[Batgirl]

18. I wish we could clone Dean n/t

[ProfessorPlum]

16. Remember how there was one time - ONE TIME

that Harry Reid did something proactive and slightly unexpected and all the GOP could do was impotently sputter?

One blip on the EKG. In how many years?

And the Democrats need to understand (as many will defend them with stories about how hard they are working behind the scenes. etc.) that it is these, and only these cheap, visible stunts that really count anymore. Our process of debate is so broken that the only thing that matters (at the moment) is stage management. And they suck at it.

Come on, Reid! One more "shutting down the Senate" moment and people might actually believe there is something there to hope about.

[AnneD]

19. That is the time it hit me too...

I am just so at the end of my rope. If things don't start changing in the next 2 election cycles, I and my hubby will begin the process to leave this country.
I have been doing everything I can, but if the zombies don't wake up...
I remember what happened in Germany and I don't intend to be around when the start rounding up 'disrupters' for re-education.

[bvar22]

20. Great article!

The blueprint is here:

1. Weeks before the hearings, Dem leaders would have encouraged the netroots to build a buzz about one or two pivotal Alito issues. These issues would then have been hammered repeatedly during the hearings, reiterated by Dem surrogates, by outside groups, and blasted across blogs as the hearings progressed. (Presidential power and the nexus between the NSA scandal and Alito would have been one of those issues.)

2. Weeks before the hearings, Dem leaders would have set a trap for Alito by using his obvious and easily anticipated strong point against him, namely his demeanor. The Bush tactic, as evidenced by John Roberts, is to suck the life out of the proceedings by making everything as boring and pedantic as possible. The media then obediently claims the hearings are proof of the nominee's thoughtfulness and composure. In a functioning triangle, Dems, with the help of the netroots and honest media figures, would have prepared the public by making Alito's demeanor an issue using 'question of the day' framing, as in: "Are you troubled by the gap between Alito's radical views and his matter-of-fact attitude?" or something along those lines.

3. A list of mainstream reporters, GOP shills like Norah O'Donnell and Wolf Blitzer, would have been targeted by a Dem war room: their various Bush-propping tricks (like using polls to 'prove' that Americans are "divided" and don't share liberal activists' alarm over Alito, that the hearings are boring and Alito is a shoe-in, that Democrats are pre-judging Alito but Republicans aren't, etc.) would have been laid out in a detailed memo before the hearings.

4. An army of bloggers and online activists would have been recruited to flood these reporters with complaints whenever those tricks were employed. Screen shots, video clips, caricatures, chain emails, Flash pieces, podcasts, any and all available technology would have been used to individually target reporters who peddled GOP storylines on Alito.

5. Dem leaders and surrogates would have expressed outrage at rightwing media bias and demanded fair coverage. Every media appearance would have included a direct slam at the press for misleading the American public about Alito and Bush's hidden agenda. Again, Alito's "composure" would have been an issue: why is he so low key when his beliefs are so radical?
That's just a small example of how the left's triangle might have worked. Unfortunately for the progressive netroots, the intricate interplay of Republican persuasion tactics, media story-telling, and 21st century information flow seems beyond the ken of most Democratic strategists and leaders.

This blueprint would have worked in:
Election Fraud 2000
Election Fraud 2002
Election Fraud 2004

The Democratic Leadership KNEW about Ohio a year before the actual vote (DU TOLD them repeatedly), and yet, the assholes (Kerry included) had NOTHING in place to confront the outrages until AFTER the FACT!


*Unfortunately, this would require LEADERSHIP and coordination anong the Democratic Party elite.

*Unfortunately, too many of the Dem elite view the hearings as an opportunity for preening in front of the cameras instead of an opportunity to represent and protect their constituents.

*Unfortunately, too many of the Dem elite are members of the RICH White Men's Club.

"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans,
family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."--- Senator Paul Wellstone

[jn2375]

15. When our rights are taken away Dem leaders will be seen as

wimps again for not taking a stand. Its a lose lose situation.

[ProfessorPlum]

17. Unless they fight - then everyone wins

even if they lose some battles, it will give us hope to win the war.

[YOY]

21. I agree with 95% of that but this

"When I think of all the confused young American kids fed to the German machine guns to prevent the spread of fascism . . ."

Um, so our participation in WWII to stem fascism in Europe was unnecessary? "Fed to the German machine guns"...sounds more like the Russians' human wave tactics.

The rest I agree with.

[ProfessorPlum]

22. I'm not sure how you get that WWII was "unnecessary"

from what I wrote, but whatever.

[YOY]

23. Sorry, but the "fed to machine guns" bit

Sounded a bit too much like painting WWII as a government-enforced meat-grinder and that we literally engaged in operations that would deplete enemy munitions at the expense of our soldiers lives. The Soviet Union used such tactics and suffered immense losses...and it happened often in WWI to soldiers of many nations. I do not believe we ever have done anything like that in WWII.

Sorry for misconstruing your words. It was merely the choice of words that led my kneejerk reaction.

[ProfessorPlum]

24. Ok.

I don't think we did anything like that in WWII either.