Fitz-alicious !

Fitz/Feingold!
As usual Digby hits it straight on—ever notice Hume wearing the Repug badge, the Lapel Flag?

Fitz

Oh! It’s working. Wasn’t 10 minutes ago.

You tweaked it, Christy?

By the way, I really dislike the “read the rest of this entry” button. Isn’t it possible to have the full entries show up in their entirety on this new blog-site?

Redd always on the ball! I swear, what’s it going to take for the Dems to clue into this?

I say we sit all of the current Dems in a locked room with Digby, Gore, Redd, Jane, Glenn, Aravosis, Atrios and Kos and don’t let them leave until all the light bulbs turn on.

The thing is that I just don’t believe that the Dems don’t realize this is the best time. I just think they are scared. Everyone’s waiting for someone else to make the first move. Unfortunately Murtha and Feingold have already done it, yet they still stall. ACK!!!

Probably everyone else already knows about this, but it was news to me:

http://www.live-paintball.com/paintball.cfm (Internet hunting for people with remote-controlled paintball guns and webcams)

And of course http://www.live-shot.com/ (Internet hunting for animals)

The NY Times yesterday had an expose on a special military unit that abused detainees in Iraq, with not previously revealed information. They used detainees for paintball target practice.

Prof — I saw that yesterday morning. Made me sick to my stomach.

just made my morning calls to my senators… jeeze, this is a getting to be a routine.

was told the senate is not in session this week…. does this mean they are on vacation? anyway, i’m trying to find out if kerry is giving any public talks in MA this week… if he is, i will try to go and ask him about his censure flip-flop (or at least carry a big sign).

zergle—that’s a whole lot of Snickers bar (”not going anywhere for a while?”)

Redd is now Christy. The metamorphosis is complete.

Everyone make sure you get Feinsteins phones ringing off the hook. She is beginning to crack!

Most of the people put their economic interest over the country’s interest.

When people vote for George W Bush in 2004 and for the Republicans in congress in 2002 despite the fact that George W Bush and the Republicans failed to defend America on Sept 11, 2001 you see those people don’t care about national security.

( to take our country back, click on the name buckfush )

Forgot this -

Happy Birthday Fiona !

linked text

consider the link a virtual birthday present
(If you don’t have it bookmarked already)

If your head doesn’t explode from the cuteness, your laughter will in reading the comments - otherwise sane and rational adults completely gaga over the adorable critters.

Prof - Let me second Christy’s sickness. For both items.

Just a little more on the Eleanor Clift commentary in Newsweek that received a lot of attention yesterday.

It is time for Eleanor Clift of Newsweek and all other “liberal” columnists to come to the progressive blogs rather than people like Marshall Whittmann or unnamed Democratic strategists when they want to get a good take on what the Democrats should do on an issue. Bloggers like Jane & Christy at FireDogLake, Digby, Glenn Greenwald, Kos and so many others aren’t outside the mainstream. They are as much a part of the mainstream as anyone else who provides commentary. Furthermore, these bloggers are providing better and more representative commentary on politics than Whittmann who represents an increasingly small fraction of Democrats or than the Democratic strategists who have been giving their lunch money to the Republican bullies for years now.

It is time that big media move past simply acknowledging the presence of blogs and actually start including blog-generated content in their own reporting, commentary and analysis.

Oh and George W bush took our country to war so he could gain political capital to destroy medicare and social security and the rest of the social safety net.

He also took our country for oil.

( to take our country back, click on the name buckfush )

I strongly second Prof’s comment about the strong dislike for the “read the rest of this entry†button. For every post you have to click on that and reload a whole new page. It really takes a lot more time.

Absolutely the country “gets it.” Yesterday NPR had both Bush and Cheney saying that the insurgency is not approaching a civil war. Then you have the Iraqi Prime Minister saying “we are in the middle of a civil war.”

Who are 75% of Americans going to believe? Bush is the little boy who cried “Wolf” … five or six or twenty times. It seems that only the politicians, the corporate media, and those with vested monetary interests are still supporting King George. The second American Revolution has begun, and it appears that the Democrats, as a party, want nothing to do with it. They would rather eat yellow cake.

It is almost so bad that someone could claim he was somehow involved in 9/11, and he would have a difficult time

I don’t have a big problem with clicking the “read the rest of the entry” button. And it probably is a LOT cheaper for Jane and Christy to have a front page that doesn’t use a huge pile of bandwidth every time someone clicks on www.firedoglake.com.

How timely - the DNC called me again today looking for money.

I told caller “Not one more dime until I see the democrats lining up to support the Feingold censure motion.”

Poor guy, he sounded depressed. I wonder if I was the only person to blast the DNC today? Bet not!

While we’re commenting on the comments in the new digs, I do have one issue…

When posting a comment, it doesn’t automatically load the page with your comment. You have to manually reload the page after you submit the post to see it. It might just be a Firefox thing, or I’ve got a hamster in the system I forgot to feed.

(I love the “live” preview though.)

The “read the rest” button loads the rest of the entry from where the button is set. It allows Jane and Redd to have more entries on the front page, too. I don’t mind wainting a little for it: if you hit the more button, you get the comments also; there’s where the delay comes from!

The NY Times yesterday had an expose on a special military unit that abused detainees in Iraq, with not previously revealed information. They used detainees for paintball target practice.

Whatever support I felt for the troops is waning. Fast.

And I don’t wanna fuckin’ hear “they were just following orders.”

You have to manually reload the page after you submit the post to see it. It might just be a Firefox thing,

Must be a Firefox thing — it doesn’t happen with Safari. I also really like the auto-preview. Maybe I should try proofreading my posts!! Nah…..

Lobbying Senators: Time to Pay a Little Visit

They are not in session this week.

For those of you who can get to a local, in state senator’s office, please consider making a face visit.

You don’t have to set an appointment.

Here’s the feedback we’re getting from senate insiders:

Senators do not think their home consitutents really care about censure, or at least, they’re not convinced.

But being a constituent who shows up, and leaving a respectful message that this issue matters, and why. .. that will get noticed. I guanrantee it. Walk ins from constituents don’t happen a lot, and they get attention.

How much? I walk must be worth at least twenty phone calls.

If you’re lucky, you might get to speak with your senator.

EPU’d.

I am thinking more and more that Wittman, for sure, and Shrum and Carville and probably most of those creeps are in fact Republican moles. I also believe absolutely that the corporate media’s primary mission is to further intimidate Dems in office: the hell with news for the rest of us, We The People are hardly a blip on their radar screens. Daschle post-anthrax always looks like an animal caught in the headlights, and the other “leaders†act it, while they’re all owned by AIPAC , Big Pharma and the rest of the corporations who toss them crumbs and LOVE the Repubs.

So what to do/how to send them a message? How about turning out Pelosi as well as Lieberman and, well, why not an attack list? The other part of that is to GET ACTIVE in your own precinct/district, and start getting control of the local party machinery. This means canvassing, going door to door, phoning like crazy right around home to get out the vote, playing politics like these Dems never did learn how to do. It works, if you do it, and we’ve never needed it more than we do now.

And (thanks, Chicago Tom) the other strategy we might as well develop NOW is what to do after they steal 2006. Might as well get the statistics now, while there’s time, and make sure there are registration and get-out-the-vote drives, poll watchers inside and exit pollers at the door of every precinct likely to be contested. Which means at minimum most minority areas, nationwide, if the past is any guide.

dead last: it’s hard for me to believe that our congress critter dems don’t get it too. it is very uncomfortable not knowing what motivates them… are they really just that stupid? do they just not care? are they being blackmailed?

how to devise a strategy that can cope with any and all of the possibilities?

it’s funny, people are so Shrill! lately. it’s like the club just got a whole lot bigger, or something.

count me in the group that doesn’t exect the dems to move on the censure thing. they are spineless. and i beg whatever deity is listening: prove me wrong.

Zergle says:
March 20th, 2006 at 7:27 am

I say we sit all of the current Dems in a locked room with Digby, Gore, Redd, Jane, Glenn, Aravosis, Atrios and Kos and don’t let them leave until all the light bulbs turn on.

I’d say add Steve Gilliard to the list and pound them with his Fighting Liberal posting.

Pachacutec: thanks for the advice to visit our senators offices. i live out in worcester (about an hour away from boston), but if you think it’s worth it - i’ll take thursday or friday off and make the trip to kerry and kennedy’s offices in boston.

From tomflocco.com so take it with a grain, err, a 50 lb chunk of rock salt, but….

Rumors around the intelligence community indicate Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s indictments against Karl Rove, Richard Armitage, Bob Woodward are imminent while status of Bush/Cheney sealed indictments is also being discussed as to when they will become public.

What all this talk about “our leaders�

A leader would ALWAYS be a patriot first and a politician second.
My soul aches…my heart has numbed… for it has become shockenly apparent that we truly have no leaders, at least none that give a damn about our constitution, the bill of rights or the rule of law.

These truly are dangerous times. A leadership void exists.
History has taught us that from voids such as this acts of desperation spring, and that is what this cabal in power is now hoping for.

Can you imagine if a so-called member of the “liberal media” had responded as Brit had- jumping hysterically to the defense of the dem party?

What sickens me is Brit Hume’s show is now top in it’s time slot- that means tens of millions of people are listening to his propaganda and it can’t all be rabid-right wingers.

What is it with people? Hasn’t been Fox been exposed as GOP TV?

Selise–if you hear that Kerry is making an appearance somewhere, please post–I’m also in MA (and close to his Boston office ;) ) Though I personally am against the flip-flop poster, I strongly dislike reinforcing Republican talking points.

OT. Call from NARAL yesterday. Informed him, very strongly, why they will not get another dime…Alito, Liberman, etc. etc. He seemed quite outraged. Too bad.

I agree with Digby and Jane H 1000,000,000000% and some more too. And I am not particularly a firebrand, except when blogging. Frinstance, I don’t think “Fighten†Feingold’s censure motion is the best of all possible worlds re Dem tactics and strategy. It would have been better for Dems to put up more of a fight in Congress before deciding whether censure appropriate. But Dems totally supine in Congress and Feingold finally did something, which at some point is better than doing absolutely nothing. And for Dems not to find a way to support “Rambo†Russ, is incomprehensible.

Look, sooner or later, somehow someway someday, Dems will have to articulate what they stand for to public. For five years now we have had excuses for why things not ready yet. It took conservative decades of argument and repetition to sway the public. Democrats have to make their case to public someday. Why is it always never quite the right time for them to define a position and advocate it to public aggressively? This paralysis will hurt them in victory as well as defeat. Look at the last fool to fake is way to victory without honestly stating his positions (GW Bush). Even if Democrats win by default in next couple of elections, do they even have their sh*t together enough to determine and pursue an agenda with public support. If they do not practice making their case to the public now, why should they be any better at it after a victory? Now they are losers who do nothing out of fear of losing. With their current attitude they will be what they are now, losers who do nothing out of fear of losing, after they just happened to win an election because their opposition is so grotesquely horrendously incompetent, corrupt and dishonest. The Dems will not have a mandate to do anything in particular. Will they still be afraid of doing anything for fear that somebody someplace will think a bad thought about them. I think probably yes, that is what will happen, unless there is some evidence of Dems getting their act together now. And there is none.

Hamsher was so right earlier this weekend in pointing out that the Dems have developed a lose-lose attitude which has lead to complete paralysis. If the reactionaries are bold, then that is strong leadership, if we are bold, then that is reckless. If the reactionaries take a firm stand, then that is resolute leadership, if we take a firm stand, then that is doctrinaire rigidity. If the reactionaries advocate forcefully, that is effective communication, if we do the same, that is shrill partisanship. And so, it is never quite the right time for the Dems to do or say anything, ever. So they are losers, and at immense cost to the country.

Ditto. I also like the full story on page 1 style much better.

gosh-darnit, that’s what I get for sitting down at my computer and posting a comment without hitting the refresh button first… that was supposed to be a response to comment #5!

Like the new site but what happened to the honor roll–Lions and Lemmings?

Pachacutec,

Thanx for the very good advice about face to face lobbying…however, how pathetic is it that these folks who are supposed ta be professional politicians need a face to face meeting with a constituent who can’t afford the gasoline to drive around the block let alone go to Washington to tell him/her that it’s good politics to oppose a criminal and unpopular president??!! Pathetic isn’t the word…no, I think the thing that gets ‘em is pile the money on Feingold and the DNC and send direct messages to DCCC and DSCC when ya do that the money will not be forthcomin to them but to others. If we could organize a one day freezout of the DCCC and DSCC and send the money to Feingold’s PAC and the DNC ($5-$25) it wouldn’t take more’n 24 hours to get a majority of Dems to support censure.

Thanx again for all your work and I look forward to your analyses (though I disagree about the relationship of alcoholism and violence…another time perhaps) but please think about my suggestion. If you and Redd and Jane could round up the Kos, Atrios, Digby and even Josh Marshmellow to set up a 1-day Feingold-DNC blitz, I bet we’d see immediate results.

KEEP THE FAITH AND REMEMBER YA DON’T HAFTA LOVE YER NEIGHBOR TA DO WHAT’S BEST FOR ‘IM!!!

OT, but interesting (from the Toronto Star)

“Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.
At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.
The study from the Journal of Research Into Personality isn’t going to make the UC Berkeley professor who published it any friends on the right. Similar conclusions a few years ago from another academic saw him excoriated on right-wing blogs, and even led to a Congressional investigation into his research funding.”

This ought to give the wingnuts a spleen-venting time!!!

http://www.washtimes.com/natio....._page2.htm

another Dem and article painting Feingold (and us) as “radical leftists”.

Did anybody see the Chris Matthews show yesterday? His panel (David Gregory, Cynthia Tucker, Elizabeth “I hate smelly progressives” Bumiller and Andrew Sullivan) held court over whether the “bloggers” can engineer a Dem candidacy “from the left” against Hilary. Note that that was the main storyline - not whether Feingold’s action was the right or smart thing to do, but whether the bloggers/Feingold coule defeat Hilary.

Chris and Elizabeth couldnt hide their snark - Chris kept saying that bloggers wont make much difference in elections because you have to take off your bathrobe, put on your shoes and leave the house to get people to the polls. Bumiller sat on her self-righteous little throne to trash the Dean candidacy - this was the most offensive part - she actually used the “Dean scream” as evidence that the netroots cant really accomplish anything. No mention of the ubiquitous trashing of Dean by the smug, smarmy pundits like herself.

Um, Elizabeth, you just put a huge target on your back. Get ready, because I doubt if Jane and Redd will let that kind of thing go unanswered. (HINT!)

southpaw,
Why is their no pushback on the the lie that anyone who in any way opposes the reactionary Bushites is a radical leftist? That means Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman are radical leftists. That is ridiculous. Remember when Krugman was a standard free market economist defending globalization in the 1990s? DeLong has no problem with a responsible, well planned social security partial privatization that is not a disguised theft of workers savings. But these two are leftists now? There is no pushback on that. Is this not an issue the Democrats can agree on? It is one talking point that is very damaging at election time, but I see no organized push back at all.

Finally, Democrats GOTV post was good too. As a long time campaign precinct worker bee, all I can say is that recent Democratic efforts suck, at least when I compare them to what was done when I was in HS and college.

Great Digby post, goes to the heart of the heart of the matter.

As long as Bushit Inc. doesn’t get another stab at war in the Middle East, with Iran this time. That would sweep alot of this new found awareness off the table in a New York minute.

We’re racing the clock on a weakening Bushit Inc who at some point will not have enough political capital to pull off a pre-emptive attack on Iran.

Do Not get too cocky about the wounded and flailing NeoConJob Hydra. It’s probably at it’s most dangerous when seriously wounded, especially if it thinks it’s mortally wounded, it’s got nothing to lose at that point.

There are still some low points that have not been plumbed yet, like an Avian Flu pandemic couple with an oil crisis. The general situation is still skating on the Razor’s Edge.

I’ve heard it is a curse to live in interesting times.

I guess it really can go either way.

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”

“`Niccolo Machiavelli““

Professor Foland: if i get any info about a local (MA) kerry appearace i will certainly post it here.

but, i may be getting the run around though… just spoke with the person in charge of kerry’s schedule here in MA and couldn’t get a straight answer to my question (is kerry attending or speaking at any public or fundraising events this week?)… she said she would email me with info on any public appearances.

i also called his campaign office - no answer.

Jack O’Roses says:
March 20th, 2006 at 8:26 am

Actually, that’s pretty much exactly what Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schumer think of us.

They think we’re kids and kooks. They don’t believe we’re the base. Hell, they don’t even believe they have a genuine base, just a buffet of interest groups. They certainly don’t build campaigns around base strategies. Quite the opposite. They run to the “middle” with focus group pabulum.

They don’t believe that we are profressionals and activists and part of the manistream of American opinion craving leadership and change in Washington. They don’t believe the netroots is also the grassroots, or that we ever get out of our chat rooms to make a difference locally. They don’t believe we are strong.

To them Ciro’s loss in TX-28 only cementd that perception. Ciro did not get enough turnout to beat the incumbent Cuellar, even though he made a race out of what should not have been a race, with our help.

The only way to get their attention is to support the progressive candidates we like and make them win.

Also, it will help to do as I suggested above: show up at your home senator’s office to talk about censure.

Just heard on the local news that there’s a die-in at Dianne’s local office at One Post Street, corner of Market and Montgomery. So, maybe on my way to the client’s this morning, there’ll be some excitement. I’d planned to stop by and put in my word edgewise, but we’ll see if they are letting folks upstairs at all.

A Siggested Tweak for the New Blog Engine

If possible, please set things so that links in the text of a post are differentiated by color. On this post they’re not, at least based on what my Mozilla Firefox browser shows me. Otherwise, the site looks great!

So, is there still FDL ping-pong going on between the .com and the .blogspot?

-GSD

Hey,

firedoglake.blogspot.com forwards me straight to firedoglake.com !

How can I read the archives at firedoglake.blogspot.com?

OT - re the new website… i really like the numbered comments! thanks!

NorskeFlamethrower says:
March 20th, 2006 at 8:22 am

They know we can raise money. What they don’t know is that we’re more than pajama whackos ranting into the void. They need to see we can get out the vote.

They would love to take our money again. From their perspective, your idea sets up a perverse reward system: piss off the netroots and get a money windfall. Sure, it would go to Dean’s DNC and not the DCCC or DSCC, but it’s still not a back shakedown game. I guarantee you consultants in DC would be thinking up some other way to piss us off to get more money. NOt that Dean would listen, but someone would.

No, Norske. I respectfully disagree. We need faces and bodies, because they translate more clearly into votes, people on the ground. We can’t win this one with one great guerilla action, as satisfying as it might be to us to engineer a short, sharp shock of a campaign.

What we need to prove is we have patience and staying power, with the ability to deliver votes to those we favor. The campaign idea you suggest is to easily done, to cheaply achieved, over in a week, and it rewards abusing us. I know you mean well, but I just can’t agree with your prescription this time.

OMG!

I just tried reading firedoglake.blogspot.com archives through links in google and all links bounced me to 404 on firedoglake.com

Why on earth have you destroyed firedoglake archives?

archive — all of the articles from fdl at blogspot have been transferred here. All you have to do is a search — or you can use the handy calendar on the left side of the screen to select a day for a post.

GSD — Mercifully, we are debugged enough to simply stay here instead of playing posting and comments monitoring ping pong. Thank goodness.

“Dems have to show what they stand for”

No they don’t. In fact it is to their advantage to NOT be pushed into a “platform” for the midterms..Individual candidates would ignore it anyway. This election is about the goopers. The public will either vote for two more years of what they’ve just seen- or they will vote for change..

Goopers are going apoplectic with their rants “dems have no ideas”- “dems can’t take advantage of gooper weaknesses”.

It’s all bullshit. Dems have a 16 point advantage on the generic ballot- they’re in the catbird seat- and goopers are trying to shake em out.

Report on the local rag’s website about the downtown SF protest. Although it’s in front of the McKesson Building, One Post Street, where DiFi’s local office is, note no mention of that in the article….

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/arti.....HR3D74.DTL

=========
Had enough?

“But being a constituent who shows up, and leaving a respectful message that this issue matters, and why. .. that will get noticed.”
Pachacutec,
McCain/Kyls’ offices are downtown Phoenix (not that anything would get done there anyway) but since I work about 4 blocks from Rep. J.D. Hayworths office-I walked over there and thought their heads were going to spin, a la “The Exorcist” and/or Brit Hume —nothing will happen from his office but I sure was a lot of fun–Thanks for the suggestion..

In the basic dilemma is teh conundrum.

Beyond the ‘tax and spend’ canard is the overarching meme of “weakness” and of being unwilling to “stand for anything”.

Many on the left end of the spectrum stand for many a good thing but when we try to stand for these principals the centrist appeasers scream about the radical leftists who are going to alienate the center. This leads to infighting and inaction and the inaction allows for the continued notion that the left is unwilling to fight for core beliefs.

Rinse and repeat mistake.

-GSD

selise says:
March 20th, 2006 at 8:13 am

I won’t tell you to take the day off, but if you do, then make sure they know you did it.

It’s funy, but senators (and others, ourselves included) form their perceptions a lot by behavioral anecdotes. A dramatic little effort like the one you describe would make a real impression on the staff and percolate up to the boss. Especially since you’re not connected to some established lobbying group, and just another member of the grassroots base who reads blogs.

That would counter what fucky Tweety chortles and what establishment Dems believe.

Thanks Redd.

-GSD

And if you can’t show up for face time, write an LTE to a local paper. They are reading the local papers this week closely.

I hate the “read the rest button”.
My computer takes forever to load the page…I prefer to read a post and then read the comments if I choose…now I have to jump back and forth.

Redd,
Don’t know if you’ve seen the WaPo editorial today - covers the governments performance in the Moussaoui case - as well as their track record in general in prosecuting terrorists / detainees.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....tml?sub=AR

Hey, does anyone know the where 60 Grit O’Bierne’s book now sits in the ratings pipeline? For that matter how about the fraudulent book perpetrated by Fred Barnes?

Also, I see V for Vendetta was tops in the box office!

-GSD

the 2nd page of uncategorized category starts at 31th dec 2005,there is surely some bug there.

Christy, thank god your archives seem to be accessible through their days, I thought I was going to have an aneyrysm :-)

The “button thing” - it really just depends on the host’s intention. If they believe that each and every post deserves our attention and awe, then the button appoach is right — in keeps things on the front page longer and demands that we pay attention (LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!)

If the hosts believe that they have created timeless words of wisdom that we will want to see day after day….

If each thread represents a snapshot of thought at a point in time, then it would be more appropriate to keep the entire post on the frontpage. After all, dialogs are not set in stone, access to information changes, and perhaps we don’t really know it all yet — reflection and reason might still be part of the process.

Not my call — but good design starts with function and a dialog about “the button” really needs to start with the purpose of each post how people use the blog.

It is a fact that the “new” thread “upstairs” does tend to terminate the discussion below, though at this site, some commentators do hang around in the old thread for an few hours.

I think we should be talking about the toilet paper background — it looks soft and comfortable, but with enough texture to give a good ass-wipe on the first pass. Clearly, this is heavy duty TP that was designed to function as a comfortable, yet effective tool to eliminate dingleballs.

My only suggestion would be to add the perforation lines — it looks like this TP will need it to be “hand-tearable”

Digby has said it for me. The DC Dem folks think the left base can be ignored since we will turn out to vote anyway. I’ve personally vowed to only vote for those Dems who fight, and I doubt I’m alone.

Off Thread: The new site’s RSS feed doesn’t seem to be updating (no updates since Friday). I use Bloglines, which works fine on all other sites I subscribe too.

Is anyone else having RSS feed update problems?

don’t feed 68

Ummm, when exactly did Britt Hume become one of us? Did he really say, “For the first time in a long time, some people are willing to give our side a listen.”

I use Hume’s attempts at statistical obfuscation as classroom examples of why you have to analyze any alleged statistical argument for validity. My personal favorite is his attempt to show it was more dangerous to live in California in 2001 than to be a GI in Iraq during the same time period.

BC

Pachacutec,

Well, I’m afraid if you are right about needing face to face lobbying to influence professional Democratic politicians to do what’s in their best interest, then democracy is dead in mass society. Most folks can’t afford either ta take the day off er ta drive across town ta “respectfully” lobby their elected representatives.

I hope you are wrong because if yer not, we don’t have a chance ta leverage our numbers with money and the system is so corrupted that even money from the good guys can’t buy votes ta do the right thing. Think about it Pach…I’m gettin a real BAD feeling here. There hasta be a reason that elected politicians won’t stand up for what’s popular AND right…and I’m sorry but if we can’ use the system as it exists to represent a majority of people thru the internet, well, frankly we’re fucked.

Please persuade me…

KEEP THE FAITH WE’RE ALL GUNNA END UP IN THE SAME PLACE ANYWAY!!

rwcole: I can see your point about not issuing detailed a plaftorm with hastily nailed planks. But I am talking about more general things, such as
–responding to Bushite lie that all opposition and criticism of their policies is from “extreme leftists.”
–defending fellow Democrats from smears (Murtha and Feingold recent examples)
–presenting a general vision and philosophy to counter that of Bushites.
Even if election is all about GOP, seems to me that Democrats have to give public their interpretation of what is wrong with GOP. GOP is very effective at scaring electorate. Average person disatisfied with GOP, but if propaganda about Dems being “extreme leftists” and defeatist (re Iraq) or “soft” (re terroristm) is not countered, that could mean difference in getting one chamber of Congress.

And by countering “extreme leftist” charge, I do not mean triangulation or moving to the right. I mean standing our traditional Democratic high ground (on social insurance, for example) and simple explaining that the traditional Democratic is NOT “extreme leftist” and not shying away froma fight about it. Same for corruption. Same for Iraq and national security policy. And on most issues, Democrats have majority or plurality on their side, yet they seem reluctant to advocate those positions.

An eloquent statement indeed. Nice article. Here is something for my friend rory shock…Dead is Dead

“Whatever support I felt for the troops is waning. Fast.”

I feel that this sentiment is misguided, because it tends to blame poor kids who don’t know any better, have been trained to dehumanize “the enemy,” while their command structure is either condoning this behavior or looking the other way. There once was a time in the U.S. military when officers honorably stepped up to responsibility for immoral actions under their control. But with the likes of Rummy and his well decorated lickspittles, the “tone” has been set in the other direction.

It is obvious that using detainees for paintball practice is horribly wrong on many levels (so much for hearts and minds). But to lose support for 19-year-old kids stuck in a terrible situtation with morally bankrupt leadership isn’t the right answer, either.

Fishes do indeed rot from the head down.

P.S. I’m ready ta join a REAL third party movement…but keep that Nader and Green shit offa my lawn ‘cuz I really beleive and live the rhetoric these folks toss out ta raise money. We need a full blown left revolutionary party if we can’t get the Democrats to do what’s popular and right!

KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T BE AFRAID TA HIT WHAT YA SHOOT AT!!

It’s about time to draw a line in the sand about Iraq..

It’s about time to say–Clusterfuck has until the end of 2007 to turn this thing around- there will be no more troops in Iraq after that date- period..

He’s had three years already- give him two more- that’s five fuckin years and we’ll be lookin at a trillion bucks- if the Iraqis can’t get their shit together by then- well they’ll just have to figure it out.

Maybe if they had to pay for Digby’s advice they would pay more attention to it; or even if free if he had the title “consultant.” Same would apply to Jane.

I have never understood the rampant use of “consultants” in the biz world for answers to key questions regarding your own bizness. I can understand bringing in consultants if the matter/s doesn’t relate to your corp business - no one knows everything. But here, our politicians (other than Russ and a few others) are listening not to their constituents, not to their own gut, but some professional political consultants. If a pol doesn’t have the ability to make his/her own decisions without first getting a green light from some behind the scenes “genius,” then what good are they as a politician. Who are they representing? The consultants. Think of where that type of political decision making got us.

They could save a lot of money and do a lot more good even if they just looked at the polling of THEIR constituency - you and me. They don’t even have to do it b/c it is the right thing to do, although that would certainly be better.

Of course it might be more complicated than that, but at its heart it is the ability to take a position and go with it, not hide behind nonsensical political hairsplitting equivication.

Plus, count me as someone who thinks that Al Gore is the frontrunner for 2008 - not Hillary, who doesn’t have a chance, or anyone else. And a Gore/Feingold or Gore/Durbin ticket sounds pretty good. Al won once before after all. Has Gore spoken up on this issue.

Also, for the moderators: are all the comments from the old FDL gone, particularly last nights threads.

Teddy, in addition to the action against DiFi downtown office, I’m hearing there is a full-on protest on Iraq downtown, continuing from the weekend. Shit is definitely happening at Market and Montgomery. They have the traffic’s attention, that’s for sure. Students at UC Berkeley, SF State, and Sonoma State are walking out of class today and joining in.
Hello!! I need to go down there.

NorskeFlamethrower says:
March 20th, 2006 at 8:57 am

I’m not saying we have to do face time over and over, in perpetuity.

But I am saying we face a credibility problem now based on the perception we don’t leave our computers.

We can counter that and once we do, we won’t have to face that same test again.

What I’m saying is, at this point in time, we have their attention, but from their perspective, we have more to prove. If we want to persuade them that playing to the base and beging aggressive is in their interests, then we need to acknowledge our credibility test and pass it.

I have no doubt we can do it. I’m making a temporal tactical recommendation, not a long term strategic diagnosis.

There were two great articles yesterday in the Guardian and Times UK re Bush and Feingold’s censure move– sad that they were not published in US newspapers sigh.
From the Guardian via Common Dreams
“The only bright spot in Bush’s fortunes has been the continued infighting in the Democratic party, which is still failing to present a unified front to the American people. Last week Democrat Senator Russ Feingold moved a motion to ‘censure’ Bush over a secret service wire-tapping scandal. He wanted to raise the possibility of impeachment and the spectre of a Watergate-style investigation.

But instead of gaining Democrat support, figures such as John Kerry and Hillary Clinton refused to say if they backed the move. Feingold lambasted his party for ‘cowering’, as Republicans were provoked into a rare moment of unified support for Bush.”

It also explains why the response in the GWU speech was so tepid– only 5 Rethug congresscritters and 1 senator showed up!!!

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0319-23.htm

OT to Redd - great job on the TeeVee yesterday. I presumed to leave you some mild constructive feedback back on the follow-up thread.

NorskeFlamethrower says:
March 20th, 2006 at 9:03 am

There is no real third party movement that can deliver policy change. All proponents of third party movements have idealized “if you build it they will come” fantasies that are the mirro to PNAC and Rumsfled in Iraq. The only difference is the political agenda, but the fantasy style of thinking is the same.

oops– forgot the link to the Times story all about impeachment and censure and Bush:

‘Impeach Bush’ chorus grows
Sarah Baxter, Washington
THE movement to impeach President George W Bush over the war on terror began with a few tatty bumper stickers on the back of battered old Volvos and slogans such as “Bush lied, people died†on far-left websites. But as Democrat hopes rise of gaining control of Congress this autumn, dreams of impeaching Bush are no longer confined to the political fringe.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/a....._1,00.html

“Chris kept saying that bloggers wont make much difference in elections because you have to take off your bathrobe, put on your shoes and leave the house to get people to the polls.”

A similar statement could be made about boob-tubers and right-wing radio heads. It’s transparent spin. It is a good sign that they feel they have to spew this crap

Just heard on the news that DiFi is in San Jose today. Hope there will be some heat on her tonight when she gives her speech on global warming. Heh.

Third Party?

As disappointing as most Dem’s are right now, unless the Repugs decide to break off into private label factions, I don’t see how a third party could help us. I realize that might not be considered the right answer, but simply fighting the good fight would leave me empty. I’d rather have a chance to get the Repgus out of power and take my chances with the Dem’s.

I don’t care how high-minded a third party campaign would be - winning counts for something.

An expedient attitude, but still, the only credible one.

The new site looks great, but I had trouble finding it. I haven’t been blogging or reading blogs this week and didn’t know about your move and every time I went to the blogger url it gave me an error. It seems the automatic redirect from blogger has an extra www in the URL. Just thought I’d let you know.

Finally got a callback from Levin’s DC office last week. The staffer sounded resigned, said they’d been barraged with calls all week running almost unanimously in support of Feingold’s Censure Resolution.

But Levin wants to work on an investigation, he said. I told him that either Levin’s got to come out (or some other Dem) and dish about any chances of investigation because we already knew that the Intelligence Committee (on which Levin sits) already voted down an investigation, or Levin was going to need to support the Censure, because the base was getting extremely unhappy with this situation. He was non-committal, sounded very uncomfortable at this point.

After I got off the phone, I thought about this a bit more…Levin’s on a Subcommittee for Permanent Investigations. Who else is on that Subcommittee? is there something else going on, a stealth approach? I can only hope because it’s not looking good otherwise.

I recommend everyone call their Senators’ local offices and find out whether their Senators will be making visits locally. I will be; last one got postponed because of the Ports crap so we’re overdue.

with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989 or so, the GOP lost a sturdy political weapon: anti-communism. Democrats were routinely painted as “red commies”. Liberals were always “pink” but they ramped up the liberal-hatred in the 1990s. Nowadays, it’s “soft on terrorism” and “radical leftists”. Mushy Democrats have also used those phrases against their own kind but with less potency.
Us old-timers recognize the current perjorative discourse as being pale reflections of the 1950s hysterical anti-communism…

NorskeFlamethrower 76

WE need a revolution yes. But in a geographical based political system, where each district is a winner take all, 3rd parties can’t work (unless no one gets 50% of the electoral college and then the presidency goes to the House for a vote, at which point you approximate a parliment).

In a diverse society, you need a parlimentary system voted in at large (or from large geographic areas). One problem with this is that you end up with a bunch of single issue political parties. And a weakening of geographic representation is contrary to our fundamental beliefs of populism based on liberty through property (every ‘man’ is king in his own house — see the never quoted 9th amendment).

But you are right. We need to do something.

My fingers are getting tired from dialing my oh-so-bored representatives and nominally liberal senators.

It doesn’t appear that they represent party voters, as many of us point out.

My best take is that both parties represent separate and often warring corporate interests. Big oil and weapons related R&M versus big infotainment and the service industries.

We’re an also-ran and get thrown a bone at election time.

I’d like to see voters take over the Dems, but if the analysis is right, I doubt the corporate owners of the party would take it kindly.

Ah well, maybe it’s not true.

Pachacutec,

I firmly believe in “democratic revolution” and the party I’m talkin about can be the Democratic Party but not by beggin’ our existing ,corrupted elected officials to support what a majority of their constituents want them to do. We must FORCE them to follow the mass of that constituency and we do that by intimidating ‘em with the only thing they understand…money and votes.

Germany faced a revolutionary moment in 1932-33 and the “liberals” decided to allow Hitler to take power and he would take care of all the great unwashed on their left. The corporatists thought they could control him…both factions got eaten by the beast. We are facing the same situation right now in this country…we can’t beg the Democratic elected offials to do the right thing. We must FORCE them by any means necessary.

I am lookin’ the beast right in the snoz and his breath smells of fresh blood…we can’t beg these folks, they’re killin our young and stealin’ our history. If the elected Democrats won’t get the picture from a massive one-day Feingold blitz, then we go to step 2, which is to organize the progressives to mass behind Feingold and withold all support from the Democratic Party outside of Dean and the DNC.

KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T BE AFRAID TO HIT WATCH YA AIM AT!!!

Norske, I know you speak for the frustrations of many here, so I’d like to bring up another point:

Why do you think we can’t do what the christian fundamanetalists did? Why do you think we are weak?

I’m serious.

All this talk about lack of faith in the dem establishment is really another way of saying we don’t have faith in ourselves.

The fundamentalists forced their way into a power sharing arrangement with the corporate welfare kings to get their agenda into the mainstream of the republican party. They provide the GOTV, the troops on the gound, the passion. The boys in suits raid the treasury. Nice game.

But the fundamentalists were outsiders once. Before Falwell’s “Moral Majority.” What did they do? They organized and planned their takeover. Now they are packing SCOTUS.

So if you talk about third party, and you get caught up in thinking the dem establishment can’t be pushed, you’re really saying we are weaker than the fundamentalists. You are saying you have no faith in us, nevermind the dem establishment.

My question is, why?

Norske: when did I ever say “beg?”

I’m talking about using and demonstrating power.

Brit Hume remains a well-respected TV journalist within the Washington press establishment.

To any thinking observer, this short factual statement alone succintly illustrates the irretrievably compromised nature of the current national political media.

The perception of Brit Hume is a much bigger issue than Brit himself. There will always be ethically-challenged charlatans willing to trade on their over-inflated reputations. In a healthy community they are identified as such and shunned. In Repubmerica they are selected to interview the tsar. (… well, Rasputin anyways.)

On the money, Stormcrow.

I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!

Pachacutec -

I take your question seriously, and offer a serious answer:

>Norske, I know you speak for the frustrations of many >here, so I’d like to bring up another point:

>Why do you think we can’t do what the christian >fundamanetalists did? Why do you think we are weak?

I think we are weak because, based on history (and the future can always surprise), liberal and democratic movements have typically failed to create a successful meld of democratic ideals and disciplined action.

I offer as examples:

1. The passionate, basically right but divided and conquered Celts under Boadicea faced with the Romans

2. The Roman democracy itself, faced with the emperors

3. The African nations faced with the European invaders and slavers

4. The Native American nations faced with the same guys

5. The American Left after WWI faced with the Palmer Raids and murders of IWW leadership

6. The American New Left after the Chicago Convention faced with Cointelpro and the Panther murders

In each case a disciplined and smaller force was able to create disorganization and distrust in a larger but more democratic and decentralized group by means of dividing and conquering (and bigger guns, of course!)

I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s more difficult for us than our fundamentalist opponents. For them discipline is relatively easy, as they have no basic belief in liberty. For us every disciplined and unified action is subject to a thousand compromises and considerations.

We have yet to invent the social forms that combine a committment to liberty with a committment to unified action. Thus Kos banishes, others flame Kos, this one hates that one, and we focus more on minor doctrinal differences than the rapacious opponent.

I truly believe that discipline within liberty is possible, but don’t think we’ve found out how. Until we do, our task is more difficult than the task of those who lack a committment to liberty to begin with.

H.

The Democratic Party here in Virginia has, since they lost the State Legislature, had a similar mentality of being so concerned with preventing more losses that they have a hard time making gains. (Stuff like not challenging “strong” incumbents, etc.) We activists are beginning to turn them around, aided by the fact that there’s just short of war in the state GOP between the old-line Republicans and the wingnuts. It takes a lot of hard work from people like us to get the big rock that is the party rolling in a different direction, but once we do, it has a lot more momentum than any of us can muster on our own.

What I’m saying is yes, it’s frustrating, but it’s worth keeping at it, even if they don’t “get it” right away.