Supporting incumbents = change

I want someone to keep track of how much money she gets from the Democratic Party. She doesn’t really need any since she has the insurance and pharma industry locked up and I don’t want her to get any money from the party. We should all let the party know that we don’t give if she gets.

To be fair to Madam Blanche, she does whatever Wal-Mart tells her to, and they are in-state.

And does anyone remember when Obama had guts and supported incumbent challenges to Sen Lieberman and GA Rep Barrows?

Me neither.

Joe says if she loses the primary, there’s always room under the Lieberman party big tent.

Obama is an idiot….Obama is not some “political wonder” as I hear the likes of Thom Hartmann and others claim all too often….

Obama should stay neutral in the Democratic Party primaries and say that he will allow the process to work as it shall in this country and support the winner of the election. Until then, he hopes both candidates the best and all…..

Mr. Obama and Ed Rendell have already shown themselves to be political whores by supporting Arlen “I Love Roberts and Alito” Specter as the Democratic Party candidate this year……

Obama may as well be called a Republican by now and these pressent Democrats from Obama’s White House to the Dems in the House and Senate are nothing but “Weimar Democrats.”

The incompetency shown by the Democrats is paving the way for the right wing Fascists to ascend into power in the next two-six years and make the liberal/progressive base even weaker than it is today.

One other thing—liberals and progressives have been not only silent about war and peace and military issues but some have even supported CIA-NED Backed Green Revolutions which are totally backed by the Black-Ops budgets and the CIA and covert actions…..I no longer identify myself as either “liberal” or “progressive” but as a RADICAL who thinks both parties and ideologies are not worth a damn any longer. The real question is whether you support the structure of the American Corporate-Military Empire and all its antecedents. This is where the argument actually rests because both parties and both the left/right do support “American Exceptionalism” which I reject out of hand.

I am appalled by the left for not only being silent on war and peacr issues but promoting and supporting covert actions and not saying damn thing about the ongoing torture policies of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party’s extension of the Patriot Act, in which not even a debate in Congress was held for its extension…..

No surprise here – time to move on. No matter how much damage she does to the Democratic Party the establishment and elites will fall in line behind her. They supported Leieberman in his primary against Lamont and then worked to undermine Lamont in the general – this is how it works. For the power structure its about control not about what the Dems are supposed to believe.

Now what we need to do is get a campaign started to stop $s to the DSCC and their evil twin the DCCC.

Blanche has as much as intimated that her worthy opponent is the recipient of largesse from Iran and North [sic] Korea, as well as kick-backs from Venezuela.

We know Blanche Lincoln is a bad ‘Democrat’.

What do we know about Halter? What kind of financial reform does he support? Health care reform? What is his stance on Vietnam 2.0 (aka Afghan/Pakistan War)?

If the only way we should measure him before we donate to his campaign is to acknowledge he isn’t Blanche Lincoln, then feel free to support me in my candidacy for US Senator from Pennsylvania. I’m not Specter or Sestak.

Maybe Obama thinks he has enough exClinton help in Washington?

To be fair to Madam Blanche, she does whatever Wal-Mart tells her to, and they are in-state.

I’d wager she does at least as much for Tyson Foods as she does for WalMart

Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod,David Plouffe, and Barack Obama, must be asking themselves why are we listening to Rahm?

Rahm is Dinosaur, time has pass him by.

Candidate Obama the so call progressive is going to have a difficult time in 2011, if he has to talk and act like Blanche Lincoln. Like Sarah Palin said the Hopey Change may not work that well when you are a Blue Dog.

Obama and Rahm ultimate goal was to run against a republican congress, this plan will not work very well unless Obama is considered a Democrat.

The elites had a simple game plan

How to Maintain the Status Quo 101

1. Obama = Liberal Centrist, = Republican policies = Status Quo
2. Demoralize the Progressives Base = 2010 Republican Congress Elected = Status Quo
3. Candidate Obama shows up in 2011 = Runs a Progressive Centrist = Corporate Policies = Status Quo.

Where is the Hope and Change in this equation? there is none

The elites hate Hope and Change.

FDL and others are blowing the equation above a part!
and others are on the way, that are going to make all of congress shake in their boots.

FDR, LBJ, understood that when the MASSES say they want CHANGE, you better CHANGE, how many people think HOOVER should be on Mt RushMore?

Serious question Jane. Why should progressives support an obvious DLCer a la ex-Clinton, when that is what is in Obama’s Whitehouse, and look what that is doing?? Sure Lincoln is a Republican Dem, but what the heck is a DLCer if not almost identical?

Arlen Specter is a “Democrat” too right?

Just because Obama says so….

Blanche Lincoln and Specter have Obama’s support…..Obama loves to quote Ronald Reagan…..Obama goes out of his way to denigrate liberals and progressives and to appease/placate Republicans…..

Obama is a DINO!!!! Specter is still a Republican and Blanche Lincoln is a Southern Democrat…..I never liked or trusted Southern Democrats anyway…..

Jimmy Carter was the last Southern Democrat I liked…..except for the African-American Democrats out of the south whom I more often than not like quite a bit.

I wonder when the Democrats will put more blacks up to run for the U.S. Senate than it does at this time?

Obama is a very good Republican and he will have no problem working with the Repukes if they happen to win over the Congress…..Obama has always been a corporatist as well…..Obama has never been anti-war either….Obama has always been a big supporter of the nuclear power industry as well and he supports torture and the Patriot Act and spying on Americans without warrants.

Supporting incumbents is to be expected. Obama has to work with this Congress until next January and pissing off Senators is not helpful.

The degree of help is germane. Lip service (which is what he appears to be giving Blanche and Arlen) is one thing. Campaigning and fundraising is another kettle of fish. DNC and DSCC support before the primary is another thing to watch, some amount is certain, but if they chip in a lot in a race that is close it makes it clear they don’t want progressives to be elected.

I really can’t stand Blanche Lincoln. She betrays the Democratic Party when she votes against the Democratic Platform. The Democratic Platform is Pro-Choice. Pro-Choice is the best, because it is FAIR, and respects both sides. But if her opponent is Pro-Choice and supports the Presidents’ Campaign promises, then I will consider the Blanche Lincoln opponent.

Thanks for asking.

And I will be supporting Obama’s opponent in the 2012 Democratic primaries.

If I wanted Bush’s policies, I would have voted for McCain. Obama is Bush’s 3rd term

FWIW, whatzhizname (Chuck Tod?) said this morning that O was gonna go full bore for Lincoln including dragging out Big Dawg.

Exactly. Too funny.

BREAKING:
Hazmat Crews Respond to Utah IRS Office

Here is my concern. The Republicans were going to learn their lesson this fall with running “true conservatives” in moderate districts, allowing the Democrats to win. Look at what happened in NY-23.

You would think we could learn that lesson as well, and not cut off our noses to spite our faces.

If a “better Democrat” can really win this election then by all means, support him or her over a questionable incumbent.

Just make sure you don’t wind up causing a Republican to win because you didn’t like who the Democrat was or because he/she wasn’t “liberal enough”. Because the outcome will be far worse.

…whatzhizname

“whatthefuckchuck”?

Obama Supports Lincoln in Primary

This is shocking. Yawn…

Yeah, that guy.

I can’t immagine that many incumbants that voted for the Wallstreet bailout are going to have an easy time being reelected.

From what I’ve read of Bill Halter, he sounds like a noticable improvement over Blanche Lincoln.

the polls as I heard indicate that Lincoln has no chance of winning the general.

FWIW, whatzhizname (Chuck Tod?) Turd.

I could be mistaken…

Barack Obama endorsing the “proud” legacy of President Ronald Reagan:

“I don’t want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what’s different are the times. I do think that for example the 1980 was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn’t much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.”

Excesses which Reagan did not like from the 1960s and 1970s were:

Antiwar Movement
Civil Rights Movement
Consumer Rights
Environmental Rights
Feminism – Women’s Liberation Movement
Gay Rights Movement

Reagan and the right wing conservatives began a backlash front against these movements in the 1980s to the present. Reagan pushed neoliberal economic policies of the “Washington Consensus” model and supported covert actions all over the world. At the same time, Reagan and his cronies started to smash the state of which education and the infrastructure have all suffered for the past 30 years. The Democrats have accepted the frames of the right wing and of Ronald Reagan’s corporate policies of which Obama endorses and openly pays homage to.

You still wondering why women’s rights are still under attack?

You wonder why teachers are an easy target in places like Rhode Island these days as well?

You wonder why the military budgets continue to increase and increase while other programs are slashed and cut?

You wonder why America is still heavy in the war business?

You wonder why America is becoming a failed state itself?

Thanks to Ronald Reagan—Obama’s buddy!!! Reagan helped to hasten the demise of the USA and the Democrats to this day have not addressed the excesses and the damage Reagan did to America in both foreign and domestic policy.

We’re honing in on accuracy. With another round or two we’ll characterize him perfectly.

Same here. I did the “let’s support this guy/gal, because we don’t like his opponent” thing before. While it would be nice to remove Lincoln, if either Lincoln or Halter is going to lose to the Republican candidate (as this Salon article implies), then it may be wasted effort. It will certainly be wasted effort if Halter turns out to be no more progressive than Lincoln.

It’s morning in America.

Don’t forget to wear your #5 Billion sun block…

It’s all about refinement.

Thanks. Good points, all.

I just looked at the Accountability Now site and the Bill Halter site and if there is a concise summary of his positions on specific issues I missed it. Hopefully that will be remedied soon.

funny….lol

Checked out his site earlier. No there there. Thanks for checking accountability now.

Thank-you….I have been very cantankerous and in a bad mood lately but still enjoy a good laugh anytime I can get one.

Todd is head of the NBC Washington Bureau, which confers the honorary title of “Village Idiot.”

Sounds about right and brings us one step closer to accuracy: Whatthefuckchuck Turd, Village Idiot.

“Obama has decriminalized torture…..I will have to ask Glenn Greenwald how true that it is, though…” ——Daniel Ellsberg to Laura Flanders on GrittTV last week….

I am paraphrasing what Ellsberg said but he did use the phrase that Obama has all but “decriminalized torture.” I urge you all to listen to Ellsberg’s interview with Laura Flanders about the way Obama “governs” and “leads.”

Yep….ummm…hmmmm…yes…..and it (does not) counts…..

Charlie Cook, one of the big Democratic Strategist has said that Dems that run against the White House have a better chance of winning in November.

This is what FDL and others have been saying for months. Dems have better run against the White House.

House Dems, you better listen, ignore the WHite House.

Obama, David Plouffe, Robert Gibbs, and David Axelrod must be developing and planning a good way for Obama to run as a Moderate Republican against Sarah Palin.

I’m ready to start tossing money I don’t have at this challenger, more than ever NOW, but with ActBlue I cannot overcome a squeamish fear that the donation might go somewhere else, God forbid to a “democrat” we only THINK is progressive, like that lovely and well-spoken Washington outsider with the darling family, U.S. Senator Obama in 2008. ActBlue money went to Obama at some point, didn’t it? I want to contribute directly to the candidate’s campaign. Soon as I see how to, I probably will, with restraint, because there’s so damn much to do. It’s like Haiti. I didn’t give. If I did, what about the next earthquake or disaster, and the next? I was glad, cuz then I had a good donation for the Sioux reservation. I didn’t trust the “source” on Haiti, everyone else was over-donating, I saw Baby Doc in my head from day one–so anyway, if campaigns want donations in these nasty new times of utmost vile, open betrayal, they need to reassure people about all sorts of things, and do it very very believably.

Dear Jane: Although it may not be a surprise that the WH is supporting an incumbent, they had an alternative: SILENCE.

If you’re still giving to the Democratic Party, you’re a sucker. Support candidates you agree with. Party donations are for those who want a piece of “the action” at whether it be in boardrooms or cocktail parties. You really trust them to do the right thing? Just like here in Connecticut where the “establishment” supported Joe Lieberman in his primary against Ned Lamont, and the Clintons and Barbara Boxer etc. came here to raise money and hold his hand. He lost, but then we lost because the damage had been done as Lamont was painted as an “extreme” outsider, a millionaire spending too much of his own money. The Repubs flocked to Joe in the general election and he peeled off just emough scared Dems to win here.

Thanks to “The Party”.

At this point Obama’s and Clinton’s support for any candidate are worth their combined level of integrity, exactly zero among the vast majority of the population. They are both in a way black and white versions of the same thing, facile talkers but as someone on this blog put it, nouveau riche arrivistes.

Easily swooned by those in power they rapidly were only too happy to do their bidding like pathetic go and fetch its. To the same degree these two are true believers in this warped cleptocracy they now bask in.

Lincoln will need to grab onto something with more substance than Obama and Clinton to make her case to the public. Good luck.

think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America … He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses …

Reagan was an ideological president, forcefully making his case in public for what he believed in. Always supported the grassroots in his party. Led the way to a new kind of America.

I wish Obama was copying Reagan’s style. He isn’t. That’s the problem.

I will vote for him in the dem primary. Nuff support from Arkansas. They’re all rich blokes. But I like our Governor and Lt. Governor here in AR.

Isn’t it amazing: both W & O lost all their amazing good will in just one year. Is it a sign of collapse of empire that the U.S. gets such great leaders?

Obama is a NOT A “Democrat.”

Obama is a DINO but in actuality – REPUBLICAN…..

The Daley/Chicago Democrats are nothing but Republicans and in many ways act like THUGS!!!!

I don’t trust a word out of Obama’s mouth and the Democrats like Pelosi make me ill. Anyone listen to Pelosi’s lies yesterday regarding the exchange idea?

The exchanges have always been supported by Rahm and Ezekiel Emanuel and the “public option” was always defined in vague terms. Pelosi and the other “public option Dems” never defined in precise terms what the public option would be or not be. Medicare for all is not something the Dems or the Obama White House offered at any time and still do not want.

Ezekiel Emanuel’s book on how to reform healthcare was heavy on the exchanges idea and Rahm Emanuel also pushed this idea. I cannot believe the deceit I heard from Nancy Pelosi who argued that the exchanges were ideas adopted from the Republicans,” when the Dems have been touting this all along as well.

Not a dime…..not a cent…..not even a wooden nickel!!!!

I’ve even seen Lamont painted as “no more progressive than Lieberman.” I wont be falling for that one, or lending a respectful ear to any “progressive” blogger who says it. I don’t care if the challenger IS no better, if it’s in my state the challenger gets my vote. So will the Republican if it comes to that. Obama is pro-incumbent no matter what = I am anti-incumbent no matter what.

Let’s compare Obama to Lyndon Johnson for a minute. Sorry, that wouldn’t be fair except that they were both one term presidents. Lyndon Johnson helped people. Obama is killing them.
I want my state to secede before the supreme court says we are just a affiliate of the corporation that paid them the most that day. Time for the Pacific States. We have nothing in common with the east except bad government screwing with our lives. We will be one of the largest countries on earth. We might be the greenest as well.

Good point.

Jane how can we be assured that the money we commit to this Halter candidacy will be used exclusively for his primary campaign and not to a general fund for the Democrats. Since we contributed in this belief we need assurance.

And that is but one of many reasons why I no longer support Orahma.

The last days of the empire are upon us, yes…..

The Economy has ALREADY COLLAPSED AND UNEMPLOYMENT IS MORE LIKE 18.5% AND INCREASING UPWARD, AND NOT THE LOW NUMBERS AND FABRICATED LIES YOU HEAR ON THE POLITICAL TALK SHOWS AND FROM THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE…..

The American Empire is finished and like all empires which fall and collapse, the leaders become more opprssive and repressive to the domestic populations as it crumbles because they cannot handle it. The elites are running scared and so more police state measures like domestic spying and the Patriot Act are instituted.

States are bankrupt and running record deficits and Obama does not give a rat’s ass about the state’s econonic woes because that it not his foremost concern in the 21st Century. The ruination and the smashing of the state and its social structure are all part of the neoliberal economic agenda of the “Washington Consensus,” which Obama fully supports and endorses along with his cronies in the Banking/Financial Sectors.

Nobody should be surprised that the Obama administration’s response to the state’s running into deficits and budgetary crisis has been one of apathy and lack of caring. It is the standard response from a man like Obama who supports the smashing of the state and the privatization agenda of the “Washington Consensus.”

Let the American Military-Corporate Empire DIE and Hope its done a lot faster than in the slow bleeding way its taken hold the last few years.

I think you can give directly on his website.

Read up about how ActBlue works. I think you’ll be pleased. Your money goes only to the candidate(s) you choose. Actblue is merely a tool, a conduit to send your money to the candidate of your choice.

Now it is true that senators have to pay dues to the DSCC and Reps have to pony up to the DCCC, but those monies do not come through your ActBlue donations. It is also true that Obama was sent money through Actblue in 2008., but only because people donated money to ActBlue accounts that were specifically slated for Obama’s campaign.

If you want to send money directly to the candidate, ActBlue is the best way to do it. They don’t even keep a cut for themselves (but you can check a little box to send them a “tip” with your donation).

I would say, read ActBlue’s FAQ, it should allay your fears. I’ll reiterate, ActBlue is the best way to give to candidates directly, barring just walking up and handing them cash in person, of course.

Remember the process of decay is very long and very painful. If you think it’s bad now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Contributions early in the campaign will probably be used in the primary. Contributions that occur near the end of the primary may not.

There is, of course, no guarantee that Halter will use the money for his own campaign. He could, if he wanted, contribute some of that money to another candidate. That’s perfectly OK. At some point, you probably have to trust someone, even if it’s only the integrity and good sense of the candidate you’re contributing money to.

Just a drive by, but I’ve never understood why the nonsense about the Dems having 60 votes was allowed to persist. Truth should have risen. Sunlight sanitizes, and all. The Democratic Party is nuts…..and severely lacking in discipline. Get rid of the Blues and let’s see if any ‘real’ Dems can walk into the sunlight.

The American Century is OVER!!!! FINISHED…….DONE!!!!

The 21st Century is China’s……

It’s the decay of the system as well…..The American political/economic/social structure are all failed systems because its now very outdated…..

The old structures no longer work but the politicians and other Elites running America are also very clueless as well.

Didn’t take long.

Look at what Rome had to deal with on the the way down.

Obama Supports Lincoln in Primary

An example of Blue Dog status quo corporatists hanging together.

I remember thinking, as a philosophical young lad at a liberal arts college(in 1973) thinking what if the 60′s were the culmination of our culture, a flowering before its demise?

Sure didn’t take long did it? Pax Romana lasted a thousand years.

I suppose the real people didn’t have it very well while Rome was at its peak and may have been unaware of the turmoil on the way down (unless they were in the line of fire). Unlike the U.S., where the real people will suffer more on the way down as the PTB preserve theirs.

So did the Islamic Empires, taken all together.

Lincoln’s got Bentonville covered; that’s all Rahm cares about – preempting massive political contributions to the RNC between now and the midterms, and running up to 2012′s SCOTUS campaign finance trainwreck of a presidential election.

Hey, this worked for Cheney twice and Obama once, why not roll the dice again. It’s not like any these people will be left holding the bag when the Hindenburg finally floats down and hits the mooring tower.

Yes, you know, I listened to an old (the late) Mae Brussell program from the 1970s which talked about the elites smashing and targeting of the 1960s counterculture. Here are a few excerpts of her show from October 13, 1971, on Dialogue: Assassination

California was where the flower children were. Big Sur was the home of people like Joan Baez, Henry Miller, free souls, artists roaming. California was an important state in terms of conspiracies to kill candidates and presidents, and to effect national policy. It’s part of the military-industrial-complex. I’m going to explain why the murder of Sharon Tate and the other persons in her home was a political massacre. Other researchers have done work on John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. I was the first researcher in the United States to turn the other peoples’ minds to the fact that the same lawyers, the same planners, the same teams originated this particular massacre, and what effect it would have on our society….My conclusions are, number one: that all of these persons involved—the major people—are agent provaceteurs. They come at a time to increase violence, to come down on a segment of our society prior to an election year to make law and order necessary to protect us from the people at large in our society.

In April 1967 the Greek government was overthrown by a military Junta. There is a book—I tell you, have your pencil ready for the program. I want you to write down this book. It’s pertinent to the Manson-Sharon Tate massacres. It’s called Death of a Democracy: Greece and the American Conscience . It’s written by Stephen Rousseas. When Greece was overthrown, the excuse for the Junta to take power and end the electoral process was that there was tension and chaos. And they had to prevent that. They had to prevent the May election.

The man who was running to be the president of Greece was Papandreou who captured the imagination of the young people. Now I’m reading a quote from the book Death of a Democracy:

“…Papandreou captured the imagination of young people and many members of the professional and intellectual classes….He was popular in Greece…” and he was linked psychologically “…with the late President Kennedy.” He was “…a man of style and intellect.”

They thought that for the first time in thirty years they would get a program growing where they’d have a democratic government. The people in power felt that no one should tamper with their existing institutional structure. They kept the power and canceled the elections.

The edicts in Greece, when Greece was overthrown, were the following: If it was an economic problem, or political problem, like We don’t want communists. We’ve got to save you from communists, that’s one thing. But the edicts I noticed in April 1967, when Greece was overthrown, [showed me that] the United States had exchanged power. I copied my newspaper right away. I was reading the daily papers because I was studying power and the exchange of power. I was studying Greece; I study every country. These were the edicts:

No gathering in the open country of more than five persons.
No gathering in any close space at all.
No anti-national propaganda, such as anti-war or anything against a public official.
No marches or dissensions.

And we will now have what Rousseas describes as a puritan orgy: there would be no beards or long hair on the men. No mini-skirts on the girls. Everyone in Greece had to attend a Sunday church, [including tourists]; Sunday church was mandatory. They called it a Christian coup, because the Jews traditionally do not go to church on Sunday. But if you did not go to church on Sunday you could be exiled to an island and arrested. It was similar to the inquisition in Spain. The students were to turn in every old history book they had, and it would be replaced with a new one. Racial purity was proclaimed. And the theories of Darwin and de Vries were thrown out. They were ordered to protect their Christianity, on a public order that was passed in 1942 by the Nazis; It was revived again.

All legitimate theaters were to submit their scripts.

Music would be selected. Bob Dylan, the Beatles wouldn’t be allowed at all. No music from Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, any Russian composer, even prior to the Russian Revolution.

And Greece was quickly transformed into the first fascist dictatorship on European soil since Mussolini and Hitler.

I knew in the summer of ’67—this was the spring when it was happening—that something very big in the United States was coming to ahead. Because I live in the Peninsula here; I’m close to a movement that was growing. Going back and forth from San Francisco to Big Sur, spending my summers at Sur, I could see something really good in a true Judao-Christian tradition of people making it, sharing their housing, sharing their food, rapping. I realized that in this country we had a revolution. There was a revolution of hair-style, clothing, cosmetics, transportation, housing, value system, churches—there was an economic revolution. It effected the cosmetic industry, canned foods, grocery revolution, dietary habits, dwellings, the use of land. No longer needing dwellings; meeting outdoors, no high rent for each separate family; sharing one place. People were delivering their own babies instead of spending $250 for the obstetrician. They were recycling old clothes; going to the Good Will, making their own things, wearing burlap, sharing, doing without, withdrawing from spectator sports or amusements; they weren’t sitting and watching people throw a pigskin ball back and forth…..These are revolutions: economic and sociological. They were breaking the boundaries where white and black could rap. They lived together. They slept together. You didn’t know somebody’s background, if they were rich or poor. You didn’t know if they were Jew or Gentile. Those boundaries were thrown out the window in ’67. Greece was putting them back, but America was throwing them out the window. And the country club thing was going by the wayside. Zoning laws were ignored; if you have a zoning place in a fancy residential [area], the children are leaving those homes. They are living where there is no zoning. They are up on the land in the communes. They’ve left their parents in their big homes and they leave the zoning laws behind; they just split. Real estate values are effected because the kids aren’t going to buy the house with the picket fence any longer and live two people in that dwelling….Now this was an economic, sociological necessity in our system as it existed in terms of capitalists, and whether to survive. The Rand Corporation and other think tanks in America decide what to do for the United States of America.

Thanks eCAHN,

I really appreciate your wit and perspective.

Do we know for sure yet whether DSCC will be giving money to Lincoln? If so, that should be advertised widely as it’s hard to imagine many Democrats want their hard-earned money to go to one of the Democrats most responsible for blocking the possibility for progressive change.

Please include your thoughts in a diary.

Your post is worthy of the title EPU.

Well, yes, LBJ got a lot of progressive domestic legislation passed. But I recall something called the Vietnam War happened on his watch, too. I remember a few people getting killed there. Actually, make that 100s of 1,000s.

Sorry…..I am always reminded of that show when people talk about the 1960s in demeaning ways…..I am convinced that the elites deliberately made war against the counterculture of the 1960s and did everything in their power to make the peace people of that time into some kind of “violent thugs” they were not and had help from the same corporate media of today…..

Many people forget but the hippies were as much against the Democratic Pary as anyone else back then. I believe that the power structure was happy when they decided to attack and rollback the gains of the 1960′s movements as well.

Reagan was their man to do it–he was the FASCIST KING of America….Nixon tried to institute police state measures but it took Bush to foment those changes with the Patriot Act. The Democrats and Obama have just blessed these police state measures by extending the Patriot Act.

America has been now consolidated as a true police-military state led by the military junta and shadow government.

No political movement can defeat the elite establishment at this point. The only thing that can defeat the elite establishment is if the system totally fails, but, those at the top will not be out of power. The people at the bottom will die, suffer and be sacrificed first, and foremost, in this case.

Gotta run, but enjoyed the dialogue.

Thank you, that is reassuring and as I read up top I did contribute to Halter via ActBlue and it’s comforting that they direct the money to the candidate one is supporting.

Middle Class?

Working Class?

Unions?

Dying breeds and folklore……

Corporate Stooge in Chief doing what he’s supposed to.

Don’t forget the SF State student strike against S.I. Hayakawa who went on to the U.S. senate from California.

http://diva.sfsu.edu/bundles/187263

Like Gerald Ford said, “Our long national nightmare will continue after this message from our sponsors.”

BHO will continue to support Bennett in Colorado overr primary challenger Romanoff. Bennett came out early and often for BHO in the presidential primary. People in Colorado were surprised when Bennett was picked by Governor Ritter to succeed Senator Salazar, who resigned for Interior. Bennett had never been in an election. Who was he anyway?

Looks like some strings were pulled to get him there.

If he’s BHO’s man, then BHO will cmpaign for him.

Right now Bennett is looking like the rotating good guy, voting for importing Canadian drugs and sponsoring the Senate public option. After he gets elected for a 6 year term he can be the rotating villain for a while (like Udall is now).

I’ve been pretty vocal on this site arguing that we’re better off supporting Rethugs over Blue Dogs. I would rather see a rethug take Blanches seat then have her aiding the message that corporatism=moderation. However, I will draw the line at the Presidency for one reason. SCOTUS. We can not afford another Scalia, Roberts, Thomas or Alito. There would probably be some long term good to having the Rethugs really drive things off a cliff to the extent that they finally provide enough insecurity to get a popular mass movement going. However, another young fascist on the court will be a disaster with no redeeming value.

We have to support Blanche Lincoln because otherwise she’ll be pissed, and vote . . . against. . . what???

Would you rather have 75 Evan Bayh’s with a {D} behind their name or 41 Bernie Sanders with an {I} behind their name ? I’ll take the 41 any day of the week. They’d actually stand for something and would OPPOSE nonsensical neo-con legislation.

A whole host of the madness that passed for legislation in the last decade would’ve never seen the light of the day with 41 Bernie Sanders. With 75 Evan Bayh’s it would have been slightly amended to further screw over the working class and then passed in a “bipartisan” fashion.

We get nowhere electing “corporate hacks” and DINO’s. Get a solid base of Progressives, make our points that we want everyone to be able to see a doctor, make a decent wage, have a decent shot in life and our kids can go to college. Build from there.

Well said!

This is why I donate to progressive candidates and NEVER give the DNC a penny.

Damn, I was SOO excited last year I couldn’t wait for election day to get here so I could vote for O.

Well, now I can’t wait for election 2012 to get here so I can vote AGAINST that lying, corporate whore.

Mother fucking asshole.

I’m hoping Obama stumps for her!! That’ll be the kiss of death for ole’ Blanche. So far, Obama is 3 for 3.

“They have the marshals, I have the Army.” –Richard Nixon to John Dean

I am in agreeance, they’re nutty if they think this will help her.

I frankly could give a damn who Obama supports, this is about the American people for once, and not about the powers that be in Washington trying to maintain the status quo. Will progressives be strong enough to send a shot across the bow, not only at congressional Democrats, but also at the White House. It’s a message Obama apparently clearly needs.

I didn’t see that implication.

If we’re not willing to let the Blanche Lincolns and Harry Reids know there’s a price to be paid for their unwillingness to support progressive legislation, why should they? By going against the public option, Blanche Lincoln rolled the dice on her belief Democrats will wimp out when it comes to giving her the boot. Well, guess what? It’s time to kick her ass down the road.

Republicans understand the power of 41, and they fight.

Then you need to read more carefully, because the implication is clearly there. A good deal of the Arkansas Democratic establishment seems to despise Halter. While I take that as a recommendation of sorts, it’s also a potential disadvantage when it comes to finding voters and getting them to the polls.

I’m rather used to group think in this blog. I distinctly remember being called a troll and a flaming idiot back in 2008 for saying that Obama would most likely end up being the sort of President he has in fact become. I also remember past campaigns that we spent lots of time and money on that ended up failing for some fairly obvious reasons. I don’t ask how high when Jane or someone else here says “jump”.

Now that I’ve done a little research, Halter looks like someone who could be a good progressive in the Senate. There are some clear hurdles to getting him there, though, and no one here should kid himself that it’s going to be easy.

agreeance?

LBJ did Vietnam mistake which was a huge mistake but he was man enough to admit it was a mistake, feel sorry and not stand for re-election which he could very well have won. Compare that to present & prior leadership’s actions.

He achieved Civil Rights Act without any major blood-shed, Medicare, Wilderness, Highway Beautification Acts fighting against more entrenched interests than the ones current administration is facing. He used to prod congress to do the right thing.

Right now congress is being prodded by leadership to pass bills labeled reform which are actually lobbyist written scams with middle class mandates. Only reason I think middle class is being dangled with carrots in congress like public option, consumer protection agency etc to be taken away later by Senate is to get Bills past Progressive committe’s brought in congress by Dr. Dean in the last election. I hope progressives in congress understand what is happening right now and take corrective steps.

I think we need to vote all of the incumbents in the senate out this election (House behaved relatively honorably for common Americans so far in my opinion) so that next batch of new senators can take concern in the issues facing middle class and how they can increase the size of the middle class which is what we progressives really want.

I just like it better. Words are fun.

Well, it is Arkansas. I don’t think Barrack polled all that well in the Presidential Election. He may be doing the progressives and Halter a favor by supporting Lincoln. Let’s hope so…I love the idea of 2 million dollars of the big insurance campaign funds floundering in the wake of a true grass roots movement to support Halter. Ah…..real inspiration for what democracy should be made of.

So Obama’s “policy” is to support “incumbent senators”. Well that’s just soooooo not changey hopey dopey and dumb I think I’ll puke. More corporatist collaboration to ensure the status quo. What an excellent snake oil salesman he turned out to be. Hope Blanchie baby gets her butt creamed in the primary.

What I see is that each approach/project that Jane undertakes is based on the best knowledge and analysis available at the time, and even when the projects have “failed,” because they were engaged with 100% effort and at the edges of the envelope, a great deal has been learned each time. The design of the FDL FireDog campaign reflects all this accumulated knowledge. And regardless of outcome we will learn. Like we did with Lieberman and FISA (to name just two). WE wouldn’t be “here” without all those “theres.”

This is a process, but it’s a very calculated and productive process. A body of knowledge is being created and disseminated. More and more people are aware of Congress’ kabuki. Anderson Cooper used the phrase “kabuki on kabuki” this week.

Some times Jane lifts the veil in the comments briefly to say “we are working on that and it turns out to be a lot harder than it looks.” My understanding is that finding a viable and willing primary candidate in a district where an impact can be created has been a very, very difficult project. We are up against a very powerful establishment: again, a body of knowledge about how powerful has been documented here and that alone has trememdous value for everyone.

At the same time every day in every thread various commenters say we HAVE to do this and we HAVE to do that … I question their knowledge and their understanding and I doubt they have much commitment to do anything.

I take my hat off to Jane every day and will continue to do so. If she goes down in flames (and I highly doubt that will occur) I will still salute her.