All this week, our BooTribber family’s emotions have bobbed and weaved like a boxer in the ring against a much larger, vicious foe — dancing, fighting, lobbing blows, deflecting punches, keeping our chin down and our eyes straight ahead — as we’ve tried, singly and also united in seemingly great numbers, along with our allies in the U.S. Senate, to stop the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.
It’s late in the Alito match, and we’re weary and angry — here, have a cup of my fresh-brewed joe, and sit down for a minute — and we’ve lost the rousing momentum we began with. Even the fans of our Senate allies, including me, have been doubting them. (“Why didn’t he follow up on that question? Why did she ask this? Why did they let that go by?” And was it “A Hearing About Nothing,” as E.J. Dionne wrote?)
Jane correctly attacks media coverage for being part of our problem:
Every time it feels like some momentum is being gained, CNN blows it all away with the sweep of a facile headline. Pick up a paper or turn on cable news and on cue they are parroting all the GOP’s talking points — Alito’s a moderate, he’ll keep an “open mind” on abortion, and oh the poor frumpy sobbing wife.
And her story of the fate of a vitally important Knight Ridder article is a must-read, and deeply disappointing.
We can focus our frustrations in so many directions: The media, the lackluster performance of some Democratic senators, the evasiveness of Alito, and — as BooMan so sharply delineated it — the unbelievably depressing apathy of the American public.
But, we must keep fighting — through our flagging support for our Democratic members of Congress and our frustration with ourselves and each other. While it seems at times that only we can see ahead the terribly destructive force that Alito will bring to the Supreme Court, we must keep on.
I’m telling this to myself more than to you because right now I am a bit disillusioned, especially facing the spectre of looming defeat.
Here’s what Peter Daou has to say … below the fold, along with another positive outlook by Reddhead …
From Jane’s post:
Peter Daou has an important post up entitled “Bloggers in the Wilderness” about which he says:
This, then, is the reality: progressive bloggers and online activists – positioned on the front lines of a cold civil war – face a thankless and daunting task: battle the Bush administration and its legions of online and offline apologists, battle the so-called “liberal”” media and its tireless weaving of pro-GOP narratives, battle the ineffectual Democratic leadership, and battle the demoralization and frustration that comes with a long, steep uphill struggle.
Peter’s absolutely right. And this is what we’re up against.
But, oh, doesn’t that fight takes its toll on the spirit and on the body.
In December, Peter Daou correctly predicted the trajectory of the NSA domestic spy scandal — with the end being that it’ll likely fizzle out after some pro forma hearings in Congress.
Back then, on December 28th when I wrote about Peter’s views, we were working so hard on our 12 Days letter campaign and educating each other about Samuel Alito, and we were so full of energy and determination. And I particularly focused on CabinGirl’s 12th diary about presidential powers, because I felt — and still feel — that it is the most critical issue we face as a nation.
On a brighter note, Reddhead points out productively, “A number of the Democratic Senators were using their bully pulpit in these hearings to educate the public, sometimes in not so subtle ways, about executive power, and the overreach of the Administration in a number of areas, particularly in the area of controlling government through the administrative agencies regardless of Congressional legal mandates and in areas of national security and military policy.” (Let’s just hope that a few more people learned about the danger of an over-reaching executive branch.)
All along, though, the odds have been against us, and we know that.
And, all along, we realize that the only hopes we have are to continuing fighting, and to win in 2006 and 2008 … knowing that those election contests will be the toughest battles we’ll ever fight (since we know from experience that the GOP isn’t stupid and knows it’s got problems with the Iraq war, and will figure out ways to change the public’s focus).
BooMan is optimistic, he told me, that the Abramoff scandal will bring us sweet victories in 2006. I so hope he’s right. God knows we need a couple easy fights that don’t wear us out, leave us bloodied and bruised, and hangin’ on the ropes.
The other day, BooMan did a great job examining the GOP’s problems in “GOP Anxiety and Their Leadership.” You’ll want to read it all, but here’s a snippet to give you a lift:
The problem the Republicans have is that all their heavy hitters, the kind of people that have enough clout to be majority leader, are already deeply compromised by the ‘culture of corruption’. To find someone remotely clean, they need to dig too far down the bench. […]
I feel good about our chances for retaking the house. And the inadequate response of the GOP to the Abramoff scandal is the major reason why I feel confident.
But begin the game anew …
– A.E. Housman
……………….
We have to begin anew. We just have to:
It is a dangerous time to be an American. We live under virtually unchallenged one party rule, and that one party is on a rampage to make torture morally acceptable .Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman invite screaming racist Michelle Malkin to lunch, and today Peter Kirsanow is paraded before the Senate by the GOP as an “expert.” Both of these people applaud rounding up American citizens and putting them into concentration camps. (Jane, on Kate O’Beirne)
But we must look with care that we focus on winning:
Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure
Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure,
I’d face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good.
‘Tis true, the stuff I bring for sale
Is not so brisk a brew as ale:
Out of a stem that scored the hand
I wrung it in a weary land.
But take it: if the smack is sour
The better for the embittered hour;
It will do good to heart and head
When your soul is in my soul’s stead;
And I will friend you, if I may,
In the dark and cloudy day.
Our dark and cloudy days shall soon pass. Because we believe it so.
Don’t lose faith. You can only be defeated if you believe that a single battle is the whole war. It has always been a long shot that we could defeat the Alito nomination and we always knew that, even if we did, we would just have to fight the same battle on the next nominee. But George Washington proved, in the American revolution, that you can lose most of the battles and still win the war. You have to lose strategically. (And lining up allies that you don’t necessarily like but who hate the other side as much as you do doesn’t hurt either. Washington used the French, who should we use?)
I read Reddhead’s column today before I read yours and I wish you had put her above the fold. I think it is a very productive piece and goes far toward giving us a feeling of the strategy behind the questioning.
Good point, Mary … we’re trying to shorten how much we put above the fold … maybe i can edit it. Wiill see.
Her piece is VERY good. As I said, I just hope that people listen.
btw, did you get to hear her on Air America’s Majority Report the other night? If not, I’ll dig up the MP3 link for you. She was superb, and can speak to the Alito issues because she’s a former prosecutor.
I did NOT get to hear her and I would love a link. She has become one of my favorite bloggers. I think she has a very practical sense of the law and, maybe more importantly, how the system works.
Go to this page and click on the MP3 for January 11.
She’s at about 45 minutes into the show … I luckily hit on the spot just before she began to speak. There are radio ads right before her segment.
And, I kept listening because the following segments were good too.
Thanks. I’ll listen to it at home over the weekend.
John Edwards has endorsed this petition for FILIBUSTER!
http://ga3.org/campaign/opposealito
Enough with the wimpy Dems, and smug and obscuring bloviation from Republicans, it’s time WE vetoed Alito:
Phone, fax, and email addresses for the Judiciary Committee.
Write a letter to the editor of your local paper and contact your congress critters — all with one click.
People for the American Way has collected over 60,000 signatures to send to the Senate, please add yours:Save the Court Petition
but I click on your stuff all the time and take total advantage. I imagine you as this.
That’s me before L’Oreal MegaBlonde!
Signed it by email yesterday!
that a single battle is the whole war.” – maryb2004
I agree, and imo, the great weakness that we on the left face is that we generally focus on each individual skirmish at the expense of a focus on long term strategy.
Focusing on the latest brush fire set by BushCo leaves us continually fighting defensive battles… to near exhaustion, I might add.
However, if we were to adapt methods used by MLK, Gandhi, and others we would find ourselves on the proactive side of this equation. And begin the process of developing a long term strategy.
A great deal of Gandhi’s efforts went into convincing the people of India that they had the power to affect change in their government. He realized that a “critical mass” of citizens had to believe in the possibility first, and then with that belief confront the British on carefully chosen issues that would build confidence rather than exhaust confidence.
Much of what the left is already doing makes use of these methods, however in a very half hazard manner. Thus. imo, we have hardly even begun to make use of the power available to us, which on the one hand is disappointing, but on the other gives me some hope of success…
Since we have no one leader as yet who is willing to bring our efforts into focus the responsibility remains with serious activists to educate themselves and coordinate a more comprehensive plan than what we’ve seen so far.
We’ve not failed unless we, as a movement ignore these lessons;
On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict delves into the question of how to build a strategy for nonviolent struggle. Covering a variety of topics–such as ways to identify a movement’s objectives, preparing a strategic estimate for a nonviolent struggle, and operational planning considerations…
pdf link to same below;
On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict [ BTribbers, this is a free, 189 page pdf download. I know of no better resource on this subject. Download it now, while you still can… ]
Thanks for the link to that book. Noticed from an initial glance a definite Gene Sharp influence – as you know Gene Sharp’s three-volume work on nonviolent action is one of the bibles.
I read Gene Sharp’s three-volume work first. I found Robert Helvey’s On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: Thinking About the Fundamentals to be somewhat easier read, and hence my recommendation.
Robert Helvey works together with Gene Sharp at the institute, (see my sig line.)
I heard Gene Sharp speak here locally… when? mid eighties, mostly discussing the then, recent, Solidarity movement in Poland, Lech Walesa, etc.
Had I missed that lecture I’d likely have known nothing of these resources. I’m amazed to find someone familiar with Gene Sharp’s work. As far as I’ve been able to ascertain it is the only known antidote to the power of fascism.
Too many disappointments in too short a time.
Time for a break for all of us. The days are longer now, spring is coming. Time to recharge the batteries, get rested and ready for the battles to come.
Perhaps this is our Valley Forge?
That’s wild, Mary, because I was thinking of George Washington’s depression and self-doubts and his terrible defeats … which, by the way, I’d had no clue about because we were never taught that in school and i only learned about it through a PBS special many years ago.
He inspires us still.
I haven’t read “Lies my Teacher Told Me”, the selection for Book Group yet, but maybe it covers this. I think I also first learned about it on a PBS special. Keep in mind that the majority of the people in the colonies were probably indifferent to the whole conflict as long as it didn’t affect them. So Washington was fighting on in the face of people who were wondering why he was doing it. Sort of similar to our situation today. Only we don’t face the hangman if we lose (at least I hope not!).
Now is no time for breaks. We (all of us) need to redouble efforts NOW.
http://unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=28
Find an event or protest close to you and make yourself heard.
Oh, baby! 🙂
(OT, but check your email)
I have been spending my morning reading about how Conservative Politicians were beatin too much as kids.
No thank you.
Suit yourself.
Many of us aren’t ready for a break.
we are of like mind, Susan.
I keep singing small axe to myself:
We are the small axe
Ready to cut you down (well sharp)
To cut you down
These are the words
Of my master, keep on tellin’ me
No weak heart
Shall prosper
And whosoever diggeth a pit
Shall fall in it, fall in it
And whosoever diggeth a pit
Shall fall in it (… fall in it)
If you are the big tree, let me tell you that
We are the small axe, sharp and ready
Ready to cut you down (well sharp)
To cut you down
I’m a little surprised Dean and the DNC were not able to coordinate a more unified, focused campaign against Alito to increase grass roots participation and publicity to stop this fascist takeover of the Supreme Court.
It’s obvious that Alito is full of shit. He’s a brilliant, brown-nosing, hyper-insecure and power-craving white man, and the Senators haven’t fooled me for a minute that Alito hasn’t fooled them for a minute that he is anything but a fascist extremist who’s eager to wipe Bush’s ass with every opinion paper he writes.
So, it’s not too late. Let the tidal wave of righteous indignation begin to flood the Senate office building and the Capitol with howls of outrage over the possibility of confirmation.
Alito must go down. Send him back to Jersey!
but I always thought the role of DNC and its chair, whether Dean or not, was to elect Democrats, not set policy or more specifically not coordinate Senate Judiciary Committee questioning of Supreme Court nominees.
I can question Reid, Leahy as leaders, and Kennedy, Feinstein, Schumer, etc. as committee members — but I don’t see how this is Dean’s battle. From what I last saw, he’s out in the field building up State parties, which is exactly what he should be doing. The head of the DNC can make some appearances to focus attention, and summarize some arguments (in fact, Dean DID write an editorial entitled America needs a Supreme Court not influenced by personal or political considerations).
But, I too am frustrated, and agree with the notion that this was Alito’s opportunity to prove why he SHOULD be given the lifetime appointment, not the Senatorial burden why he SHOULDN’T — a test Alito failed. And until we get an America that understands the difference, it is going to be very difficult to convince them to even pay attention, let alone get involved in the minutiae of Princeton college clubs when most of the working class of America can barely afford community college and/or state university.
This is probably going to be too lawyerly an answer but I think that in all practicality the process works this way:
Unfortunately, I learned during the Thomas hearings that the great American public doesn’t think this way. I remember getting into a huge argument with a group of non-lawyers who kept telling me that there was a presumption of innocence and that Clarence Thomas shouldn’t have had to prove he was “innocent” of those charges. I kept telling him that the presumption of innocence applied in criminal trials where you were trying to TAKE SOMETHING AWAY from the person (like money, time spent in prison or ultimately a life) but that in a process where you are GIVING THE PERSON SOMETHING (i.e a lifetime appointment) the burden of proof should be on the nominee. The entire group never got it and disagree with me to this day.
is spot on (I don’t know that much about how this has gone on for 200+ years). I do know that Bush is a frat boy cheerleader has been the biggest crony-placer that I’m aware of, but any “extra burden” that any of his nominees should carry because of that don’t seem to matter — he just recess appoints whenever there are such egregious nominees that even the Republicans slow down the process.
I’m a little surprised Dean and the DNC were not able to coordinate a more unified, focused campaign against Alito …
Please read BooMan’s piece that I link to above … it’ll explain a lot of the problems with stopping Alito.
Best I can tell, Dean et al. did a great job — as did Ralph Meas of People for the American Way. God, he was so damn inspiring on the Majority Report this week!
Our bottom-line problem is that we do NOT have the votes. That’s the beginning and the end of this story.
The only cure for that is not to grouse — too much 🙂 — and to make sure we get majorities in Congress again.
Really, the fate of this nation, and the world, depends on it. Like in no other time.
I wish I could be so optimistic Susan, but Alito will be on the court defining your rights long after Bushco is gone… that’s the whole point with pushing him through… long term strategy for the Repubs… even if they don’t control the Executive or Legislative branches they’ve got the Judiciary for the next 30 years… and they have the final say on overturning any laws the Dems might propose.
That’s why, baring a filibuster, America is fucked for the long term.
Absolutely agreed, spiderleaf — & yes, barring ‘extraordinary circumstances’ I believe it’s best for us to look forward to the utter change in the atmosphere that will follow Alito’s attention to the SCOTUS.
I made similar statements to various community forums during the ’04 elections process. regarding a Bush victory. The unwillingness or inability of many of us to do this, imo, is what created such terrific personal turmoil on the part of so many of us after his re-instatement was, in fact, certified. Iow, many of us were apparently psychically unprepared for this eventuality & their reactions, therefore, were terrifically dramatic; they truly fell apart.
I was engaged throughout election night and into the following day in helping people hold it together.
It was heartbreaking to see the extent of their shock & emotional chaos.
We must, therefore, prepare to sustain ourselves on the most personal levels as we consider the possiblity of an Alito ascension to the position he most covets.
Not to say that we shouldn’t take part in whatever actions to oppose this nomination that are still possible. It’s no less crucial that we do this than it was before the initiation of the hearings.
Sorry: Alito’s attention = Alito’s ascension.
Naturally.
What WW said.
Yesterday when I said in your hearing thread that this all was giving me a migraine and that I wish I could close the office I was serious. I closed the office and went to bed. This diary gives me hope when I am feeling mighty discouraged. I would like to see us find a way to bring the media to a screeching halt until they stop printing the GOP talking points and do some real journalism. Until that happens I think we have a huge problem.
I’m sorry, leezy … i hope you have a better day today.
Know what’s an indicator to me? I haven’t been able to watch Amy Goodman much this week, because she has been SO DUTIFUL in reporting every segment of the Alito hearings … and it kind of breaks my heart to see her put all the work into it …
But, she’s a gold standard. She just keeps on keepin’ on. BooMan is a gold standard too! :):)
And so are you! I know you’ll bounce back. I am just sorry that you’re also having such terrible physical pain too 🙁
Oh thanks Susan. MUCH better today. I have learned how to nurse the migraines. It is almost like a hangover…lol. Take two Excedrin, a diet 7up and go to bed in a very dark room.
Laying in the dark room with an ice bag on my face usually works for me.
Have had this thought for a long time: we are the media!
Seriously now, who finds out anything first, does the research, writing and gets the word out to the so-called journalists?
And, when something does come to light in MSM, the liberal blogosphere is always badmouthed. Had an LTE criticizing gwb’s vacations printed–compared them to the vacation time that ray-gun took. A few days later, there was the nastiest LTE criticizing me printed (for getting the info off the net). But, you do what you gotta do!
I have to commend each of you here for your tenacity to blog the entire process for us and give us insight into what is reality.
I tend to live in another world of make-believe, when it comes to things such as this. I have so much no knowledge of such things that I am very much overwhelmed by it all. I have tried to listen to the hearings, read your blogging and dissect the truths of things and I am simply overwhelmed. I think many are..not here but over all many out here in the world of not knowing things, like the law, etc.
My heart breaks. I really feel on most days so helpless as to doing something that might even in one little iota change things back to being free and uncompromised as to the normal living from day to day. This has all changed for me since I heard of the fact that dubya was running for president. I simply do not know how much more disappointment I can handle from deep within me.
It seems we are being attacked not just from our foes but also from our own side. When expect those who declare they are on our side if matters turn away in disgust and indifferention to us, it just blows my mind/heart to a trillion pieces. As a human being, my emotions can not stand much more.
When we talk of winning battles, I want to be reminded of the last battle we won! As I see it, we have not won any in the last 6+ years…or might I go back to the time of Newt and his contract with america bru haha…I am so dismayed…I weep for my country…
Anyhow, thanks to you and others online for keeping me informed as to the daily lawlessness of our administration. I read these with anger and frustration and prediction of what I feel, but deep in my heart, I feel I am spinning my wheels for nothing, it seems. When we win at least one substantial battle, then, and only then, will I be satisfied that we have a running change in hell for winning anything.
Hugs for each of you and others on the outskirts for lending their expertise.
PS: thanks for the coffee…:o)
Brenda, if more people in this world had your heart, your conscience, and your brains, we’d have a peaceful, equitable world.
Thank you, Susan. I appreciate the words of endearment. What a lovely thing to say… I really did mean what I said. I am so dissatisfied with the government as a whole! I just wished we/I had some power to change the effect on us as a whole. It is so discouraging to feel this helpless! I have been in such a disposition before, I knew how to get out of it. This, yet, is another entity of its own that I can not describe! I will always be here for I need you and others to help me stay on track on/in things. I need you and others to give me the knowledge to do and achieve what we all are after. The ethics and morals and standards that I truly believe in are all dismantled now. I really am hurting for America!
Tracy is right, after all. He is not confirmed, yet; however, I do have that gnawing in my gut that tells me he will be. This is so sickening!
I will be checking in all day long, but I do have to get some work done …this is the day I brought my work home…:o) that I do not like to do..but is necessary…so I will be hanging with you all…love to all….
I feel like I’m trying to hold back an avalanche of disaster while the townfolk in the valley below keep lighting dynamite.
I haven’t felt this bad since the election. Thanks for the poems- bleak reality helps. I’m printing out the Houseman.
Here’s my offering from the Lit books. It speaks to my sense of eternal struggle.
Arthur O’Shaughnessy. 1844-1881
WE are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, 5
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world’s great cities, 10
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire’s glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song’s measure 15
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth; 20
And o’erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
Bleak reality does help… for one thing, it stops us from being unrealistically angry with the Democratic senators who, probably more than we’ll ever know, tried hard to deal with Alito. 9We often forget about the terrible hours they put in, and all the frustrations they have to deal with too.)
Unrealistic expectations are deadly. As anyone who’s ever been in a relationship knows.
And your poem selection is stunningly good.
to protect the innocent and the defenseless. That is yours and always will be. You spoke out when it wasn’t fashionable! You yelled when they demanded you be dignified! You sleep soundly at night knowing that you love and respect the people of your nation and your world deeply. You are a human being and feel good in your own skin. You know who you are and what you are about.
Thanks for sharing that poem. It is wonderful. And I wasn’t familiar with it.
I feel alright today. I really am in a whole new place right now. The set backs of the past would often set me a ways back. God do you all remember when he got “reelected”? My life was over for a solid month! Alito isn’t confirmed until he is confirmed. If by some chance he is confirmed I don’t have a whole lot of time to mope about it. I wanted something different and better for my country and I did my part. The 2006 elections are so close I can almost touch them. They are one garden away, one tomato crop, one season full of beautiful flowers. Howard Dean is running the party and he is one Cool Statesman now! They have done a really good job of digging their own graves. They had everything and look what they have done with it.
Awesome! Oh, and here’s a little brandy to put in your cup …
for the “heat”. Soffie still no puppies and she is as big as well……she’s just enormous. Maybe the storm will help them get here today.
I want to print this out and paste it somewhere where I can read it every day.
Okay, Okay. Thanks for the insight. To my eyes and ears, it was painfully evident from the close of day 2 that Alito was everything we feared. Then came the NY Times editorial, Judge Alito, in His Own Words.
I am frustrated that there ain’t more of a big groundswell against this nomination.
You’re not the only one.
Right now I am pinning my hopes on two things:
First, that Howard Dean’s efforts to pull off a Fifty State Strategy bear fruit this year and we end up controlling, if not coth chambers of Congress (unfortunately the House looks unlikely), then at least the Senate.
Second, that to get that strategy going the Democrats pound the Delay scandal. Over and over and over again. Corruption, corruption, corruption. And keep echoing and amplifying Dean’s words: Not only is Abramoff a Republican scandal, everything that’s currently broken about government from lobbyists running amok to record deficits to our in-the-crapper international image to the abrogation of those quaint documents known as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights can be laid squarely at the feet of the Republicans. We can’t come right out and say Democrats are squeaky clean — all it would take would be one counter-example to blow that out of the water — but we can say that the Republicans have been running the show unchecked since 2001, so the government’s problems since then are all theirs, every bit of them. Stay on target and stay on message.
Then maybe if we can get a little bit of a foothold into the government again we can start getting some work done.
And what happens if all this fails? If Scalito is confirmed and we end up with two more years of More Of The Same? I don’t know yet, but I think I’d better come up with a plan, because as much as I like back bacon, curling, Stuart McLean and caribou, Canada isn’t an option yet. Besides, even with everything that’s broken about it, this country is still worth fighting to try to reclaim. Otherwise why would any of us bother?
Completely agreed with you, Omir, regarding the full use of any & all means of opposition that still remain for us following the current debacle-in-progress.
As for expat considerations: that so many actual patriots are taking them seriously, entirely in their own interests, troubles me very, very deeply.
In effect, I find this indication of their fear as depressing as the most craven, un-American actions & policies of the current administration. If decisions as serious as the one taken to go expat are made & followed on the basis of fear, that’s what I’d call a clear administration victory.
I know that Canada isn’t utopia, and I’m not just talking about the cold weather (I can handle that). If it was everyone would move there.
You raise good points with regard to expatriation. Keep in mind that there was a great deal of flippery in my statement about Canada. Expatriation isn’t just as simple as moving out of fear or out of one’s self-interest, though. I talk about it sometimes, but I have no plan to move to Canada. This is my home, and as long as it’s worth staying and fighting for, I’ll stay and fight for it. I don’t believe that this country is irretrievably ruined yet. If that changes, I may change my mind.
There are other factors to consider. I am raising an eight-year-old granddaughter. If it starts looking like she is going to end up living in a country where she will be a second-class citizen because of her gender, the color of her skin, the content of her mind or the religion we’re raising her in, you bet I’m going to think about moving her out of harm’s way. If she becomes a target because of any of those things, that makes the decision that much easier.
Just got this in my email from Capitol Hill Blue …
Everyone who worked so hard on this deserve our gratitude, and I want to add my thanks. It isn’t quite over but in any case, you stepped up, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
When the idiotic cable news stations start getting to you, remember that their audiences are declining and yours are increasing.
Remember this also in the 08 campaign, when people are dissing the Democratic nominee for not being enough of this or too much of that, and remember what John Kerry told an African-American group was a reason to vote for him in 04: “Three words–The Supreme Court.”
You are wise to realize that you need to step back now and again, maintain the rest of your life. Too many 60s activists didn’t, and got disillusioned and mostly exhausted, and had to leave the field altogether to rebuild their lives.
Lastly in this regard, I’ve been reflecting on an email I got at Christmas from an old acquaintance, who referred to these as “the worst of times.” We both saw and were involved in the periods of Civil Rights, Vietnam, assassinations, Watergate, Reagan, Iran-Contra, Bush War I. And yet she called these the worst of times. She may be right.
That makes your work harder, but very important.
Tonight, I kind of remembered 25 years ago.
I was 21 when “The Education of David Stockman” was published in The Atlantic, December 1981.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/budget/stockman.htm
I REALLY thought RAYGUN was gonna open camps, and malcontent cooks like me would be quickly employed behind the wire cooking for other malcontents who thought Raygun was the begining of fascism.
I’ve been really busy since 2 Jan, school as restarted. I catch the latest scalito crappalito and feel ill, BUT, as I catch up on the blog-o-sphere AND the number of people just fed up with the Dem performance (with the exception of the usual Great Guys – Dean, McD …) … I feel kind of like I felt in Nov 2004.
Tonight, I thought, maybe this politically incompetent, incompetently corrupt, pretty close to worthless Dem party apparatus is going to finally collapse !!
I’ve been fed up for 25 years.
My most recent episode of political “awakening” occurred last Feb. when I finally skimmed Lakoff. All of a sudden, all the years of wondering “what the hell are they doing” w.t.o. campaigning and governing against these fasicsts, all the years of wondering while I worked as a cook or a enterprise evil empire DBA or a … latest career … not a political operative –
Last Feb. I skimmed Lakoff and realized that the people who are NOT cooks, NOT nurses, NOT pothole fixers, NOT teachers … the people whose job is to be “leader” while the other 300 million keep the wheels on the road – I realized that the “leaders” on my side weren’t just inept, they were fucking incompetent, corrupt, or both.
I’ve been swallowing the company line that since Dems don’t own NBC the Dems can’t have a message
I’ve bought various party lines cuz, well, I have another job to do and to keep so I ain’t living in my fucking car, and my job is NOT political operative.
… even as I watched Raygun stir up Happy Days memories of June and Ward Cleaver, get elected, and completely screw the peons over all the while spewing the language of being a champion of the peon.
ooops, I mean MNBA Biden and the Piss_in_your_pants and be scared Act, and roberts and alito, and NOT defending or building on murtha’s messages and and and and
25 + years of this fucking bullshit.
I skim so many compelely pissed off comments, and, maybe, finally
painfully
this piece of shit party which used to be something is ready to get flushed and we can clean up and get on with building something.
rmm.