O.J. Simpson killed his wife and Ron Goldman. How do I know?
1. The 9-1-1 call and the history of Simpson’s violence directed at Nicole Brown.
2. Hair evidence: (1) hairs consistent with that of Simpson found on cap at Bundy residence, (2) hairs consistent with that of Simpson found on Ron Goldman’s shirt.
3. Fiber evidence: (1) cotton fibers consistent with the carpet in the Bronco found on glove at Rockingham, (2) fibers consistent with the carpet from the Bronco found on cap at Bundy residence.
4. Blood evidence: (1) killer dropped blood near shoe prints at Bundy, (2) blood dropped at Bundy was of same type as Simpson’s (about 0.5% of population would match), (3) Simpson had fresh cuts on left hand on day after murder, (4) blood found in Bronco, (5) blood found in foyer and master bedroom of Simpson home, (5) blood found on Simpson’s driveway.
5. Glove evidence: (1) left glove found at Bundy and right glove found at Simpson residence are Aris Light gloves, size XL, (2) Nicole Brown bought pair of Aris Light XL gloves in 1990 at Bloomingdale’s, (3) Simpson wore Aris Light gloves from 1990 to June, 1994.
6. Shoe evidence: (1) shoe prints found at Bundy were from a size 12 Bruno Magli shoe, (2) bloody shoe impression on Bronco carpet is consistent with a Magli shoe, (3) Simpson wore a size 12 shoe.
7. Other evidence: (1) flight in Bronco, (2) strange reaction to phone call informing him of Nicole Brown’s death, etc.
That is only a sampling of the evidence that O.J. Simpson is a murderer. It doesn’t matter that one of the cops that investigated the crime was a racist. And it doesn’t matter that the LAPD has been known to plant evidence. What matters is the totality of the evidence. From the totality of the evidence I conclude that the Democratic Party is the only vehicle available to stop the march of the modern day Republicans.
New parties do not spring up very often. The Whig Party came into being in the early 1830’s. It ran its first presidential candidate in 1836. In fact, the Whigs ran four candidates that year. All combined, even though all four of them won some electoral votes, they failed to get 50% of the vote or prevent the election of Martin Van Buren.
The Whigs managed to elect William Harrison in 1840 and Zachary Taylor in 1848. But after 1852, when their candidate Winfield Scott only managed to carry Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Tennessee, the Whigs dropped out of existence. By 1856 the country had coalesced into a North-South dichotomy. The Republican, John Fremont, won Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New York, and all of New England. Millard Fillmore, the American Party candidate, won Maryland. James Buchanan, the worst President until George W. Bush, won every other state.
After 1856, no third party candidate won a single electoral vote until 1892, when James Weaver of the Populist Party carried Nebraska, Colorado, Nevada, North Dakota and Idaho.
It was not until 1912 that a third party had any kind of effect on a post civil war election. Teddy Roosevelt created the Progressive Party and won 27.4% of the vote. William Taft, the Republican, won 23.2% of the vote and a mere 8 electoral votes. Woodrow Wilson carried only 41.8% of the vote, and became President. 1912 is the prototype for successful third party runs. Taft and Roosevelt combined carried over 50% of the country, but all they accomplished was to put their common foe in office.
In 1924, Robert LaFollette became the next third party candidate to win some electoral votes. He carried his home state of Wisconsin. Calvin Coolidge won every other northern state and sailed to a crushing victory over John Davis, and carried 72% of the Electoral College.
In 1948, with the desegregation of the Army and the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, Strom Thurmond ran on the State’s Rights ticket. He carried South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. He almost cost Harry Truman the election, but his spoiling effort failed.
In 1968, George Wallace successfully denied Hubert Humphrey the Presidency when he took Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
No third party candidate has carried a single state since 1968. It is possible that H. Ross Perot’s Reform Party cost George H.W. Bush re-election in 1992, and it is possible that Ralph Nader cost Al Gore the 2000 election.
From this history, I see absolutely no point in joining a third party. A third party hasn’t grown and displaced one of the big two since 1856. No third party has ever succeeded in doing anything but helping to elect their most ideologically opposed candidates. Strom Thurmond and George Wallace could not stop the march of civil rights. Ross Perot didn’t eradicate the Bush Crime Family from our long national nightmare.
The only way we can get our country back is by taking the Democratic Party by the throat and throttling it into something useful and appealing to the electorate. And we need paper trail ballots.
Agree with you — take the damn party over, don’t leave.
But it is George Wallace, segrationist governor, in 1968.
thank you. it’s fixed. too many henrys and huberts in those election returns. And I’m sick of writing George.
But what if the Democrats ARE the Republicans?
Vassals of the same lords.
At least…the ones who get elected and who hold positions of real power?
What then, Booman?
What then?
AG
The ballot box. We’ve all seen what waiting for politics to save us does. It stranded hundreds on rooftops and hundreds more in a living hell of government’s making. It has sent thousands and thousands to kill and die, with out a plan for peace, or even proper armor. It refuses to bring them home because for politics, saving face and using your opponent’s disadvantage to your advantage is more important than life itself. It covered its ears and closed its eyes as a nation was threatened and bullied into war. Politics gladly traded our rights and our lives, sold our air, our water,and our children’s futures to hold onto power through the next election cycle. Politics stood down as our buildings burned and amidst the dust and death, and exploited fear and our grief for its own advantage.
Politics did not bring us into this world, and it won’t shed a tear when we leave it. It is a means to an end, and the end always justifies the means.
We can change society, but we cannot change politics.
No. Al Gore cost Al Gore the 2000 election. From appointing Lieberman his VP candidate to suppressing his fire for the sake of the cameras to abandoning the Florida recount effort, the responsibility lies solidly in one man’s lap: Al Gore’s.
“it is possible that Ralph Nader cost Al Gore the 2000 election.”
Is it also possible that voter disenfranchisement schemes and Jeb Bushetal cost Al Gore the 2000 election?
From the evidence I have seen, Al Gore didn’t LOSE that election.
We did our part. Once for sure, twice very probably.
is that Gore ran one of the worst political campaigns, at any level, in living memory. Against the easiest opponent in living memory. On this rock Boo wants to build his church. Lotsa luck.
As I said yesterday:
that those “Democracy Bonds” won’t be used to further Business As Usual, I might join in.
I know that Howard means well, but I worry that the Powers That Be still have their hands firmly in the till, and will continue to fund candidates that forward their interests, not ours…
as they continue to build the local party structures, I will support them. Howard has been criticized lately by the Beltway Brigade for not hoarding the cash they’ve raised. He has been spending it to hire grassroots workers at the state level and to breathe some fresh air into areas that have been atrophied from lack of attention. As long as he continues to do that, I’ll support their efforts.
being registered a Democrat doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll vote Democrat all the time anyway…and in the case of Bob Casey and others currently in office, it doesn’t even mean you support Democratic values.
By the same token, those registered Green or Independent or “decline to state” (remember, that’s Patrick Fitzgerald’s registration) can work for and/or support financially any candidate they want to that they feel best represents their values.
Many of us right now feel that our best option in light of the Democrats’ cave in of yesterday is to vote with our feet. Still others of us are voting with our checkbooks. It doesn’t mean we’re never going to vote or work for any Democrat ever again — hell, if I was in Pennsylvania, I’d be sitting on a Pittsburgh corner in a Steelers jersey with a Pennacchio sign. But we’re going to take a hard look at anyone who claims to be a Democrat. They’re going to have to tell us why they’re a Democrat — and the actions better match up with their words.
Here endeth the rant…
He made the election a helluva lot easier to steal.
Hmm. That argument sounds to me suspiciously like blaming me for the fact that my $600 bike was recently stolen from my front porch because I’d only locked it to the wooden fence that was easily cut through by the thieves. Sounds suspiciously like blaming a rape victim for wearing ‘provocative’ clothing.
Who do you suggest I vote for as a Native American? Who in the democratic party represents my interests? (Is there anyone in the dem party who is even aware of those interests? Does John Kerry know anything more about “sovereignty” than GWB does? I haven’t seen any index to suggest otherwise.)
I voted Kerry in desperation. To my recollection, it is the only time I have voted Dem.
Personally, what I’d like to see is some big celeb come along (Oprah? Clooney? Jon Stewart! ? Who?) and challenge these lameass pathetic pieces of pandering shit in a national bid for the Presidency. Someone with lots of money, someone with the necessary “name recognition”–now that’s an idea, maybe we should petition Oprah to run! (Naw, I’m not a big Oprah fan–I consider her a total sellout–but if she could give these lameass professional politicians a run for the money, I’d help her any way I can–same with any halfway decent celeb who’d agree to do it.)
Oh, wait.
he sure as hell did. How many thousands of votes were wastedd on him in Florida? Not to say, of course, that the Nader voters would have voted for Gore instead, but a few of them would have, and many would have stayed home or written in Mickey Mouse instead.
HE HURT US!
Think about how different this world would be if Al Gore were our president now.
That really hurts.
Ralph Nader deliberately sabotaged Gore’s campaign. He took money from Republicans. He campaigned on the Leninist principle that you should support the Right because supporting liberal/progressives just makes the corrupt regime last longer.
He’s anti-corporate, which I certainly respect. But he’s no friend of women’s rights, or worker’s rights.
And we would not have this fucking evil, inhumane, criminal war in Iraq if Al Gore were in office right now.
Thanks again, Ralph. You too, Supremes.
No. Al Gore hurt us. Al Gore chose Lieberman as his VP, ran as a flavourless centrist, and surrendered to Bush.
Why do you assume that any of those votes would have helped Gore? If, as you say, many of his voters would have stayed home or done a write-in, he had no effect on Gore at all.
in 1996 and again in 2000. (Trust me, in Colorado it didn’t matter either way.) I would not have voted for President otherwise, just local races.
One data point.
Susan, I agree, and so often think about where we’d be (esp on environmental issues) if Gore were P. But Gore–despite Nader, despite what has been called a “lousy campaign”–WON.
He won.
And the SCOTUS staged a coup.
THAT is why we have BushCo, not because of Nader. And when you vilify Nader in this way, you are at the same time vilifying those who voted for him (or for his Jewish/Native American female running mate!), but what is worse, you are vilifying the very notion of a third party–and that to me is a serious threat to any notion of “democracy”.
Well so are most people. But don’t you think those Democrats who voted against a filibuster for Alito need a time out. To go sit in the corner and wonder why they didn’t play ball. Are they afraid of confrontation and/or to take a punch and give one back.
I’m tired of all this we’ll stick with the Democratic party..it is a given. But can’t we slap those Democratic who don’t play ball, know the power of our retribution also??
I’m with you on this all the way.
And everyone should be sure to know what their priorities are, not just their emotions. Because if you vote on emotion, you may not get what you want.
That being said, I’ve never been a Nader blamer. Candidates succeed or fail on their own (except for election fraud) and any candidate should realize that if they don’t have the people who SHOULD be voting for them coming out to vote (much less voting for another party) they will lose. Gore couldn’t even carry his home state.
And yes, I realize he still would have won (did win) if …. all those little old Jewish ladies in palm beach hadn’t had a sudden urge to vote for Pat Buchanan. Or something. So hold your fire.
Okay, Boo, serious question, not just bitching…
Do you really think the Democratic Party can recover? From my perspective, the current crop of politicians have spent the past few years totally spoiling the party “brand”. They’ve made it clear, over and over, that the Democratic Party stands for nothing but their re-election, further reconfirming the stereotype of politicians that the Republicans rely on to win.
Do you believe the party can recover from this image? If so, how?
the dems will recover as soon as women dont have reproductive rights…when millions wake up and see the blue dot and realize they are fucked….when a whole bunch of men get the word to start putting away 18 years plus of child support….thats the day america will wake up….this was totally inevitable….this is the only way its going to happen.
Yeah, but will even that help the Democrats recover? I mean, when all these women go “Oh shit, major trouble for me/my daughter”, who’ll they turn to politically? Will they go running back to the party that helped put them in this situation in the first place?
I posted on MLW a while back that much of the problem we face as a party and a nation is professional politicians. I believe that the founders of our country would be agast at the way our system of government has evolved. The whole purpose of the Constitution was to insure that we were a nation of laws, not men. Todays system has created a class of political nobility, that is increasingly harder to unseat. No matter how great a candidate is, if he doesn’t have the backing of the powers that be, he or she is at an extreme disadvantage. Often getting support (money and backing) means selling your soul and becoming a clone of the people you want to replace. Even if a person beats the incumbent, the system seems to corrupt them (even those that have the best intentions).
It’s not so much that you need their support. You can get elected without their support. The problem is that if you earn their enmity, they have a lot of weapons to break out against you. If you earn the enmity of the media, it’s even worse.
Any candidate running on a platform of change will earn their enmity.
Incumbents are harder and harder to unseat. A primary challenger if he doesn’t have the backing of a major party can find more than an uphill battle.
Although sometimes I get really, really pissed off about the “slow” part.
When Governor Dean got me off my ass three years ago, he told all of us over and over that we would need to think long-term. That Republicans didn’t build their empire of media, churches, and thinktanks overnight–it took thirty years.
I see lots of reasons to hope, despite the tragic failure of Democrats to hang together on yesterday’s cloture vote.
I would bolt and work for the Green Party or another progressive vehicle in a second if I thought that was a more feasible way to achieve my goals. I don’t. I’m committed to fixing this country by fixing the Democratic Party.
But I understand and respect those who can’t say that.
is that with the current brand of Republicans, there may not be an America in thirty years…at least, not one that we or the Founding Fathers would recognize. Hell, there may not even be a f-ing world in thirty years, at least not one that we’d want to have to clean up after the Reich Wing finishes raping it economically and environmentally.
I don’t think we can wait thirty years…or even three years…
I agree. But what else can I do?
Join or create a third party? I’ve been there, and I don’t think it’s realistic.
Leave the country? We’ve tried, even meeting with realtors in Mexico and Canada (where I have citizenship still). My family decided no for now.
Start a violent revolution? I have a sharpened pitchfork ready.
The situtation is unbelievably dire. I’m open to other ideas, but I’m not quitting.
Leaving the country isn’t an option either. If so, it would only be a temporary solution.
I did leave in 84 b/c I saw precisely what was coming down the pike when Reagan got re-elected. Said to myself, nope. This is NOT my country and I’m not sticking around for this.
By 1992, it was clear that US corporate structures were going to prevail on a world market and since that time, I have been watching as, for example, all the good things about the European economy and social fabric have begun to crumble as Europe gets forced to follow the US corporate model. I have watched as the places I sought refuge in West Africa also cave and give in to the corporate monster/model.
The change is going to have to come from HERE. But again, I can’t stress enough, it’s not going to happen at the “political” level. The people of this country are sick–have been made sick by the structures around them–until we do some serious undoing of the damage that has been inflicted on the American psyche, until our people start thinking in different terms, we’re fucked. And the sad thing is, so is the rest of the world, which also means, for us, ain’t no place to run and no place to hide.
but I’m taking a longer and harder look at the candidates out there, to determine which ones truly deserve my time, my talent and my treasure. I’m not willing to blindly punch the button next to the person with the (D) after his/her name, unless I feel they can best represent my interests.
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: the Right has stolen my privacy and civil liberties — my principles are about all I’ve got left.
Let me guess, Booman, you never took any psychology classes in school, did you?
You are the perfect example of the principal of Pavlov’s Dog — trained by the Democrats to accept the worst possible behavior, you come back again and again.
The principals of what Pavlov called “conditional reflex” are easy to understand: if you train a mouse to go through a maze in order to reach some cheese, you can get the mouse to do the maze endlessly if you do not reward the mouse every time. Here is how it works: if the mouse, after going through the maze finds cheese every time, then suddenly doesn’t find it the mouse will assume that there is no more cheese and will stop going through the maze quickly. But if you put out cheese only occasionally, the mouse will continue to go through the maze knowing that sometimes they will find cheese, and sometimes not.
Booman, you have been trained well. You will stick by the Democrats because every once in a while, rarely, but every once in a while something good happens. You will endure votes for Alito, votes for the war, votes against consumers and for the credit card industry, all in hopes that one day a Democrat will get you a reward.
Suffice it to say I totally disagree with your analysis. I believe you build parties, you don’t treat them like sports teams. (Fans can’t influence the success of their favorite team, but they continue to follow them out of loyalty. Many are treating our political system like a sport — they cheer on their team (Republican or Democrat) — get depressed when they lose, cheer when they win — but in the end, they remain a spectator.)
I won’t stick by the Democrats, I will either work to radically change them (and I do mean “radically”) or else will work to build a party other than the Democrats. What you (and Markos) advocate is blind allegance to a party. I am not a mouse.
Either you have not been reading my stuff or you just choose to ignore what I write.
By equating my position with Markos’s position you make an aggressive rhetorical move. I won’t fight on those terms.
My position is that you and I are the party, not the Senators in Washington. Watch what we do, not what they do. Yes, we will ask them to represent our views, and we will apply all the pressure that we have to bear. And we will apply all the pressure we can on the media to cover the issues we think are important. But we are creating our own media, and the audience is growing every day.
We will be putting our soldiers into the party mechanism all across this country in the coming years, and they will eventually form a majority of the party. As people rise to the top, they will become corrupted bit by bit. New blood will be needed on a constant basis.
But, going green is an abandonment of responsibility. In my opinion. And I say that even though the Green Party, collectively, is a better party for representing progressive views. They represent them with rhetoric, but they cast no votes. And they won’t cast any votes anytime soon.
I wish you luck.
I, on the other hand, am going in another direction. I refuse to continue to be told to support a party whose values I fundimentally disagree with.
What are those values: the big tent, compromise over commitment, top down over grass roots.
I agree with you that the Green Party does not represent an alternative. In fact, I don’t believe an alternative currently exists — that may end up part of my mission.
I wish you and this community all the best. Who knows, maybe I will ask to be let back in — but for now I think it best I use what little free time I have to create something new online — maybe you will get an e-mail announcement from me one of these days.
I’m fixing to write a diary. I guess it is kind of contra to this thought by BooMan. Maybe not totally contra though. But I have to voice my personal support for the man. He is loyal. And he is a hell of a host. I could hope he might be a little more revolutionary, but I know he is doing what he believes is right. And maybe there is yet some common ground between those of us at the BooMan Tribune who are completely fed up with our Democratic representation, and those who feel the party is the only way.
that there was no way you could communicate over some fantasy called the Internet, or that slavery could ever end in America, or that we could ever run out of petroleum, or that we could ever devolve into a one-party fascist state.
Sorry Boo, but reasoning from the past to dump on future strategy is nonsense. It doesn’t take present realities into account. It merely counsels us to keep on idiotically pushing the button that hasn’t worked for a quarter century. Make a case, if you can, that the Dems can be purged and cured. I’d be most interested to see that strategy. Until then, the historic reality is that your prescription is no more credible than any of the alternatives, some of which are not even developed yet.
I’m with you. I think this is the most bothersome part of BooMan’s post:
History is for us to determine. I’m sure many people said you couldn’t end the Vietnam war too. Our only choice is to fight how we see fit – individually. To say things are simply not possible is worse than telling us we have to stay within the party to change anything (neither of which do I believe).
I think the Totality of the Evidence exposes the false and hypocritical view of the Democratic Party structure as it exists today, especially on the national level. That evidence supports the basic/ modus operandi/ of the leaders and their minions that the Base will always vote D and thay don’t have to do anything to earn it.
The votes yesterday and today pretty well sum it up…catch and release positioning…”well I voted NO on confirmation”…BS!…doesn’t work anymore.
Sallycat, and James Benjamin are on the right track, as is BostonJoe. If the D’s want my vote and my dollars they’re going to have to earn it.
I do not support, nor do I recommend attempting a third party as a solution. Neither can I stand by when the party I have been a part of for nearly 40 years continues to ignore it’s roots. If they wish/believe that pandering to the uncommitted, read Independent voters, is the way to win elections then I shall be happy to listen.
I have made my decision and this AM re-registered as an Independent. I can, and probably will, continue to vote primarily Democratic. But, I am tired of being taken for granted.
An interesting aside, as I was walking into the Courthouse Annex to effect this, I ran into someone I haven’t seen in about 5 years…a Republican, professional, who was doing the very same thing…interesting heh? I found it so. He is just as disgusted as I with somewhat different “hot button” issues, but we agreed on most everything.
I think that sending the message to both parties that their core constituencies are leaving them can be a powerful incentive to change. Perhaps if they see their memberships declining they will begin to listen to the voice of the people.
I no longer believe, after 40 yrs. trying, that clinging to the party will provide you with any real opportunities beyond the spending of time, money and energy for the status quo.
Peace
There is some symbolic value in deregistering as a Democrat. But, if you live in a state that requires party registration in order to vote in the primaries then you are doing exactly the wrong thing.
The correct response is to start getting involved with the party on the local level, become a delegate, join the school board, find, recruit, and push progressive candidates for local and state offices.
Take over the party. That is our job. I understand but do no agree with the people that look at the party as it is and reject it. I would only reject it if I didn’t think we were in the early stages of seizing power from Washington. Putting Dean in as DNC chair was just the first step. Rejecting Bob Casey, if possible, is another step. Our swarm of Washington over Alito was another step.
Biden and Feinstein and Byah crumbled in the heat. Bring more heat.
That I’ll heartily agree with.
Boo, I have done all that for 40 yrs. I have worked for progressive candidates since McCarthy in 1968, I worked long and hard for David Skaggs, Tim Wirth, Gary Hart, Mark Udall, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry and sadly, Ken Salazar, as well as many others for national elections and have supported progressive local issues as well. In fact, several local issues are demanding a great deal of my time and energy these days.
I’m tired of being ignored after the elections. Some of the reasons are personal as well, as I had, at one time, good personal relations with some of the above.
I feel encouraged by young people such as you, Manny and so many others here and hold you all in the highest regard. But you, the inclusive, are going to have to pick up a little slack from this old Dem.
As for the primaries, here you can declare a party on the day of the election and receive a ballot…then you just have to go to the courthouse and re-do what you’ve undone.
Peace
Personally, I favor closed primaries. I have no idea why an independent should have any say in who represents my party. But people should always be able to declare on the day of the primary and if they so choose, go undo it afterwards.
That’s the same thing, isn’t it?
They sure as hell aren’t pandering to the Independent voters. Many of us have been supporting the Democrats to challenge the GOP/Bush administrations outrageous actions. The Dem leadership isn’t doing that.
I used to teach psychology and I say to Mr. Boo, write on! Let’s keep standing up and keep fighting until we get our Party and Our Country back.
Howie, with your expertise, could you, um, shrink some heads?
We have, in our own time, watched a small group of determined outsiders move from obscurity and lack of respect to owning a big chunk of a major party and calling a far disproportionate amount of the shots. We don’t like these people, but you’ve got to give them props for what they’ve done.
If the right-wing Christians had started a third party instead, we Dems would have won a lot more elections from the Republicans, because those votes would have come from them.
They did run a third party. Perot. They just didn’t do so to attempt to win but, rather, to show the Republican party that they were serious.
Perot was not the candidate of the right wing Christians.
The only vehicle available to stop the march of the modern day Republicans
The goal is not to stop the Republicans. The goal is to move this country in the right direction.
The problem is, the Democratic Party agrees with the GOP on too many of these — e.g. going to war and staying at war with Iraq, media consolidation, “law and order” issues — and doesn’t differ enough on others — e.g. support for true national healthcare, trade.
We should define our political goals positively, not negatively. And once you do so, the problems with the Democratic Party become abundantly clear.
Now I’m willing to hear arguments against third parties. But the relevant point of comparison is with the prospects for truly reforming the Democratic Party so that it becomes not simply Not-The-GOP, but an actual force for progressive change.
89 million eligible voters in this country ,consistently don’t vote.
That’s more than the Dems and repugs received combined.
There has to be a way to get1/2of them out,and 80% of them
would probably vote Dem.
When working for Kerry Edwards and Lois Murphy,we only targeted Indies and Dems.
I always wondered why we didn’t canvass non voters,still don’t.
yeah I know dream on,and what about running on the equitable distribution of wealth……..I know that’s what got MJK killed but………know one talks about it .
Well you make a strong case in many respects. I take issue with the idea that just because something hasn’t worked in the past, there is no way to make it work in the future.
I also believe that until people are willing to leave the Democratic Party the Dems won’t really believe they have to change. I staying with the party may result in enabling its disfunction. Just my point of view.
To me the party is meaningless and I will support candidates who are competent and best reflect my values. Their party affiliation is irrelevant.
“But all they accomplished was to put their common foe in office.” Amen
Best of luck. I think the American Empire will fall before you fix this system from within (and I don’t think it’s that far off anyway).
Personally, I believe what we need is a sea change, a revolutionary new way of engaging people that gets all the people who agree with us on so many issues to actually do something about it. Without solving that, all else is lost. The system itself is too damn corrupt.
I’m sure people will work within the Dem party… and without. Some will even work within the party structure knowing the whole time that they are literally working as sleeper agents for their enemy. Seriously, knock yourselves out. I wish you all the luck in the world but for me personally, I’d rather pursue other avenues.
I guess what I’m saying is feel free to try to work within the Democratic party structure, but realize they will fight you every step of the way (as the DLC and Clintons did to Dean) and that in the end the party is still an integral part of the almost completely corrupt American political system and, as such, should be considered your enemy.
but nobody’s reading it, so thought I’d stick it in here…
Woke up with a MAJOR hangover this morning. Was sitting in front of my computer last night till the wee hours, swilling vodka, and spewing rant all over the Alito threads.
I mean, let’s be clear. This was a BIG one, and we lost. And frankly, all the talk about well, we put up a good fight, it was a longshot anyway, hey we got 25 Senators to vote for a filibuster — it doesn’t get it for me. I long ago gave up on “moral” victories; there are no moral victories, only moral defeats.
And there is no satisfaction to be gained from them.
The even sadder thing about all this is that this was a winnable fight. With planning, with coordination, with discipline, with focus, with LEADERSHIP, we could have sent this right-wing radical back where he came from. A President who is recognized by the majority of the people of this country as an abject failure, nominates a judge whose views are soundly rejected by the majority of the people of this country, a judge who lied and obfuscated his way through his confirmation hearings, who will now proceed along with his radical right-wing cohorts on the bench to roll back decades of settled law and social justice, who will slap down ordinary citizens who have been wronged or hurt by corporations, who will provide any legal fig leaf to cover this administration’s totalitarian gonads, and our “leaders” in Washington failed — FAILED — to stop him.
Yeah, I have long since given up on expecting anything more from them, although I participated in the futility of phoning and emailing my Senators (at least MY two — Leahy and Jeffords — were among the 25). Yeah, I knew it was futile, but a part of me tried to believe — WANTED to believe — that maybe because this was so important, we might just pull off the miracle. No such luck. Knowing the outcome beforehand didn’t make the letdown when it happened any easier.
Hence the vodka-swilling.
But that was last night. Today comes the question of what do we do now. MSOC is fed up with the Dems and is planning to become an Independent. Boston Joe wants to start a third party.
Me?
I’m doing two things.
First, I plan to stay in the Democratic party. This is not MY party any more; hasn’t been for years in fact. It belongs right now to those jerks in DC. I’m gonna work to take it back from them. I’ve never in the past defined my political activism in strictly “party” or electoral terms. I still don’t, but the total failure of Dem establishment to put up even a minimum of a fight on something as important, as crucial as we have just been through, tells me I need to pay more attention.
Dean’s got it right; rebuild the party from the grassroots. Reshape the party into what it needs to be: a voice for the common people against the onslaught of corporate greed, a defender of social justice and a citizen’s right to be safe and secure in his or her home and possessions from the prying eyes of Big Brother government, an advocate for fiscal responsibility that fairly balances the spending priorities of the government and fairly apportions the burden for paying them, a strong defender of the security of our country and its citizens that recognizes that national security is more than macho posturing and military hardware.
I’m tired of those who keep trying to tell me that I have to dilute my principles to create a big tent. I’m all for a big tent, but you gotta pay the entry fee. I don’t need or want Ben Nelsons and Robert Byrds in MY Democratic Party.
That brings me to the second thing I plan to do. The thing I begrudgingly admire about the Repugs is that they enforce discipline on their members. Toe the line or there’s retribution. It’s time the Democrats did the same. I will remember yesterday’s vote. Every DINO who sold out their party, who sold out their country will be targeted. I will work my ass off to see every one of those traitors politically defeated. Maybe it won’t be this election cycle, but, as they say, revenge tastes best when served cold.
Payback’s a bitch. I’m gonna pay those traitors back, and take back MY party in the bargain.
I hope you’ll join me.
and I am proud to report that I agree with you wholeheartedly.
After reading the comments, its no wonder we as Dems look so pathetic. We have no unity. That is why the rethugs continue to beat us to death. United we can be a powerhouse, standing alone we are pieces of straw blowing in the wind. We need some party discipline that pushes those that seek a different course for selfish reasons back into line. There was only one reason the filibuster failed and that was because of the selfishness of those that voted for cloture. We have a party of Dems that don’t understand what it is to be a party. Party unity means that on some issues, the big picture is more important than the individual. Sometimes soldiers have to fall in order to win. Alito was one of those big pictures, but too many Dems were unwilling to make the sacrifice to win the battle. I ask where would we be today, would there even be an United States of America, had previous Americans been as selfish as some of our Dem senators were yesterday.
It doesn’t matter whether it was civil rights, labor unions, crime, corruption, or defense of our nation, no gains were ever made unless people were willing to sacrifice and put their necks on the line. We currently have a party of selfish wimps that must continually check which way the wind is blowing before they can make a decision.
I am not sure I want to stay with a party that doesn’t believe in its principles enough to stand up and fight for them.
The only way we will ever see the power return to the people is by having 100% public financed elections, no outside money, no lobbyists, free public air time and voting machine integrity.
The problem with the folks who criticize the 3rd party option is you automatically assume that the 3rd party needs to run a guy for President and win to have any impact. Booman, you make the same mistake
As I stated in my diary on the topic.. you dont even bother forming the 3rd Party and find a guy to run for President.. you form the party and then run the candidates in Congress — THAT’s where the power to stop any executive abuse the President might dream up is.. and thats where the means are to force the Democrats to look to their left flank.
Sorry, I’m not sticking with this lousy crew.
The ripple effects of the right wing’s landing justice #5 will be felt for generations. I think yesterday’s vote was the most important in my lifetime, because of the huge impact that the Supreme Court has on all issues and the importance of the swing vote on the Court. I can’t go on supporting the Democrats after they cave in on an vote of such overriding importance. I just can’t.
If what matters most to you is defeating Republicans in the 2006 elections, then admittedly the Democrats are the only option. But I’m unmoved. I am pessimistic about the chances that the Democrats can take over either half of Congress. But even if the House did turn Democratic, it would not mean impeachment; we learned yesterday how willing our team is to fight.
The assertion that third parties cannot win becomes self-fulfilling. It needn’t be. It took the Republicans less than a decade to get from Ripon to the White House. I think there is more to hope for in the birth of a new party than the resurrection of a dead one.
I’m not a Democrat, or a Republican. I’ve never voted for a Democrat, or a Republican even in local elections. (As an aside, I live in NY, near the City.) Want to know why? Because when I turned 18 in 1975, the Democrats were already a spent force as a party for the “little guy/gal”. Maybe they never recovered from Bobby Kennedy’s death, I don’t know. But, they presented no options to me that mattered and they continued to present no options since, so I went my own way. What else could I do! Now, I’d like to vote FOR a Democrat not just against a Republican but even that isn’t possible any more, i.e., Bill Clinton. Although he wasn’t that bad compared to Raygun. Why is that? Why can’t the Dems find another RFK? Don’t answer that, I know why. The system just doesn’t allow it.
Oh, and the media sucked then just as much as it sucks now, maybe moreso since there wasn’t many readily availible alternatives.
The Democrats have a lock on the system. And the point is… the world is totally unjust?
Wadda you some kinda wisegal? 🙂