Suicidal Tendencies

I wrote this in the other blog, but I will repost here.The Democratic Leadership Council was formed in 1985 by Al Frum after the 1984 devastating loss of former Vice President Walter Mondale to President Reagan. The Blue Dog Congressional Coalition formed in 1995 after the 1994 Midterms.Being ignorant of history is why we might see a U.S. Senator-elect Scott Brown tomorrow evening.

THANK YOU!! “Shaming the real enemy” was my point in the last thread. When the death panel crap was flying around, why did our party start wasting money shaming the blue dogs instead of reminding EVERY American that we DO have death panels called insurance companies? We utterly failed in the messaging by not evicerating the insurance companies. We allowed distractions and didn’t own anything.Jennifer

a Daily Dish reader:The past year has been a very difficult one for me, personally and professionally. I’ve been up a lot more than I’ve been down, and I’ve been angry and frustrated with life, as we all are at times. But I can’t remember the last time I felt such overwhelming rage toward a group of people as I have felt toward the Republican Party and the conservative movement since President Obama’s election.I simply cannot grasp what motivates these people, what compels them to thwart even the smallest attempts to clean up the enormous destruction they wrought under Bush and Cheney. Irresponsible, hateful, mendacious, sleazy, destructive – these words do not even begin to describe them.I am unemployed and have not found a new job after almost a year of searching. I have a mortgage. I also have a preexisting medical condition, thanks to emergency surgery I had to undergo nearly 18 months ago. My unemployment benefits expire in five months, my COBRA not long after. Like untold millions of Americans, I am preparing for the worst as the economy slogs through its agonizing turnaround.I voted for Obama with proud but open eyes, knowing full well not just the magnitude of the tasks he faced, but the pure, unrestrained malevolence of his opposition. Health care reform will unquestionably help people like me. And now some low-rent hairdo, whose sole claim to fame is posing naked for some ladies’ magazine way back when, may happily destroy whatever chance this country has at moving in a more just, humane, and morally and fiscally responsible direction.more:http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/01/from-depression-to-rage.html

@eve, I wish I could give you a job — or a hug.Jennifer

“Smart politics often involves keeping an eye on the longview…”Scratch “often.”

The problems of this world are much larger than one man. From health care to the war to the banks, the power these organizations possess, and the clear societal problems these organizations facilitate, not only makes it easy for some “liberals” to label them in black and white, but judge anyone else who doesn’t view them as black or white as defenders of the status quo, and thus, the enemy. It was all very easy to label everyone black or white during the Bush error, but when we take power, many lost sight of the tough realities of the world in the 21st century.

Bob,Your title says it all.Some people really can’t tolerate success, and they cannot envision a world full of good. Sure, it sounds nice, and when someone else makes it sound easy (“Yes, we can!”), the bandwagon is wide and full of food.But put an obstacle in front of them, and they stumble, and do not get up. It’s not because they can’t. They are made just like any one else. Maybe they’ve experienced more failure or more pain in their lives, but all humans have the innate ability to rise above their circumstances, no matter where they are in life. History is rife with such examples.No, sometimes it’s just easier to give up and start complaining. That’s a sad explanation for what is going on, but I’ve seen it in individual lives as well as in national mentalities. Psychologically, you’d probably call it depression.It’s not that they merely feel bad; feeling bad isn’t enough to be depressed. It’s that they expect to feel bad, and they expect to be betrayed, and they expect the very worst to happen in their lives, or with much of what concerns them.I used to call it the Eeyore complex, until I realized how very cruel that description was.

PPP, you’re on the right track. It’s an obvious “persecution complex” these people are suffering from.Who’s the one that compared the Senate bill to rape (if not all of them)? That is just a taste of the deluded notions fueling this…”liberal revolt” against the Obama administration.Since they’re too proud to admit to their own failings, you’ll never get anywhere with these people.

OT:I don’t follow things as closely as others and I heard the following audio clip for the first time on The Howard Stern Show (of all places).It’s Andy Martin (R-Ill) in a campaign ad against Mark Kirk (R-Ill). Yep, this is Repub on Repub crime:http://media.nbcbayarea.com/audio/AndyMartin.mp3If you haven’t heard it, this is not a parody. It’s real: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/28/andy-martin-gop-senate-ca_n_404936.htmlHe also called his repub opponent a “defacto pedophile”:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/06/andy-martin-gop-senate-ca_n_413624.htmlAnd Martin’s tag-line is “The Republican you can trust.”Truth is stranger than fiction!

How many times are progressives to shut their mouths, hold their noses, and and continue tacitly to support the status quo? Is this to go on forever? Because it has been ongoing for at least forty years. When should these disappointed Linuses finally give up on Lucy with her football? The culprit that is causing the decline of the Democratic presidency and its huge majority in Congress is the Democratic leadership, not even the Republicans, and certainly not the folks of good conscience who honestly and insistently criticize Obama and the party big-wigs from the left – And not people like me who are compelled to remind the hard working decent men and women who vote again and again for the Democrats that they are being betrayed again.If those who are ostensibly destroying the great Democratic party are really doing so by reminding people about what Obama and the Dems actually said they’d do when they were campaigning as opposed to what they are in fact doing now – such as what they are doing about the banks, the Imperialist illegal wars, the health care rip-off and its tragic consequences – if that is enough to bring the great party to its knees, then so be it. Obviously it cannot hope to withstand what the Republicans bring forth against it. If the liberals and progressive who are creating trouble for the Democrats do so using sound logic, historic references, and empirical facts, it is intellectually dishonest to point to some amorphous higher moral reason, or the “long view”, as the big rebuttal, as the penultimate reason why they should desist and fall into ranks. Argue against their contentions also using logic, history, and emperical facts, please. Or shut up and concede.There can come a tipping-point when to continue supporting politicians who have historically gone back on their word, and repeatedly betrayed you and your fellow workers, is insanity. Or was Eistein’s definition of insanity wrong? If it was wrong, I’m ready to hear from you why? But, again, please do not point to some amorphous higher moral reason, or use that adult voice to refer to the “long view”. Don’t demand that we be patient forever. That “long view” you refer to, considering the pickle this nation and the planet are in these days, may be a luxury we just can’t afford. For the economy like the planet’s biosphere may also have a tipping point beyond which there can be no reform. But perhaps the same people in the Democratic party who are so disparaging about what they call liberals would have argued the same way against the American or French revolution.

Larry, who’d you vote for in the 2008 presidential election?

Bob,One word: unrealistic!Those with unrealistic expectations are sinking the ship and they’ll cry the loudest when they get wet!

I voted for O because I didn’t want to see McCain with his anger management problem as Commander in Chief. I never expected much from Obama and I was not personally let down by him. I never believed in his ‘hope’ and ‘change’ glittering generalities partly because there was no content provided by him, which means no program for change just the pledge. Neither was there any indication in Obama’s record that he was anything but what he turned out to be. Sorry, I’m sure he is a clever, charming, considerate person and I like him personally way more than GWB, but that does not suffice for a president, not for this historic juncture. As far as the idea of being unrealistic by abandoning any expectations that Obama or the Democratic party can get us to safe harbor,I find that the unrealistic ones are those with those illusions. How much more evidence of the veracity of this statement is necessary? Was Thomas Payne unrealistic when he called for the abolition of slavery? Was Spartacus a fool for attempting to free millions of slaves from the cruel yoke of Roman oppression thousands of years before this nation’s founding fathers waffled on the subject? Were the slaves of Rome fools for rebelling? What would be your council, friend?Or perhaps the fact that MLK was shot (as a result of a conspiracy led my American Army intelligence and the FBI according to the ruling of a civil court) is proof that he should have stopped with his unrealistic demands for equal rights for African Americans? After all, just look around today. Black unemployment is way higher today than it was when Martin was making his fabulous speeches. Perhaps a more patient, moderate, less confrontational approach would have been better.Just where does this almost uniquely American notion come from that ideas that are new are de facto unrealistic while old approaches that have never actually worked are still the best way of reaching your goals? This differs qualitatively from the classical conservative point of view of sticking to the tried and true. This is sticking to the tried and untrue. (And incidentally, Obama and the congressional Democrats haven’t even tried FDR’s approach, never mind anything innovative.}Yes, there is no certainty that forming an alternative to the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum parties of the plutocrats will work either but at least the outcome has not been tested time and time again to come out negative. Dare I suggest that the national and global problems Obama is facing are for the most part unprecedented and that novel problems require innovative if not novel solutions? Or is that an overstatement?Because, all things considered, even FDR didn’t inherit such a mess as Obama is facing. Just for one example, America’s industrial might was put on hold during the Great Depression while in this crisis, America’s industrial might has largely been exported oversees to where labor is much cheaper. No one can really figure out how the jobs will come back, not really. So there goes the economy. I won’t get into global warming and where that is heading.Here’s what I think is unrealistic. Attempting to stay with the Titanic and plug her many holes. We need a new ship of state, and a new paradigm. Then we need decent, steadfast, honest, free thinking people to muster the courage to firstly, admit to reality that we have struck an iceberg, and secondly, to put all their creative effort to building a superior vessel. This will take collaboration, individual buy-in, personal sacrifice, creativity, rigor, open-mindedness, the willingness to put the shoulder to the wheel, and all that sort of corn pone, but the American people have proven themselves before that they can rise to such an occasion. They just have to decide that what we are presently charged to accomplish is very similar to what Americans were charged to accomplish during World War Two.The preceding, I believe is the true pragmatic point of view. What is commonly thought of as pragmatism and steering the middle course, I think is a delusion that has every indication by now of proving fatal.

Sometimes I think that this is The Last Sane Blog.

Hmmm, a most impressive display of verbosity that boils down to you claiming to be a dreamer that feels betrayed each and every time you’re forced to wake up. Other than that, there was no real point, unless I bother to acknowledge the…well, I’ll save my periodic observations for moments within where they will be illuminated in a more apt delivery.Yes, “waking up,” in your particular assessment, involves observing the political minutia that passes for news. That’s the long and short of it. I spot this immediately when the very first EXCUSE you use to justify your having voted for the man you now have faith in was inspired by gossip. Yes, the info appeared within many articles within many “news” outlets, but it was all gossip. Did you know that Reagan was incontinent the majority of the time during his second term? Were you aware that Bill Clinton was having a sexual relationship with a White House intern? The stories of McCain’s infamous anger are inspired by scuttlebutt designed to diminish the political standing of a politician, regardless of whether they’re true or not. Oh, and regardless of whether one could actually perceive hints of the character flaws in public (personal observations). You didn’t even cite differences between their approaches to the economy, foreign policy etc. You went right for the “emotional plea” and cited McCain’s supposed anger. Why not cite his not supporting the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday or his economic solutions to our problems boiling down to applying “Regonomics” to everything, because that what his constituents claimed they like in a poll?Within the many historical periods and events you cite, there’s a sense that these things just happened, as if there were no opposition, processes, varying formulations considered. Oh, there’s also risk of life and limb. It’s interesting that you consider the caterwauling currently taking place within the so-called “progressive movement” akin to the actions of the abolitionists, freedom fighters, and slaves risking life and limb seeking liberation. No one complaining about the Democratic Party should be likened to the men and people you cite. It is an insult to even consider it. As if you’ve not had any choice in these matters. No, you voted for superficial reasons, and now you’re observing the process and becoming disheartened at the prospect that your vote was wasted.By the way, to what are you referring when you say this:”Just where does this almost uniquely American notion come from that ideas that are new are de facto unrealistic while old approaches that have never actually worked are still the best way of reaching your goals? This differs qualitatively from the classical conservative point of view of sticking to the tried and true. This is sticking to the tried and untrue. (And incidentally, Obama and the congressional Democrats haven’t even tried FDR’s approach, never mind anything innovative.}”Are you referring to the ignorant actions of the demi-activists calling for the heads of the Democrats they supported until they couldn’t support them any more (for whatever reason)?You’re feeling well, right?Ok, you’re going a very LOOOOOONG way to say that you want to be done with both parties. But here you are citing McCain’s anger as the reason you decided not to vote for him. Were you impressed with Obama’s calm? Shit, you didn’t expect much from him, but you had “status quo” on your mind, did you not? Was there ANYTHING that would have suggested that voting for the Democratic Party once again is “status quo”? No, the term only applies to politicians, not their constituents correct? Humph, and you liken your efforts to those of Spartacus and Thomas Payne. Ha! You’d have crippled under the strain, as observed by the second thoughts not even in under a year’s time.Despite your best efforts, Larry, I’m not fooled by verbosity. Sorry. I asked the question because I knew you’d offer an excuse within a screed, and since I’m always game to practice my craft abroad, I proceed to offer a semi-professional assessment of your theatrics.Let me tell you now, unprofessionally, I liken you and those that speak like you to Beatles fans upset that John left after he met Yoko. You then commit to following Yoko, if only to trash her in a most thorough fashion each time she does anything public. Doing these things now makes you an expert on the medium of music. With that, you vainly proceed to judge any form of entertainment displayed before the eyes of the masses. The opportunity is there for the simple fact that, as thinkers, those within taken by the vain displays are as complacent, intellectually, as the person speaking before them. No, you are not Thomas Payne. More like John Hinckley.There’s nothing within that spiel of your’n that would actually inspire anyone to do anything. It all boiled down to you likening your viewing the Democratic Party (and to a certain, limited extent, the GOP) to something epic. No, it’s very common, and not as interesting as it seems you want to make it sound. I’m a registered Independent. In my first presidential election damn-near a decade ago, I voted for Patrick J. Buchanan in protest of the two-party sensibility. It was a silly thing to do, and I do regret doing so. Within your essay, I’ve not seen you take any responsibility for your vote. I see four or five excuses and their various defenses, one reluctant admission that you’re not sure how you feel regarding the American political landscape, and an amplification of your role as a registered voter. Oh, there’s also your constant displays of confusing self-confidence for “pragmatism,” as well as the aforementioned vain displays of rabble-rousing.Not going to call you “delusional,” or anything like that. More likely, Larry, you’re a “work in progress” that will never be finished. The problem lies in the fact that, by the reading of your comments, you feel that your a mold already completed.Heeheeheehee! Okay.Let’s hope a alternative can be found for you to vote for in 2012. Otherwise, you may be forced to vote for President Obama for re-election at the risk of your limited credibility; or, you may have to become one of the many vaingloriously indecisive cowards that actually brag about staying at home during presidential elections.Pragmatism, indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1AghS3sNSkis all I have to say, Bob.

Jennifer, I would love to have a hug. You are a kind heart! But that post was quoting someone on the Daily Dish.I have a job.

Sigh!Just came over to register at your blog Bob. I had to get a breathe of fresh air from that other blog owned by (she who shall not be named). It is a mad house over there today.What with all the talk of a Brown upset today, and the trolls taking over what was once a refuge for us Democrats.Just want to thank you for always looking at both sides and being fair minded. Thank you for presenting the facts without all the fanfare and trying to create strife among the people.Please keep doing what you do, because I don’t know how much longer we are going to have before the Progressives, Repubs and the MSM completely bring our President down.I’m holding out hope that our President will prevail & maybe come out stronger for it.

@Osocute68In my humble opinion, this is the best liberal blog on the internet. I’m a daily reader for the past 4 years but do not post comments of my own often. However, you inspired me to write in wholehearted agreement. There are not near enough political bloggers with Bob’s integrity and intelligence.Great to see there are others who recognize the value of this blog. Cheers!

@Sammyscooge….