It has been quite awhile since I have posted anything I thought worthy of front thread status, yet as I have watched, listened to, and read about McConnell, Boehner, and Cantor (The Three Musketeers as it were) in the last month, my blood and blood pressure has begun to boil. The straw breaking this woman’s back was last night when Senator Scott Brown put up yet another Republican brick wall regarding the extension of Unemployment Compensation Benefits for the, oh gee, go figure, the UNEMPLOYED.
Last I heard, unemployed was defined as those who did not have a job or were unable to find a job.
Will someone, anyone, please explain to me who died and made Senator Brown’s party (the GOP) God (no offense Planet God, in no way am I comparing YOU to them). God forbid, never in a million years. 🙂
So this morning, as I was reading, listening to, and digesting the bill introduced by last night, I became pissed off enough by Senator Brown’s comments to write to and fax him (no less) a letter. In addition, to expressing my opinion to Senator Scott Brown, I copied President Barack Obama and my Senator, Senator Sherrod Brown. This following is what I wrote and sent (only one word is missing I think) and, unbeknownst to me, Governor Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) was also expressing some of my own thoughts at the very same time; however, his insight is what one would deem more candid and less politically correct as it were; see my post in OT.
Here is the letter I wrote and faxed to Senator Scott Brown today. Although I copied/faxed it to President Obama, I would like to send it to him (revised, addressed to him, being respectfully blunt, yet showing support and encouraging him to “man up” (the new catch phrase of the day), and with signatures. I am talking old-fashioned, hard copy, and with real names and signatures.
User names are great to protect oneself from stalkers, but real names, real locations, and real opinions give each and every one of us that much more credibility.
Here is my letter to Scott Brown (Ted Kennedy’s replacement, I might add). I have redacted me personal information (love that word redacted) not wanting to put our Author/Editors on high alert. Those of you who know me, know me. Those of you who don’t, sorry but you must earn my trust. That said, here is my letter to Senator Brown, cc: President Obama and Senator Sherrod Brown:
December 1, 2010
Senator Scott Brown
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510Phone: (202) 224-4543
Fax: (202) 228-2646Dear Senator Brown:
Extension of Unemployment Insurance Benefits
I am not one of your constituents so I doubt my letter will mean very much to you. However, I want to take this opportunity to say “Thank you.”
Thank you for signing on to the obstructionist dog and pony show contrived by your Republican colleagues in the Senate. Have you signed the “secret” letter being circulated in the hallways of the Senate Building, akin to passing notes in study hall?
Have you taken the oath Senator Brown? You know sir, the oath to destroy President Obama so he will not be reelected to a second term in 2012 by obstructing anything and everything introduced by the White House and your “friends across the aisle ?”
Senator Brown, the bill you introduced last night has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with compromise and everything to do with holding Mr. Obama and the American people hostage until Senator McConnell’s demands are met. “We’ll compromise, but only if you do it OUR way.” Do any of you have a conscience?
Moreover, it is the firm belief of many Americans that your collective agenda has little or nothing to do with what is or is not good for the people, ALL OF THE PEOPLE, in this country.
I would bet my next three paychecks vendetta the Republican Party has against President Obama has never been about the policies being put forth by the White House, but everything to do with the ethnicity of the family living in the White House. Food for thought Mr. Brown, food for thought.
And…you and your colleagues thought none of us had noticed.
Sincerely,
boomer (I truthfully identified myself, not hiding behind my User Name).
Cc: President Barack Obama (202) 456-2461
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) (202) 228-6321
I am open to any and all comments, however I honestly believe this is and/or inclusions is something President Obama needs to see sooner rather than later from those of us who put him where he is. The regular people; those of us not beholden to any one or any corporation. Guess one could call us the $1.00, $5.00, $10.00 contributors and supporters. None of us has an agenda or expect a pay back, we just want him to represent the real people and not be seduced by lobbyists or some of his inner circle advisers. God, I wish he would talk to the “no-agenda-real-people” and not the so-called experts.
PS: The Three Musketeers are assholes, bigoted and racist assholes. God bless the President, but these guys are on a mission. Their mission is to demean, disrespect, and treat President Obama as if he were nothing more than a slave. My deepest apologies President Obama, but it is a fact, plain and simple; a fact. Please do not rely solely on the advice of your inner circle. Sometimes those closest to us are our worst and most dangerous enemies. Sincerely Mr. President, you need to hear the voices of those of us who believed in and elected you to the highest office in the United Sates of America. Please do not let the likes of McConnell, Boehner, Cantor and their gang diminish your authority and your office.
Sitting in Starbucks today reading my latest book, I thought of this discussion when reading the following.
…
Of course, this would happen going into the re-election of Iran’s most “liberal” president and his unprecedented majority faction in the parliament. The conservatives and radicals struck back with everything they could and obstructed so much that he, too, was practically a lame duck as soon as he was elected again in 2001.
While an imperfect comparison in many ways – in both these examples I see an electorate who while they voted for them again, also blamed them for not achieving the change they desired (and they did have valid complaints). I can only hope Obama is at least elected again.
While the GOP may not have quite the same mobilized goon squads as at the reactionary’s disposal there, I couldn’t help but be struck by a pattern I’m sure is quite familiar to political scientists across the world.
I don’t think it hyperbolic to compare the GOP to the reactionary tactics in Iran. Their xenophobic rhetoric, smears, blackballing, and obstructionism would be very familiar to us. Just be thankful Republicans don’t have the Basij and we don’t have Supreme Leader Pat Robertson.
Khirad,
Don’t be so sure. Q put this link up. I think the Koch Bros just might fit the job description.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
Barack Obama is one person, one individual, one living, breathing human being. To expect him to be anything more, is selfish and irresponsible on our part.
If it were me, facing the demanding criticism of the recalcitrant left and the obnoxious, arrogant right, I’d say, “Screw all y’all. Why should I bust my ass for you, if you’re not willing to bust your asses for yourselves and me?”
What’s been happening in DC is not a Wii game, a weekend in Vegas, or something just to liven up an otherwise boring end of the year Congress. Our first concern should be the welfare of the poor, the unemployed, the homeless or near homeless, the innocent children and the elderly.
With the exception of “innocent children”, I qualify for all the other categories. Were it not for the kindness of friends and the charity of a local chapter of St. Vincent DePaul, I would’ve been homeless at the end of October; seriously, no joke. It was truly scary, unnerving, and the anti-depressants were overworked.
Personally?
I can not look the other way without realizing I have an obligation to “Pay It Forward”. If I/we cannot do this, then why am I/are we here?
Boomer, well said. I am so damn tired of listening to all the fat, sassy and most importantly unelected to go govern, “experts” pontificating on would should and coulds. There is not a one of these talking heads or bloggers I would want as President (you excepted) How about AH as prez? Glenn Beck? Rush? Kos? We are a nation of people, left right and center. President Obama is doing the best he can with the hand he was dealt. A shit hand. Where was the vote, supporting the working class cuts, before the the mid terms???
I know we have both expressed our opinions and find ourselves agreeing. But we be poor, we are the people that Mr. Obama is looking out for. Why is the blame on him for the compromise? The SOB’s are the Republicans. He cant’ legislate. What he has to fight the right and beg the left? You can’t just vote and then criticize, you have to support.
Enough. I am so tired of purity, left and right, that we forget exactly who/what the purpose of our government exactly there to serve.
I really couldn’t agree more bito, I’ve been keeping rather quiet on this because the downright selfish reactions from the Left has really P me off.
Well said boomer, this is an argument I’ve been having with a friend over the past few weeks, who thinks that the President sold out. He is after all everyone’s President, and I’ll eat my hat, and theirs too, if the ones shouting down the President, have ever been unemployed, or are at this moment unemployed, or have ever wondered where their next meal was coming from, would they have a roof over their heads, and how to pay the next bill.
It’s amazing just how loud and rude people can be when they don’t know what the other person is going through. Why not ask those who are suffering directly what they think about the President playing politics with their benefits, it’s their money after all.
He has to try to please over 300 million people, could these loud mouthed whiners do the same or better than he has, where are their suggestions, I don’t hear any, do you?
I’m am so sorry to hear about how bad things got for you boomer, so very, very sorry.
Oyasuminasai OG!
Oyasumi nasai OG Q. Sweet dreams.
My daughter’s teaching colleague posted this on Facebook. Many could take a lesson from her kindness, then look in the mirror.
As most here know, my son in-law is one of the unemployed who has recently seen his UIC stopped. It is fair to say he is just one, just one of the millions of hostages being used as a political football.
None of the players are the least bit worried about where their next meal will come from, whether they will be able to pay the heating bill, whether they will be able to help Santa put gifts under the tree (if they can afford a tree) next week, whether they will even have a roof over their head next month.
So, as I wrote in my post and the letter to Senator Brown, and as I have subsequently written here, I was, and have been, deeply torn by the “let everything expire because we have a paycheck” mentality and the “urgent need for UIC in order to survive” bottom line. While I agree, in principle, with drawing a “enough is enough” line in the sand, the reality here is the millions of unemployed (my son in-law included) who have been riding an emotional roller-coaster for months now. IMO, it is unfair and morally wrong to mess with people’s lives this way. It just isn’t right.
President Obama encouraged Congress to deal with this before the midterms. It did not, thus laying the groundwork for everything that has transpired in the last two weeks. Congress did not do its job and the Republicans took advantage of it (and the Tea Party, I might add).
The Ineptness Award goes to Congress, not the President.
Mr. Obama took a stand, stepped up to the plate, and as The Only Adult in the Room , made an Excutive decision. At least he did something. Was it what I really, really wanted him to do? No. Did he do the right thing under the circumstances? Yes.
My mother always told me to choose my battles. Seems to me the President chose not to do battle by using the unemployed for target practice. Unfortunately, come January, the battles will be much more difficult because Democrats shirked their collective responsiblities and let the people and the President down.
**EDIT DoOver**
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/opinion/12reed.html?_r=1
**EDIT** Nice to see you Cher!
Hi all. I had to chime in on this. For the past several months, I have been at HP haranguing the masses to GOTV for the midterms. To that end, I have been defending the Obama administration, and I must say, tirelessly. I did so mostly out of conviction for his Administration, but partially because the alternative is unthinkable. I have also ranted passionately against the Reptilians, because I believe, with every fiber of my being, that they are literally the enemy of all that is good and decent in America. I make no apologies for that hyperbole. I feel, in my extremely small way, I made a minimal difference—at least so I have been told. And, in general, I will likely continue in my “mission.”
That being said, I am opposed to this deal. I am opposed less so on the actual merits of the compromise—although on those too, to a lesser degree—as I am on the very fact of compromise with terrorists.
For the past two years, I have really seen who the Republican¬s truly are. After all this time, after all I’ve seen and heard, it is too much to ask that I accept compromise with these so-called humans.
When the “loyal opposition” is not only disloyal to the country as a whole, and represents the most venal, xenophobic and illiterate of this nation, you cannot negotiate.
When they want ONLY to destroy Obama, above any good they could do for the people they represent, you cannot negotiate.
When they hate American values and are determined to turn our country into an oligarchy, you cannot negotiate.
When they believe in the Rapture and pray for Armageddon, when they deny science and want a theocracy, you cannot negotiate.
When they call the unemployed lazy drug users, tell the poor to dumpster dive, urge Ugandans to execute gays, disparage minorities in racist signs and immigrants as crazed beheaders, you cannot negotiate.
When they call for the overthrow of lawfully elected officials, preach sedition and “Second Amendment remedies,” you cannot negotiate.
We cannot negotiate with these people, any more than we negotiate with Timothy McVeigh– Even if it means the hostages suffer, because we know that there will always be more hostages. If you have to negotiate for UI, there is no stopping the immorality of the hostage takers. That’s really my bottom line.
About the 13 months of desperately needed Unemployment Insurance, you will see I have probably gone off the deep end, but here goes:
Should we trade a deal on DADT for longer time in Afghanistan?
How about ending unemployment (more jobs) but give up Social Security? Or Medicare?
Should we trade a strong EPA for jobs, or national parks for deregulation?
These are FALSE CHOICES, and ones we should never be forced to make. Obama just made us choose between something that should NEVER have been negotiated¬¬– unemployment insurance. Those should never have been a trading chip in the first place, but since it was, now every other program we hold dear is jeopardized.
In my fevered state, I more than anything want to defeat Republicans. I guess that, right there, is what separates me from the president.
I am no purist– I actually think health care reform was a huge accomplishment. Ditto fin/reg. It’s not all compromise I object to, just this one– the LAST STRAW. For two years, I have become frustrated to the point of incoherence at the success of the Reptilian Party. And at the corresponding income inequality highlighted by the obscene salaries of Wall St and banksters.
I recognized that Obama was dealt a terrible hand, that he was the adult, and that his heart was in the right place. But, in aggregate, I’ve had enough! There is only so much maturity and reason I can muster in the face of it all. The trouncing we took by the Tea Baggers (!) has sent me into pure Id Ville.
At his point, I want a President who will fight mean and hard. I want someone on MY side as ruthless and brutish as the Reptilians. The time for calm sanity in the face of the most toxic group of legislators in memory is OVER. It’s about psychology now, not policy. In a war, I want the Terminator– no, I want Alien or Predator–not necessarily what makes sense. And I am itching for a fight– a really take-no-prisoners one.
Obama just signaled that he will negotiate with terrorists. And that means the Repubs will continue to get whatever they want. I cannot abide that.
But about the merits of the deal itself—it is a tough call for me.
First of all, I wish Dems would stop using ONLY the deficit to repudiate this deal. We keep on allowing the Right to frame any debate!
We are now all decrying the deficit. When did that happen? A few months ago, all Democrats and progressives were rightfully insistent that the deficit should not be addressed at the expense of jobs; and that job creation is dependent on government spending. Job creation will do more to decrease the deficit in the long run, but that argument seems lost. Now, even Howard Dean has used the deficit as a hypocritical reason to oppose the tax cut deal.
And Republicans are saying that the Dems have agreed with them that tax cuts work to create jobs. (They don’t, but that’s how they are able to frame this tax cut deal because Larry Summers gave them the ammo.)
Here’s what Repub Paul Gigot said on Meet the Press (UGH!)
“I love the symbolism of two Democratic presidents¬¬–not one, but two–endorsing Bush tax cuts, saying, ‘We need them crucially to help the economy.’The president, I think, is implicitly admitting that tax rates matter. After a couple of years, as you showed on the–with the, the discussion with Austan Goolsbee and Tim Geithner had said, “They don’t matter.” We–now they’re saying, yes, they do matter, and then implicitly admitting that tax cuts matter more for growth than spending.”
And this:
I heard Pat Toomey on Morning Joe. He disputed the notion that Obama will be able to make the case in 2012 to repeal the tax cuts for the rich, when they are supposed to expire AGAIN.
Why? He is completely logical– He just WON an election where voters were told repeatedly that Toomey was FOR tax cuts for the rich. He WON on that platform. And we are supposed to trust that in two years, the Repubs won’t be able to win again on that? Of course they will win again– Rush and Fox will tell those pukey peasants to keep supporting the rich, and they will.
So, do I think the tax cuts for the Middle Class are beneficial—sure. But the 2% payroll holiday is awful, IMO. It sets us up. In two years, the Repubs will argue that the deficit is worse—and so we must cut “entitlement” programs. Or, logic be damned, the economy is too weak to raise taxes.
Believe me, my heart goes out to the unemployed and especially to the 99ers. I am fortunate to not be in their shoes, although until last week (YAY!)– my son was unemployed, with no benefits. I am sorry, but sometimes people must suffer to make headway for society.
Social justice always comes at a price. Ask the Indians during the salt protests organized by Ghandi, or better, ask the civil rights workers fire-hosed by cops. Where would justice be if nobody was willing to suffer for it? We will get nothing without sacrifice-bitter sacrifice. I HATE THAT. I know, I know—easy for me to say form my safe position. I wouldn’t say this if I didn’t think the stakes were so very high.
13 months of unemployment insurance is a meager bribe to keep us off the streets. Necessary but insufficient. I am willing to be shown the error of my thinking, but it seems to me, ransoming these hostages was a bad deal for what is at stake in the bigger picture.
There is no shortage of blame for this:
First, the venal, hypocritical Repubs, who filibustered extension of UI benefits.
Second, the spineless Dem leadership¬, who refused to take this up before the election.
And of course, Obama, who, given #s one and two, could have said: “I have NO CHOICE– I have to let all the cuts expire.” Instead, he said he had no choice but to negotiate with hostage-takers.
Bill Clinton once said, “When people are scared, they vote for strong and wrong over weak and right.” Well, I am officially scared. I certainly won’t vote for wrong, but I get his point. I feel as if there is no one but Bernie Sanders speaking out on our behalf.
BTW, Obama is NOT weak. He showed that bucking just about everybody on this. But he is soft—too kind-hearted for these times. There is a difference.
(Rant over—Whew!)
Cher, you’re back!
Don’t ever leave again!!!!
Hi buddy!! Good to be here for sure.
Okay, I really did read it all. And, what more could I say?
But Haruko beat me to what I wanted to say first.
No comment required! Hiya,K. Thanks!
Nicely delivered, Cher! You’ll have 3000 fans HERE too, in no time! 🙂
Seriously, it’s great to see you in this neck of the woods. And I am most definitely in agreement. The president who supposedly plays chess while his opponents play checkers is getting his butt kicked again and again by the relentless onslaught of take-no-prisoners-never-give-an-inch Republicans. He may be a chess player, but he’s no boxer, telegraphing every punch. I agree with you, enough is enough. Someone wrote, and many have said, he treats his enemies like his friends and his friends like his enemies. Not sure I’d go that far, but I go pretty close.
Stick around, Cher! I’ll be putting up a post in the next few days.
I’m still prone to thinking that his chess moves may not be evidenced for a couple of years. He’s strategizing that well in advance.
well, “strategizing” or not, he could have done a better job of holding BP more accountable, informing GM that, “ahem, we own you now so keep the jobs at home and make electric cars so we can save our environment”, curbing the greed and excesses of the banks he bailed out, etc. etc. Meanwhile, the very real casualties of these circumstances should hardly be comforted, I would imagine, by the assurance that his methodology will reveal itself if we just hang on a couple more years.
Amen, Whatsie.
True that, wts.
GM did cancel moving plants abroad, build the electric Volt. “He” didn’t bail out the banks. Not sure what more could have been legally done to BP.
I can’t help but think “its the economy, stupid.” Why can’t people realize that in this deal, along with some really bad portions (nature of a compromise?)that a 900 billion “helicopter drop” was put into the economy? That this deal was quite Keynesian”by ignoring short and mid term deficits and getting money flowing in the economy and hopefully creating demand? Long term debt can be, will be addressed, but not until the employment picture stabilizes.
I await that with baited breath! Seriously–I do.
“It’s about psychology now, not policy”.
Absolutely! We have been the carnival suckers at the peanut shell game. There is no negotiating with people who would gladly bring back an American version of the Spanish Inquisition, a newly minted McCarthy Era bankrolled by the Kochs. We need to turn the tables in a very simple non-ambiguous way, one that uses the undoing that only a well waged psychological war can undo. Fight black and white with black and white. At what point do we stop cunctating?
So good to see you, Cher!
Hey, Q! I am needing some serious Psy-Ops about now. Ready to blast heavy metal, head banging music into the Repub caucus– or something.
Speaking of psychology, how cringe-worthy was it to watch Boehner cry again? Why would someone tear up at the thought of his pursuit of “the American dream?”
It’s because he feels sorry for himself. He is recalling how hard he worked; at all the hardships he suffered. He is full of self-pity. Republicans LOVE to feel victimized.
Well, boo-effin-HOO!
I have met two kinds of self-made people in my life. One kind remembers how hard it was to become successful, and they reach out and give others a hand. The Boehner kind remembers how hard they had it and say, “Nobody helped me (a lie) and so I’m not gonna help anyone.” They think they are better than the average guy, when the fact is, they are shallow pieces O’shit.
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
Boehner cries because he’s histrionic. Many of the GOP are. Beck, Limbaugh, Palin. Their theatricality is all about attention and they unfortunately tend to get it in this histrionically obsessed culture.
Did Boehner cry before the elections at all? Seems he got post-partisan depression.
The fact that he is macho, i.e. smokes Camel cigarettes, has a put-on baritone voice supports the histrionic tendency. It’s all a show. If you ask him about details and depth he’ll go nowhere.
Someone on the Dark Side also posited that the Repubs cry in a calculated way to try to convince the public that they really aren’t heartless. 🙄
She added that going the same route for the Dems would never work because the Dems are not perceived to be brutes in the first place. So crying tends only to be a negative for them, in that it sends out the “weakness” vibe.
An excellent observation.
Seriously, I wonder if the bawling has something to do with his drinking.
I’ve known drunks that cried at the drop of a hat, maudlin, weepy, pathetic crying. I think the liquor destroys self-control cells in the brain.
I think you nailed it, Pepe.
T’was the night before Christmas,
And all through the House,
John Boehner was crying,
Because he missed golf.
With the title of Speaker,
And Boehner in charge,
Golf games are no longer,
But he can still visit bars.
He lights up a Camel,
And orders a drink,
The tears run unchecked,
Because his skin’s turning pink.
Oh, dash it all, dash it all,
Dash it away,
Being Speaker of the House,
Means all work and no play.
He started out long ago,
Working as a common man,
But now Boehner’s crying,
“I’m losing my tan!”
Pepe…great minds think alike. I was just going to write the very same thing. I wrote awhile back that it bugged me because there was something eerily familiar about Boehner. Drove me crazy for months and I had seen those eyes before.
Well, low and behold, I had a vision; my alcoholic father and Boehner are/were cut from the same cloth.
One thing for certain though, when my father drank, his emotional state was always a crap shoot; vicious & vile versus warm, fuzzy, and tearful. Boehner meets the criteria, going from one extreme to the other, just like my father.
Pretty scary to have “Mr. Speaker Happy Hour” two heartbeats away from the Oval Office.
I bet Boehner does his vicious and vile out of the public eye.
Pepe:
Damn– BINGO!
I can’t help but imagine the different reaction from the MSM and FOX would be if Nancy Pelosi or any Democrat for that matter cried like Boehner.
But I especially think that a woman candidate/politician crying would be scorned out of politics.
j’avaz,
Pat Schroeder, she was knocked out of her race in a heartbeat when she cried. “those women are just to emotional to be ‘real’ leaders.”
I forgot about that!
Bito–In a couple of instances, I think we have BEGUN to start to move away from that attitude– IF the woman in question has a tough reputation. Hillary broke down during her campaign, remember? She said something to the effect that she knew how high the stakes were. No one that I can recall criticized her for that. That was a tiny bit of progress. I think the same would hold true for Pelosi, but I can’t imagine that occurring. She has such stones, it would have to be a cold day in hell. But others, say someone like Boxer– or even Palin might take some grief.
We are still pretty sexist though. Which reminds me– an article on the sexism of Morning Joe here:
http://www.tnr.com/article/79832/morning-joe
Cher! So good to see you back. I knew that across the miles you would sense that the Russian “La-la-la” guy video had been posted here within the last 48 hours and return!! 😉
Now I’m gonna go back and read your comment!
Later: beautifully eloquent, as always, Cher.
A few days ago, I made the comparison here of these times to the 1930s and the labor movement. Could there have been a dicier period in which to call massive sit-downs, lock-outs and strikes? Could people have possibly had more to lose? Everything was on the line. Literal survival itself. But American labor organized, risked and suffered, and won big concessions.
What does it take? At what point of suffering will the American voting public finally come to their senses and say: “I think these people are not our friends…” Well, duh!
I’m a fan of Obama. He’s much more Martin Luther King than Mohammad Ali, though. Will the MLK strategy work in this situation?
I guess we’re about to find out.
My instinctive feeling is that the Repubs will keep on pushing until they get some really serious push-back. And supplying that push-back means not only Obama discovering his inner Ali, but more importantly, the American public “manning up.”
Because opposing these guys is one job that we can’t outsource.
Hello my dearest kes. I saw that La-la guy posted here the other day, and damn if I didn’t start laughing again as if I had never seen it! He is a gem, no?
Anyhoo—I am as usual, at my wit’s end at the apathy of Americans. Honestly, we simply must go back to the streets as we did in the Thirties and the Sixties. There were fewer distacting toys then though. Less noise, I guess.
Personally, I got pretty active locally leading up to the Midterms, and here in California, it payed off. But who knows–we are a solidly Blue state overall anyway. My point about that is, it is the only thing that acts as an antidote to despair. I am grateful for the many organizing organizations that helped me channel my anger.
We are at a time when we so badly need someone to organize us nationally.
The real game changers, and I hate to face this, were the Baggers. Astroturf for sure, but also real. I am serious when I say what we need is as strong antidote to the Baggers from the Left, and as whacky and as unreasonable, and as ideological as they are. That’s seems the only way we get any attention. (I am now realizing how brilliant AdLib’s idea of street theater really was.)
Maddow quoted Gandhi the other night: “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” That sums up the brief history of the Baggers too. And I am not too proud to learn from that. The forces that will literally destroy America never take a day off, but we on the Left are not as angry or as active. This tax deal may have changed that. I sincerely hope so. If it infuriated me—who has been very patient and reasonable– who knows how many others it ignited?
The “La-la” Guy is eternally amusing, Cher. 😀
Quick note before I have to leave for work (unless I get a last minute reprieve).
Yes, the Baggers have certainly been a lesson to us all. To give the devil his due, I have to say that the RW is positively brilliant at channeling and harnessing the power of ignorant outrage. There’s no end to their creativity nor their funding.
It would be refreshing to put a candidate out there who could match them point for point on issues. How about a 95% tax rate for the wealthy — no deductions, no loopholes, no offshore tax havens? How about nationalizing the banks, energy and healthcare all at the same time!?
Go for broke, the way they do when they talk about getting rid of Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance!
We might be surprised at the reaction we’d get.
I think it was like the siren song that brought Cher back.
No one can resist the trololol.
It is truly magical.
Khirad: It is like a dog-whistle to me! Only certain, ahem, “special” people can respond to it.
Therein lies the rub, Cher, in your one sentence, “The forces that will literally destroy America never take a day off, but we on the Left are not as angry or as active. ”
They don’t HAVE to take days off, because that’s their job. They make ridiculous amounts of money for rigging the system in their favor. They’d sooner take jobs at McDonalds than volunteer to wreck things. Everything they do to further the oligarchy further enriches them, while everybody else has to work all day and then try to figure out a way to protest on their own time.
The system is screwy! So, because making things worse is their job, but making things better is something the rest of us have to do on the side, we are at a distinct disadvantage, and so we need, ahem, “representatives”, whose job it is to argue our case. Great concept, except all too often that is decidedly NOT what our so-called representatives actually do. They take our votes and then nuzzle up to the full time country wreckers. Yack!
Here’s a possible explanation for the president’s actions–it’s possible he doesn’t act based on the desires of the liberal wing because he sees himself as the president of all, not just the president of the 20% of Americans who call themselves liberal. He obviously knows how to fight and win — how else could he have overcome the Clinton machine during the election? Remember what he said to the 48% who didn’t vote for him: “I’m your president too.”
If this is what’s going on in his head, it clearly could be his undoing. You can’t be all things to all people — he’ll end up being no thing to no people. He’ll never overcome the hatred that the rightwing has for him and he has only disenchanted many on the left. But I also understand the logic behind it. He wants to lead the entire nation, not just his political party. Unfortunately, the nation isn’t going to let him.
Hi e’cat! Well, about leading the entire nation– I feel the entire nation actually yearns for some exhibition of steeliness. (I am so sick and tired of the false meme that Obama is weak, because he most definitely is not.) But a dose of fury, of even ideology–heck, of bellicosity– is missing.
The electorate does not respond well to (perceived) weakness, and will not rally ‘round an alpha male who appears unable to defend his territory, or worse, seems not to know that he’s under attack.
It’s loathsome that aggressive loudmouths with idiotic ideas can co-opt political discourse, while an intelligent but resaoned voice is drowned out in the din. It also says a lot that the electorate can be swayed by things that they don’t believe in, if they’re said with gusto. We have many bellicose candidates waiting in the wings, and there will be lots of gusto in the run-up to 2012.
Without strong leadership, socially and fiscally responsible ideas will not stand a chance, and we will almost certainly devolve back into a feudal society. We will then be the ones held hostage to the greedy whims of our corporate Lords. I hope Mr. Obama wakes up and finds his righteous anger before then, and gives us some of the reason to hope that he can clearly command when he wants to. The stakes could not be higher. We can make do without a chicken in every pot, but we can’t manage with one in the Oval Office.
Cher! So wonderful to see you!
Trying to see the big picture from a psychological standpoint, consider the radical personality change required of Obama to become the most effective-as-possible president.
His entire life appears to have been built on a belief in reason. As a community organizer, it was ingrained in him to eschew conflict and bring people together for their common good.
I think it has been very hard for Obama to accept that some of his core principles, including his faith in people, just won’t push his goals across the finish line in DC.
FDR went through radical changes from being a modest POTUS to a ground-shaking one. It is not beyond possibility that through this baptism of fire and that of the next two years, Pres. Obama becomes more of the political competitor and athlete he is on the basketball court.
He does have it in him and he’s seen that trusting in the intelligence of the public to dismiss lies from the GOP and in there being a shred of integrity in the GOP to do the right things are both losing propositions.
I think the next two years may be very transformative for Obama, in a good way and could chart a course for a remarkable and course-changing second term.
Hi, AdLib—I am relieved you are glad to see me. I really like your take on the Prez. The community organizer would make a perfect analogy if it weren’t a fact. It does explain a lot about him. Obama has spent the last two years preaching the benefits of bi-partistanship only to be rebuffed by the Republicans at every turn. You would think by now that he would have gotten the message.
The Republicans understand that they can win the spin war and have no fear. This past election was one of the most depressing events since ’04. If Obama refused the Tax bill for the rich, the spin will be that Obama is killing the middle class and that will be the perceived truth.
In the racist and toxic environment of Washington, bipartisanship is impossible–and even wrong. I know the public disagrees about this, but only on the surface. They really want action. They really want a King. Republicans sensed his desire for finding “common ground” and have exploited it consistently. In the end he has won nothing politically and is labeled as a socialist, and worse, for adopting the very same plans the Republicans once championed.
President Obama is appealing to “our better angels” at a time when the devil –
” that rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born.”
I have to give the devil his due. By the way, a really excellent article on framing, by George Lakoff here:
http://www.truth-out.org/untellable-truths65905
Thanks for the Lakoff article.
Let’s face it though, the general American public has always preferred a “King” to a man of quiet reason. Consider the authoritarian kings we’ve had in the White House in the last few decades, GW Bush, GHW Bush, Reagan and Nixon.
For too many poorly educated Americans, the exercise of power equals leadership. The more the use of power, the stronger the leader. The more belligerent, the more hostile, the more intolerant…the stronger the leader.
There is a parent complex to many voters, they want a “Daddy” authority figure who will decide what’s right and wrong and protect them. They do not understand nor relate to a President who is conscientious and treats them and their rights as deserving the most respect.
They want a strict “daddy” who knows what’s best and brings them a pony for Xmas.
In short, too many American voters have the intellects of 5 year olds when it comes to politics.
They voted against the Dems in a tantrum this Nov, “”I don’t care who wins, I’m mad at you Dems cause I didn’t get my pony, you’re not my best friend anymore!!!”
How can a nation commit to long term plans for repairing our economy and addressing economic inequity if they’re as fickle as spoiled 5 year olds?
There has to be pain, there has to be sacrifice to rehabilitate our nation and yet these whiners refuse to accept both and they have an enabler in the forms of corporations and the GOP who keep them deluded by nodding their heads that yes, they can have it all and only meanies would ever ask them to sacrifice.
What I think we need in addition to election and lobbying reforms is for many in the American public to grow up and start thinking like adults.
But AdLib, the voters have spoken!
[img]http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2010/12/14/c5127b6b-e935-4237-a94e-23c961c53521.png[/img]
Well, if ain’t 9302! 😉
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! I can’t believe you remember that– wow, did that just give me a belly laugh.
Bito– GREAT to see you.
Boomer, in my rant-mode, I was negligent in telling you how great your post was. Really riled me.
Thank you. You can have the “bee in my bonnet” anytime. 😉
Boomer, thank you so much for posting this. Here’s my swing at a letter to Pres. Obama:
Co-signed.
Kalima posted a Tomasky blog today and he highlighted that while McConnell and Kyl were meeting with the President and smiling about bipartisanship, they were getting signatures on their “hell no” letter. That is the type of character the President has to work with to find a compromise.
Please, Mr. President, start signing executive orders. Nothing will pass in the Senate.
Hey boomer – GREAT work! I do mobilize people around CA (and a few hangers on who’ve moved to other states) to do this regularly. Since they are largely people of faith, I ask them to mention that. It still has weight with politicos if not with other progressives.
I’d like to suggest using the FAX since mailed letters can and do languish in the Capitol mailroom being scanned for anthrax etc. and can be delayed for WEEKS sometimes. The FAX also bypasses the cranky legislators who take email from ONLY their constituents. They cannot block the FAX by ZIP.
It was one of Obama’s mantras that he cannot do things alone. He actually practices democracy – leaves legislation to Congress, legal decisions to the legal process. So it IS up to us to raise our voices. Democracy is messy, slow, and demands constant engagement. What I read and hear from HP bloggers etc. are the whinings of people who never wrote, called, sent a FAX, did an email to anyone about anything. Thank you boomer1949 – you’ve raised your voice for democracy. Do let us know if Brown has the civility to reply – even a form letter – or whether he thinks if you’re not a constituent, you don’t deserve an iota of his attention. The results will be illuminating.
Stand UP for democracy in general and policies in specific. It’s the only way we make change. Boomer set the standard for us all!
😳
Boomer
It is just this kind of passion,
this kind of candor,
this kind of wit,
That will cut through to the quick.
Go Boomer Go!
Never let up!
Okay, because Boomer is pulling the hard sell 🙂
But remember, I’m a bit less enamored of our current prez than most here, so I’m not sure my ideas would fit well in your letter. Feel free to use or discard anything you like, boomsie!
Dear President Obama,
The midterms have just ended, and already your opposition is thinking of nothing but replacing you with a Republican in 2012. The grassroots electorate that pulled together and hired you for an incredibly difficult task would like very much to not see that happen. In fact, we feel that it would be an unmitigated disaster for the country if the Party of No, the Party of Outsourcing, the Party of corporate rubber stampers in SCOTUS, returns for a long reign just as they did after reducing President Carter to a one liner.
And make no mistake, sir, that is what they are doing to you. “Weak, indecisive, unpatriotic”, these were all terms that they made stick to President Carter because he dared to use the word “malaise”, and didn’t do a good Rambo impersonation. In your case, they are managing to make even harsher words stick.
They want you to fail, Mr. President. I’m sure by now you must realize that. There is no working with them; rather, there is only appeasing them. And that wins you no points with anyone, sir. They take your appeasement, throw it back in your face, and laugh about how weak it makes you look to your base. When they win, you lose. When you appease, you lose. When you lose, WE lose! And we are the ones who elected you.
I dunno, boomer. I’m not sure this is anything like what you were looking for. But there you have it, my two yen’s worth. I could write more, but I’d first just to hear what you think.
whatsie,
It is, and thank you! Much more than two yen’s worth; I’d love to see your input after you win the lottery. Is there a lottery over there? 😀
Indeed, there is. You can buy tickets all over Tokyo. I’ve never bought one, though.
I’m looking forward to seeing the finished version of the letter.
Continue givin’ ’em hell, Boomsie!
boomer, I do hope this really reaches Brown’s very own hands and eyes.
Even granting that he may or may not be swayed too much in his opinions, the mere fact of holding the paper in his hands and reading your heart-felt words has got to mean something.
If we never make the effort to communicate with these people, they’ll just assume that the world is their echo chamber of approval!
Thank you kes.
Any contributions to a formal letter to the President are beyond welcome. If you think an “open letter post” to the President would carry as much weight, please let me or our Fearless Leader know. I would very much like to be able to send something to President Obama before these Yahoos (Yahoos, my favorite reference to anyone/anything GOP) slither off for the holidays.
Personally, if I were Speaker Pelosi and/or Senator Reid, I’d keep their sorry asses in DC until hell freezes over. What arrogant SOBs, every last one of them. Call their bluff, eventually their nasty colors will surface and everyone will need UV protection.
I value your input.
In an article on HP, soon to be ex Governor Ted Strickland calls dems “intellectual elites” and makes it clear to the POTUS and all REAL dems that they are at war with the likes of McConnel, boehner, et.al. The question becomes whether the honest to goodness dems will ever open their mouths and begin the fight that is necessary to protect all of america’s citizenry and perhaps most important, does Obama possess the cajones to FIGHT. And continue fighting until his agenda reaches fruition for, as far as I have seen, NO PART of his agenda is harmful to the american public. Texas GOP rep Leo Berman submits a bill that demands presidential candidates produce evidence of american birth yet ignores the documents Hawaii has produced which have been verified by not only Hawaii’s governor but it’s public health director. AT SOME POINT, Obama needs to address this type of bullshit and threaten legal action of his own if not suits! And these same reps from the same party, anxious to allow the rich tax breaks CAN’T seem to offer the same consideration to fellow americans hurting right now…steps away themselves from potentially being members of “TENT” communities. So many CLAIM they have NEVER voted rethuglican but I’m not stupid. So many have, right here in our midst, and will again. I have never, would never and those who have, who will again, have absolutely no real care about this country and/or it’s constituents. It is about what it’s always been about…party first!
VB,
It is my firm belief, that if we do not speak out, far beyond the walls of the Planet, HP (sorry), DailyKos, OpEd/Letter to the Editor, or any other public venue, we will be battling these assholes the same as Muldar & Sculley in the X-Files for the rest of our lives. Now, given I’m probably older than most of you, I really have no desire to fight this battle for the umpteenth time.
However, I am still willing to put myself out there if y’all will help me put together a “Dear President Obama…” letter together.
Input optional, opinions & suggestions appreciated.
Believe me, I have never met this man, but my gut tells me he needs to hear from us. If not, we are turning him over to “inside the beltway.” If we let it happen, “they” will win and it will be our loss. Big time…
Give ’em hell, Boomer!
Easy for you to say Whatsie… 😆 Kidding, just kidding.
However, I would appreciate your input. You do have a voice you know, and I need all the help I can get!
lil’ ol’ me, a voice? Why, I haven’t lived in America for twenty years. I just gripe from half the world away!
But, for you, I’ll make an exception (hmmm…let me put my thinking cap on….)
Seriously Whatsie,
Don’t be a pain in my behind. I realize you whine from half the world away, however, if you still vote, which I assume you do, then I expect your whines would count for something, eh? 🙂
On the other hand, if you don’t want to post your opinions via the Planet, you do have my email.
Any and all input appreciated.
In need of your Reps Email/fax?
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml
Senators?
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
BOOMER! You go girl! I love to fax things; it wastes paper, for which I am really, truly sorry. But it also means some schlub (like myself) has to get up when they hear “incoming” and get the damn thing. I always read them, unless it starts with huge letters and “Caribbean vacation”. I want SOME pair of eyes – and maybe not the trained assassins on the internets tubes – to SEE my anger. And it can only be tossed, not “deleted” or “vaporized” before ONE MORE pair of eyes can perchance see it. Fax away, dear one. Love you for it!
AB,
I can go non-green when absolutely necessary. 😆
In this case, a fax was the next best thing to a USPS letter, arrived almost immediately (only had to redial once), and had much more impact than an email.
It’s so easy to become SPAM (not the stuff in the can) these days you know. 🙂
Seriously though, I really do want to send a personal letter to President Obama. I sincerely believe he needs to hear comments and opinions from those of us in the field. It is easy to become isolated, never realizing it is happening. His inner circle, those he trusts, have become his most ardent advisers. Sorry, but not everyone can be ones BFF or have ones (or the country’s) best interest at heart. A rude awakening, but shit happens. You know?
So, as I stated before, I would really like to gather our troops to produce a sincere and heartfelt letter to PO, telling him our intuitive, gut feelings (Psychologically speaking I am an ESFJ), no holds barred (respectfully of course — which he has earned and deserves), however the truth as we see it.
Please toss in your 50 cents, either online or to AdLib. I believe it imperative to get this off to him within the next 7-10 days.
Thank you for any and all suggestions!
boom
Well done boomer! If a few million more people would take the time to write down their real feelings in a letter to the people that piss them off instead of mumbling behind their hands or trashing the President on a blog, maybe a message would be received loud and clear that the GOP and the TP don’t speak for, or represent the will and wants of the American public/voters.
kalima,
“Mumbling” — I love it. I love mumbling.
I would like to nominate you for (is it possible for someone to hold more than two or three official citzenships?) naturalization. You, dear k, know more about the USA than the majority of us born and bred here. Commendable for you, but piss poor for the rest of us. Of course, maybe it has something to do with flannel shirts, pick up trucks, hound dogs, and gun racks; the “feigned ignorance,” psychologically speaking of course.
You’re “my fellow American,” truly and deeply in my heart, you are. I only wish those who actually live here shared your passion for fairness and equality. It would make this a much cooler (not talking Global Warming here) place to be.
Yep, you’re right. It’s another one of those nights and way past my snooze time. Fortunately it is now Thursday and the rest of the week is downhill. 🙂
My dear and passionate boomer, your sweet words woke me up from a nap as I opened one eye to check the Planet on my tiny iPod screen. I am honoured of course, but I don’t need citizenship to care about what is being allowed to happen in America because people are either too dumb or too complacent to try to make their voices heard, I stick around because I care in spite of it.
My plan in 07′ after my friend had introduced me to HP, and asked me to take her place blogging there because she was having her first child, was to stay until Obama had been elected, then fade into the sunset. It didn’t quite turn out that way though, I became passionately involved in the wrongs perpetrated daily on the American people such as lack of healthcare insurance after I met KQ there, fighting the good fight with a great sense of humour after meeting AdLib there, and the other numerous people who became my friends showing me a side of Americans I had only seen in my friends of decades over there. It was impossible to just leave the blogging scene, and I wanted to learn more about the ins and out of your very confusing, often irritating, sometimes unnecessary, seemingly time wasting, and never dull political process, so I stayed, putting in my 5 pence worth whenever I saw injustice or downright loss of integrity. Last but not least I’m honoured to have met all of you here at the Planet, a nicer more compassionate, honest, talented and giving group of people I could never have wished for and as I’ve said before to someone, it’s a real pleasure to come to work every day and I’m still howling at the moon at every chance I find.
Your idea for a personal letter to the President is a great idea, may I suggest you all do both an open letter here on the Planet, and send the same letter to him personally at the WH. If it were not full of limitations, I had thought that everyone who had something to say to the President, could write it in their own handwriting, it could be scanned or copied, and it could be put together as a single letter with everyone participating separately but together in the final draft. Would that be hard to do, not for those who have or could use a scanner I don’t think. I’m suggesting something that I don’t even know how to do, but my grandmother and mother told me that nothing is impossible if you try hard enough. 🙂
I hope that you are asleep now, and giving those selfish, heartless Repubs a good thrashing, fists flying through the night air. Smack em boomer, smack em good and hard. They deserve to be outed publicly, the American public whether they are too lazy to care, too dumb to understand, or too disheartened and in pain to make an effort, needs to know who these people really are, and should be reminded as often as possible until the next GE in 2012
Excellent work, boomer! an A+++ for your effort, now can you you go there an slap these clowns silly, or at least rob their cupboards of their Christmas food and turn off their utilities? SOB’s
FORTY EFFING YEARS!!!
Scott Brown Single-Handedly Blocks An Extension Of Unemployment Benefits
bito,
I read his crap and, it was nothing more than GOP crap. He has become a blood brother, willingly or otherwise.
Personally, I think it was “otherwise” and now he is beholdin’ to someone, some corporation, or some high roller somewhere (at least in the State of Massachusetts anyway). Ted Kennedy has undoubtedly spun in his grave all the way to China by now, all the way to fucking China.
Here is what I would like to see happen from those of us at the Planet and sooner rather than later:
A personally addressed, hard copy letter to the President; long before Congress recesses for the holidays, and with enough time for him to gnaw on it. If we do not put this in his face now, we and he are doomed, not only for the next two years, but to “Infinity and Beyond.” Surely Michael J. Fox would be disappointed. **EDIT** The quote is from Toy Story; Buzz Lightyear ain’t no Michael J. Fox.
You have been around as long as, or almost as long, as I. The two of us have seen, lived, and experienced far more than most of our Planet compatriots. Seriously bito, I don’t want to have a do over of something I experienced 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. Frankly? It ain’t worth it, and it’s about time someone (collectively or otherwise) stood up and called all of them assholes (those who vividly remind me of immediate and extended family) out for such dispicable behavior. I served my time as a child, and I refuse to be expected to reenlist.
I am all for doing the right thing for everyone, but I also refuse to be a doormat for those who could give a rat’s ass about anyone other than themselves, aka Boehner, McConnell, Cantor, and the rest of the GOP/Tea Party Freshman Class taking the oath come January.
Apathy is one step away from anti-depressants. Sad state of affairs, but it is a fact. If we sit on our hands, all we will have are warm hands.
Okay, work tomorrow. I am out of here. Everyone else, insert your input either in Comments or via our Fearless Leader. I can put this letter together on my own, but a collective effort will speak volumes. And…I am willing to post whatever we come up with to my Facebook Page, silly me, yet I believe it is that important.
Someone needs to tell him, why not us? Seriously.