I have not even read this article, except for the titles, though I will in a minute but the title triggers such an immediate response that I just have to answer that question off the cuff, no matter how rhetorical. No. The left will not be listened to. We have the Cassandran curse of being able to completely accurately predict many of the events of the last couple of decades. The left suffers from being correct. We knew Clinton would make a hard right in his ascention to the throne. We know Iraq and now Afganistan would/will be a disaster. We knew Bush/Cheney were/are sucking the marrow out of the bones of America, and eliminating any claim to decency and humanity along the way. We knew we were being spied on, we knew there were black sites and that rendition was being used, torture was being used, that american troops have been cavalier - as they have largely been created to be - about externalizing their hatred of the other, insuring their own safety at the price of countless innocent lives. And we know that almost no one wants to hear us. Most Americans would probably call me far left in their own definitions. And what is it that I so terribly represent? The pursuit of medical care for all, a reasonable education for all and opportunities for those who are in need. Not Stalin.

And now I see Obama, the only possible choice above McCain and Palin, made into a romantic figure of 'hope', and he is going to make it all better, or at least be substantially different, or at least not as bad as what we've just been through....except, beyond some insubtantial 'hope' what has changed, or will? He's just pretty. He's just the one we bought of the two offered. Too soon to judge? For those who aren't tracking, he and Congress are not going to prosecute Bush and his minions for any of their heinous crimes, many the same ones we prosecuted the Nazis for. There will be quasi examinations at best, and then it will be back to 'bipartisan' times, meaning the far right, which only looks center right compared to what we thought we just voted out.

Sorry to go on but, sometimes I get angry at our own stupidity.

I'll go read now, I know other things posted by Mr. Sirota I have found to be interesting reading.

as America is covered in blood. The only thing that will ever wash that off will be true remorse. America might eventually achieve that, Bush, I truly believe, never will.

Shame on you, George Bush, for all the grief you have caused and all the blood you've spilled. You will always be a pathological liar, even to yourself.

even though no doubt you are posting interesting things here and there, mostly you're messing up Glenn's column for the readers and, likely, for him. Please shut up until it's not about you anymore! Can't we just agree to priorize Glenn and what he's saying? I'm worried you're going to dismay him to the point of making him question whether we deserve him or not. I think we need Glenn. So, shush.

just because.....what else can we do? (why do we identify most with the little dancing guy?) One of (I think) your best!

'We live in a representative democracy, which has been described as an imperfect form of government, that happens to be better than all others.'

In theory perhaps, but on the ground, in America, there's not much representation anymore. Corporate donors are somehow more closely represented. Canada has, warts and all, a much more representative parliamentary government, where the voters still feel our elected are our own and in general our quality of life markers are much higher. We have four major parties. It seems to keep them honest. John Ralston Saul recently described it as 'metis'.

have no clothes and will now spend the rest of human existence as an example of nakedness; in their sheer ugly naked greed and stupidity. Way to set up a legacy there.....Mr. Bush/Cheney.

Nixon lawbreaking, Iran-contra lawbreaking, Bush/Cheney lawbreaking? Why, they're all Republican! How surprising and amazing. What else do they have in common? Democrat-let's-let- bygones-be-bygones. So much for justice being about deterrents to future lawbreakers. Why do we have to sacrifice our principles (and our standing internationally) for our elite? Do the people in Washington believe anything they say, or is it entirely window dressing, propaganda to convince the wronged (all Americans) that things have been (nicely) righted? Come the next Republican administration we're supposed to slap on our blindfolds again? If the crimes of Nixon and Reagan had been properly examined for what they were - anti - American activities, I don't think we would be here today.

Now I'm thinking that the person who mentioned AIPAC had probably the best guess of a likelihood. The bizarre thing is the neocon makeup of AIPAC. They definitely don't represent the people of Israel's best interests.....

does he have on these (senator) people? This is one of the reasons I don't trust the democrats anymore (I never have trusted the Repubs)....what ugly games go on in the fetid shark tank called Washington? This kind of thing makes me think Obama's just another, subtler kind of shark. When your throat's being ripped open, subtlety's just the method your particular shark used.

I think this is one of your most important posts. We must examine ourselves as a nation to stop what has happened from happening again, and to establish that the substantive - which has been largely missing from our national 'entertainment' driven discourse - is what we have so sorely done without these long eight years and more.