Letters to the Editor
Reality-based Liberal
Published Letters: 774 Editor's Choice: 100
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Re DCLaw1's point
[Read the article: Former Clinton officials lobby for amnesty for FISA lawbreaking]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry for all the posts here, but I want to endorse DCLaw1's point -- a very important one.
Congress cannot do what polls show the public wants -- stop the war, pass single payer healthcare, fund education, regulate banks, reduce global warming emissions -- yet shit that no one asked for sails through time and time again (like backing the war, deregulating industry, handing out tax breaks to corporations, rolling back the constitution, barring bankruptcy for borrowers, loan guarantees for liquid coal, and attacking a citizens group for making an astute, if awkward observation about an administration shill dressed up like a military man).
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Not to leave the headline of Glenn's post out of the loop
[Read the article: Former Clinton officials lobby for amnesty for FISA lawbreaking]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What does it say that former Clinton officials are taking money to enhance corporate wrongdoing at the expense of the Constitution?
While most here know not to expect much from the Clinton folks (or centrist Dems at large), it is worth remembering that many of their top advisers consistently prove they have no liberal principles (look at Glover Park group, or Hillary's anti-union strategists in her campaign).
Sure, these people will say they support the middle class and the Constitution, but their actions suggest that those words are used only to get the votes of their base so they can do what their donors want -- not much different than the way those on the Right are treated -- the ones who eternally wait for that total ban on abortion that will never come (imagine what it would do to GOP turnout if that problem was "solved").
We are all being played.
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timbuktom
[Read the article: Former Clinton officials lobby for amnesty for FISA lawbreaking]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Do you work for the DNC? Because if you do, you should probably know that the one-party-blame shit just doesn't fly anymore.
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You scooped me
[Read the article: Dianne Feinstein, symbol of the worthless Beltway Democrat]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn,
I'd just finished an op-ed with the same angle - the Democratic leadership is an opponent of the party's base. But you swung harder and more damningly than I did, so I think I'd do better to spread your link around.
Dead on, my friend. You speak for me more consistently than any other blogger, and I thank you.
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Shapiro is not our friend
[Read the article: Iraq and roll over]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As other posters point out his argument is full of shit and Democrats could cut funding with only 40 votes.
As for his polling, Democratic voters have a 21% approval rating of Congress -- less than the equvalent polling he cites on Bush.
Finally, his idea that in order to win elections Democrats cannot, after February, fight the war at all, is complete horseshit. I am considering not voting for Democrats who don't represent me for the first time after years of going for the "better of two evils." The Democrats' failure to do anything but make a symbolic show against this war is DRIVING THEIR BASE AWAY! Doesn't anyone remember that the GOP took power by rewarding their base regardless of the unpopularity of their positions?
It should also be noted that Democrats could fight this war in a number of other ways if they really couldn't end it: investigate contractor misdeeds, investigate funding, expose rather than support the effort to take Iraqi oil (benchmarks!), investigate the lies over the last few years, or at the very least, put the parade of administration liars under oath when then testify.
The Democratic leadership doesn't want to end the war, they just want anti-war voters' votes. What more evidence do you need?
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Ironic...
[Read the article: Iraq and roll over]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am amused that those defending the deaf beltway crowd don't listen themselves.
For the last time, you idiots who say we need to "accept the reality" that the Dems don't have the numbers:
You only need 40 Senators to block funding.
Before anyone posts a message that claims this is just how it is, STOP, and tell us why Democrats can't just stop funding this war crime until they get their way -- sorry, until they get the public's way.
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@ Madame Defarge
[Read the article: Iraq and roll over]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First off, you should know that the Post and Times etc. employ vast numbers of very pro-war folks. Look at how the "liberal" NYT is slanting coverage to push war in Iran, just as they did in Iraq.
Also, Iraqis are fucked now. We are not helping. Not to mention, when we leave that doesn’t prevent the world from replacing us with a UN force made up of Iraqi neighbors. The idea that we screwed up and now we have to fix our mess -- our way, with guns -- is so arrogant, it's just typical of the US and broad swaths of its population.
The only way we should help is asking where we send the reparations check after we pull out. It's not politically popular, but it is the only remotely moral thing we can do at this point.
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I hope you're getting paid by Clinton, Tim
[Read the article: John Edwards' Katrina contest]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What an attack on Edwards - who gets no mention in this blog despite being more progressive than the other two front runners.
The comparison you make is way off:
- Ground Zero is a symbol of an attack from 6 years ago, and now will be the site of an expensive memorial to an almost pseudo religious location (in a creepy, fascist way). Meanwhile, New Orleans is a place that is still under attack -- that needs help -- that doesn't have the fetishes as "ground zero" does (the name alone is fucked up).
- Whatever credibility Rudy has with Americans is almost entirely based on his exploitation of 9/11. I don't think anyone associate's Edwards' reputation with exploiting Katrina.
Tim, your shallow, partisan insights are one of the reasons I stopped paying to be a member of Salon. I come here for Greenwald, who is excellent.