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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Soprano2
Published Letters: 9
She voted for the RESTORE act, unfortunately. I appealed to her as a former prosecutor not to let lawbreaking go unpunished. I hope it helps. If ever the Democrats need to fight with Bush, the Republicans and Bush-enabling Democrats this is the time.
I e-mailed Edwards, Obama and Clinton too, telling them that leadership isn't just a word but an action, and that now is the time to take action.
BTW, Glenn, I'm a big fan of your writing, even when it makes me despair like it has today. If not for you there would be many things I would know little or nothing about. Keep fighting the good fight, and encouraging us to help you.
I read McJoan's post right before I came here this morning, and my take was the same as Glenn's. I kept thinking "Why are they allowing a 60 vote threshold on anything?" As I read the list of amendments that needed a simple majority I saw bills that can't even get 50 votes. It allows Democrats to say they fought immunity and hugely expanded spying powers without actually having to fight it at all. It's tragic that Reid would cave in to Republicans in this way. Maybe he's afraid that actions by some Democrats will come to light if these lawsuits are allowed to continue, or maybe he really believes they deserve immunity for lawbreaking. Either way it's a travesty.
I heard Kit Bond on "Morning Edition" this morning. He said:
"When the government tells you to do something I think we all realize that's something you should, uh, do"
This man is my senator, and he's spouting perfect fascist rhetoric. I was never ashamed of America until the past seven years, and I've never been more ashamed to be an American than I have this week. Between the McClatchy stories about prisoner torture and this completely unnecessary Democratic capitulation to the Bush administration's demands for unlimited power to spy on American citizens I despair for the future of the U.S. I'm not sure even electing Barack Obama will do much to change the direction this country is going in. Will the citizens ever wake up from their media-induced bread-and-circuses coma to see what's going on? I'm afraid that they will wake up one day and realize that they're living in a totalitarian surveillance state. Will they then wonder how that happened? If they do they should point the finger at themselves.
Right now I hate the House Democrats who voted for this abomination with a white-hot hate that rivals the power of the sun. They sold out the American people for a few crumbs on the Iraq appropriations bill. I can't believe the leadership was this craven and cowardly. They all must have guilty secrets to hide.
I agree that it would be better if the attacks on McCain were more personally directed at him rather than at just his policy positions, and if I hear one more time how friendly they are with him and how great they think his heroism is I'm going to need a rubber room to scream in.
That said, I think that unfortunately it's hard for Democrats to attack McCain in the media atmosphere of John McCain, Media Hero and Maverick (Did You Know He Was A POW?). The Republicans have perfected the Art of the Hissy Fit, as Digby says. If Democrats did go after McCain's character directly I believe the traditional media gasbags would go full-on with the Hate, giving Republican talking heads weeks full of programming to throw their fake hissy fit. I know many of you will say that Democrats shouldn't care about that, but this kind of coverage shapes the way people think about the candidates. I don't think it would be good for the Obama campaign to be painted as a campaign that allows full-on personal attacks of the war hero that all the pundits love.
So my question to the commenters and Glenn specifically is what shape would an effective personal attack on McCain's character take? Is there any way for the Democrats to do it and avoid the weeks of Republican hissy fit that are sure to follow? We already know that we can't depend on other Democrats to cover the ass of anyone who dares to criticize McCain personally (see Clark, Wes for how that usually plays out). I know this is a problem but I can't see any easy solution for it.
Glenn, commentaries like this are one reason I love your site. You sum up, better than I ever could, the Republicans love of their own victimology and imagined superiority. What's even more amazing is that they also attribute those same characteristics to their opponents, and use those characteristics to slam their opponents, e.g. accusing liberals of acting like victims and thinking they're superior to everyone else.
When I ask my mother how all those "liberal" judges got appointed to the courts, seeing as how we've had Republican presidents for the 20 of the past 30 years (and Republicans blocked a lot of Clinton's appointments, so he got fewer than the average for a two-term president), she sputters incoherently about how "they all change" because the Republicans who appointed them "aren't really conservatives", and we need "real conservative Republicans" to truly seize control of the courts from liberals. It's amazing to listen to.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
