Defeating people like Jim Cooper is important. Finding the right person with which to replace him is equally important. If the second isn't done then the first is almost worse than leaving him be. People cheered when Claire McCaskill was elected. I gave money to her campaign. Maybe we're better off that she won but this is less than clear to say the least.

I hope Americans who are committed to progressive change are in sufficient number, determination and persistence to go the distance, to bring about the real CHANGE that a certain politician romanced us with last year. Right now I'm having to repress my cynicism and doubt. We had what may in fact be a pyrrhic victory last November.

We have Glenn to give his clear-headed and often brilliant analysis of what's going on. We don't, apparently, have any actual politicians, political tacticians and operatives in place who have the balls, brains, courage and integrity to lead the charge.

Both I would say, only the perspectives and focus are slightly different. The Right have been doing this stuff forever. John Wilkes Booth was a Right-winger. Most of the people who hated FDR were.

What has changed is the Media, and the spineless Democrats who keep buckling and wimping out and betraying working class Americans as well as the poor.

Carolyn is right about the current situation. It is very scary. Her comparison with the Weimar Republic is very apt. We could be so there in the blink of an eye.

The shitbags that call Obama a communist or a Hitler or wish him dead may well find out what a real Hitler is like. Some of them will probably enjoy life under fascism, just so long as it's Republican fascism and der Fuhrer is white.

Will it happen? Quite possibly, unless the people who "have the gold and make the rules" wake up and decide that it's not in their best interests. Will they? I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

I'm just shaking my head. Klein is so outclassed - it's breath-taking. This isn't even close.

If it weren't for corporate backing the MSM would be history.

it's great that you know the semantics game and don't let the Kabuki get in your way. in most cases it's about all any of us can do and you, Glenn, do it better than most.

that said, the whole affair is nonetheless really "par for the course". similar documented cases have happened for more than a hundred years, that of corporate interests censoring what their employees serve up.

my money is on Rove, or,"The Stupidest Fucking Guy On The Planet" .....

in his recent book "Excavating Kafka" James Hawes writes about how the German press during WWI lead the public to believe that the army was winning the war right up until the armistice was signed. The German public was understandably stunned and outraged over the surrender, and especially after the terms dictated at Versailles. this, of course, was fuel for the right wing which led to Hitler's ascent to power. the German press was fully culpable in setting off the momentum to the chain of events which led, ultimately, to the Holocaust.

i lived in Venezuela from January 2000 until July 2001 and once got a wave from Hugo Chavez, most probably because I was the only gringo in sight. the man is no angel, for sure, but he was elected fair and square, not once but twice. how he has manipulated his power in the past six years is certainly reprehensible but what he has done is no worse than that of a lot of authoritarian leaders that our government has either supported or condoned. Pinochet comes to mind.

but back to the point: our press has largely stood by or cheered while the Bush Administration has shit on the ideals on which this country was founded. there are many so-called journalists and talking heads, publishers and media owners that deserve nothing more than our utter contempt.

i agree with Glenn totally, that Obama has never pretended to be anything more than a centrist. people on the "left", some of them, expected more of Obama, but these people, many of them, haven't figured out just how Obama can do what they want him to do without him paralyzing himself politically.

agendas be damned. this country is in a truly perilous state. if Obama can preside over an economic stabilization, get a good health care plan in place and terminate the more hare-brained military fiascos we're up to our ears in we will be bloody lucky. the least we can do is to allow him to choose the people he feels comfortable with as key players in his administration. i have no idea if he can achieve the aforementioned goals but second-guessing him at this stage in the game is ridiculous. i am reminded of a story Lincoln told in a similar situation:

A farmer was riding a mule into town. the mule was an unruly sort that kept kicking and bucking. the farmer payed the mule no heed and the mule kept up his unruly behavior. finally it caught it's foot in one of the stirrups. when this happened the farmer leaned over and quietly said in the mule's ear, "if you want to get on, i'll get off."