Letters to the Editor
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Let this election be an opportunity
to not only elect a Democrat, but also to clean up the Democratic party apparatus.
The Carvilles, McAuliffes, etc. have to go....
Time for the Democratic party to reflect the wishes of Democratic voters, not a bunch of DC egos.
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Iraq - a "losing" issue for the Democrats
Friday morning I happened to flick on the “liberal” MSNBC and all the “expert” talking heads (including Shuster) agreed that the Democrats should not talk about leaving Iraq because that was a losing issue for them. Their consensus was that John McCain “owned” the issue of Iraq, and if the Democrats dared to talk about it, they would surely loose the election. There was no dissenting opinion – it was stated as a “political fact” that must be taken for granted.
Is there any evidence for this?
Mark Noonan (Blogs for Bush) attempts to make the case that there is and as evidence for this position he cites the recent Rasmussen survey and concludes:
“…and thus we can see that the basic position of Obama, US out of Iraq pronto, is not supported by the American people, if Rasmussen’s poll is correct (and Rasmussen is building up a very good track record of getting it right). The leftwing position on Iraq is just not supported by anything close to a majority of the American people, and thus I think that both Obama and Hillary are building themselves up an ever larger Achilles heel on Iraq - when confronted in October between a choice for surrender and a choice for victory, I believe the American people will choose wisely.” [1]
Funny thing about Mark’s evidence, though – the poll he cited found that found “that 59% of Americans would like to see U.S. troops brought home from Iraq within a year” – which is basically Obama’s position (his goal is having them home by the end of 2008). [2]
So a poll that shows that 59% of Americans agree with Obama is cited by Noonan to prove that Obama is out of touch with most Americans.
This is typical of Noonan and Greater Wingnutia in general -- they just “reinterpret” reality to conform to their views. If violence in Iraq goes down it is good news because it shows were winning, if violence goes up, it’s also good news because it shows the terrorists are desperate – “in their last throes.” For them, there is never any bad news from Iraq.
If these polls are correct, however, there might be bad news for them in the next election.
[1] http://blogsforvictory.com/2008/02/09/poll-69-oppose-immediate-withdrawal-from-iraq/
[2] http://tinyurl.com/22dr8a (Obama’s position)
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Simple Slogan
Romney wrote our slogan for us: No Jobs and More War
and, I second what Aghast said.
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This will only be an issue if Clinton is the nominee
Girl U know it's true.
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What do Democrats stand for?
My major concern is the destruction of the constitution by the Bush administration. Glenn has chronicled the complicity by the Democrats. Maybe what has happened is the whole political spectrum has shifted so far to the right that a new consensus has been reached.
One could blame the American people who are uninformed, and that blame would soon fall on the main stream media which is owned by a handfull of corporations which promote the status quo.
But for the Democrats to point out that the USA can no longer afford to be an empire with a military budget of $630B when the rest of the world spends a total of $500B (see an earlier post by Glenn on this) is to take a stand against the power structure.
Where is John Edwards now that we need someone with a national voice to fight against the power of the Bush administration and the financial - military - industrial complex?
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The REAL Threats To National Security
Senator McCain's claim that the fight against Islamic terrorism is the "pre-eminent challenge of our time" is patently absurd. To be fixated on Islamic terrorism is like worrying about a biting mosquito while facing a charging tiger. For starters, one can't be regarded as serious about national security without a workable plan for checking the flood of illegal immigrants still coming across our southern border.
The REAL threats to our national security are not exclusively external, but are built into the warp-and-weave of American life. First, we have an infrastructure and economy that is totally dependent on a limited and increasingly expensive to obtain resource: petroleum. We need strong leadership to make the transition to a post-carbon future. Fresh water depletion is becoming a very serious problem, as much of our western states agriculture is based on irrigation using non-renewing aquifers. Global warming is intimately connected to the use of petroleum and coal and is a demonstrable threat to national security. Somewhat unrecognized in the press to date is the wasting of fertile soil due to erosion and the misappropriation of agricultural land to suburban sprawl. I am far more afraid of huge economic disruptions resulting in social chaos in the years ahead than the pimple-on-my-butt problem of Islamic terrorism.
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Different views of the world
McCain and establishment Dems seem to accept the latest government propaganda to the effect that in Iraq, we are fighting a war against the people who hijacked the planes on 9/11.
In a nutshell, that is the problem.
I even heard a version of this claim yesterday when I attended the Washington State caucuses. An Evita supporter gave a chest-thumping endorsement of the troops on the grounds that they are "over there defending our right to be in a caucus."
I asked her if she believed that there were no caucuses and no votes in America prior to the invasion of Iraq? Did she believe the IED and suicide bombers want to bomb caucuses over here? But she didn't get it and we moved on.
It isn't enough to support ending the occupation. Dems and non-warmongers across the board have to point out that the invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq are illegal and are disastrous on every single front.
The only possible path to repairing that tragic country is to end the occupation and work with all affected parties to achieve a workable government.
I do not believe that either of the Dem candidates left standing will make this case.