Letters to the Editor
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Proximity Warning:
If Americans really saw the world the way Glenn thinks they do, one would think that . . .
George Bush and the Iraq War would be painfully unpopular, and the pro-war party would have been thrown out of power in 2006 and replaced by the anti-war party.
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Err....
"So you think there are a lot of Democrats wanting to stay in Iraq for a hundred years? And for that reason...they'll cross over to the 100 year old McCain?"
Not for that reasons alone, no, but among conservative Democrats, perhaps, depending on who the Democrat nominee is.
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Glenn
"George Bush and the Iraq War would be painfully unpopular, and the pro-war party would have been thrown out of power in 2006 and replaced by the anti-war party."
That sophomoric sense of irony at work agian.
But you are too blind.
George Bush was reelected in 2004, AFTER starting two wars. How do you explain that? Did the media lie? And then suddenly stop lying in 2006, when Repubs were kicked out (at least in part, for losing one of the wars they started)?
There's so many twists and turns necessary to sustain your simple-minded analysis that it should be a good warning to everyone not to take it seriously.
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If the Democrats' strategy is to try to bracket out national security, ...
then they are sure to lose. That's the whole point of the post. --- Glenn G.
Ok, I'll buy that. However, when does the party try to educate the masses that our continual meddling and killing overseas is the very reason we are less safe here at home? (as well as bankrupt)
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Answer
"However, when does the party try to educate the masses that our continual meddling and killing overseas is the very reason we are less safe here at home? (as well as bankrupt)"
Any time it feels like losing an election would be just fine.
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Err Proxi
Not for that reasons alone, no, but among conservative Democrats, perhaps, depending on who the Democrat nominee is.
-- Proximity Warning
I think you're confusing Blue Dog House member Democrats, and Rockefeller Senate Democrats - which are also both, by the way, in the minority in their respective houses - with the Democratic electorate. Which overwhelmingly wants the hell out of Iraq yesterday. Not to mention the fact that McCain is a loser on the economy issue to boot.
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err....
"Which overwhelmingly wants the hell out of Iraq yesterday. Not to mention the fact that McCain is a loser on the economy issue to boot."
Thus far their primary and caucus choices have not reflected such a clearcut divide.
And besides,Glenn believes the electorate doesn't just want out of Iraq - he believes they have a Kucinich/Paulesque view of the American military and its place in the world. The fact that both of those candidates have such small constituencies doesn't seem to figure in his bizarrely hermetic thinking.
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SimpWarning
There's so many twists and turns necessary to sustain your simple-minded analysis that it should be a good warning to everyone not to take it seriously.
-- Proximity Warning
Here's a "twist" that maybe even you can understand. George Bush has enjoyed an approval rating of around 30%, relentlessly, non-stop, for something like three years now. Even someone "simple minded" could read those tea leaves.
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Glenn,
That isn't what I advocated the Dems do -- but I'm not selling a product. The Dems are. Politics is both about doing the right thing -- where you and I are -- and winning, where the candidates and their advisers are. I'm not an adviser. You -- unlike me -- are giving electoral advice. I just don't think it's very good, electorally speaking, and I said so.
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PW
Thus far their primary and caucus choices have not reflected such a clearcut divide.
-- Proximity Warning
No? Obama beat Clinton danged near 70 to 30 in all races in this last head to head. Edwards and Dodd were in the race before now. Looks like Edwards/Dodd shifted to Obama. That equals Clinton loses big time.
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PW
The fact that both of those candidates have such small constituencies doesn't seem to figure in his bizarrely hermetic thinking.
-- Proximity Warning
You answered your own bullshit scenario with your own bullshit scenario. Those guys aren't going to win. They can't help us if they are not going to win. That is all there is to that.
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ah ha
"Those guys aren't going to win. They can't help us if they are not going to win. That is all there is to that."
I'm glad you realise they aren't going to win. When you realise they aren't going to win BECAUSE they think like Glenn, then you might be on to something.
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Are the Democrats cowardly or merely looking after themselves?
Glenn, this is another of your consistently superlative articles. They exemplify real patriotism.
Yes, McAuliffe's strategy is a blueprint for another loss. But there seems to be a misapprehension when you write:
"That's why there has been so little contrast between the two parties on foreign policy and national security issues -- because most Democrats believe that the wisest course of action is to become replicas of Republicans on national security policy as a means of eliminating those issues from consideration. The 'strategy' has been as ineffective as it has been craven."
Isn't the reason for the consensus on national security and other litmus issues more likely just that the Democrats are beholden to their primary constituency? namely big corporations (especially the dominant military sector), big money, and big media.
The Democrats, like the Republicans, consistently adopt positions that are opposed to the wishes of the majority of Americans. They have another, more important, constituency. And it does not want any of those "huge, juicy targets" hit.
Isn't the problem in the cases of people like Terry McAuliffe not that they are "cowardly", but that they, like the Democratic party generally, are part of the imperial consensus?
Doesn't this call for some rethinking?
With gratitude and good wishes,
Walter Miale
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Simp Warning
I'm glad you realise they aren't going to win. When you realise they aren't going to win BECAUSE they think like Glenn, then you might be on to something.
-- Proximity Warning
Really. The title I've given you is all there is to say to your comment.