Letters to the Editor
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Katrina: Dem Politicians vs. Voters
Congressional Democrats may be cowed, but a lot of voters are hopping mad about what happened in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. I think Spike Lee's documentary came out just in time to remind everybody of that feeling of helpless rage while watching the media reports of US citizens abandoned by their government. Am I just naive or could Katrina become an issue? What if Salon and other news outlets and reporters and bloggers put Katrina back on the front page in the coming weeks?
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You hit it on the head . . . and boy, do it hurt!
Oh how I wish you were wrong.
But I fear that folks won't waste precious time out of busy days to vote "NO" to Bush, unless they have a person they are excited to vote "YES!" for.
Which, of course, makes it much easier to "fix" a few electronic voting machines and alter the results of what might be a close race.
If it's true that we'd only be getting what we deserve, I have to wonder what those innocent Iraqi dead and innocent victims of US approved torture did that made them deserve to be alive during the age of Amerikan Empire!
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You Contradict Yourself
Your article says the current administration has unchecked power, then you go on to complain that the opposition power is mute. That is what unchecked power does Glenn; it forcefully silences opposition you moron!
You say the people are going to get what they deserve from this unchecked power as though it is a consequence that is going to come in the futire. The damage is already done if you haven't noticed. Why do you think all of these Republicans who are behind by double digits in the polls don't have any sweat on their brow? Unchecked power man. Unchecked power.
Why do people think Bush wants to spy on Americans without warrants when he can do the same exact thing WITH warrants? So he can spy on his political enemies, that's why. This administration could not give two shits about Osama bin Laden and terrorism. Terrorism has given this administration the only thing it ever wanted- unchecked power via a cowardly public.
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Ha!
And there it is!
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Russ Feingold, leader
Time and again Russ Feingold has had the courage to speak truth to power. Most of the lily-livered Democrats are afraid of the so-called "center". Possibly if these spineless, fearful Democrats would speak up in opposition, loudly and clearly to this outrageously corrupt ruling party, perhaps then some of the millions of people who don't vote now, would vote. (We'll leave aside for the moment the sad fact that the counters of the votes currently have all the power.) I think Feingold has been correct each and every time he has spoken out. Russ Feingold for President.
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Amen
The preposterous, baseless, utterly ridiculous label of being soft or complicit on security and terror will stick to the lilly-livered Dems just as long as they will let it. If they exposed it for the nonsense that it is, and turned the debate to the real issues- to reality and consequences- they would win.
As for the consequences if they fail to do so? I don't even want to think about it.
If that is what it takes to win- if fear truly is the greatest motivator- then that is what, at least for now, the Democrats must use. Show footage of Africans rioting from starvation. Show animations of the East coast being flooded by global warming. Show the hollow faces of seniors who can't afford their medications or healthcare, whose houses have been reposessed for failure to pay property taxes. Show a grown-up depiction of our children, fumbling ineptly in the global economy, contrasted against Indian and Chinese peers who were educated in nationally funded schools. Show disease and famine. Show midnight abductions in the security state.
What is the alternative? How desperate will those true American patriots become if their government and country continue to be hijacked by the rich? What lengths will they go to if the Supreme Court is filled with zealots and pawns? And the most terrifying idea of all- what alternative will there be to the tactics of our enemies? How far from the use of violence and terror are our own people? The right has seen it already with the bombing of Abortion clinics and the murder of the doctors who work there.
When the rule of law is marginalized, ignored, flaunted, and eventually cast aside- at the highest levels of government and society- how long do you think we have until it disappears altogether and our entire nation descends into violence and chaos. Damn I don't want to think about all of this, and, damn if we had better not all start thinking about it
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When will rank and file Democrats notice the obvious?
Democrats are not afraid, confused, ignorant, befuddled or any of the other adjectives traditional Democratic voters describe them with. They don't act like an opposition party because they are not an opposition party. By that I mean that the political values of the DLC so accord with those of the Republican leadership that there is no discernible opposition. The Democratic Party of 2006 is not the Democratic Party of FDR and LBJ. Until the liberals, progressives, unions, etc figure that out and force the party to return to the values that made it powerful, it will continue to be the pale reflection of the Republican Party that it has become. And it will continue to lose elections to the party that pays attention to its vigorous base of support.
This is important. Our "two-party" system depends for its effectiveness on their being two parties. When one party screws up or becomes extremist, the other party is supposed to step forward and provide an alternative. That this is not happening bodes ill for the future of this country. The Bush Administration has become as radical as it is in part because the Democrats have allowed it to.
Can it be clearer than it is now? By any measure, given the incompetence, mendacity and spendthrift ways of the Bush Administration, the Democrats should be preparing for landslide victories this November and Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. Instead they're already making excuses. Disgraceful.