Letters to the Editor
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We own the circular firing squad...
I agree with some of the sentiments of budhaboy, kdays62, and BossaNova. Rove defines us, and we're self-critical enough to think 'maybe he's right'. Rove practices a cynical brand of politics which we would probably be better off ignoring or fighting, not repeating.
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What about drowning government in the bathtub?
I thought governing was bad, and we were supposed to get rid of it all together?
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Karl is Wrong
Legislatures do not govern. The executive branch governs. The Democrats last chance to govern was in 2000, when Bill Clinton was President. He governed with passion, commitment, and competence. Bush is a failure.
Do not believe the hype.
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I come to a different conclusion
That the left wing is letting the right define the moment yet again. I didn't expect much after the 2006 election. Democrats had a minority control of the Senate and a slim majority in the house. Some expected the Democrats to fix everything immediately, in spite of our lack of real power. The right wing has shown a talent for finding our weaknesses and using them against us. In this case, the weakness is that many liberals lack the will to do the slow, difficult work it will take to win back control of the nation. Liberals want it all, and they want it now. This has resulted in attacks on Democrats from the left rivaling anything from the right, and given the right-wing a wedge to use to take away our ability to gain more power by defining Democrats (using our own words) as weak, ineffective cowards.
There was no magical "moment" after the 2006 election in which Democrats could have changed everything. Rove is just spinning again, and you are pre-conditioned to accept his judgement because there are a lot of liberals (aided by a few right-wing trolls) saying the same thing. It's a self-defeating attitude based on unrealistic expectations. We can reject Rove's assessemnt, or we can accept it and let him spin it into a campaign slogan that will limit our gains in the next election.
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Rove is mostly right
The part I don't agree with is the "that moment has passed" part. Sure, many moments have passed while the Dems offered ineffectual resistance to the single biggest threat the republic has faced since WW2. However, many moments have yet to come when the Dems could suddenly discover some personal integrity and some balls, and do the job they're being paid to do.
It's not gonna happen. But one must still agree, the possibility exists.
However, the part about demonstrating the inability and unwillingness to govern, that is absolutely true. The Dems are in Washington to have fancy offices, meet with lobbyists, and go to the occasional congressional session, which makes them feel so important and relevant to our times. Doesn't that sound nice? If you were in that position, you would probably enjoy that too. So who can blame them if they don't want to rock that boat? Their motivation, clearly, is to create as few waves as possible. However, occasionally they have to read their lines in this kabuki play. "Mr. Bush, tear down this wall!" or something to that effect. Then they sit down and resume their conversation with the charming person sitting next to them.
Admitting this truth doesn't mean Karl Rove is a great guy. When it rains, Rove and you would probably both agree that it's raining.
I'll continue to vote for the Republican-lite party as a lesser of two evils, in the same way I sign those petitions of support for poor [name of underprivileged person] in [developing country] who is suffering from [some malady]. However, I'm not going to get all excited that I live in a representative democracy. Rather, I will continue to hedge my bets by making sure I've always got another country I can run to when the shit hits the fan here.
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Only if you happen to be twisted
and are likely to buy lake frontage in the Mojave from telemarketers. Darth Rove and truth have never been in the same room. He just likes to give clear thinkers wedgies...ouch
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If You Believe That Spin
I'll sell you another. I agree with nardwilly's comment that the legislature does not govern. Congress only has so much control in leading the country. Ultimately, the President, who sets the agenda, is responsible for leading and setting the vision for the country.
Rove is simply trying to place the blame on the Democrats in the same way that Right-wing radio keeps using the 11% congressional approval statistic to say that people are disappointed in Democrats.
Where I think people are disappointed in is that there HASN'T been significant change in the direction our country is headed in. But it doesn't make sense to lay the blame for this on Congress.
While some Congressional actions have been disappointing (most notably Kyl-Lieberman and the efforts to stop the Iraq War), you have to remember that the President and Republican legislators have thwarted many of the efforts.
The country continues to skew anti-Republican because of Bush. Note I say anti-Republican because the Democrats still have work to do to convince people that they are a credible alternative. But they're making progress. And it helps that almost all of the GOP candidates (excluding Ron Paul) are embracing the same failed vision.
Rove and the "noise machine" are just trying to convince people otherwise. It's a good thing less and less people are listening.
I think the facts disagree with his spin. For instance, look at the recent elections to see the gains Democrats have made with voters in Virginia and Kentucky.
The real story is that George Bush is blocking any efforts at change and then trying to blame the Democrats. Wouldn't it be nice if the "party of personal responsibility" would take some once in a while?
- Dave
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Painful, but . . .
definitely true.
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Mr. Rove is a criminal of the state and a enemy of democracy.
Rightly or wrongly, what the democrats have failed to do is to play politics in the manner defined by Karl Rove and Republican party and practiced by Republican's with increasing viciousness over the past decade.
Remember, it's the Republican's who tried to take over this country over a blow-job and effectively hamstrung the job of the former president in his elected office. Democrats did not dismantle FEMA, install a corrupt and criminal Attorney General, start an illegal war in Iraq, out a undercover CIA agent, run the deficit into the trillions, replaced professionals at every level of government with sycophantic appointees with no relevant experience to the job they are given. The Democrats are not the ones who at every turn have stonewalled the constitutional process granted to congress to do their job and perform the oversight as required by law and the constitution.
There is a lot to dismantle here, remember, the Bushists, Neocons and Republican legislators were truly trying to make this a one party system and take over the country to do a larger version of what they have already done. The Democratic Party has decided that it is better to attempt to salvage the way in which this country was designed to work, according to the constitution, then to engage in the sort of tactics that have ruined our system of government for the sake of ideological certitude.
The damage Mr. Rove and company have wrought on this country will take a generation to repair. However, to achieve a balance again of our democracy will take the somewhat more pedantic and legal approach to government then Mr. Rove's steroid like all out assault techniques he has espoused and practiced all these years.