Where's the Outrage?
(This is a cross-post from NewDonkey.com).
Lost amidst the manufactured outrage over John Kerry's study-hard-or-go-to-Iraq line has been the genuine outrage that Americans ought to feel about the president's and vice president's coordinated message two days ago that essentially said a vote for Democrats is a vote for terrorism.
It's odd: the Washington Post played up this story in a banner front-page headline, but it hardly got picked up anywhere else in the major mainstream media. Perhaps that's why I didn't see the explosion of anger in the progressive blogosphere that I expected, either.
Indeed, about the only sharp reaction I saw, ironically, was from my own colleagues at the Democratic Leadership Council, whose New Dem Dispatch tore Bush and Cheney new ones for arguing that their national security failures meant that American voters had lost their right to hold them accountable for their vast series of mistakes. Here's a sample of the DLC take:
"After botching the Iraq War about as thoroughly as possible, and refusing to admit errors, change strategies or hold anyone responsible for their incompetence, the Bush administration is now arguing that the American people don't have the right to hold them responsible, either, since a Democratic victory would cheer terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere. In effect, Bush and Cheney are trying to hold America hostage to their own mistakes.
"This breathtaking line of 'reasoning' is all the more deplorable because it expresses a sense of complete U.S. helplessness in the struggle against jihadist terrorists. We can't change direction because that would be a victory for our enemies. So they effectively control us. Given the administration's obsession with denying there are any practical restraints on U.S. freedom of action in Iraq or anywhere else, that's an especially ironic point of view."
Check it out and pass it on. As Michael Crowley observed over at The Plank, Kerry may have bungled a joke, but Bush bungled a war. And that's why the gleeful right-wing assault on Kerry may backfire: it reminds voters of the issue on which they have already decided to repudiate the administration and the GOP. In the end, the joke may be on Republicans.
This is an excellent rebuttal to the old Bush-Cheney-Rove claim that has been trotted out against Democrats for the last three elections. I'm not sure whether their old dog will still hunt, but this is a great, simple counterattack, one that everybody on our side should memorize and keep handy.
November 1, 2006 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I noticed this, too. Here's my diary from Kos this morning:
I'm Sick and Tired of Being Called a Terrorist, Mr. Bush.
by CheeseMoose
Wed Nov 01, 2006 at 09:42:49 AM PST
I'm a patriot. I believe in Democracy. I believe in the Constitution. I believe in the right to dissent. I believe in people's right to vote for candidates who represent their views. And I'm sick of you saying that if the party I'm part of wins, it will be a win for the terrorists.
You need to grow up, Boy King. Didn't anybody ever teach you how to have a political debate? Calling your opponent names is not debating.
I don't know who you think you're talking to when you accuse me of being with the terrorists. I don't know who you think is still swayed by that kind of baby talk. But I'm damn sick and tired of it. You call me that to my face, you better be ready to fight because I'll punch you in your damn nose. I don't care if you are the president of the United States of America. I will not be associated with people who kill and maim innocent men, women and children while hiding in the shadows.
And by the way, we know you are going to try and steal this election. You may even pull it off. But the people of the United States of America will never bow down to a dictator.
We will defeat you one day, sir, either through the ballot box or on the streets.
November 1, 2006 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
RIGHT FOOLS
When your ally, the Iraqi government, orders you to stop searching for a missing soldier, it's really difficult to tell who your enemies really are in this mess!
Contractors are puliing out because it's not worth the money.
It's time to withdraw!
November 1, 2006 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
The reason there is no outrage is because it's old news. They have been calling us terrorist appeasers for a while now.
November 1, 2006 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe I had this same feeling exactly 2 years ago: news numbness. The republicans are the party of Outrage with a capital O. They're Outraged at anything a Democrat might say and then they turn around and say the most outrageous things they can get away with (and with the cowed media as it exists today, that is most anything).
I was taken aback at having my patriotism challenged yet again by the republican establishment -- here no less than by their leader, the President of the United States. But no one seems to care. Their strategy is to make us hate politics and politicians, then take elections because they've poisoned the process.
November 1, 2006 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
By defending yourself against his slurs, you allow him to control the discourse...away from Iraq, his disasters, Republican corruption, take your pick. Keep the focus on his failures, and theirs for rubberstamping his initiatives. The people he's trying to reach are long since lost to anyone not hard right. Their only interest is to motivate these people to get off their asses and vote. As vile as he is, he's trying to pick off a few votes here and there to tip the balance of the tight races, those ones in what used to be reliable Republican seats, but have come into play because of the relentless drip of his and Republican corruption. Have you had enough, yet?
November 1, 2006 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cut an paste job, it sums up some points.
We Are the World
If the U.S. insists on running things, everyone on earth should get to vote in U.S. elections.
by Steven Wells
The day after the U.S. reelected the worst president ever, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper ran the exasperated headline: “HOW CAN 59,054,087 PEOPLE BE SO DUMB?” Never has a single phrase so neatly summed up the feelings of 6 billion people (that's the rest of the world's population, rough estimate).
The U.K. is stuck with Tony Blair. Like Bush, he committed the unforgivable crime of lying about the reasons for going to war. Trouble is the only realistic alternative to Blair's Labor Party is the even more right-wing Conservatives—the party of racism, reaction and Margaret bloody Thatcher.
In the U.S. you had the chance to vote for a candidate who wasn't a lying sack of warmongering shit. One who didn't pretend to believe in the literal truth of the Noah story. Or use homophobia to get votes.
Instead you reelected an imbecile who isn't fit to run a seafood stall.
I think it's time the U.S. franchise were extended worldwide. The Roman Empire eventually granted citizenship to many of those it conquered. I see no reason why the new Rome should be any less magnanimous.
Americans who don't vote make me furious. U.S. elections are the only elections that matter. They decide how fast we're going to fry the planet, how incompetently the war on terror will be fought and how horribly the reputation of Western civilization will be marred by the systematic use of legalized torture.
And I—as a non-U.S. citizen—can't vote in them. Innocent British citizens have been held without charge and horribly abused in Gitmo. British troops can and do die as a direct result of U.S. foreign policy and strategic military incompetence. And there's nothing I—a U.S. taxpayer, I should point out—can do about it.
In the 1700s American colonists rebelled under the slogan “No taxation without representation.” Today America is the world's only superduperpower. Whoever's in charge feels entitled to dictate who can and can't own nukes.
They invade whomever the hell they want. They arrest, mistreat and sometimes torture foreigners—yet insist their own citizens are exempt from international justice.
And I'm okay with that. I really am. But if America's gonna run the world, I think the world should have a say in who runs America. That's what's meant by democracy, isn't it?
And hey, if 200 years from now George Bush VII is reelected, and the Daily Martian runs the headline: “HOW CAN 6 BILLION EARTHLINGS BE SO DUMB?” I guess I'll just have to eat my Uncle Sam hat.
November 1, 2006 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Funny, I took W's recent statements as a refreshingly honest take on the war in Iraq:
George W Bush believe that if Democrats win, the war in Iraq is lost.
GW believes that winning in Iraq means keeping Democrats out of power in Washington DC.
George W Bush started a war in Iraq in order to keep his party in power in Washington DC.
Brutal. Disgusting. A waste of life, and honor. But at last a flash of honesty from President George W Bush. The man who would start a war and destroy a nation for political advantage.
November 1, 2006 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Funny, I took W's recent statements as a refreshingly honest take on the war in Iraq:
George W Bush believe that if Democrats win, the war in Iraq is lost.
GW believes that winning in Iraq means keeping Democrats out of power in Washington DC.
George W Bush started a war in Iraq in order to keep his party in power in Washington DC.
Brutal. Disgusting. A waste of life, and honor. But at last a flash of honesty from President George W Bush. The man who would start a war and destroy a nation for political advantage.
November 1, 2006 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I did a gutcheck to find out why I could only shake my head at this sort of nonsense, rather than shake with rage as I have in times past. And I guess it's that from my point of view, this line of attack has been par for the course for going on four years now in one form or another. As it turns out, I am relieved that it's come to this, for three reasons:
1) They have so clearly Jumped The Shark. In fact, I think we have a new mataphor in there somewhere, and I hope the smart folks here at TPM will coin it.
2) I think it tells Independents that the Bush administration has abandoned them, since many of them are indeed thinking of voting for the Democrats. An absurd attack like this only works on those who toe an authoritarian line, which Independents by definition don't. So now they're free to be, well, independent of this president and his hucksters.
3) It tells me that Bush is burning bridges he'll need later to salvage a lame duck presidency. Hard to slap someone on the back later when you called him a traitor the week before. I forsee they're thinking they'll pull a Clinton and preside over a fractious House, without taking into account that Dems have a better policy position from which to wage that kind of fight -- e.g. people want Social Security and health care, they don't want to be spied on and have their phones tapped.
All in all, I can see why the netroots aren't freaking out -- it's just one more reason to work harder for the last few days.
As for the MSM, did you really expect them to be outraged?
November 1, 2006 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why reinvent the wheel? With only a few adjustments (as noted)verbatim excerpts the Declaration of Independence sums it all up for us. Some points up for debate, many right on target.
The history of the present King, (Added-George W. Bush), of (Removed - Great Britain) is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
- He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
- He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
- He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
- He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
- He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
- He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
- He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
- He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
- He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
- He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
- He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
- He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
o For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
o For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
o (Removed - For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:) (Added - For aggressively pursuing trade arrangements and secret agreements to Countries, within all Continents of the Earth, to the detriment of the people, and sole benefit of himself and a “Bourgeoisie” of Individuals, Special Interests, Corporations, Obscure Entities and the Military Industrial Congressional Complex:)
o For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
o (Added - For reducing or abolishing Taxes to a “Bourgeoisie” of Individuals, Special Interests, Corporations, Obscure Entities and the Military Industrial Congressional Complex that promote his and their absolute rule:)
o For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
o For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
o For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
o For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
o For suspending our own Legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
o He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
o He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
o He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
o He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
o He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless (Added - “Bourgeoisie” of Individuals, Corporations, Obscure Entities, Special Interests and the Military Industrial Congressional Complex) (Removed - Indian Savages), whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
November 1, 2006 2:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the perfect example of the GOP smear. The news is only showing the last bit of Kerry's statement, cutting off the first half of the thought, which makes it clear that he's talking about Bush.
So this bite from his speech, misleadingly presented, becomes a major news story.
Bush makes similar gaffes at a rate of one or two a month. The only place you ever see them is on The Daily Show or Colbert Report. Pundits seem to have no trouble understanding the concept of misspeaking when it comes to Republicans. Bush is never asked to directly explain his malapropisms as if they were the truth.
Willful ignorance is the name for it.
November 1, 2006 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do not recall Cheney being on the bow of Kerry's swift boat during Vietnam. Democrats folded on this today cancelling Kerry all over. They should have stood and fought toe to toe. Kerry should not have been made to apologize. Bush is a dullard plain and simple. Democrats need to get that backbone put back in that Bubba gave them when he confronted Chris Wallace.
November 1, 2006 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
holy crap.
That's kind of spooky.
wait what's that knock on the door? I'll be right back.
November 1, 2006 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
yes and no.
Kerry did nothing wrong, but the longer we allow "them" to divert the attention of the nation from the real issues the more "they" win.
Simple statement, "The administration continues to demostrate how desperate and lost they are that they need to invetn insults and hide behind these invented slights."
November 1, 2006 3:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
J. McCutchen
Hear! Hear!
Been called a traitor since the wardrums began beating in late 2001.
Talk about old news! don't have to read it all again.
After five years of this - beyond outrage.
November 1, 2006 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's see if I can clear it up for you. 70% of House Dems voted against reauthorizing the Patriot act. 85% of House Dems voted to grant Constitutional rights to terrorist detainees. 95% of House Dems voted against the Terrorist Surveillence legislation. Any questions?
November 1, 2006 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree! If you ever wanted to see an example of "cut and run" you saw it today. Why should Americans respect us if we have no faith in ourselves.
And Ed, if you wonder why Bush can get away with calling us terrorists, go read what your pal Moose says about us every day of the week.
November 1, 2006 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
When Democrats speak their mind and from the heart, this old dog will still hunt. Because, as GWB is now fond of saying in every speech, "I'm not saying they're unpatriotic, I'm saying they're wrong!" (followed by unbelievably intense cheering).
November 1, 2006 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not so sure Kerry wasn’t talking about regular soldiers in today's army. Recruiters have targeted the poor and undereducated since Iraq. But it doesn't matter. Does anyone (even the press) seriously think Kerry hates the troops? And King Ubu calling for precision in word usage is a joke. The media crossed the line with its complicity in the original Swiftboating of Kerry. This is just a mini-swiftboat.
November 1, 2006 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
J. McCutchen
Where's the outrage?
Right here
A Mournful Month
NyT: Burials at Arlington National Cemetery took on a grim regularity in October, when at least 103 American troops were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
November 1, 2006 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
How dare those Democrats grant rights to people who are innocent until proven guilty.
I mean, if some Afghan warlord says some guy's a terrorist, who are we to question, right?
Who needs the rule of law, anyway. 9/11 Changed Everything (tm).
Dissent Protects Democracy.
November 1, 2006 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't remember any outrage when Bush said "bring it on" or joked about the non existing WMDs.
The GOP owns a powerful Right Wing Noise Machine. Journalists for the corporate media act like trained seals and act like their handmaidens. Democrats don't have their own machine to balance it. They better start building their own noise machine because they can't rely on the corporate media to act responsibly.
November 1, 2006 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Keep hoping. If GWB keeps Congress, expect continued bad news from Iraq, and a sluggish economy.
However, since the market has been climbing since July, I'd say better times are ahead, because a change is coming.
November 1, 2006 7:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree completely. Democrats must re-invent media. There is no other way to be competitive except in the most extreme circumstances. It will be long and slow and expensive, but it is a task that is unavoidable. There are almost no progressive or objective voices on corporate television or radio. Two days on a blown joke by a non-candidate in the face of the U.S. military abandoning a soldier, the outrageous comments noted in this piece, a series of racist and defamatory ads and comments by Republican spokespersons suggests that they will never be anything like fair or balanced.
global citizen
November 1, 2006 8:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Newsflash -- Ed Kilgore Wakes From Slumber: Modern-Day Rip Van Winkle Outraged At GOP Attacks
Yes, I suppose that technically it is news that the President himself levelled the most recent slurs. But Bush's previous reluctance to descend into the gutter has NEVER been about maintaining the dignity of the office, nor about respecting political opponents. No, Bush has merely avoided getting his hands dirty because he didn't want to tarnish his own image. Only recently has he become so desperate that he is willing to pick up a shiv himself.
Honestly, one wonders where Kilgore has been the past four years. Has he not noticed that Democrats are routinely accused of "siding with the terrorists"? Has he not noticed that opposition to the war has routinely been assumed to be "making America less safe"?
Indeed, did Kilgore not notice when Lieberman said the following in response to Howard Dean:
"If (Dean) truly believes the capture of this evil man [Saddam] has not made America safer, then Howard Dean has put himself in his own spider hole of denial...I fear that the American people will wonder if they will be safer with him as president."
Somehow, Rip Van Kilgore didn't care that Democrats were being accused of being terrorist sympathizers back when being a "liberal hawk" was Kewl.
November 1, 2006 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ed
The corporate media missed it, but we out here in the country didn't. The President and Vice President have been challenging the patriotism and courage of Democrats all along.
You know, a popular President might call a few hotheaded protestors names and get away with it, but when he calls 7 out of 10 of us traitors he has clearly lost touch with reality.
I noticed tonight that all the comedy shows (Daily, Colbert, Leno and Letterman) gave Kerry cover. It is almost like the guys in the comfortable chairs in the corporate boardrooms suspect they are on the wrong side of this election and are suggesting to middle management that they change horses. Let's see what happens tomorrow and over the weekend.
Ron Byers
November 1, 2006 10:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just so. I wanted to say that the outrage has been here all the long - on what the "centrist" dems like to think of as the fringe, aka, the Democratic Base. Oh, but it is the outrage that dares not speak its name...
November 2, 2006 12:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wells made one error: "Trouble is the only realistic alternative to Blair's Labor Party is the even more right-wing Conservatives"
LibDems. (Or if you're in Scotland SNP, or if you're in Wales Plaid Cymru.) They've earned their advertising slogan of the "real opposition".
Wish we had the equivalent over here, but instead we'll have to take over the Democratic Party.
November 2, 2006 2:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Apologize Mr. Bush!
What if all Dems--blogs, TV, RAdio repeat this phrase until election day.
Kerry apologized for a blotched joke that was insulting to President Bush only but George Bush has a lot to apologize to USA and the troops.
November 2, 2006 5:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent post.
November 2, 2006 5:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree - it should be the call. The Blogs can stir it up and it will bubble up!
Apologize Mr. President!
November 2, 2006 5:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
True. That is a real,intentional slur, not a botched joke.
comment from www.altara.blogspot.com
THE KERRY FOOLISHNESS
For the Republicans, John Kerry may be the gift that keeps on giving, but let's think about it. Certainly, Senator Kerry made many mistakes in his campaign in 2004, but mostly he just proved vulnerable to Republican lies and venality such as the Swift Boat attack.
And now we have the President and other Republicans cynically attacking Kerry for a comment that they know was a misstatement. This, from a party that equates victory by the Democrats with victory by the terrorists. And misled us into a disastrous war.
Suppose we held Mr. Bush for his verbal blunders, such as "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we" I heard no demand that he apologize for planning to harm his own country.
I hope that voters are smart enough to ignore this foolish and disingenuous distraction.
November 2, 2006 7:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's a good idea. We can also put out our own news on the internet so that no one has to watch the corporate media.
But then we have to make sure everyone has internet access (which should be the case in America anyway to remain competitive).
November 2, 2006 7:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
The media must be included for aiding and abetting the Swift Boat smear.
Lawrence O'Donnell finally laid the smack down on them, but it came too late.
November 2, 2006 7:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
One of the questions that is not really seriously addressed is why does the cable "news" channels harp on Democratic gaffes but hit and run on many of the same sort of stupidities when made by Republicans. I am not sure Alterman's book really explores this enough.
Since this election looks like it will be a triumph for the middle and a repudiation of the extremes perhaps it can touch off a serious discussion about the Press. Having 24 hours to fill explains the endless repetition but not the seeming lack of balance.
Daniel A. Greenbaum
November 2, 2006 7:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
One of the questions that is not really seriously addressed is why does the cable "news" channels harp on Democratic gaffes but hit and run on many of the same sort of stupidities when made by Republicans.
It's because the President of the United States is just as culpable as his henchmen.
Who cares what Nancy Pelosi has to say -- most people don't know her. But when the POTUS says Democrats are for the terrorists, people take note.
Also, the GOP has this whole line of attack coordinated and orchestrated. McCain hands off to Snow who hands off to Bush and then over to Cheney.
We (Dems) have no similar go-to structure. Maybe Dean will speak up. Next time it's Biden. Maybe Clinton. Who knows? I think they draw numbers out of a hat to decide.
More importantly, they know how to take off the gloves, and we spend all our time apologizing for everything we say.Dissent Protects Democracy.
November 2, 2006 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
There has been an outrage deficit of longstanding duration. Many are simply too preoccupied with Dancing with the Stars, etc. to notice real world events. Or perhaps death and destruction are simply not sufficiently "entertaining".
November 2, 2006 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
SFCWallace, good to see you. I'm wondering if you have any opinion on the latest hard evidence that the Government of the United States, including the President and Secretary of State, lied to the world and to the American people about wmds?
Specifically, it appears that the US government was told by the German intelligence agency that their asset 'curveball' was both unreliable and not credible, and that he was lying about biological weapons labs.
Do you approve of the President lying to the American people in order to start a war?
November 2, 2006 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I think that's unbelievably intense gagging.
Y'know, I think the first time he said that was when he got the memo that Osama Bin Laden wanted to hit the United States.
The second time he said that was when he was getting his picture taken playing guitar when a thousand Americans were drowning in New Orleans.
So... wmd's in Iraq? Was he lying or what?
If he was lying, would you agree that its an impeachable offense?
November 2, 2006 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reason 537 to oppose a Hillary Clinton for President campaign. I am surprised that any part of the DLC energetically opposed the Bush campaign ruse, but if they did that is to the good. Ms. Clinton took the Democratic-weak, Republican-lite road and demonstrated yet again how unsuitable she is for her present office or any higher. Maybe she HAD to join the GOP chorus because she is in such a close race. From FOX23 News, Albany, New York:
"Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: “I have met with these young people who out of a sense of patriotism have stepped forward and signed up. They deserve the honor and respect from every single one of us for making that decision.”
The senator says that also means her Democratic colleague John Kerry -- in hot water for trying to criticize the Bush administration policy in Iraq by criticizing the men and women fighting the war.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: “What Senator Kerry said was inappropriate and I believe we can't let it divert us from looking at the issues that are at stake in our country. We do need a new policy in Iraq.” "
November 2, 2006 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yup, you got that right. Reason 537. Could somebody tell Mrs. Clinton she is not supposed to be a Goldwater girl any more.
Ron Byers
November 2, 2006 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Juss thinkin' like SFC, those Democrats have sure got the US in a fix in Irak, with their votin' to give rights to folks rounded up and not yet lynched.
If'n we could juss torture enough of them suspects it would all be over fast. Total Victory is what I'm talkin' about.
November 2, 2006 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have two thoughts on voting,and they are pretty much polar opposites:
On the one hand, I think that one reason people don't vote is because of the Electoral College. If you are a Dem in a red state, or a republican in a blue state, your presidential vote really doesn't count [see 2000 presidential vote where the popular vote counted for nothing]. If you are used to not voting for that reason, it is hard to get worked up to go out for mid-term elections because you have the general feeling that your vote doesn't matter.
It can work the other way too; red voters in overwhelmingly red states, and blues in blue states can safely stay home and not bother to stand in line at the polls.
The Electoral College was conceived during a time of no mass communication, and is a remedy that has not only outlived its usefulness, it has poisoned the well of voter confidence -- as if it needed another drop of poison!
Secondly, I am perfectly happy for people who don't pay attention to the issues to just stay at home on election day. Why should issues be decided by people who don't inform themselves, and don't want to vote? Who needs voters like that?
If someone thinks differently than me but bothers to think, then fine -- join me at the polls. But people who need a lottery or some other enticement, or a free ride by "reverent Billy," complete with instructions on how to vote - to get them to show up - can just stay out of the process as far as I'm concerned.
I know these 2 points seem counterintutive, but they really aren't. My point is that thoughtful people who know the issues and care about them may be discouraged by the impotence that the Electoral College imposes on them. That is the kind of voter that we all need to encourage to get to the polls. One way MIGHT be to get rid of the EC (never happen, I know).
Those who don't care and don't bother to form their own opinions should not be a part of the process of making such important decisions for our country.
Jan Knaus
November 2, 2006 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's a third group - those rightfully disgusted with the performance of both parties.
November 3, 2006 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bluebell, I know what you mean. But the Electoral College still figures in. MANY years ago (she said as she lifted her grandchild to her knee) I had a choice of voting for Jimmy Carter (a very good man, but an ineffectual president -- and who, by the way turned out to be the BEST ex-president ever --) and Ronald Reagan.
Since I lived in Virginia, my vote really wasn't going to count anyway, so although I was not "disgusted" with, but also not completely confident in the Democratic nominee I had the "super-cool" option of a protest vote: I voted for John Anderson. If I knew my vote would have counted I would have voted for Carter.
A parenthetical note: for the 1984 election I was living in Europe. I didn't bother to do an absentee ballot for the same reason. I chuckle, however, as I recall an Italian man asking me, "So who will be the next President in the US -- Walter Mondale or Gary Hart?" They just couldn't believe that Reagan would be re-elected. My answer: Ronald Reagan.
Has anyone read any of Gary Hart's essays lately? He lost his prestige and edge because of a personal weakness and a bimbo. Too bad we Dems are such a randy bunch with the ladies; unlike the republicans, who seem to be all gay, despite the fact that they must be filled with self-loathing.
Jan Knaus
November 4, 2006 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dems are more fun in every way. Athens vs. Sparta. NY vs. Dallas.
November 4, 2006 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink