During much of Bill Clinton’s presidency, he was a popular president. Even when he had personal failings, the support for him was pretty consistent. Yet, the Republican congress never thought twice about acting as an opposition party, fighting against an agenda they disagreed with. Certainly they regularly went over the line in the sort of tone-deaf politics that Republicans regularly engage in, but you never thought of Newt Gingrich as someone - no matter how odious - who was afraid of taking Bill Clinton on.
Compare this to the work of the modern Democratic party, who has allowed a President who wasn’t even voted for by the majority in his first term and who was re-elected with a thin margin for his second term, to walk all over them like he’s some kind of king.
Even more amazing, lacking a spine from the opposition party and subject to a lapdog media that often appears to just want a good bellyrub than to practice actual journalism, the American people consistently are ahead of the Democrats in their opposition to Bush. Even the polls of our 21st century Pravda, the Fox News Channel, show only 41% support for the president - a number consistent with other numbers from other polling organizations.
But the Democrats, tone deaf as usual, seem more interested in pleasing the whims of the inside-the-beltway set and those ever astute conservative media figures. They must be brain dead, stupid, or both.
Bush is gearing up a state of the union that apparently is going to focus on health care. His social security plan went down in flames, his medicare plan is an unmitigated disaster both from a public relations standpoint and more importantly from a public health p.o.v., but the press will dutifully tut-tut those Democrats who will point out the man’s incredibly bad record on these issues.
Stop listening to these people. They have been wrong on everything.
The president spied on Americans in America without a warrant he could have easily obtained. Investigate it.
Republican lobbyists bought and sold Republican politicians. They’re criminals - clean it up and tell America to demand honest leadership and kick the bums out.
The president has no plan for Iraq and no credibility on military issues. Demand a true plan for getting the hell out of their and don’t allow him to ever again put American lives in danger for his ego.
The president’s economic program is great for the well-heeled but has done diddly for working Americans. In an era where the markets just haven’t moved in five years and employers are laying off thousands of people and getting corporate welfare, it would be ludicrous for Democrats to roll over and play dead for more tax cuts for the top.
Those are just a few of the issues facing us. The majority of American people do not support George W. Bush, and it would be nice if they had a political party that supported their view. The spew that comes out of the Washington Post, Democratic “consultants” (who never want to put a name with their dumb whining to newspaper writers, wonder why) and the conservative media (”So you made Glenn Reynolds happy, awesome.”) is just so much hot air that America isn’t listening to. It’s rare that you can do the right thing and also have it be the popular thing, but that’s the chance the Democrats have now - just don’t start putting things off the table.
Related
Do They Have A Dean?
Into The Wilderness
Is The Democratic Party Going To Aid More Lunacy?
I’ll never understand the GOP’er trolls on this site. Do they feel so unloved by your own party that they constantly need to whore for attention at a site dedicated to ideologies they loathe so much?
Is it a self-hate thing?
your own party = their own party
That’s right Dems: Stand up and Fight! We demand you take up Sen. Kerry’s challenge and filibuster soon-to-be-Justice Alito.
Take back America!!!
Why here? Because there’s exponentially fewer posts consisting of “yeah”, “i agree”, & “f*** Rethugs” found in places like Kos’s, Drum’s, and Duncan Black’s sites. This allows for actual discussion. Because it’s good to talk with people that disagree with you. If nothing else, to stay out of “the bubble”.
Also, because Oliver gives just as good as he gets and, more than most other lefty bloggers, stays above the belt. (as long as the issue doesn’t involve Michael Steele or the word “filthy”).
Back to the matter at hand: If you believe everything Oliver just wrote, you know you have no chocie but support the Alito Filibuster. Fight on, Dems! Fight On!!
No Curmudgeon. We’re just enjoy the comedy stylings of Oliver Willis.
Besides- it’s hard to prepare for the debate if you don’t know what the other side is saying. And I agree with Oliver here. For the past several years, most Democrats haven’t been saying anything worthwhile. Thats why they keep losing and will continue to lose.
What’s that phrase Oliver says we black people like to say?
Oh yeah- Stuck on Stupid.
I Would Like to See More of This!
Oliver Willis:
During much of Bill Clinton s presidency, he was a popular president. Even when he had personal failings, the support for him was pretty consistent. Yet, the Republican congress never thought twice about acting as an opposition p …..
I really think the fillibuster is a baaaaaaaad idea. I mean, there’s principles and then there’s jousting at the windmill. You can’t win this one and you could potentially unleash the “super-ultra-mega-nuclear-we-hate-debate” option and screw it up for everyone from this point on. Just accept the fact that you f***ed this one up and regroup for the next round. And for the love of God, pick something emotional, who cares about logic? Find a pretty, dying white girl and connect her to the Republicans. At least THAT will get on Fox News…
The trolls don’t “debate” here, though some conservatives here are thoughful posters at times. All the trolls like Farris and Peedro do is recite talking points and try to change the subject to the Clenis.
As far as the “Democratic failure”, I think that we should figure out one subject to demagogue to death, like the Cons do in campaigns.
That’s what should have been done in the A-lie-to hearings. The name of that 10-year-old girl that was strip searched should have been burned into the American conscience, forever to be associated with A-Lie-to.
Our problem is we picked on about 20 things bad about A-lie-to, we should have picked one emotional one and beaten it into the ground, and refused to move the debate.
The ‘Merkin public is very busy- associate the enemy with convenient “keywords” like strip-search, Anita Hill, and Swift Boat, and we will win more battles.
Also, if we tell Joe-mentum and Biden to not go on the Sunday talk shows, we will have a more unified message of hope for America.
It’s clear as spring water. Mostly, the modern Democratic Party agrees with the GOP agenda.
That’s why they can’t make themselves fight it. You can’t oppose it if you believe in it.
I’ve never been fond of calls to kick out the incumbents just because they are incumbents. But we must have representation that actually represents us!
Factcheck,
Allow me to troll here a little. You are some piece of work.
1. Accuse those who disagree with you of reciting talking points? Check
2. A post filled with talking points and no substance? Check
3. Preimptively adress charges of hypocracy by invoking Clinton? Check
4. Dig on the intelligence of Pres. Bush? Check
5. Dig on the intelligence of the “Merican pulbic”? Check
6. Appeal for those on your team to “stay on message” (aka “recite talking points)? Check
7. A message of hope filled with nothing but negativity? Absolutely Check
You are really not living up to your name here, man.
Actually, I didn’t dig on the intelligence of Pres. Bush and the ‘Merkin public in that post, but I think it is very telling that you inferred that. Inferiority complex maybe?
The rest of your post isn’t too coherent so I won’t criticize further.
By the way, where did the GW Bush family live BEFORE he announced his candidacy for President and bought the pig farm?
I’ll buy you the new Filibuster at Chili’s if you figure it out.
Still, you’re way out in left (or should I say right?) field. Most people DON’t have time or interest to master the intricacies of the issues. They are working, raising families, and trying to have a bit of relaxation. If they watch news, they for the most part accept what it says uncritically.
So if you hammer a message home with repetition of talking points like the Republican’s do, most people will figure “where there’s smoke there is fire” and that becomes truth.
Howard Dean is hammering home the point that no Democrat took funds from Abramoff. Which cannot be refuted. Democratic leaders in the past have let themselves say, “Well, some of us had a relationship with the Indian tribes, and besides, the Republicans will agree with us that corruption is a big issue, and……”
Yawn. Got to pick up the kids from practice. Don’t have time for that.
I teach for a living. Exploring all angles of a subject has its place. However, if it a core point that I need to get across, nothing works like repetition.
That Texas, GWB thing? Obtuse. Let it go. GWB is from Connecticut, not Texas, and most Texans live in large cities or near them. If you think that GWB is “a hick from Texas” that’s your problem, don’t project it on me.
Let me help you a little. From your own words:
“Our problem is we picked on about 20 things bad about A-lie-to, we should have picked one emotional one and beaten it into the ground, and refused to move the debate.
The Merkin public is very busy- associate the enemy with convenient keywords like strip-search, Anita Hill, and Swift Boat, and we will win more battles.”
What do you call that “Merikan” thing other than a dig on the Texas accent of GWB, shorthand for those stupid hick texans? Not to mention that inherant in your statement is the assumption that the news-watching public is unable to understand complex issues, and will do what we their betters want if we just stay on message and hammer home the talking points de jour.
Criticize if you must, though. Just take it easy, my self-confidence may not be able to handle the rightous rhetorical smack-down you are sure to deliver.
And there’s the problem because Kerry couldn’t be unambiguous without losing large chunks of the population.
He couldn’t give his full-throated support to the PP/NARAL crowd without losing all the folks who despise partial-birth abortion. He couldn’t say “out of Iraq NOW!” without losing “security moms”. Nor could he become a true hawk without losing the Peacenik base. He couldn’t smack Bush silly on spending (a legitimate weakness) because every day Kerry had to propose a new spending program to keep all the Left special interest groups in line.
No wonder Kerry appeared so wish-washy. He had to straddle so many disparate constiuencies it left him “stretched too thin”.
PS factcheck:
Would you agree or disagree that the template of criticism of GWB includes variations on “cowboy” and “dumb”? You knew EXACTLY what you were intimating with ‘Merica and you got called on it.
I’m not really strong pro or con the filibuster. I do think that when the righties say filibuster = lost votes, they’re talking out of their asses. The only people who vote on that sort of thing are the religious right and they aren’t exactly the biggest bloc of voters for the DNC. Most people think filibuster is a new menu item at Chili’s.
What I do want is for the Dems to stand up for something on a consistent basis. I would have felt a lot better losing in 04 if our candidate had been less ambigous about things and didn’t feel the need to have everybody in the world love him.
I agree with digby who says we have to stop bashing Dems who seem to
be damned if they do, spineless if they don’t.
Kennedy and Kerry at least are not bending over and spreading.
On a lighter note. What, with the SOTU this tues, I thought ya’ll might
enjoy this preview courtesy of Firedoglake.
Thank god it’s still a free country………so far.
(ps- bear with me. I’m not havin’ much luck with jpegs or video links.)
http://media.echoditto.com/SOTU.mov
Oliver, I think several of your criticisms re: the Dem leadership are right on.
However, I think your contrasting the Repubs under Clinton with the Dems under Bush leaves out one crucial factor - namely, that the Repubs had the majority in the House and Senate from 1994 on.
As you well know, the Dems have not had a majority in either chamber throughout Bush’s term (Jeffords’ switch doesn’t really count). Control of the Congress affords a mighty big megaphone.
Moreover, it is my understanding that the Repubs have consolidated their power and made it impossible for Dems to push alternatives in Congress. So I can see why the Dems are perceived as having no voice.
Instead of pointing at ourselves and buying the MSM’s regular blather about Dems being ineffective, we should spend more time kicking the Repubs in the ass and reminding the American public of the numerous ways they’ve been getting screwed by the Repubs. Like you usually do on your site. And like Dr. Dean did yesterday with that fool Katie Couric.
Keep up the good work.
Kerry’s position on abortion is in the mainstream, it is Bush - not Kerry - who had to mute his true position in order to not alienate voters.
Senator Kerry’s call for Fillibuster on the Alitio nomination is an example of the cohones that the rest of the sorry-A** Senate Democratic Caucus needs to follow. If he was good-a-damn-nuff to hold up the blood stained banner for the Party against Dubya, then damnit he is good-a-damn-nuff to follow now. As Oliver has eloquently said in this post, opposition parties are supposed to oppose the party in power. It’s time they dispensed with the beltway B.S. and stand up like the men and women they claim to be. If they don’t we will not be there for them in the fall.
Yea, it’s good that Republicans didn’t do anything to oppose the Clinton administration for eight years, or else you would be a hypocrite, wouldn’t you?
opposition parties are supposed to oppose the party in power.
And that is EXACTLY the problem with the Democratic party….a huge subset of it believes that.
Thanks trevor, for having the honor to come out and say exactly what you and your party believes.
It isn’t about the good of the country, it is about opposing the Republicans.
OW you should make that into one of those democratic party t-shirts…
Be patriotic, support subsituting catsup for a vegetable in school lunches, after all, those government sponsored school lunches are a Communist plot to destroy American freedom and liberty, be patriotic, lobby against school cafeterias which waste government funds which could better directed to tax cuts for billionaires which would trickle down and make everybody rich, instead be patriotic and support private enterprise by taking your children to Friday’s for $15 lunches, and closing down the communist school lunch cafeterias, what could be more patriotic than lobbying to help Friday’s get huge tax breaks for substituting catsup for a vegetable?
Justice ginsberg was voted into her position 97-3.
She was the former legal head of the ACLU to go along with her other liberal bona fides. She was also a qualified attorney, and the republicans respected the office of the president and recognized that their role was to “advise”…not to decide on the ideology, the was the president’s perogative.
Contrast that with todays senate.
Republicans opposed when we believed it would better the country, not because we were the “opposition party”
[...]
We Are All Dez Jacksons
by Oliver Willis
Related to this entry, and the seeming unwillingness of Democrats to even [...]
You really have to sit back and observe what you have brought upon yourselves. You cannot continue pointing the fingers at others, saying they are the problem. You have to pause and take responsibility for the mess you’ve created. The Democratic Party can no longer sit back and blame the Republicans for everything if they are just as crooked, conniving and deceitful as any Republican, if not more. Look at Dean with his Ambramoff scandal…a flat out LIAR!!! How is he going to back out of this one. It’s already well-documented that he isn’t the most forthcoming elected official, but now he’s really done it. And what of Kerry?…does he really think he is going to accomplish anything other than get his name in the papers for a few more seconds. I’m sure the time WASTED on a filibuster could have been better utilized coming up with some better legislation that could help Americans as a whole instead of politicizing perhaps the last Office in the US that is supposed to be above politics, prejudice and factionalism. But Kerry just can’t help but continue his politicking…yap yap yap. HEY LOSER!!! The election’s over!!! Get over it!!! So this is the new leadership of the Democratic Party?…is this what we have to look forward to for the next 20 years?!?
Hillary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq, and that is the best hope we have for any progressive president (that is very sad), and the American people probably won’t vote her in, not even a Bush-lite like Kerry can get the American vote, I can only come to one conclusion, the average American is a ding-bat who loves get his/her freedoms trampled over, who doesn’t care if he/she makes a decent wage for work put in, who doesn’t care if he/she has access to health care, who loves the idea of America getting involved in a war started based on lies, I’m sorry, that’s what the American demonstrates by the way they vote, and I am quite suspicious the vote was stolen, but if the intelligence of the average American was any different than what I noted above, the vote wouldn’t even have been close enough for them to be able to pull all those tricks off to deliver the vote.
And it’s too late to do anything about it, the damage has been done, the
Supreme Court has been packed with justice who don’t give a hoot about individual rights, and the President has already proven he doesn’t have to obey the Constitution or any laws of the land, and the American people so passionately supported and voted for this. I can see it now, McCarthyism is returning with a vengeance, and all the tools needed to fight it off have been successfully squashed.
Look at the bright side, if things keep going the way they’re going, that will dramatically cut down on problems with illegal immigration, our country will less and less attractive as a place to move to.
“You have to pause and take responsibility for the mess you ve created.”
The Troll interviews are on Freaky Fridays. Check in with Dr Pedro.
Concerning the 97-3 votr for Justice Ginsberg, here is the rest of the story. Before naming a nominee Pres. Clinton asked for Republican input and Sen. Hatch provided a list of acceptable nominees for the Supreme Court. This list included Ginsberg. Conversely, Pres. Bush wants little or no Democratic input on his nominees. Therefore, this Repub “talking point”, wherein they claimto be deferential to Clinton’s liberal nominee is, as usual, spin city.
ok where could i find a republican view on all these charges on the bush administration. and also it was said by willis or wutever his name that bush used illegal wiretapping and wutnot..and clinton didnt..well..haha comparing clinton to bush is hilarious…at least bush has a strong honest background and doesnt cheat and lie…like a certain someone..cough* clinton *cough..its really hilarious..i dont see how anyone could defend a cheating bastard like clinton…wow…im shocked…
Is your shift key broken, Laguna? FYI, it’s only one period at the end of a statement, not three, or two. Things like that make you look like retarded. Oh, wait a minute, you’re a “conservative”, never mind.
Meant “look retarded”.
OK, fact. I took on Jay C. about this the other day. I’m not letting you slide on it either.
People are born with learning disabilities and lead difficult lives as a result. The use of “retarded” as an epithet perpetuates the notion that these disabilities are shameful or a sign of inferiority.
You wanna poke fun at the conservatives, be my guest. Please leave people who were born with disabilities out of it.
Thanks.