I can completely identify with Josh Marshall here and his portrayal of the bare-knuckle style of our politics nowadays.
With all those caveats though, there is a difference. And I think at some level or another, it’s one almost everyone in the center-left can relate to, at least at some level. For my part, I don’t feel my politics have changed much over the past half dozen years, if by that we mean my basic political orientation, policies I believe in and don’t, basic understanding of how the world works and so forth. Many people who read my site are much more to the left politically than I am. And occasionally, some issue will come up where that fact suddenly becomes evident, often to people’s surprise and sometimes anger.
I was going to start by saying that what’s changed for me is that the country I know and value is under attack. But that’s not quite it.
I live in Manhattan and have a certain perspective on the country. Folks in Oklahoma or evangelicals in South Carolina have a different one. And that’s fine. It’s their country too. What I think is that a certain political movement has taken over the country — call it movement conservatism in its late, degraded form — and wants to govern it by all or nothing rules.
I’ve not really moved an inch on my positions on the important issues, but the insanity of the Bush presidency makes my center-left proclivities appear to be on the far, far, left (which, in a Democratic presidency will probably be the second biggest pain in my butt).
Really hope you are not bemoaning the lack of civility in political discourse. Tell me you aren’t. I mean “Dear Leader” ring a bell? How about ‘occupation’ next item. Those bad ol’ Republicans torture those desciptors out of you? Busheyman make you do it?
Oh, irony of ironies!
No, he’s bemoaning the fact that the goalposts have been shifted.
I’m much further to the left than Oliver, but still the way the political spectrums been moved toward the right, one feels like the stepchild of Leon Trotsky and Mao Tse-Tung simply for believing certain utilities should be renationalised.
Bush referred to our troops as “occupiers” well before Zell Miller’s nutball meltdown at the convention. Anyway, the lack of civility is a direct result of the talk radio-ization of the GOP, itself a descendent of Goldwater era. You could plot a clear inverse correlation between civility on one axis, and use of the term ‘Democrat’ as an adjective on the other.
My favorite GOP mobile goalpost: being against idiotic wars is the same as being “anti-war,” and is a symptom of “derangement.”
Tom,
So the lack of civility is our fault. OW is not at fault for using a ‘nickname’ of the world’s worst current dictator (a left winger)to describe the President. Its Rush’s fault OW uses that phrase. How nice to be a progressive!
I think you’ve just nutshelled the “all-or-nothing” part, dugger.
Don’t talk to me about civility. The Regressives can dish out hate-speech, but, as Lewis Black said, the word “shit” makes them cry.
Of course it’s your fault. After 9/11 the Democratic party and people on the left in general were well supportive of the President, in that they put snide partisanship aside. And by 2002, the Republicans failed to reciprocate, and smeared liberals to a terrible degree.
So yes, the right-wing in general is much dirtier when it comes to politics. Maybe a case could be made that the left should take the high road, but you right-wingers sure aren’t the ones to make that arguement.
Wait, Kim Jong-Il is the worst dictator in the world now? I thought it was Achmed Dinnerjacket in Iran, or this Syrian bloke, or maybe Castro again.
I wish they’d make up their minds.
You know, we’re really no more polarized in our politics than we ever have been. Alliances and public policies may have shifted from party to party, but modern democracy from Britian’s parliment to our congress has been rife with bloodletting and vilification of the other side. We just don’t have a institutionalized historical perspective on it. Each generation always thinks theirs is the one losing a grasp on the world and civility, but if anything, we’ve watered down our politics. YES I SAID IT WATERED DOWN.
Well, at least we don’t tar and feather Tories anymore. That’s a start, right?
duros, maybe that should make a comeback?
Well, I’m sure there are some good ole’ boys working on it.