Democrats, Unable to be a Party of the People, are Sinking Themselves

[NorthCarolina]

Blowing It: Democrats, Unable to Be a Party of the People, are Sinking Themselves

by:
Dave Lindorff

The smoking ruin that is the the Obama White House, and the rotting corpse that is the Democratic Party, have, incredibly, together been boxed into a corner by, of all things, the certifiably insane Republican Party.

<snip>

All the president and Congressional Democrats had to do was announce that Social Security, Medicare, education and programs to protect the poor were all off limits in any discussion of the federal budget, and to declare an immediate 25% cut in military spending, as called for earlier by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee.

<snip>

According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in late May and released June 11, 60% of Americans correctly attribute the nation’s enormous deficit primarily to military spending, which eats up 52% of every tax dollar (Social Security and Medicare are entirely funded by separate payroll taxes, and not only have not contributed a single dollar to the federal deficit, but have been routinely borrowed from by the government to finance the deficit in the government’s operating budget caused by military spending). Only 24% blame the deficit on domestic spending other than military (and probably every one of those is a Republican or right-wing independent who likely believes that the earth was created 6000 years ago, and is flat, and who will never vote Democratic no matter what).

That same poll showed that the vast majority of Americans (73%) object to proposals to cut the budget by reducing federal funding for social programs, or federal funding to the states for education, or by reducing Social Security benefits (59%), for example by raising the retirement age.


Military vs. Education spending around the globe


<snip>

Link: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/702

[xchrom]

1. sigh. nt

[bread_and_roses]

2. + 1000

K&R. And to all those who like to talk about how stupid the citizenry is, take note of where the public is on the issues. Evidently "smarter" than our Zen Master nth dimensional chess-playing "champion" in the WH

[NorthCarolina]

3. Exactly....well said! n/t

[elocs]

4. Yes, just when the Republican party seems determined to self destruct,

the Democratic Party has determined the time is right to sink itself.

I would be surprised, but this is what Democrats seem to do.

[NorthCarolina]

5. It's obvious why DU's third-way crew immediately castigates ANYONE who suggests a primary challenge

to Obama. I seriously doubt that Obama would survive such a contest against a Liberal/Progressive challenger.

[elocs]

11. If you seriously doubt Obama would not win against anyone in a primary

you are definitely not in touch with reality. He would not only win, he would crush them. They would withdraw after the first few primaries.

[izquierdista]

15. Here, watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRl1wfbi4L8&feature=related
A lot can happen between now and next March.

[Cobalt-60]

16. show me.

I'll no doubt be forced by the fascist alternative to vote for Obama.
But as far as I'm concerned this guy is a Republican in Democrat's clothing.
A real Democrat would blow Obama out of the water.
I'm for drafting Michael Moore to run against him.
How about it Democrats?

[emsimon33]

17. Truer words have rarely been written!

[lindalou65]

20. Repub goal is to make Obama a one-term president

they may succeed if his support falls away---that is just what they want. I am afraid they may succeed unless we have his back and I don't see as much support for him at DU as I would like to see. I don't agree either with putting medicare, social security "on the table" at the deficit talks ---maybe we Americans need to make that loud and clear to him. Let's be realistic here--I like Michael Moore too but he would not be able to get enough support overall to run.

[OHdem10]

6. The Democratic Party will be the first to go. down in flames.

Wait I do not know if there is enough energy left
to make flames. More likely to simply fade away.

[emsimon33]

19. Slouching off to ... .

The Republicans at least have their fired up nut and greed base. Fired up wins election, not $$$$$.

[pscot]

7. They were dead and in the grave

in 2008. All we had to do was kick some dirt over them. Bipartisanship brought them back, and now we're fighting off flesh eating zombies.

[elocs]

12. Oh yeah, there was a lot of dancing on the GOP grave here after the 2008 election.

"Ding-dong, the witch is dead" and the whole 9 yards. But it's not over until it's over. Republicans should have been crushed when they were down, yet they were still able to control and manipulate things just as if they were in power.

[saras]

8. Pointing out the obvious fact that America is far to the left of both parties

This is why corporate Dems are so hateful about the idea of a third party. They LIKE the Dems where they are, (winning as a party is secondary to getting one's policy goals, even if implemented by the "opposition") even if they can't win anything, and see the corruption of the two-party system, the corporate funding, and the spoiler effect as the best insurance against popular government, either of the Democratic party, or by creating a third one.

[OHdem10]

9. Do you know one person who considers him/herself to be the

base of the Corporate Democrats? If there were a third
party, who would be the workabees for the Corporatists??

[Fuddnik]

10. Kick and Rec!

After the 2008 election, they should have been writing an obituary for the repukes, instead, they sent out birth announcements.

[KoKo]

13. Kick & Rec!

[Knight Hawk]

14. Did you know............

that 25% of all oil used by the US is used by the military?

[emsimon33]

18. Yes, and they have to use their quota by the end of each month

so in Va Beach, VA, for example, at the end of a month, all we hear are jets flying constantly over head, using up the gas.

The military needs to share a lot of the pain that the rest of the nation is suffering!