Going For the Jugular by David Sirota

[Douglas Carpenter]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/rejecting-washingtons-co_b_10511.html}

Rejecting Washington's Cocktail Party Chatter, And Going For the
Jugular by David Sirota

posted by permission of Mr. Sirota

be sure and subscribe to David Sirota's E-mail list:

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"As I've noted over the past week, the Beltway media really makes no
effort to do anything other than parrot totally out-of-touch
conventional wisdom - no matter how inane, stupid and ridiculous it
is. Charlie "Let Me Regurgitate What I Watched on Hardball Last
Night" Cook and Stuart "I'll Just Read Back The Washington Post To
You" Rothenberg are only the two most high-profile examples of this,
but today we get another glimpse.

The Hotline - the ultimate Beltway publication - has a little blurb
on the open seat race for Congress in Illinois' 6th district. Rep.
Henry Hyde is (thankfully) retiring, and this is a winnable district
for Democrats. Yet, the Beltway media claims it is only winnable
essentially by a sellout, split-the-difference Democrat, without
providing any proof that's the case at all. Here's the excerpt about
one of the potential Democratic candidates in the race:

"If she runs on a centrist/pro-business economic platform without
being reflexively anti-war -- this has the potential to be an
interesting candidacy."

Where is the proof that you have to run this way to win? There is
none - but this is the standard crap that's peddled in Washington as
"strategy." And over the years, Democrats have listened to it (just
look at votes earlier this year on major economic issues to know
that), to their detriment. The fact is, the country overwhelmingly
opposes the Iraq War, and supports a far more progressive economic
and trade agenda anyone (other than a few courageous heroes) in the
Washington bubble wants to admit. And the sooner Democratic Party
realizes that this kind of spin is baseless nonsense that costs them
elections, the sooner they will be on a real path to a lasting
majority.

The fact is, the party over the years has been too focused on making
the Beltway cocktail party circuit happy. That means the embrace of a
non-confrontational ideology where the best we can ever hope for is
handing over huge amounts of taxpayer money to already-wealthy
corporate interests as a bribe to get them to start behaving
themselves. We get this ideology (euphemistically called
"pro-business") instead of a truly progressive one (dishonestly
titled "anti-business" by the pundit/elitist class), which recognizes
the role of government to be an authority that protects ordinary
people, makes large economic interests play by rules, and enforces
those rules with action - no matter how confrontational.

Thankfully, we are starting to see Democrats re-assert themselves, be
more confrontational, and reject the Beltway mentality. We've seen it
in recent Democratic demands for a windfall profits tax on Big Oil,
their demand for a crackdown on CEO rip-off schemes, and the recent
actions on the war by people like Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Harry
Reid (D-NV).

This is what we have to encourage, because as we see with this
Hotline piece, there is an entire pressure system designed to keep
Democrats emasculated. With President Bush's poll numbers in the tank
(even in the reddest of red states), and Republicans in chaos, the
truth is, seizing the political moment, rejecting the B.S.
conventional wisdom and pressing a new brand of aggressive
progressive politics that is very mainstream outside the Beltway is
long overdue. As a famous philosopher once said, "If not now, when?" "

Sources: Previous post referring to Charlie Cook:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/dcs-professional-bs-_b_10210.html
Previous post on Stuart Rothenberg:
http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=709A5E11-958F-404B-FA6A8AFF228EF1F5
Hotline excerpt:
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2005/11/another_dem_vet.html
America supports a far more progressive economic agenda:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050103&c=1&s=sirota
{http://bookclub.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/11/8/12227/9940} Democrats
have previously embraced a non-confrontational ideology:
{http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/whats-the-difference-bet_b_9140.html}
Democrats now demand windfall profits tax on Big Oil:
{http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=31809AE9-E315-EAE2-D3E21412F411D68B}
Democrats now pushing crackdown on CEO rip-off artists:
{http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=7BE3487E-E288-9D97-91E12FFDAC5C23A2}
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) takes a courageous step on Iraq:

{http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20051121&s=crowley112105&c=3} Sen.
Harry Reid (D-WI) takes a courageous step on Iraq:
{http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/01/senate.iraq.ap/} Bush's poll
numbers are in the tank:
{http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175184,00.html} Bush's poll
numbers are in the tank even in the reddest of red states:
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2005/11/09/build/state/55-poll.inc}
Congressional Republicans in chaos:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111001333.html


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