MrBenchley (1000+ posts)
Wed Aug-09-06 03:43 AM
Response to Original message
7. Not a myth at all....
If you want to pretend it is, you ought to at least wait until the latest tedious round of "let's have a party purge" calls have slipped off the front page.
"Why has there been no attempt by Daily Kos, MoveON.Org, Majority.Com, the bloggers, etc to purge the Party of Nelson? "
Because nobody in Nebraska gives two shits about the fringe left, silly. It worked in Connecticut because you have a small state with a small Democratic party, and the extreme left ran a swift boat campaign. (Worth noting that Lamont's sup
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The "fringe left" is actually the middle. Over 70% of Americans oppose Bush's war on Iraq, and over 80% oppose U.S. participation in a widened war. 60% to 65% disapprove of Bush--and the numbers on every one of his policies, foreign and domestic are similar. Anyone who sides with Bush is on the fringe of American opinion. Any votes for Bush policy are fringe votes--and multiple votes for Bush policy constitute an extreme divergence from mainstream opinion.
It is only by means of non-transparent vote counting and other forms of corruption that Congress is so extremely at variance with mainstream opinion.
If "leftist" bloggers express glee at Lieberman's demise within the Democratic Party, and want to utilize their new-found power to "purge" other politicians who are failing to represent the interests of the American people, it is only right and just. The true mainstream has been too long without a voice, and without its rightful power as the majority. It is a badly needed adjustment in American politics. And there is certainly some of this feeling at DU. I share it. I would like to see all the "Liebermans" thrown out of office. But you have point that the OP is wrong about this (about the "left" actually being on a "jihad").
That error comes from adopting the terms of debate dictated by the war profiteering corporate news monopolies, and also used by wrongly described Democratic Party "centrists" (who are nowhere near the "center" but are way off to the right). They are using the word "jihad" to associate leftist/antiwar views with terrorists. (Who's doing the "swiftboating" here?) The OP reacts defensively--adopting the view that such a "jihad" would be bad. But it is only bad if you put the word "jihad" on it. Extremist. Fanatic. It is NOT in the least extremist or fanatical to want the Democratic Party to begin representing the majority of Americans, and to work toward that end!
My Dad was born in Nebraska, and I have spent considerable time in that region (Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota). What I found there were very progressive, tolerant and liberal people, mostly of Scandinavian extraction, who have an abiding, "salt of the earth" belief in justice and fairness. The political foundation of the region is the radical socialist farmers' movement of the 1930s and the highly progressive, pro-union politics of people like Hubert Humphrey. I wonder if these folks are being adequately represented in Congress. I suspect not. I suspect that the War/Corporate Democrats have betrayed them as well. I disagree that "a guy like Lamont would never get the nomination in Nebraska." In fair elections, I think he would. Nebraska does not have fair elections. Candidates in primaries and general elections are (s)elected by ES&S, using "trade secret," proprietary programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls.
ES&S is a spinoff of Diebold (similar computer architecture), initially funded by rightwing billionaire Howard Ahmanson, who also gave one million dollars to the extremist 'christian' Chalcedon Foundation, which touts the death penalty for homosexuals (among other things). Diebold and ES&S have an incestuous relationship--they are run by two brothers, Bob and Todd Urosevich. Diebold, until recently, was headed by CEO Wally O'Dell, a Bush-Cheney campaign chair and major fundraiser (a Bush "Pioneer" up there with Ken Lay) who promised in writing to "deliver Ohio's electoral votes to Bush/Cheney in 2004." Both Diebold and ES&S optiscan and touchscreen voting systems have been found, by many experts, to be extremely insecure, unreliable and insider-hackable.*
No politicians "elected" under a veil of corporate secrecy, in voting systems controlled by rightwing corporations, can be considered legitimate representatives of the people. Their "elections" are clouded in obscurity.
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*(--and election officials who continue to tout the use of these extremely riggable machines have been irredeemably corrupted by the Diebold/ES&S culture of secrecy, and by their lavish lobbying, which included, for instance, a week of fun, sun and high end shopping at the Beverly Hilton last summer, sponsored by Diebold, ES&S and a third Republican player, Sequoia. This would be a good question to ask Nebraska election officials: where were you last August?)