We BECOME what we HATE. A case study of the Clintons.

[IsItJustMe]

I was reading a post by ‘H2O Man’ this morning and he quoted a famous basketball player Bill Russell as saying, "Choose your enemies carefully, because they are the people that you may come to most resemble."

Mother Theresa (a true saint in her own right) was once asked if she would be attending an anti-war rally and she said NO, but if they had a rally for peace, that she would be there.

These are simple and yet profound truths that many of us over look every day of our lives. What we think and concentrate about expands into our reality.

I do believe that Hillary and Bill started out with the best of intentions. I believe they went through a living hell during their years in the White House. There is no doubt that there had to be great hatred between the Clintons’ and people like Richard Scaife who was leading the smear campaigns against them at the time.

Now, not only have the Clintons’ embraced such tactics that they despised, but they are actually embracing the people who used such tactics against them.

On the face of it, this would seem to be an utterly insane move by Hillary to embrace such a person; but not when you look at the big picture with the understanding that we do indeed become what we hate.

[ruby slippers]

1. this is very interesting and needs to be read by all....

I think a lot of people on that board can relate...

In my zest to support Obama, I am sadly now too becoming a Clinton in my tactics to win.....

[IsItJustMe]

4. LOL, me also. I try to avoid it by constantly reminding myself, every time I post, what Mother

Theresa said; but, to be honest about it, it don't always work.

[ruby slippers]

7. I think it is just frustration.....I swore after Bush that

I would NEVER let another election control me like the 2004 one did....but, this one is getting much, much worse.

The best thing I did was give myself a reprieve from the TV. But, now I can't get away from DU and the more I think or read things to think about, the angrier I become....

So, I think I'll just go to bed. It was a long, long night.....

[merh]

2. when you lay down with dogs ...

and god doesn't like ugly.

[Evergreen Emerald]

3. I think that the tactics now employed on DU absolutely resemble

the tactics that Bush and his followers have been using.

If we disagree with you we are : UnAmerican, Racist, Stupid, Evil
It's all Clinton's fault
Anything goes. The negative attacks have no boundaries nothing is off limits.

Anyone who is not with you is dehuman and worthy of contempt.

I guess he is right. DU hated Bush and his followers, and has become just like them.

[SwampG8r]

5. way to miss the point

[Evergreen Emerald]

6. No. I get the point.

apparently you don't .

[jr7]

11. I refuse to bash Clinton or Obama...

That's how we end up with bad leaders.

[asjr]

8. Has it never occurred to you that

maybe Mr. Scaife has "seen the light?" Maybe someone as bad as he has seen what Bush has done to this country and is finally able to see someone else may get us out of this mess. I refuse to bash Clinton or Obama because right now they are all we have as Democrats.

[IsItJustMe]

13. Yes it has occurred to me and from what I can see, as I speak, he is deeply tied

to a whole variety of right wing think tanks, news organizations and everything else I deem to be vile.

Actions speak louder than words. Always have, and always will. This man is the epitome of what is wrong with this country right now.

[lisa58]

15. Has it every occurred to you that Scaife made lots and lots...

...of money during the last Clinton presidency and would love a replay?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. The Clintons are prime examples of Lord Acton's axiom.

"Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

[TragedyandHope]

10. We are living in Karl Rove's world

It will take a concerted effort from all corners of our party to move beyond that. It's so easy to fall into the trap of regurgitating all of Rove's old frames and tactics. We can't let ourselves fall victim to corporate media conditioning. We really have to think carefully about every word we choose and make sure that we aren't reinforcing RW narratives.

[QC]

12. And many people here have become the freepers they have hated

for so long.

Same attitudes, same desire to crush all dissent, same black/white thinking, same overweening sense of their own righteousness, even the same vocabulary.

You raise an excellent point--people really do become what they hate, and a lot of people here at DU would serve as excellent case studies.

[IsItJustMe]

17. Bottom line is that none of us are immune. It's how we go about our life. Some of us just do a

better job of it than others.

If you want to accomplish anything of a positive nature, we have to be more for that accomplishment than against anthing. It's just the way life works.

[NJmaverick]

14. The Clintons are fighters, when they are directed at the right target

Their battling ways can be quite beneficial. Unfortunately they turned that trait in on the wrong targets. If they were attacking Bush, McCain or the GOP, in the same manner they are attacking Obmaa, we would all be praising them.

They are sort of loose cannons personified.

That phrase came from the era of sailing ships. Cannons were on wheels (that allowed them to recoil) and were secured with ropes. Some times, during battle, the ropes would break and the cannon would be rolling loose on the deck. It became as much of a threat to the ship and it's crew as it was the enemy. Hence the term "loose cannon". I think that's what you have with the Clintons. If their attacking ability and skills were directed at the right targets, we would all be happy and grateful. Unfortunately some time in the beginning of the year, their ropes snapped.

[lisa58]

16. If they EVER attacked Bush or McCain I would feel better...

...Bill just told us to "not be angry" after the 2000 election.

Seriously? I'm sorry, I'm STILL angry.

[NJmaverick]

18. Sadly you make an excellent point