I'm Proud to be a Partisan - By Jane Hamsher

[blogslut]

link: http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/07/25/im-proud-to-be-a-partisan/

One of the most pernicious and popular soundbites being exploited these days is the denigration of “partisanship.” When it comes out of the mouths of Republicans who perfected the art of soulless political grandstanding in the 90s, it’s hard enough to take. It’s even tougher to stomach when it comes from George Bush with his thorough devotion to Karl Rove (who needs no better reason to sabotage national security and flagrantly violate the law than the fact that someone is a Democrat). Then there are the useful idiots like Sam Waterston and the Unity ‘08 nuts who really just don’t know what they’re talking about...

<snip>

To backtrack just a bit, I arrived in the DC area about three weeks ago with one of my closest friends Linda M whom many people met at YK last year. Linda is the child of holocaust survivors. One of the things she wanted to do when she got here was go to the US Holocaust Museum, and we did. It was an extremely rewarding experience and I was so grateful to be able to share it with her but let me tell you, the only thing tougher than going through the Holocaust Museum is doing it with someone who has lived in its aftermath their entire life.

Every time we turned the corner there was something else that was right out of her parents’ past. A photo mural of Hungarians arriving at Auschwitz in 1944 told the story of her father, who stepped off a train at the age of 17 with no knowledge of what was going on. He was immediately separated from his family and asked someone where he could find them. The man pointed to the smoke billowing out of the smokestack and said “there’s your family. You’re young and strong. You’re going to have to fight to live.”

<snip>

“The partisans! It’s the partisans! They have a wall on the partisans!” Tears were streaming down her face as she grabbed me and pulled me into a section of the museum that was unlike any other we had been to. The faces were tired but full of hope, brave and invigorated and fueled with the fire of the fight. I’d heard Linda’s mom, recently deceased, was a member of the Jewish Partisans in Russisa but I confess I really did not know their history up until then..."

read the rest at the link above

[Missy Vixen]

1. This is one of the finest posts I have ever seen on FDL

Happy Birthday, Jane, and thanks for the reminder.

Julie

[blogslut]

2. Brings it all home, doesn't it?

Crying here

[blogslut]

3. kick

[blogslut]

4. another kick

[blondeatlast]

5. Proudly liberal, proudly Democrat, and proudly partisan,

and I :patriot: my proudly liberal, Democratic, partisan brothers and sisters!

Thank you for that extraordinary piece. Proud to be the recommend that put this piece on the Greatest page!

[blogslut]

6. It's a hell of a piece

I hope everyone takes the time to read the whole thing.

[abq e streeter]

8. Thanks for encouraging me to read the whole thing

It certainly is worth it; humbling and inspirational...I'm one who's prone to giving up sometimes. That was food for the soul to keep on keepin' on.

[mzmolly]

7. Indeed, all of the above as well!

:toast:

[blondeatlast]

9. DU needs to read this now more than ever; don't miss this wonderful piece; gang. nt

[TwilightGardener]

10. She disses Obama, calls him "Lieberman's protege"--

he may have supported him, but he doesn't support the war, and I see no evidence that Joe is somehow serving as his mentor now. So she can go to hell. The thing I like about Obama is his lack of extreme partisanship. I am not that partisan either. I like good ideas no matter WHERE they come from. I'm tired of this party war. There are some good people who like to find middle ground.

[blogslut]

11. Did you look past the trees?

I found that the forest was beautiful. :)

[blondeatlast]

12. Truly it is. Of course, I have no favorite "trees" at the moment

which probably helps.

It's a great piece, WD, if you give it half a chance. I clouded up a bit. :hi:

[TwilightGardener]

13. I read it twice--

If I get what she's saying, the term "partisan" connotes a group who fights evil, both in that historical/Holocaust context, and still yet in these times. She's trying to say it could/should have a positive meaning instead of the negative one that it has now. I'm saying it's one thing to praise the values of partisanship (which has limited value to me, politically speaking), quite another to use a good chunk of the article as a vehicle to criticize Obama, and his stated plans to create a less-hostile, less-divisive, more healing atmosphere in this nation as President. Comparing him to Lieberman is low--he's as politically toxic as they come. She's a progressive blogger--she knows full well what she's doing. And I frankly thought the Holocaust story was more emotionally manipulative than useful as a metaphor for our political battles today. I don't buy that all Repubs are "evil"--I'm related to some! I don't feel we're "at war" with MOST of our elected officials and their followers--just the most powerful at the very top.

Casting ourselves as "good" fighting "evil", while perhaps true and emotionally satisfying, is not going to fix our government's problems, it just makes average citizens of all political stripes (and none at all) recoil, stay out of the political process and hate our government. She mocks the Unity '08 idea, and I'm not sure it will fly either, but she makes the very point (unintentionally) of why it might appeal to people today. And maybe there's a reason why Obama is resonating with average citizens of ALL political bents. Reacting to an unfavorable political situation by digging in and villifying the "other side"--what the RW does to us--that's not going to solve things, that's not how to win hearts and minds, as we're learning in Iraq.

[blondeatlast]

14. Doughnuts and a cuppa

:kick: