OK, so Tweety says we are not Democrats, Emanuel says we don't matter,

[old mark]

the Senate disregards us completely, the President mentions that we didn't get what we wanted, and Biden calls himself a "progressive". Our problem is simple:

We don't vote or participate in Democratic politics with enough regularity and consistency for them to take us seriously. Complaining impresses no one. positive action makes a difference.
Get behind liberal/left/progressive Democratic candidates NOW, even is it's just to email them in support. Contribute if you can, work for them if you can, and finally VOTE for them when the next elections come up.
Otherwise, this is nothing at all but a colossal time waster, and all this anger is for nothing.

Up to you.

mark

[Cleita]

1. I agree we need to identify progressives who can run against DLCers and

Republicans. We need to do all we can to fund them, especially in those in states like Wyoming who have to rely on corporate campaign contributions to run because there isn't enough $25 donations for them in their states. This way they can run on grass roots without having to accept the bribery of big corporations.

[BP2]

2. Ya know, I have an archived email from Aug 2008 titled, "Help us raise $50,000 for Barack Obama!"

The email goes on to say:

Our goal is to raise $50,000. Every donation, no matter how large or
small, will bring us closer to that goal. And more importantly, it
will help Barack Obama become the next president of the United States.
So please take a moment right now to show your support.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/du


Forgive me for feeling a bit betrayed at the fact there's no Public Option or importation of prescriptions - AS PROMISED in the campaign.

Marching onward from here, to gift Obama a special announcement at the State of the Union, is no reason to screw those of us who supported him!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Yeah. LBJ and Humpty Dumpty dismissed the left too. That worked well.

[damntexdem]

7. It's all a question of who are the 'real' Democrats.

Of course, there has never been such an animal -- even under the New Deal, there were a lot of Dixiecrats.

For a short time in the Great Society, there may have been, before LBJ betrayed us with Vietnam.

[Tesha]

4. When you say "We don't vote or participate", SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!

I vote every time including primaries. I attend my state party's conventions
and caucuses. I contribute my time and money every election cycle. I'm at
least semi-active in my city party.

Well, at least up until now. Now I'm hoping to spend more time, money, and
effort on people who actually share my political beliefs instead of stepping
on my beliefs all time.

Tesha

[griffi94]

9. i'm sure someone will be along

any minute to tell you that you have to support the democrat because otherwise
it's just a vote for the repub.
nevermind that the dems are just as willing to screw you over as the gop.
remember if you don't bend over for the dems...well the repubs will bend you over.

[Mithreal]

23. damn straight

[Goldstein1984]

5. I've started moving my support for organizations further to the

Left.

(Some very far Left. Outside of the country Left. Preparing for war with the United States Left.)

And Alaska is fairly hopeless next year, so I'll send contributions to support left-leaning Democratic or Independent candidates in other states.

But nothing changes my monthly contribution to the ASPCA.

[damntexdem]

6. The tune will change come election time 2010.

Of course, then it could very well be too late to change that tune.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. It is beyond electing progressives

this is about movement politics, and the elites are telling the activists they are the elitists, which is the height of chutzpah.

[DKRC]

10. Already made that shift

We never give any support to anyone calling themselves New Democrats/DLCers, or any umbrella group funneling money & support their way.
New Democrats are about as impressive as New Coke. They're not a patch on the original and leave a nasty taste behind.

[debbierlus]

11. Bullshit - the MAJORITY of Americans wanted real health reform

They screwed over the American people, NOT the left, so stop helping with their proganda talking point that it is just the 'fringe' left that opposes this bill.

It isn't.

They NEED to marginalize us to make us look like we are a fringe minority.

We aren't.

[ixion]

12. disagree. voices other than the narrowly-defined status quo are shut out

[pecwae]

13. Do not include me in your "we"

when you make the sweeping statement that "we" don't vote or participate regularly or consistently. You've just posted yet another scold with that and there's been quite enough.

You do realize that sometimes one believes they are backing a progressive only to be stunned when proved wrong after the vote?

edit to remove redundant word

[endless october]

14. i can't watch him tonight; it's pissing me off too much.

i can't stand his interrupting.

it has been clearly explained to him that this bill does not fix the problem, and he refuses to even listen.

GE can sell its shit to somebody else tonight.

[Individualist]

15. "We" meaning you and the mouse in your pocket?

[old mark]

16. It's not my opinion: it's facts Democrats don't vote as frequently or as regularly

as republicans do, and the gap betwqeen the parties just closed this past week according to a gallup poll:

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/11/11/GOP-leads-Democrats-in-2010-Ballot.aspx

Don't blame me if the dems don't show up in '10.

I have voted Democratic in every election in over 45 years.

mark

[Sultana]

17. WE?

You and others don't speak for all Democrats!


Being angry and hateful will not bring progress. Therefore, speak for yourselves.

[RainDog]

18. They know fuck-nothing about my life

I have voted in every election since I came of legal age.

I have volunteered for candidates, including Obama. I phone banked for him. I volunteered at events.

I have been active in my community for progressive causes.

I also voted for Green candidates who won in my city -at the city/county level- because they represented my views much better than the blue dogs who opposed them. When democrats act like liberals I support them.

when they act like republicans I oppose them.

I marched on Washington for the first time in my life in opposition to the Iraq war - because I'm not really a "to the barricades" kind of person, normally, but that was such a crime, in my view.

on the other hand, Tweety was all moist in his shorts about Bush's big "mission accomplished." He was an embarrassment as a journalist. He was wrong then and he's wrong now, about those who are opposed to an insurance co. give away of health care.

[Politics_Guy25]

19. Raindog, you don't have the foggiest idea what you are talking about

Chris Matthews loudly and vehemently opposed the Iraq war since 2002. I remember Tucker Carlson on CNN saying at the end of 2002 that his new years' wish was that Chris Matthews would "shut up and join reality that the Iraq war is going to be easy and is not some neocon conspiracy"......

Matthews also opposed Bush in 2004.

No wonder DU is like this, people can't even get their facts straight. Perhaps, study a bit first before making false claims. BTW, your sexual innunendo is not appreciated.

[Yuugal]

20. he opposed it?

MATTHEWS: What's the importance of the president's amazing display of leadership tonight?...

MATTHEWS: What do you make of the actual visual that people will see on TV and probably, as you know, as well as I, will remember a lot longer than words spoken tonight? And that's the president looking very much like a jet, you know, a high-flying jet star. A guy who is a jet pilot. Has been in the past when he was younger, obviously. What does that image mean to the American people, a guy who can actually get into a supersonic plane and actually fly in an unpressurized cabin like an actual jet pilot?....

MATTHEWS: Do you think this role, and I want to talk politically <...>, the president deserves everything he's doing tonight in terms of his leadership. He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics. Do you think he is defining the office of the presidency, at least for this time, as basically that of commander in chief? That <...> if you're going to run against him, you'd better be ready to take away from him....

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, Bob Dornan, you were a congressman all those years. Here's a president who's really nonverbal. He's like Eisenhower. He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy costume he wears when he goes West. I remember him standing at that fence with Colin Powell. Was the best picture in the 2000 campaign?


Mission accomplished woohoo!

[RainDog]

21. Tweety on Mission Accomplished from various sources

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/alterman

...And remember that now-infamous Mission Accomplished moment? True, Matthews did not join his guest G. Gordon Liddy in admiring--still not kidding--the President's pretend penis, but he was no less focused on Bush's fashion statements. "He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy costume he wears when he goes West," he cooed. "We're proud of our President. Americans love having a guy as President, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy like Clinton.... Women like a guy who's President. Check it out."

Matthews's man-crush on Bush continued longer than that of most of the mainstream media, leading him, for instance, to assert that "everybody sort of likes the President, except for the real whack-jobs," at a moment when the percentage of Americans telling New York Times/CBS pollsters that they "liked" Bush had fallen to 37 percent.

from Media Matter for America- Tweety fawning over the Mission Accomplished moment-

http://mediamatters.org/research/200604270005

MATTHEWS: Do you think this role, and I want to talk politically <...>, the president deserves everything he's doing tonight in terms of his leadership. He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics. Do you think he is defining the office of the presidency, at least for this time, as basically that of commander in chief? That <...> if you're going to run against him, you'd better be ready to take away from him.

<...>

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, Bob Dornan, you were a congressman all those years. Here's a president who's really nonverbal. He's like Eisenhower. He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy costume he wears when he goes West. I remember him standing at that fence with Colin Powell. Was the best picture in the 2000 campaign?

So, he may have opposed the war, but he loved the war president. that's a big difference, I suppose, to cheerlead a war after you claim you don't support it and claim Bush is some sort of matinee idol for being a war criminal.

[RainDog]

22. so we see the reality is that you couldn't read my post

because I said he was all moist in his shorts of the "mission accomplished" moment and, yes, I WAS RIGHT and you now have the quotes that show you that I did, in fact, know what I was talking about.

my sexual innuendo is not appreciated? I made no sexual innuendo toward you or anyone else. sorry if my choice of words somehow offended your sensibilities when talking about someone cheering on a crime against humanity - which is exactly what invading another nation on false pretenses/as a war of aggression is - then grandstanding with "mission accomplished."

that's why the UN put the curtain over Picasso's Guernica painting, remember? That painting that memorialized the crimes of the fascists in Spain.

no wonder the quality of posts is what it is here at DU when people cannot read a post and understand what someone says.. "mission accomplished" is part of Tweety's hall of shame moments. He did that, not me. I'm just remembering the facts.