Greenwald's opinion as to why the administration has been bashing the left so much lately

[Mefistofeles]

The purpoase: to blame them for what the administration sees as an imminent loss in the congressional elections:

GREENWALD (9-28-2010): "What's going on here seems clear. Each time there is a Democratic loss on the horizon, White House officials find someone to blame other than Obama; that happened with Martha Coakley, Creigh Deeds, and a whole slew of other Democratic defeats. By incessantly complaining now about the "irresponsible" "whiners" who aren't sufficiently grateful to the Obama White House, they seem to be setting up in advance a nice excuse for Democratic defeat in November: it wasn't anything we did to cause this; it was the fault of those whiny, unrealistic irresponsible liberals who didn't cheerlead loudly enough. What seems to matter most is that Obama be exonerated for the Democrats' electoral woes, even though he clearly bears substantial responsibility for much of it."

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/28/obama/index.html

[notadmblnd]

1. I've heard that Democrats want to lose the Senate

They think by losing the Senate, it will make 2012 easier for them.

[gkhouston]

4. You know, I've studied logic and that doesn't make a bit of sense.

Are they running their strategy using a Magic 8-Ball? Without some solid legislative accomplishments in the next 2 years, they will go down in flames in 2012.

[librechik]

15. I'd love it if the Senate got lost--forever.

Why on earth do we need this antiquated apple in the throat of Congress? Oh, yeah, to protect the rich from the exuberance of the masses.

FUCK THEM

[sadbear]

27. We're between a rock and a hard place

If the republican tea party takes the Senate this year, in '12 they'll be able to convince THEIR base that Democrats are obstructionists and that they need a supermajority to enact their agenda. And guess what? They'll give it to them. If we retain the Senate this year, there's no way the republican tea party will let anything helpful pass and the Democrats will get blamed AGAIN.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Let's be clear this is NOT Obama... or rather NOT JUST OBAMA

those of us who have been paying attention have seen this pattern since at least 1994 and the true ascendancy of the third way.

It could not be the third way (DLC) ... after all. So it must be the hippies.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Greenwald's opinion...

stopped reading right there.

[leveymg]

8. Tell us, please, when and how has he been wrong about these things?

Unless, of course, it's just your opinion that you don't like what he has to say.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. He's got a blatant lie right in that same line.

"bashing the left so much lately" is a fucking obvious lie.

[leveymg]

12. You say the WH hasn't been bashing the left, the "professional left", and the "whining left, lately?

How is that a blatant lie?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. It's a lie because it's untrue. It's a falsehood. It's a blatant misrepresentation of the facts.

Somebody would need shit for brains to believe it, and to expect anybody else to believe it.

[leveymg]

19. You're welcome to your opinion. EOM

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Could you cut the crap, please?

[indepat]

33. Yeah, let's all ease up on the crap and stick to the facts, please

:patriot:

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SidDithers]

38. +1...nt

Sid

[KoKo]

18. don't expect a coherent answer.... n/t

[leveymg]

21. I don't. n/t

:eyes:

[patrice]

46. Right on. Same old bullshit around here from folks who apparently want something for nothing.

[emilyg]

I kept reading. Maybe you

should, too.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. The man's a fraud.

Maybe you should wake up.

[grahamhgreen]

39. With an attitude like that, it's easy to see why we're getting our hats handed to us.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. It's pre-emptive CYA. Blame the left for their failures and sellouts. K&R

[sonomak]

6. Of course - "we lost because the drug-addled hippies were too lazy to show up"

But guess what... The kids and the soccer moms are not too motivated either. Damn sellouts.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. You all can easily motivate the youth vote.

If they had any idea what strong-willed, older, mostly male, autocrats are doing to squeeze the last of the commons for personal gain, the young would be in an uproar.

But no one has given them the clear signal that it's okay to question authority. Or in this case, authoritay.

[flyarm]

41. CNN had a gallup poll today..it is White women who are most disenchanted! by large margins.

Oh and that would be WHITE Democratic women.

[gratuitous]

10. They think it becomes a win-win

If they punch the hippies early and often, and then lose a majority in one house of Congress or the other, then they get to spend two more years gleefully punching the hippies and ruling as Republican Lite. If they punch the hippies and hang onto the House and the Senate, then they say, "See? We knew our grand 12-level Vulcan chess strategy would work, and get all you leftists out to vote. Now that you've returned us to office, we see this as a whole-hearted endorsement of everything we've done in the last two years, and we will . . . rule as Republican Lite."

Yeah, I'm going to vote. And I'll vote for the Democrats. It's not an endorsement of these shenanigans. And if the White House and the party leadership thought it was fucking retarded for us to back Bill Halter over Blanche Lincoln (for example), wait until they see what happens in 2012 if they treat our vote as an endorsement of their half-assed program of appeasement of the yammering yokels.

[KoKo]

11. IOWDS: "Don't be stupid, quit your bitching and vote for me."

I agree with David Dayen...How could this possibly be a message a President would want to send to his Party Members who are preparing for a Mid-Term election? It's both defeatist in tone and demoralizing to the spirits of Dem Activists and Dem Voters who working hard for Dem Candidate in their states. It's especially hard on those of us in Red States trying to keep ourselves pumped up to stop A Tea Party onslaught taking out candidates we need to keep in the House. I have to think that Greenwald has a point. They are so scared of Tea Partiers winning that they want to cover their butts by doing a pre-emptive strike on we Democrats out here for not being enthusiastic enough...just whiners and moaners when it's THEY that are doing the whining and moaning.


--------

Greenwald UPDATE: David Dayen has an excellent post on all of this:

I would just add that I've never seen a politician run an election with the message "Don’t be stupid, quit your bitching and vote for me." This goes orders of magnitude beyond "Here are the stakes, my opponent would vote against everything you care about." That at least has a certain time-tested quality. That would make the election a choice and not a referendum. But "vote for me, you simpletons"? There's a reason that strategy has never been employed: because it's so insane to think that open berating would inspire a voter to action.

Read Dayen's whole post, as he also analyzes Obama's civil liberties "defense" in that Rolling Stone interview. Also well worth reading is Blue Texan's critique of the White House's base-directed messaging, and suggestions for how it could be vastly improved.

[chimpymustgo]

25. This deserves its own OP: Don't be stupid, quit your bitching and vote for me. Helluva strategy.

[young but wise]

13. unrec

I don't agree with this.

[KoKo]

14. Then why don't you say why you don't agree? It's more important to just hit "Unrec?"

..and be sure you tell folks on the thread about it? :shrug:

[young but wise]

24. I basically, think that the President and Vice President just want us to vote.

I just think Greenwald seems paranoid, it's not that serious.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Off year elections ALWAYS have lower turn out

and it trends towards older and white.

And you are telling me that somebody who's been involved in politics don't get it and he's been paranoid?

There is a pattern from the Democratic party to blame the left every time they lose power. That pattern goes to at least 1994, if not earlier.

It is at least 1994... but you saw some of these blames all the way to 1980... and you are telling me that Greenwald is paranoid... okie dokie.

[young but wise]

29. Yes, I am.

It's my opinion, and you don't have to agree.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. As they saying goes, you got a right to your opinion

but not to your own facts.

[flyarm]

44. many of us are Older But Wiser..we have been around to see these patterns for ..oh like..

30-40 years! and many many election cycles.

[flyarm]

43. It was actually when Dems crossed over and voted for Reagan!eom

[Lilith Velkor]

48. Nixon, actually.

[gratuitous]

36. At least you own your unrec

I can respect that. But as I mentioned above, my main concern is that when Democrats turn out to vote and keep Democrats in the majority*, the administration will treat that as an endorsement of every policy and proposal they've had so far, which is simply not true. But it will be used as a cudgel to treat anyone who wants something more as the enemy. And so we'll be in for two more years of "you ain't seen nothin' yet."

*I did some research and I found out that a vote cast while holding your nose counts just as much as a vote cast while pumping your fist and saying "Fuck YEAH!"

[PVnRT]

17. Bingo

[Individualist]

30. Greenwald is spot on.

DLC is going all out to give republicans control of Congress.

[bluestateguy]

32. Martha Coakley and Creigh Deeds lost their elections all by themselves

Same goes for John Corzine. It's not Obama's job to bail out every Democrat who runs a Dukakis style campaign.

[laughingliberal]

34. K & R nt

[PopSixSquish]

35. The Same Greenwald Who Was Absolutely Convinced that the Elizabeth Warren Appt was a Sham

and that she was going to get bowled over by Geithner and Summers?

Summers is leaving and Geithner probably goes after the mid-terms and Warren by all accounts is off to a great start.

Greenwald needs to clean his crystal ball a little more...

[treestar]

37. Can't the left take it? They've been bashing Obama for two years.

they can dish it out but not take it.

[grahamhgreen]

40. No, we've been pushing him since he expanded the wars, and boned us on HCR, and failed to close Gitm

Gitmo, etc.

[Lilith Velkor]

50. So have the right, to a truly insane level - yet the admin does not bash them

That's the thing about bullies - they're COWARDS.

[ibegurpard]

42. it's the only explanation that makes sense

It sure as shit isn't going to motivate anyone

[Timbuk3]

45. Obama only gets one vote

...just like you and me.

So, Glenn's right, in a way. If we don't GOTV in November, it's OUR fault, not Obama's, when we move from "disappointed" to "despair".

Seriously, Glenn Greenwald nuked the fridge the day Obama was elected.

[patrice]

47. A significant proportion of this stuff is coming from folks who want to

have a "seat at the table" only because they call themselves "the Left" and for no other reason. Something for nothing. While the rest of us give something for something: real, time consuming, physical, work and real votes for real longitudinal relationships along with all that implies, including our own commitment to our own values as Liberal and Progressives that we bring to those relationships.

[HEyHEY]

49. They're doing it to gain support and look right win to swing voters.

[democracy1st]

51. K & R