"Forget Clapping. How About Not Taking a Dump on Obama?"

[Pirate Smile]

Forget Clapping. How About Not Taking a Dump on Obama?

by deaniac83
Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 05:33:07 PM PDT
Crossposted from The People's View.

Today, Markos has a post up about the 10 point gap GOP has opened up in the Congressional generic ballot. In it, he cannot resist the temptation to take his latest dump on President Obama and the Democrats:

It's a slow motion car wreck in the works, and the best the White House and its allies can do is complain that we didn't clap loudly enough.

Clap, Markos? Really? Seriously, forget about clapping. How about not taking a dump on the Democratic President and the Democratic Congress as frequently as you can with no reason at all? Can you and your allies do that?

This isn't about clapping - although applause is more than warranted at the successes and triumphs this President and this Democratic Congress have been able to achieve even in the face of unified, vitriolic and violent right wing enmity ranging from challenging the President's citizenship to cutting off gas lines at the homes of families of Democratic members of Congress.

deaniac83's diary :: ::

- Health reform.
- Wall Street reform.
- Credit card reform.
- Ending combat operations in Iraq ahead of time, as troops head home.
- Ending torture under American custody.
- Saving the economy from falling into a second Great Depression.
- Saving the American auto industry.
- Growing American manufacturing jobs for the first time in a long time.
- Protecting and strengthening equal pay for women.
- Funding lifesaving embryonic stem cell research.
- Adding federal protection against crimes on the LGBT community for the first time in history.
- Putting DADT repeal on track.
- Requiring hospitals accepting Medicare or Medicaid to give equal treatment to same sex couples.
- Standing up to Arizona Republcans' racism in federal court.
- Single-handedly ensuring a $20 billion fund to make the BP Gulf spill victims whole.
- Restoring America's status in the world as the most admired country.

That's just in 20 months. But hey. Forget about clapping for a minute. Think of all the ways big names on the so-called "progressive" blogosphere and media have crapped on this administration and this Democratic majority. Not only do you jump at every chance to blame any adverse poll numbers on the White House, as you in the article referenced here, others have done worse.

Just recently, we saw a fly-by hit piece by David Dayen of FDL about how Speaker Pelosi had "committed" the House to a vote on the President's fiscal commission's recommendations, completely and thoroughly debunked by citizen k in a diary on Daily Kos, who pointed out it was a "Sense of the House" resolution, by nature non-binding. What response came from Markos and even Congress Matters? Nothing. Not a peep about the fly-by faux-journalism of FDL and David Dayen. Had the White House or any top Democrat made such a mistake, you could bet Daily Kos front pagers as well as other top bloggers would be right on top of it taking a fresh dump.

Over at PCCC, apparently the "bold" progressives are "bold" enough to make accusations contrary to facts on record about Tim Geitner opposing Elizabeth Warren to head the newly created consumer financial oversight board. They don't do their homework, rile up the paranoia, and the rest of the big name left bloggers sit idly by.

A couple of weeks ago, two badly written hit pieces (one of them attacking the USAID for helping develop the technology infrastructure of the civil war ravaged Sri Lanka and the other idiotically claiming that Obama is confrontational with the progressives) on the Obama administration by David Sirota went unchallenged by the big name bloggers. I ended up writing response pieces for both. Once again, the other big names on the left blogosphere remained eerily silent, constituting what I believe to be cynical consent.

The examples abound. We had popular big-name hired bloggers were calling for health reform to be killed if a weak-kneed public option couldn't be part of it, including threats to primary progressive Democrats if they voted for heath reform. We had an FDL-Fox News alliance to drive a dagger through the heart of health reform, one that thankfully was repelled.

Credit card reform? Hardly mentioned. Wall Street reform? Never good enough. DADT repeal? Not fast enough, ergo, sellout. You pick the issue. There's no satisfying the ideologues in the leftier-than-thou crowd.

It's not just the blogs either. The likes of Ed Schultz and Cenk Uygur have been hosting shows on cable news excoriating the President for, I kid you not, not standing up for working people when it's this President and this Democratic Congress that have stood alone on the side of working people.

Ed Schultz went from suggesting that the health reform bill be killed to eventually supporting it to now suggesting that liberals stay home this November if the Democrats are not able to expand unemployment benefits for people who have been unemployed for more than 99 weeks -- even though it is Democrats that are making an effort to do so. Dylan Ratigan has had to be set straight by Ezra Klein on the cost of health insurance for most people once the exchanges are open. And of course, he doesn't know the difference between a presidential commission and a Congressional panel.

At every turn, President Obama has villainized by the professional big-name left ideologues, called a sellout at best and a Bush-lite corporatist at worst. The issues or the merits of the issues almost don't matter. More often than not, it's witch hunt - or at least, a hunt for an excuse -- any excuse -- to fit the President into the narrative of an inept, unprincipled narrative. At every turn, an attempt to paint the Democratic majority demonic for the legislative compromises they have had to make in the face of uniform right wing noise machine and legislative opposition. At every turn, the propensity to stand opposed.

In other words, at every opportunity, the big names on the leftier-than-thou blogs have perfected the art of taking a dump of the administration and Congress -- one might even say to the point of getting it down to a science.

Another thing. Being a "Democratic blog, a partisan blog" explicitly dedicated to electing involves a certain degree of loyalty, and an actual commitment to Democrats, especially in the time when Democrats are under attack by a right wing media machine, rather than joining that drumbeat. Let's face facts: this is not the time to play the blame game - each one of us can do a lot to ensure that Democrats remain in power in Congress. But if you are interested in the blame game, know that a good share of the blame on Democratic losses without a doubt will belong to the frequent dumps taken on the administration and the Democratic Congress as a whole by the big-name ideological left's members.

Self-plug: You can read this and other thoughts of mine on my blog, The People's View. You can also follow me on Twitter @thepeoplesview.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/31/897916/-Forget-Clapping.-How-About-Not-Taking-a-Dump-on-Obama

[FSogol]

1. K & R n/t

[babylonsister]

2. Rec'd and bookmarked. Thanks! nt

[Pirate Smile]

19. Here is a good one - referenced in the Diary above - calling out the BS on the "Catfood Commission":

Catfood commission and BS narratives (update)

ShareNew 0by citizen k
Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 10:17:32 AM PDT

The pitch on July 1 was totally misleading.

FDL has learned that in a last minute move, Nancy Pelosi sneaked language into the rule that the House is voting on tonight regarding war funding.

Embedded in the rule is the requirement that the House will vote on the deficit commission’s recommendations in the lame duck session if they pass the Senate.

This is false: there was no "requirement". And discovering that fact was easy.

citizen k's diary :: ::
Here's the section heading.

(2) SENSE OF THE HOUSE ON DEFICIT REDUCTION.—
It is the sense of the House that—
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/...

and a "Sense of the House" resolution has no binding force at all.
http://www.c-span.org/...

Indeed the other items in this Sense of the House list are pious declarations that the budget should be balanced, the budgets should be prepared in time- they could have added suggestions that the New York Knicks should play better and airline food should be less disgusting without making any difference.

But Netroots has a narrative, by golly, so FDL amplified the betrayal story on July 2.

and (in a controversial move) “Commits the House to vote on any Senate-passed recommendations of the bipartisan Fiscal Commission and that net savings from any Commission recommendations will go to deficit reduction.”

Speaker Pelosi had already promised on numerous occasions that the recommendations of the cat food commission would get a House vote. But adding statutory language is pretty obscene. If the package is particularly distasteful, say an all-cuts measure that lowers benefits for Social Security, Pelosi will be statutorily obligated to put up the vote even if a majority of her caucus disagrees with it.
http://news.firedoglake.com/...

And Americablog ratcheted up the righteous indignation at yet another Democratic betrayal.

here you have it — whatever the Pete Peterson–controlled Deficit Commission & Cat Food Industry Employment Club shoves through the Senate, that bill will automatically get a vote in the House. This means the "work till you're 70" recommendation, and the "don't ask for last year's benefits, 'cause Less is the new More" budget fix — already positioned as the "mildest" of the deficit fixes — is a near certainty.

Unless you're currently a senior (who always votes), you're had.

All thanks to Nancy Pelosi. So she's in it too. It takes a Democrat to kill Social Security, and that's what's going to happen.
http://www.americablog.com/...

And by now the story of this statutory requirement has been retold in thousands of comments on DailyKos alone. Sadly, David Waldman sounded a note of caution.

I say it appears to commit the House only because the language of H.Res. 1493 is styled as a Sense of the House provision, which is ultimately non-binding
http://www.congressmatters.com/...

And apparently in response Dayen added an undated update with a reluctant walkback.

UPDATE II: I’m getting some new information that the planned vote on the cat food commission isn’t quite statutory. It’s part of the one-year budget outline and isn’t really binding, just a statement that the House should vote on Senate-passed recommendations in the lame-duck session.

I love that "new information". Apparently, sources indicate that there may be a section heading in the text which is published on the web and that heading may indicate that all that "statutory" stuff was, well, not quite accurate.

Of course anyone could innocently make a mistake in the service of a compelling narrative like "We're betrayed and doomed", but even on this story there's not just one "mistake". Here's another "mistake" which shows how the Netroots "journalists" cooperate with MSM "journalists" to build the narrative.

Well this is encouraging. Dick Durbin is one of the “liberals” on the President’s Debt Commission, which is currently studying cuts to Social Security and Medicare as a way to reduce the deficit.

And he certainly has mastered the fine art of messaging to the Democratic base:

(Durbin) admonished “bleeding heart liberals” to be open to program reductions to restore fiscal balance.

Thanks, Dick. It is just so wonderful that the Democrats swept Congress and the White House in 2008. God knows what the Republicans would be saying about us.

While Durbin turns the hippie-kicking up to 11, Peter Orszag still nurtures his dream of cutting Medicare and Social Security in order to balance the budget and reduce the deficit.

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/...

The speech is online too and the words "program reductions" do not follow "bleeding heart liberals"

"bleeding heart liberals need to open their minds to what it takes to inspire competition and real growth in our economy"

http://durbin.senate.gov/...
In fact, Durbin mostly talks about the problems of income inequality and how American workers are not being paid enough and he specifically cites the famous collapse in 1938 following premature scale-back of the New Deal as a lesson to be learned. So this "mistake" works like this:

(1)Durbin says "inspire competition and real growth"
(2) The New York Times says "open to program reductions"
(3)FDL says "open to medicare and social security cuts"

The NYT gives us their narrative that everyone sensible knows that programs need to be cut and the Netroots chimes in with their complementary narrative of how the Democrats have betrayed us again yadda yadda yadda. And see how little has to be fabricated? Nice. Grover Norquist must be so proud.

UPDATE:
Note that the very strong case Dick Durbin made for a progressive view of economics and social policy - a case that should have wide appeal - was totally suppressed by both the MSM and the supposedly "progressive" blogs. We get a lot of complaints about the Administration not getting a message out and this is a perfect example of why that is so difficult.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/8/28/896994/-Catfood-commission-and-BS-narratives-(update)

[babylonsister]

22. That needs its own thread. Thank you! nt

[Pirate Smile]

29. I'll post it since I don't know if it was ever posted here.

(and I can still copy it with all the block-quotes included. :D

[tabatha]

3. If they are dumping on Obama

then they will only have themselves to thank if the country is handed over to something far worse.

[jaxx]

4. K&R

It seems to me that nothing will make some people happy so they sit around and demand and do their damnedest to knock everything Obama does. Where has it gotten them? Relegated to the fringe, the constant carpers.

[CTLawGuy]

5. K&R

NT

[FrenchieCat]

6. Yep...taking a dump on the President,

for all of these many months,
and are now about to "act" surprised of what will be
the outcome in November.....
Like a pile-on isn't really a pile-on, when that's all it is.

[boppers]

7. This is what Gibbs was talking about.

Expect a lot of "who, who, me?" to start popping up, though.

[xchrom]

8. Unrec. Nt

[babylonsister]

23. So explain. Why? Who will do better, who is trying as hard as

he can, who????

[depakid]

28. One of the criticisms that resonates loudly

-because it's supported by actions and omissions on the record- is that the administration isn't trying and isn't fighting but rather has shown a persistent pattern of offering up preemptive concessions to the corporate right.

Indeed, at times they've been perceived (accurately) as carrying the corporate right's water and advocating their proposals on everything from offshore drilling to financial reform.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

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

[depakid]

36. ...

We've been warning about what would happen if the administration and the Dems followed this patterns since- oh, about February and March of 2009.

Not surprising- and eminently foreseeable that instead of relegating Republicans to the fringe for a generation, Democrats find themselves in this situation.

[bluestateguy]

9. Your post is too generous to Obama and Kos's is too harsh on him

And I'm sure that statement will please nobody.

[Pirate Smile]

13. Well, the truth is usually somewhere in between but with opinions, you know, everybody's got one.

:)

[babylonsister]

24. And oh so convenient for you. nt

[Pisces]

10. Well said!!! K & R

[stevedeshazer]

11. +1

[firedupdem]

12. Most Excellent! n/t

[Born_A_Truman]

14. K/R ...

Another thing. Being a "Democratic blog, a partisan blog" explicitly dedicated to electing involves a certain degree of loyalty, and an actual commitment to Democrats, especially in the time when Democrats are under attack by a right wing media machine, rather than joining that drumbeat.

.
.
.
.
I need a cig.


:applause:

[Cha]

15. deaniac takes on the

professional leftists! Thanks Pirate Smile..this is Awesome!

[AtomicKitten]

16. For real. Thnx.

[jillan]

17. I'm not happy with everything Obama has - or hasn't done - BUT I am getting sick of everyone taking

dumps on him.

Geez - why can't Dems vow to fight harder to get more progressives elected rather than piss and moan - and dump - about the ones we have.

I DO NOT want the repugs to be in power ever, ever again & I am more involved now than any other time in the past to get more Dems elected in November.

[flamingdem]

18. That's great, we need to switch into action mode, there's still time nt

[Pirate Smile]

20. Today is the last day in the dreaded "August". It would be nice if we could kick it into gear for 2

months - it is only two friggin months until election day November 2nd.

I wish we could focus on what we obviously should be focused on - holding the House and Senate - and drop the circular firing squad just until November 3rd.

[jillan]

26. AMEN!! It's time to kick it into high gear - especially with all these damn polls that keep coming

out.

I have not been worried about us losing the house and possibly the Senate - but now I am getting a little nervous.

On Nov 3rd, no matter what happens, I want to go to sleep knowing I did all I could to get Dems elected.

[babylonsister]

27. Thank you, Pirate Smile, for getting to the nub. I wish we could ALL

focus on the enemy vs. Obama, though there are folks here who think he is it. :(

[paulk]

30. a lot of people fought really hard to get Obama elected

because they thought he was a progressive

rather than the right leaning centrist he's turned out to be

and that's at the root of a lot of the dissatisfaction with him

[babylonsister]

34. So. Would all those people be happier if they voted for ___?

What is your answer? Who would be better, because you sure as heck don't like this prez.

[paulk]

39. learn how to debate

rather than always posting the first thing that pops into your head.

[babylonsister]

41. Debate what?

Who would be better than this President who has worked so hard? Who do you think might be a better candidate?

You tell me, oh wise one. :rofl:

[paulk]

58. address what I posted

I never said anything about McCain or a better candidate - stick to the topic at hand instead of changing the subject.

------------

Show some respect for the person you are arguing with.

The personal jibes that have become the calling card of Obama's more partisan supporters also don't reflect well on your ability to have an adult conversation.

[Bluenorthwest]

67. I think they teach the mean at OFA

[jillan]

35. And that's why we have to keep working harder to get true progressives elected.

Bitching about Obama is not going to help keep Dems in power. I'd rather have Obama in office over McCain. And I definitely don't want the Orange Boner as speaker of the house.

[paulk]

46. we worked pretty hard here in Colorado

to get Andrew Romanoff as the Democratic Senate candidate.

He was the more progressive of the two Democrats running -

Obama had other ideas -as outlined in this article - please read this

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-swenson/restoring-democratic-elec_b_690682.html

there are reasons - very real reasons - people are upset with Barrack Obama

-----

of course we'd rather have him in office rather than McCain - that is not even a point for discussion


-----------


but that doesn't mean we have to blindly accept everything he says and does - and it doesn't mean that criticism of him ("bitching" in your words) translates into Democratic losses this fall. The Democratic Party, as a whole, has plenty of blame to share for it's performance

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

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

[paulk]

43. I've never been a "right leaning centrist"

I never saw much point in attacking Democrats while the Republicans were in power, so perhaps you misinterpreted my positions during the Bush years.

[ibegurpard]

33. why?

because our OWN PARTY IS FIGHTING THE EFFORTS to make that happen.

[progressoid]

21. "a certain degree of loyalty, and an actual commitment to Democrats"

Huh, I was thinking the same thing. Except I was thinking about a certain degree of loyalty to those people that helped get them elected, and an actual commitment to Democratic ideals.

But hey, that's just me.

[TheKentuckian]

32. That stuff isn't important just idolizing a corporate politician

They got a hyperlink, The List™, a wipe, and a dangle.

[babylonsister]

42. Funny thing about that, tell me why the corps hate him, if he's

so into them? Hmmm?

[TheKentuckian]

45. Because they are petty, greedy, vile, shortsighted, and rather stupid

They know he has done them absolutely no harm but are so fucking spoiled that the wag of the finger routine upsets them, they rankle at even token regulation, and they want every fucking cent of their ill gotten gains.

They are spoiled rotten children who rebel from the lax parent as soon as even the most gentle suggestion at correction is made.

Obama meekly suggests even the most basic structures that enhance their long term viability and they throw tantrums like all overindulged brats.

Even crappy parents occasionally might offer correction and Wall Street reacts just as one would expect.

There is a such thing as a spectrum and while Obama may be extremely lenient, they feel the likes of Boner will be a more comfy free for all daddy.

[laughingliberal]

47. +1 nt

[depakid]

25. One thing that might be helpful is to stop calling those you want to motivate

"so called" progressives.

and then railing on them!

Bottom line: that was one utterly clueless tantrum- though the OP is (quite unintentionally) indicative of why Democrats are set to lose- and lose big.

[suzie]

73. Some people might think that endless criticism, every day, of every thing that Obama has done

since before he was even elected might be indicative of a very long clueless tantrum.

[Whisp]

37. excellent, excellent. thank you! k&r

[SeattleGirl]

38. Amen to that!

If people spent half the time working to get more Dems into office and/or helping those already in to STAY in, instead of just dumping on Obama et al, I think we would see good results in November.

[FrenchieCat]

44. Many have worked hard for their self-fullfiling prophecy that

Dems will lose in November....apart from the work
the media and the GOP have been doing.

Same folks aren't about to let go now,
as being proven right is like gold (goal) to them now.....
and this has become much more important than the realities of
the tragedy of what we will all experience
once they have proven themselves "right".

[suzie]

74. +1,000,000

[DemocraticPilgrim]

48. Yeah it's getting excessive the critique on Pres. Obama when he's done more than most Presidents....

Alan Colmes seems like the only pro Pres. Obama guy out there right now. Although his defense of his corporate overlords is cringey, but as he has said it's Conservative networks you can reach the biggest audience. And he does the right thing, challenging conservatives than talking to choir of the left. We can't afford to be demoralized and Colmes seems to get that.

[JoeyT]

49. People wouldn't dump on him quite so much if they didn't have so many reasons to.

Refusal to prosecute for war crimes. Complicity in war crimes. Assassinating American citizens without trials. Indefinite detention seems to be ok. Warrantless wiretapping is perfectly ok with them. All from someone that promised to return us to the rule of law and respect the constitution.
And that's JUST on the civil liberties front.

Edited to add: It's funny. The same stuff that caused massive rage at Bush is now not only ok, but actively defended. All while mocking the people that don't think it's ok for anyone to do it, no matter what their party affiliation.

[MissDeeds]

51. + 1000000 n/t

[Raksha]

69. Another +10000

[deaniac83]

50. Thank you

For giving my piece voice here. I really appreciate it! The leftier-than-thou's have been berating Obama supporters as people who want others to just "clap louder." It's been unbearable. And Markos' uncalled for banter today just put me over the top, so I did this post.

If you will indulge me, I'm going to post a link to my blog so people can check it out! :-) http://www.thepeoplesview.net

[Pirate Smile]

52. Thank you!

:toast:

[LostinVA]

56. "The leftier-than-thou's"

Irony alert.

:eyes:

[Name removed]

71. Deleted message

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

[LaydeeBug]

53. Um...how about if Obama stops taking a DUMP on US?

:eyes:

[Kahuna]

55. How is the president taking a dump on you?

Serious question.

[LaydeeBug]

57. Here is how he has taken a dump on us (serious answer)

Turned a blind eye to WAR CRIMES. Has bent over backwards to compromise with Republicans, who get everything they want in the legislation, only to have NONE of them support the final bill (countless times, and you know it). If we are not getting ANY of their votes, why let them have their way?

HIS PERFORMANCE, or lack thereof, in this HCR was an absolute fucking JOKE. I mean...horrible.

Van Jones doesn't have a job. Alan Simpson does.

Oh Geeez, I could go on and on and on, but have a day to get about....yes, Obama has thrown his base under the bus time and time again.

I still support the president. But I will be God-Damned if someone's gonna tell me that criticizing the BULLSHIT he has pulled while in office is somehow a reflection on ME. The onus is on HIM to be who he campaigned to be, not on ME to walk lockstep with Republican ideas.

While we're on Republican ideas...how about him putting TORTE REFORM on the table on LIVE FUCKING TELEVISION? What did we get for that horrible horrible, sloppy teabagging? Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing.

[BeyondGeography]

60. So, he's basically governing as a Republican, but you still support him, to boil it all down

:silly:

[LaydeeBug]

61. I support making him be the man, and the conduit of change that we NEED him to be

I support CALLING HIM OUT on that bullshit, but NOT a primary challenger. I'm old enough to remember that had Ted Kennedy stayed out of it, Ronald Reagan probably would not have beat Carter. I do not support ponies. I need a stallion. :)

[Kahuna]

77. And how is that taking a dump on "YOU?" That was the question. nt

[LaydeeBug]

78. and I explained EXACTLY how. Applying YOUR parameters, how am *I* taking a dump on HIM? nt

[Inuca]

54. I could not agree more

Thanks deaniac and thanks Pirate :-), I could comment so much on this, but there is no time, morning coffee almost over and have to get going. Just wanted to say that I find Ed Schultz increasingly unbearable to listen to (my afternoon comute, on my wonderful little XM radio), and Uygur is even worse. Cheap demagoguery is bad and stupid, whether it's from the right or the left. When it's from the right it makes me feel like screaming and usually I just cannot stand it for more than a few minutes and I have to switch, it makes me feel very close to literally sick. When it is from the left, I feel embarassed and irritated, these are supposed to be "my guys", and we are supposed to be better and smarter. Simplistic, I know...

[JoePhilly]

59. While we fight us, the GOP LAUGHS ITS ASS OFF.

[suzie]

75. It's been that way from the so-called progressive Left as long as I can

remember, and I'm a baby boomer.

[smiley_glad_hands]

62. K&R. eom

[JNelson6563]

63. The fatalists are getting on my nerves.

Assholes all. Never lift a finger to do anything, too busy playing the role of shit flinging monkeys.

Julie

[Tarheel_Dem]

64. Thanks for posting this Pirate Smile. The "liberaler-than-thou's" screaming

about this president not prosecuting war crimes, told us in 2000 that there was no difference between Gore & Bush, and we've seen this play before. The irony is, they still blame Al Gore, the USSC, and everyone else, but accept no responsibility for their part in Bush being (s)elected in the first place. I have a feeling that if we had paid no attention to them back then, we might be in a much different place right now.

Make no mistake, the "leftosphere" is only looking out for itself, and their revenue streams. Doesn't matter who's in office, as long as the "professional left" gets their payday. Recommended.

[NJmaverick]

65. K & R!

[Bobbie Jo]

66. Amen, sister.

Thanks for posting.

K&R :kick:

[Bluenorthwest]

68. So tired of the toilet imagery

Really, disgusting images. The signature of the defense committee.

[yodermon]

70. Yeah!!! *kick* those damn fucking retarded professional leftists who wanna ban the pentagon

kick 'em till they smile and ask for more!!

[woo me with science]

72. You forgot "drug-addled." nt

[Warren Stupidity]

76. The reasons why the democratic party is going to lose a lot of seats

in congress this fall do not include the "villianization..by professional big-name left ideologues". They do include an ongoing economic disaster as reason number one.

The massive message mangling by this administration hasn't helped, nor has the endless bending over backwards in some massively misguided attempt to gain bipartisan support where none is to be found, which has resulted in legislation that is so hopelessly compromised that it is barely supportable even by our 'fierce advocates' here on this board.

The demonizing of the progressive wing of the democratic party certainly is not something that boosts morale or encourages us to work to mitigate the defeat we are about to suffer. People here who categorize themselves as 'solidarity democrats' sure have a hard time with being inclusive.

If you want to blame the upcoming disaster on the left, the nearly nonexistent unorganized left, rather than the course this administration has taken over the last 20 months, have fun with that, but know that you are engaged in delusional thinking.