I can't help but think.................................

there's a hint of truth in Dubya's statement. The Dems are wasting a lot of time, money and lives (God how I wish they were standing at the stock pile of dead bodies in Irac) IMO, the priority business at hand is to get his carcass out of the White House...................and until today, I am confused as to why the Dems can't respond to the majority. For example..............the Dems finally discovered on October 25th what their oath was all about..............W'allahi....somebody please send them a dump truck full of smart pills..............."Wake Up America!!!!!"..............Listen Up America, Dubya has always been a Fkrhead and always will be....................he will never make a decision unless he benefits from it...............even the Mexicans know that......................

by Ernest (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 132 comments) on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 9:50:20 AM
 

be that as it may

What Dubya has in mind as a "waste of time" is not those things at all.  The alleged waste of time is investigating the Bushite crimes, the systematic assault on the Constitution and the rule of law by this regime.

by Andrew Bard Schmookler (314 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 146 comments) on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 10:35:21 AM
 

It is you that wastes time

in your continuing defense of the indefensible incompetency and complicity of the Democratic Party you refuse to see correctly.

From Robs latest effort here:

[Rhamm] Emanuel has actually said that-- that Bush in power is good for Democrats and that the war is good for democrats.

and:

Kucinich:
But the leadership has made it very clear that they are not going to cut off funds.
They made it clear that they are not going to tell the president that they are not going to fund it. They are going to keep funding it and keep funding it under the notion that notion-- under the fatal notion that this is the way to support the troops.

The Democratic Party is clearly a part and parcel of the problem, and not a way to achieve a soolution. It is a real pity that an intelligent person like you fails to see this, or worse, has some ulterior motive in ignoring the blatantly obvious. Do you Andy?

by ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 10:55:17 AM
 

Lighting candles and cursing darkness

Blast away, Ardee. I'm sure you've wrath enough to target millions.

Sure, the Democrats are part of the problem. Just this week, a piece of mine was headlined here that included the Democrats in my lament that all of the components of the American body politic --the people, the press, the Congress, most especially including the cowardly and ineffectual Democrats-- have failed to respond to the Bushite tyrannical power in the way our Founders intended.

Perhaps in your view the reason for the Democrats' failure is that they are just another part of the very same fascist force as the Bushites. I see it otherwise, as I've argued here in another piece I've posted within the past month. I see it as a function mostly of fear, and of an inability to see how they can find strength and strategy to defeat the Bushites. (And I see that fear and lack of vision, in turn, as a result of a lack of real spiritual connection.)

It is on the basis of that view that I think it potentially constructive to provide the Democrats with strategies and rhetoric, as in this present little piece.

If you are simply dismissive of the Democrats as inevitably and inextricably part of the problem, one of the consequences of that dismissal is that you are left with NO ALLIES within the realm of power. You are marooned in an almost hopeless position, being just one individual against a monolithic fascist state.

Unless somehow you can imagine getting another, presumably strong and virtuous political party up and running, backed by a large portion of the American population (which has also been a major "part of the problem"), and thus to accomplish something that hasn't been achieved in American politics for a century and a half.

by Andrew Bard Schmookler (314 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 146 comments) on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 11:21:51 AM
 

Wrong again oh proselytizer

My allies are legion..they are the people of this planet, yours are ultimately only the boards of directors that prop up your sham of a party. Calling my words wrathful, and misdirecting it to some (mythic) millions only shows your dark side clearly.

Of course I am angry, forty wasted years as a democrat tends to make one angry, I am angry at Pelosi and Reid for selling out after making election promises they never intended to keep. I am angry at democrats who consistently vote for Bush policies and who demonstrate all the bravery of the cowardly lion. I am most of all angry at a propagandist like you who claims the mantle of protest you never deserve while supporting your despicable party at every turn. You are a narrow minded man, Andrew, nothing less, one who lacks vision and one who continues to support failure. The good news is that we are leaving such as you behind...Goodbye Dodo.

by ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 6:07:27 PM
 

the cost of indulging the wrathful mind

Either I'm with you or I'm against you, eh?

If I offer strategy for the Democrats to use, so as to weaken and discredit the BUshite regime, that makes me a propagandist for the party, right? And if I offer rhetoric that they might employ to help the American people see the dark truth of these fascist forces, my even CONSIDERING them a potentially useful tool in this struggle means I support this despicable party "at every turn."

Here's what I wrote about the Democrats in a piece published here less than a week ago:

 

While the Bushites are making war on the system, the Democrats are pretending that we’re at peace. While this president continues to proclaim precisely the kind of powers that our Founders thought essential to keep out of the executive’s hands, lest the democracy collapse into tyranny, the Democrats have refused to challenge him fully.

The warriors on whom our Founders counted have quailed in the face of this unpopular but combative president. They have proved themselves too weak in message and vision and courage to speak boldly the truth about this crisis. They have shrunk from the necessary combat to save the soul of America.

 Some propagandist for the party, no?

Just as the Bushites use fear to reduce the American people to their primitive reptile brain, so also does anger cripple the human capacity to think clearly and rationally. Subtleties fall away. The appealing solutions are those of the fist and the sledge hammer. The world is seen in just black-and-white, and since most things in it are grey, the degree of distortion can be immense.

It's not a good frame of mind for succeeding in a complex struggle.

He who is fully enraged in a fight is likely to be readily out-maneuvered and defeated by an opponent who keeps his cool.

All this rage at me for suggesting to the Democrats that they can treat it as an opportunity to teach America when Bush accuses them of wasting time when they pursue his regime's criminality!

I'm angry, too, but I'd rather win this struggle than indulge my rage. So yes, by all means: you are quite welcome to leave me behind.

by Andrew Bard Schmookler (314 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 146 comments) on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 11:44:22 PM
 

Methinks thou doth protesteth overmuch

I am no newbie here, Andy, and thus I am very aware of your status as a long term Democratic apologist, as would anyone curious enough to review the body of your articles here and elsewhere.

Possibly the continued egregious cowardice and complicities of your party are beginning to weigh too heavily on your mind or conscience, good. You still refuse to see any solution to a system gone rancid with greed, corruption and the influence of money that doesnt include the Democratic Party, or have I missed any of your words in support of third party politics?

You are what you are Andy, as are we all. I can live with mine of you can live with yours and the fullness of time will judge which of us was more perceptive. You seem overly concerned with my anger, well I accuse you of not being angry enough, though defensive aplenty.

by ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Monday, October 29, 2007 at 8:55:59 AM
 

You're right

"You still refuse to see any solution to a system gone rancid with greed, corruption and the influence of money that doesnt include the Democratic Party..."

Yes, you're quite right about that. I can't see how in the political realm --which is to say in the realm of power-- there's a solution that doesn't require a key role to a political party that actually holds and wields power. And that means one of the two major parties (unless, as I said, something happens in the American political system that hasn't happened since the 1850s). And that means either the Republican or Democratic parties. And since the Republican Party is at this point --as Arianna Huffington argues-- now owned by a kind of lunatic fringe (I'd say by fascist forces, or as I'd say at a deeper level, the forces of evil), that leaves the Democratic Party as an indispensable instrument.

Whether we like it or not!

Are you thinking there's going to be a third party that will arise, contrary to historical experience?

Are you thinking that there's going to be some kind of overthrow of the existing system, whereby the power to steer the nation will be seized by some group both virtuous and from outside the established political order (contrary to any evidence whatever about the state of the American body politic)?

Or are you thinking that somehow we will find a "solution" to these problems that does not involve the political system at all?

(Logically, is there some other solution?)

The Democratic Party is profoundly flawed, reflective of a political system that's permeated by corrupting influences. The Democratic Party is largely animated by a petty spirit, and led by people without great vision, reflective of an American culture that has slid into spiritual and moral mire.

But one has to fight with the tools at hand. My position is not that the Democratic Party is so wonderful. It is that as deficient and unsatisfactory as it is, there is no alternative.

The solution requires an instrument that wields power, and I see no other such instrument --with even a fraction of the plausibility-- available to us. And in this world, what gets accomplished must of necessity be accomplished with the materials at hand.

by Andrew Bard Schmookler (314 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 146 comments) on Monday, October 29, 2007 at 10:55:33 AM
 

Hoisted on your own petard

I am sorry that you are of limited perspective. I am saddened that you cannot see beyond the status quo. I am appalled that you honestly believe that supporting corruption, dishonesty and greed will make things better in the end.

The only problem with third party political support is that it is a long term solution in a culture that expects immediacy in all things. Supporting the sick and sad Democrats is like banging one head against the wall, it feels soooo good to stop.

by ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 9:06:16 AM