Aug 10 2009

How Many Times?

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

Robin Wells . . .

Are we having fun yet?  Birthers, Limbaugh’s diatribe equating Obama to Hitler, fistfights at town halls, an enormous increase in death threats against the president.  And now our diva moment, with Sarah Palin–in full victimhood throttle–charging on Friday that an “Obama death panel” could deny health care and pass a death sentence on her Down syndrome child.

In an unbroken line from Goldwater to Limbaugh and Palin, the Republican Party has committed itself to scorched-earth tactics that have shredded the economic, political, and moral fabric of this country.

New millennium.  Same RePug tactics.    

blueintheface . . .

Rahm Emanuel, the man who dismissed the 50-state strategy that led to the political revolution that the 1994 Republicans could only dream about, the Democratic leader who made it his priority to nurse a petty grudge against the man who pioneered the grassroots internet campaign instrumental in Democrats gaining control of the House, Senate and Presidency, recently held a meeting to slam Democratic activists for pressuring the legislators who are holding up healthcare reform, calling their ads “fucking stupid”.

New millennium.  Same Democratic tactics.

The Health Insurers Have Already Won . . .

The insurance industry has succeeded in redefining the terms of the reform debate to such a degree that no matter what specifics emerge in the voluminous bill Congress may send to President Obama this fall, the insurance industry will emerge more profitable.

New millennium.  Same corporate fascism.

The fix is in . . .

One of Barack Obama’s chief allies in the United States Senate hinted on Sunday that a public insurance option could go by the wayside as Congress hammers out its health care legislation.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), one of the chamber’s foremost progressives, said that while he supported a government-run option for insurance, he was “open” to alternatives.

There ARE no alternatives.  The public option is the only doorway to real health care reform.  It’s the only doorway to single-payer.  But Durbin just slammed the door shut on the public option.  He didn’t slam that door shut on his own, Obama must have told him to slam it shut.  This is over.  

How many times have Democrats taken our campaign contributions and then slammed the door shut in our faces? How many times have Democrats we gave money to, phonebanked for, campaigned for, and defended from RePug attacks slammed that door shut?

How many times?

EVERY TIME.

That’s how many times.

   

Am I pissed off?  You’re fucking right I’m pissed off.

I’ve supported Democrats for 40 years.  Despite all their betrayals, I felt I had no choice.  I told myself they were the lesser of two evils.  I told myself incremental change is better than no change at all.  But nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change if progressives keep supporting the Democratic branch of the Corporate Fascist Party.

Obama talked the talk in 2008.  Democrats talked the talk.  I gave them one last chance to walk the walk.  They’re telling us they’re doing that, but the walking they’re doing now is the same walking they’ve always done.

One step forward.  

And two steps back.

It’s time for progressives to show Democrats what walking the walk looks like.  It’s time for us to walk out of the “Democratic” Party, it’s time for us to turn our backs on those moral cowards and walk into the future without them.      

21 comments

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  1. What you’ve got, they can’t steal it,

    No, they can’t even feel it,

    What you’ve got, they can’t deny it,

    Can’t sell it, or buy it.

    And I know it aches,

    And your heart it breaks,

    But you can only take so much,

    Walk out, walk out.

    Leave it behind

    You’ve got to leave it behind . . .

    Be strong.

    Walk on . . .

    • jamess on August 10, 2009 at 04:35
    • #

    Liberals Feeling Slighted

    Progressive Caucus Still Waiting for Obama Meeting

    By Tory Newmyer, Roll Call Staff – March 26, 2009

    Liberal House Democrats are stewing that they have yet to get face time with President Barack Obama, despite his whirlwind charm offensive that has ushered every other major faction of the Caucus into the White House for private meetings.

    “Members are either taking it as a slight, or that we’re irrelevant in the planning process,” said Rep. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

    With 77 members, the liberal bloc is the largest ideological subgroup in a famously fractious Caucus.

    […]

    Obama has already notched sit-downs with the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, the business-friendly New Democrat Coalition, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus – sessions that participants hailed as opportunities to outline their priorities face-to-face with the commander in chief and receive some commitments in return. During the CHC meeting, for example, Obama promised to hold an immigration forum, while with the New Democrats, he proclaimed, “I am a New Democrat.”

    […]

    “The fact that Obama has spent time courting House Republicans, the most legislatively irrelevant group on the Hill, and still hasn’t met with Progressives, the center core of his party – it’s incredible,” said David Sirota, a liberal columnist and former aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who founded the Progressive Caucus in the early 1990s when he served in the House.

    http://www.rollcall.com/issues…

    The Progressive Caucus and Obama

    posted by Katrina vanden Heuvel on 04/29/2009

    The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) met with President Obama for one hour in the East Room of the White House yesterday.

    CPC Co-Chair, Congressman Raúl Grijalva, said that 50 of the 77 Caucus members attended, and they honed in on two major issues: their commitment to only supporting a healthcare reform bill that includes a public plan option that is “more than a gesture”

    […]

    Rep. Grijalva said members made it clear that the Caucus’ support for any healthcare bill hinges on a public plan option that is “robust… [and] competitive with the private sector.” President Obama called himself “an ally”, but said it was up to Congress to deliver him the kind of bill to which the Caucus is committed.

    […]

    Rep. Grijalva is right. At a time when the significantly smaller Blue Dog Caucus threatens to impede passage of a much needed budget and real healthcare reform, the CPC’s work as a more unified team — allied with the work of millions of progressives across the country — could translate to real reform at the federal level.

    http://www.thenation.com/blogs…

    77 House members could shut down, a lot of broken promises …

  3. health care, economy, global warming, unwarranted wiretapping, etc., is the end result of a Military Industrial Media Corporate Complex (MIMC2) run amok. IMHO, (and a few other smart people), there is only one way out: breaking our energy addiction and becoming energy autonomous.

    There is major resistance against converting to renewable energy sources from the conventional energy suppiers. This is due to the fact that renewables are a distributed supply that is not centrally located and controlled. Because of this fact, conventional energy suppliers cannot be a part of a renewable energy paradigm and hence their continued resistance.

    It is, however, in the peoples better interest to break free from from the conventional energy whore because it is a form of control. Additionally, by removing ourselves from the oil man’s tit, we begin to break their political clout by removing our dollar votes. Best of all, this can be accomplished independently, regardless of any progressive political movements such as campaign reform, electing third party progressives, or a new constitutional convention.

  4. “If you’re not going to have a public option, don’t pretend you’re doing health care reform.”

  5. Pissed is pretty mild, I’d say!  No matter what, the “money” wins.  We Americans are good for three things, paying our taxes, getting f..ked over and over and over and to STFU!!

    David Sirota’s had it, too!

    The ‘Me-First, Screw You Crowd’ Are No Longer Hiding Their Antics

    By David Sirota, Creators Syndicate. Posted August 10, 2009.

    Finally, there’s no pretense. The ugliest traits of this despicable movement are there for all to behold.

    I know I should be mortified by the lobbyist-organized mobs of angry Brooks Brothers mannequins who are now making headlines by shutting down congressional town hall meetings. I know I should be despondent during this, the Khaki Pants Offensive in the Great American Health Care and Tax War. And yet, I’m euphorically repeating one word over and over again with a big grin on my face.

    Finally.

    Finally, there’s no pretense. Finally, the Me-First, Screw-Everyone-Else Crowd’s ugliest traits are there for all to behold.  . . . .

  7. Global control of money

    Global control of health

    Correct?

    And completely on schedule.

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