Cut to the chase. How many of these know-it-alls included any context for the election? How many of them mention, let alone talk about, 9/11 and the aftermath? How many talk about fear-mongering, nationalism, and the predatory practices of the Republican Party when it comes to national security?
Because from where I sit the progressive left denies all of that on its face, preferring instead to continue intra-party fratricide by trying to make the case that Dems lose because they're not left enough. Well fuck that. The 2004 race was about fear, and we came damn close with Kerry against an incumbent president willing to do or say anything in order to get reelected. If the left ever focused on that I'd be shocked.
Posted by Granny Smith at June 13, 2005 01:38 AMWell I haven't read the book, Mary, and I'm sure it has a lot of good stuff in it, but I have got to tell you that nothing I have ever read explains the 2004 loss better than James Kroeger's The Republican Nemesis. It is absolutely, positively must reading if you are a Democrat.
Howard Dean! Are you listening?!!
The 2004 election was a watershed, it wasn't just another progressive loss---a "we'll get 'em next time" type defeat. No---the election showed that the brains of a majority of the citizenry are completely gone---poisoned beyond rational operation, never to return. There will be no "pendulum" effect, no swing back to the center.
A very substantial body (perhaps a majority) of the people are now radical, highly charged reactionaries, ripe for an even more authoritarian, "strong", Christian male leader to rescue the Nation from this perceived moral and physical crisis and to purge (in one way or another) the evil, treasonous, un-American elements of the society (especially liberals!) Such leaders will appear.
Our political system is not static, it is in flux. I think the forces which so gleefully destroyed progressive America (corporate crony capitalists, Moral Majoritarians, neoconservative blatherers) will soon find they have lost control of the dark, reactionary emotions they have so consciously promoted and nurtured in the foolish populace. We (and the world) are in BIG trouble.
Posted by euzoius at June 13, 2005 06:38 AMRe: Granny Smith.
Actually, the lead section of the book does a great job of describing the context. One essay in particular, "Fear and Loathing: From 9/11/01 to 11/2/04" pretty much sums it up. View the full table of contents here.
Posted by Deanna at June 13, 2005 07:11 PMNone of this matters, not strategy, not spin, not tactics, not fundraising, nothing--without elections we can trust. We didn't lose the 2000 election, and there's excellent reason to think we didn't lose the last election, because most Americans weren't in our corner; we lost because the GOP screwed with the vote. And they will continue to do so at every opportunity unless we stop them.
Fix that first. Without it, the other stuff's just a waste of time.
Posted by Molly, NYC at June 16, 2005 08:44 AM