Now that the Alito confirmation is a done deal, it is time to discuss what we are going to do next.
I'm going to do a little therapeutic drinking.
Posted by dj moonbat at January 30, 2006 07:06 PMNeed to start new organization called: The Bloggers Revolutionary Organization - "BRO"
Anyone who really wants change should only give to the BRO and ignore giving to the individual candidates. We will decide what the left-wing mandate is from this date forward, and where to funnel contributions....who wants to set up the web site?
Of course, isn't this what the hell MoveOn.org was supposed to be doing? Where were they during the Alito nomination?
Posted by at January 30, 2006 07:07 PMDude, the model is how the nutters took over the Republican party. We gotta blow up the establishment Dems and take over the ship. There's only two ships in this ocean, and the Dem ship is leaderless.
I sugest we shove Al Gore down their pie-holes the same way we gave em people-powered Howard. Notice how for all his bluster, Lieberman ended up voting yes. We really need to pick this guy off in the primary.
The battle is joined and the war aint over. We have to start holding feet to the fire earlier out. Treat the establishment Dems as stupid gerbils that must taste the cattle prod from time to time.
It's herding cats, but its gotta be done.
Posted by SnarkyShark at January 30, 2006 07:08 PMSnarky, I'm with you. Regroup and fight some more.
Tomorrow the vote. It will be damned interesting to see who crosses party lines. It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
Posted by phidipides at January 30, 2006 07:32 PMI'm going to do a little therapeutic drinking.
Thanks for the suggestion! Lagavulin 16 for me :)
Posted by Simp at January 30, 2006 07:38 PMA thoughtful and timely post. There's something from psychotherapy that comes to mind. When one is working with someone, there comes a session where that person says "we" referring to you and him/her. It means there's the beginning of an alliance, and it means that "we" are going to get some things accomplished.
You say "it is time to discuss what we are going to do next" but then talk about which they ["public organization"] to hook up with. Seems to me that the "we" in "what we are going to do next" is already public, pretty vocal, and on the verge of getting organized.
Less cryptically, there are a growing number of top progressive political blogs, and a much larger number of lesser read like-minded blogs, and an even bigger number of like-minded blog readers and news junkies. It's already public, it's already big, it's already committed. It's the organization that is lacking, but even that is in the wings as the activity this weekend shows.
I'm not sure this "we" needs to be attached to a Party or some other existing organization. I'd suggest that it might be the other way around.
Posted by Mickey at January 30, 2006 08:16 PMWell, tomorrow night during the State of the Union speech, Bush is going to champion making America energy independent. He'll introduce initiatives for alternative energy.
You folks could start being pro-oil just to oppose Bush.
Posted by muckdog at January 30, 2006 08:21 PMWell, tomorrow night during the State of the Union speech, Bush is going to champion making America energy independent. He'll introduce initiatives for alternative energy.
You folks could start being pro-oil just to oppose Bush.
Posted by muckdog at January 30, 2006 08:21 PM
*****
Pssst...come here...I've got a secret...
Here it goes...
Nobody trusts this fucking liar anymore. That you do speaks volumes about your lack of judgement.
Now hurry along.
Posted by God Of War at January 30, 2006 08:27 PMThere simply is no counterpart to the Heritage Foundation. ACS may pretend to be the progressive answer to the Federalist Society, but they are nowhere nearly as effective. And the alphabet soup of Foundations, Institutes and Associations (ACTA, NAS, Manhattan Institute, Hudson Institute, Pacific Research Foundation, Heartland Institute, etc.) is directly tied into HF and makes it appear that there is more than one voice represented by these nuts. Of course, looking over their "scholar" list quickly reveals that it's the same lunatics running all the asylums. Unfortunately, MSM buys into the insane representation that since there is more than one organization speaking on different issues and some are clearly more right wing than others, that the whole spectrum of opinion is represented. Worse yet, they use them for balance when only the insane would consider the view coming from these nuts "balanced" (e.g., global warming). Having watched these propaganda mills operate from the inside, I wish the other side was as well organized. Unfortunately, for a progressive organization to be well organized gives off a wiff of communism, which automatically discredits it. That's insane, but that's what the "liberal" media believes. To be progressive, one must be soft, mushy and anarchist.
Posted by buck turgidson at January 30, 2006 08:48 PMFor me it means dusting off something I wrote a few months ago, and tonight reposted over at BooMan Trib: American Solidarity: A Beginning.
God Of War: Can't vote for Edwards, he failed to see the long term consequences of empowering a chimp.
Hey, what about that outfit Byrd used to belong to? Alito could help us out with any 18oo's type legal work.
Posted by TIKI AL at January 31, 2006 01:07 AMYes, the War and Big Oil preznit is going to champion energy independence in the SOTU..oooh goody he's gonna "fix" the problem. Let's guess what it will mean in reality.
More corporate welfare via tax cuts/big oil/energy giveaways for new drilling/exploration projects.
More reduction in safety OSHA standards for workers in energy fields.
More, Wars, I hear Iran is sitting on top of "our" oil too.
More tax giveaways for nukyular energy projects to come on line.
Please feel free to add to my skepticism of how Mr. Bush (who has no credibility using his Orwellian double speak) is going to lead America into energy independence. Yup just like Clear Skies, and his Deficit Reduction plan too. Oh, and don't forget his Medicare D drug program...hahah. What a farce, what a freaking lying farce! And who is worse, the preznit for lying his arse off, or you and others who continue to believe he is really going to offer some bold plan to and lead the way toward and energy independent America... only in your dreams puppyboy.
Vote for and support prgressives dems, or independants, at all levels of governmnet. if the dem running in your area is to far to the right, find a challenger from the left to take them on. If we want a party, and i do not for one moment agree that there can only be 2 of them, we have to make it what we want it to be.
Posted by PwapVt at January 31, 2006 05:23 AMemal, I'm still waiting for that Mission to Mars!
Posted by iamcoyote at January 31, 2006 05:34 AMIf something's broken I think it's only fair and reasonable to evaluate whether it's fixable, or whether it's broken beyond repair.
I'm increasingly leaning toward the "broken beyond repair" conclusion where American politics are concerned.
So is another organization, movement, lobbying effort, etc., really what we need right now?
Posted by Richard at January 31, 2006 06:51 AMWell, tomorrow night during the State of the Union speech, Bush is going to champion making America energy independent. He'll introduce initiatives for alternative energy.
I heard this 5 years ago. Why will the new lie be better than the old lie?
Busch Energy Plan = Harvest Sperm Whales for Lamp Oil
Aaaaaarrrrrrgh!
Take over the Democratic party. Just for the hell of it, go to a local party meeting: you'll be shocked by how poorly attended they are. These are the organizations that choose the candidates. If you want more progressive, aggressive candidates, gather up your friends, relatives and join the party and pick the candidates yourselves.
Push change in the party from the bottom up. All of this fits in nicely with what Dean is trying to do right now.
How do you think the Republican party became so wingnutty? The extremists joined, went to the meetings and took the goddamn thing over. We can drag the Democrats back into the mainstream of society -which rejects Bushism- by doing the same thing.
The Republicans are running this country into the ground on so many levels that I feel some sort of social implosion is just around the corner. When this happens, progressives should be inside the party directing the repairs, rather than outside, bitching and moaning about not being listened to.
Posted by Greg at January 31, 2006 07:03 AMHe'll introduce initiatives for alternative energy.
Scuttlebutt is that he won't introduce any new initiatives. Not because he can't anunciate the word but because he can't pay for new initiatives and cut taxes at the same time. So he'll spend 90 minutes paying lip service to alternative energies and energy independence and once the speech is over it will go to the archiver and that will be that.
Big oil butters Bush's bread. On both sides. Why would you expect him to have any interest in changing that. He'll be out of office in 3 years. He'll let the next guy worry about it.
Posted by snark at January 31, 2006 07:10 AMYou guys just can't figure it out. You are not for anything, you are only against everything. How do you get people to follow, when all you do is complain?
My suggestion is simple....Create your own version of Contract with America. Create your 10 talking points of what a Democratic Controlled Congress would do in the first 100 days.
Talk about what you are for, what you as a party believe in SPECIFICALLY, instead of this overly broad and asisine policy of just friggin' bitching all of the time.
If you want people to Follow; If you think the Republicans aren't doing their job; If you know you can do better; then whats the big deal?
Tell us what you would specifically do! Not the bullshit campaign commercial crap where we are pro-family and anti-tax cuts. But a specific set of specific laws/rules that you would vote on in the very first 100 days of office.
Its really a very simple thing to do. Well it is for people who actually have somethign that they believe in, instead of just hate.
Posted by Carpediem at January 31, 2006 07:57 AMIts really a very simple thing to do. Well it is for people who actually have somethign that they believe in, instead of just hate.
Right! Something other than hate. Because Democrats need to differentiate themselves from Republicans. Leave the hate to the Republicans. That's very clear. Thanks.
Posted by snark at January 31, 2006 08:09 AMGreg's right - there is an organization for us to take over. It's called the Democratic party. Conservatives did the same thing years ago (if you're so inclined, you can say, "What, took over the Republican party, or the Democratic party?" Very funny.) The time/energy we save on branding alone makes it worthwhile; any new effort would have to persuade too many existing people to change. It won't be fast, but it'll be faster than past efforts, and it'll be more productive than hoping someone else does something else to save us the trouble.
I still think an unofficial official "Shadow Government" would be cool, though.
Posted by Chris at January 31, 2006 09:02 AManother thought...
http://1boringoldman.com/index.php/2006/01/31/i-want-my-mtv/