Thursday, September 30, 2010

"Leftists should take credit for bringing down Democrats," says Ian Welsh

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Word is that Master Rahm's departure from the White House to attempt to inflict himself on the good people of Chicago will become official tomorrow. He leaves behind a hornet's nest of right-wing "centrists" set to continue the war on the Left. Ian Welsh says we should embrace our putative power.

"Look, if the left is so powerful that is is responsible for Democratic fortunes, well, that’s not something we should shrink from. . . . Don’t run from this, embrace it, wrap yourself in it. You are part of the left, and the left is capable of destroying governments which don’t do what it wants."

by Ken

Contemplating the prospective, or should I say impending, political convulsions of November 2, I'm still where I was the last time I talked about it.

I recognize the argument that if we go on supporting these lame-ass closet-right-wing "centrists," we lose -- win or lose. Assuming the Democratic losses are as bad as the worst forecasts ("worse than 1994"), the Village and its fellow travelers in the land of conventional wisdom will take it as proof that those martyred souls paid the price for the Democratic government's wild lurch to the left.

We on the Left know, of course, that there has been no such lurch, just an uneven but very modest reining in of the Bush regime's crazy rocket-propelled missile launch to the right. But reality doesn't seem to figure prominently in the conventional wisdom. And of course if the rout should be less severe than currently projected, the purveyors of conventional wisdom will chalk it up to a miracle "save" by the hard-charging forces of do-little "centrism."

Meanwhile the battle rages on, at least in the organs of Village chatter and the blogosphere, regarding the culpability of us left-wingers for the precarious position of the administration and the endangered congressional Democrats. This despite official Dems' almost unbroken two-year run of what is now picturesquely known as "hippie punching," showing unbridled disregaard, even contempt, for the progressive cohorts who did so much to put them in office.

Our friend Ian Welsh has an elegant response to "what many see as the attempt by the White House to portray left wingers as responsible for Democratic losses."
What?

Look, if the left is so powerful that is is esponsible for Democratic fortunes, well, that’s not something we should shrink from. We should say, “Yes, we can destroy Democratic prospects. If you don’t do what we want, we WILL do so.”

Powerful groups get what they want, weak groups don’t. If the White House wants to portray us as that powerful, we should embrace that description, because it is a blade which cuts both ways.

And there is an argument for it. While certainly the economy is factor one, the people whom left-wing bloggers reach are the sort of folks who traditionally don’t just vote, they volunteer, they give money and they are themselves influentials, who convince others to be enthusiastic, vote, volunteer and give. When, last year, I felt parts of the blogosphere lose their patience with Obama, I knew it would cost him, and it has.

Don’t run from this, embrace it, wrap yourself in it. You are part of the left, and the left is capable of destroying governments which don’t do what it wants. And this is good, because objectively Obama has not fixed the economy, has presided over further destruction of civil rights, has reduced access to abortion, and so on.

Powerful people and interests give away nothing they don’t want to unless they are forced to by others with power. The left is either powerful and willing to use that power or it is nothing.

I like it! Until now the right-wing Dem "centrists" have acted on the assumption that we can be abused with impunity.

Meanwhile, I wish I had the courage to say, "To hell with them," and hunker down to live with the dreadfulness it's safe to say will come with the sweeping out of the Democratic weasels, while contemplating the work that will be needed to try to build a viable alternative to the Republican death spiral.

The one thing I can continue to urge on all kindred souls is to work like the dickens and contribute to the max to elect good new Dems, and to save the good ones like Russ Feingold and Barbara Boxer and Alan Grayson who face the possibility of being swept up in the flooding of the swamp. You know, the people Howie has been writing about here, and that he and our friends Digby and John Amato have made official Blue America endorsees.

In this brave new world, we can at last face them down, in the name of sanity, the way the loonies of the Right have been doing for decades now, in the name of craziness and indecency, to Republican mandarins. Let's say it all together:

“Yes, we can destroy Democratic prospects. If you don’t do what we want, we WILL do so.”
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7 Comments:

At 9:58 PM, Anonymous me said...

Anything that brings down the corrupt Democratic Party is OK in my book.

For the last 40 years, the republicans could never have gotten away with their crimes if not for Democratic connivance.

Half the Democratic Party is composed of closet republicans, i.e., rotten to the core.

 
At 10:02 PM, Anonymous me said...

the good ones like Russ Feingold and Barbara Boxer and Alan Grayson


Feingold, ok, Grayson, hell yes, but Boxer? WTF has she ever done?

 
At 10:29 PM, Blogger KenInNY said...

Not on every issue, granted, but on the broad array of matters coming before the Senate, Boxer has been one of the most outspoken champions of liberal causes in her time in the Senate. It really surprises me how many people don't seem to know that.

Ken.

 
At 5:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It doesn't really matter who's right or wrong. If the Dems stay home on November 2nd, come January the United States Congress will be filled with crazy people from the RIGHT.

 
At 9:15 AM, Anonymous me said...

Boxer has been one of the most outspoken champions of liberal causes in her time in the Senate. It really surprises me how many people don't seem to know that.

I know Boxer has that reputation. But if she has been a liberal champion, why wasn't she complaining publicly about Bush's crimes? Why has she not sought investigations of the literally dozens if not hundreds of felonies committed by Bushco?

During all the depredations and disasters of the Bush years, I remember hearing criticisms from several congress members. Most, like Leahy and Conyers, and even Specter, would occasionally say something then immediately back off like good little doggies. I don't remember hearing anything from Boxer.

(And I won't bother asking why she does not review our relationship with Israel.)

As far as people not knowing what she's done, whatever that is, my guess is that it's because the only time I hear the name Barbara Boxer is every six years, in October.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe she accomplishes a lot behind the scenes. But it must be pretty far behind. Lucky for her that she has a lunatic running against her this time.

 
At 9:16 AM, Anonymous me said...

PS. Please get rid of the spam, like this d123daddy.

 
At 9:42 AM, Anonymous me said...

Here's another reason to hate the Democratic Party. I'm sure glad I haven't sent those bastards any money.

Can't blame Obama for this one

 

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