Every once in a while you read something some one else has written with a ?shock of recognition.? Exactly! They got it exactly right, what I?ve been thinking (or trying to think). Molly Ivins struck just such a chord recently in her article, ?Not. Backing. Hillary.?In typical M.I. (Molly Ivins) fashion she bluntly lays it out: ?We?ve had enough,? thank you. Enough equivocating and enough clever straddling. ?There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief.? Amen, sister!
M.I. recalls the lesson in political courage that the junior Senator from Minnesota, Eugene McCarthy, showed in 1968 when he boldly pointed out the then-emperor ?had no clothes.? Ivins asks where that courage is today. Polls show that 55% of Americans think the war in Iraq was a mistake, that 65% want single-payer health insurance, that 77% think we should do whatever it takes to protect the environment, and that 86% favor raising the minimum wage. What on earth is the Democratic leadership afraid of?
Ivins quotes pundit Barry Casselman, who portrays the Democrats as split between those trying to satisfy the ?defeatist left base of the party and those... attempting to prepare... for successful elections in 2006 and 2008.? She thinks, as do I, this is utter garbage. (I think it is exactly what dear Karl Rove would like us to think, and trick Democrats into acting accordingly).
The bottom line is that Democrats should stop dithering and get a grip on the concept of leadership. B-C (Bush-Cheney) will continue to play the patriotic bully card as long as we let them. In World War I, the B-C types went around kicking dachshunds because they were ?German dogs.? But they did not kick German shepherds. So kick and snarl back, piss on them elegantly, as did John Murtha. Don?t straddle the issues, afraid to offend someone. Conclusion: ?Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite.?
That?s why Ivins' opening sentence is this: ?I?d like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for President.? Exactly so.
Dems have to fight.
6 years of Bush has made the world safe for Terrorists. In Iraq and now in Palestine, they never had it so good.
Thank you, very much Mr. Bush. Much appreciated.
This is why I want a filibuster on Alito so badly. Take a stand, don't get bullied. Make the Republicans follow through on their threat, and then speak loudly about how they had to change the rules to get their way.
Warner '08!