Don't Make Nice by Paul Krugman

[applegrove]

Don't Make Nice
by Paul Krugman
NY Times
at Economist's View
Oct 23, 2006


"Now that the Democrats are strongly favored to capture at least one house of Congress, they’re getting a lot of unsolicited advice, with many people urging them to walk and talk softly if they win.

I hope the Democrats don’t follow this advice — because it’s bad for their party and, more important, bad for the country. In the long run, it’s even bad for the cause of bipartisanship.

There are those who say that a confrontational stance will backfire politically on the Democrats. These are by and large the same people who told Democrats that attacking the Bush administration over Iraq would backfire in the midterm elections. Enough said.

Political considerations aside, American voters deserve to have their views represented in Congress. And according to opinion polls, ... the public wants politicians to stand up to corporate interests. ...he latest Newsweek poll ... shows overwhelming public support for the agenda Nancy Pelosi has ... if she becomes House speaker. The strongest support is for her plan to have Medicare negotiate with drug companies for lower prices, which is supported by 74 percent of Americans — and by 70 percent of Republicans!

.......... SNIP"

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/10/paul_krugman_do.html

[Mythsaje]

1. Hell, yeah!

Investigate, prosecute, and put the whole goddam Repug ideology on trial.

If not, we're going to go through this whole damn thing again in fifteen freakin' years. If not sooner.

[emmadoggy]

2. Damn straight!!

I hope the Dems follow this advice. :bounce:

[Vexatious Ape]

3. Yes, they have to present an alternative to what the

Republicans offer (fascism) and show some F'ing balls about it too.

[applegrove]

4. There is alot more "challenging" of GOP talking points going on. That

is heart-warming.

[Fovea]

5. First come the investigations

And the first Dem to suggest we do not investigate gets the primary challenge from hell next election they face.

Then comes the trials, and for the guilty, prison.

Then we can start to talk bi-partisanship.
But not before real due process for the malefactors.

[pat_k]

7. "Bipartisanship" is NOT the antidote to "partisanship. . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=243280&mesg_id=243319">The antidote to "partisanship" is Reality

[pat_k]

6. The antidote to "partisanship" is Reality. . .

There is a big push coming from the establishment -- the meme "bipartisanship."

Krugman gets it, but he doesn't clobber the "bipartisan" meme the way it needs to be clobbered.

The antidote to so-called "partisanship" is NOT "bipartisanship" it is Reality. You rise above partisanship when you confront truth and reality head on and take the actions demanded by the facts.

The only way any elected official or candidate can prove commitment to our founding principles over party is to fight for those principles regardless of partisan concerns.

There is nothing partisan about declaring your intent to see that War Criminals are brought to justice. There is nothing partisan declaring your intent to rescue the Constitution.

Instead of recognizing this and actually rising above partisanship by fighting for core principles, the so-called Democratic strategists think the antidote can be found in cynically "going along to get along" and saying they seek "bipartisanship" and won't do anything the fascist faction might object to, which people across the spectrum assume is insincere as demonstrated the assertion that Pelosi is just mouthing what the right wants to hear to mollify them -- something echoed repeatedly here on DU and elsewhere.

Nothing could be more wrong-headed than attempting to "rise above" partisanship by playing more partisan games. When they buy into the "bipartisan" meme, they once again condemn themselves to the substance-less world of image.

Hey, Democrats, Get Real!!

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0511-29.htm">Hey Democrats, Truth Matters!

[applegrove]

10. I don't know that he is talking about war crimes. I think he is talking

about how the GOP is so far gone..there is no point in dealing with them.

[pat_k]

11. The part I think he "gets". . .

-- although he doesn't put it quite this way -- is that you cannot deal with people who operate outside the world of reality in one of two modes: assertion or attack. Fighting to defend and turn them back is the only option.

My point is that we need to clobber the "bipartisanship" meme being pushed as part of the "need to play nice" notion he is challenging. Part of "clobbering" that meme is to upend their brainwashing (e.g., anything "negative" in their fantasy beltway world = "partisan") by confronting them with Reality.

Prosecuting War Criminals and defending the Constitution from attack from within the halls of power are just two examples of actions that are grounded in reality, truth, and principle. Claims that such actions are partisan are easily knocked down. All you have to do is question the assumptions that NEVER get questioned by the "insiders".

Krugman doesn't recommend such actions, but he too is a victim of the "conventional wisdom" of the insular DC world; a world where simply fulfilling the Congressional oath to rescue the Constitution is classified as "extreme."

[texpatriot2004]

8. K&R nt

[applegrove]

9. Posted late at night so here goes.... to get it into the day.

[petgoat]

12. The Bushcist Agenda must be completely repudiated, and all

of Bush's precedents overturned.



http://www.worldcantwait.org/

[applegrove]

15. Hear hear to that!

[bleedingheart]

13. I say this over and over again...

you don't make nice with vipers.

[yurbud]

14. the correct bipartisanship: this is what we are going to do. Wanna join us?

That's what the GOP does with the added tag of "if not, we'll shoot your dog."

[Jax]

16. I couldn't agree more

no more pussy footing around go after all of the criminals. Keep the dlc out of it too, 'centrist' play nice losers....