We will lose if we continue to let the GOP control the conversation.

[madfloridian]

We were given control of both houses, though just barely in the Senate, for a reason. The people did not want the status quo to continue.

Yet that is what we are doing....letting the ones who lost the election control the message and the agenda.

The most shocking was the vote in both houses of Congress to condemn an ad by MoveOn. It is as though the right wing called for it, and our party feared not doing it. Blunt, but pretty accurate.

It was a complete putdown to the activists of our party. It fit in with the rest of the votes taken recently. That condemnation just conveniently forgot all the lies that led to war, and squashed the hopes of "The Left" that our party stood with us.

Condemning anti-war activists while allowing lies to go unquestioned.

MoveOn's "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" ad has raised vital questions that need a thorough and open discussion. The ad worked brilliantly to reveal, via its framing, an essential but previously hidden truth: the Bush Administration and its active supporters have betrayed the trust of the troops and the American people.

MoveOn hit a nerve. In the face of truth, the right-wing has been forced to change the subject -- away from the administration's betrayal of trust and the escalating tragedy of the occupation to of all things, an ad! To take the focus off maiming and death and the breaking of our military, they talk about etiquette.The truth has reduced them to whining: MoveOn was impolite. Rather than face the truth, they use character assassination against an organization whose three million members stand for the highest patriotic principles of this country, the first of which is a commitment to truth.

Whose Betrayal

I do not think we should have gone along with decreeing that Iraq be partitioned. It was never our right to do that in the first place. But most agreed anyway.

It was made clear that the Iraq war would continue to be funded even though we are losing and the crisis is intensifying.

But to me the most dangerous vote taken this week was the one meant to provoke Iran and make it easier for Bush to start a unilateral act of aggression.

Resolution about Iran

Despite the removal of the most directly threatening rhetoric, the resolution still endorses the position of the Bush administration--mainly that Iran is engaged in a proxy war against the United States in Iraq. The resolution urges the Bush administration to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization and urges the administration to impose strict economic sanctions on Iraq. The resolution--despite being non-binding--is a significant escalation in the rhetoric towards Iran in that it makes the claim that the Iranian military is a terrorist organization. The resolution also relies heavily on the recent testimony of General Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.

Apparently this was done without the administration having to provide proof.

1. The administration has not come forward with a single piece of concrete evidence to support the claim that the Iranian government has been involved in the training, arming or advising of Iraqi Shiite militias.

2. The U.S. intelligence community has not endorsed the argument being made by some in the Bush administration that the Iranian government was responsible for the rise in Shiite military activity in Iraq.

They voted for it without saying "where's the proof?"

The three top Democratic presidential contenders stood at the recent debate and refused to say they would bring the troops home from Iraq within 5 or 6 years.

Read between the lines. They as much as made it clear that all of them support continuing the occupation of that country.

No explanations to the base are possible in campaigns like this. Again we are left to read between the lines. What I am reading is that in everything they voted on recently...they voted to continue Bush's policies on national security issues.

That is the legacy of the centrist Democrats who have controlled our party's message for over a decade. They say we must out-play the other side to look tough on national security. What they really mean is continue the policies.

They are now appealing to Bush's base in the run-up to the primaries. That is usually a time when they want to sound good to their own base. But they are not doing that at all. The right wing is playing strongly to their own base, and so are our Democrats..playing to the right wing base.

They have marginalized "the left" in their zeal to please the right.

Keeping "the left" in their place...may not work this time.

It's a risky policy, but it's a planned one. It is not appealing to the center as some here say. When you vote to condemn your own, then vote to keep funding a war we are losing, then vote to make it easier for Bush to attack Iran....that is NOT appealing to the center. That is playing to the right.

[Chipper Chat]

1. I am just aghast at the behavior of Congress the last week or so.

Behaving like fifth graders on the playground at recess. You pointed out the worst of their juvenile agenda.

[grasswire]

2. Dems are acting like victims of abuse

Read this blog entry. It's SO valuable:

http://www.mathewgross.com/node/336


As victims we can’t stop asking ourselves what we did wrong. We can’t seem to grasp that they will keep hitting us and beating us as long as we keep sticking around and asking ourselves what we are doing to deserve the beating.

Listen to George Bush say that the will of God excuses his behavior. Listen, as he refuses to take responsibility, or express remorse, or even once, admit a mistake. Watch him strut, and tell us that he will only work with those who agree with him, and that each of us is only allowed one question (soon, it will be none at all; abusers hit hard when questioned; the press corps can tell you that). See him surround himself with only those who pledge oaths of allegiance. Hear him tell us that if we will only listen and do as he says and agree with his every utterance, all will go well for us (it won’t; we will never be worthy).

And watch the Democratic Party leadership walk on eggshells, try to meet him, please him, wash the windows better, get out that spot, distance themselves from gays and civil rights. See them cry for the attention and affection and approval of the President and his followers. Watch us squirm. Watch us descend into a world of crazy-making, where logic does not work and the other side tells us we are nuts when we rely on facts. A world where, worst of all, we begin to believe we are crazy.
How to break free? Again, the answer is quite simple.

First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don’t do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them, or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that you are right. You also don’t do this by going catatonic and resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less is you don’t resist and fight back. Instead, you walk away. You find other folks like yourself, 56 million of them, who are hurting, broken, and beating themselves up. You tell them what you’ve learned, and that you aren’t going to take it anymore. You stand tall, with 56 million people at your side and behind you, and you look right into the eyes of the abuser and you tell him to go to hell. Then you walk out the door, taking the kids and gays and minorities with you, and you start a new life. The new life is hard. But it’s better than the abuse.

........more at the link above

[madfloridian]

4. That piece by Mathew's wife is so powerful. "we have the mandate of the world.."

"We have the mandate of the world to back us, and the legacy of oppressed people throughout history.

Even if you do everything right, they’ll hit you anyway. Look at the poor souls who voted for this nonsense. They are working for six dollars an hour if they are working at all, their children are dying overseas and suffering from lack of health care and a depleted environment and a shoddy education. And they don’t even know they are being hit."

She is right...even if we give in to them on everything, they will still try to humiliate us.

[grasswire]

6. a whole new strategy is required

If only the Dems had a strategist worth a plugged nickel.

[Gregorian]

10. We have the mandate of the world to back us, and the legacy of oppressed people throughout history.

That makes sense to me. Otherwise, I don't know where we go when he mentions walking out the door. And THEY own the controls. The media IS the control system.

But that one sentence gives me hope. And his article makes more sense to me than any other thinking I've done.

Bush- The Abuser.

[tomreedtoon]

12. The best article in a month, and the poster will never know it.

I don't sign up to a million blogs, just so I can send congratulations when a good article appears. However, I'd like Mr. Gross to know that this single article is the best I've read in the last month. And that includes perusing nearly everything on DU and Salon.

If anyone knows how to get in contatct with him - especially since he doesn't have an e-mail link - please convey my thanks.

In fact, if you examine that last month of posts on DU - or even the ones up this moment - you'll see people who are acting exactly like the abused spouses Gross talks about. And in my more cynical moments, I've acted like that myself.

I'm sure Gross would be the first to say that occasionally, people backslide into victimhood. It's a constant struggle not to be a victim. But I'll keep working on not being a victim. I hope everyone else here does as well. It's probably too much to hope for the Democratic candidates this time around to do so.

[madfloridian]

14. I was surprised there is no contact info there at his blog.

There used to be. He is working for some campaign now, forgot which one.

Just for your interest...he's an interesting guy. Mel, who wrote the victimization post, is his wife.

Couple of good posts about Mathew.

From 2004, near the end of the campaign.
http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/000639.html

From 2003
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/09/07/a_hired_gun_who_muses_with_fingertips/

And you are right. That is a very important article about victimization. It shows it occurs at all levels of life. We do have to keep fighting it.

[L. Coyote]

3. Precisely why the Rs are trying to focus on IRAN. Bait and Switch again.

It is time to quit falling for these tricks. We have to keep hammering at the real problem 24/7, non-stop, and that is Bush's catastrophe in IRAQ.

The BUSH catastrophe in IRAQ should become the daily muck, the constant chant, the never-ending message, without cessation or interruption.

Giv' em HELL, non-stop!

[McCamy Taylor]

11. Try Bait AND Switch. The Neo Cons are going for the gold.

The Pentagon has been working valiantly behind the scenes since early 2005 to keep us out of Iran. Now that the NeoCons know that their short reign of terror is almost over, they are getting desperate. The Democrats ought to be helping the men and women in uniform who helped to get them elected, but no. The Democrats would rather let the War (soon to be Wars if Darth Cheney has his way) get worse, so that the Democrats can win, win, win in 2008. The Democrats are proving to be a bunch of political opportunists. I am convinced that if the Pentagon took them Cheney's secret plans for starting the War in Iran and handed them to Reid and Pelosi, the two of them would look them over and say "What are we supposed to do about it? We can't afford to look soft on terror before an election."

[WizardTN]

5. Sell Out

You forgot to mention that 20 of the 42 freshmen that we sent to the 110th congress voted FOR the condemnation of MoveON.

WHAT do we do to make it VERY clear to our supposed representatives that we mean business when we send them there with a job to perform?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1589

[PDJane]

7. This is important., so listen carefully.

Surveillance is meant to intimidate. It isn't intended to do anything else. It's not intended to catch "wrongdoers" or "turrists." Surveillance is meant to blackmail and coerce. It is meant to make you feel as though you can't fight back. Of course, that doesn't work unless you know you are being watched.

Lawmakers know what this surveillance can do, and what it means, better than the rest of us. I have wondered for some time if that isn't what makes the dems supine.

[madfloridian]

8. I have wondered also. But if so, doesn't it mean we fight harder?

Instead of capitulating? If everyone in our party leadership gives in to such fear, then all of us are doomed.

[PDJane]

9. Yes, it does.

But it also means that mass movements are the only way to go, because you simply can't expect the folks who have a lot to lose to do it for you.

[DrFunkenstein]

13. I Just Wish Senators Would Have Refused to Vote in Protest

Since apparently there were enough Democrats in the majority party to allow this vote to even happen.

[Sparkly]

15. Yup -- Rachel Maddow said it succinctly recently...

She pointed out how frustrating it is that Democrats' legislation gets blocked by the Republicans, yet it's the Republican initiatives that sail through both houses.

I can't for the life of me figure out why they caved so easily on the recent MoveOn and Iran votes that you've mentioned.

[madfloridian]

16. Add to the list: they just continued funding abstinence only education

at least for a few more months.
That is a useless program for a government to be funding. It is a nod to the evangelicals.

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/241812.aspx

"CBNNews.com - Congress has extended funding for abstinence-based education for three more months.

Supporters say the extension will allow time to educate Congress on the programs' benefits.

"This is the only way that we protect the kids' entire person," said Ayinde Russell with Denver Alternatives Pregnancy Center. "We're going to protect all of who they are, not just their bodies."

[still_one]

17. time to replace pelosi and reid

and time to move the party back to fdr

When we have the party leaders pushing casey from la on us instead of a progressive in 2004, is only one of many examples of how far adrift the party is