Arianna Huffington: Dems Have (Yet Another) Identity Crisis...

[PhilipShore]

Yahoo! News
Arianna Huffington: Dems Have (Yet Another) Identity Crisis -- On the Front Page of the NYT
Feb 8

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060208/cm_huffpost/015310;_ylt=A86.I0Qz3OpDYkIBZwr9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

In the latest installment, Democratic leaders decide to have an all-out, full blown identity crisis. On the front page of the New York Times. Above the fold.

The article, penned by Adam Nagourney and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, reads like a Saturday Night Live sketch. Except the only ones laughing will be Republicans.

The party bigwigs -- both those on the record and off -- come across as dithering, hand wringing poltroons, worried about taking too strong a stand on... anything. It's as if they've learned nothing from the last three elections.

The Democratic arsenal is stocked with powerful weapons --

[rodeodance]

1. she is right--People will drift toward the Rupubs if think they will

protect them from terrorist attachs.

......There are many disturbing aspects to this story -- including why, as Atrios and Matt Stoller have pointed out, any sentient Democrat would talk to Nagourney. But hands down the most disturbing takeaway is the fact that Democrats are still iffy about the importance of taking on Bush and the GOP on national security. Are there really Democrats -- as Evan Bayh suggests -- still "arguing that the party should focus only on domestic issues and run away from national security, since that has been the strong suit for this White House since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11"? Say it isn't so! (Did someone let Bob Shrum and Stan Greenberg back into the building?)

I've said it again and again and again -- and I guess I'll have to keep saying it: the Democrats will never become the majority party until they can convince the American people that they can keep the country safer than the Republicans. All together now: It's the national security, stupid! And if I sound like a broken record, so should the Democrats.

Of course, many Democratic leaders do grasp this basic concept, but, according to the Times, have "not yet figured out how to counter the White House's long assault on their national security credentials."

Again, at the risk of turning blue in the face, let me help them out: they should follow Jack Murtha's lead and, as he's done in letters to Congress and to the president, show how Bush's imperial adventure in Iraq has had devastating consequences on the real battle at hand -- keeping us safe and secure......

[rainy]

2. Very good point. Standing behind all the Generals who

oppose using our soldiers unwisely. There are many decorated generals who are against this admins. foreign policy. We should start gathering them up for lectures and press releases.

[annabanana]

3. This has become "true" because?

"Of course, many Democratic leaders do grasp this basic concept, but, according to the Times, have "not yet figured out how to counter the White House's long assault on their national security credentials."

This is one of those lies like the "liberal media" that we have not shut down. Why should we accept the premise that they have better national security cred than we do? It's not true. This is predicated on the supposition that "we cud uv won in 'nam except for those chicken Dems".

It's another crap corpomedia lie that we keep letting them get away with..

[zbdent]

6. Repukes hide behind 9/11, saying "well, there hasn't been another

attack since 9/11" . . . all the while keeping their mouth shut on the fact that there was no attacks in the US for the period of 4/1993-1/20/2001 - Clinton's era.

While they STILL try to blame 9/11 on Clinton, they never accept that the FIRST attack on the WTC happened less than two months into Clinton's term . . . which, if Dems acted like Repukes, would have been blamed on Bush41 . . .

[CornField]

9. Bullshit

People don't sit around and pray for security. People inherently pray for peace.

No one wants their sons and daughters going off to war. Everyone wants to live in a world where war isn't a necessity.

The Democratic Party isn't weak because we would rather try every other peaceful avenue before going to war. We aren't weak because we believe that ALL life - not just American life - is precious and should be protected and cherished. We aren't weak because we want to make sure that every American citizen has adequate healthcare, living wages and food to eat each night. Our weakness doesn't arise from our platform or from our Democratic ideals. Our weakness boils down to politicians who are unwilling to make a stand based on those ideals.

And, finally, those who believe the Bush administration has made them safer deserve nothing more than the 'safety' they have already been provided:

1) Iraq is now a terrorist hotbed because of the Bush administration's pre-emptive war based on lies.

2) We have tunnels between the States and Mexico large enough for a car. (I doubt this is because illegal immigrants are tired of walking across the border.)

3) Our ports only check 1 out of every 250 pods which enter our country.

4) Our airports, despite all the confiscations of tweezers and breast milk, are now less safe than they were prior to 9-11 -- of course, if the truth of 9-11 was ever understood by the public, airport security would be the least of their worries.

5) We the people are now the subjects of covert government spying operations. Privacy, what little we had, is being stripped out from under us like rug. At least 6 years ago we could actually see the cameras on the light poles, now we don't even know when or where our privacy is being violated.

6) The President of the United States of America -- the Leader of the Free World -- shat on our Constitution and said publically he is going to keep doing it until someone stops him.

Although this list could go on, I'm too damn frustrated to continue it. If you honestly believe that the American people only care about security then you have absolutely no sense of the extent of the psychological operations which have been launched against us to force us to place the issue of security at the top of the list.

The way to defeat the enemy is not to become the enemy.

[seabeyond]

4. no.... it is all the fuckin attacks for 5 yrs from every direction. like

now it is that dems are too angry. they are being skewed by the press for being toooo angry. this is now how dems are going to be represented. the politicians know this is now the image. the ONLY thing the dems are doing wrong is owning all this shit everyone from every side is throwing at them. like this article here. just another one to define dems

we helped to create this

[agingdem]

5. I am angry and I embrace the anger!

I want "our side" (Arianna/Maureen/Frank) to shut up with the message/image crap and admit that we are mad as hell! I embrace my anger, it comforts me, and, yes, it defines me. Bush lied us into an unproved endless war and I'm pissed. He's reading emails, monitoring phone calls without warrants and I'm pissed. He has polluted the sky/water/land and I'm pissed. He lost a city, and instead of comfort, he uses the displaced and their agony as a photo-op...and I'm pissed. He has taken a healthy surplus and turned into the worst deficit in history and I'm pissed... His worthless cronies sit in positions of power and corporate America writes our laws and I'm pissed! Ken and Karl wish we were just angry...we're a lot more than that!

[seabeyond]

7. you go aging. i am agin right there with you. and i am pissed

lol lol i have aged so much in hte last couple years cause of bushco and i am pissed. bah hahaa. ok. i agree we have every reason to be pissed. and we have been demanding that our senators and reps be pissed too. we have been pissed that they havent been pissed. for over a year they have been showing pissed...... and now they are taken down for being pissed. all the while dem bloggers yell about spineless, not acknowledging what dems are doing while on the other hand dems are attack for being angry. those dem bloggers should be standing up for the dems, giving them the support they need to attack this media blitz on anger. instead they jump in to bash some more

and i am pissed

carter, why arent all the bloggers atttacking media for going after carter. they yell dems say nothing. our dems say something then media blitzes them. what do we see this morning, dem bloggers attacking dems. why the f* arent they attacking media and suporting carter, so our dems can speak out. what we demand of them

[Road Scholar]

8. Amen brother!!! (or sister) I'm mad as hell too. Mad enough to fight.

:mad:

[seabeyond]

10. first we need to focus who we are going to fight. doesnt it just make

sense that our bloggers that are realizing their power use it for good as opposed to damage to our democratic party, that we need to be strong, yet bloggers continue to weaken the dem.....

huffington, moore, sheehan, stewart...... and i....... are not even democrats. yet we attack (not we, they) the dems cause they are not attacking like greens or moderate republicans. i find that really interesting. not to mention the attacks from the left dems. and i am not even talking about extreme left.

bloggers can take on the media. they have gained that power,... that respect..... that strength. so as they yell at democratic party, i ask....... lead..... go after media. tell it like it is. dont put up. create the forum for our leaders to be able to speak. we demand so much of these politicians, as we see what they are up against. we need to clear the way to allow their message to be heard.

another thing to recognize. this bullshit dems dont have a plan is bllshit. that dems arent focused is bullshit. bush is having to put ss hidden in a budget.

kerry has clearly for two years streamlined his plane for iraq, small business, education and healthcare to a mere 20 min. dean has it down to 30 fuckin sec. now i ask you

why i are attacking democrats that they dont have a plan. why would our democratic party leaders own it and allow themselves to feel that is who they are. that is not. everyone says we dont have a plan. it is there. surely our dems can take the time to seee it. acknowledge it, and help it get to the people. cause media both msm and dem bloggers are talking out of their arse

[seabeyond]

11. lol lol. the more i sit with her title the more i say f* her.......

f* all the blogs, * msm, * this board, i say with huge smile and a thank you, and the repugs are in such giggle. havent yawl ever dealt with bullies. go after the bullies. take them down, and our crowd will follow and grow. i say to the bloggers, quit being spineless.

i watch so many bitch about corretta scott king. and that was it. no one stood up for her. no one took back the funeral, saying, no people you arent going to trash this. instead a bunch of people jumped on the illusionary stage adn got into a good ole fist fight. that was productive, ...... not

all we had to do was encourage black community to say,..... say what.... we stood for the reverand, we stood for clinton, we thank carter.........we did not for bush. and then, i get to sit with my black neighbor, and my black friend, and my black employee, and his wife,..... and others and say, man, this is bullshit. lets take our voice back. but we didnt. we didnt even try

[seabeyond]

12. kickin

[tlsmith1963]

13. There is Nothing Wrong With Being Angry

We have every right to be. The problem may be that we haven't been angry *enough*. It's still too quiet. It should be more like the '60s, or even during the height of punk rock. If people on the conservative side don't like our anger, too bad. We have a country to save. We don't have time to worry about what they think of us.

Tammy

[agingdem]

14. Beyond angry...

The Dems should confront the verbal diarrhea head on...angry, no..we're beyond angry...we're ashamed..ashamed of the continuous spewing of lies coming out of the White House...ashamed that we allowed the most twisted in the opposition to take us to an unprovoked war...ashamed that tens of thousands of our military will have their lives altered in unimaginable ways...ashamed that our schools are underfunded...ashamed that the coat hanger will once again symbolize a woman's right to choose. Angry?...way beyond angry!