Will the NY "Mosque "controversey" energize the left?

[JoePhilly]

We know it will energize the RIGHT. They go NUTS for stuff like this.

It fits perfectly into the GOP's key xenophobic platform of hating the "scary other" .... gays, blacks, Mexicans, and of course Muslims.

I'm a white, married heterosexual guy, who can pass as a "good Christian" (perhaps Methodist, if I had to, anyone can fake that flavor) ... so I could hide if I wanted to.

But the idea that the GOP could take control of Congress, and its xenophobic base would be calling the shots, scares the %^%#$# out of me.

And that motivates me. Does it motivate anyone else??

[NC_Nurse]

1. Will anything?

[JoePhilly]

15. Very good question.

I worry that nothing short of President Sarah Palin will energize us.

[NC_Nurse]

19. I don't know, but I'm feeling pretty effin discouraged about it all. Is there

No end to the depths to which the right are willing to go? It's absolutely appalling! This mosque thing, the hue and cry about keeping the tax cuts while simultaneously denying benefits to our most vulnerable? It's despicable! So many seem willing to buy into it too. Scary.

I am disappointed in the lack of strong response from the admin. He says something about religious freedom one day, the. Practically runs away from it the next. Sheesh!

[Raven]

2. With all the awful things that have happened in the Catholic Church

in the last several years, will they ban that religion?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. It motivated Harry Reid to cave...as usual.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8956646

[JoePhilly]

6. My sense ... Dems cave when the left attacks them.

What they decide (correctly or incorrectly) is that "the left" will back away quickly on some set of issues, and that you can't trust them to show up reliably.

The elected Dems conclude that they can not count on the left for votes when it gets hard. And so, when the left attacks the Dems, the Dems move to the center, not to the left. Their rationale, since the left won't be there for me, even if I do X, I have to go after the center.

On this issue, polls are showing a 60% against, 40% support. Harry is going after the 60%. He's not confident that this issue will energize the left, and so he's going to the center.

btw ... watch the media ... the right wing media is attacking him for siding with those evil Muslims, and the left wing media (what a joke) is attacking him for "walking it back."

Their goal ... enrage the right wing, dishearten the left ... and put the GOP in the majority in 2010.

[HillbillyBob]

4. It has for years and years and I feel like all the talking to people

trying to convince them or at least get em off their dead ass and at least look into it. Now I try very little and do not talk to rightwingers at all if I can help it. Frankly Im fed up and have no more patience after 30 years of talking myself blue. I moved away from the So Baptist family...far far away.
I have just about given up hope that I will live long enough to see the return of open accountable voting or real democracy. Read some Robert Heinleins' stories. Not necessarily his commentaries which even he got more right wing as he got older. Some of his stories are earily accurate..considering he wrote from about 1933 to late 70s a few things were published after that but they generally written at least several years prior to publish.

[vi5]

5. I don't vote "against" what I don't like....

..I vote for people who stand up for the values I believe in and don't run from a fight when those values are challenged. That energizes me.

So maybe if I saw the vast majority of elected democrats and/or candidates vigorously defending the right point of view that would motivate me. But the GOP being ignorant clowns alone will not motivate me, no. Can't speak for anyone else though.

[JoePhilly]

11. Enjoy the government that those "ignorant clowns" provide.

I'm curious where you live ... which state ... who are your representatives ... and what choices sit before you in that regard.

[vi5]

17. I'm done chasing carrots on sticks......

I have spent the past 22 years voting straight democratic ticket every single election, every single year. Everything from dog catcher on up to president of the country and everything in between. And like a pathetic chump I probably still will.

But the question was does this "motivate" me. And my answer was no, it doesn't motivate me. The other side have been idiotic, ignorant, racist, xenophobic fools for as long as I've been a voter. But the crystal clear contrast that existed most of the time in the past was what "motivated" me to do more than just vote. To get out. To register other people. To donate to the democratic party. To stuff envelopes. That's what a person who is motivated does. And I'm sorry but "we're slightly less reprehensible than the other guy" just doesn't cut it. Prime example is our Senate leader's response today on this subject.

[JoePhilly]

21. Reid is a coward ... no arguement.

I described my view on why (no, one reason) the Dems cave, in post #6 ... see what you think.

[vi5]

23. Yes, but the reason the left doesn't raise a stink...

..is because they've learned time and time and time again that they don't get listened to. What is it that the bloggers call it? "Punching hippies". It scores the elected dems cheap political points and they take them every opportunity they get. So they know when they have an issue that requires some nuanced response or some guts to stand up for something unpopular, they buckle. It's cowardly, it's craven, and with very select few exceptions it is the M.O. of the entirety of the elected democratic party.

Again, I'll vote because I can't not and I'll vote Dem because I can't not. But if you ask me if I'm motivated the answer is no, and if you ask me if the dems deserve to win, with scant few exceptions my answer is no. They've done nothing to motivate anyone on the fence about anything.

[hfojvt]

7. yes, of course,

because my primary concern is that there should be more mosques built in this country. The only thing more important to me is that all children born in this country must become American citizens even if their parents are Japanese tourists.

[JoePhilly]

8. Death to the US Constitution say you.

Religious freedom, a critical aspect of our Constitution, is only important to you when it applies to your religion, I guess.

The Constitution is sacred to you, except the 14th amendment, apparently.

[spanone]

9. harry reid is already 'energized'

[JoePhilly]

12. I deal with him in #6

[maxsolomon]

10. since it's a complete and utter distraction

from the real issues the nation is facing, probably the 'left' will take the bait.

[JoePhilly]

13. Do you think the media will use this other than as a way to ...

(a) anger the far right and, (b) demoralize democrats so they stay home?

[maxsolomon]

22. i guess. they'll do what they always do - nothing much of anything

i don't get why we all take the bait over this absurd, petty argument when THE AMERICAN ECONOMY IS FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMING/COLLAPSING?

[Xenotime]

14. I hope so. The right can never assume power again. It would be devestating.

[JoePhilly]

16. Agree

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. I think the right-wing anti-Muslim hysteria is getting so crazy and so unAmerican

that they can actually be harming themselves in the long run and perhaps even handing the Democrats an issue. The GOP is already painting themselves as the party of hate.

When all is done and said most Americans are pretty nice people. I've asked lots of Muslims how they have felt treated in the U.S. - even in the rural South. In the vast majority of cases they have reported that people are very nice and don't seem to hold them being a Muslim against them, at all - at least on the personal level even in places like rural Alabama. As one former Saudi student who was living in America at the time of 9/11 told me once, "the thing about Americans is that even if they have it in their heads that they don't like Arabs - you talk to them for a few minutes and they completely forget that you are an Arab."

Segregationist politicians in the 1960's were defeated, turned in to pariahs and largely confined to the dustbin of history because the were confronted, The basic sense of fairness, a basic live and let live attitude and an appeal to the enlightened side of American tradition and values defeated them. The right-wing has jumped on anti-Muslim hysteria hoping to make some gain. The right-wing is going to continue trying to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria anyway, whether we play along or not. I think they should be confronted and exposed for exactly what they are doing along with an appeal to a basic sense of fairness and decency.

[JoePhilly]

20. I hope that is what happens ...

But I worry that short term politics will trump your view, which I see as taking longer.

The GOP seems very good at finding the next "scary other".

[krabigirl]

26. I completely agree with you. I know some Muslims where I live who voted GOP for years.

They are very fiscally and socially conservative..they vote Dem now.

[SoCalDem]

24. Nope? here's why.

Dems always get pushed into a corner defending something that the ever-present media has told us all is a "bad" thing:

support the mosque & you support al qaeda & the people who "bombed" the WTC..

support gay marriage & you are supporting the "demolition" of the holy sacrosanct hetero-worldview

support judicial reform & you are supporting "activist" judges who want to "go easy" on criminals

support immigration reform & you are supporting "illegals" who come here to "drop" "anchor-babies". steal our jobs & behead innocent ranchers as the smuggle drugs in to poison our "childrrrrren"

support teachers & you are supporting "union-sympathizer"(probably socialist), lazy teachers who are also "bad" teachers (who should be fired) who just want raises and more raises & who eat bon-bons instead of teaching the kids.

support letting the richie-rich tax cut expire & you support MORE job losses and you want to kill the free enterprise system

The media has a stable-full of "experts", champing at the bit to tell us why democrats hate everything that is wonderful about "Merika..

[MerryBlooms]

25. I don't think so

I think those of us on the left have become desensitized to the right wing lunacy - we expect the right to spew illogical drivel and their base laps it up like cats in the barn ...

[Raspberry]

27. No, and here's why:

The major issue in this election is going to be the economy and jobs. The Islamic community center won't do a whole lot to help either.