What a crazy week in politics. When the politicians leave Washington, it seems like the pundits get restless and start making shit up and stirring up controversies to bring attention to themselves. Thankfully there is an awesome group of bloggers to bat down the bullshit. Check out these stories you might have missed that caught my eye.
- For any progressives flirting with Ron Paul as a candidate, read this and then come back and try to rationalize your stupidity.
- I’m sure you’ve seen the reports of Richard Trumka’s idiotic interpretation of the compromise on the debt ceiling hostage crisis. The People’s View takes him to task and then reminds us that the Obama administration is the best thing that has happened to labor in 30 years. Trumka joined the “blame the victim” crowd who continue to ignore the hostage takers who are blatantly and openly trying to stop any progress from the Democrats.
- One of the smartest bloggers online has this important post about the “extremism” that the poutrage crowd has been pushing in their Tea Party wannabe world. You should be checking in with Smartypants daily if aren’t already, she is one of the best for sure.
- Did you hear that author Stephen King has a new left wing radio show coming to the airwaves in Maine. White Noise Insanity covers politics in the northeast better than any.
- And come on people, both political parties are not the same, get your head out of your ass.
- Did you know that all those unemployed people and folks struggling across our country are really rich? Does it matter that they can’t afford food to put in that expensive refrigerator that they have? If they were really poor, they wouldn’t even have one. /snark
- One of the newest warriors storming the blogging scene took on Andrew Breitbart and coaxed him out of his rat hole, good work Evilsax!
- Even though I personally understand when the President has to compromise with the Republicans, I want him to fight those motherfuckers more too. That’s why I’ve been looking forward to campaign season — where a president is allowed to be partisan and fight.
Cross-posted at Extreme Liberal’s Blog
Other Posts You Might Like:
- Angry Black Links - A Compilation Of Sane Responses To The Resolution Of The Debt Hostage Drama!
- Angry Black Links - Saturday Morning Leftie Linkage!
- The Pragmatic Progressive Saturday Reading List!
- Angry Black Links - Hope for Haiti
- Angry Black Links - O'Keefe? O'Noes!
- Photos Of President Obama — Not Through A Media Filter
Insofar as compromise/negotiation is concerned: It is very hard to do either without mutual trust and respect on both sides. And, the parties have to be committed to finding solutions.
A logical and mature person tries to elicit negotiation. If not, alernative methods have to be used.
I expect that Obama and the Democrats will do what needs to be done at election time.
It is a fact of human nature that in a game of “chicken” the more responsible party ends up being seen as the loser.
Having read a few of the provided links, I think a few further comments are in order.
What far too many on “our” side fail to grasp is this: The object of the game is to win. “Losing pure” helps the other guys, not us.
Getting elected, at all levels, is the first and most essential requirement of that. Don’t just get elected, help others get elected and build the damn bench. The mistake groups such as the Greens make is going straight for the top. You want to build a house, start with the foundation, not the roof-peak.
Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan would not be in the crises they are had we as a party turned sufficient numbers out on Election Day last November. “Teaching Obama a lesson” wasn’t such a good idea, was it?
You want to push the Overton Window? Do it from the majority.
Moaning because your pet issue isn’t getting pushed quite to the level you want is pointless and counterproductive. Broad front advances are far more conducive to true victory than are salients. History tells us this. Read it and learn from it. (Yes, Dan Choi, I’m looking at you!)
Watch what people do, ignore what they say. You’ll learn more and do better that way.
We as a party need to get far better at speaking in concise, memorable, “sticky” terms. Long discourses on policy glaze my eyes over, and I’m a political and news junkie. As a corollary to that, while policy is important, so is the effective conducting of the political process needed to implement the policy. In fact, it is an essential precondition.
I’m sure I’ll have more later.
Most of that needs to be done; in a word, organize.
At the local level, and build/rebuild from there.
Recruit candiates; get them nominated; get money; run a professional campaign and get them elected.
Reward your friends and punish your enemies. And, your enemies are the GOP. Your friends are other Democrats. Never forget either one.
A professional campaign means a good messages; short and to the point. keep stressing those imprtant points.
Organize and GOTV. And, vote yourself.
Did not get what you want with your deal breaker issue? Reward your friends. Maybe you did not get what you want because you forgot to do that. Loyalty is a two way street.