Opinions and Letters

One and the Same: Great new DNC web ad.

"He has done what he promised. He's transforming our country"

I read dailyKos.  Daily.  I have a few favorite diarists, whose wisdom and/or warnings I share on Facebook or by email.

But this is such a moving summary - lots of photos and video - that I thought I'd share it here.

blackwaterdog is an unabased fan of President Obama.  Given the bashing he takes every day (and yeah, I complain that he isn't the strong progressive I would have liked, too), I look forward to the narrative bwd pulls together a few times a week in photos, videos, news bits, etc.  She reminds us of why we voted for Barack Obama.  Why we felt so hopeful.  And why we really, truly should not STOP being hopeful. 

BWD quoted Greg Sargent at the Plum Line:  (click on link to read full article)

Once Obama signs financial reform into law next week, he will have not only passed a stimulus package that helped pull the economy back from the brink; he will have also begun reshaping two major chunks of our economy: Health care and Wall Street. As many have noted already, he's probably done more than any president since FDR to transform our country.

and that was just her intro!  .... 

The Tea Party Is Dangerous: Dispelling Seven Myths That Help Us Avoid Reality About the New Right-Wing Politics

Summer is everyone’s favorite time for ―beach books,‖ but in between bodice-ripping romance novels, sci-fi or mysteries, there are some good on-line news sites to keep your adrenaline up. Truthout.org, for one. It offers a variety of essays about a variety of subjects. You’ll almost always find one or two that will grab your attention.

Recently, Adele M. Stans, AlterNet’s Washington bureau chief, wrote an ―ignore at your own peril‖ piece about the Tea Party Movement.

In The Tea Party Is Dangerous: Dispelling Seven Myths That Help Us Avoid Reality About the New Right-Wing Politics, she notes that ―the same forces that launched the Religious Right in the 1970s is behind today’s Tea Party movement, aided and abetted by Fox News, corporate-funded organizing groups and far-right players within the Republican Party – forces which, taken in the aggregate, constitute a sort of Tea Party, Inc. They have money. They have power. And they know how to get more of both.‖

Stans gives seven emerging themes for not taking the Tea Party seriously, and why they are wrong.

1. The T.P. is largely a creation of the media, which devotes too much coverage to a small constituency of malcontents.
2. Not an authentic grassroots movement; more the creation of astroturf groups.
3. Cannot win general elections.
4. Actually good for Democrats, because we look reasonable by comparison. (If only.)
5. It’s destined to burn itself out.
6. It’s disorganized and has no leaders.
7. Supporters are all stupid, crazy or ignorant. (Except they’re not.)

No amount of ridicule will stop the Tea Party, she writes. ―Without a plan to meet regular Americans through their local media, or a way to articulate progressive goals as a plan of enlightened self-interest, progressives could see their moment slip away, carried on the wings of resentment.

Read the entire article at Truth-out.org, or browse the www.truth-out.org site for other great articles.

Kathleen Jamison - Club Member

Stop using language as a weapon

The English language is a fantastically expressive tool that can bring both delight and anger to its readers. I would like to present an idea that we should take into consideration in our public use of English. As a party it behooves us to be as inclusive as possible and increase the ranks of those whose ideas about democratic government are considered and thoughtful. When we use phrases such as "demagoguery of Republican politicians" and "mob behavior," we are classifying a group, many of whose members, as registered Republicans, may not feel themselves to be either demagogues or part of a mob. The immediate reaction is to stop listening to what we Democrats are saying and become defensive at what may be considered by some as and insult.
 
In fact it is this attachment of derogatory adjectives to words like Democrats or Liberal that the Republican Party has made use of since the days of Newt Gingrich and continues today with Rush Limbaugh and others to create the split in American Politics that has made our legislators at both the state and national level ineffective.
 
Perhaps it would be better to say the "uninformed opposition" or the "few unruly." We may find that rather then take offense at a phrase they may ask what we think? Once that happens we have an opening to win over converts to our position. I realize these are not easy things to do because Democrats are people too with the same sensitivities and after years of bashing from the Republicans we almost instinctively react with our passions rather than reason. But at the end of the day I feel that our goal ought to be to build a better America not simply a stronger Democratic Party. We are all in this boat together!

(Doug Ewan, author)