The Disconnect on the left Posted by: McQ
on Monday, September 08, 2008
Over at Huffpo Adam McKay manages in one paragraph to lay out the disconnect which threatens what the left has come to assume as their 'right' - the election of a Democrat to the White House. He sniffs the air and knows ...:
Something is not right. We have a terrific candidate and a terrific VP candidate. We're coming off the worst eight years in our country's history. Six of those eight years the Congress, White House and even the Supreme Court were controlled by the Republicans and the last two years the R's have filibustered like tantrum throwing 4-year-olds, yet we're going to elect a Republican who voted with that leadership 90% of the time and a former sportscaster who wants to teach Adam and Eve as science? That's not odd as a difference of opinion, that's logically and mathematically queer.
Hopefully I can help Mr. McKay sort through all of this and make some sense of it.
A) Apparently a whole lot of people who are just beginning to really pay attention aren't as enamored with the D ticket as Adam and the netroots seem to be. I know that may come as a surprise to them, but there it is. The echo chamber and the activists ran the primary season. They got what they wanted. Diversity and style over substance. But, as is becoming clear, Mr. Obama is actually in a real race for the first time in his life (well other than the time he lost in a bid for Congress) and he's suddenly confronted by a serious headwind. And it is causing problems.
Why? Well that takes us to "B".
B) Apparently, not everyone agrees that the last 8 years have been the "worst eight years in our country's history." I know that may come as a surprise, but again, when one lives in the echo chamber one comes to adopt the chamber's narrative. That's when nasty little surprises, such as "reality", have a tendency to slap you in the face. Mr. McKay might want to get out a bit more. Just because a Republican president has low approval rating doesn't mean the people necessarily want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Maybe they just want to change the water. McCain wasn't viewed as the change they wanted. Palin is.
C) While the Republican Congress may not have been what Mr. McKay wanted or liked for those 6 years, it's the last 2 years that voters are going to remember. Congress has been controlled by Democrats during that time. And not just any Democrats, but Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid - a pair that so brilliantly represent what's wrong with Congress that you can't even caricature them. There is a very good reason that this Congress has set the new and historic low in approval ratings and that reason is its Democratic leadership.
And D) McKay's last point about the "sportscaster" who wants to teach "Adam and Eve" as science" neatly and succinctly points to why his title "We're Gonna Frickin' Lose This Thing" is so apt.
In one sentence he denigrates and misrepresents Sarah Palin's record and accomplishments while wondering how America could be missing all of this? Well it's fairly simple, Mr. McKay - she's the governor of a state and she's never said that creationism should be on the curriculum.
So your problem, in short, is most American's don't like mean spirited people who distort and lie about other people and their accomplishments. Unfortunately for you it appears your compatriots on the left just cannot help themselves. It has been an unseemly and, frankly, disgusting display. The present effect, for the record, is known as a "blowback". Enjoy.
Hopefully, sir, this will somehow penetrate the netroots cocoon you've been wrapped in for all these years and lend a little reality to the mix to help you sort through the cognitive dissonance you're now experiencing.
The amusing part will be witnessing the moaning on the left as they roll out the same old tired excuses - because it absolutely, positively couldn’t possibly be THEY who are the problem! It just HAS to be something that others did to them, those poor misunderstood underappreciated victims. So it’ll be racism, that they didn’t go hard enough to the left a la Michael Moore (my personal favorite! lmao), they didn’t play rough enough, swiftboating Repugs / VRWC, fraud at the polls, etc.
This is what happens when you have a black man and a white woman compete for the nomination in a party that lives by identity politics. Karma! :) As expected, the black man trumps the white woman. Anyone familiar with the liberal victimhood ranking would have known the outcome.
Sarah Barracuda was the lovely bait, the MSM bit hard, and voila - the return of the culture wars. Perfect. The Left just can’t help themselves. I love it.
because it absolutely, positively couldn’t possibly be THEY who are the problem!
Of course not.
I can’t remember where I read this, it was several years ago, but:
"When people on the left notice that liberal presidential candidates don’t poll well in Kansas, they don’t write a book called What’s The Matter With Liberal Presidential Candidates?"
I haven’t raised the Palin issue with most of my liberal friends.
Yesterday a visit to one old friend’s summer cottage produced not one word about politics. (She’s so far Left that I call her a "Yeah, but, Leftist," who follows every refuted claim with her next outrage as though the loss of the previous one meant nothing.)
But during a stop at a local gas station/convenience store I ran into one acquaintance who I was kidding around with about his latest used car (a ’96 Volvo station wagon) and he turned to me and said, "I don’t have to ask you who you’re voting for." I just laughed.
Then he said to me, "but you have to admit that no normal person likes that vice presidential choice," referring to Palin.
Trying to keep it light, I said, "she shoots, she hunts, what more do you want."
Then he called her "a c*nt."
I just smiled and continued out the door. My impression is that they are aghast that McCain picked someone who can field dress a liberal.
It isn’t OUR fault, it’s you wingnuts poisoning the minds of the voters with your simple, un-nuanced narratives...things like low taxes good, terrorists bad, and that sort of thing...when the truth is that incorporated Sub-Chapter S corporations, with an initial capitalization of $75,000 or less or which are 45% minority or womyn-owned, which install CFR 1348.8 (a)1 renewable energy HVAC systems, deserve a 10% break on the first $15,000 of AGI and a 7.5% break on the next $30,000 and a 3.75% break on the next $60,000 AGI, UNLESS they are operating in an environmentally sensitive area, as defined by PL 456-07 Sect 1. 1) a) .04 or if they are involved in the manufacture of hazardous materials as defined in CFR 345.901 (1) (a) in which case they are not eligible to receive such tax benefits.
And terrorism, let’s be honest more people died from second-hand smoke in the US in 2001 than at the WTC, and so shouldn’t we REALLY be waging a War on Tobacco, as our GWoT, rather than a GWoTerror?
It’s clear to me that your simplistic ramblings serve only to confuse the voter(s) and that we on the Progressive side of the aisle must seek to simplify the debate, by launching DoS attacks or instituting the Fairness Doctrine...Thank you.
PS: I might add throw in Diebold and the SCOTUS and you have the makings of a system of corruption that is simply unimaginable in any developed nation, and by developed I mean any nation East of the River Bug, but west of the Atlantic, preferably one with a Euro-Communist or strongly Marxian Political tradition. PS: I might add throw in Diebold and the SCOTUS and you have the makings of a system of corruption that is simply unimiginable in any deveolped nation, and by developed I mean any nation East of the River Bug, but west of the Atlantic, preferably one with a Euro-Communist or strongly Marxian Political tradition.
... yet we’re going to elect a Republican who voted with that leadership 90% of the time...
This underlies a constant theme in dem political ads: McCain "voted with Bush 90% of the time" and Sarah Palin merely read a speech that Bush’s people wrote for her.
The dems are assuming that EVERYBODY hates George Bush as much as they do. While he is not exactly Mr. Popularity just now, I don’t get the sense that most people loathe him. Further, I’d wager that people who think about it will assume that, of COURSE John McCain "voted with" Bush 90% of the time because they are both Republicans. Indeed, as a Republican myself, I’m a little surprised that McCain’s voting record is that good! I think people will also not react too well to the meme that Sarah Palin merely read a speech that Bush’s people wrote for her. In the first place, Bush isn’t on the ticket this year. In the second place, anybody who observes politics at all knows that the GOP is hardly monolithic, and John McCain isn’t exactly George Bush’s biggest fan. Finally, it’s pretty demeaning to Sarah Palin. I’m not sure how many women - liberal, conservative or middle of the road - will like the implication that a woman is only good for reading a speech that somebody else writes for her.
We’re coming off the worst eight years in our country’s history.
The libs tried this in ’04 with "the worst economy since the Great Depression". It didn’t work well for them, so... they’re doubling down. Now, the past eight years are the worst in our history??? I know most Americans are not well-versed in history, but I can hardly believe that anybody with even a passing knowledge of World War II or the Civil War or the Vietnam era will conclude that the Bush years have been the worst in our history. I remember the ’70s and early ’80s, and I PROMISE you that these past years have been a friggin’ picnic compared to that.
former sportscaster
Gee, could he get more condescending? And does he not see that referring to Sarah Palin in this manner causes a moment her Sarah Palin’s real record... and possibly making an invidious comparison with Obama’s?
"Wait... Sarah Palin was a sportscaster? I thought she was governor or mayor or something... And... what did Obama used to do before he ran for president? Did he do ANYTHING?"
But that’s the Reality Based Community for you. slick and kevin r are right: if the dems lose this time (no guarantees, but here’s hoping for the best), they won’t stop to think what’s wrong with them. It’ll be a combination of "Republicans CHEATED" and "Americans are RACIST" (but obviously not sexist).
Inflation and interest rates, both topping 18%, are so far beyond anything that Americans have experienced in peacetime—and so far beyond anything that U.S. financial markets are set up to handle—as to inspire a contagion of fear.
along with a tinpot fundamentalist committing an outrageous act of war against the country and getting away with it cold, happened under a Democrat.
And this last session of congress had 50 resolutions for a timetable to get out of Iraq, which of COURCE he was going to vote against. Minusing those votes, of the votes he cast (he was a big "absent" voter this session) he voted "with the president" not too often... COmpared to Obama’s 97+% record of voting with his party...
I never understood why people assume that just because they are partisan to an extreme that anyone else is. McCain is not Bush, thats enough for most people who may think he has done a bad job, doesn’t mean they think his goals were bad, and definitely doesn’t mean they should switch parties. They still pick the person they agree with, just hope he is a much more capable executor.
Bush has had more than his share of bad press for 8 years. It would be silly to claim a good ration of it is not self inflicted (Brown, Rumsfeld, etc) but with the press so clearly in the tank for Obama (the Democrats) these days, are we seriously considering THAT might really be a recent trend?
I think not.
I’m trying to imagine what President John F. Kerry would be like right now, and it doesn’t leave me feeling warm and fuzzy.
Katrina, four dollar gas, a trillion dollar war, rising unemployment, deregulated housing market, global warming...no more.
Also:...a declining dollar, a dying auto industry, most foreclosures since the Great Depression, sagging consumer confidence, record budget deficits, "borrowing" from China to float our ever-increasing debt....no more.
I could go on, but I’ll spare you. Besides, I know what you’ll say: McCain is different! HE’S a MAVERICK! Gimme a break. The reason Republicans are so happy nowadays is because they at long last have found the fundamentalist candidate (again)they were looking for, someone to hoodwink the masses with a gun-God-gays type appeal that fools the people every time. Meanwhile, the neocons and the Corporatist/Wealthy wing of the party will sneak in the back door and hold on to power. If you’re not rich, they don’t give a damn about you. They say all the right things, the things you wingnuts wanna hear. Like McCain saying he’ll support a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. He’s not going to do any such thing!
The empty suits in the conservative media will use double standards. Witness Bill O’Reilly blaming the parents of Jamie Lynn Spears for her having a baby, oh but in Bristol Spears case, we’ll have to "withhold judgment". Pathetic.
The reason the neocons and the Corporatist/Wealthy wing of the party have to sneak in the back door is because they know most Americans, if exposed, would be against them. That’s why McCain’s houses remark was a "gaffe." That’s why the establishment didn’t like McCain. He’s was not a Dubya, or a Quayle, or even a Reagan. (Notice they lost in ’96 with Dole/Kemp, neither of whom fit the traditional mold.) They absolutely NEED a fundamentalist on the ticket or they lose. Meanwhile they don’t give a damn about any of that fundamentalist crap; that’s why that Time story came out coupla years about about the true believers in the White House being laughed at behind they’re backs. Abortion will still be legal after a McCain/Palin administration, believe me.
As soon as the world stops buying our T-Bills, we’re through. And this is how Bush (and McCain) finance the war.
Wow so Hill Country T-Bills finance the war, so if they fiance something that is less than 1% of GDP I guess they REALLY finance all the other things gub’mint odes, too? Right? Just looking for some clarity...
Oh HOOOOOLD IT, this was IRONY, right? Man, did I fall for it...hats off to you.
four dollar gas Gas prices went up $0.70 over the first six years of Bush’s presidency. Enter Speaker Pelosi - "Democrats have a plan to lower gas prices…join Democrats who are working to lower gas prices now.” Nancy Pelosi - April 19, 2006. Since the Dems took control of Congress, gas prices have risen from ~$2.20/gallon to over $4.00/gallon (recently subsided). The rise in oil prices are being pressured upward due to increased demand from China, India, and other emerging markets, yet, accessing US oil supply to alleviate the increasing prices is being blocked by the Democrats.
a trillion dollar war Rape rooms, torture, murder. You libs confuse me. Aren’t we supposed to help the world’s suffering? Oh, not when it is politically expedient. At least, your guys are not voting to fund it; otherwise, you would need to point that finger at yourself. Oh wait....
rising unemployment Unemployment is at historically low levels. It has risen. This is what happens when government makes extending unemployment benefits part of its economy-saving "tax rebate" sham. If you give people incentive not to work, guess what they do? That’s right! Vote Democrat.
deregulated housing market Now, you’re dreaming.
global warming farce
a declining dollar I don’t like the weak dollar policy either. However, given that the most recent increase in GDP of 3.3% was due in large part to continued strength in exports, maybe, it wasn’t a bad idea.
It probably was the only thing keeping the auto industry alive.
a dying auto industry That’s right folks. Decades of poor decisions are the fault of GWB.
most foreclosures since the Great Depression most subprime loans since the Great Depression
sagging consumer confidence Incessant barking of we’re in a recession when reality dictates otherwise. If you know what a recession is, you know we’re not in one.
record budget deficits, "borrowing" from China to float our ever-increasing debt. AGREED! I don’t like this either. I was wondering what you thought about your candidate and his plans to increase spending, introduce more tax cuts, and his most recent announcement to MAINTAIN the Bush tax cuts. This, of course, will cause more debt and borrowing resulting in even greater budget deficits.
Katrina, four dollar gas, a trillion dollar war, rising unemployment, deregulated housing market, global warming...no more.
Also:...a declining dollar, a dying auto industry, most foreclosures since the Great Depression, sagging consumer confidence, record budget deficits, "borrowing" from China to float our ever-increasing debt....no more.
Yes, and Bush was so clearly behind the whole $4.00 a gallon. And global warming, yes indeedy, personally responsible, Bush again. Katrina - yep, not only did he build the levies and divert the funds for repairing and improving them, he DYNAMITED THEM TOO! ANDDDDD, he and Dick Cheney steered that hurrican RIGHT INTO NEW ORLEANS (where the Democratic mayor, and the Democratic governor would be allowed to drop the ball, nudge nudge, wink wink).
Well, hard to say the war isn’t his, but not all those Democratic Senators and Congressmen who voted for it, nuh-uh...I guess the biggest complaint there is that it wasn’t a complete and utter failure like the Dem’s needed for the 2008 campaign.
Dying auto industry, yeah, damn the man, he’s up there screwing with their plans and substituting gas guzzling models for those fuel efficient cars we all were just dying to buy when gas was going for .99 cents a gallon back in 2000.
Hey, I was wondering? Do you have the schedule for "Better" and "Smarter" government plans the Dems were touting in 2006 when they took control of Congress and gas wasn’t $4.00 a gallon and the housing market was rip roaring in it’s unregulated condition and the Democratically controlled Congress and Senate passed bills that were spending that deficit up up and away.
Yeah, all Bush, every bit of it. Bush, with only Lord Rove and Prince Richard to help him wreck the country.
On question there Hillcountry? How do you hear anything in there with all the Evil Bush echos bouncing off the walls.
Six of those eight years the Congress, White House and even the Supreme Court were controlled by the Republicans
In the last two of those eight years, the Democrats have controlled all of Congress. In the first two years, thanks to Jim Jeffords leaving the Republican party after the 2000 election and becoming an independent, The Democrats controlled the Senate. Hence the Republicans have controlled Congress for only four of the eight years.
I remember the Democratic deeds of those first two years, including the voting down of George Bush’s energy plan... not to mention the recession that started as a hand-over from Bill Clinton.
Why are commentators allowed to get away with such falsehoods?
And the sad thing is that lefties like hillcountry really believe their own propaganda. Amazing that the 200 election caused so much permanent insanity. So much so that they believe their own countrymen would cause 9/11 for such tawdry reasons.
Why are commentators allowed to get away with such falsehoods?
Well, actually, thanks to commenters like you (and others here) they don’t.
At least they get to have there say at places like QandO; lefty sites won’t let anyone dissent from the liberal orthodoxy. Apparently the left has no use for discussion of anything since they have all figured out already. Pity their children.
