The left always talks about what Obama or democrats should have anticipated. Votes have consequences and using your new found media megaphones destructively has consequences as well. Maybe it’s time that the professional left started looking in the mirror and examining the consequences of its own behavior in the lead up to the November 2010 mid-terms - and what's currently happening. (my first diary, I apologize for any errors).
Another commenter wrote:
“I think the strongest criticism of Obama is that he didn't anticipate problems in raising the debt ceiling back in December 2010 and basically assumed good faith on the part of the GOP….”
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REALLY? I think the strongest criticism of the PROFESSIONAL LEFT is that THEY didn’t anticipate problems arising from them working so hard to turn voters against the democratic party in the lead up to the NOVEMBER 2010 midterms, every time a piece of legislation wasn’t written word for word as they DEMANDED. They wouldn’t allow anything to be a starting point that could be improved upon later. It’s we get everything perfect now, or we’ll vote dems out of office – STUPID. Not one of the sacred cow legislation you currently go insane over – SS, Medicare, Medicaid – even remotely resembles its original draft.
One example – Look at the exit polls from the mid-terms. Voter criticism of healthcare reform mirrored the professional left’s complaints that they blasted THROUGH THE MEDIA, NOT the GOP’s talking points. Your average voter doesn’t rush to the internet to read the zillion-page legislation that congress churns out, they only know what WE tell them about it via the media. And voters punished the democratic party at the polls.
The left did this with EVERYTHING – healthcare, the stimulus that even the GOP credit (privately) with stopping the economic freefall, saving the auto giants (who are now churning out cars that you don’t have to fill up for a month), etc – years ago, the GOP killed US plans for electric the car. These and a host of other things NEVER would have happened under the GOP. The GOP WANTED the economy to “bottom out” (they said so!)– i.e. spiral out of control until there was nothing left, as they bet against the dollar and the treasury, and shorted the US economy to make a profit. There would be 20% unemployment under the GOP.
Considering what he started with, Obama and Democrats had one of the most successful legislative starts to any presidency, yet the left worked to UNsell voters on EVERYTHING democrats tried to do, and brushed aside every accomplishment as “nothing” or a “sell-out”. Because the left battled democrats in the media at every turn, they made it next to impossible for the party to sell voters on ANYTHING they tried to accomplish. Then they move on to inventing some new reason why “if they don’t get THIS” they’ll threaten to “sit on their hands” in the next election, so it never ends.
You can see from many of the posts on dKos that many on the professional left have developed quite the ego. At every turn, they want to feel validated about the POWER they have over the democratic party. They are THE BASE, and DEMs had better not piss of THE BASE. And, some of the larger players have simply sold out or are looking for their big payday, after which they’re only too happy to churn out crap against dems. The base is not motivated? YOU’RE the one’s that are bringing down the base and de-motivating everyone with all your talk against the democratic party, and NEVER being able to find good in ANYTHING!!!!
The professional left is also obviously just as completely irrational as their tea party counterparts. Were it not for a few overzealous tea partiers pushing over-the-top tea bagger candidates in states like Nevada, the GOP would have used more “moderate” candidates, captured the senate as well and we would not be having this conversation about the debt deal. They would have used their thin majority in the senate as leverage to ram the Ryan plan through the senate as well, and would simply be working on wearing down the President, who would have vetoed it. If 40% of the house voted to rebuke their president on the debt limit because the GOP controlled the house, do you think senate democrats would have stood by Obama if dems no longer controlled the senate? The GOP would only need to peel off a few dems. Obama would be on his own trying to hold firm for 2 straight years against the GOP’s battering ram of constant attacks and trying to get him to sign all sorts of sh*t legislation AFTER house and senate dems caved.
If the democrats lose next year, the professional left will very quickly get exactly what it asked for with the whole “can’t see the forest for the trees” attitude. If the left is so BLIND that it STILL can’t see that the GOP alternative is a hell of a lot worse than having Obama in the oval office, or dems controlling both houses, you will get the cure you need very quickly. The wealthy dem leadership will be fine – it’s you, the middle class, and the poor (i.e. the 300 million Americans that you PRETEND to care about) that’ll be **%^$’d.
The next round of GOP rule will make 2001 to 2008 look like a picnic. Liberals are already getting some karmic payback. You wanted democrats to lose in 2010 so that hopefully “better democrats” will come along in some mythical time? Still waiting for the democratic messiah? If you wanted dems to lose, then you WANTED the GOP to win and should take credit for the following:
*Electing Gov. Walker in Wisconsin, the subsequent loss of union collective bargaining rights in that state, as well as anti-union bills popping up in gop-controlled states across the country. (Russ Fiengold couldn't find anything good to say about his own party's accomplishments, and voters couldn't find a good reason to keep him. Go figure.)
*The Ryan Budget to gut Medicare, Medicaid, and eventually, SS – you WANTED the GOP-controlled house, so EAT IT. Take responsibility. YOU should have anticipated what a GOP-controlled house would do.
*The moves across the country to challenge Rov v. Wade
*Further deregulation of the financial systems
*NO ACTION ON JOBS, etc., etc, etc.
The GOP will be taking us all BACK folks.
Since you don’t mind the GOP being in charge, are you happy about Judge Robert’s move to roll back women’s rights with the Wal-Mart decision? Really tough to sue for pay discrimination now. Cases are falling apart across the country because of this.
Also, to all the women who chose to stay home last Nov (or vote for the GOP). You keep doing that. You obviously haven’t noticed that EVERY TIME the GOP is back in power, they are OBSESSED with “redefining” rape laws, and making sure you can’t have an abortion if you’re the victim of rape or incest. Now, they’ve put up road blocks to suing for equal pay. Obama signs equal pay for equal work legislation into law, and the GOP-controlled supreme court quickly puts a supreme court decision in place to make it difficult for you to sue for pay discrimination. But you’re right. Dems are terrible. Put the GOP back in power.
The GOP has shown their hand. They’ve already TELEGRAPHED what they’re going to do and, given the pace and severity of the legislation they are churning out – the end will come quickly.
We are one GOP president and a few senate seats away from:
*.the elimination of the social safety net (before that it will be “privatized” to transfer all that money to GOP-controlled corporations),
*.complete financial deregulation,
*.no affordable healthcare – 25% to 40% rate increases annually
*.rolling back civil rights for women and minorities,
*.overturn of Roe v. Wade
*.no more unions,
*.conservative domination of the supreme court for the next generation (or longer) – the next few departing judges will be older DEMOCRATS
*.once all of the above is gone, the middle class will be completely destroyed
*.ANY gay rights legislation will be outlawed at the federal level and ratified through supreme court decisions, etc., etc.
It will all happen very quickly, and with BILLIONS in citizens united propaganda money protecting the GOP, it will be very difficult to get any of it back.
Liberals need to drop the irrational bull-sh*t. The country is one election year away from COMPLETE AND UTTER DISASTER, and the never-can-be-satisfied “professional left” helped to push the country one step closer to this with your actions in the lead up to November 2010. Hell, the left was running ads against Obama 8 months into his FIRST TERM.
It’s your choice. If you do not THROW yourselves behind democrats with EVERYTHING you’ve got for the next year and HELP them to SELL their accomplishments to VOTERS, if you PUSH dems to further losses, this country is *%!$&’d. Wealthy dems (including Obama) can afford to MOVE. You’re the ones who will be left with Russia – Oops! I mean GOP-America.
No matter how many warning signs there have been, people here are STILL pulling the same crap. Presidential elections are being stolen, one of the men that counseled Bush during the 2000 recount was installed as Chief Supreme Court Justice, Judge Roberts used an obscure case to unleash UNLIMITED corporate cash into our political system FOR THE GOP, the GOP is currently trying to ram through legislation that effectively destroys the social safety net, etc, etc.
Yet, if you sit here and read blog after blog on dKos, it seems as if people here are in a totally different universe. You claim to be so informed and so smart, so much better at seeing everything then those dumb dems on the hill, yet your every move is designed to HELP the GOP and undermine democrats. May God help you because if the GOP wins, they surely won’t.
You have a CLEAR choice. What the GOP is doing would NEVER happen under democrats. With dems the pace of change may not be as fast as we hoped it would be but, for the most part, it's in the right direction.
In your childish impatience and demands for instant gratification and perfection, you risk losing everything. The GOP promises to thank you for helping them, by swiftly destroying everything that you claim to hold dear.