Update [2005-7-17 2:16:20 by Armando]:From the diaries by Armando.
This is it.
There won't be a second chance...
unless you consider a "second chance" standing holding a protest sign as Karl Rove drives by in a limo with the next Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Friends, this is the moment, finally..
when the shit must stick to the wall.
BushCo. has dodged every single arrow...they've lied, finagled, maneuvered and, yes, won the critical political battles whether by hook or by crook.
However, right now, July, the summer of 2005, is the moment for that string of successes to end. Now is our best chance. This is it.
And for that to happen, we need to raise some hell...we need to raise a big stink. We need everybody in this country to be forced to ask themselves...what are the Democrats so goddam mad about with this Rove thing? Is there something to it?
And, yes, to get that level of attention, to get that level of coverage...for us Democrats, finally, to win our fellow citizens' outrage and sympathy in our opposition to Bush...we need to do more than what we've already been doing well:
But also, mainstream Democrats, especially those who represent us in the media, need to let go of the 'reticence' and 'holding back' that have characterized the Democratic Party for so long. (The fear that if we really stick our necks out...that we'll be branded as screaming liberals...that they'll tar us as a bunch of Al Gores and Howard Deans.
Fuck that. I want to see Al Gore and Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer and John Conyers and Michael Moore and Barbara Lee and Bruce Springsteen and Janeane Garafolo and, above all,
we, the netroots leading this charge, and , yes, plenty of moderate and conservative Democrats and Independents standing strong right beside us.)
Friends, if there was ever a moment to be a proud, screaming, and yes, unreasonable liberal in this country...that time is now. (I'm not talking about self-indulgence here....but now is the time for all of us to take a stand in our own way...to be angry if we are angry, to be "rational" if that's our vibe...we need to talk about all our issues, all our identities, all of our agendas and visions in our own ways...that is what this is about....we all have a stake in this fight, and we need to make a clear stand.)
Of course the war in Iraq was wrong, of course the torture was wrong, of course GWB is a lying, incompentent, malevolent disaster and his entire Adminstration is a disgrace...
but the fact is that, up to this point, the GOP have won...despite everything we've done. And, the brutal reality is that we have almost nothing to lose, because, uh, we've pretty much lost almost everything there is to lose in Washington D.C.
- the House
- the Senate
- the Presidency
- and now much hope of a reasonable Supreme Court
The "Rove Scandal" isn't some small thing about comeuppance against one man.
Nope.
It's the story of how, in one moment, we must show this country how we've been systematically and deliberately lied to by a bunch of hypocrites who run our governent and a party called the GOP. We need to show that we've been lied to by our President.
Now is the moment we must demonstrate that BushCo. has been the biggest lying machine to ever set up shop at the White House. They're not patriots....they are traitors who played politics with our national security...and we must not only say that, we need to help prove it.
BushCo. did what they did to our nation with open eyes and clear intent. You know it and I know it. Our nation needs to know it. And we all need to say it clearly...and forcefully...and make it stick.
To be frank, the ones who hate us won't care if we scream a bit...they'll do what they've always done...and call us all sorts of names and lies...and spin all sorts of webs and nets...but we have one weapon this time, the same one we've always had...no matter how "unreasonable" they've tried to paint us...and that weapon is the truth.
I am convinced that if we hold close to our values, and hold close to the truth, to the facts on the ground, that we will prevail.
One truth I know is that Karl Rove, to use his own terminology, is an evil man. His actions have corrupted our public discourse and put our nation's security at risk. He has brought the moral level of those around him down...and he has lied by choice and by habit.
I know this in my bones. You know it too. And yet, for all his lies, Rove is merely the most clear frontspiece for a much deeper disease at the root of BushCo. He's but the poster boy for their lies and manipulations. We all know he's merely the political hack for Dick Cheney and George W. Bush.
And now is the moment the shit must stick to the wall.
Everything up to this point has just been the pre-game show.
Bring on the Blogosphere....
friends, now is the time to bring on the Fighting Democrats, our sights are set much higher than Karl Rove.....for if free speech democracy isn't about kicking hypocrites and liars out of power, then it's not about anything.
(And for a further word, don't miss this comment from mrsdbrown...it'll bring a proud smile to your face, guaranteed.)