The now subsiding flap over the hit piece on MSOC in WaPo and the recent profane and heated debate in this blog got me thinking about Vietnam and the response of the left. I decided that just as Bushco learned nothing from the Vietnam failure, so have we on the left learned nothing either.
In an earlier post I answered my own question about when the left lost it: Chicago, 1968, Grant Park: The image of uncontrolled rage left the Humphrey campaign in a shambles, and despite a late surge led to a close election, but the installation of Nixon and it has been downhill ever since.
At this point, the rage is not uncontrollable, but portraits of bloggers like MSOC, accurate or not, in MSM like WaPo, do no good. MORE BELOW THE FOLD, INCLUDING AN ANSWER TO THE TITLE QUESTION.
Rage certainly has its place. Profanity has its place. I was struck by the post by a guy who took his young son to RFK to see the baseball opener and found himself booing Dr. Evil louder and louder, despite his telling his kid how impolite that would be only moments earlier. He was struck by his own depth of feeling. And I think we all have it.
At a recent candidate's night of the Hamilton County Democratic Forum (Cincinnati) that I emceed, I described the last six years as a national nightmare. Heads were bobbing all over the auditorium. It has been a nightmare, and people are scared and angry.
But we are not going to convince the 5-10% of the country we need to get back into the saddle by uncontrolled rage, unthoughtful comment and profanity by the bushelful. It just turns them off. People can disagree with this. I fully expect some of my critics to respond with another thoughtful "Fuck You" or "Stuff it up your ass", but I submit that such clever rejoinders don't advance the dialogue very much.
We need to control the rage, get it out, acknowledge it and turn it into precinct workers, phone volunteers, contributors, candidates, poll watchers, a blue majority that will turn this country back into what it should be.
That's my Easter basket for the Kos community.
Answer to the question: "I am going to Hono-fucking-lulu."
I figured that this was the only way to get some attention around this blog. Maybe I have learned something from the always interesting and impassioned MSOC.