First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
~ Mohandas Gandhi
We have all witnessed the insane reaction to the Lamont victory.
The entire political establishment, not just the Republicans, went totally ape shit. The talking heads outdid themselves with hyperbolic gobbledy gook. (CNN claimed that some people were calling Lamont the Al Qaeda candidate.)
The `establishment' went apoplectic.
There was suddenly a threat to the realm - a real and present danger as it were. Suddenly the entrenched political elite were being stalked by a beast called Democracy.
(more over the fold...)
They ignored us plenty. The Republican Party ignored us when we elected Al Gore President in 2000. The Supreme Court of the United States ignored us when they stopped the vote recount in Florida and crowned George W our Emperor. They ignored us when we demanded that they not invade Iraq, or at least prove that they had WMDs before doing so. They ignored us when they stole the Presidency for a second time in 2004. They ignored us when we demanded that our civil rights be protected, that our Constitution be preserved, that our national principles be respected, that our liberties be unabridged, that our honor and dignity as a nation and a people be upheld. And they ignored us when we demanded that they not torture people in our name. They ignored us because we were not Big Money and that's what things have degenerated to in our country. All because we got snookered by a gang of greedy half-bright low-life conservatives in sheep's clothing who somehow managed to convince a lot of people that they were the moral voice of America. What a joke! What a pathetic mockery of everything once held sacred in this country!
They laughed at us plenty too. They destroyed the candidacy of Howard Dean with their cruel and demented mockery. They gleefully seized every opportunity to marginalize us, to write us off as the `extreme left', or the `angry left', or the `extremely angry left' (which is much closer to the mark for yours truly, but hey, that's just me). They spent an inordinate amount of time, energy, and hard cold cash trying desperately to convince everyone that we had no influence or relevance. Their rhetoric went from scorn to mockery to alarm.
Our energy was palpable to all when we played a role in the trouncing of Lieberman. We defied the odds when we won a hard fought race against a thoroughly entrenched 16-year incumbent.
Our unlikely victory has some people very worried, and you can be sure that the battle is about to intensify. So gird your loins brothers and sisters, we are going to be attacked like never before.
Our strength is that the simple truth is on our side. When we are slandered and spun, we need to counter hard with the simple truth. Cut and run? The simple truth is that this war is not worth one more life. Enabling Al Qaeda? The simple truth is Al Qaeda was never more enabled than when we invaded Iraq and let OBL get away. Far left? The simple truth is just look at what the far right has done to America. TERROR ALERT RED? The simple truth is that even the scared people are getting tired of that crap. The Netroots Al Qaeda enablers? The simple truth is that the Netroots is true democracy in action.
The simple truth is on our side, and the TRUTH brothers and sisters shall set us free.
The primary reminded us of the miracle of our democracy, in which the nation is ruled by its people - not by any entrenched set of leaders. ~ Sen. Edward Kennedy Source
Don't think for a minute that the rightwing assault on the Internet isn't about the power of the Netroots, because that's precisely what it's about. This battle is about to intensify - and we had better be ready.
The Internet (read democracy) is the conservative establishment's biggest threat. Expect them to come after it with a vengeance. We cannot afford to lose this battle, for a free and open Internet is the last hope for democracy - and I don't mean one of the last hopes, I mean the last hope. It is our organizing principle and sole means of communication. If the opponents of Network Neutrality win, they will marginalize us, effectively shutting us down. If the free and open Internet dies, democracy will die with it.
Do not doubt for a moment that the opposition is vicious, and a vicious opponent is never more dangerous than when cornered. We are going to have to be ever more vigilant because you know how these bastards love to cheat.
If we fought you fair, you'd win every time.
~ Newt Gingrich to Bill Clinton
You couldn't say it any plainer Newt, unless you just came out and said Republicans win by cheating.
Cheney and his crowd are all for free and open elections - as long as they turn out their way. They are all for free speech - provided it supports the administration. They are all for the rule of law - as long as the law does not prevent them from doing whatever they want to do. When elections, speeches or laws are inconvenient, he does not hesitate to declare that they are helping the terrorists. I can think of no graver offense against our democracy.
~ Sen. Edward Kennedy Source
Before we win, however, we are going to face the full fury of the conservative backlash. Conservatives, be they Republicans or establishment Dems, are not going to give up power without a vicious fight. The gravy train they are riding to glory is perfectly acceptable to them all even though it totally screws the rest of us. Big Money is attractive, Big Money turns heads, Big Money is a more alluring goal to politicians than justice, fairness, or the greater good and common welfare of the American people. Big Money and the `Establishment' are in lust - and they are going to fight us tooth and claw to hold on to the power they so love to abuse.
3 things we need to watch out for:
1) Further assault on the free Internet to include sneaky legislative shenanigans
2) Potential for further electoral fraud both hi-tech and low-tech
3) Fear mongering to include GWOT manipulations of the most cynical kind
Around the country Republicans are leaving the Party like rats off a sinking ship. Republican candidates are turning their backs on Bush.
For Republicans, bad gets worse in Northeast
Incumbents shy from party and President Bush
By Jim VandeHei
Updated: 1 hour, 56 minutes ago
PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. - When it comes to President Bush and the Republican Congress, Rep. Jim Gerlach says voters in his suburban Philadelphia district are in a "sour mood." Source
Meanwhile Democrats are on a roll. America is finally waking up.
November Midterm Elections: For Democrats, Wave Is Building
The Washington Post, July 16, 2006
Thomas E. Mann, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies
There's probably no way congressional Republicans can lose this fall, no matter how unpopular President Bush is or how unhappy the voters are with the war in Iraq. That's the prevailing view in Washington today.
But it's wrong.
If history is any guide, we're heading into a major political storm. And that means we could see a national tide in November that will sweep the Democrats back into the majority.
Virtually every public opinion measure points to a Category 4 or 5 hurricane gathering. Bush's job-approval rating is below 40 percent, and congressional job approval is more than 10 percentage points lower. Only a quarter of the electorate thinks the country is moving in the right direction, and voters are unhappy with the economy under Bush. Finally, Democrats hold a double-digit lead as the party the public trusts to do a better job of tackling the nation's problems and the party it would like to see controlling Congress. Source
In poll after poll the Democrats are stomping Republicans like over-ripened grapes. And yet our bruised and battered grape-like opponents seem curiously unfazed - as if they have some sort of secret weapon waiting in the wings.
From the LA Times
July 8, 2006
Despite polls that indicate Democrats are positioned to make gains in November, Bush said Republicans would retain control of the House and Senate. "I'm looking forward to these elections," he said. "I think you'll be surprised."
~ George W. Bush Source
You have to wonder - is reality lost on these guys? Or do they know something we don't? Just what sort of slimy dirt-ball trick do they have up their sleeves this time?
"Republicans will keep the House, Republicans will keep the Senate," he predicted. "The question is, what will be the margin? Will we gain a couple of seats? Will we lose a couple of seats? Will we lose more than a couple seats? I'm frankly very optimistic."
~ Karl Rove Source
Whatever these conniving bastards have in mind, you can be sure it won't be pretty. It never is with this crowd. We're going to have to fight them with everything we've got. The truth is our best weapon but we're going to have to shout it from the rooftops to overcome the rightwing noise machine. Owning the mainstream media gives them a huge advantage as far as catapulting the propaganda goes - and we should never underestimate the power this has over the masses. We have to counter their lies with passion and zeal, we have to educate our friends and neighbors, we have to resist the snake-oil peddlers and turn the public against them.
This past weekend, I had a revealing conversation with my father on the occasion of his 82nd birthday. Knowing him to be a Democrat but military to the bone, I asked, "You don't support Bush do you?"
"No!" he grimaced, "but this war is one we can't afford to lose."
"What war?" I asked.
"The war on terror."
"The whole `war on terror' thing is 10% reality (I was being kind), and 90% "Let's scare the hell out of everybody so they'll vote Republican!" I said.
That immediately made sense to him - he just hadn't heard anyone say it before. He didn't know that the chief magistrate at the Hague had recently come out and said that there may be grounds for a war crimes tribunal re: Iraq. He didn't know about Bush's abusive use of 750 signing statements to subvert the will of Congress - though he acknowledged having heard something about it. My Dad may be 82 but he's a pretty sharp old bird - but all of his news comes through the MSM. People who rely on the MSM don't really know what's going on. It's our job to tell them.
The conservatives and right-wingers have raised the stakes so high that we have to win. We simply cannot afford to lose to these assholes any longer. Democracy and liberty are at stake - not to mention world peace.
And when we win, the battle won't be over. In fact, it will only have just begun. We will still face enormous challenges. Our political system will remain largely broken until we can purge it of the influence of Big Money. Our public schools will continue to suck (thanks to the repubs) until we improve them from the ground up. Our corporations will continue to have undue influence in our government until we ban them from it. The Main Stream Media will still be owned by right-wing corporatists working to subvert the truth and promote propaganda. Lobbyists will continue to corrupt our representatives and pervert our political process for as long as we allow it. The Military-Industrial Complex will continue to corrupt our government and agitate for war until we ban the armaments industry world-wide, have a massive multi-lateral disarmament, and turn all of that energy, treasure, and genius to solving our real world problems like the water crisis, the energy crisis, global warming, feeding the planet, curing disease, and finding a more noble and worthy path forward for the benefit of all humanity.
We have to win in November, and again in 2008 - but then we have to prove that we deserved it. Posterity is counting on us not to blow it this time.