This is a response to NightProwlKitty's excellent diary. It's how I see it. Some may see it as pragmatic. I see it as applying triage in the field:
On the night of the 2004 election, did you have the feeling that everything was on the line? That if we didn't win, the evil fucks would have time to set things up for a major change in our country?
I texted my BFF as I watched the results come in, when Kerry had a slight lead and said I was afraid I wouldn't have the courage to deal with what came after if we didn't win. Then I fell asleep during The Daily Show's election night coverage only to wake up as Jon Stewart was signing off. The look on his face confirmed my worst fears.
His expression showed a mixture of anxious fear, disappointment and disbelief, as if he could see the next four years and dreaded what was coming. It was the first time I had seen the serious side of Stewart and he endeared me to him forever at that moment.
Yeah, I knew exactly what he was feeling. We were all suddenly very much at risk. The Bushies had 4 more years to set everything in place, to undermine our foundations of government, to rig the system.
It's worse than you think, NightProwlKitty. For six years, there was absolutely nothing that stood in their way. No authority higher than they was able or willing to slow them down and prevent them from fixing things in their favor.
Remember the Nuclear Option? Think they wouldn't have pulled that trigger? Think about that for a sec. No filibuster in the Senate. Dictatorship is a de facto reality right now but it would have been absolute if they had overturned the rules of the senate.
Think back to all the strange twists and turns as we have tried to assert our rights, NightProwlKitty. There were weaponized anthrax spores in the Senate majority leader's office. The whole building needed to be sterilized. Paul Wellstone was killed in a small plane crash. Harry Reid has a little stroke shortly after rising to leadership status. Tim Johnson has a massive brain hemmorhage just after the 2006 elections, throwing everything into a state of suspension.
Our fellowship teeters on the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail. In terms of Benjamin Franklin's "keeping a republic", it has failed.
They had time to figure our the weak points of the justice system so they strengthened them against us in case we wanted to investigate and prosecute. They had time to further infiltrate and intimidate the media so only their message got out. They had time to hold the bank vault door open long enough to take our wealth and leave us weak against a global economy. They had time to make laws against our protestations. They had time to perfect weapons like microwave generators and nausea inducing sound to use against us in case we get uppity. They had time to figure out who we are, where we live and what we think.
In the end, we should not be surprised that they are getting away with it. Nor should we be surprised if they end up winning the White House yet again next year. They know how to manipulate the American public's mind. They can gin up the fear factor and watch the less critical thinking among us come running back. And if that doesn't work, purging the voter's registration databases is not beneath them. I heard some political pundit saying that the Democrats in California are overreacting to the ballot initiative to reapportion the electoral college votes. It's not overreaction; it's self preservation. Expect to see similar shenanigans in the up coming months.
Now, here we are, sitting around morosely bitching about how we didn't get anywhere in the past year, how our reps and Senators let us down, how the criminals are still out there getting away with it. What we actually won last year was a stalemate, resistance, restraint. That is all our narrow majority can do right now. You can throw heaps of blame on them for not performing up to your standards , and certain Bush Dogs do deserve your anger for caving to constituent fear based on a relentless media campaign against them.
But this is not politics as usual. The Republicans are not going to suddenly discover their honor and rein in their president and the reason they aren't going to do it is because they don't have to. There is no one who is capable of making them go back to our norms and rules of engagement.
So, in the face of all of that reality, where the Bushies have waged a war against their greatest enemy, us, I am afraid I have little patience for Kossacks who want to bash Democrats for not doing enough or insist on slash and burn rhetoric to bring "Change!" to the White House. Anybody who doesn't see that ANY of our candidates are the polar opposites to the reckless, careless, malicious, bullying and kleptocratic Bushies is a fool. This is not the time for rolling out a new, untested plan or to be going through on the job training. This is the time to salvage what we have left after the Bushies are finished trashing the place. This is the time for people with institutional memories to come back in and make it run properly again. This is the time when patching the loopholes and ferreting out the lingering badness will take precedence over a Brave New Deal.
That is, unless we don't make it that far. Unless they still have a fresh hell waiting for us next year. That is, unless our candidate can't stand up to their juggernaut.
They may look like they're on the ropes now but we felt that way in 2004 too. The election was Kerry's to lose and he lost it. These evil creatures are not going to let go of our throats without a dedicated, concerted and serious effort from us. It really is that bad.