No "Sister Souljah" Moment Here
Froma Harrop understands the danger that radical groups like Moveon.org have done -- and do -- to the Democratic Party, and urges Dems to orchestrate a "Sister Souljah" moment with the left.
Good luck to her. The Democrats, hungry for a counterpart to talk radio for the right, have fostered and built a netroots movement that now threatens their chances for power in the future. With their cowardly refusal to repudiate Moveon.org's despicable attacks on General Petraeus, Democratic politicians pegged themselves as weak on defense a la the McGovernite years.
Even they realize that isn't good politics. But apparently they felt they had no choice. Worse yet, because they didn't curb the excesses of their left wing when they still could -- because its Bush hatred, they figured, would motivate some voters to get to the polls -- they've now lost the chance. And they have no one to thank but themselves.
Good luck to her. The Democrats, hungry for a counterpart to talk radio for the right, have fostered and built a netroots movement that now threatens their chances for power in the future. With their cowardly refusal to repudiate Moveon.org's despicable attacks on General Petraeus, Democratic politicians pegged themselves as weak on defense a la the McGovernite years.
Even they realize that isn't good politics. But apparently they felt they had no choice. Worse yet, because they didn't curb the excesses of their left wing when they still could -- because its Bush hatred, they figured, would motivate some voters to get to the polls -- they've now lost the chance. And they have no one to thank but themselves.
posted by LadybugUSA at 3:20 PM
6 Comments:
Clearly Carol is holding the Dems to higher standards than her own party President. With the swift boat ads, Bush took the position that the swift boaters were exercising their first amendment rights, so he refused to condemn them.
Last week Rep Boehner(r) said the sacrifice the troops and their families are making is a small price. And there has been barely a peep from the Republicans.
I had a flash of realization while reading this. It was triggered by this statement:
The Democrats...have fostered and built a netroots movement that now threatens their chances for power in the future.
My God, I thought, Ms. Liebau thinks that the Democratic Party is some sort of monolithic conspiracy controlled from the top. Perhaps she doesn't know that the whole netroots culture has always been rather uncharitable towards the established portions of the Democratic Party.
Will Rogers declared, "I don't belong to an organized party. I'm a Democrat." Ms. Liebau, as a Republican, appears not to understand the heterogeneity that the Democratic Party fosters. It really is a big tent with all sorts of different folks. Demanding that people in one part of the big tent condemn people in another part of the big tent misses the very idea of democracy, which is a system designed to help people get along even though they don't think alike.
As I wrote in an earlier post, if we spend all our time requiring every politician to condemn or approve every statement made by everybody else, we'll never get to hear what the politicians themselves think. This whole concept is gross silliness. Earth to Carol pointed out two cases in which Republicans failed to condemn other Republicans. There are plenty more. Let's just put this silliness aside and talk about something real.
Carol, Dems and netroots reads like "Frankenstein's monster a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. etc seems to hold the Dems in high regard. Why?
These attacks on Moveon and Democrats is cheap political theatre that is meant to be a distraction. The Moveon ad lays out a pretty fair critique of general Petraus' shortcomings in this war.
And why should Democrats have have to condemn an ad that is not part of their campaign? Obama's campaign didn't make this ad. Clinton's campaign didn't make this ad. Moveon is not the Democratic party.
And some of the famous people who support this war and this administration have said some horribly offensive things. Does anyone ask the administration to condemn them and what they say?
John McCain sang a song about bombing Iran. Ann Coulter said that the 9/11 widows enjoyed having their husbands killed. Racially motivated assault and battery was treated as not such a big deal by Rush Limbaugh. He also likens femanists to Nazis.
So did anyone ask the administation or their supporters in Congress to condemn these folks?
Carol is going to have to add Alan Greenspan to the radical extremist list.
Per Sunday Times 9/16/07
AMERICA’s elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil.
Did Greenspan indicate the primary motiviation FOR THE WHITE HOUSE was oil? Or, did he indicate that he advised the administration that the war was justified based on HIS OWN motivation to protect the world economy's supply of oil?
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