October 19th, 2005
Air America and DailyKos have teamed up to highlight some Iraq war veterans that will be running in various congressional and senate races as Democrats in the upcoming elections. As these vets put it, cannot stand to let things continue under Republican control and have decided to get involved in politics after returning from the war. At present there are only 4 candidate highlighted on the site, but there’ll be more coming as the 2006 elections near. That these vets are returning to challenge the Republican’s war position and utter mismanagement of our nation, is just one more indication of the discontent that exists against the misuse of our military to fight elective wars and the mismanagement of treasury to fatten the pockets of Bush’s cronies:
http://www.airamericaradio.com/fightingdems
October 6th, 2005
As Thomas Frank demonstrates in his book, What’s the Matter with Kansas?, grassroots movement conservatives have been conditioned to hate — yes, hate — all things “Liberal,” specially the uber-caricature that conservative demagogues (like Ms Coulter) have drawn of “Ivy League Liberals” or, more broadly, of “Elites” imperiously ruling from their Liberal urban centers, far removed from the “heartland” — where real, salt-of-the-earth, Americans live. And, yet, as Mr Frank writes, while grassroots conservatives go on loathing these phantom “Elites” of their imaginations, the real elites — the corporatists, fascists and fundamentalists religious demagogues — lie, deceive and condescend to their blind flock of conservative followers, whom remain ever obedient and distracted.
And now, Ms Coulter — the product of an “Elite” education herself –, the poster girl for wingnuts everywhere, and one of the loudest mouth pieces in today’s conservative movement, strays from the script and let’s her true roots show:
Harriet Miers went to Southern Methodist University Law School, which is not ranked at all by the serious law school reports and ranked No. 52 by US News and World Report. Her greatest legal accomplishment is being the first woman commissioner of the Texas Lottery.
I know conservatives have been trained to hate people who went to elite universities, and generally that’s a good rule of thumb. But not when it comes to the Supreme Court. [Emphasis added.]
Of course, such a revelation about Ms Coulter’s true allegiance and character is not enough to bring her down from the pedestal that conservatives have sat her on. Because, as Ms Coulter alludes to, and as Mr Frank wrote, grassroots movement conservatives are true believers, and there’s just no way in hell that their prophets and messiahs can be shown to be infallible — Ms Coulter writes:
Unfortunately for Bush, he could nominate his Scottish terrier Barney, and some conservatives would rush to defend him, claiming to be in possession of secret information convincing them that the pooch is a true conservative and listing Barney’s many virtues � loyalty, courage, never jumps on the furniture …
Clearly, Ms Coulter is not a grassroots movement conservative, she’s a political opportunist, a true elite and a fascist, fully aware that her vile rhetoric against Liberals, Democrats and Progressives is merely means to power — which she’s willing to deploy in the aid of her class and her ideological peers.
Like Mr Bush, with his most recent Supreme nomination, whose shown himself to be more interested in advancing cronyism and corporatism — with some imperialism thrown in for good measure –, I wonder if Ms Coulter and Mr Bush have gone too far this time in letting everyone see what their true colors are? Here’s Ms Coulter, again, thumbing her nose at those silly salt-of-earth types, which should let the business of ruling and of deciphering the law to their betters:
One Web site defending Bush’s choice of a graduate from an undistinguished law school complains that Miers’ critics “are playing the Democrats’ game,” claiming that the “GOP is not the party which idolizes Ivy League acceptability as the criterion of intellectual and mental fitness.” (In the sort of error that results from trying to sound “Ivy League” rather than being clear, that sentence uses the grammatically incorrect “which” instead of “that.” Web sites defending the academically mediocre would be a lot more convincing without all the grammatical errors.)
[...]
To be sure, if we were looking for philosopher-kings, an SMU law grad would probably be preferable to a graduate from an elite law school. But if we’re looking for lawyers with giant brains to memorize obscure legal cases and to compose clearly reasoned opinions about ERISA pre-emption, the doctrine of equivalents in patent law, limitation of liability in admiralty, and supplemental jurisdiction under Section 1367 � I think we want the nerd from an elite law school. Bush may as well appoint his chauffeur head of NASA as put Miers on the Supreme Court.
Now, grassroots conservatives are truly upset over the Miers nomination; because, as we’ve seen, movement conservatives expect their loyalty over past decades, but specially to the current occupier of the White House, to be reciprocated — and they’re simply tired of waiting. If the nomination proceeds all the way to Senate hearings, and if Ms Miers conservative bona fides are not made clear at that point, the gig may be up for the elite in Republican circles — and, yes, this is a big “MAY BE UP,” as I think that conditioning is not easily over come… besides, where would grassroots conservatives turn to… Roy Moore and a third party?
Of course, if grassroots movement conservatives are not interested in the third party route, they can do what Ms Coulter would have Ms Miers do — just go away and stop presuming that such a salt-of-the-earth type could ever hope to sit where only ivy grows:
[S]ome jobs are so dirty, you can only send in someone who has the finely honed hatred of liberals acquired at elite universities to do them. The devil is an abstraction for normal, decent Americans living in the red states. By contrast, at the top universities, you come face to face with the devil every day, and you learn all his little tropes and tricks.
Conservatives from elite schools have already been subjected to liberal blandishments and haven’t blinked. These are right-wingers who have fought off the best and the brightest the blue states have to offer.
[...]
However nice, helpful, prompt and tidy she is, Harriet Miers isn’t qualified to play a Supreme Court justice on “The West Wing,” let alone to be a real one.
[emphasis added]
You can find Ms Coulter’s column here.
October 1st, 2005
I first posted this as a series of comments in response to diarists dismayed at the welcoming that Senator Obama received from what’s been affectionately described as the “rabble” over at DailyKos .
I’ve been heartened by what I’ve witnessed in response to the Senator’s diary; because it’s been a great exercise in democracy, 21st century style.
Senator Obama has not been dismissed nor belittled in the more thoughtful responses/diaries; and, if he is truly interested in hearing what Americans — all Americans, not just what insiders consider “Average Americans” — have to say, than am sure that he and his staff appreciate much of the feedback earnestly submitted by this group of Americans. Moreover, Senator Obama’s main message, that we should act with “civility” and not-throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bath-water over one vote, is hard to dismiss out of hand and to argue against — I mean, it’s just plain commonsense, though rather innocuous and lacking substance. And, while the Senator’s advice and gesture are appreciated, at this point, it simply is much too little and much too late. In stead, this group of Americans demand and need more from their elected representatives. Here’s what I believe the “rabble,” Americans all, is looking for — at least this is what I want: I want my elected Democratic representatives to more stridently advocate Progressive principles and to provide affirmative/concrete leadership in crafting a Democratic brand/message that we can rally behind. It’s that simple.
Now, in the marketplace of ideas, competing brands/messages arise frequently and, eventually, one vision wins out. However, for this to occur, there must be enterprising salesmen/political leaders aggressively presenting their competing visions, and the public then decides which brand/message obtains their support. However, because the marketplace of ideas is often saturated with products, salesman/political leaders must be assertive and aggressive in presenting their product. It is in this last part of the process that we, Americans, feel the Democratic sales force has failed on. The Democratic party sales team is, it appears, content in picking up the scraps from the failures of the dominant Republican brand — even as that brand is showing clear signs of overexposure, unsatisfactory customer support and an incapacity to meet the American public’s demand for real leadership. And yet, rather than mounting an aggressive and glossy ad campaign to attract customers and to invigorate the Democratic brand, the Democratic sales force is content with mediocre gains at the margins. To illustrate, look at what Apple did when it was on the brink of extinction: it innovated, brought new products/ideas to market, presented an integrated marketing strategy for its entire line of products (from the iMac to iTunes to the iPod), and it aggressively saturated the market place with vibrant glossy ads and well honed message — going so far as to open stores, something a lot people criticized — presenting Apple products as the alternative to the bland Windows beige PCs. (By the way, am a Windows user.) Today Apple enjoys economic success, has seen its market share rise and it continues to drive innovation and ideas in the PC industry, often setting the standard — even as Windows based systems collectively have market dominance.
Again, I urge understanding, the response to Senator Obama has little to do with partisan purity or orthodoxy… it is more simple than that… it’s as basic as expecting our elected Dems to stand up to the bully and to give voice to our frustration. Am sure we all understand and appreciate how the vast majority of the grassroots — my self included — are simply tired of hearing about comity and so-called moderation when we (Democrats and Progressives collectively) have been taking it on the gut since the Gingrich Revolution, through the Clinton Presidency, the post-2000 elections, the charges against our patriotism during the 2002-midterm elections, the Iraq debacle and the Swift boating of John Kerry. And, yes, this list doesn’t even begin to record the grievances against the Republican party… not by a long shot. Remember, recent polls confirm that we, Progressives and America at large, want and expect the Democrats to stand up to the Republican party. And, as to the charge of “obstructionist,” you know that it — and worse — will be made, because that’s what Republicans do, have done and will do… so let’s not be surprised when they react exactly as expected.
Moreover, a lot of the responses to Senator Obama have been extremely thoughtful, and if he and his staff have any sense — which am sure they do –, they’ll find a lot themes to adopt and messages to fine tune. The DailyKos community has done the Senator a service, which am sure he appreciates — it is, after all, a two way street… he “spoke,” and we responded — democracy at work.
Remember, it is the role of elected officials to hear their constituents and to represent them. Now, this is how it’s supposed to work in theory, I understand. In the real world, the people are supposed defer to authority… at least that’s how it works. Well, I say, why not let theory win out for once… why not let OUR elected representative hear how it really is… how we feel… and how WE want more than innocuous calls for “civility” and to not-throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bath-water. After all, it’s supposed to be By the People, For the People; and not, From Elected Officials, For Elected Officials. We, here at DailyKos and across America, We are the people… today we’ve seen democracy in action… we’ve gathered in the 21st century version of a democratic forum and aired our concerns and aspirations to an elected Democratic official that honored us by opening dialogue. The people, hopefully, will have been heard and OUR representative and OUR democracy will be the better for it.
