[GPSCC-chat] Teaching the Dems a Lesson

[Gerry Gras]

Brian,

You might try telling Parry that.

I have been getting a *** LOT *** of emails talking
about how the sky will fall if the Ds don't get
enough support.  They may even be right.  And maybe
the sky will fall if the Ds win.

Today on NPR, one person said something like
" ... the next speaker will be XXX?  (pause)
if the Republicans win ..."  That pundit clearly
expects the Rs to take the House.  It seems many
consider it a done deal about the House.

So far, my money / assistance has gone to
Laura Wells (G)
Ben Manski  (G)
Bernie Sanders (I)
SF Mime Troupe
Marcy Winograd (D) (endorsed by Daniel Ellsberg)
                    (lost in primary)
Californians for Fair Elections (Prop 15)

Gerry



Brian Good wrote:
>   Robert Parry calls the whole notion a myth.
>
> "Modern American political history tells us that this strategy never works.
> After the four key elections in which many progressives abandoned the
> governing Democrats – in 1968, 1980, 1994 and 2000 – not only did
> Republicans
> take U.S. politics further to the right, but the surviving Democrats
> tacked more
> to the center and grew more timid.... "The Left was separating itself
> from practical politics; the Republicans were
>
> learning that they could win by playing dirty; and the governing
> Democrats were
>
> shying away from demanding accountability for Republican abuses.
> "Over the next 42 years, all three of these patterns have deepened,
> combining
>
> to create a political crisis for the nation."
>
> http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/15-7
>
> It's an insightful essay, and tells a story that's new for me: In 1968
> Nixon pulled
> a pre-election move that foreshadowed the October Surprise of 1980. It seems
> that Lyndon Johnson had pretty much brokered a settlement to the Vietnam
> War,
> so Humphrey would be able to end it quick if he were elected. Nixon's people
> went to the South Vietnamese and convinced them they'd get a better deal
> if they
> stayed out of the peace talks until after Nixon was elected, and they
> did. Johnson
> caught wind of this before the election and considered exposing it, but was
> reigned in by Dems who feared that if Nixon won anyway, the damage to his
> legitimacy might be harmful to the nation. Sound familiar? Later Lee
> Hamilton
> would cover up the October Surprise and Clinton would cover up Iran-Contra
> for much the same reason (and Hamilton would go on to become co-chair of the
> 9/11 Commission).
>
> Parry makes some good points, but he lost me near the end when he left out
> the 2004 election. Of the four elections cited above, I only voted in
> one, the 1994--
> and that was to vote a corrupt Democrat, Dan Rostenkowski, out. In 2004
> I joined
> most in the left by voting for Kerry--and he kicked us in the teeth. He
> failed to
> demand a recount though in his promise that he would see that every vote was
> counted he had mentioned the fact that two million black votes fall
> through the
> cracks in every election. His failure to explain the "flip flop" flap
> and counterattack
> by pointing out that Bush had threatened to veto the legislation
> supporting the
> troops made it appear to me that he was trying to lose. He was
> inexcusably lame,
> and other leading Dems proved just as lame.
>
> Parry blames the lefties that Nixon kept the Vietnam war going, that
> Bush kept
> climate change going, and that scumbag Dems roll over and play dead when
> scumbag Republicans engage in criminal dirty tricks. Sorry Rob, I'm not
> buying it.
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