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<font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"> Robert Parry calls the whole notion a myth.</font><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"><br></font><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"><br></font><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"> "Modern American political history tells us that this strategy never
works. <br>After the four key elections in which many progressives
abandoned the <br>governing Democrats – in 1968, 1980, 1994 and 2000 – not
only did Republicans <br>take U.S. politics further to the right, but the
surviving Democrats tacked more <br>to the center and grew more timid....</font>
<font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"> "</font><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3">The Left was separating itself from practical politics; the
Republicans were </font><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"><br></font><BR><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3">learning that they could win by playing dirty; and the
governing Democrats were <br></font><BR><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3">shying away from demanding accountability for
Republican abuses.</font>
<BR><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"> "Over the next 42 years, all three of these patterns have deepened, combining <br></font><BR><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3">to create a political crisis for the nation."</font><BR><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"><br></font><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/15-7">http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/15-7</a></font>
<font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"><br></font><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"><br></font><font style="font-size: 12pt;" size="3"> It's an insightful essay, and tells a story that's new for me: In 1968 Nixon pulled<br>a pre-election move that foreshadowed the October Surprise of 1980. It seems<br>that Lyndon Johnson had pretty much brokered a settlement to the Vietnam War, <br>so Humphrey would be able to end it quick if he were elected. Nixon's people<br>went to the South Vietnamese and convinced them they'd get a better deal if they<br>stayed out of the peace talks until after Nixon was elected, and they did. Johnson <br>caught wind of this before the election and considered exposing it, but was <br>reigned in by Dems who feared that if Nixon won anyway, the damage to his<br>legitimacy might be harmful to the nation. Sound familiar? Later Lee Hamilton<br>would cover up the October Surprise and Clinton would cover up Iran-Contra <br>for much the same reason (and Hamilton would go on to become co-chair of the<br>9/11 Commission).<br><br> Parry makes some good points, but he lost me near the end when he left out <br>the 2004 election. Of the four elections cited above, I only voted in one, the 1994--<br>and that was to vote a corrupt Democrat, Dan Rostenkowski, out. In 2004 I joined<br>most in the left by voting for Kerry--and he kicked us in the teeth. He failed to <br>demand a recount though in his promise that he would see that every vote was<br>counted he had mentioned the fact that two million black votes fall through the <br>cracks in every election. His failure to explain the "flip flop" flap and counterattack <br>by pointing out that Bush had threatened to veto the legislation supporting the <br>troops made it appear to me that he was trying to lose. He was inexcusably lame,<br>and other leading Dems proved just as lame.<br><br> Parry blames the lefties that Nixon kept the Vietnam war going, that Bush kept<br>climate change going, and that scumbag Dems roll over and play dead when <br>scumbag Republicans engage in criminal dirty tricks. Sorry Rob, I'm not buying it.<br><br><br> <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br> <br><br><br></font><br><br><br><br><br><br> </body>
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