Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Chicken Little Democrats: A RANT! (Updated with links)

No wonder we never win a battle…too many of us are too afraid of losing to ever actually fight.

in recent days, the feeling over on the other blogs, DailyKos for example, is one of whine, defeat, hopelessness…comments like “I’m out of hope” or “there will be no public option, we’ve lost” or “Our majority is gone in 2010 now”

And what pisses me off most is that this type of attitude just plays into the horrible stereotype of the yellow-bellied weak-kneed cowardly liberal (excuse the world) pussy.  

But the cake is baked.  There will be no public option this year.  

All Democrats have stopped using the words, including potus the last two days.   The caving has occured. Everyone just doesn’t know it yet.

I will bet you money that no democrat uses the word public option unprodded on the Sunday talk shows.  

It is a sad day for America.  

There is one hope.  Massive public demonstrations.  Phone calls will not do it.  But I don’t see that happening.

http://www.dailykos.com/commen…

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

What has happened in our country since Obama got elected has taken its toll on me.  I was naive to think his election meant anything.  We are at the same place we were before the election.  Our government does what the rich and powerful tell them to do.  The public is cajoled into compliance by the media, and if we can’t be cajoled we are just stampeded.

http://www.dailykos.com/commen…

It doesn’t help that some of the troops our party needs to fight for health care reform are too busy pissing and moaning that we’re not going radical here and eliminating the entire insurance industry altogether…that cuts down on the fight on our side. This reared it’s ugly head during the cap and trade fight where it seemed everyone the blogsphere either thought it was too much or too little. “Kill it because it doesn’t do enough!” “Kill it because it’s too radical!”

And what about our friends in the media? Well the big guys have managed to change the subject to racism…those who haven’t are still slaughtering health care with lies and smears, while the Rachel Maddows and Keith Olbermanns of the world do what?…talk about Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin.

Yes, while healthcare gets beaten up, the guys and gals who should be defending it are busy mocking irrelevant people like Cheney and Palin.

But beyond that, the defeatist attitude that seems to be sucking up the blogsphere is very counterproductive. Are we afraid of defeat so much that we’d rather just preemptively accept it and not bother fighting? Is this why we can’t win battles? The idea that anyone who isn’t on our side has some corrupt shady agenda is also counterproductive. Why do we assume the worst in people…maybe the Blue Dogs are paid off, but maybe if we considered for a moment that they’re not, we’d get somewhere. For many Blue Dogs, the problem is not with the public option, or reform at all, it’s Medicare rates and funds for rural hospitals…the House bill is very urban centered, which isn’t surprising since inner cities are where much of the healthcare problems are…but you can’t blame the Blue Dogs for looking out for their constituents. Notice how the Blue Dogs in support come from more urban areas; Jane Harman from Los Angeles, Loretta Sanchez from Orange County, Dan Lipinski from Chicago. Looking beyond the “everyone against us hate people” knee-jerk reaction probably helps here.

Sometimes I wonder if some liberals have the stomach to govern…if we are screaming defeat, death and doom at every single obstacle, how long are we going to live before we crack? The UpstateDem “OMG it’s over for us, we’re going to lose in 2010” attitude does not give the people confidence in our sanity as leaders.

Yeah so, this isn’t easy…whoever said it was going to be?

Man up liberals, no one said this was going to be easy.  


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/ 7 Comments

7 comments

  2. Chris Blask

    Birthers are getting more coverage in the “Liberal Media” than healthcare is, while the Conservative Media barely lets up on healthcare.

    I don’t know if I represent any sizable demographic, but ironically I’ve become much more comfortable with healthcare reform.  Talking with one of my best friends today – who I think could also be described at least moderate and more likely center-right – we both find ourselves coming down on the side of single-payer despite significant criticisms of it.  The current system is just so dramatically flawed that you don’t have to be a liberal to find yourself wanting to change it completely.  If there really was any sort of organized “liberal media” or even organized Democratic/liberal public voice it would be repeating the failings of this system and leaving its opposition to provide an intelligent response.

    There is, I believe, a point to your criticism though.  Without capturing everyone left of center in the same net, I think it is safe to say that the Left as a whole contains statistically more binge-n-purge, high-n-low, emotional-rollercoaster-inclined folks than the Right.  In my more conservative days I have argued that much of liberal ideology is based on what sounds like the Nice Thing To Do as opposed to what anyone has calmly sat down and worked out as being a solid idea.  While the current environment seems to have more thoughtful consideration associated with Democratic politicians and more hysterical emoting among those who continue to identify as GOP supporters, it also seems that Republican politicians are being more thoughtful and plotting while Democratic supporters are running around panting.

  3. John Allen

    The first link leads to a comment made by one person. He got jumped on by several others on dkos. Hardly a matter of note. Could even be a concern troll, in fact, probably is one.

    The second link goes to a diary that could have been written by a concern troll or a Reagan Democrat. He got dumped on by the dkos community.

    Here’s a typical comment to him.


    This is you second effort at demoralizing this community this week.  We get it.  You’re unhappy with the Democratic party and you’re taking your toys and going home.  What do you want us to do about it?  Obviously many folks here aren’t willing to give up and go cry in the corner with you.  No doubt you’ll find a few to join you.  Y’all have fun now.  Most of the rest of us will keep working and fighting to improve our party and win more elections.  What else is there to say about it?  

    “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” -Gandhi

    by Triscula on Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 05:22:48 PM PDT

    The third link goes to one comment that could be characterized as defeatists. Or, at least, as “Woe is me”. I notice you got jumped on for your frequent claim that the country is center-right.

    I don’t agree that a few comments like this, or even a lot of comments like this support the premise in your diary. Places like dkos and mydd are inundated with trolls, as you well know. When you read something that sounds like a stereotype it very well could be something written by a troll. Even if it is not, the vast majority of people who comment seem to be jumping on people that put forward this kind of defeatist attitude.

  4. spacemanspiff

    The purpose of Dkos is electing Democrats.

    The place is huge.

    I love Dkos for what it is and everybody can find their own place there.

    Open Left on the other hand . . .

    chicken Pictures, Images and Photos

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