By Owen Paine on Saturday July 1, 2006 03:39 PM
Here's Bob Kuttner, grub street tribune
and stentorian jackass,
playing lesser evil huckster bird.
First he scares the be-jeebes out of the googoo rubes with this warble:
The rule of law now hangs by a thread. It depends on the health of an increasingly frail 86-year-old Justice John Paul Stevens, and the willingness of the Court's inconstant swing vote, Anthony Kennedy, to side with the Constitution.Then after showing the tattered remnant of our personal freedoms under bushisaurus rex, he closes with the Orthrian donks-to-the-rescue pitch:
Only when Bush and his allies are soundly repudiated at the polls can we rest a little easier."Rest a little easier" -- geeeez, please! Even say it happens like he implies, and we get a respite, a pause, a rest stop on the railroad to hell -- how soon before it's back in motion, maybe with a donkey at the throttle?
I suspect i'm not the only person tired of the musty old joke about "just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..." The donks don't kill wall streets sharks, they just relieve 'em for a few innings, long enough to get their fast ball back.
Comments (5)
Sorry, JS, can't agree on this one. Yes, we shouldnt get too excited about hving Richard Holbroke as Secretary of State, but nominating a good liberal Supreme Court Justice is just the kind of easy, symbolic gesture we should expect from the next Dem president. Along with a ringing proposal for curbing greenhouse gases, even if its defeated in Congress.
Posted by bobw | July 1, 2006 8:10 PM
Posted on July 1, 2006 20:10
Reading yet another "lesser evilism" article, I'm impressed all over again by how childish and eagerly self-defeating supporters of Democrats can be. Don't they understand that bad faith bargainers, as they will often acknowledge is the case with Democrats, will not and do not respond to the carrot alone? That there's a limited market share for groveling, and much more to be had for a return of the reluctant prodigal narrative?
If I were a pwog machiavel, hoping for some career (or perhaps a hot time in the zombie pen), I'd be harping away every day about how I just might, watch me now, start directing people towards a punitive voting strategy. "Behave yourselves, donks, or I'll link up those evildoers at Stop Me, again and again".
If I were a true blue liberal, who really cared beyond crying about Bushist this and that, I'd want to put the screws to the relentlessly accommodationist donks.
Can it be, JSP, that supporters of Democrats get a thrill out of being punching bags?
Posted by J. Alva Scruggs | July 1, 2006 8:49 PM
Posted on July 1, 2006 20:49
What? This Kuttner character thinks all he has to do is wave The Scary Republican Puppet and we'll all stampede towards the voting booth and punch the democrat's ticket? That's soooo 2004.
Posted by AlanSmithee | July 1, 2006 11:41 PM
Posted on July 1, 2006 23:41
bobw
here we have the line in the sand
one tots up the little things they do to make you true
i say if we'd had four of gore
we'd have the repugs back in now
review if you will
a gore
post 9/11 post dot melt
i smell boint meat
j alva
"If I were a pwog machiavel, hoping for some career (or perhaps a hot time in the zombie pen), I'd be harping away every day about how I just might, watch me now, start directing people towards a punitive voting strategy"
my thought
more entirely thoughtful
thanx for the up stage
you
pocket sized piece of ....concision
"Can it be, JSP, that supporters of Democrats get a thrill out of being punching bags"
some do
some aren't
but they're donors too
Posted by js paine | July 1, 2006 11:57 PM
Posted on July 1, 2006 23:57
Blahahaha !!! Don't stop there ! Tell booboo/Gilliard that you want 10% of their future take, too. Mama wants herself a shopping spree at Goodwill !! :p
No, seriously. I've been saying this sort of thing to Demos for ages. Broadcasting their desperation for even what bobw calls symbolic gestures is a terrible way to earn respect from their leaders. They need to learn to duck and weave, to play find-the-lady with the people who supposedly work for them.
They need to lie about their loyalties and keep the candidates guessing about where their votes and money will go. They need to learn to love stare-downs and cliff-hangers, stressful though they are. If the candidates can rouse no interest towards anyone but ideologues and swing voters when it comes to making policy, Demos need to behave more like the voters who are already being kowtowed to and courted.
It may not work, especially right away. One correct lesson that the DP leaders took from 2000 is that when you scream at, bully, threaten, and terrify a discontented 10% of your base (using shills like the Nation as your conduit), you can whittle a 3rd Party Presidential candidate's vote count down to 3%. You can prove that the discontented are not serious. They are easy as pie to frighten and lock up for four more years. Demo voters would probably have to put the screws to their party for several election cycles before the party decided that perhaps this time, the base's fury was real, after all.
OTOH, is all this hero-worship a la' the Kos Con going to work ? I'll be very surprised if it does, since it hasn't worked before.
The folks who are all het up about Lieberman perhaps losing in the primary might think that they have the beginnings of such a newly combative strategy. Myself, I'm skeptical.
Posted by ms_xeno | July 2, 2006 1:59 PM
Posted on July 2, 2006 13:59