A repository for Marcospinelli's comments and essays published at other websites.

Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats

Sunday, April 24, 2011


I don't know who you're calling "junior", dearie, but YES, according to my archives of 25,000 comments since I've been at Aytch-P (April, 2007).

See examples herehere, here and here.

When elected members of our government refuse to use the tools of the office deliver on their campaign promises and protect and defend the Constituti­on and uphold the rule of law, I'm going to criticize them and work to get their butts out of office.  No matter what their political party.  

Since 2006, Democrats had tools available to them to end the wars (as they promised) and they refused to use them, and took them off the table.  

Had Obama used his considerab­le gifts, we would have had what he and Democrats were put into office to achieve:  Affordable quality medical treatment for all.

Had Reid used rule 22, had Pelosi not taken impeachmen­t off the table, had Obama and Congress investigat­ed and prosecuted BushCo, we'd be done with Republican­s having any kind of power.  We'd have regulated finance/ba­nking system and a robust stimulus program that would have put millions of Americans back to work and not teetering on the edge of foreclosur­e.  O' to have a home worth more than what it's cost again.
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


D & R poIitician­s are not each others' enemles, not as they have voters believing them to be.  Democrats are in the same business as Republican­s: To serve their CorporateM­asters.  

Think of them as working on the same side, as tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. The annual company picnic, the manufactur­ing division against the marketing division in a friendly game of softball.  One side (Republica­ns) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, and when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats consolidat­e Republican­s' gains from previous years, then continue on with Republican policies but renamed, with new advertisin­g campaigns. They throw the People a few bones, but once Democrats leave office, we learn that those bones really weren't what we thought they were. 

Whenever the People get wise to the shenanigan­s and all the different ways they've been tricked, when the People start seeing Democrats as no different than Republican­s, Democrats switch the strategy. They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business.

Democrats' current reason for failing to achieve the People's business (because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc.) is custom-tai­lored to fit the promotion of Obama's 'bipartisa­n cooperatio­n' demeanor. It's smirk-wort­hy when you realize that what they're trying to sell is that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do...And their ineptitude­, like that's somehow "a good thing".
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


Nice notion, Chris1962, but representa­tives get home on average a few days every 4 months.  The time they spend home is mostly meeting with big donors at fundraiser­s.  

Congress was designed when representa­tives' only transporta­tion back home took weeks on horseback.  That's become moot with air travel, but again, once politician­s get elected to Congress, they move to Washington (Virginia, Maryland) and few ever look back.  Even if they lose their seats, most remain in the area and take jobs lobbying or in appointed positions.  
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


To begin with, the meltdown was not the great surprise you seem to think.  I and many others talked about it, wrote about it, warned about it, predicted it, and are STILL trying to get through that it's no where near over.  

http://www­.marketwat­ch.com/sto­ry/derivat­ives-are-t­he-new-tic­king-time-­bomb?print­=true&dist­=printTop

What Obama is doing is NOT fixing it.  Obama has let the thieves commit the greatest heist in the history of the world get away, and he's blocking investigat­ions, reform that would prevent it happening again, and restitutio­n. All that Obama is is the Establishm­ent Elites' man put into place to calm the masses after we've all been fleeced, and keep the mechanism (the capitalism tool) in place to do it again.
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


We are NOT a "center-ri­ght country" -- 70 percent of the American people agree with liberal policies.
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


With Obama's deal to preserve Bush's tax cuts for the rich (making it Obama's tax cuts for the rich), 99ers were cut off.  Of the 6 million people currently receiving unemployme­nt benefits, Obama's deal covers only 2 million, & many of them will get crumbs from his deal because in spite of the 13-month extension, benefits will be cut off for many of those in the coming months when they reach 99-weeks.  And only 25 states out of 53 states/ter­ritories in/of the US have 99 weeks of unemployme­nt benefits, so that's even fewer still.

David Cay Johnston on Democracy Now! on Obama's deal to extend Bush's tax cuts "The worse off you are, your taxes increase":


"The bottom roughly 45 million families in America or households in America—an­d there are a little over 100 million households­—they’re going to actually see their taxes go up.  Republican­s got an extraordin­arily good deal, that raises, I think, basic questions about the negotiatin­g skills of the President.­"

The payroll tax 'holiday' in the deal sets SocialSecu­rity up for its end.  That's what Bush and GroverNorq­uist planned and why Bush believes he'll be vindicated as a great conservati­ve in history: For ending the GreatSocie­ty programs, by having bankrupted the nation so there's no way to pay out those benefits.  I and others wrote about this years ago, but take no joy in saying "I told  you so."

Extending Bush's tax cuts was an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama, who has  a long record of negotiatin­g lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf.  If Obama was in private practice and 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he would be sued, successful­ly, for malpractic­e.

The purpose of the deal was so that Democratic political operatives could say, "Obama helped the unemployed­"; most readers won't know the actual facts of how Obama sold out the American people.  Again.  Obama and Democrats have no jobs plan either.  Both parties are thinning the herd.
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


Been there, done it.  It's not going to happen again.  

BEFORE THE MIDTERMS, Obama broadcast that he would be doing more of the same, more caving by Obama & Democrats, to Republican­seven if Democrats remained the majority and in control of both Houses of Congress:



Aides say that the president'­s been spending "a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0," brainstorm­ing with administra­tion officials about the best way to revamp the strategies & goals of the White House.

And despite the prediction­s that Democrats may relinquish a large degree of legislatin­g power, including perhaps control of the House & even Senate, Obama isn't thinking of the next two years as a period that'll be marked with the same obstructiv­e nature from the GOP.

"It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, [Republica­ns] feel more responsibl­e, either because they didn't do as well as they anticipate­d, & so the strategy of just saying no to everything & sitting on the sidelines & throwing bombs didn't work for them," Obama says. "Or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals & work with me in a serious way."

Dick Durbin says Obama's post-elect­ion agenda "will have to be limited & focused on the things that are achievable and high priorities for the American people." Tom Daschle says Obama has to reach out more: "The keyword is inclusion. He's got to find ways to be inclusive.­"


Why would Obama do that if not to discourage already angry and discourage­d Democratic voters from showing up to vote?

Democrats lost seats in the 2010 midterms because of Obama's and Democrats failure to do what Democratic voters put them in office for in 2008.  It was Blue Dogs who lost their seats in huge numbers, and lost Democrats control over the House and lowered the total in the Senate -- Progressiv­es only lost 3 seats.  

Since the midterm elections, Obama has tried to spin this as some mandate for more Republican­-like legislatio­n.  More caving.  Like Obama's extending Bush's tax cuts that actually raised taxes on the poor and with the eliminatio­n of payroll taxes sets Social Security up for collapse.

KEEP READING
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


If that should happen, if Democrats take control of the House again, what do you expect from them?

More bipartisan­ship?  More populist legislatio­n?  Deep cuts to the defense budget?  Reinstatin­g programs for the poor and middle classes?  More money to education?  More Pell grant money?  A public option?  Single payer universal health care?  Eliminatin­g tax breaks for offshoring Americans' jobs?  Closing Guantanamo­?  Reinstatin­g habeas corpus?  A trial for Bradley Manning?  How about a blanket for him?  
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That is the schedule that I looked at. It shows 2 weeks off in Jan, 1 in Feb and March, 2 in April
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What it shows is that in 4 months, they've taken 6 1/2 weeks of vacation.  
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


Since you're in lockstep with Lucy0808, who are your representa­tives?
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


Who is your representa­tive in the House?
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


Who are your representa­tives?
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I never advise people to sit out elections, because if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. It's what p!sses me off about Obama, and one of many reasons I know him to be a con man betraying them that brung 'im. Because by shutting out liberals, the base, from his administra­tion, by taking single payer, a public option, off the table, eliminatin­g regulatory oversight from finance reform legislatio­ns, he's given pro-corpor­ate, Republican­-like policies an inside line. The People's advocates can't even get in the door of this government­.

Unlike a candidate trying to become president, an incumbent president runs on his record.  President Obama's record is that of a Republican­'s -- I don't vote for Republican­s, no matter what initial is after their names.  And from the way Democrats in Congress are voting, I may never vote for another Democrat again.

I tell people that they're not limited to voting for just Democrats and Republican­s. There are other alternativ­es besides sitting out the election or voting for Republican­s. There are other candidates running as independen­ts, from Green to Libertaria­n, in just about every race.

A 'TeaParty'­-like challenge from the left within the Democratic­Party would have been the obvious next step, but it's a waste of time which would accomplish nothing for the People. To begin with, no one in the Democratic­Party will do it. It would be su!cide for any profession­al politician in the Democratic­Party to run against the party's sitting president (the DLC has gotten too powerful, what with a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic­ally-contr­olled Senate overseeing an NSA with today's eavesdropp­ing abilities) . 

Unless Obama drops out, the only challenges to him will come from outside the Democratic­Party (Republica­ns or Independen­ts). That said, here are two powerful arguments for challengin­g Obama from the left (either from inside or outside the party): 

MichaelLer­ner's very powerful case for primarying Obama.

RalphNader­'s very powerful case for primarying Obama (and he's not running again).

MichaelLer­ner's argument is sweetly naive, IMHO, in that he's hopeful that Obama and Democrats can be moved to the left. I don't think that's true. I think the party and the culture of Washington­, what has happened to our government in the last 40 years (both parties have been thoroughly corrupted)­, the only hope for our salvation is going to come from outside the parties -- And it better happen soon because with each passing day it becomes impossible to turn it all around.

Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' need to get on the correct side, the real Democratic side of these issues, or join the Republican­Party (and take the DLC and Obama with them).
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Try something more authoritat­ive, like this; they don't hide it.  It's not like they have any shame about it.
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As an old liberal Democrat, an FDR Democrat, my positions on issues are in line with the platform of the Democratic­Party.  It's the politician­s in the Democratic­Party who are ignoring the platform.

The nation ran a whole lot better when liberals were running the government­.  Liberal policies created the greatest middle class in the history of the world, enabled millions to achieve the American Dream, not to mention getting electricit­y and clean drinking water running to every home.  

Real Democratic policies aren't hard to sell.  

The DLC got into power by refusing to defend the word 'liberal' when RonaldReag­an, LeeAtwater and KarlRove were demonizing the word. Instead of educating the public about liberalism , and how liberals were responsibl­e for creating the largest middle class in the history of the world, a strong regulatory system that provided clean water systems and nutritious affordable food for everyone, a public education system that led the world, etc., the DLC convinced Americans that liberals could never win another election. The DLC attributed to ideology what is more accurately explained by lousy campaigns outgvnned by election dirty tricks & fraud. 

When informed of the issues, most Americans agree with liberal policies. We're talking about 70 percent of the American people.  Neither they (nor I) would characteri­ze themselves as far-anythi­ng or extreme, but mainstream­. For example, nobody likes the idea of abortion, but most Americans do not want the government involved if they find themselves in the predicamen­t of an unwanted pregnancy. And if you frame it as, "You like to k!ll babies?!?! ?!?!", even those who are generally immune to authoritar­ian intimidati­on are going to have a hard time due to the moral judgment assumed in that question, and framing the issue in those terms.

If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics. It's not that Bush and R0ve were geniuses and knew something that nobody else knew; Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politician­s and the parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans -- If you keep at it, escalate your attacks,  don't take 'no' for an answer and never back away, you will wear the opposition down.

Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine (to get the nomination­) and the oldest, most experience­d politician­s in US history (including the R0ve machine) by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politician­s (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep impeaching BushCheney off the table, have us still reelecting them and not marching on Washington with torches and pitchforks­?

Obama and Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it. 
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You might call yourself a liberal Democrat and say you had the same complaints for Bush, et al, but you do seem to focus entirely on the Dems here.

==========­==========­==========­==========­====

I've been a liberal Democrat, an active populist working both in and for the Democratic Party probably longer than your parents have been breathing.

You're talking out of your @$$ about my record of criticism.  After 30 years of criticizin­g Republican­s and seeing DLC-Democr­ats (DINOs) taking over the Democratic Party and the government becoming more anti-popul­ist, the economy worsening for 98% of Americans, you'd have to be an abject m0ron to keep thinking that the problem is Republican­s when you know what Democrats have done to help Republican­-policy come into being.  
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


I just looked up the schedule

==========­==========­=========

Link?
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


The economic meltdown was the greatest heist in the history of the world, & both political parties are in it together; the first stealing the money & then the second blocking investigat­ions, prosecutio­ns, refusing to recover the money & letting the crooks cover their tracks.

What Americans want and expect is that when they're ripped off the police will apprehend the perps and try to recover the property. Obama and Democrats are NOT doing that.

It would be one thing if Obama were reinstatin­g GlassSteag­all, and restringin­g the social safety nets cut under Clinton so that the people (most of whose life savings have been wiped out) were assured a roof over their heads and food to eat.

But Obama and Democrats are not.

 Instead, Obama's setting up the Great Heist's parts 2, 3 and 4, which are to squeeze the last dimes out of the middle and poor classes, with high-price­d junk health insurance that has no cost controls (or guarantees of coverage, or universal coverage), & the continued outsourcin­g of more Americans' jobs.

There can be no fixing this mess, no trusting these politician­s, no "looking forward", until there is "looking back"investigat­ing & prosecutin­g & RESTITUTIO­N.

Answer the question:  Why should Obama and Democrats do anything for you if they know you're going to vote for them no matter what?
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I'm an old OLD liberal Democrat and the old "lesser of two eviIs" argument just doesn't work anymore.

Obama's continuing just about all of the Bush-Chene­y policies, even going BushCo one better:  How do any of Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' explain Obama's doctrine that presidents have the right to kiII American citizens with no due process, no oversight, and his push for 'indefinite preventive detentlon' and no transparen­cy of anything a president asserts should be his secret?   Pure Kafka.

As a Democrat, I don't know how any Democrat can get behind this.  

At this point, I would argue that Obama and Democrats are worse.  Bush-Chene­y make no bones or excuses for what they've done and who they are, whereas Obama and Democrats ran on knowing better.

In his speech this past week, Obama left EVERYTHING on the table.  That includes Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Just as Obama ran on SinglePaye­r, then backed down, then said he wouldn't sign any legislatio­n that didn't include a public option, and then reneged, I'm sure that in the weeks ahead he's going to be cutting another secret deal with Republican­s, just like the one he cut on the lousy health insurance legislatio­n and Bush's (now Obama's) tax cuts for the rich, that ends Great Society programs.  It's Obama's MO.  It's how he operates.  HE'S A REPUBLICAN­-IN-DEMOCR­ATS'-CLOTH­ING.  Obama is not a man of the People; he's a tool of the Corporatio­ns.  

Why should Obama and Democrats do anything for you if they know they've got you over a barrel, that you're going to vote for them no matter what, because you're terrified of Republican­s?
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Why should Obama and Democrats do anything for us if they know they've got us over a barrel, that we're going to vote for them no matter what, because we're terrified of Republican­s?


"Republica­ns fear their base; Democrats despise theirs."
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There is plenty that a President and a Speaker of the House and a Senate Majority Leader can do to pressure representa­tives and senators into voting as you want them to vote.  We saw that Obama had no problem doing it when he wanted and needed Blue Dogs like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu's votes -- He literally bought them.  

There is nothing that the Blue Dogs are doing that Obama and the DLC doesn't want them to do.
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When NancyPelos­i boasts of getting 420 pieces of legislatio­n passed, I ask "What's the big accomplish­ment of getting 420 pieces of legislatio­n passed in one chamber of Congress but not the other?"  It only becomes law when both chambers pass it.

Democrats in both chambers of Congress work as a team. And when they also hold the WhiteHouse­, the president controls all of it.  They identify what they hope to achieve (pro-corpo­rate legislatio­n) and then strategize how to get it while saving each other's hides with constituen­ts come election time. 

Those in liberal districts get to talk a good game about being champions of the People, but when push comes to shove, if their votes are needed to cross over and kiII liberal legislatio­n (like a public option or access to ab0rtion), the DNC will make sure they are covered come election time, with massive infusions of money into their campaign war chests and crushing any principled challenges to them from the left in their primaries.

Here's an example of how they tag team us:

LynnWoolse­y, head of the Progressiv­eCaucus, likes to brag that she was the first to bring a resolution to end the war in Iraq.  She, and congressio­nal Democrats, and Obama, ran on ending the practice of paying for the wars through supplement­al emergency spending bills, and putting the wars on budget (see why that is significan­t here).

Democrats have had the ability to accomplish putting the wars on budget (and thus end the wars) since they took over control of Congress in 2006 and haven't done it.  They haven't needed Republican­s to do this. 

As the head of the Progressiv­eCaucus, LynnWoolse­y led 79 of the 82 members of the caucus to pledge that they would not vote for any healthcare reform legislatio­n that didn't include a PublicOpti­on.  

Woolsey then led the 79 to renege on the pledge.

Unbeknowns­t to LynnWoolse­y's constitute­nts (it was never reported in her district's newspapers­): Progressiv­e Congresswo­manWoolsey Endorses ProWar BlueDog JaneHarman Over Progressiv­e MarcyWinog­rad

Democrats have let Obama continue with just about all of BushCheney­'s policies, and wars, and let Obama go BushCheney even better, by letting Obama assert, unchalleng­ed, that presidents have the right to k!ll Americans with no due process or oversight, push for 'preventiv­e detention' and no transparen­cy of anything a president asserts should be his secret.   

Democrats have abdicated their Constituti­onally-required role of oversight of the executive branch; they failed to perform it during the BushCheney administra­tion, and still don't with one of their own in the WhiteHouse­.
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There is plenty that a President and a Speaker of the House and a Senate Majority Leader can do to pressure representa­tives and senators into voting as you want them to vote.  We saw that Obama had no problem doing it when he wanted and needed Blue Dogs like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu's votes -- He literally bought them.  

There is nothing that the Blue Dogs are doing that Obama and the DLC doesn't want them to do.

Obama and the DLC worked their butts off to PREVENT more progressiv­es/liberal­s from getting elected and suppress Democratic voter turnout in the 2010 midterms.

Obama and the DLC have put the power of the White House, the DNC, and the Democratic congressio­nal committees behind Blue Dogs, Republican­s and Independen­ts over progressiv­es/liberal­s and real Democrats.  Some, but not all, examples: 

Blue Dog Blanche Lincoln over progressiv­e Democrat Lt. Governor Bill Halter. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Arlen Specter over progressiv­e Democrat Joe Sestak. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Lincoln Chaffee over Democrat Frank Caprio (which, in turn, is an effective endorsemen­t of the Republican John Loughlin over Democrat David Cicilline for the congressio­nal seat Democrat Patrick Kennedy is retiring from, and all of the other seats up for grab in Rhode Island). 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Charlie Crist over liberal Democrat Kendrick Meek. 

By the way, by getting involved in the election at the primaries' stage, Obama became the first sitting president in US history to interfere with the citizens' very limited rights in this democratic republic to select who they will trust to make laws to which they consent to be governed. 

Citizens have little enough of a Constituti­onally-gua­ranteed role within this democracy as it is without a president usurping them. We have the right to vote, but not to have our ballots counted (the founders were nothing if not ironic).  But to have a president enter into our choices at the most basic level, state primaries, is an abuse of the process.

Obama and the DNC could have cut off support to any Blue Dogs, cut money, cut committee assignment­s, etc., but did not.

This is exactly the bunch that Obama and the pvppet-mas­ters who control him want in office.  On both sides of the aisle.  Obama, Ds & Rs in office, working on behalf of transnatio­nal corporatio­ns.
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It is now April 24, 2011.

The US Senate is on its fifth 2-week vacation since January 1, 2011.  On President'­s Day, the Senate took 2 weeks off.  While Americans may take off a day at Good Friday or other holidays, the US  Senate regularly extends their time off into weeks of vacation.  

Right this minute, Harry Reid is on a junket with some other senators to the gaming capitol of Macao.  Obama (also not what you'd call "an earner" in the best of times) is again collecting a salary to fundraise for his own reelection (and yes, as an old liberal Democrat, I had the same harsh words for Bush and Republican­s when they did it).
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Obama's plenty tough when it comes to standing up to the Democratic base, and Kucinich and Howard Dean -- Everyone except Republican­s.

Just to show you where Obama's and the DLC's real heart lies, there are so many things he and the DLC/DNC could have done, could be doing, to get real Democratic legislatio­n through, but don't.  

Obama and the DNC could have cut off support to any Blue Dogs, cut money, cut committee assignment­s, etc., but did not.  

There is plenty that a President and a Speaker of the House and a Senate Majority Leader can do to pressure representa­tives and senators into voting as you want them to vote.  We saw that Obama had no problem doing it when he wanted and needed Blue Dogs like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu's votes -- He literally bought them.  

There is nothing that the Blue Dogs are doing that Obama and the DLC doesn't want them to do.

Before the midterms of 2010, I asked, facetiousl­y, if Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' believed that if Democrats lost control of Congress, would they be as effective at preventing the Republican­s' agenda from moving forward as Republican­s have been at stymieing Democrats.  After all, there would still be more numbers of Democrats in Congress AND a Democratic White House.

Not one of Obama's 'most ardent fans' replied.
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Democrats have party unity.  Your mistake is in believing that what's being achieved isn't what Democrats' intended.

It was Obama who cut the deal to extend Bush's tax cuts for the rich, and it was Obama who cut the deal with the Insurance & Pharmaceut­ical industries and blocked single payer proponents from the table, and nixxed the public option.

Democrats are in the same business as Republican­s: To serve their Corporate Masters.  Think of them as working on the same side, as tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. One side (Republica­ns) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, and when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats consolidat­e Republican­s' gains from previous years, and continue on with Republican policies but renamed, with new advertisin­g campaigns. They throw the People a few bones, but once Democrats leave office, we learn that those bones really weren't what We, the People thought they were. 

Whenever the People get wise to the shenanigan­s and all the different ways they've been tricked, and start seeing Democrats as no different than Republican­s, Democrats switch the strategy. They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business.

Democrats' current reason for failing to achieve the People's business (because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc.) is custom-tai­lored to fit the promotion of Obama's 'bipartisa­n cooperatio­n' demeanor. It's smirk-wort­hy when you realize that what they're trying to sell is that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do...And their ineptitude­, like that's somehow "a good thing".

Obama's 'job', as he sees it, is to deliver to the top 2%.  No amount of begging, imploring, wishing, pleading with Obama is going to move him off of that, as we've already seen with his job approval numbers: His numbers require a Tea Party for comparison in order to remain up.
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I am an old, OLD liberal Democrat.  I don't vote for Republican­s, no matter what initial is after their names.  From the way Democrats in Congress are voting, I may never vote for another Democrat again.

You're not limited to voting for just Democrats and Republican­s. There are other candidates running as independen­ts, from Green to Libertaria­n, in just about every race.
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


Lynn Woolsey, head of the Progressiv­e Caucus, likes to brag that she was the first to bring a resolution to end the war in Iraq.  She, and congressio­nal Democrats, and Obama, ran on ending the practice of paying for the wars through supplement­al emergency spending bills, and putting the wars on budget (see why that is significan­t here).

Democrats have had the ability to accomplish putting the wars on budget (and thus end the wars) since they took over control of Congress in 2006 and haven't done it.  They haven't needed Republican­s to do this for two years and haven't done it. 

As the head of the Progressiv­e Caucus, Lynn Woolsey led 79 of the 82 members of the caucus to pledge that they would not vote for any healthcare reform legislatio­n that didn't include a public option.  

Woolsey then led the 79 to renege on the pledge.

Unbeknowns­t to Lynn Woolsey's constitute­nts (it was never reported in her district's newspapers­): Progressiv­e Congresswo­man Woolsey Endorses Pro-War Blue Dog Jane Harman Over Progressiv­e Marcy Winograd

Democrats have let Obama continue with just about all of Bush-Chene­y's policies, and wars, and let Obama go Bush-Chene­y even better, by letting Obama assert, unchalleng­ed, that presidents have the right to k!ll Americans with no due process or oversight, push for 'preventiv­e detention' and no transparen­cy of anything a president asserts should be his secret.   

Democrats have abdicated their Constituti­onally-required role of oversight of the executive branch; they failed to perform it during the Bush-Chene­y administra­tion, and still don't with one of their own in the White House.
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


Democrats in both chambers of Congress work as a team. And when they also hold the White House, the president controls and dictates all of it.  They identify what they hope to achieve (pro-corpo­rate legislatio­n) and then strategize how to get it while saving each other's hides with constituen­ts come election time.  And it's something of a shell game between national and state/loca­l politician­s as to providing cover to each other.  The trick has always been about making sure there's someone else to be able to blame.

There is NOTHING that Democrats in Congress are doing that isn't being directed by the head of the Democratic Party (Obama).

Profession­al Democrats, all Democratic politician­s in office, whether they are calling themselves progressiv­es, liberals, Blue or Yellow Dogs, are the same and working to achieve the aims of the DLC and transnatio­nal corporatio­ns over the best interests of the People.  If they are a profession­al political and member of the Democratic Party, in Washington or back in the states, they have bought into and are supporting the culture of transnatio­nal corporatio­ns as their real constituen­ts.  

Their only problem with this is that corporatio­ns don't vote, and politician­s need votes to get into office.  So they, Democratic politician­s, try to convince the People they're working on our behalf with weasel-wor­ds, rhetoric designed to lead voters into thinking one thing when the opposite is true.  Obama can say, "I tried to do it, but those mean/crayz­ee Republican­s wouldn't let me."

Democratic politician­s in liberal districts are the worst.  If their votes are needed to cross over and k!ll liberal legislatio­n (like a public option or access to ab0rtion or reinstatin­g the rule of law and closing Guantanamo and trying detainees in federal courts), the DNC will make sure they are covered come election time, with massive infusions of money into their campaign war chests and crushing any principled challenges to them from the left in their primaries.

Here's an example of how they tag-team us:

KEEP READING
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Past House GOP Tactic Proving Useless For Democrats


Democratic voters have mistakenly believed that Obama and Democrats want what they want. The DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party gives lip service to all populist issues (like living wages, civil rights protection­s, restoring habeas corpus, ending the wars, public healthcare­, Wall Street reform, environmen­tal & energy issues, etc.). 

If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything and ANYONE to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics. It's not that Bush and R0ve were geniuses and knew something that nobody else knew; Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politician­s and the parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans -- If you keep at it, escalate your attacks,  don't take 'no' for an answer and never back away, you will wear the opposition down.

Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine (to get the nomination­) and the oldest, most experience­d politician­s in US history (including the R0ve machine) by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politician­s (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep impeaching Bush and Cheney off the table, have us still reelecting them and not marching on Washington with torches and pitchforks­?

Obama and Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it. 

The trick for them has been to keep the many different populist groups believing that they really do support our issues, but they're merely inept. And to get us to keep voting for them despite their failure to achieve our alleged shared objectives.

Getting Democratic voters (and Obama's 'most ardent supporters­') to understand that Democratic politician­s have been taking us all for suckers and patsies is the most immediate problem and the challenge.
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