Admiration for a great journalist from Liberal Street Fighter
She is one of my few heroes in the media. Always willing to ask the powerful the hard questions, something that sadly so many other “journalists” refuse to do, fearful of losing out on their precious access. Her latest:
When are the Democrats going to get their act together?
Surely, they are not going to let President Bush’s political guru, Karl Rove, snooker them in the mid-term November election campaign as he did in the past two presidential elections.
What is he going to pull out of the hat? Soft on terrorism? Gay marriage? Flag burning? 9/11?
Are the Democrats going to be such easy prey again, neutralized by phony wedge issues and neglectful of the real issue, which is the administration’s flagrant use of falsehoods to justify a war of choice?
It could happen again. The leaderless Democrats, speaking in a cacophony, are being outgunned by the conservatives and members of their own party representing the Democratic Leadership Council who are at heart “Republican lite.”
There IS no Democratic Party. It is not a functioning political party. It is, at best, a brand name used to scoop up money from people who remember when it USED to be a functioning party. It’s as though Coke stopped making drinks and just sold t-shirts with their old logo on them. Yes, there are a few politicians actually trying to do their job while wearing the label “Democrat”, but they are outnumbered by the hacks, sellouts and cowards.
After she gives Murtha some praise for standing up to Rove and the Republicans (with little or no help from his “fellow” Democrats), Thomas continues:
[…] Rove attacked Democrats for what he called “that party’s old pattern of cutting and running.”
Rove — who prides himself on being a history buff — obviously did not remember when President Ford ordered U.S. troops out of Vietnam in April 1975. They departed — some clinging by their fingertips to helicopters — as North Vietnamese forces advanced on Saigon.
At that time Ford said at Tulane University: “We, of course, are saddened indeed by the events in Indochina.
“But these events, tragic as they are, portend neither the end of the world nor of America’s leadership in the world.”
Summing up, he added: “The fate of responsible men and women everywhere, (meaning the South Vietnamese) rests in their own hands, not in ours.”
Amen.
Wow, history, imagine that … too bad the Vichy Dems are too busy lunching with their clueless consultants and worrying about how much Chris Matthews might make fun of them.
Thomas continues with a long, and pretty obvious, list of things the Democrats could attack on, a list that will likely go unheeded. She concludes with:
As Bush prepared to visit Europe this week, Die Zeit, a German weekly, declared that Americans have “lost their moral credibility in Iraq.”
The newspaper also said “America’s entire Iraq policy is out of control.”
That’s what the Democrats should be saying.
Go read the rest, and when you’re done go check out how she hounded Tony Snow during the last press gaggle.
Helen Thomas is a national treasure.
Not only is she a national treasure, she shows up every other one of those corporate-owned press hacks for what they are.
Yes, it is a brand name.
The people who run it seem to be content with their station in life. On the other hand, the GOP once was a failing political has been until certain activists and extremists (labels that do apply to the Right) took it over from the inside.
The only way to effect change with the Dems is to take over the Party.
Either that and kill it, hoping the next opposition coalition really is progressive.
The only way to change it is take over the party. Exactly!
going by the recent behavior of Schumer, Holy Joe etc, I think killing it may be the only option.
This sentiment keeps coming up again and again, and I still don’t understand the reasoning behind it. The Democratic Party has structure and money, two things anything we tried to replace it with would not have for a long time, if ever. To disband the Democratic Party would leave the Republicans completely unopposed. Now you may say there isn’t any opposition now; well, there isn’t much, I’ll grant you that, but there is some, and there’s more than there would be if there were none.
The only exception to this I can think of would be to disband the Democratic Party and immediately transfer all of its assets and structure to a new party. I’ve written about this before; my opinion is that this new party would welcome former Democrats provided they signed on to a basic set of standards. A living wage, universal basic health care, universal free education through baccalaureate, and accountability in office would be a good start. Then the whips in this new party would go around on a regular basis to the members of the party, asking them What have you done today to further one of these goals? Continued party support would hinge on satisfactory answers to that question.
I may be wrong on this, but I can’t help but feel that if Dean’s 50 state strategy is implemented as planned, the party will necessarily be rebuilt from within. I certainly hope so, because the alternatives are unacceptable. Moving to Canada, for instance, is a short-term fix for me and whoever goes with me, but the lunatics would still be in charge of the asylum, and without a functioning opposition, would be for the foreseeable future — and as long as they’re in charge, they are harming the world, not just the USA.
I don’t know about killing it.
But seeing a primary opponent for Chuckie next time around would be sweet. Possibly supporting Joementum as an independent – WTF?
Chuck is seriously out of touch and needs a wake up call (just like Joe – shit, maybe Chuck wants to be the next Joe). Too bad it is not until 2010.