The GOP never wins a debate. It just changes the subject. Right wing consultants call this "re-framing".Specifically, Democrats who had been in a position to take the offensive found themselves defending "funding cuts" when the GOP should have been defending an immoral war of aggression. The GOP had merely to characterize Democratic efforts as a Democratic failure to "support the troop" and the Democrats go from offense to defense.
As Glenn Greenwald argued in Salon, "cutting off funding" never meant US soldiers would suddenly find themselves without guns, ammo or food. Congress would have done what it usually does. The leadership would have worked to determine a date for a safe withdrawal and fund the war through that date. The GOP changed the subject, misrepresented the Democratic position and went on offense.
Democrats have no excuse. They should have caught on by now. Once again, they allowed the GOP to re-position them and change the parameters of debate. It was no longer about ending the war, opposed by some 70 percent of the US voting public. It became about "withdrawing support for the troops", opposed by almost as many.
The new premise was simply not true. The GOP had done it again - and again gotten away with it. Another GOP myth goes mainstream. Why is this allowed to happen repeatedly? Are Democrats not aware that the GOP hires highly paid consultants whose job it is to lie and make it sound like truth? The tactics were spelled out long ago by Joseph Goebbels and more recently by Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals", an activists handbook written originally for a left leaning audience.
Democrats should be on offense. They should attack GOP lies and crimes. Democrats have probably never had a better opportunity to seize the initiative. Typically, they appear to have blown it again -- the result is that the US is stuck in Iraq where troops are NOT supported. They are targeted.
The Democrats should hammer home the point that Bush's position in Iraq is immoral and un-American even as the war bankrupts the nation. Democrats should ridicule Bush's ludicrous defense of the war. For example, at a White House Rose Garden news conference of May 24, 2007, Bush got away with making contradictory statements. First, he said if we leave Iraq before al Qaeda is defeated the "terrorists will follow us home". Then, he followed up with a promise already broken. He said that if the Iraqi government asks us to leave, we will. Haven't they done precisely that?
GOP propagandists depend on the gullibility of the American people and the numbing drone of a mindless MSM to get across contradictory and ludicrous statements. For example, Bin Laden is still "on the loose" because "we haven't got 'em yet".
Bush's statements are nonsensical and contradictory because they are lies. Representative Dennis Kucinich takes Bush apart on this issue. But, at the same time, he points out that 'this is a moment of truth' for the Democratic party. Kucinich claims that Bush is laying down the ground work for continuing the Iraq war throughout his term. It will take that time, presumably, to guarantee the "privatization" of Iraqi oil --an act Kucinich says is nothing less than "theft"!
A pattern of recklessness, indifference, callousness - the implications are deadly for the people of the United States.- Representative Dennis Kucinich
The Existentialist Cowboy
Iraq
Congress
Why Conservatives Hate America
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14 comments:
This site discusses Impeachment which is a political mechanism, not violent revolution...you really need to monitor yourself, and remove your comments. It is an injustice to this site and everyone that uses it.
Uranus, I encourage you to exercise care in your line of thinking and choose the best political courses of action.
US Homeland Security monitors the web, may track you and may bring charges against you for criminal behaviour (such as incitement to murder etc) if you are imprudent in the statements you make. There is a sound legal basis for overthrowing your current government and you should consider all the legal means at your disposal before discussing weaponry or assassinations.
There are political alternatives before armed rebellion by any citizenry. People can wage peaceful public protests, go on publicised hunger strikes, go door to door with pamphlets and develop grass roots political opposition etc.
It is a very easy thing to feel depressed by the current political situation, yet you are not alone. Groups in the UK are trying to bring Blair up on war crimes charges; in my own country (Australia) there are activists working for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq; in Canada and Europe there are activist groups. You are not alone.
Living in the US must be difficult on occasions because of the many political absurdities (the recent Presidential candidate debates are a good example). Yet I'm sure there are likeminded, happy Americans you can find to focus your political energies. I hope you can seek them out.
I come from a gun free culture. People here have never been able to make sense of the US addiction to guns. I know having a gun would not be a pleasant experience for me under any circumstances. I certainly would not like to have one around if I was seriosuly depressed or angry. So be careful there.
Uranus, I understand your feelings of helplessness and anger, and others do too. Hang in there and follow sensible courses of action. I've found it necessary to put some happy things in my life just to temper the political lunacy (like movies, friends, music, travel, books etc). I hope you can too. Best wishes and don't do anything foolish. -- Damien
Of course I can't recommend using politicians for target practice. Of course, I know as well as anyone a person would be immediately arrested or shot for making the first move toward that end. I'm old enough to be intimate with the My Lai massacre. There's such a thing as right and wrong. No one is going to be impeached. No one is going to be prosecuted. I spoke with a lawyer, and I was told, "I wouldn't touch that with a 20-foot pole." So, I said, "if you can think of a way we can fire Bush and Cheney, we'd sure appreciate it." These cats need to be fired. There is absolutely no way it can happen. They are doing everything they can to start a worldwide nuclear war. I'm not going to be polite about words when that much is at stake. You shouldn't either. I'm conducting my own counter revolution at home. It's a crusade for life, compassion and humanity. I deal with mean people, and some crazy ones. I'm not a troll. If the site owner wants to remove my comments, he should do it. What I'm telling you is this: conventional means no longer work. You aren't going to stack the deck so high the Bush administration can't play. They don't care about your reasons and arguments, they don't hear a thing you say. If you think this is an academic discussion, go to Baghdad and get a job in the medical examiners office, processing bodies. I'm at the threshold of old age, and have seen so many people die that I developed a keen fondness for life. I have no patience for people, public servants in particular, who want to do a lot of killing. If you feel I've spoken too harshly about the executive and legislative branches, keep your thoughts to yourself. If the next special op involves nuking your city, you'll change your mind.
Again, my apologies to Len Hart. He didn't do anything to deserve this. I'm writing it here because, so far as I can see, he's the only person writing anywhere who thoroughly understands the system doesn't work anymore. Thomas Jefferson knew one day Americans would have to retake the government through armed revolution. About a year and a half ago, I wrote on another blog we'd reached that point. People were aghast. But, a couple months later, one person after another was saying the very same thing. If you feel my comments aren't appropriate, just wait: I predict you'll change your mind.
Uranus, we are both on the Global Strike Force (GSF) over at Lukery's so I know you are sincere and I can see where you are coming from. But a significant portion of the US population has to be moved to accept change before it will happen on a larger scale. They're crooks, we know that. But work around the problem. And try to relax (coming from me that's a funny suggestion!). Cheers mate.
This looks to me like despair born of desperation. Try to keep your powder dry u®anu§ - you really don't want to be one of the first to inhabit the giant KBR-built domestic detention facilities.
Bu$hC0™ is a criminal organization in the guise of legitimate government, I think we all agree on that. His assault on American values and the rule of law is shocking. It is perhaps even more shocking to see the amount of support he is enjoying in the halls of power, on both sides of the aisle. Most shocking of all is to see the American people lulled into a torpid indifference, or at best inaction. Is this a result of their own shock, or fear?
The tactic of shock and awe does seem to work. It was just never meant to be applied in Iraq. The true target was the American public.
"The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by rapid and audacious attack." -- Napoleon Bonaparte, often quoted by Karl Rove
Thanks everyone for your words. I've found it most disconcerting while surfing the news channels to see Bush on FOX last week saying over and over he expects another terrorist attack. While the left tries to run the country through proper channels, Washington is going after the world like savages on the rampage. Damien, I got the idea someone threatened Luke over something I wrote. He didn't say anything to me, but I feel his being squeezed. He's completely credible. I don't want to detract from that, or from the great work this site does, either. There's been such a lack of knowledge of how to engage these very abusive people who run this country. I saw Dick Cheney turn into Satan more than 30 years ago. I've had to deal with abusers and nuts all my life. It's right to reason with them, and walk a straight and narrow line. But, some of them don't respond to that. So, you either live with their misdeeds or you disconnect them. In the case of how that applies in the unfortunate circumstance of their taking over a country, that can be a very, very hard thing. It would be a sin for me to sit back and not talk about what I've learned while patriotic people grope for answers. I deplore the idea of an armed insurrection of America. The result could be far worse than what we have now. Probably so. But...but...this is the U.S.A. When all our efforts toward peace and prosperity yield exactly the opposite result, how can we accept what table scraps these wild-eyed killers toss, and live on our knees? We've surrendered far too much already. Why are we so idle? I've been saying this for awhile and haven't been "renditioned" yet. The door is always open.
Here's a couple of interesting links that have just come my way - Nato's involvement with the Stay Behind action. It's related to Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed's excellent new article on the Strategy of Tension. Also Thierry Meyssan claims that Rumsfeld has his own Secret Service helping with regime change. Meyssan is not in the same category of credibility as Ahmed, but people can form their own assessment.
«—U®Anu§—» , I deleted one of your comments. Not because you are not welcome but because we lose if we play into the hands of an illegitimate government.
Sabuttrue said it best:
This looks to me like despair born of desperation. Try to keep your powder dry u®anu§ - you really don't want to be one of the first to inhabit the giant KBR-built domestic detention facilities.
I cite the example of Ghandi who brought an empire to its knees with peace and words.
I am outraged as anyone. In the days and weeks ahead, I will post some things that can be done. Offhand, the first thing we can do is stop supporting the MSM with our advertising dollars. I will try to be more specific.
There are other "non-cooperative" ways to gum up the big bad machine without breaking a single law. I am not an expert on that sort of thing but I promise to do some research.
Everyone, hang in there. The whole world knows that Bush is a lying criminal, an outlaw, a mass murderer and a usurper. That is one hell of a start.
The cure for frustration is action. Here are some things I've thought could be done to agitate for change.
First, I believe the Constitution has a provision for impeachment proceedings initiated at the state level. If you live in a blue state, you should be contacting your governor's office, or your state representatives to agitate for this.
Second, again at the state level, ask your governor for this: a Declaration of Independence for your state. This would entail a strong statement similar to this one (Steal These Talking Point(s)), enumerating the many ways that the Constitution, which is after all a contract between the state governments and the federal, has been broken. A call for restitution would follow, including demands for proper investigations and prosecution of all criminal conduct - from the CIA operative who tortures a prisoner to the administration official who writes a memo saying that is OK. A demand should also be made that all the state's National Guard personnel be returned to them. The statement should make clear that if restitution is not forthcoming, the state will secede.
If even a small state like Rhode Island were to do this, the attention it would generate would be immense.
Fuzzflash sez...
Your comments, mes amis, on this thread are most moving.
Uranus, we can nail these bastards legit. All the regulars here are dedicated to achieving that goal. One could mount a fair case that we get a tad obsessive about it, but it’s a good kind of obsession. Generations of our forebears have felt similarly, and here we are still. We don give up de fight, but we fight smart; with ideas, research, reasoned argument and the odd bit of asshattery. Lots of dictators never imagined they would have to stand before a court and answer for their war crimes.
(great to see kenj ripping it up them on phil adam's blog)
Anyway, when we see this lot off, and when the US signs the Kyoto Protcol, we might be just a chance of preserving something of our pale blue dot for the next few generations at least. Some day's the black dog crushes us, on others we wouldn't be dead for quids. As that Beckett boy once wrote:
“ It will be I?
It will be the silence, where I am?
I don’t know.
I’ll never know,
in the silence you don’t know.
You must go on.
I can’t go on.
I’ll go on.”
Right on, Sam.
And so say all of us.
Fuzzflash! - I thought you were dead (or had coverted to the Liberal Party). Yes, I have been active in the trenches. The Oz has taken to posting lengthy nonsense from some of its cretinous regulars. According to them (a) Saddam was closely connected to al Qaeda, (b) he worked directly with al Zaqawi, and (c) we are doing the Iraqis a big favor by taking the oil off their hands. As I say, they ARE cretins. I've been trying to cut back the disinformation to mere nuisance levels (here and here), but I'm still only getting 1 in 3 letters posted. Facts are a problem for the Oz, and they NEVER allow any mention of the following: war crimes, AIPAC, the American Enterprise Institute, the OSP for Iraq (or Iran), Elliott Abrams or Seymour Hersh. So it kind of narrows the field. The public is relying on official sound bites and the Murdoch media. What a mess!
Over at the Melbourne Age, however, they seem to have adopted me (I'm a Melbourne boy and there's a street-wise cynicism about Melburnians that refuses to buckle to Sydney gullibility). At any rate, I've almost taken over some of the Age blogs, posting major essays (here for example). It's been a hoot, and I don't think they mind. I think they're glad to raise the bar a bit on public discussion. I'm sure there are better things I could do with my time but I don't care. (Uranus writes better stuff over at Lukery). Maintain the rage, Fuzzflash. Beckett is good.
Yes, Len, there are sure no hard feelings on my part and I hope you aren't put off. As long as three years ago I wrote that Bush and Cheney shouldn't be running the country, but should be behind bars. It was really radical at the time, but not so far afield today.
I don't believe any of these remarks are a cause for concern for anyone, including the Bush administration itself. Certainly a great many people think such things, even if they don't say them.
I encourage everyone to scan through Bush's signing statements. He refers to the office of the unitary executive again and again, it's as if he's daring Congress to challenge his legal authority to circumvent the enumerated powers set forth in the Constitution.
That's been called treason, although whether it qualifies is a question of which lawyer you ask. It may be the way his party wants the government run, but I'm sure it isn't how they want the other party to run it.
Because the war and Bush's presidency have been conducted like an experiment in totalitarianism, I've sincerely believed a thorough discussion of possible remedies should include extreme measures. I hate to think it doesn't cross anyone's mind, with Bush so eager to deploy mercenaries and states' national guard units in residential neighborhoods. That language is very hard to look at! And, I know people think I'm insane. They complain about it in the real world, too.
I try to be as solitary as possible, because I've found it gives me greater freedom of expression. How dangerous can I be when I don't actually know anybody? And, I haven't persuaded anyone about anything. It's a very sweet deal! As I said over at WIIG4, the real answer to what ails us is a revolution of humanity. If people loved one another more, wars of choice couldn't get off the ground. The last couple months I've thought I need to work more on that and less at being an internet gadfly. I just hope there's time. I have doubts. So, you get that stuff I said the other day. I regret taking away from the formal and scholarly tone of this site. Certainly I intended no disrespect. On the other hand, that you read it here first will forever mark this site as having a very special place in my heart.
«—U®Anu§—» said...
I encourage everyone to scan through Bush's signing statements. He refers to the office of the unitary executive again and again, it's as if he's daring Congress to challenge his legal authority to circumvent the enumerated powers set forth in the Constitution.
That's the strategy - throw all the shit on the wall and see what sticks. Lately, I have despaired that the Democrats can see what's happening. Left unchallenged, Bush's crap will stand. And the "Republic" will be history.
Before I got carried away on Tuesday and forgot why I came here, I meant to simply say that a close watch of the news strongly suggests something is about to happen--a "terrorist attack" which will be blamed on a certain faction of al Qaeda. I suspect it in large part because of certain film stories I saw on FOX news, including this coded speech Bush made in advance of the war funding vote. I usually tune his speeches out. But I happened to see this one several times surfing the channels. His statement is more than an assurance, it comes across as a promise, that we are about to be attacked. I haven't made a habit of watching FOX, or any of the other right wing channels or commentators, so I've made a special effort since to look at some of it. You can't put much stock in this fear mongering from the White House, but this time it was different. The look on his face still haunts me. It's the same look my cat gets when it drags in a slaughtered mouse. If that comes about, you should be mindful of your needs, including locating the nearest fallout shelter. I should have just left it at that. I haven't seen any comments connecting dots with that and other recent developments, and thought I should say something to someone. Good luck to all of you.
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