we are so f'k'd, part 2
I realize that I am still trying to grasp the enormity of the consequences of Tuesday. Since bush did not discuss any issues throughout his campaign, and because of our hope that people were paying attention and wouldn’t stand for this nonsense any longer, I never really thought about how much worse he can make things. Besides now believing that a majority agree with the mess he has already created, he now gloats with omnipotent glee that it’s now time to get things done. Just the plans that he has spoken of since Tuesday will literally add trillions to our current debt.
I think that the biggest disappointment we all feel is that, by electing him, the majority is implicitly okaying torture, the murder of at least 100,000 innocents, bungling a war that was started for no reason, the unbelievable number of lies, twists, deceits, cheats, steals, the revocation of basic human rights, of civil rights, of women’s rights, the detention of innumerable people with no cause and no charges, the lack of security, the increase in terrorism, the fact that we are ignoring the person who caused the 9/11 tragedy, the suppression of massive amounts of information on everything from the 9/11 commission to missing munitions to the Halliburton debacle, and on & on. We feel that America should be better than this.
And despite all of this, there is still talk of a “liberal media” that “almost cost bush the election”, instead of the conservative media that gave bush the election. If there really was a “liberal media”, other than the (unfortunately) extremely small, grass roots contingent, then all of these disasters would have received more reporting and the average person would know about all of these (and many more that have been covered up) as well as basic facts like there is no connection between Iraq & 9/11 or that we did not find WMDs in Iraq.
Just this morning I read an editorial in the ultra-conservative Las Vegas Review Journal that I initially thought was a satire, since it was so over the top. An actual quote: “can you imagine what it would be like to have a Massachusetts liberal filling the federal courts across the country, including the Supreme Court, with liberal judges who would be turning more criminals loose for decades to come, as well as repeatedly overruling the voting public’s right to govern themselves on such things as gay marriage?” Wow! I’m not sure where any of that came from, since, for instance, Bush wants to pass a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages, which WILL take away the public’s right to govern themselves on this issue. Twisted logic!
He goes on to talk about the choosing of members of the Supreme Court. He says “those consequences could be tragic if they are replaced with more justices who think their job is to impose their own pet notions...instead of what is set forth in the Constitution of the United States that they are sworn to uphold.” Again, interesting in that bush freely admits that he governs according to his own agenda and his faith and not by the will of the people.
Now here’s the most amazing part: “If there were not alternative media like talk radio, Fox News and the internet, the public would have heard nothing but pro-Kerry spin masquerading as news”!!!!! Boggling! One of his examples is that calling the Swift Boat loons on their proven lies was “sleazy”! Apparently, bringing forth the fact that bush ditched out on his National Guard service – despite the never-ending “reporting” of the baseless attacks on Kerry’s heroic service – was also “sleazy”.
So it is this type of mindset that we are up against! I believe that a big problem is that we thought that once the public was given proven facts, then they would vote for the good guy. The influence of the overwhelmingly conservative media steamrollers over facts and logic. It seems like the lies make better news stories!
All sources saying that the reason the Dems lost was because we didn’t fight dirty and stuck to the issues and assumed people would see through the lies. Of course, the resources that the president has at his command far outnumber that of any other candidate. When bush started with his baseless attacks as far back as last spring, the Dems tried to rise above it all and not demean themselves to even respond and hoped that the media would expose the truth. Unfortunately, the media loved the lies and repeated them endlessly.
By the time that the Dems realized that no one else was going to defend them, they didn’t have the time and money to both counter the lies and press the issues – which, of course, this administration was terrified of discussing. Kerry was “defined” by the attacks, even though he continued to try to simply talk about the issues, he had to spend more & more time refuting the lies. Bush appeared on TV endlessly (attacking his opponent, instead of discussing anything of substance) and Kerry received small snippets of airtime, which usually discussed the current fabrication from the repubs, rather than his solid Senate record or his plans for the presidency. It was so bad that people were surprised that Kerry was so strong and resolute and logical and clearly spoke on the issues during the debates! It’s a bit of a “catch-22” – the only way to defeat this monster is to lower ourselves to their level, which will make us just as bad. But, apparently the majority loves the villain these days.
I think that the biggest disappointment we all feel is that, by electing him, the majority is implicitly okaying torture, the murder of at least 100,000 innocents, bungling a war that was started for no reason, the unbelievable number of lies, twists, deceits, cheats, steals, the revocation of basic human rights, of civil rights, of women’s rights, the detention of innumerable people with no cause and no charges, the lack of security, the increase in terrorism, the fact that we are ignoring the person who caused the 9/11 tragedy, the suppression of massive amounts of information on everything from the 9/11 commission to missing munitions to the Halliburton debacle, and on & on. We feel that America should be better than this.
And despite all of this, there is still talk of a “liberal media” that “almost cost bush the election”, instead of the conservative media that gave bush the election. If there really was a “liberal media”, other than the (unfortunately) extremely small, grass roots contingent, then all of these disasters would have received more reporting and the average person would know about all of these (and many more that have been covered up) as well as basic facts like there is no connection between Iraq & 9/11 or that we did not find WMDs in Iraq.
Just this morning I read an editorial in the ultra-conservative Las Vegas Review Journal that I initially thought was a satire, since it was so over the top. An actual quote: “can you imagine what it would be like to have a Massachusetts liberal filling the federal courts across the country, including the Supreme Court, with liberal judges who would be turning more criminals loose for decades to come, as well as repeatedly overruling the voting public’s right to govern themselves on such things as gay marriage?” Wow! I’m not sure where any of that came from, since, for instance, Bush wants to pass a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages, which WILL take away the public’s right to govern themselves on this issue. Twisted logic!
He goes on to talk about the choosing of members of the Supreme Court. He says “those consequences could be tragic if they are replaced with more justices who think their job is to impose their own pet notions...instead of what is set forth in the Constitution of the United States that they are sworn to uphold.” Again, interesting in that bush freely admits that he governs according to his own agenda and his faith and not by the will of the people.
Now here’s the most amazing part: “If there were not alternative media like talk radio, Fox News and the internet, the public would have heard nothing but pro-Kerry spin masquerading as news”!!!!! Boggling! One of his examples is that calling the Swift Boat loons on their proven lies was “sleazy”! Apparently, bringing forth the fact that bush ditched out on his National Guard service – despite the never-ending “reporting” of the baseless attacks on Kerry’s heroic service – was also “sleazy”.
So it is this type of mindset that we are up against! I believe that a big problem is that we thought that once the public was given proven facts, then they would vote for the good guy. The influence of the overwhelmingly conservative media steamrollers over facts and logic. It seems like the lies make better news stories!
All sources saying that the reason the Dems lost was because we didn’t fight dirty and stuck to the issues and assumed people would see through the lies. Of course, the resources that the president has at his command far outnumber that of any other candidate. When bush started with his baseless attacks as far back as last spring, the Dems tried to rise above it all and not demean themselves to even respond and hoped that the media would expose the truth. Unfortunately, the media loved the lies and repeated them endlessly.
By the time that the Dems realized that no one else was going to defend them, they didn’t have the time and money to both counter the lies and press the issues – which, of course, this administration was terrified of discussing. Kerry was “defined” by the attacks, even though he continued to try to simply talk about the issues, he had to spend more & more time refuting the lies. Bush appeared on TV endlessly (attacking his opponent, instead of discussing anything of substance) and Kerry received small snippets of airtime, which usually discussed the current fabrication from the repubs, rather than his solid Senate record or his plans for the presidency. It was so bad that people were surprised that Kerry was so strong and resolute and logical and clearly spoke on the issues during the debates! It’s a bit of a “catch-22” – the only way to defeat this monster is to lower ourselves to their level, which will make us just as bad. But, apparently the majority loves the villain these days.
posted by rich at 10:19 AM
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