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Title: Obermann on the Democratic Wimp Out
Source:
MSNBC
URL Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18831132
Published: May 24, 2007
Author: Obermann
Post Date: 2007-05-24 00:30:23 by ...
Keywords: None
Views: 147
Comments: 13
Obermann Rubs their noses in it.
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#1. To: ... (#0)
The more I see of Obermann, the more I like him. I really enjoyed how he just tore into the Democrats and called them on their cowardace and treachery. Both parties are in lockstep, marching our nation into a future of endless war, endless conflict, endless mendacity and endless failure to do anything even remotely resembling what the people want. Let's face it: Democracy has failed here. It's a sick joke. Whatever change may come from this point will NOT come from peaceful, civilized discourse or politely contacting our so-called "representatives".
 | Gold and silver are real money, paper is but a promise. |
#2. To: ..., REDPANTHER, CHRISTINE, LODWICK, JETHRO TULL (#0)
NEVER in my entire life have I heard a more persuasive and eloquent speech. Every American needs to hear thisA, especially those who vote D as a "choice." Unfortunately, I'll bet few have. BTTT! 2party Fraud bumP!
"Betrayal. Good night and good luck."
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
#3. To: Elliott Jackalope, REDPANTHER (#1)
Few men or women elected in our history—whether executive or legislative, state or national—have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more clear: Get us out of Iraq. Yet after six months of preparation and execution—half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this: The Democratic leadership has surrendered to a president—if not the worst president, then easily the most selfish, in our history—who happily blackmails his own people, and uses his own military personnel as hostages to his asinine demand, that the Democrats “give the troops their money”; The Democratic leadership has agreed to finance the deaths of Americans in a war that has only reduced the security of Americans; The Democratic leadership has given Mr. Bush all that he wanted, with the only caveat being, not merely meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government, but optional meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government. The Democratic leadership has, in sum, claimed a compromise with the Administration, in which the only things truly compromised, are the trust of the voters, the ethics of the Democrats, and the lives of our brave, and doomed, friends, and family, in Iraq. You, the men and women elected with the simplest of directions—Stop The War—have traded your strength, your bargaining position, and the uniform support of those who elected you… for a handful of magic beans. You may trot out every political cliché from the soft-soap, inside-the-beltway dictionary of boilerplate sound bites, about how this is the “beginning of the end” of Mr. Bush’s “carte blanche” in Iraq, about how this is a “first step.” Well, Senator Reid, the only end at its beginning... is our collective hope that you and your colleagues would do what is right, what is essential, what you were each elected and re-elected to do. Because this “first step”… is a step right off a cliff. And this President! How shameful it would be to watch an adult... hold his breath, and threaten to continue to do so, until he turned blue. But how horrifying it is… to watch a President hold his breath and threaten to continue to do so, until innocent and patriotic Americans in harm’s way, are bled white. You lead this country, sir? You claim to defend it? And yet when faced with the prospect of someone calling you on your stubbornness—your stubbornness which has cost 3,431 Americans their lives and thousands more their limbs—you, Mr. Bush, imply that if the Democrats don’t give you the money and give it to you entirely on your terms, the troops in Iraq will be stranded, or forced to serve longer, or have to throw bullets at the enemy with their bare hands. How transcendentally, how historically, pathetic. Any other president from any other moment in the panorama of our history would have, at the outset of this tawdry game of political chicken, declared that no matter what the other political side did, he would insure personally—first, last and always—that the troops would not suffer. A President, Mr. Bush, uses the carte blanche he has already, not to manipulate an overlap of arriving and departing Brigades into a ‘second surge,’ but to say in unequivocal terms that if it takes every last dime of the monies already allocated, if it takes reneging on government contracts with Halliburton, he will make sure the troops are safe—even if the only safety to be found, is in getting them the hell out of there. Well, any true President would have done that, Sir. You instead, used our troops as political pawns, then blamed the Democrats when you did so. Not that these Democrats, who had this country’s support and sympathy up until 48 hours ago, have not since earned all the blame they can carry home. “We seem to be very near the bleak choice between war and shame,” Winston Churchill wrote to Lord Moyne in the days after the British signed the Munich accords with Germany in 1938. “My feeling is that we shall choose shame, and then have war thrown in, a little later…” That’s what this is for the Democrats, isn’t it? Their “Neville Chamberlain moment” before the Second World War. All that’s missing is the landing at the airport, with the blinkered leader waving a piece of paper which he naively thought would guarantee “peace in our time,” but which his opponent would ignore with deceit. The Democrats have merely streamlined the process. Their piece of paper already says Mr. Bush can ignore it, with impugnity. And where are the Democratic presidential hopefuls this evening? See they not, that to which the Senate and House leadership has blinded itself? Judging these candidates based on how they voted on the original Iraq authorization, or waiting for apologies for those votes, is ancient history now. The Democratic nomination is likely to be decided... tomorrow. The talk of practical politics, the buying into of the President’s dishonest construction “fund-the-troops-or-they-will-be-in-jeopardy,” the promise of tougher action in September, is falling not on deaf ears, but rather falling on Americans who already told you what to do, and now perceive your ears as closed to practical politics. Those who seek the Democratic nomination need to—for their own political futures and, with a thousand times more solemnity and importance, for the individual futures of our troops—denounce this betrayal, vote against it, and, if need be, unseat Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi if they continue down this path of guilty, fatal acquiescence to the tragically misguided will of a monomaniacal president. For, ultimately, at this hour, the entire government has failed us. Mr. Reid, Mr. Hoyer, and the other Democrats... have failed us. They negotiated away that which they did not own, but had only been entrusted by us to protect: our collective will as the citizens of this country, that this brazen War of Lies be ended as rapidly and safely as possible. Mr. Bush and his government... have failed us. They have behaved venomously and without dignity—of course. That is all at which Mr. Bush is gifted. We are the ones providing any element of surprise or shock here. With the exception of Senator Dodd and Senator Edwards, the Democratic presidential candidates have (so far at least) failed us. They must now speak, and make plain how they view what has been given away to Mr. Bush, and what is yet to be given away tomorrow, and in the thousand tomorrows to come. Because for the next fourteen months, the Democratic nominating process—indeed the whole of our political discourse until further notice—has, with the stroke of a cursed pen, become about one thing, and one thing alone. The electorate figured this out, six months ago. The President and the Republicans have not—doubtless will not. The Democrats will figure it out, during the Memorial Day recess, when they go home and many of those who elected them will politely suggest they stay there—and permanently. Because, on the subject of Iraq... The people have been ahead of the media.... Ahead of the government... Ahead of the politicians... For the last year, or two years, or maybe three. Our politics... is now about the answer to one briefly-worded question. Mr. Bush has failed. Mr. Warner has failed. Mr. Reid has failed. So. Who among us will stop this war—this War of Lies? To he or she, fall the figurative keys to the nation. To all the others—presidents and majority leaders and candidates and rank-and-file Congressmen and Senators of either party—there is only blame… for this shameful, and bi-partisan, betrayal. Good night, and good luck. This is, in fact, a comment about… betrayal.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
#4. To: IndieTX (#3)
I just caught the tail end of his oration, thanks for print-out. I’ll definitely catch the late night rerun.
#5. To: IndieTX (#3)
I'm an anti-Republican, but the Dems are pissing me off. I want those kids home, and caving to those Nazis in the White House is revolting. I understand why they did it, to keep themselves safe in the next election, but I'm sick of these clowns playing politics. Kids are dying, and K Street is up and running and making just as much money as it ever did. I wish we had a third party.
#6. To: Mekons4 (#5)
Oh, we have TONS of third parties. Libertarian, Constitution, Green, Peace and Freedom, lots to pick from. All guaranteed to get a grand total of 1% of the vote every sElection. This is what happens when you live in a de-facto dictatorship.
I wish we had a third party.
| Gold and silver are real money, paper is but a promise. |
#7. To: ... (#0)
Answer: Ron Paul.
Olbermann: Who among us will stop this war, this war of lies?
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#8. To: Mekons4 (#5)
If all they care about is their position, then they need to lose it this time around. It is nearly time to go to the cartridge box; the ballot box has failed us.
I understand why they did it, to keep themselves safe in the next election,
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#9. To: BTP Holdings (#8)
Actually, it's long past time. We've failed. Next stop, the concentration camps. They'll come get us one by one, under false pretenses. "Oh, come in to .. um.. clear up a minor paperwork issue" "Oh, we're just here to inspect your meter. Could you come outside for just a moment?" "Oh, there's nothing wrong, we just need you to stop by to confirm a document"... one by one, off to the camps we'll go, still hoping and trusting right up to when they turn the gas on. It's over.
It is nearly time to go to the cartridge box; the ballot box has failed us.
| Gold and silver are real money, paper is but a promise. |
#10. To: Elliott Jackalope (#9)
The current trend of federal legislation is bent towards identifying everyone in America not just illegals. All employers will be mandated to comply with federal indentification procedures ... under the auspices of addressing the illegals, but you can bet your ass it's about identifying the law abiding, gun owning, license holding, taxpaying, Uncle Sam ass kissing morons that continue to finance the current dictator and his goon squad. We are our own worst enemy.
RON PAUL or REVOLUTION
#11. To: Elliott Jackalope (#6)
Oh, we have TONS of third parties. Libertarian, Constitution, Green, Peace and Freedom, lots to pick from. All guaranteed to get a grand total of 1% of the vote every sElection. This is what happens when you live in a de-facto dictatorship. China has about half a dozen parties. Communist Poland used to have 4. Communist Bulgaria had 2. Communist East Germany had 4 or 5. The parties are the PROBLEM not the solution because they are mafia-like organizations whose aim is to gather power and exercise it to benefit the organization and its members. When the political parties are outlawed the way the Mafia is outlawed, the country has a chance. When the 2 monopolistic parties in a 2-party state are in a grand alliance where they generally agree on how to screw and squeeze the people, the country is doomed. Even a one-party system is preferable to a two-party system because the latter cultivates the sick illusion of 'choice' and 'democracy'.
I wish we had a third party.
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
#12. To: ... (#0)
Very Nice. Keith Olbermann tells it like it is. The People have been ahead of the politicians, ahead of the media for two or three years...
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, I think that's pretty important.-Martin Luther King, Jr.
#13. To: Elliott Jackalope (#6)
I keep hoping you're wrong, but it's looking more and more that way. I'm not a paranoid, but it just seems that these pricks can get away with anything. That Goodling thing yesterday, where she admitted that she would only approve right-wing crazies for JD appointments, was a perfect example. This little freak only graduated from law school in 1999, and still got a very senior job because she was a true believer. Hitler did the same thing, hiring nutjobs with no skills for senior positions, as long as they were even more fanatic than he was. Whoever becomes president next year has to dig these creeps out of the woodwork and return the bureaucracy to non-partisan. Otherwise, we will have a total dictatorship at some point. Look at what we have. Gonzales, Goodling, Brown, Rummy, Condi, and so many more, all chosen by their loyalty to the far right rather than any competence. Condi, just for example, studied Soviet politics for 20 years. There's no more Soviet Union, and she knows nothing about anything else. But she's our secretary of state. A pack of partisan morons, know-nothings, are running this country. Clinton had the brightest people available, truly educated people, running his administration. Most were liberal, true, but they weren't insane partisans. We're now the most hated country in the world, as opposed to being the most admired, and it will take us a decade, if we're lucky, to repair our reputation. Over at Freeperland, they think this is no big deal, that hatred of us is a GOOD thing. They're morons. Our standing in the world as good actors is vital to our future. We're big and strong and all that, but the EU has more money and population than we do, the Chinese are an economic super power that probably eclipses our economy, and Russia is more influential now than it was in the Cold War. I still hope that a third party that holds the views that national debt is a crisis, that war should not be optional, that allowing the wealthy to avoid their share of taxes, that leaving tens of millions of citizens without health insurance, etc, can arise.
Libertarian, Constitution, Green, Peace and Freedom, lots to pick from. All guaranteed to get a grand total of 1% of the vote every sElection. This is what happens when you live in a de-facto dictatorship.
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