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Another Gathering Storm

By Last Night in Little Rock, Section Other Politics
Posted on Thu Sep 08, 2005 at 09:43:39 PM EST
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posted by Last Night in Little Rock

MSNBC reports on another gathering storm: The Democrats and the 2006 election: "Democrats declare open season on Bush / In wake of Hurricane Katrina, a political tornado gains strength."

The political ramifications and fallout from the bungling of Katrina and the relief effort could be devastating: The Republican policies of downsizing and dismembering government, giving away all its money to their cronies at the expense of the national deficit and homeland security, personal wars that cost nearly 1900 American lives and tens of thousands injured, and proving that they truly don't care about "we the people" could, with any luck, cripple the Republican Party for a decade.

We can hope, can't we? "Commpassionate conservatism" proved to be the biggest bait-and-switch and line of BS of the last hundred years. The Republican Party has unabashedly relied upon the stupidity and self-interest of the average American voter since Lincoln died, and Karl Rove proved it.

What goes around, comes around.

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    Another Gathering Storm | 13 comments (13 topical)
    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#1)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:30 PM EST
    Criticism is fine, but they need a plan to offer people who are fed up with Bush. What specifically will they do about Iraq, the outsourcing of jobs, social security, health care, etc.? They have been reactive, rather than proactive, thanks to the DLCers who don't want to offend the corporate contributors. This has kept them from tapping their core voters, and what keeps them from doing anything but spinning their wheels or losing ground. Dump the DLC and get back to the grassroots, or it's over.

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#2)
    by Pete Guither on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:31 PM EST
    I'm a little confused by the part
    The Republican policies of downsizing and dismembering government,...
    It seems, based on the huge deficits and the enormous federal agencies under Bush that downsizing isn't the problem. The transportation bill wasn't about "downsizing." It was about pigs at the trough. Yes, they've been dismembering government -- making it less acountable, less effective, and more of their own private clubhouse and slush fund, but I haven't seen much downsizing.

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#3)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:31 PM EST
    oh my, what a brilliant strategy that is, declaring war on a guy who can't run for re-election, in a non-presidential year. and what DNC einstein thought this was a good idea? how's this for an original thought: try declaring war on the guys who can run for re-election in 2006, and start, now, to rake those who can run for president in 2008? geez, bush became pretty much of an irrelevancy as soon as he was re-elected. it's the price of lame-duck status. the gov. of va has a similar problem, since it's a single term affair. is this what democrats are getting from $20k a month consultants? no f'ing wonder they keep getting their butts kicked!

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#4)
    by ras on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:31 PM EST
    cpinva makes good pts, but the fallout from Katrina, set to go against the dems, is gonna be hard for the Dems to recover from no matter what they do. Those who haven't followed the details - in discussion on another thread it became apparent how one-sidedly those details have been reported - might consider: 1. the Dem governor had to be prodded into evacuating by ... Bush! She said so herself, on camera. That evacuation alone saved a good 100k lives. Bush will be rightfuly credited for making sure it happened even when the Dem Governor didn't want to. 2. The Democratic mayor left hundreds of buses unused, to be covered by the water, buses that could have saved many more lives by evacuating people. FEMA, in contrast, provided over a thousand w/in 72 hours after the storm. 3. The Sally Ann and the Red Cross were each denied access to the Dome to deliver food to the hungry. The Louisiana Dept Of Homeland Security, who did the denying, is run by the state - i.e. the Democratic Governor, Blanco, again. Think the folks in LA are gonna be happy when they start finding this out? They will find out, you know. 4. The Natl Guard in LA is also run by the state/Blanco, who bears all rewsponsibility for letting the lawlessness get so out of hand - and contrasts unfavorably w/the Republican Governor's handling of the crisis next door. The katrina fallout won't go away. The MSM can cover for the Dems a little, but in LA itself ... well, that one's going red. Not as a matter of blame game, but as a matter of cuplability. Whose authority was it? A Dem's. Who screwed up? A Dem. Which party is gonna weaar the failure for a long, long time? Yup. The coverage does have one salutary effect, tho: Giuliani. He is proven competent as an executive official in a crisis/recovery. Everyone else, such as Hillary, is just talk. Meanwhile, even now, Blanco still can't decide on her own if an evacuation is warranted. She's a one-person Monty Python skit. And so, the more the Left tries to make of Katrina, the more it backfires, and the facts above are beginning to leak out now too, so this is the anti-Bush peak from the storm. Keep talking about it. Please.

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:31 PM EST
    This country badly needs a second party. The Democrats are not it. They have no possibility of becoming a party of national influence again until all the dead weight at the top - Dean is the obvious exception - is swept into the incinerator, the flames ignited, and the ashes scattered. The reasons Ras lists pale in comparison with Bush's miserable and total failure. But they're more than enough suffice to cow the cowards who failed to support Kerry and confront Bush head on last year. The Republicans will simply say, "Katrina? Huh? 9/11, 9/11, 911, 9/11." Game. Set. Match. There are some great Americans in the Democratic party - among them Dean, Clark, Kerry, Obama, Rowley, and Clinton. They'll never have a chance to prove it, tho. They don't have the backing at the top. Sure, Clinton -imo, the greatest American politician alive, despite the obvious disagreements with her policies and actions - may squeak in to the presidency but she'll never have the support she'll need to protect against the hurricane her enemies wil unleash. What happened to Bill was nothing compared to what they'll do to Hillary. And the Dems don't have the stomach to fight a proper fight. Until they do, the Republicans will merrily go about drowning the once-great country they pretend to love.

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#6)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:31 PM EST
    cpinva: try declaring war on the guys who can run for re-election in 2006, and start, now, to rake those who can run for president in 2008... and the small minded, deceitful, scoolyard bully Bush League mindset that is "drowning the once-great country they pretend to love" (tristero)

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#7)
    by aw on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:31 PM EST
    Katrina the hurricane may be over but the aftermath will affect politics for years to come. The problems will still be around in 2006 and 2008 and beyond. It can't be avoided or covered up. The Bush/Republican mantra was always tax cuts/more money in your pocket and later only we can keep you safe. Just what are the republicans going to offer now?

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#8)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:31 PM EST
    aw: what are the republicans going to offer now? Th same (and only) thing they ever had to offer: Deceit, lies and pandering to fear and insecurities. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the population will continue to buy it.

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:33 PM EST
    Posted by Ernesto: "Criticism is fine, but they need a plan to offer people who are fed up with Bush." Actually, not as the priority. The vote fraud that put Bush and the rightwing R into power is STILL IN PLACE. No amount of gladhanding policies is going to change those facts on the ground -- and GE-NBC knows it. Just wait until 2006 to remove a TRAITOR from power? No thanks, we'll keep on working on him LEAVING POWER every single dawning day until doomsday--and fighting to get our voting rights back is secondary only to seeking justice for his documented crimes. Does YOUR state have paper ballots, aka RECOUNT rights? Thirty states currently DO NOT. "Dump the DLC and get back to the grassroots, or it's over." The DLC is a serious problem, but it is a DC problem, one of a long list of DC problems. Just having a democracy doesn't mean it functions better than a Model A with a bad carburetor, struggling not to get mashed by a Bush Hummer going 90. As for "it's over," the demise of American democracy is often predicted, but it ain't so easy as it looks. Keep fighting, keep working for your state's voting rights, and GWB is going to be a footnote to our terrible history, one day SOON.

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:33 PM EST
    Posted by tristero: "They have no possibility of becoming a party of national influence again until all the dead weight at the top - Dean is the obvious exception - is swept into the incinerator," Wow, that's revolting. What about 60% NAY in the House, with change of leadership (to NAY-voting Pelosi), and 50% NAY in the Senate didn't your leftwing publication tell you about? What about vote-fraud, coercion, assassinations, anthrax, gross negligence, war crimes, and all the rest have you missed? To blame the Dems is so absurd it really can only be a leftist perspective. From the standpoint of the country-at-large, nearly everyone would gladly have Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, or any other Dem on down the list, leading the country, TODAY. Focus on your enemies, and quit blaming Dems for the complexities AND REALITIES on Capitol Hill, which to leftists should be run as a series of SUICIDE VOTES. Very little is as brainless as that idea. That's because leftists have no political representation in this government, so they naturally believe they are as pure as lambs.

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#11)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:35 PM EST
    Keep fighting, keep working for your state's voting rights, and GWB is going to be a footnote to our terrible history, one day SOON.
    Paul, I honestly don't care about Bush...he's finished. The fact that you see ras and PPJ "doing a heckuva job" a la Mike Brown shilling for him lately underscores just how far gone he is. Republicans will run far, far away from him next campaign season. I live in Michigan. We have gone Democratic in all recent statewide elections. Our senator up for re-election next year is Stabenow. She's good. But our current Democratic governor is slashing social programs to the bone marrow to make up for the previous Republican governor's tax cuts. So we carry the state for a supposedly progressive candidate and end up getting killed. I have pretty much given up on machine politics and decided to give my money and time to Camp Wellstone-type grassroots organizing. I believe a key objective is to start fielding more people who'll answer primarily to those who elected them.

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:35 PM EST
    No doubt, Ernesto. Improving our options is a big deal issue. Almost any liberal Dem in California would LOVE to get someone better than Feinstein. But that's secondary to your voting rights. Because if you want to get progressive ideas going forward (like, for instance, CREDIBLE ACCOUNTABILITY), you need a fair and legal vote. And you don't get that in Michigan. And haven't for five years, just like us. WE get a paper trail back next year, like an afterthought. How about you?

    Re: Another Gathering Storm (none / 0) (#13)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:36 PM EST
    Paul, I honestly don't know. We have had major get out the vote campaigns in recent years and they have been the difference in some very close statewide races. Of course I agree on the importance of one person/one vote. But what good does that do if both the major party candidates suck?

    Another Gathering Storm | 13 comments (13 topical)