No Forgiveness

Marty Kaplan writes a prescient column at HuffPo:

That's it?

Twelve-hundred-and-eight words, and we're supposed to forget the months of ugly that came before?

Not so fast.

"I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together."

A gracious gesture, and - poof! - the "Country First" ticket is off the hook, just like that, for the lying, red-baiting, character assassination, rabble-rousing, and calculated polarization that preceded it?

I don't think so.

A dog that behaved that badly would be sent to obedience school. A child who was that reckless would face consequences up the wazoo. But just because Americans are good people, a campaign's end requires us to willingly come down with a national case of amnesia?

Gimme a break.

What an insult it is to the idea of accountability, this notion that responsibility for the ugly emotions unleashed by demagoguery is wiped away by a concession speech. What an affront to the dignity of democracy, this remorseless draining of meaning from language, this quadrennial rush to retroactively trivialize our public discourse.

The most pernicious aspect of the media-political complex we are saddled with is its addiction to postmodern irony. Educated people are supposed to understand that politics is just theater, a pageant designed to entertain us, a Punch and Judy show whose audience realizes it's not real. Politics is only a game, you see, a sport -- a blood sport, to be sure, but the teams aren't actually warriors, they're performers, and their combat is ritual, not real.

You think these candidates mean what they say? Grow up, says the professional commentariat. Don't you get it? These politicians are winking at you. They know it's just kabuki. Don't take this stuff seriously.

So John McCain -- while claiming that not he's not impugning Barack Obama's patriotism -- impugns Barack Obama's patriotism, but we're supposed to understand that it doesn't really matter, because that's just what people do in campaigns.

So Sarah Palin says that Obama pals around with terrorists, and she incites her crowds to look for pitchforks, but we're supposed to believe that Pandora can just shoo the evil back into the box come Election Day.

So Rudy Giuliani bares his teeth on national television, but because he laughs with startled delight at the rancor he unleashes in his listeners, we're supposed to construe his snarling as a harmless charade.

So the ads on America's airwaves relentlessly pound into our national psyche the message that "liberal" is akin to traitor, that Obama is dishonorable, that he is opportunistically lying when he claims to dissent from "God damn America" -- and the press covers the slurs as merely tactical maneuvers, as though the country could just take a shower once the campaign is over and wash the silly slime off its body, as though no damage had been done to the nation because no one serious takes any of this stuff seriously.

Yes, I know that some of Obama's ads earned the ire of independent fact checkers. I realize that political rhetoric isn't the same thing as sworn testimony. And I recognize that campaigns in America's past have crawled with calumny even worse than this one.

But I also think that our yearning for post-election healing, our hunger for common ground, is risky. There is something wonderfully redemptive in our belief in national reconciliation. But there is also in it something naïve and self-destructive and dangerous.

Have we so quickly forgotten the rank hypocrisy of George W. Bush running as "a uniter, not a divider"? Have we no recollection of the fatuous hollowness of his inaugural promises to reach across the aisle? Is it too dispiriting to recall that his search for common ground turned out to mean "my way or the highway"? Is it just too difficult to remember the eight years during which principled dissent was demonized as being "with the terrorists"?

On Inauguration Day, no doubt Barack Obama will come up with something gracious to say about the worst president in history, just as he was generous in his victory speech to John McCain and Sarah Palin, and open-armed to their supporters.

But it does no good to pretend that the politics of personal destruction is harmless to democracy, to ignore how corrosive campaigns can be, to comfort oneself -- as the punditocracy does -- with the sophisticated nostrum that it's only politics, so get over it.

Call me churlish, but I think that along with the privilege of living in a democracy comes the obligation to be accountable for your actions. And if you think that words -- the currency of campaigns -- aren't actions, if you believe that rhetoric doesn't matter, if you treat politics as just another branch of show biz, well then, you're pretty much a sitting duck for the next demagogue to come along.

Forgive and forget? Not just yet.

I have not heard apologies. Actually, even if I did it wouldn't be enough. The fact of the matter is the Right as a whole could not compete on ideas so they tried to destroy a man. And I know that the many of those who pushed the hate and fear didn't believe it for one second.

They said "terrorist" so often, many people started think that Obama himself was a terrorist. Between the N-word and "terrorist," I don't know which label puts Obama's safety in greater danger, really.

Am I just supposed to forget as assassination plots will be hatched and contemplated across this country for the next four years? Am I just supposed to forgive just so that in the next campaign, they can resurrect the smears in the same or slightly different forms?

No, it's not OK. It's not "just politics."

The McCain campaign and far too many of his supporters went too far. And many of them will continue. To them, I say, take no solace in the "liberal media" pretending like this dirty campaign never happened, or pretending that the latent hatred for Obama is of no consequence. Expect to be held accountable. I will not "move on." My conscience requires as much.

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaljournal.blogspot.com/2008/11/no-forgiveness.html

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Midweek Diary Rescue

Change. "I used to be a lot more cynical," says Grady in Reflections - Eight Years Later. In Winning Isn't Everything, hootie4170 is thankful just for the experience. The National Gadfly: I am Finally Out of Nixon's Shadow. An invitation to activists[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mydd/~3/4HqEgI3Vjjo/607

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As The Dust Settles On The '08 Campaign (updates)

As we all wish President-Elect Barack Obama well (well, most of us anyway ? if you?re reading this, why wouldn?t you? ? and doesn?t that have a nice ring, by the way?), I think now is the time for some random musings from your humble narrator on what we have just endured for all of these months (and by the way, if you?re a Democrat living in the Philadelphia area, how cool is it that Obama was elected and the Phillies won the World Series within a week of each other?).

To begin, congratulations to Patrick Murphy for winning another term as our PA-08 U.S. congressman. From what I could determine about the race, it looked like Tom Manion tried to run as a more traditional Repug (fiscally conservative, socially moderate), and to his credit, I really didn?t pick up on any attempts to throw ?red meat? to ?the base? (such as calling into question whether or not Patrick actually served in Iraq or not; preposterous I know, but other Repugs have tried and failed). For the most part, I believe Manion kept the campaign focused on the issues, though that could also be due to the fact that the Repugs didn?t have enough money to generate a torrent of snail-mail slime aimed at Patrick; there was something from the RNC that came and went last week, but it was little more than background noise, to be honest.

I saw no polling numbers anywhere on this contest, which led me to believe that Patrick was pretty much in command throughout. And though I was obviously unhappy with his votes on FISA and the D.C. gun bill, that probably helped to shut down two ways that he could have been attacked by Manion; lousy policy, but good politics. Here?s hoping that there will be many more good votes as opposed to the bad ones (as in the 110th Congress) for at least the next two years to come.

Also, congratulations to Steve Santarsiero, who will now go to Harrisburg to fill the PA State House seat formerly held by the retiring Dave Steil. The loss of what would have been a fine Bucks County Commissioner will now be the gain of the state?s 31st district.

I should also note that I haven?t had much to say about Joe Sestak in the PA-07 congressional district for some time because, to be honest, I haven?t thought much of his votes. Congressional Dems didn?t stand up on impeaching Bush, and I grudgingly forgave them. Many of them caved on FISA (including Patrick and Sestak), and I swallowed hard and moved on. However, Patrick has a much better record of at least voting in favor of Iraq war funding with troop withdrawal deadlines, and Sestak didn?t even bother to do that. However, Sestak should be congratulated for handily defeating Repug challenger Craig Williams, who won an Inquirer endorsement because, as a Repug, he would add ?balance? to the U.S. House (let me know when they give a token endorsement like that to a Dem, OK?). Also, I don?t know where Williams got all the dough to run those full-page ads in the Philadelphia Daily News, but they went on nonstop for over a week ? fortunately, they?ll disappear now also.

Now for the bad news?

I knew Harris Martin would have a tough road to hoe against Gene DiGirolamo for the PA State House District 18 seat, as he usually does, and it didn?t pan out this time either. It?s a no-brainer to me and others who watch this stuff closely; Harris would be an improvement over DiGirolamo in a big way. However, I have to grudgingly point out that we know people in the district who are genuinely happy with DiGirolamo?s constituent service (following up on issues, returning phone calls), and these are people who are middle-of-the-road politically. Some of the issues Harris noted in this post are of vital importance, but I have to say that I don?t know of one issue in particular which could serve as a ?wedge? between DiGirolamo and people other than what you might call the ?good government? crowd such as yours truly (maybe it?s out there and I just don?t know about it yet ? I hope so). I greatly wish that such an issue does present itself sometime soon. It could lead to the justly-earned reward Harris has fought for so hard for so long.

Also, over in PA-06, another Dem (Bob Roggio this time) gave Jim Gerlach a run for his money, but Gerlach managed to eke out another victory (I don?t have county-by-county breakdowns on the congressional races yet, but my guess is that Chester and Lehigh sealed it for Gerlach again). And as far as PA-16 goes ? sigh! ? my sympathies go out to the voters of Berks County, who continue to support Democrats (Lois Herr two years ago and Bruce Slater this year), but in spite of that, the utterly odious Joe Pitts was returned (probably with a big help from some truly clueless individuals in Lancaster County ? again, I don?t know the breakdown yet, but if all holds true to form, that will be the case).

We also fell short of the 60 votes needed to obtain control of the U.S. Senate, but 56 is a lot closer to that total than 51 (pending Minnesota, where ? last I checked ? Al Franken was losing to Norm Coleman by less than 600 votes and had not yet conceded; like the Bucks County Commissioners election last year, a third-party candidate screwed up that contest but good). I don?t know what our prospects are for getting to 60 in 2010; I?m sure The Daily Kos, among others, will be looking at that over the weeks and months ahead.

And now for some words about our corporate media; Mrs. Doomsy and I watched a good bit of CNN yesterday, and Anderson Cooper wins the commemorative ?Beam Me Up, Scotty? award for conducting a holographic interview with will.i.am of The Black-Eyed Peas. And though it was tedious to listen to Bill Bennett drone on and on for no good reason, it was also worth it to watch the pungent duo of Alex Castellanos and Ed Rollins sitting silently and penitently in the background as the events unfolded (David Gergen was spot-on as he often is at these times).

Also, though Tom Brokaw put his foot in it big time here (h/t Atrios), he made what I thought was a nice observation on MSNBC after Obama spoke, saying that, maybe now, the ?best and brightest? will consider coming to Washington, D.C. to work in government as a response to try and help Obama (won?t it be nice to not have to listen to Repugs trying to cram the ?government is the problem? mantra down our throats for a change?). And last (and certainly least), I was in a waiting room yesterday where Fox ?News? was tuned in on the teevee, and it was way too damn funny to listen to their humanoid correspondents claiming that, after tonight, the Repugs could ?lose power? (uh, I hate to break the news to you, but the minority party lost Congress TWO YEARS AGO!).

So now comes the withdrawal from all of the hoopla, and we can get back to the business of trying to put our country right again after six years of ruinous Repug rule, to say nothing of what will be eight years of Bushco before all is said and done. And we will now no longer have to endure the seemingly endless interviews with ?hard-working, American white voters,? or words to that effect, with the interviewers wondering if they?ll actually support Barack Obama (and maybe ?Joe The Plumber? can go learn his trade and earn an actual license so he can be called that FOR REAL??!!).

Update 1: brownsox at The Daily Kos gives us the full U.S. congressional rundown here; I noted the senate race in Minnesota above, but Oregon, Georgia and Alaska (where "Tubes" Stevens could actually be returned as he appeals his conviction - unbelievable!) are still in question also.

Update 2: Sounds like "denial" is a river that runs through South Carolina also (ba-dump!).

Update 3: I really was unable to pay any attention to the PA State Congresssional race between Dem Chris King and Repug Frank Farry in the 142nd district; I always thought King was a good legislator - surprised that he lost to Farry (if I find out more on this, I'll pass it along).

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2008/11/as-dust-settles-on-08-campaign.html

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As The Dust Settles On The '08 Campaign

As we all wish President-Elect Barack Obama well (well, most of us anyway ? if you?re reading this, why wouldn?t you? ? and doesn?t that have a nice ring, by the way?), I think now is the time for some random musings from your humble narrator on what we have just endured for all of these months (and by the way, if you?re a Democrat living in the Philadelphia area, how cool is it that Obama was elected and the Phillies won the World Series within a week of each other?).

To begin, congratulations to Patrick Murphy for winning another term as our PA-08 U.S. congressman. From what I could determine about the race, it looked like Tom Manion tried to run as a more traditional Repug (fiscally conservative, socially moderate), and to his credit, I really didn?t pick up on any attempts to throw ?red meat? to ?the base? (such as calling into question whether or not Patrick actually served in Iraq or not; preposterous I know, but other Repugs have tried and failed). For the most part, I believe Manion kept the campaign focused on the issues, though that could also be due to the fact that the Repugs didn?t have enough money to generate a torrent of snail-mail slime aimed at Patrick; there was something from the RNC that came and went last week, but it was little more than background noise, to be honest.

I saw no polling numbers anywhere on this contest, which led me to believe that Patrick was pretty much in command throughout. And though I was obviously unhappy with his votes on FISA and the D.C. gun bill, that probably helped to shut down two ways that he could have been attacked by Manion; lousy policy, but good politics. Here?s hoping that there will be many more good votes as opposed to the bad ones (as in the 110th Congress) for at least the next two years to come.

Also, congratulations to Steve Santarsiero, who will now go to Harrisburg to fill the PA State House seat formerly held by the retiring Dave Steil. The loss of what would have been a fine Bucks County Commissioner will now be the gain of the state?s 31st district.

I should also note that I haven?t had much to say about Joe Sestak in the PA-07 congressional district for some time because, to be honest, I haven?t thought much of his votes. Congressional Dems didn?t stand up on impeaching Bush, and I grudgingly forgave them. Many of them caved on FISA (including Patrick and Sestak), and I swallowed hard and moved on. However, Patrick has a much better record of at least voting in favor of Iraq war funding with troop withdrawal deadlines, and Sestak didn?t even bother to do that. However, Sestak should be congratulated for handily defeating Repug challenger Craig Williams, who won an Inquirer endorsement because, as a Repug, he would add ?balance? to the U.S. House (let me know when they give a token endorsement like that to a Dem, OK?). Also, I don?t know where Williams got all the dough to run those full-page ads in the Philadelphia Daily News, but they went on nonstop for over a week ? fortunately, they?ll disappear now also.

Now for the bad news?

I knew Harris Martin would have a tough road to hoe against Gene DiGirolamo for the PA State House District 18 seat, as he usually does, and it didn?t pan out this time either. It?s a no-brainer to me and others who watch this stuff closely; Harris would be an improvement over DiGirolamo in a big way. However, I have to grudgingly point out that we know people in the district who are genuinely happy with DiGirolamo?s constituent service (following up on issues, returning phone calls), and these are people who are middle-of-the-road politically. Some of the issues Harris noted in this post are of vital importance, but I have to say that I don?t know of one issue in particular which could serve as a ?wedge? between DiGirolamo and people other than what you might call the ?good government? crowd such as yours truly (maybe it?s out there and I just don?t know about it yet ? I hope so). I greatly wish that such an issue does present itself sometime soon. It could lead to the justly-earned reward Harris has fought for so hard for so long.

Also, over in PA-06, another Dem (Bob Roggio this time) gave Jim Gerlach a run for his money, but Gerlach managed to eke out another victory (I don?t have county-by-county breakdowns on the congressional races yet, but my guess is that Chester and Lehigh sealed it for Gerlach again). And as far as PA-16 goes ? sigh! ? my sympathies go out to the voters of Berks County, who continue to support Democrats (Lois Herr two years ago and Bruce Slater this year), but in spite of that, the utterly odious Joe Pitts was returned (probably with a big help from some truly clueless individuals in Lancaster County ? again, I don?t know the breakdown yet, but if all holds true to form, that will be the case).

We also fell short of the 60 votes needed to obtain control of the U.S. Senate, but 56 is a lot closer to that total than 51 (pending Minnesota, where ? last I checked ? Al Franken was losing to Norm Coleman by less than 600 votes and had not yet conceded; like the Bucks County Commissioners election last year, a third-party candidate screwed up that contest but good). I don?t know what our prospects are for getting to 60 in 2010; I?m sure The Daily Kos, among others, will be looking at that over the weeks and months ahead.

And now for some words about our corporate media; Mrs. Doomsy and I watched a good bit of CNN yesterday, and Anderson Cooper wins the commemorative ?Beam Me Up, Scotty? award for conducting a holographic interview with will.i.am of The Black-Eyed Peas. And though it was tedious to listen to Bill Bennett drone on and on for no good reason, it was also worth it to watch the pungent duo of Alex Castellanos and Ed Rollins sitting silently and penitently in the background as the events unfolded (David Gergen was spot-on as he often is at these times).

Also, though Tom Brokaw put his foot in it big time here (h/t Atrios), he made what I thought was a nice observation on MSNBC after Obama spoke, saying that, maybe now, the ?best and brightest? will consider coming to Washington, D.C. to work in government as a response to try and help Obama (won?t it be nice to not have to listen to Repugs trying to cram the ?government is the problem? mantra down our throats for a change?). And last (and certainly least), I was in a waiting room yesterday where Fox ?News? was tuned in on the teevee, and it was way too damn funny to listen to their humanoid correspondents claiming that, after tonight, the Repugs could ?lose power? (uh, I hate to break the news to you, but the minority party lost Congress TWO YEARS AGO!).

So now comes the withdrawal from all of the hoopla, and we can get back to the business of trying to put our country right again after six years of ruinous Repug rule, to say nothing of what will be eight years of Bushco before all is said and done. And we will now no longer have to endure the seemingly endless interviews with ?hard-working, American white voters,? or words to that effect, with the interviewers wondering if they?ll actually support Barack Obama (and maybe ?Joe The Plumber? can go learn his trade and earn an actual license so he can be called that FOR REAL??!!).

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2008/11/as-dust-settles-on-08-campaign.html

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Petrodollar Shopping Spree Could Be Starting

by Guy Bennett
President, Q1 Publishing

As we twist in the wind, watching the markets rise on vapors and plummet on gossip, the financial pundits are trying to figure out whether the current mini-rally is here to stay.

History indicates that there…

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/jutiagroup/~3/443550657/

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Help me Wolf Blitzer, your my only hope

Read The Full Article:
http://www.demconwatchblog.com/2008/11/help-me-wolf-blitzer-your-my-only-hope.htm
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Help me Wolf Blitzer, you're my only hope

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http://www.demconwatchblog.com/2008/11/help-me-wolf-blitzer-your-my-only-hope.htm
l

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Victory Celebration: Manhattan Style

There's even more Manhattan video...[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2008/11/victory_celebration_manhattan.html

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Rahm Emanuel Offered Chief of Staff Position

Political Punch:

ABC News has learned that President-elect Obama has offered the White House chief of staff job to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.

Emanuel, a knowledgeable source tells ABC News, has not yet given his answer. The sharp-tongued, sharp-elbowed, keenly intelligent veteran of the Clinton White House is said to have ambitions to some day be Speaker of the House. But he also has a keen sense of "duty."

I actually think this should be viewed as good news for progressives in the long run. I'd rather have Emanuel playing gatekeeper in the White House than in the House of Representatives. This may allow us to push the House even further left in 2010.

For you fellow political junkies, a new site has been established, Cabinet Newsladder, to track information on Obama's future Cabinet.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/rahm-emanuel-offered-chief-staff-posi

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The World Reacts

video details and more



h/t TheZoo

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaljournal.blogspot.com/2008/11/world-reacts.html

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