Lately there has been a spate of diaries at such web sites as FireDogLake and "Open" Left wherein lay members — typically under attack from site moderators, who act as Democratic Party hacks and gatekeepers — have sought ways to bring back the Progressive Party, or join the Greens, or build up some other institution, that will allow progressives to act together as a cohesive political unit. (I posted an entry there myself, only to end up being attacked by site moderators, threatened with banishment, and ultimately banned when I refused to back down against their incessant bullying.)

If you are a proponent of single-payer health care, this documentary on the Democratic Party and its members like Bart Stupak and Patricia Dalkember is a must-see. Listen to Stupak's bullshit about how "there are organizations" which will help poor women to pay for an abortion, so his amendment doesn't discriminate against anyone; and how he isn't anti-abortion, he's "pro-life." Listen to how Howard Dean defends his promotion of anti-choice Democratic candidates because they are "good on every other issue." Listen to the statistics about how 1 in 3 women have abortions by the time they are 45. Listen to how important money is in these decisions. Listen to how the Hyde Amendment forces pregnant women to "choose" unwanted children.

For some time now discussions have been going on in the blogosphere about the filibuster and whether or not to get rid of it.

Things are going pear-shaped, and the pears are going wobbly.

Maybe they can all gather around, light a campfire, sing some songs? Maybe that will help?

Hey guys (and yes, they are all guys), newsflash, you fucked up!

And, only because I love these videos (this one with full, bonus, pre-mansplaining!):   Read more…

At what point do progressives stop being Democrats' whipped dogs and start acting like a movement capable of putting the Dems in their proper place as the party of the people? David Sirota wrote today about Obama's latest call to increase war spending beyond its already ludicrous proportions.

How many of the extreme right-wing and criminal policies of Bush-Cheney has Obama adopted? How many of those extreme right-wing policies has he exceeded? Last month, knowledge that Obama has gone a step further than Bush, authorizing the executive branch to murder American citizens on the flimsiest of rationales. This sh__ has GOT to end.

Jon Walker over at Fire Dog Lake makes a very effective argument about why learning the wrong lesson from the defeat of Martha Coakley in Tuesday's Massachusetts Senate race will lead to disaster.

By David Swanson

As I sit waiting to fly out of LAX, secure in the knowledge that while most of our money is going into the greatest effort the world has ever seen to make most of its people hate a particular nation, everyone around me has had to take off their coats and shoes and display their toothpaste, except for the people living on the streets of Los Angeles who aren't part of the airport traveling world, and -- this ought to help things -- Lynn Woolsey came to this city yesterday to support Jane Harman.

Hamsher's "Gonna Shake that Primarez/Man Right Outta My Hair", "My Blog Traffic Es Mas Macho Que Sus" Edition:

"We’re witnessing a deeply emotional response to that kind of critique among those who support party or a personality first.

I used to think Dem on Dem violence was a bad thing. Now, not so much*.

In fact I think it is a very good thing to see Booman going all "Kevin Bacon in Animal House" with his "All is well!" exhortations. Unfortunately for Booman, everything is obviously NOT well.

But one of the cats Booman has trouble herding (using his own definition) is Booman himself:

By David Swanson

After two stolen elections by Bush-Cheney, an election of Grandpa John "Bomb Bomb Iran" McCain and his sorority president sidekick -- whether honest or blatantly stolen and tolerated -- would have said something hugely depressing and debilitating about the American people. But arguably it could have saved a great many lives around the world. Here's how.

Or at least that's how I read it:

I believe I can sum up, in three main points why progressives are so frustrated right now:

They are on the short-end of a left-progressive vs. Third Way ideological divide with the leadership of the American center-left coalition;

In attempts to not be on the short-end of #1, and persuade the coalition rank and file to join them, they face a massive organizational deficit against the coalition leadership;

Finally, if progressives look to split with the coalition in response to #1 and #2, more often than not they just end up getting squashed for it.

I have a question for you, O Corrente Community. Have you, perchance, received an email like this recently?

MadamaB,

As you probably know, the White House and Democratic Senate leaders caved to Joe Lieberman and took both the public health insurance option and Medicare expansion out of the health care bill.

That means no competition and no choice -- just a bailout of billions of dollars to the same insurance companies that caused our health-care crisis in the first place.

We have one more chance to change this bill. Progressives in Congress can say they will block any bill without a public health insurance option.

A drive-by, but I couldn't pass it up:

Whoops!

A Democratic House member who has opposed several of President Barack Obama's top domestic agenda items is switching to the Republican Party.

Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama, who hails from a heavily conservative congressional district, announced Tuesday that he will join the GOP.

"I have become increasingly concerned that the bills and policies pushed by the current Democratic leadership are not good for north Alabama or our nation," he said during a press conference to announce the switch. "More importantly, they do not represent my values and convictions."

One down...how many more to follow?

There are a number of people online scratching their heads and wondering why our newly minted Democratic president has proved so utterly useless when it came to healthcare reform. He seems to have collapsed on the White House divan with a case of the vapors. I submit it is neither a physical malady that renders him so completely gelatinous, nor is it lessons learned from Mrs. Clinton's earlier attempts to pass health care reform. it is, indeed, something more contemporary and potent - Obama's own words on the campaign trail against the formidable Senator Clinton's healthcare proposals.

If you sent this Democratic Congress off to build you an airplane, they'd come back to you with wings stapled to a gopher. This President would gladly certify its airworthiness, and then 1/2 of [so called progressive bloggers] would be upset with you if you refused to accept it.

by thegood thebad thedumb on Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 12:01:07 AM PST

(Thanks to math4barack for highlighting the best description of the health care "reform" process thus far.).

Missing in action -- for the most part -- for months, now, Michigan congressman and preeminent liberal John Conyers has refound his spine and opened his eyes. It seems that, lately, the aforementioned congressman has found the -- what is the word I'm looking for....errr...ummm...audacity -- yeah, that's it -- audacity, to bring the Obama administration to task on its failings:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Detroit has been on the warpath lately when it comes to decisions made by President Barack Obama. And he says the president has contacted him to ask why.

There, I said it, and here's why, she has failed the same test Colin Powell did*. The test of maintaining personal integrity over being a team-player. I thought she had more backbone and I am ashamed to admit that I donated the max to her primary campaign. Live and learn.

If you'd like to, ahem, make room for all that Thanksgiving deliciousness that's just around the corner, just read this pap from The Wall Street Journal about "The Other Maverick," Joe (Droopy Dawg) Lieberman.

When John McCain ran for president, he positioned himself as "the original maverick." The dissenting votes that so annoyed his fellow Republicans—on tax cuts, campaign-finance reform, offshore drilling—were hailed as evidence of these maverick credentials.

Jesse speaks for me.

Seriously, it's a great rant and you should check it out. Not that I wasn't already there for other reasons, but I'm very glad to see more and more people join us out here in the Wilderness. What happened in Maine could've been prevented, with just a modicum of effort on the part of national Dems. But they think gay people are icky, and couldn't be bothered to help us. Oh, and it's all John's fault for being mean to them, or something.

[I won't quote a private email discussion, but I'll summarize it by saying that the poster made a suicide request by stating that "any stick to beat a dog"-style argumentation is justified. That's a rule 5 violation, for which the penalty is banning. -- lambert]

* * *

A new fall guy is emerging from the health care reform ruins. Circus progressives, better know as pseudo progressives, such as BTD at Talk Left and Digby have started to blame president Emmanuel for caving in to industry without Republican buy in or aiding, the enemy, Snowe in her attempts to water down reform.

Don't remember voting for Emmanuel for president, consult your physician it may indicate for early Alzheimer.

No Blood for Hubris is the name:

PTSD's the game.

I see traumatized people everywhere:

They don't even know that they're traumatized. (Oh! Would that be: numbing and avoidance?)

But I am running ahead of myself (Oh! Would that be: dissociative de-personalization?).

So I stopped by Digby, who apparently had written a post in support of supporting this here Corrente here. And I was about to comment about supporting her post in support of supporting this here Corrente here.

Democratic members of the House of Representatives are hearing the people. Keep the pressure on! It started with the tenacious Anthony Weiner of New York.   Read more…

The Death Panel issued its verdict on the fate of the public option: too expensive to keep on life support. "We've sent out as many emails with big DONATE buttons as possible, but this public option is no longer paying its way, and so it must go," stated a key member of the Death Panel, a representative from Wall Street. "Our politicians will carry out the directive," he added.

Primary physician Conrad, Nurse Sebelius and Second Opinion Barack "there's always hope, that's very important" Obama will assist progressives with end-of-life counseling for the public option.

They advise five stages:

Denial: Barack Obama strongly supports a robust public option! He said so!

The same way you get any politician to fall in line. Primary their asses.

Of course, that assumes "you" want the Blue Dogs to fall in line...

I think CMike might be onto something:

Time for the Republic itself is running out. Single payer advocates have to take over the Democratic Party fast. We should band together as a bloc of voters and commit to voting for all pro-single payer Democrats and against all Democrats who do not support single payer. That means we should publicly commit ourselves to vote for the corporatist Republican in any general election if the Democrat on the ballot is not a supporter of single payer. At this point Job #1 for center-ists and leftists is to wreck the careers of the office seekers in the Democratic Party who hire themselves out to the corporatists.

And the last thing rank-and-file Democrats, who would commit to this one small step to make America a better place to live, need to listen to is some Democratic ditto-head telling us the savvy political move is to rededicate ourselves to supporting our party's sold-out leadership. Political realism, my ass. "Where do they teach you [ditto-heads] to talk like this?...Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here."

And before I get the "they're better than Republicans" talking point, let me just say maybe, but they're not better enough to be willing to do anything to stop 22,000 Americans from dying every year. Or put it another way, if it's a choice between your life and the Health Insurance Industry's profits, you lose.

These are the people who deserve your vote? Why? Because they'll pretend to care about you as they let you die.

So here's my thought* why not simply organize in your community a petition drive aimed at all Democrats running for elective office. See how many people you can get to take the following pledge: