Friday, June 15, 2007
(10:41 AM) | Stephen:
When Liberals Fight Back
Matt Taibbi wrote a truly horrendous article about the "victim complex" of the Left. If I had written such easily disputed, poorly-sourced nonsense in either my undergraduate or master's programs, I would have earned a failing grade. In graduate school, something so utterly ridiculous would possibly have inspired a private conference with the professor during which there would be a suggestion that I was simply not intellectually up to the task of thinking critically - at least at the level required to be successful in the program.
I'll let others, such as Melissa, do the job of taking the article apart. I just want to point out that this article, the silly attacks on John Edwards seeking to feminize him, the books about Hillary Clinton and all the other nonsense coming out of the Right is indicative of the desperation they're feeling right now. Their presidential juggernaut, John McCain, has completely gone down the tubes. Rudy Giuliani is soon going to suffer the same fate, count on it. Let's face it, when a minority of GOP voters don't know your stance on abortion, you won't last long once they find out - and the other GOP candidates are the ones to make sure that those voters will find out.
They're left with Mitt Romney, who similarly won't last long, and Fred Thompson, whose friends talk about how lazy he is. I know that Reagan was an actor, but he was also the current Governor of California when he ran for President. And as poor an actor as Reagan was, he did have the type of on-screen persona that played well as a politician. Fred Thompson is no Reagan in that regard.
Add to it that the Democrats will defend far fewer Senate seats than Republicans next year, the abysmal fundraising numbers for every national Republican committee, and the GOP's difficulty in actually recruiting candidates to even take on Democrats representing red districts, and you have a big steaming mess.
So they'll just use the exact same tactics they've been using for years: unfounded smears, lies, race and gay-baiting, dirty tricks like phone-jamming, every other immoral and illegal strategy that Karl Rove can come up with. What will be interesting to see is the affect that us vituperative bloggers can have as we call out the lies and smears, organize letter-writers and campaigns to put pressure on advertisers. The huge lead the Left has in online organizing was a big part of the 2006 victories, and we're better set up now than then to take on the Right Wing Noise Machine.
And really, that's all it takes: people who are willing to take a stand through letters, phone calls, speaking to friends, pressuring advertisers and media outlets. Especially when the Republicans are lashing out from a place of fear rather than strength. For the first time, the Left is not only going to fight, but is ready for the fight. Beyond proving Taibbi wrong, we just might destroy enough of the Right Wing Noise Machine to mute it forever.
I'll let others, such as Melissa, do the job of taking the article apart. I just want to point out that this article, the silly attacks on John Edwards seeking to feminize him, the books about Hillary Clinton and all the other nonsense coming out of the Right is indicative of the desperation they're feeling right now. Their presidential juggernaut, John McCain, has completely gone down the tubes. Rudy Giuliani is soon going to suffer the same fate, count on it. Let's face it, when a minority of GOP voters don't know your stance on abortion, you won't last long once they find out - and the other GOP candidates are the ones to make sure that those voters will find out.
They're left with Mitt Romney, who similarly won't last long, and Fred Thompson, whose friends talk about how lazy he is. I know that Reagan was an actor, but he was also the current Governor of California when he ran for President. And as poor an actor as Reagan was, he did have the type of on-screen persona that played well as a politician. Fred Thompson is no Reagan in that regard.
Add to it that the Democrats will defend far fewer Senate seats than Republicans next year, the abysmal fundraising numbers for every national Republican committee, and the GOP's difficulty in actually recruiting candidates to even take on Democrats representing red districts, and you have a big steaming mess.
So they'll just use the exact same tactics they've been using for years: unfounded smears, lies, race and gay-baiting, dirty tricks like phone-jamming, every other immoral and illegal strategy that Karl Rove can come up with. What will be interesting to see is the affect that us vituperative bloggers can have as we call out the lies and smears, organize letter-writers and campaigns to put pressure on advertisers. The huge lead the Left has in online organizing was a big part of the 2006 victories, and we're better set up now than then to take on the Right Wing Noise Machine.
And really, that's all it takes: people who are willing to take a stand through letters, phone calls, speaking to friends, pressuring advertisers and media outlets. Especially when the Republicans are lashing out from a place of fear rather than strength. For the first time, the Left is not only going to fight, but is ready for the fight. Beyond proving Taibbi wrong, we just might destroy enough of the Right Wing Noise Machine to mute it forever.
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