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The Democrats Gloat Thread

 
 
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Oct, 2005 10:04 am
There's plenty of answers, from all quarters bar one. Plenty of people have devoted a lot of their time to put them on these pages, and elsewhere.
If you refuse to acknowledge this, it's no-one else's problem.

This from the press today:

Former law lord attacks 'folly' of Iraq war
By Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs Correspondent
Published: 19 October 2005

The war with Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place and London a target for terrorist attack, according to one of Britain's most senior judges.

Lord Steyn, who retired last month as a judge sitting in the UK's highest court, described the invasion of Iraq as "military folly" and accused the Government of "scraping the legal barrel" in trying to justify it.
The former law lord told an audience of lawyers and civil rights campaigners in London that it was wrong for the Prime Minister to have called the rule of law a "game".
He said: "The maintenance of the rule of law is not a game. It is about access to justice, fundamental human rights and democratic values."
He added: "After the recent dreadful bombings in London we were asked to believe that the Iraq war did not make London and the world a more dangerous place. Surely, on top of everything else, we do not have to listen to a fairy-tale."

more at

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article320549.ece
0 Replies
 
JustWonders
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 07:06 am
'Merlot Democrats' to the rescue

By Jonah Goldberg

Oct 19, 2005

Things seem fairly bleak for the Republicans. House Majority Leader Tom Delay has been hobbled, at least temporarily, by an indictment. Karl Rove may soon be indicted. The Senate Majority leader faces an investigation of his stock sales. George W. Bush isn't getting any credit for the successes in Iraq, and his nomination of a certain Supreme Court nominee has been troubled from the get-go. Rank-and-file Republicans and movement conservatives are bickering as never before.

Fittingly, many righties are moping like the kids in those old commercials who are rescued from the doldrums by yelling, "Hey Kool Aid!"

One of the painful truths of growing up is that, alas, the Kool Aid Man isn't coming through that brick wall, no matter how parched we are or how plaintively we call him.

The Merlot Man, however, is another story. You may know him as Howard Dean, chair of the Democratic National Committee. Whenever Republicans get depressed and start fingering their pearl-handled revolvers, they can count on Merlot Man to come metaphorically bursting in with a "Yeaaaaggghhh!" to cheer us up.

Why "Merlot Man"? Well, funny story. According to the Washington Post, as Dean has traveled around the country recently giving pep talks to members of his party, he has taken to describing its most loyal base as "Merlot Democrats."

This is a little odd, given that for decades now, Democrats have complained that Republicans unfairly call them names, making them sound more liberal, sissified and elitist than they really are. Years of GOP attacks on "limousine liberals," "ACLU liberals," "San Francisco Democrats" and so forth have finally paid off. That's why you always hear prominent Democrats, when asked if they're liberals, respond, "I don't believe in labels." If pressed, they might boldly say, "If it's liberal to like ice cream, than I am a liberal!"

When Howard Dean took over the Democratic Party, he embraced the work of a guy named George Lakoff, who describes himself as a "metaphor analyst."

Lakoff's first brush with publicity came in 2001 from his ill-considered analysis of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

"Towers are symbols of phallic power," he wrote, "and their collapse reinforces the idea of loss of power." Then Lakoff's metaphor-analysis machine surely started to smoke. "The planes," he continued "penetrating the towers with a plume of heat, and the Pentagon, a vaginal image from the air, penetrated by the plane as missile."

I know what you're thinking, because I'm thinking it, too: This is the perfect guy to advise the Democrats in the post-Clinton era!

Lakoff's argument for the Democrats came largely from his book "Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate." Framing is PhD-speak for "make bad things sound good." Never mind that this "idea" has been around since the first caveman-politician who ran for Head Guy With Sharp Rock.

Lakoff's tough-love diagnosis for the Democrats: You've been right about everything for 40 years! The only problem was that those mean Republicans kept twisting your words around with clever, poll-tested phrases.

Lakoff told Democrats to take those freeze-dried ideas they've had stored up in the DNC fallout shelter since the 1960s and put 'em in shiny new packaging. Don't call them "trial lawyers," talk about "public protection attorneys." Instead of the downbeat, eat-your-spinach phrase "environmental protection," Democrats should say something spicier like "poison-free communities." Yeah, that's the ticket.

The Dems ate it up, bought the book by the ton, and paid Lakoff to work his magic. Dean called him "one of the most influential political thinkers of the progressive movement."

Clearly, he and Lakoff holed up somewhere and worked tirelessly into the night, clipboards in hand, to come up with precisely the right words to describe Democrats. Now Dean's taking it on the road, revving up Democratic audiences by explaining his Lakoff-influenced plan for taking back America.

"No longer will the Democratic Party allow itself to be defined by the Republican Party," Dean thundered recently at a Nevada confab.

So, after years of denouncing the GOP for unfairly labeling Democrats as effete, coastal liberals out of touch with heartland America, what label does Dean think best describes the Democrats? What cuts to their core? One word: Merlot.

He described the contest as "Merlot Democrats" vs. "Reliable Republicans." Ah, yes, that's a term that will rally the lunch-bucket crowd. That'll put steel in Dean's prediction that the "The South will rise again, and when it does, it will have a 'D' after its name!"

Now, in fairness, "Merlot Democrats" is an analytical label, not a rallying cry. But for those of us who believe in labels, it's a telling one, demonstrating that Democrats remain right where they've been stuck for decades.

And that's why the GOP has cause to cheer. It may have it's problems, but they are the problems of success. The Democrats' problems are the problems of failure. Of course, Dean might call them the "challenges of conviction" or some such - but that's old wine in a new bottle.
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FreeDuck
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 07:20 am
Is this more of the "we suck but we're still better than them" mantra that is the political anti-depressant of the right?

That's how you know how bad it is for them. When all your ideas turn out not to work, and when all your heros turn out to be human, and when you find out that your winning wasn't due to merit alone, you can make yourself feel better by telling yourself that the other alternative is risible.
0 Replies
 
Foxfyre
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 07:20 am
From the article JW posted
Quote:
Lakoff told Democrats to take those freeze-dried ideas they've had stored up in the DNC fallout shelter since the 1960s and put 'em in shiny new packaging. Don't call them "trial lawyers," talk about "public protection attorneys." Instead of the downbeat, eat-your-spinach phrase "environmental protection," Democrats should say something spicier like "poison-free communities." Yeah, that's the ticket.


Back during the Carter administration, when liberalism was beginning to develop its loonier side, I was exec of a large YWCA. Our membership was made up of rich and poor and everything in between, but the majority were working class families who were paying their taxes and forging their futures, but who didn't have money left over for a lot of frills, niceties, or status symbols. Most couldn't afford tuition to put their kids into a preschool.

So, we set out to establish a very good preschool targeted for kids of these kinds of families. And we needed supplemental funding, so we started writing grant applications.

Grant application #1 - Preschool for working class families. No dice. Rejected.

Grant application #2 - Preschool for children of the working poor. Nope. Rejected.

Grant application #3 - Preschool for disadvantaged children. Again rejected.

Grant application #4 - Preschool for predelinquent children. Accepted. Were we sure we had requested enough?

It definitely is all in how you say it. Smile
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Foxfyre
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 07:22 am
No, it's recognition of the looney bin mentality of the 70's that they are now dusting off and attempting to recycle as a new deal.
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FreeDuck
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 07:33 am
Sorry, Fox, that was for the post before yours. We must have posted at the same time.
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JustWonders
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 07:41 am
Great story about the preschool grant, Foxy Smile

Unfortunately for the Dems, the phrases "revenue enhancement" and "women's reproductive rights" are what they are. Tax increase and abortion. They can pretty it up all they want - it just makes them look foolish.

As Martha likes to say....It's a good thing. Smile
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blatham
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 07:43 am
Colin Powell's chief of staff has just given a very important speech... see here
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FreeDuck
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 07:50 am
Unfortunately for the Repubs, the actions "screw up the country" and "sell the government to the highest bidder" speak louder than any buzz words.
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nimh
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 08:10 am
The bad news never stops for those who still believe in Bush...

Mind you, this is from Gallup ... the pollster Timber tends to recommend (when news is better)

Quote:
Bush Approval Reaches Record Low in U.S.

George W. Bush lost public support in the United States this month, according to a poll by Gallup released by CNN and USA Today. 58 per cent of respondents disapprove of the president's performance, up eight points since late September.

[..] This week's approval rating of 39 per cent is the lowest for the sitting president in a national Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll.

Polling Data

Do you approve or disapprove of how George W. Bush is handling his job as president?

Approve
39% Oct. 16
45% Sept. 28
40% Sept. 18
45% Aug. 30

Disapprove
58% Oct. 16
50% Sept. 28
58% Sept. 18
52% Aug. 30

In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?

Satisfied
31% Oct. 16
39% Sept. 28
34% Aug. 25

Dissatisfied
68% Oct. 16
59% Sept. 28
62% Aug. 25

Source: Gallup / CNN / USA Today
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JustWonders
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 08:44 am
nimh - I realize you consider this gloat-worthy for the Dems (you've posted it often enough LOL), but here's a hint: Dubya won't be running again.

Gloat on Smile
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 11:51 am
I wonder how that 31% who believe they are "satisfied" the way things are going in the US based their reply? War in Iraq? No. Economy? No. Foreign relations? No. Reduced terrorism around the world? No. Corruption in this government? Yes. Outing a undercover CIA agent? Yes. Happy with fuel cost? No. Securing our borders? No. National deficit? No. Nomination of Miers? No.

Those 31% satisfied must not live in the US.
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BumbleBeeBoogie
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 02:33 pm
c.i.
c.i. do you remember when Tyco and JustWonders were claiming Arriana Huffington was not a journalist. I wonder if they still think so after the great job she is doing on her blog in uncovering the stinking skeletons in the Bush administration's closet as well as at the New York Times.

Way to go, Arriana!

BBB
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 04:18 pm
We have ghosts in both party's closets, but the problem with the current administration is the simple fact that many of those "ghosts" are now dead (almost 2,000), and wounded (almost 15,000), and still counting.
0 Replies
 
Amigo
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 07:03 pm
We might both have ghost in the closet. But the republican party had to go out and rent a warehouse to store theirs.

Bush is at L.A.X. 45 min. away from me. He's here on a fundraiser out here. Arnolds mad at him. He won't meet with him. There fighting over money. Laughing
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 08:23 pm
Hey, democrats, you don't have a prayer. Bush has a direct line to god:



President George W Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq - and create a Palestinian State, a new BBC series reveals.



In Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, a major three-part series on BBC TWO (at 9.00pm on Monday 10, Monday 17 and Monday 24 October), Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.



Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …" And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'"



Abu Mazen was at the same meeting and recounts how President Bush told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."



The series charts the attempts to bring peace to the Middle East, from President Bill Clinton's peace talks in 1999/2000 to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza last August.



Norma Percy, series producer of The 50 Years War (1998) returns, with producers Mark Anderson and Dan Edge, to tell the inside story of another seven years of crisis.



Presidents and Prime Ministers, their generals and ministers tell what happened behind closed doors as peace talks failed and the intifada exploded.



Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace - Mondays 10, 17 and 24 October, from 9.00 to 10.00pm on BBC TWO.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 10:09 pm
Gallup poll...just out.

Bush...still President.

heh
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 10:38 pm
He may still be president, but we now have republicans against Bush: http://www.republicansagainstbush.info/
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Thu 20 Oct, 2005 10:50 pm
This one is called "thousand reasons" describes the failure of the Bush administration: http://www.thousandreasons.org/
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nimh
 
  1  
Reply Fri 21 Oct, 2005 04:38 am
JustWonders wrote:
nimh - I realize you consider this gloat-worthy for the Dems (you've posted it often enough LOL)

No, but you see - there's ever new records! Every other month again, he's hitting yet a new rock bottom, lower yet than anything before!

Interesting, huh?

JustWonders wrote:
but here's a hint: Dubya won't be running again.

Gloat on Smile

J.W., if you dont think the impopularity of a Republican President and his Republican administration is going to effect the popularity of the Republican Party adversely, then dream on...
0 Replies
 
 

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