I have to say, maybe someone's reading my drivel.

CBS News, this weekend, did a segment on the TP and the GOP. They prominently used as background music (and directly quoted from) "Won't Get Fooled Again." I haven't dug up the transcript or video, but I will if anyone's interested in seeing it. Guess I created a viral "meme" or something...

Heh.

-CW

I shall patiently await the day when events may dictate that Burton Cummings' phenomenal voice on "American Woman" should leap out from the pages of one of your columns ... perhaps in the form of a long video clip of The Guess Who performing an extended version of the classic to be played softly in the background as your column is perfectly savored in the ambient atmospherics...

That will be worth the wait, indeed!

"I know, Michale, you want to argue that we should vote Republican because Obama is (fill in the blank with the latest bad word du jour)."

Sure. I think people forget that a couple of the biggest things Obama has done is to not get us into another war and to work to change government policy to support the middle class. For instance, he didn't try to privatize social security or Medicare and turn over the safety net to Wall Street.

I know, Michale, you want to argue that we should vote Republican because Obama is .

And that's what I think a lot of people were convinced to believe. But I haven't seen a positive reason for voting conservative. Only negative anti-Obama marketing. Negative Obama marketing that worked. But nevertheless, no positive reason for voting conservative.

This is why I think the polls for both parties are so low.

Can you give me a positive reason for voting conservative? What will conservatives or the Tea Party do differently than in the past?

So far as I can tell their agenda is, in the spirit of quoting songs, the "same as it ever was" agenda of deregulation and trickle-down economics.

Republicans have stinky policies but a great message machine. Dems have the better policies but lack the message and the mainstream channels to get a message out.

A good analogy is John Stewart's bit about the firing of Juan Williams.

"Are you kidding me, NPR? Are you picking a fight with FOX news? They gave Juan Williams a $2 million contract just for you firing him. NPR, you just brought a tote bag full of David Sedaris books to a knife fight."

Cheers
-David

Won't get to the rest of these comments for a good 12 hours or so (sleepy time), but had to at least address your bit about:

Who??

Sorry, just couldn't resist. :D

Dude, I'm disappointed in you. Seriously, the metaphysical junction of science fiction (which should always be at the top of one's conscious mind, of course), Britain, and British Invasion rock band The Who should have produced some species of the following quote from you:

"Who is that?"

"He's the Doctor."

"Doctor Who?"

Heh. Google that last line, if you're scratching your head...

:-)

Aside: Liz, the Canadian version would have also included an oblique reference to The Guess Who, whose "American Woman" rests comfortably in the back of my mind, just waiting to leap out into an appropriate column whenever events dictate, never fear....

-CW

This has been a public service message.

-CW

Obama's watch words were "hope" and "change"...

But he didn't tell us that it was actually "Hope FOR change"... :^/

Michale.....

I'll say! His first order of business was to take a flying leap into bed with Insurance lobbyist, killing the public option just as she had ordered him to do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PwqSCJmbxk The rest of that Frontline documentary, entitled "Obama's Deal," can be found on the pbs dot org site, if anyone's interested. So much for "change you can believe in."

Since the majority of Americans said "no" to the Dems'HCR plan all throughout its crafting and to this day, I'm gonna have to give that one a big ol' no. Quite the error on Pelosi's part, from where I'm sitting. Especially that "mandate," which generally goes over well in places like Cuba, but not so much in the liberty-loving American heartland.

I would though disagree on one point to me as a Democrat I think that sending the obtuse Angle to the showers was the most satisfying of Democratic victories.I await further developments.

We each find our own silver linings... :D

And, as I am wont to do...

"Welcome to the party, Pal!!!"
-John McClane, DIE HARD

:D

dsws,

Yes. There is.

Which policy(s) of Obama do you find to your liking??

Michale.....

Is there anyone here

Yes. There is.

First off: Céad míle fáilte!

[I'm not even going to attempt "to my website" in Gaelic, sorry...]

From now on, your comments should post immediately, it's only the first one that gets held for approval (just FYI).

As for your comment itself, you won't have long to await. Check back here for today's column, in a couple of hours.

:-)

-CW

Is there anyone here who thinks that Obama's policies and the manner and order he pursued them in, were the right policies to pursue??

Michale.....

I found it interesting that so many blue dogs lost. So much for the strategy of appeasement. So much for triangulation. dsdw has it right to ask about how much farther the Dem party can move to the center.

There's a good discussion posted on Salon about the future for Democrats. You probably saw this but reposting for others who might be interested in watching.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/democratic_party/index.html?story=/opinion/greenwald/2010/11/04/ratigan

Basically, what they argue is that Obama did not take advantage of his mandate to change the way Washington works. We wanted fundamental change, not small legislative victories. We wanted fight, we got endless compromise. We wanted a government that worked for the people and not for the biggest corporations.

I think they get it right when they say it's not about Dems and Republicans, it's about the 6 largest industries running Washington and endlessly sticking it to the people.

The question, I think, right now for progressives is, what can I do?

We've tried to change this through the Democratic party and it failed miserably. So a lot of people are looking for alternatives.

I'm going to poke around and see what folks are up to in this realm. But if anyone has heard of any interesting ideas, please post.

Cheers
David

Who??

Sorry, just couldn't resist. :D

The irony, of course, is that the House Democrats are largely being punished for the inactivity in the Senate. Nancy Pelosi's House passed quite a number of popular bills that died an unheralded death in the glacial pace of the upper chamber.

To be fair, those number of "popular" bills were only popular to the Left...

Which is why Pelosi and many House Democrats find themselves out of a job in a couple months.

unless Harry Reid decides to voluntarily step down from his leadership role (a long shot, at best).

Slim and none and Slim just left the building...

Michale.....

No, I'll have to congratulate you. It's a rare discipline, not getting sucked into one of the prevailing tropes. Sometimes called "beginner's mind". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshin

"The last two years in American congressional history can be summed up as the "Blue Dog years" for the Democrats."

Only out here in obscure corners of the blogosphere. The MSM is caught in its perennial tropes, saying Obama has to move to the center. Move to the center. From the center of the center already. What's he supposed to do, implode?

"Republicans, by dint of winning the House, now cannot merely say "No" to everything,"

Well, you can't win 'em all. Even CW gets sucked into a prevailing trope sometimes. The House Republicans have no need to be at all serious about anything. The difference is that the repetitions of bumper-sticker slogans will now have names, like H.R. 1 through H.R. 6395. They'll pass bills to to eliminate taxes, increase spending on everything popular, and balance the budget by cutting spending on DNA testing of grizzly bears. They'll pass bills to guarantee a job for everyone, just by making it a crime to try to unionize. They'll pass bills to stop the next bailout by totally deregulating Wall Street. And so on. They'll do this in the complete assurance that none of these bills will ever pass the Senate. As for the versions the Senate sends back, Nancy Reagan told them all they need about that.

"they're going to have to send their bills to the Congressional Budget Office for "scoring,""

That ship has sailed. The CBO uses facts, and everyone knows that facts have a liberal bias. The CBO is just part of the nasty elite conspiracy along with the "liberal media", a manifestation of the pathology of the reality-based community. I'd say you read it here first, but we've been hearing it ever since the CBO scored Obamacare.

"Republicans can either (1.) pass tax cuts for all and watch the deficit projections explode ..."

I keep telling ya, they got eyelids. They don't have to watch a solitary thing they don't want to.

Of course, they will mention the exploding deficits. Frequently. They'll blame Obamacare, TARP, and the failure to extend the top bracket of the tax cuts. When the very rich get merely a bigger tax cut than everyone else, instead of a much bigger tax cut than everyone else, it kills the economy and creates deficits. If you don't choose to accept that fact, then you're not a swing voter anyway.