It's Called 'Hippie Punching' Ed
Ed Schultz talked to GritTV's Laura Flanders about President Obama's noted absence supporting the protests we're seeing in Wisconsin and around the country and had a graphic up titled "base dumping". Someone needs to tell Ed that the correct term for the Democrats constantly dumping on the progressive wing of their base is "hippie punching."
Ed and Laura talked about the need for President Obama and the Democrats to get out in front of this and show some support for labor and for the president to act like he still believes some of what he campaigned on and that he's supportive of labor unions. They talked about some of his advisers telling him that he needs to reconnect with his base. Ya' think?
If the Democratic Party and President Obama don’t figure out that they’re not going to win elections by crapping on their base and on labor unions, they’re going to find out again as they did in the last mid-term election that they haven’t given the voters a reason to support them.
Politicians do the right thing when they’re pushed, so I think it’s wonderful that we’re finally seeing the Democratic base wake up and show up for these protests around the country. What it’s going to take for us to have our political system cleaned up and the voices of the people heard instead of the big monied interests is beyond me, but I think people taking to the streets is at least a good start.
There are still more of us than there are of them and the Koch brothers and the “tea party” can try on influence our elections, but there’s a rate of diminishing returns on that which is not endless once you screw over enough people.
I’ve got a conservative co-worker that has finally realized just how terrible this astroturf teabagger movement is. He’s a divorcee that’s been Jesus’d into being afraid of gay people getting married, even though he’s been married, divorced and remarried himself and after years of trying to tell him that these tea partiers don’t care about the working class, he finally figured it out for himself.
When he found them out there bashing unions and talked to them himself at a protest in our area he went to, he was horrified. Later I got him to listen to some of Fox on my satellite radio while we at work and he was even more horrified yet. He asked me if these people just wanted there to be nothing left but rich and poor and I told him, yes, that’s exactly what they want.
I would guess we've got a whole lot of others with buyer’s remorse and with similar stories all around the country with this overreach by these Republican governors as well. If President Obama and the Democratic Party don’t realize that it’s time to take a stand with the working class and with the unions that helped get them elected, we’re in for some hard times with retaining what’s left of a middle class in America.
I really hate to see that happen when one of my conservative friends finally woke up to the fact the Republicans uses religious issues to divide people and the the "tea party" hates unions. If the leadership of the Democratic Party and President Obama are not willing to stand up for the working class, I hope we start seeing more Wisconsin sized protests around the country despite their disregard. They ignore us at their peril.
Obama talks a great game, but he can't back up his words to save his ass. Our first black president and the best thing we can say about him is he "speaks so well"
How pathetic is that?
They'd love nothing more than to galvanize the racists again and make them blindly oppose anything Obama.
Besides, they hate him up there for endorsing the Bears and the Steelers.
And there is the matter of him having a feel for the fact he is not a state legislator any more.
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
As one of his FORMER supporters, I hate him for having absolutely NO SPINE!
Not all the protesters are Democrats, many of the law enforcement officers and fire fighters are Republicans who might be turned away from the fight by their dislike for Obama if he were to get involved. He made statements in support of unions and I think that's as far as he should go. The minute the President jumps in, Fox News will make it all about him. Power to the people!
disenfranchising the voter! The WI senate now is trying to disallow the 14 to vote ...Not legal--voting rights act and Baker v. Carr but the worst is that the 14 were elected by the voter so it is not just one vote they are canceling but EVERY VOTE THAT WAS CAST FOR THAT state SENATOR!
Our President has stated that the collective bargaining should be available to the members...If he comes down hard it will give these idiots a handle to blame him for something else!
The one thing that has been important is that it be about the issue not the President.
I think he is spot on!
Surely the President has time to spend a day or two in each (based on population size, of course) pretending he ran for Governor or the Legislature.
I would prefer he start his crusade in those states where there public employees never had the right to collectively bargain in the first place.
But when it comes to punching, Ed doesn't need any advice, Heather. He throws em down in the bleachers, not under them.
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
“If the Democratic Party and President Obama don’t figure out that they’re not going to win elections by crapping on their base and on labor unions, they’re going to find out again as they did in the last mid-term election that they haven’t given the voters a reason to support them.”
I’m sorry, but doesn’t Obama have to actually DO something for those groups of people to warrant their support? If it isn’t too late for that, given how basically right wing Obama has been on economic, bread and butter issues, it is damn near close. I am sick of Obama doing nothing then giving a speech with a bunch of feel good comments. How is Obama going to reconnect with his base anyway as he cuts needed social programs, signs on to a horrible bush tax cut package that will underfund government in the coming years by hundreds of billions (which will mean more cuts to programs unless the elected official take a vacation in reality land and realize that there is a revenue side to the issue of deficits and raise taxes), negotiate another “free trade” deal (while acknowledging back the campaign that these types of deals have failed horribly), by doing nothing for labor unions or even the relatively mild EFCA and by negotiating away the public option at the BEGINNING of the health care negotiations (while pretending otherwise).
The deficit hysteria is really interesting. IF we had two parties that had different economic visions there would be a compromise. For example, if we had a leftist party, they might want a tax increase of 15% on the super rich. The right would want to cut, say, 50 billion in spending. The compromise would be to raise taxes by 7.5% and cut 25 billion, and those cuts could be in defense, corporate welfare and through closing corporate loopholes and subsidies, easily. Instead, we have moderate and radical neoliberals negotiating. So it is just about how much to cut. The fact that many of these representatives are millionaires themselves has nothing to do with this situation I am sure.
“They ignore us at their peril.”
Maybe, maybe not. Obama can use Walker and people like him (probably the Republican candidate in the coming election) as a scare tactic, once AGAIN vote for me or get something worse. Many here who are complaining will, like always, vote for the lesser of two evils and Obama knows it. He has been kicking dirt in the face of his “base” since he took office, at least Emmanuel admitted that the administration thought that the left had nowhere to go (ie didn’t have the balls to do something outside the Democratic Party).
Obama doesn’t care, he’s a neoliberal, just a little more moderate than the Republicans, and the Republicans are insane. There is no good option moving forward outside of direct action. There is no Superman. Get active, get off your ass, get involved, do something more than write e mails or go to rallies that have no impact. Join US Uncut and push the envelope. YOU can change the system.
For those of us who feverently supported Mr. Obama and expected the advocacy of then candidate as now POTUS, I reckon his buddy already said what they think of their own base: fucking retards.
I want to see a strong primary challenger, if only to encourage the guy I campaigned and sacrificed for to live up to the expectations of those who gave him his current employment.
And screw what Fux and the teapublican'ts think or say. How can they be any worse than they've been the past two years? Enough of the milquetoast wilting lilly--I want some Wisconsin-style Democratic Party from now on!
Men are basically smart or dumb and lazy or ambitious. The dumb and ambitious ones are dangerous and I get rid of them. The dumb and lazy ones I give mundane duties. The smart ambitious ones I put on my staff. The smart and lazy ones I make my commanders.
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