Popdose: Political Culture: Inglourious Democrats?
Zack
· 2 months ago
Mahatma Gandhi said "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." In my own fantasies, I see the modern Republican party in the midst of an exact opposite transformation - they got trounced in the last election, they are currently fighting their increasing irrelevancy by throwing a tantrum, they will become increasingly laughable and paranoid, and finally they'll just be ignored. It's a pipe dream, of course, because the media loves the horse race and has been giving increasing credibility to more and more ridiculous claims (i.e. "death panels").
DwDunphy
· 2 months ago
The pipe dream part is correct because, even in the midst of tantrum, the media laps it up. It's less about what the town hall was about and more of the people screaming at each other. It's about hearing ludicrous punch-phrases like "death panels" and devoting a broadcast to explaining what it might be, even though it isn't a thing at all, so how to delineate a fiction? All the while, the proponents of such talk sit back and watch this thing they made enter the world and wreak havoc.
But what this all really comes down to is this: the degree of cowardice and soul-selling in the Democratic party is breath-taking. This was supposed to be a unifying, slam-dunk moment. Health care reform is what this party was all about, except not during elections please, thank you. If we side with change, we lose out insurance company benefactors. If we side with the status quo, we lose votes. This is too hard. Please make this all go away until we no longer need to be elected, we're in our final terms and suddenly we're all legacy minded.
If this is, in fact, the case then the only way we're to get our legislators to legislate without the cringing, hand licking and pants wetting is to make every position one-term-only. No re-election, free gonads for all our officials, and maybe they'll use them (or at least the testosterone.)
Finally, I knew that was a doctored photo of Ann Coulter, not from the kinky overtones but because the body double has normal gams, not those spindly, anorexic, black-widow protrusions Coulter absent-mindedly shows off.
BobCashill
· 2 months ago
You mean "Democrets."
Lewis Thomas
· 2 months ago
I heard Glenn Beck raped and killed a girl in 1990.
JonCummings
· 2 months ago
That's a shocking, despicable allegation! (Tell me more...)
DwDunphy
· 2 months ago
Don't be absurd. That was Ben Gleck.
steve
· 2 months ago
Man, the post-inauguration entertainment factor is top-notch. Absolutely comical, yet predictably fascinating to watch.
Jon, spare us your supposed self-control of your misbegotten reveries – there’s enough name-calling and vitriol in your post to make Ms. Coulter herself seem tame (although many of yours were funny…) The far right wing crazies and you far left wing-nuts are doing just as expected and behaving in the same-old schoolyard “I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I?” way. Like those not-quite-matured folks on capitol hill, but with worse health care than those folks (they drink a lot, they need it).
Meanwhile us normal-thinking independents just sit back and laugh. And then cry….
The best thing to watch is the Dems – DW dunked it with his “the degree of cowardice and soul-selling in the Democratic party is breath-taking” comment. Wise indeed. They have all the power, and filibuster-proof to boot. Yet they’re blaming (or is it screaming “I’m telling!!!”) at the Republicans from their corner of the asylum.. It’s in their court, so why can’t they just pass what they want?
Oh yeah, DW hit that one out too – and I quote, “Please make this all go away until we no longer need to be elected, we're in our final terms and suddenly we're all legacy minded” He’s basically got it, but I’ll take it further and more to the point. It’s more like “I will be behind anything that assures I will be re-elected”
Ooops, I think I just defined the word politician. So you Dems now cry boo-hoo at the blue-dogs (can’t we come up w/a better name than that?) and blah blah…. But here’s what you obviously don’t realize…. The very same dregs on the left in Congress who are now in full support of Obamas plan and who are also crying boo-hoo at the bluedogs are only doing so because it’s safe for them to do so. If supporting the plan put them at risk of winning next go-round w/their constituency, they’d be doing the exact same thing – coming out against it. And you guys would have to come up w/some other name to call them (hopefully a better one). It’s not about what they believe is right for the country, it’s about self-preservation. It always is!!
Heard of Lamar Alexander? Yeah, that guy. Can’t get re-elected as an R, so just switches to D. Okily-dokily, bro. Anyone know what the guy actually believes in? I’ll tell you. He believes in getting re-elected. Because if he doesn’t he may actually have to get a real job, and then he’d see how bad the health care system is screwed up for us normal folk, you know, his minions. I remember watching that unashamed douch-bag make his announcement and with my high-def you could actually see the slime oozing out of his pores. Remember – this is called “politician”
Until the two party system is buried 6 feet under, we will continue to go round in circles, not getting much done. Period. The far leftys and far righties will continue to fling boogers at each other, and us normal-thinking independents will just sit back and laugh. And then cry….
That brings me to our last politician (I’m using the slur-meaning of the word here, the only one), Mr. Obama. His approval ratings have been tanking at light-speed, even though the mainstream (non-cable) media is still in the last stages of their Obama-induced orgasm. But their wild Obama-gasm moanings haven’t been able to rescue him from himself. From his small yet astoundingly stupid mistakes like AirForceOne-Gate, to his far more sinister ones, like saying “no lobbyists in my administration!” and then turning around the very next day and appointing a lobbyist (wtf?), to his huge mistakes, like not learning a damn thing from Hillary-Care (did Harvard Law require any contemporary history classes?). And new polls show that w/independents like me – many who hesitatingly/suspiciously voted for him – he’s also sinking fast.
But the funniest is to watch the far lefties at my office, the ones who saw him as the second coming (of the God they don’t believe in in the first place, but I digress……). They obviously have varying degrees of buyers-regret, yet they’re still afraid to come out and say it, for fear of being kicked out of their little horn-rimmed-glasses and tofu clubs. But one-on-one they tell you – is this guy ready for this, because he sure seems to be f-ing up…. And he hasn’t even faced his Biden-predicted test, which will come. I bet even Biden is saying wtf because he knows it’s still coming, and let’s face it, he pretty much says anything he wants. God I’d love to go drinking with him, just once. Anyhoo, Obama’s approval ratings are lower than W’s at the same time - of course W went way up after his test on 9/11, but then etched himself into the annals of stupidity and showed his true douche-bagginess with Iraq. I get the feeling that most Obama supporters who scarily watch him rumbling/fumbling/stumbling down-field so far only hope at this point that he gets to at least enjoy a year of post-9/11 type high approvals from some nationalistic-triggering event before he ultimately crashes and sputters in to finish out his term. But at least we know he will support and pretend to be whatever it is that will get him re-elected, just as he campaigned from the middle (while having the most far left voting record in congress). And the circle goes round….
Meanwhile us normal-thinking independents just sit back and laugh. And then cry….
David_E
· 2 months ago
So your answer is ... what? The LaRouche/Greenpeace ticket? Or are you Paul/Nader 2012?
JonCummings
· 2 months ago
Steve! We've missed you (sorta), and your fascinating ideas about what a "normal-thinking independent" thinks. Lamar Alexander would like to have a talk with you about party-switching, which he hasn't done--he's still a Republican (I believe you're thinking of Arlen Specter, about whom you'll get no argument from me).
steve
· 2 months ago
right you are, I always did mix those two up.
and btw, if you want another fascinating "normal thinking independent" tip - how about being anti-abortion and anti-death penalty? I think it's wrong to kill people both before they're born, and after they're born. But those two viewpoints put together are not held by many Dems or Republicans, because their "club" tells them not to think that way. Ahhh... the need to belong.
Joel
· 2 months ago
Great column Jon. I thought it was kinda funny that the ad for free access to Ann Coulter's column appears right next to the picture of her bound and gagged, along with the description of her untimely demise at the hands of stiletto-wielding 9/11 widows. Popdose ought to plan its ad-placements a little better. Or maybe they planned it perfectly...
JonCummings
· 2 months ago
We don't control which ads appear, though apparently we can ask that certain ads be taken off. In this case, why bother? Sadly, that ad didn't come up when I pulled up the page, though I do have Google ads for Va. gubernatorial candidate Bob "Macaca 2" McDonnell and a "Republican singles" group. Hopefully an S&M Republican singles group...
bagman27
· 2 months ago
I enjoyed the first half of your article, until you switched to using name-calling and blanket statements. Then it just became dull and mean-spirited.You look at politics too much like a football game. There is no "we" and "they" as you like to keep saying.
I honestly believe that if there were no republicans, you would be bored out of your mind.
JonCummings
· 2 months ago
Nah, I'd just go after moderate Democrats.
Thanks for enjoying the first half. Did the part you didn't like come before or after I put Sarah Palin in front of the firing squad?
All Comments
But what this all really comes down to is this: the degree of cowardice and soul-selling in the Democratic party is breath-taking. This was supposed to be a unifying, slam-dunk moment. Health care reform is what this party was all about, except not during elections please, thank you. If we side with change, we lose out insurance company benefactors. If we side with the status quo, we lose votes. This is too hard. Please make this all go away until we no longer need to be elected, we're in our final terms and suddenly we're all legacy minded.
If this is, in fact, the case then the only way we're to get our legislators to legislate without the cringing, hand licking and pants wetting is to make every position one-term-only. No re-election, free gonads for all our officials, and maybe they'll use them (or at least the testosterone.)
Finally, I knew that was a doctored photo of Ann Coulter, not from the kinky overtones but because the body double has normal gams, not those spindly, anorexic, black-widow protrusions Coulter absent-mindedly shows off.
Jon, spare us your supposed self-control of your misbegotten reveries – there’s enough name-calling and vitriol in your post to make Ms. Coulter herself seem tame (although many of yours were funny…) The far right wing crazies and you far left wing-nuts are doing just as expected and behaving in the same-old schoolyard “I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I?” way. Like those not-quite-matured folks on capitol hill, but with worse health care than those folks (they drink a lot, they need it).
Meanwhile us normal-thinking independents just sit back and laugh. And then cry….
The best thing to watch is the Dems – DW dunked it with his “the degree of cowardice and soul-selling in the Democratic party is breath-taking” comment. Wise indeed. They have all the power, and filibuster-proof to boot. Yet they’re blaming (or is it screaming “I’m telling!!!”) at the Republicans from their corner of the asylum.. It’s in their court, so why can’t they just pass what they want?
Oh yeah, DW hit that one out too – and I quote, “Please make this all go away until we no longer need to be elected, we're in our final terms and suddenly we're all legacy minded” He’s basically got it, but I’ll take it further and more to the point. It’s more like “I will be behind anything that assures I will be re-elected”
Ooops, I think I just defined the word politician. So you Dems now cry boo-hoo at the blue-dogs (can’t we come up w/a better name than that?) and blah blah…. But here’s what you obviously don’t realize…. The very same dregs on the left in Congress who are now in full support of Obamas plan and who are also crying boo-hoo at the bluedogs are only doing so because it’s safe for them to do so. If supporting the plan put them at risk of winning next go-round w/their constituency, they’d be doing the exact same thing – coming out against it. And you guys would have to come up w/some other name to call them (hopefully a better one). It’s not about what they believe is right for the country, it’s about self-preservation. It always is!!
Heard of Lamar Alexander? Yeah, that guy. Can’t get re-elected as an R, so just switches to D. Okily-dokily, bro. Anyone know what the guy actually believes in? I’ll tell you. He believes in getting re-elected. Because if he doesn’t he may actually have to get a real job, and then he’d see how bad the health care system is screwed up for us normal folk, you know, his minions. I remember watching that unashamed douch-bag make his announcement and with my high-def you could actually see the slime oozing out of his pores. Remember – this is called “politician”
Until the two party system is buried 6 feet under, we will continue to go round in circles, not getting much done. Period. The far leftys and far righties will continue to fling boogers at each other, and us normal-thinking independents will just sit back and laugh. And then cry….
That brings me to our last politician (I’m using the slur-meaning of the word here, the only one), Mr. Obama. His approval ratings have been tanking at light-speed, even though the mainstream (non-cable) media is still in the last stages of their Obama-induced orgasm. But their wild Obama-gasm moanings haven’t been able to rescue him from himself. From his small yet astoundingly stupid mistakes like AirForceOne-Gate, to his far more sinister ones, like saying “no lobbyists in my administration!” and then turning around the very next day and appointing a lobbyist (wtf?), to his huge mistakes, like not learning a damn thing from Hillary-Care (did Harvard Law require any contemporary history classes?). And new polls show that w/independents like me – many who hesitatingly/suspiciously voted for him – he’s also sinking fast.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/01...
But the funniest is to watch the far lefties at my office, the ones who saw him as the second coming (of the God they don’t believe in in the first place, but I digress……). They obviously have varying degrees of buyers-regret, yet they’re still afraid to come out and say it, for fear of being kicked out of their little horn-rimmed-glasses and tofu clubs. But one-on-one they tell you – is this guy ready for this, because he sure seems to be f-ing up…. And he hasn’t even faced his Biden-predicted test, which will come. I bet even Biden is saying wtf because he knows it’s still coming, and let’s face it, he pretty much says anything he wants. God I’d love to go drinking with him, just once. Anyhoo, Obama’s approval ratings are lower than W’s at the same time - of course W went way up after his test on 9/11, but then etched himself into the annals of stupidity and showed his true douche-bagginess with Iraq. I get the feeling that most Obama supporters who scarily watch him rumbling/fumbling/stumbling down-field so far only hope at this point that he gets to at least enjoy a year of post-9/11 type high approvals from some nationalistic-triggering event before he ultimately crashes and sputters in to finish out his term. But at least we know he will support and pretend to be whatever it is that will get him re-elected, just as he campaigned from the middle (while having the most far left voting record in congress). And the circle goes round….
Meanwhile us normal-thinking independents just sit back and laugh. And then cry….
and btw, if you want another fascinating "normal thinking independent" tip - how about being anti-abortion and anti-death penalty? I think it's wrong to kill people both before they're born, and after they're born. But those two viewpoints put together are not held by many Dems or Republicans, because their "club" tells them not to think that way. Ahhh... the need to belong.
I honestly believe that if there were no republicans, you would be bored out of your mind.
Thanks for enjoying the first half. Did the part you didn't like come before or after I put Sarah Palin in front of the firing squad?