Conason: Liberals Fight Back; Pundits Are Shocked

[kskiska]

The alarming rise in liberal aggression is now the subject of regular bulletins from pundits of varying persuasions and temperaments. As certain disquieting elements converge, portents of doom can no longer be ignored: The same progressives who once fit the wimp stereotype are answering back when attacked. The same Democrats who could find no voice last year are bellowing now. The most outspoken challenger to George W. Bush is leading in key primary states. And certain liberal authors who rudely call a liar a liar are selling thousands of books.

To our op-ed philosophers, this eruption on the left seems unnatural, irrational and dangerous, like the sudden fury of Hitchcock’s bloodthirsty birds. They regard the "angry liberals" as a menace to the Republic and to themselves.

Warnings about this disturbing phenomenon are often published in the pages of The New York Times. On Nov. 12, for example, Nicholas Kristof fretted, "Liberals have now become as intemperate as conservatives, and the result—everybody shouting at everybody else—corrodes the body politic and is counterproductive for Democrats themselves." On this topic, Mr. Kristof’s views are indistinguishable from those of his neighbor, David Brooks. A neoconservative who arrived at The Times several months ago, Mr. Brooks worries these days about the "war that poisons our airwaves, clogs up our best-seller lists and stagnates our politics."

Nor are the Times columnists alone in discerning an ominous aspect to liberalism unleashed. Byron York, a writer for the National Review, has done pioneering work to expose this threat. Mr. York has investigated the troubling phenomenon of left-wing "Bush hatred," which he has detected on numerous Internet sites and at least once on the letters page of Vanity Fair magazine. He is badly shocked to learn that anyone would heap contempt and calumny upon the President of the United States.

more…
http://www2.observer.com/observer/pages/conason.asp

[salinen]

1. it's about fucking time

i'm so pissed i could eat a republican. we must have a militant branch to this movement. i'm sorry it must be this way. more peaceful types have their strenghts as well. remember kent state? let's show these thugs some whoop ass.

[absolutezero]

11. you could eat a republican?

ewwww....I'm mad as hell to but I don't need food poisoning from eating tainted meat. :puke: :hurts:
Besides, all that sitting around and ordering people my age to fight for oil makes them really stringy and fatty. :evilgrin:

[TacticalPeek]

16. Well, beware of that bitter taste of Oxycontin.

If you get a bite of that, just spit it out. You'll find that satisfying nevertheless.

:evilgrin:

[Skittles]

18. I AGREE

we tried to take the high road - it doesn't work with f***ing thieving thugs.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. I was beginning to wonder when we would run out of cheeks to slap...

...enough is enough. It's time to buckle up the chin strap and play the game instead of sitting on the sidelines with the waterboy.

IMHO, the conservatives have just seen the tip of the iceberg...the hatred toward the assholes that have gotten us into this mess is growing by leaps and bounds.

[wtmusic]

6. LOL go back and slap 'em again then

we will not go away...

[NJCher]

3. maybe there's hope for me yet

Yeah, me. The mean liberal. I always felt slightly out of place at liberal gatherings, being one of the few (and usually the only one at that particular event) with fangs and a Scorpion tail.


Cher

[Melodybe]

4. Screw'um, it is time we beat these bitches back!

[KoKo]

20. NJ Cher, be thankful you at least had "liberal gatherings" to go to! You

weren't starved for somekind of "companionship" like so many of us here out in "Fundieland." Ahhhh....I remember NJ. There actually were a few pockets of "liberalism" about 12 years ago. And, where I livedin NJ, the Repugs at that time were actually more liberal than the Dems! If one could believe! How times have changed. Now I'm in the "Fundy Wilderness" and DU is my only comfort.

[JackSwift]

5. Brooks is a fascist!

.

[salinen]

7. i'm

so proud of you guys. we are not sleeping anymore mcfucksuit. wear that vest to bed cheney. i'll find rummy and **** his ******. the adults are here you spoiled brats.

[ThorsteinVeblen]

8. Motherfuckers

I am sick and tired of being bullied. Fuck them. Bring it on. Limbaugh belongs in jail. Hannity needs to be put in his place. O'reilly needs to know fear. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Silent no more. Passive no more. Weak no more.

We hit back motherfuckers.

[tom_paine]

15. Well said, Thorstein!

For years I closed my eyes to it or pooh-pooh the growing issue.

I never considered myself Liberal, anyway, perhaps a left-leaning Moderate at most, and thus it never fully felt as if I was being attacked. After all, I felt no desire for the utter destruction of either side, and still don't, really. Each side needs each other and the Founding Dads it seems wanted a balanced, moderate nation.

And so do I, ideally.

Though Totalitarianism must be stopped, and this time the threat comes from the Right (next time, if there is a next time, may come from the Left).

And part of it for for Liberals to stand uip for themselves, and for Moderates to join them!

You are SO RIGHT, Thorstein!

It's time to HIT BACK!

:mad: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :grr:

[Myra]

25. Yeah!

God it fuckin' pissed me off when Salon,
one of the few good guys, actually attacked
Dean for being angry at the current state
of the union. They rightfully got a lot of
angry mail in response.

It's the people that aren't angry and fighting
back that disgust me.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hieronymus]

9. Thank God

the gloves are off, and not a minute too soon.:kick:
Michael Moore did a great take off on Gray Davis and Tom Daschle.

[TreasonousBastard]

10. Something's happening.

Not only is the worm turning, but the public is becoming more receptive to our insidious message.

The wingnuts have shot their load. For years they could wail about the evil Clintons and people bought it, but now that they're running the show it's obvious all they can do is whine.

Let them yak on in desperation. The more hysterical they get the more stupid they look.

Now, if we could only get spine transplants for the "opposition" in Congress...

[Grins]

19. That's a great point!

"...the "opposition" in Congress... Indeed? Where the hell are they?

Why is all the "fighting back" coming from people - NOT in Congress? Conason, Franken, Ivins, Hightower are outsiders, far away from the RW foaming mouths on the right. Do they have to take on Congress - and the media - alone?

The guys on the Hill need to fight just as dirty as "them". Guys, there's a reason Dean's in-your-face aggressiveness has appeal.

[Catfish]

24. This bothers me as well

Dem. elected officials are pansies. Where is the "opposition"? Most of them try to be Bush Lite and it didn't help much in the last Congressional election. Except for those running for the Presidential nomination, the Dems. in Congress seem scared of the damn Republicans. I'm fairly moderate but I am so sick of Republicans dishing it out and Dems. taking it. What does the Democratic Party stand for anyway? Don't forget, among the pundits, Krugman also doesn't mind taking on this administration and Republicans in general.

[kodi]

12. the Right act like the Borg, either we fight them or run like hell

the so-called pundits are hand servants to those who have the critical power in the economy and they have to attack any threat to this power structure.

having them, and especially a wimp like kristof attacking the vigor of debate from the left would be funny if it were not so sad and uninformed.

anyone who think kristof, an alleged liberal, gives a flying fuck about the working person in this country is a fool.

byron york is just a plain, flat-out smug, lying son of a bitch.

[el_gato]

13. those shitbags started this and now it's time to pay the piper

cry me a river you fucking maggots!

Ahhhhh, I love the smell of spanked neocon in the morning

[Beetwasher]

14. Boo-Fucking-Hoo

Fuck the whiny scum. We're not bringing a knife to a gun fight, too bad for them.

[duvinnie]

17. I loved all of it, specially

"The most outspoken challenger to George W. Bush is leading in key primary states. "

go Howard!

and this
"A neoconservative who arrived at The Times several months ago, Mr. Brooks worries these days about the "war that poisons our airwaves, clogs up our best-seller lists and stagnates our politics.""

so...Rush never poisoned the airwaves, Coulter never clogged up book lists, Lott never stagnated our politics?
I think Jesus had a name for these people - hypocrites.

BTW I read that Ellen Goodman article in my paper today - talk about a whiner!

[spooky3]

30. My favorite line in the piece...

"Hearing such complaints about our degraded political debate, what strikes me is their extreme tardiness, after decades of increasingly shrill assault from the right on liberals and Democrats."

Go get 'em, Joe! Hard to believe that these pundits' delicate sensibilities are only now being offended by the *style* of the response, if the *style* of the attacks, which is far worse and usually fraught with errors or downright dishonest statements, has never provoked outrage from these same persons.

[Terwilliger]

21. kick up

[Fovea]

22. The Big Rock

You know it. It is the rock that we have pushed uphill since 80.
Ronald chained us to it with the line 'There they go again' and his grandfatherly contempt of 'liberals' which I have to put in quotes to give it the same flavor as the original Ronny.

The rock was our collegiality and desire to govern with consensus, as a democracy should. Now, with so much invested, in mid swindle, everything has come apart, Empire, Faith Based Social Control, Destruction of Labor, Control of 'Journalism', another word I have to use in quotes.

And at this horrible moment, as external forces choke the American Empire economically, In Utero, and former business partners sabotage our oil grab, Moore, Franken, Pitt, Conason, Ivans, and a rude host of writers all grab the Dems, and jerk the tu-tus off half of them.

At the first sign of serious criticism, not even real warfare, Dimson's droogs set on each other. Why, because they were surprized they had gotten away with this much. Surprized and guilty. Sadly, Dimson himself was too busy vactioning fund raising to actually administer when a little authority would have saved the day. Could this be the problem from Arbusto, busting out all over again?

There is too much toxic waste in the Bush septic tank. And of all the stupid mistakes to make, from your real seat of power, outing Plame is the one that broke the proverbial camel's back. Now the Pentagon is against Rummy and Perle (who just declared them all war criminals), the CIA is against Cheney and Rice, Rove, Rice and Rummy are against Powell... And everyone who actually gives a fart about America is trying to find a way to bring you down and preserve their mid level Govt job. Guess what? They will.

Things fall apart, Karl. The Center cannot hold... sound familiar?

The rude beast is back, asshole, and we're going to use your teeth for cufflinks. Becuase we got the big rock to the top of the hill, and now you get to try and stop it. While America's economy gets precision bombed by the EU... while Iraqnam protests make 1968 look like 1958... while the CIA uncovers your leak, and your boy squeals national security like Rush off his hillbilly smack.

We are bringin it on, punk. We are what you and Roger Ailes made us, and we will point and laugh at you all in the Hague.
Say hi to Milosevich for us.

[grannylib]

23. Yee-freakin'-haaahhhh...

so nice to see others recognizing that we cannot be silent any longer; cannot allow the radical right-wing extremists to shout us down any longer; cannot allow ourselves to be marginalized and demonized by these thieves...
They are scum, plain and simple, and we must fight fire with fire! It's hilarious to hear their whines and whimpers when their tactics are used against them...:nopity:

[many a good man]

26. Kristoff: "the result...corrodes the body politic"

Yeah, right. Eats away the WHITEWASH !!!

[Paladin]

28. This Is An Important Development

Every time a DU thread gets tough---taking grim satisfaction in Limbaugh's current situation, for example---it seems like the same bunch of well-intentioned liberal posters comes out, castigating others for "sinking to the level" of conservatives, and urging a peaceful, loving response to the opposition. Folks, this wussy attitude is exactly what the right-wingers depend upon, and we need to deny it to them. We are in the midst of a long-overdue liberal revival in this country, and it didn't happen because all of us assumed the lotus position and indulged in pure thoughts. It happened because we got sick and tired and angry as hell. You don't effectively confront a sub-human like Ann Coulter by cooing sweetly at her; you get in her face, point out all the gross errors in her books (thank you, Al Franken), and just for good measure, you accuse her of being a man.

Stay outraged and fight these bastards. It's the only way.

[Catfish]

29. I absolutely agree

You've said what I've been thinking. Telling the truth about right wing politicians and commentators is not rude.

[VolcanoJen]

31. Wow, you guys sound so *angry.*

}(

Of course we're angry!! Isn't Conason great??

Thanks for the link, kskiska!

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

32. It's about time!

Its about time!

And gimme a break, reagarding Byron York's shock upon learning that "anyone would heap contempt and calumny upon the President of the United States." --The Clinton administration was target for all kinds of rabid, viscious dissent and criticism.

Aww, poor babies, they can't take it!

Haahhaha.