"The Baselessness of Defeatism" - Greenwald

[greeneyedboy]

hell, yeah:

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/baselessness-of-defeatism.html

The Baselessness of Defeatism

One particularly toxic effect of three straight national election victories by the Bush movement is the defeatist belief -- pervasive among many Democrats and other Bush critics -- that our political situation is hopeless, in large part because Americans are too apathetic and easily manipulated. Aside from the obvious danger that defeatism of that sort can easily become self-fulfilling, it is also grounded in factually false premises.

This defeatist mindset is typically predicated on the claim that Rovian Republicans have uniquely mastered the art of ruthless political propaganda, that the media either fails to criticize this propaganda or even actively disseminates it, that the worldview of the Bush movement is simpler and more base than its opposite and therefore more easily conveyed, that Americans don't care about anything as long as they are well-fed and entertained, etc. etc. Most typically, this defeatist view relies upon some combination of these pessimistic premises, and is used to draw the conclusion that the so-called "conservative" movement is destined to win because the hurdles to defeating it are virtually insurmountable.

The reality, though, is completely different. John Cole's powerfully expressed post from yesterday, in which he explains why he has abandoned the Republican Party to which he has been so loyal for so long, is receiving substantial attention, and rightfully so. Cole's explanation resonates because there are so many people in this country who have experienced the same transformation -- some slowly and incrementally, others more abruptly -- whereby they have fundamentally changed their most basic political opinions about the President, his policies, and his party.

Over the past three years, there has been a seismic shift in the political views of Americans. . . .

{details and examples in the rest of the article}

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/baselessness-of-defeatism.html

[carolinayellowdog]

1. Amen! K&R

This is just what we need today

[bluerum]

2. Political awakenings. How sweet. What nice people.

One particularly toxic effect of three straight national election victories by the Bush movement is the defeatist belief -- pervasive among many Democrats and other Bush critics -- that our political situation is hopeless, in large part because Americans are too apathetic and easily manipulated. Aside from the obvious danger that defeatism of that sort can easily become self-fulfilling, it is also grounded in factually false premises.

Defeatist my ass. It's not the dems who are getting defeated water-boy.

How convenient - now we can all say what we knew in 2000 when we voted for them - that the squatter in chief is an idiot. Dumber than a sack of hammers. Lights out and no one home stupid.

Now that he is dead duck and we may have to face a dem majority in congress we can use him as a foil to take the heat. Hang him out to dry. Let him twist in the wind. It's his fault after all.

How goddamn fucking convenient.

Mona (a Bush '04 and two-time Reagan voter) elaborates on the path taken by many, such as herself and Cole, who have abandoned this administration despite their long-term support for the Republican Party. Obviously, she can't really believe what she is saying, so we'll wait for Bush followers like Hawkins to tell us whether she's saying this because she has a book to promote, wants blog traffic, hates religious people, or is suffering from some severe mental illness. In the meantime, though, it is worth reading what Mona describes because it seems clear that many Americans have had a similar political awakening.

Political awakening!! Give me a fucking break!! You elect a dim-witted frat boy, support him while he trashes the world, and you have "political awakenings"!!!

This guy (Greenwald) is going to great lengths to avoid saying the plain truth: "we really fucked up by ever letting this man sit in white house and run our country".

[greeneyedboy]

3. better late than never, right? never too soon to get hit with the clue bat.

and Greenwald's main point is about the baselessness of defeatism, not about whether in a sane country GWB ever should have gotten anywhere near higher office--clearly, the answer is NO.

[bluerum]

5. I don't buy the way he paints dems as defeatist whiners.

republikaners as justified and angelic in their "political awakenings" - their suddenly found realizations that the squatter in chief is a dim witted dolt.

Yes, as you say, baseless defeatist whiners without any justification in being so. Like calling rovian politics an evil twisted parody of politics is not a fact. I would not call it baseless. He may not agree that rovian politics is bad for the country and world but that does not mean that it is baseless.

But he takes the claim and makes that broad sweeping implication of defeatist dems to try and sidestep and soften the blow of the issue he can't avoid - that a dimwitted frat boy was put into office by a complicit SCOTUS. That the press and the republikaners cheered and waved their flags and smiled and laughed all the way.


The dim wit in chief lied us into war and they all cheered and waved their flags. He gave away the nations wealth to the already wealthy and they cheered and waved their flags. He trashed diplomacy and international policy. He let a horse show manager run FEMA and fail New Orleans and the thousands impacted by Katrina. He keeps an inept defense secretary on and claims that he has done a wonderful job. He trashes the constitution, sets signing statement records, and laughs at the Geneva conventions.

Greenwald seems to claim that the republikaners who are now having political awakenings and "suddenly see" that the squatter in chief is a total fuck up, are somehow MORE justified in having come to THEIR blessed epiphanies than the whinny defeatist dems who have been "baselessly" crying rovian treachery all along.

Greenwald takes an extremely circuitous and tortuous route to say that now it is impossible for "good" republikaners to continue denying that the squatter in chief is in denial. That the republikaners can now openly speak and feel justified in casually observing that there is clearly something wrong here.

Political awakenings my ass. They knew what they were doing from day one. Forgiveness is not on the menu.

[greeneyedboy]

4. another excellent quote

from later in that piece:

". . .Bush followers are desperate to seize on petty sideshows like the John Kerry comment because they know that Americans have abandoned them with regard to everything that matters. And, as Kos observed and warned against yesterday, there are many Bush critics who have such an ingrained expectation of losing that they are petrified of even plainly inconsequential matters like this one.

But inconsequential distortions and stray gaffes will not save the Bush movement because Americans, in huge numbers, have come to see it for what it really is. The dissatisfaction is deep, profound and fundamental because it is the by-product of the very reasoned thought-process which so many people claim is lacking among the American electorate. . . ."

[bluerum]

6. Yes - the blessed "very reasoned thought-process". Of course.

That must be what it is. The very reasoned, holy, and blessed by God himself thought processes of the republikaners.

I'm curious - how does it take six years of insanity for any kind of a thought process to kick in.

Now that the squatter in chief has clearly demonstrated that his track record of ineptitude and failure BEFORE he was anointed into the white house was only a tiny fraction of the destructive stupidity that he is capable of, the republikaner though process begins. It goes something like this - "Hmmm, how do I make this look like I was duped by an awol rich frat boy idiot?"

Now that it is so painfully obvious to the world that they elected a criminal the rat republikaners are oh so righteously jumping ship.

No amount of apology will make up for this period in American history. How about taking responsibility. Oh - my bad - they are republikaners. Taking responsibility is simply something they don't do.

But they do have very reasoned thought processes.