"The Great Victory - crushing the developing myths" - Greenwald shreds B.S. talking pts - fun read

[greeneyedboy]

this is EXCELLENT. i strongly recommend reading http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/great-victory-crushing-developing.html">the whole thing.

The Great Victory - crushing the developing myths

The outcome of this election -- even with the not-yet-fully-finalized Senate victories in Virginia and Montana -- is as resounding and clear as it gets. For exactly that reason, all sorts of devastated Bush followers and confused and desperate media mavens are busy spawning myths about what happened -- often, in the case of the mindless pundits, unwittingly, even unconsciously. Most Americans know exactly what happened here, but it is nonetheless vital that these myths be smashed from the start and the clear lessons of this election be safeguarded:
. . . .
(4) The notion that this is a victory for some sort of mealy-mouthed, Bush-lite, glorified centrism is absurd on its face. Democrats won by aggressively attacking the Bush movement, not by trying to be a slightly modified and duller version of it. The accommodationist tack is what they attempted in 2002 and 2004 when they were crushed. They won in this election by making their opposition clear and assertive.

. . . .

Liberal blogs tend to support underdog Democratic candidates who are challenging Republican incumbents or open seats, i.e., the races that are most difficult to win. And yet a huge bulk of the winning Democratic candidates who won in those races were the ones supported by liberal blogs. And many blog-favored Democrats who lost were ones running in very red districts against GOP incumbents -- such as Angie Paccione (against the heinous Marilyn Musgrave) and Victoria Wulslin (against the equally horrible Jean Schmidt) -- and they came very close to winning.

Given those facts, the idea that this was some great repudiation of the blog-wing of the Democratic Party or that it was an endorsement of Broder-like, plodding centrism is purely wishful thinking on the part of those who wish it were so. The Democrats who won have one thing in common -- aggressive and unapologetic opposition to what the Republicans have become.
. . . .

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/great-victory-crushing-developing.html

[ThomCat]

1. K&R

[greeneyedboy]

8. did you see these key points?

"This is a shattering and humiliating defeat for the Republican Party. The excuse that it is just run-of-the-mill, standard sixth-presidential-year impatience is pure nonsense."

"This was a resounding and emphatic rejection of the core, defining premises of the so-called 'conservative' movement and what has morphed into the grotesque Republican Party."

"Republicans lost in every region and were defeated in critical races even in the reddest of states, such as Kansas, Indiana and Arkansas."

"The Democrats who won have one thing in common -- aggressive and unapologetic opposition to what the Republicans have become."

"Karl Rove isn't all-powerful; today, he is a rejected loser. Republicans don't possess the power to dictate the outcome of elections with secret Diebold software. They can't magically produce Osama bin Laden the day before the election."

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/great-victory-crushing-developing.html

[ThomCat]

9. Absolutely!

:7

[rinsd]

2. I think both sides have overstated their case

The left had a definite impact on the election but I think the shift left is vastly overstated.

Seemingly neverending corruption will sink you ever time, see 1994.

[greeneyedboy]

4. maybe not a shift, but a sign of grassroots effectiveness

in the areas where it counts: fundraising and field work.

he's got many other good points, too--the article covers a whole list of b.s. spin attempts.

[rinsd]

6. "fundraising and field work."

Agreed.

[greeneyedboy]

7. it is nice to see Democrats actually CAMPAIGN rather than just pay consultants

and put out focus-group-friendly ads.

[bemildred]

3. K&R. nt

[greeneyedboy]

10. check out his posts on crooksandliars.com too--good stuff.

[greeneyedboy]

5. he also talks about election fraud & many other points

that can't fit into a 4-paragraph excerpt. read the whole thing--it's great.

[greeneyedboy]

11. "Democrats won by aggressively attacking the Bush movement" - WORD.

[Vidar]

12. Wonderful editorial. I was too late to recommend.