We liberals have been "Borked." And it happened before Bork came along.

[Cyrano]

A quick update for those who don't know who Robert Bork is.

During Watergate there was an incident called "The Saturday Night Massacre." Nixon wanted his attorney general to fire the special prosecutor. He refused and resigned. The assistant AG also refused and resigned. Bork was next in line and he followed Nixon's orders.

He was nominated to the Supreme Court by Bush I, and liberals, as well as every other sane person in the country, fought his nomination. The quickest way to explain his judicial views is that he almost made Scalia look like the president of the ACLU. He was shown to be the extremist wingnut he was. After his nomination was defeated, the term "Borked" started to come into use.

Well, the Republicans long ago "Borked" liberals. Ronald Reagan sneered whenever he used the word, and made it seem like being a liberal was the same as being a communist. He turned "liberal" into a dirty word. He "Borked" us.

Well, it's time to start fighting back. I don't need to go down the litany of what many of today's wingnuts stand for. But it's time for the term "conservative" to be turned into the dirty word.

[Vincardog]

1. The Wing nuts have been putting the CON in CONservative by themselves

we do not have to do anything to discredit them or make people ashamed to b called CONservative.
Just keep repeating CONservatives kill and rape children for money.

[SoCalDem]

2. Taking back the terminology

SoCalDem (20220 posts)
Oct-25-02, 02:29 AM (ET)

Is Democratic Dissent Diluted??


Since we are looking for positive POLITICAL stuff, I took the liberty of resurrecting this one



Is Democratic Dissent Diluted???


Republicans seem to focus (erroneously) on a few key issues that "hit home" with the "average" American..

1..Abortion... who could be against "saving" babies??

2..Taxes..........who "wants" to pay taxes??

3..God............."Godhaters" could NOT be good people, right???

4..Education...Don't all parent want smart kids??

5..Guns...........Gotta have 'em..don't you dare try to take 'em


Those seem to be the underlying issues of all their "policies".. Since they are so polarized around those issues and they are always couched in Black/White..Good/Evil...Right/Wrong, there is little "discussion" about those issues within their own party..

Each one of those issues has been used like a battering ram against the Democratic party for YEARS.. Our party, by virtue of its very diversity, has been unable to turn these issues back on the republicans.. They have, with the help of Brazillions of dollars , a compliant press, and endless hours of "free advertising" via hate radio , been able to capture the hearts and souls of a lot of people who truly feel they are doing the right thing..

Every time I see photos of a protest, I am reminded of our "problem"..

1..World Hunger........................we care about it...they don't
2..African American Rights..........we care about it...they don't
3..Aids.............................we care about it...they don't
4..WTO/IMF..........................we care about it...they don't
5.Environment.......................we care about it...they don't
6..Global warming...................we care about it...they don't
7.Women's rights....................we care about it...they don't
8..Gay rights.......................we care about it...they don't
9..War..............................we HATE it.........they LOVE it..(but most are too 'busy' to actually serve)
10.Minimum wage.....................we care about it...they don't
11.Social Security..................we care about it...they don't
12.Handicapped rights...............we care about it...they mock handicapped people
13..The economy.....................we care about it...they just like to count their $$
14..Corporate fraud.................we care about it..they don't mind a little fraud between consenting crooks

There are so many more signs(issues) that are seen at rallies and protests..Falun Gong..Mumia..Palestinians... the list goes on and on..

The fact that we care about so many things has probably hurt us more than helped us.. Because we are so diverse, there is probably NO way that we could ever coalesce around a few key issues and use them over and over until the public "gets it"..

Our supporters are , for the most part, not the elite moneyed class, so they neither have the time nor money to pour into the issues of the party..

We all know that we have been marginalized by the media over the years, and the words used to describe us have gone unchallenged for decades.....Just a few:

bleedingheart liberal
treehugger
tofu eating liberal
chablis-sipping liberal
environmentalist wacko

These phrases roll off the tongues of "reporters", columnists, and pundits, and we just shrug them off or ignore them.. They are always said with a sense of derision ..

None of the above things are BAD in any sense of the actual words.. It's what they have BECOME that makes them bad news..

Until our "leaders" and spokespeople start standing up for what a liberal REALLY is, we are doomed to remain on the margin.. There are MORE people like us than NOT like us.. We are the left and probably most of the middle, but we are treated like we are some oddity, and are "tolerated", like an addled old aunt in the attic.....

This has GOT TO STOP...

Each one of us has got to start today, this minute , to take back the terminology.. Proud Liberal is what we should all aspire to be..

In light of what is happening in the world around us, the time is NOW.. Their little empire is starting to crack at the edges, and the support of most of the free world is with US..

If we cannot control the press and the airwaves, we can all do our part, even if it's on a small scale..

1..Print out stuff from DU and leave it at the doctor/dentist/car repair offices.. (Not the most radical X-file stuff )

2. V O L U N T E E R to work the polls..help a democratic candidate..(Do what they NEED you to do..most likely you will NOT be asked to be the campaign manager)..

3..Write letters to the editor as often as possible....(Even if they are not printed, it makes YOU feel better)

4..Challenge the incorrect assertions, even if they come from a friend.. Diplomacy usually works best..

5..Remember that children are often getting a skewed view of history at school..Tell them the TRUTH about what's happening..

6..Patronize businesses that are environmentally friendly/Liberal.. Let them KNOW why you are shopping there.. encouragement goes a long way..

7..When a politician does something GOOD, write them and let them know it.. No one wants only bad news..

8..DO YOUR HOMEWORK.. The fact that we are getting "conservative spin" on most news, makes it more important than ever, that we go "outside the box" to find out what is REALLY happening..


There are probably many more things that we all can do, but what we MUST do is GET INVOLVED in every way we can.. Enthusiasm is contagious.. Spread it like the flu ...

[Chiyo-chichi]

5. you forgot "tax-and-spend-liberal"

an old chestnut.

[sweetladybug]

3. Cyrano,I agree with you. The term "conservative" needs to be turned

into the nastiest of words such as "greedy" "closed mind" "intolerant" just to name a few. By the way, I'm "liberal" and proud of it because I'm none of the above.

[Cyrano]

4. Unfortunately, they don't see it the same way we do.

They see themselves as "rugged individualists" who possess the "pioneer spirit."

Put most of them on the prairie for 12 hours and they'd be screaming for air conditioning, or heat, or a Big Mac.

It's one thing for people to have some distorted "heroic" view of themselves. It's another to deal with a modern, complex, difficult world.

While there are days on which I pity them, there are also days on which I say, "screw 'em." Let them go out and really try to live up to what they profess to believe in.

[jrw14125]

6. Curb Your Enthusiasm did it last night

Larry's agent's brother in law was a "conservative." At a party he was talking about a theory of 77s, that there's a great rpesident every 77 years, Washington, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevent, then W! Funny stuff.

[Cleita]

7. It doesn't have to be. These fascists are not convervatives

in the Republican tradition prior to Nixon. We need to call them what they are, fascists, Nazis and soviet style totalitarians comes to mind.