Chicken Littles win again

[pat_k]

Kerry folds and the "Chicken Little" strategists win another one (for the other team).

If the so-called Democratic Party "leadership" doesn't tell the Chicken Littles where to go -- and do it soon -- we'll all be singing:

Where have all the Democrats gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the Democrats gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the Democrats gone?
They self-destructed every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
-- Based on http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/flowers-gone.shtml">Where have all the flowers gone?

Americans want leaders to stick to the truth and stick to their guns. If Kerry had done this, we would have heard something like this:

"I cannot apologize for the actions of others. The RNC and the White House know exactly what I said and what I meant. They knew it on Monday. They knew it on Tuesday. And they know it today. Their fake outrage is revolting. It is tragic that so many broadcasters and commentators once again took this White House smear at face value and parroted it. It is probably to much to hope that these same commentators will stop feeding the phony controversy and focus on the REAL scandal -- that this is just the latest in a long stream of outrageous lies and smears to come out of the Republican noise machine.

Instead, we got a mealy-mouthed apology from the smeared for being smeared.

Post from yesterday:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2532084">Oh NO!! A Democrat demonstrated Strength!. . .

. . .Bad Sen. Kerry, Bad!! Why did you Stand Up for Yourself?? You're hurting the Party. Yikes!

The "chicken little" strategists are out in force. As usual, the consensus is the OPPOSITE of reality.

The Biggest problem members of the Democratic Party face is the perception that they are Weak. Every time a Democrat stands up and shows strength it challenges the Weak Dem image and gives the entire Party a boost.

The "conventional wisdom" inside the bubble was exactly the same after Clinton forcefully confronted Chris Wallace's propaganda (Terrible thing for the Dems. . .) Of course, within a day, it became clear that pushing back was probably the best thing Clinton has done for the Party all year.

It is long past time for our our so-called "Party leaders" to recognize the irrationality of "strategic thinking" that comes to the SAME conclusion 100% of the time -- i.e., to take the path of least resistance by (1) betraying principle through action or inaction; (2) taking the least "controversial" stand, or (3) putting off the difficult or principled action to a later date.

Like the "I'll quit tomorrow" addict, they assuage guilt and shame by telling themselves "we'll do the right thing and fight back, later." Tragically for the nation, "later" never comes because, like the addicts they are, the "strategerists" always identify reasons that "now" is bad time to bite the bullet.

If the chicken littles keep calling the shots, they are going to kill the Party.

[bluestateguy]

1. As soon as Ford and that guy in Iowa jumped ship the damn broke

and Democrat after Democrat cut and run and demanded that Kerry back down. At that point, Kerry had to give up because all of the Democratic denunciations gave the story more fuel.

Ideally, Kerry would have stood his ground, but that would have been dependent on other Democrats staying united behind him. They did not. So Kerry had to try to put out the fire by apologizing.

[pat_k]

3. He "had" to do nothing. And this is not about Kerry.. . .

. . .it is about the irrational dedication Democrats have chosing weakness over strength.

[BeFree]

6. Yep

Just like in the election 2004, Kerry looked around and saw he was on his own. No help from the party then, or since.

Oh well. What matters here is that the news is again focused on Iraq. And there ain't a bit of good news coming out of Iraq. Hopefully the media will continue to focus on Iraq, while Kerry takes some heat off the real news... the real news is that the publicans are stuck on Iraq.

Thank you, Mr. Kerry, Sir!

[bahrbearian]

2. Kerry was right !

[pat_k]

5. He was right -- until he folded.

The establishment Dems reacted to Kerry's show of strength the same way they react to EVERY show of Democratic strength -- they start running around screeching "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

This isn't about Kerry at all. It is about the "the Democratic Party. . . with its inexplicable penchant for pulling punches. . ." (from the Genius of Impeachment by John Nichols -- excerpt http://impeachpac.org/node/2054">from David Swanson's blog)

"When the congressional Democrats failed to pursue impeachment as the necessary response to the Iran-Contra revelations of rampant illegality in the Reagan White House – rejecting the advice of Henry B. Gonzalez, the wily Texas congressman who alone introduced the appropriate articles in 1987 – they thought they were positioning the party for victory in the coming presidential election. Instead, Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush, having recovered from the gentle slap on the wrist he received from Congress for his own involvement in the scandal, was elected to the presidency in 1988 by a landslide, and expected Democratic advances in Congress failed to materialize.

"Pulling punches in a political battle usually results in a knockout, with the party that holds back collapsing to the mat and struggling, often for a very long time, to finally get up again. And the Democratic Party of the George Herbert Walker Bush years, with its inexplicable penchant for pulling punches, runs the very real risk of being flattened not once but repeatedly if it fails to confront the issue of rampant wrongdoing on the part of the Bush administration."

[ljm2002]

4. Totally agree...

...and it is really too bad.