John Stewart wasn't preaching to this choir

[RainDog]

since 90% of those in attendance at the rally yesterday support Obama, and since they indicated their primary policy concern is jobs...

...and since the IMF recently reported that the reason for the lack of jobs in the U.S. was the fault of the financial sector and the mortgage crisis...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/opinion/31smith.html

(...The International Monetary Fund found that the persistently high unemployment in the United States is largely the result of foreclosures and underwater mortgages, rather than widely cited causes like mismatches between job requirements and worker skills.)

...and since the crowd for this rally was nearly three times as large as that for media celebrities Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin...

it seems to me that the reasonable middle is what the media refers to a liberals.

the compromise that is required to bring this nation back to sanity amounts to a recognition by the media, the public and national politicians of the extremist positions of Republicans as a whole -

--positions that refuse to acknowledge the damage from fiscal policies that favor the wealthy over the poor and middle class for the last thirty years

-- recognition that an overwhelming majority of Americans want actual, affordable health care, not legislation that panders to insurance and pharmaceutical cos who have already demonstrated their complete unwillingness to consider the well being of the American people by hiking prices so that health care remains unaffordable.

--regulation that moves this nation from privileging the paper-pushing casino financial sector to awarding the hard work of manufacturing products that create a sustainable future

--admission that issues like global warming are valid

--separation of church and state at the level of schools, govt., and media punditry.

In other words, the sane middle is LIBERAL.

The compromise we need is, in fact, a recognition that the right wing is not representative of the middle AT ALL - the compromise we need is for the media and politicians to stop pretending right wing positions deserve as much consideration as those policies that have proven effective for the majority of Americans.

just saying.

[madmax]

1. Great post, RainDog k&r n/t

[RainDog]

3. thanks

I've gotten quite a political education over the last ten years - and it has made me realize what total lying sacks of shit we have in the media.

they harm the American people with their bias toward the wealthy and the nutty.

[madmax]

6. That's about the time I seriously tuned into politics.

The witch hunt waged on Clinton started it all for me and my husband. He'd never even voted until he met me. LOL I've taught him a lot of good things.

At the Stewart/Colbert Rally yesterday - when the four troops sang the Star Spangled Banner was the first time I'd gotten goose bumps hearing it - oh shit in ages. I felt a sense of pride and hope.

I loved our flag, thought it was the most beautiful flag in the world. The design, symbolism, colors, all of it and I lost that feeling. The right trivialized it by seizing on it as a symbol that it was 'their flag', the 'true patriots'. I'm taking back OUR flag in my heart and will hang one on my porch. It's MY flag, too.

Your posts are spot on.

[RainDog]

11. yeah, the total hypocrisy of the Republicans who went after Clinton

was the moment I woke up and smelled the bullshit too. :)

All those old white Republican creeps who had second families (Burton), mistresses (Hyde), photos with strippers (Barr), who had betrayed a spouse suffering from cancer (Gingrich) ... acting as tho they were somehow representative of a national morality ... that was the moment I realized the Republicans honestly do not give a shit about anything but their own power.

and that they will do ANYTHING to gain and maintain that power (as the 2000 election demonstrated even further.)

and that they use this power to work to make this a third-world nation, in terms of economic policy.

that sounds extreme but, unfortunately, that's the reality.

Life expectancy for Americans has fallen drastically since Republicans and conservative positions gained traction in this nation. During the Bush administration we saw negative job growth coinciding with the largest tax break for the wealthy - and yet Republicans still tout their policies as effective?

on what planet? not this one.

[madmax]

19. You absolutely nailed it !

On all points exactly. Everyone of your statements is what woke me up, too. Whoa, that Newtie - whataguy, eh? All of them but, how low can a worm go?

2000 Selection destroyed my faith in The Justice System and the most sacred of all, the USSC. Fuggedaboutit. I lost it all. I don't think I'll ever trust our government again. Not the way I did before. First generation born in the USA, my family all FDR Democrats thought this was the promised land. As my Mom got older, she turned a bit negative but, still maintained we're the best country in the world. She passed away at 92, by that time she said, 'they're all crooks', lol. Got that right Mom.

Nice to meet a fellow traveler. Not that all of us here at DU aren't pretty much on the same page but, your experience and feelings mirror mine so closely. :hug:

[AndrewP]

22. 100% corect! Well said. n/t

[Desertrose]

2. I hope some of his words got through to non-choir members.

Awesome rally...loved it!!!!(Watched it live on Comedy Central)

[RainDog]

4. There is always going to be a faction of people who oppose progress

in this nation and others.

always.

But we cannot allow a vocal minority to stop us from implementing solutions that solve our problems and move us forward.

[felix_numinous]

5. What is being called liberal and progressive

is just wanting to conserve our Republic these days. Oooh so radical and extreme.

This rally reinforced a sorely needed reality check during a time when everyday people are being demonized and predated upon. This was for us!!

[RainDog]

8. What's strange to me

is the reality that the majority of Americans hold liberal positions across the board as shown in poll after poll -

yet the media panders to right wingers.

well, it's strange is I thought that advertisements were what kept shows on the air (since I, like others I know, have simply turned off the tv and no longer watch mainstream media political shows.) I get my news from the BBC, from online sources, from public tv shows like Democracy Now! and public radio shows like Counterspin from Fairness and Accuracy in Media.

But if a wealthy minority has the money to fund the news they want to create as a propaganda medium for their interests, I guess it doesn't matter, in some ways, how many people watch them - or course, the more people who turn off corporate news, the fewer viewers to propagandize...

which leaves tv with a market share from the glenn beckkerheads while the more lucrative liberal market share goes online.

[felix_numinous]

16. Yeah the RW and their media have no use for

the rest of us, except to try to bait us and manipulate us. I has been my experience that hatred needs a target, something in which to focus rage on. So that is how they view the left, as the 'other', especially since many of us are anti-corporate personhood and anti war profiteering--oh they cannot have that.

[madmax]

7. k&r

[Historic NY]

9. Stewart & Colbert should expand their 30 minutes...making it Sanity Central

[madmax]

10. +100 If 15 year olds are tuned in as is

my grandson and his buddies - there is hope for America.

[Scuba]

12. "it seems to me that the reasonable middle is what the media refers to a liberals. " Bingo!!

[RainDog]

13. yep. weird, isn't it?

because you'd never know this if you watched tv news and expected to learn about the real values of this nation.

[Scuba]

14. I believe it is an intentional distortion to paint the middle as "far left".

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. Exactly. n/t

[AnArmyVeteran]

15. Great Post! Recommended!

[OneGrassRoot]

17. Bravo!!!! Huge K&R! :)

[babylonsister]

18. Excellent! Recommend! nt

[Dappleganger]

21. Well said and I heartily concur!

[RainDog]

23. I concur with your concurrence!

indubitably

[RainDog]

24. thanks for the encouraging remarks, gangsters

gangsters of luv, of course - for the well being of this nation.

(hope you all have a Joker singing the Pompatus of Love earworm now... I'm not always nice.. lol)

lovey dovey lovey dovey lovey dovey all the time...

:grouphug: