Some wise advice from Dionne (WPost)

[kstewart33]

Essentially, stop crabbing about what the Dems did this week in Congress and start organizing for September!

See You in September

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, May 25, 2007; A19

"Let's grow up, conservatives!"

Barry M. Goldwater's declaration at the 1960 Republican National Convention was designed to quell a rebellion against Richard M. Nixon, whom conservatives saw as selling out to liberals on various platform planks. Goldwater's next line was uncannily prophetic: "If we want to take this party back, and I think we can someday, let's get to work." Forty-seven years later, the conservatives whose cause Goldwater championed still dominate the Republican Party.

The Democratic Party's progressive wing, furious at what it sees as the capitulation of its congressional leaders to President Bush on the Iraq war, should remember this history. The decision to drop withdrawal timelines from the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill is not a decisive defeat. It is a temporary setback in a much longer struggle for minds and votes that the administration's critics are actually winning.

(snip)

What was true in January thus remains true today: The president will be forced to change his policy only when enough Republicans tell him he has to. Facing this is no fun; it's just necessary.

Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said recently that no one remembers how long it took to reverse the direction of American policy in Vietnam. Obey is hunkered down for a lengthy struggle.

In a divided system, democracy can be frustratingly slow. But it usually works. Critics of the war should spend less time mourning the setbacks of May and begin organizing for a showdown in September. They would profit from taking Barry Goldwater's long view.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/24/AR2007052402155.html

[htuttle]

1. This article makes a grevious mistake in it's premise

"Goldwater Republicans" never actually got anywhere, and were completely purged from the party by the 1980's.

[rodeodance]

2. yes, he is right. It will take some Repugs to reverse the damage with

only our slim majority. Patience is hard for me.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Where We Are...

Damn I hate that term, but in this case it applies. This vote is done. Democrats caved to boooshie and the corporate media's bullying, but what can be done now? We gonna go after the few people who are generally on our side? We splinter the party and angst over this vote while the Repugnicans continue to lie and deny. I think there's some good that has and will come of this loss.

It can't be said enough that now this invasion and the mess it's created is ALL REPUGNICAN. No Democrats...even with that vote...aren't complicit in this bloodletting. Many are seeing how hell-bent now this regime is to continue this war and the only way to force this regime to back down will be with the ultimate destruction of its own power...even the destruction of the GOOP isn't enough. Thus Dionne is very much on the mark...the real battles begin in September and won't just determine the fate of the funding and involvement in Iraq, but the entire political agenda, for years to come.

We have no majority in the Senate other than the ability to set the agenda. Even if Lieberman were Feingold, there still wouldn't be the 60 or 67 votes to override vetos on his assholiness' dictates. There's still not enough "borderline Repugnicans" to jump over, yet...but that doesn't mean there won't be this fall or into next year. The game now is to turn our angst and anger against the real enemies to our country...the Repugnican party.

'06 was a starting point...it never could have been much more. It was the turning point...where total Repugnican power was put in check...the '08 election will be about debunking and beating down all elements of their corrupt party and then moving forward.

[blueworld]

4. Where's the insulin?

It's a wonderful sentiment, and I agree that as disgusted as we may be we can't give up, but give me a freakin' break. Character shows under adverse circumstances, not when things are peachy. Peek-a-boo.

Can we count on the Dems not to cave in for the next big fight? I wonder. This surely was the big enchilada. What can we be SURE they'll fight for in future? The ones who are campaigning have one eye on the mirror before they open their mouths. Politicians first, public servants later.

They've severely damaged my trust in their core VALUES & now I'll believe it when I see it.

[Nimrod2005]

5. Agree 100%

[Dhalgren]

6. The problem is that it is always the "left" that must "grow up" and

accept the back of the Democratic bus. It is always the left that has to shut-up and sit down (again in the back of the bus). We are told that if we do not continue to support the Party with work, money, and votes - EVEN THOUGH THE PARTY IS IGNORING US - then it will be our fault if the Party loses elections. It is never any other part of the Party who is to blame for Party troubles; it is always the left who just doesn't understand how politics work. Well, the left understands that we are being blackmailed by the Democratic Party in the same manner that Bush used the troops to blackmail the Democrats in congress. This is really simple: the Democratic Party does not own the left in America. The left is not obligated to the Democratic Party. If the Democratic Party wants the left to vote Democratic, then the Party needs to figure out a way to achieve that without brow-beatings, threats, and condescension.