February 28, 2004

• I think there is a sense of helplessness among informed Americans, and a feeling that nothing can be done until November. My wife and I do think that our democracy is in trouble and that there will be dire long-term consequences if Bush wins the re-election. If that happens, my wife and I will be leaving the country permanently. It is amazing what things hinge on an election.
• My wife and I do think that our democracy is in trouble and that there will be dire long-term consequences if Bush wins the re-election. If that happens, my wife and I will be leaving the country permanently I'm not American, and therefore have no idea what America is like right now, but is it truly that bad?
• It's a common expression of political exasperation among some. I don't take it literally any more.
• No, it's not really that bad. Yes, there are problems. If we get several more terms of Presidents like Bush, then we're going to have difficulties. At the moment, though, we're not in a depression, we aren't in a police state, and we can still say the president is a big jerk without being killed. Honestly, one of the biggest problems is that it's insulting. We're lied to, the lie is found out, and HEY! IS THAT A BUNNY RABBIT OVER THERE? Worse than that, though, is that people turn their heads and look at the bunny rabbit. If Bush is elected again, that's going to mean that the stupid people are controlling the vote, and that's disheartening. It's an affirmation that all it will take to cover up the greatest of travesties is to dangle a brightly colored piece of string in front of us until we've forgotten all about what was going on.
• MeFi thread.
• I wouldn't say the situation in America is bad either, but the sense of a slide to the bottom is overpowering. Ditto on what Sandspider said.
• Thanks, timmus. Also, I'm sorry for the derail of your thread, squidranch. On topic: I haven't seen the film. Is it only about the American political side of the it? It'd be of more interest to me, I suppose, if it covered the whole international perspective (Blair's acquiescence, Chirac's grandstanding, the sidelining of Blix and El Baradei, for example).
• No worries dng. There is more than a bit of the international to it, but the folks that they interviewed are mostly American CIA and NSA types. Many of them are from the right. And let's remember, to give into despair regarding the inevitability of his actually getting elected for real does us no good. I actually think that we might just have a perfect storm brewing here to oust the pretender from office. Lots and lots of honest Republicans are disgusted with him as well.
• To paraphrase Churchill, the best argument against democracy is spending five minutes talking with the average voter.
• Instead of spending time expressing our disgust with the American voter, the left (and its leaders) should come up with a compelling, convincing vision that the average Joe can grok. I guarantee that if the left simply berates "Joe Sixpack" for his idiocy, we, and our message, will continue to be marginalized. The powerbrokers of the right wing realized this long ago and retooled their message to appeal to "the average voter". K.I.S.S., even if it kills you.
• Churchill has a lot of choice quotes, really. History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
• dng, I now accuse you of hijacking the thread ;-) According to this article, the neocons kinda worship the guy. Take time to read the article. A fascinating look at the intellectual history of the very group that brought us to war. Well worth your time.
• squidranch: you just said what I did in another thread, but in fewer words and much more clearly. Leftists of the world - learn from skidranch :)
• The whole truth? UNCOVERED? Thank Christ, because it's about time. Just when I was beginning to think geopolitics was complex. How utterly ridiculous. I'm about as far left as you can get, generally. If I was living in America, I'm sure Ashcroft would be hunting me down by now, for being a suspected commie or something. But honestly, this looks like a leftist version of something they'd show on Fox. The whole production style, along with the wacky fonts, smacks of ridiculousness. Anyway, the documentary just seems to be saying a lot of what we already knew before the first shots had been fired over there--that the government was in need of some extra patriotism, and wouldn't ex-ally Iraq be a good target? Al Qaeda? We knew the Al Qaeda thing was false long ago. Anybody with a basic knowledge of either faction would know, since Iraq was secular, and Al Qaeda terribly anti-secular. Osama would be as happy as Bush to see Saddam gone. Yes, the government was misleading. This isn't groundbreaking. I'd be surprised if it were ever the other way around. I'm going to go put on my anarchist t-shirt now. The general population is easily led. That news is centuries old. ;)
• It will never be so bad as to leave the US. If it got to that degree, civil war would certainly ensue. However, I'm afraid Bush is, in fact, going to be voted in again. I don't think Kerry stands a chance. I'd like to see Edwards be the Democrats choice, but he may have given too little, too late. Off subject, I know.
• Life is still pretty good for many of us in the US... but it is very difficult to reconcile an attempted impeachment for lying about a dalliance with a free pass for lying about attacking another country. It's also sad to see how easily the public can be sold on the undoing of the past 30 years of social, environmental, economic, and civil progress.
• "But honestly, this looks like a leftist version of something they'd show on Fox. The whole production style, along with the wacky fonts, smacks of ridiculousness." Yes Trv, it does have crappy font and overwrought music, and at the same time, oddly enough, folks are watching it and it is making them at least begin to think. And you are right, geopolitics are very complex, but the average voter doesn't have the need or desire to actually "do the math" for themselves. I for one welcome a Fox of the left. If it gets the American voter riled up enough to actually vote, to the left or to the right, I'm all for it. Hey kids, to simply state that the population is easily led and express our disgust with the average voter is intellectual elitism pure and simple. I sometimes hear my fellow "left wing types" go on and on about how stupid and uninformed the general public is and do absolutely nothing about it. Once again Monkeys, I encourage you to get up off your overeducated, blogging behinds and do something, talk to someone, or (Darshon) organize for a candidate. Or is it just easier to just complain about how stupid the voters/media/whitehouse are?
• I just want a job where I get to wear a Vulva suit!
• FUCK - wrong thread - sorry
• I talk to the common man very frequently, but they always seem to be university students. I mean, Canadians are inherently left wing. America's left wing is our right wing. So many people end up agreeing with you that it just gets boring, up here. Maybe that's just a university thing. Hardly the real world, really. I do see your points about a Fox on the left being a useful tool. I think it's a bit depressing that we'd need one, though. Still, the population is easily led, whether it is the right leading or the left leading. I don't think that's necessarily some sort of horrid elitist viewpoint, but more of a historical fact. People get led all the time. It just seems that the right does more leading, sometimes. "Fox on the left" is just us "overeducated" lefties hammering all sorts of scary words into the heads of the general population, hoping they'll vote for the slightly less rightist Democratic party. Are we really making people understand, or are we just using them for the present, to get out political goals realized?
• You want to know how scary Glenn Reynold and is wife are: check this out. I STILL HAVEN'T read the Frum/Perle book, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror, but the InstaWife is reading it, and she reports that it's very good. Insta-Wife gives David Frum and Richard Perle's book a rave review. I suppose it follows from this statement that Kakutani would rather promote understanding and empathy with respect to injuries that Muslims feel they have suffered at the hands of the United States. No surprise here: Frum and Perle state that some commentators even suggested that Islamic anti-Americanism should be regarded as an understandable reaction to the materialism and hedonism of American life, as refracted through MTV, pornography, and the Internet. Apparently, they were anticipating Kakutani's review. In a Clintonian sort of approach, some Americans seem to believe that if we can "feel our enemies' pain," then we will be on the path to enlightenment and peace. This belief could not be further from the truth. For the record, Reynolds is still looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. DAVID KAY ON MEDIA COVERAGE: ...David Kay also said, "We're going to find remarkable things" about Iraq's weapons program. Funny that this gets so little attention. It's funny how "little attention" David Kay's findings get on Reynolds blog these days. Must by that biased media he always talks about that is forcing him not to write about it.
• How's that battle for hearts and minds going?