Jack & Jill Politics

Sunday, November 08, 2009


The Lesson

by digby

I've received a couple of comments and emails wondering why I haven't weighed in on the health care vote. I did, it was just done before the vote was taken. Sadly, my predictions were correct.

One of the things that those of us who follow politics from afar tend to see that those who are involved in the minutia often understandably miss, is the over arching themes that guide the politicians and the villagers. I don't suppose that they are necessarily aware of it, although some of the influential strategists may be, but it's there nonetheless.

I knew that after all the sturm and drang over the past few months over the public option, the number one liberal priority in the health care debate, there would be a price for its success. The ruling elite could never allow an unambiguous liberal victory. It would endanger their narrative that says fealty to business, religion, military and other authoritarian structures is democratically inspired. They have to maintain the fiction that the people prefer to be subjects. If politicians aren't convinced that there will be a price for being liberals, they might get the idea that they can actually govern liberally.

This is why changing the media narratives and forcing Democrats to use liberal rhetoric and reject right wing framing is as important to the process as anything else. By perpetuating this default, conservative ideology, even as they are excoriated for being liberals (see: Obama campaign) they permanently tilt the playing field to the right, even in a liberal era or one in which the only pragmatic answers to difficult problems are liberal.

This problem isn't just a matter of good negotiating or putting pressure on politicians. Yes, these things are important. But in my opinion, unless we begin to change how this country defines itself, and how it projects its values, liberal policies are going to be impossible to implement to the extent that's necessary. Everything in our system is designed to prevent it.

Universal health care is something any decent, wealthy society shouldn't even have to think twice about. It's a global embarrassment that the United States, the chest thumping superpower, is even having this debate at this late date. It's equally embarrassing that we have put together a Frankenstein of a system because our democratic government is in league with wealthy interests which are exploiting its people. It's hard to believe that anyone would call that system liberal, much less socialist, but as you can see every day on Fox news, it's set off a tantrum among a vocal minority that would hardly be less hysterical if aliens from a foreign planet landed in Washington. (And that hysteria is also a tool of the permanent establishment, funded by big money, and used as a way of keeping the debate focused on the right, even if it's taking on an absurdist quality.)

Any legislation such as health care reform must therefore be tempered by a liberal sacrifice, something real, a principle that will make them hate themselves and loathe each other for having done it. It cannot be a clean victory, lest they come to believe they can do more. In the end, the "moral" must always be that you cannot go too far left.

The Stupak amendment was designed to do just that, a power move easily predicted by anyone who has watched the way policy victories are managed over the last couple of decades. The one consistent characteristic is that they are never unambiguously positive for the left. The arguments are always self-servingly pragmatic --- "blue dogs have to vote their district" --- but the real purpose is to drive home the absolute certainty that liberals are never really in charge. That is why there is never any desire among the ruling elite to sell the idea that liberalism itself -- its philosophy, its values, its ideology --- is something positive with which a majority of people, including Blue Dogs, can identify. If the public ever came to believe that, who knows what might happen?

Health care reform is extremely likely to pass in some form. But let's not kid ourselves that it's passing because the Democrats and the public have seen the light and understand that we need to be a more decent society. It's passing because medical industry has been greedy to the point where it's now unsustainable. That presented an opening for liberals to enact some policies they have believed in for a long time. But they didn't do it by making the liberal arguments straight up and have created some kind of strange hybrid system for which the best argument is that it might lead to opportunities for more reform. It's better than nothing. But it isn't liberal and it wasn't designed to be. And just in case, the powers-that-be stuck it to the pro-choicers to make sure nobody got the idea that it was.


http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/lesson-b...

Rikyrah,

I hope you had a wonderful b-day today

No terror plot at Ft Hood by outside forces. The terror is the military's refusal to deal w/ the stresses of our soldiers. Then there are the stresses of those whom make the attempt.

Rikyrah,
Target now has the Princess Tiana doll on sale for $8!

i had already weakened and bought it the other week..

UNLESS....this is the one that talks for $8?

Happy Birthday Rikyrah

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Rikrah (belated).

I doubt that this one talks.

I may be late to this news, but I just heard that Roland Burris confirmed today that he will NOT be voting for the healthcare bill in the Senate WTH? How much is this turncoat being paid? He is about to get Unca Clarence status if he does that.

http://www.google.com/search?cf=all&hl=en&q=rol...

Myth: How much is this turncoat being paid? He is about to get Unca Clarence status if he does that.

LOL!!! :>) Good one!! :>)

Myth: He was GRINNIN' & SKINNIN'

The DATE & DAY was - - -Mon Oct 19, 7:04 pm ET - - Shunned Illinois senator suddenly relevant

For Democrats determined to get a health care bill, Sen. Roland Burris is like the house guest who couldn't be refused, won't soon be leaving and poses a plausible threat of ruining holiday dinner. Suddenly, he can no longer be ignored.

The Illinois Democrat, appointed by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, says he'll only vote for a bill to provide health care to millions more Americans as long as it allows the government to sell insurance in competition with private insurers.

And he says he won't compromise.

"I would not support a bill that does not have a public option," Burris, 72, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "That position will not change."

Those words caught the attention of the very Democratic leaders who tried to keep Burris out of the Senate, suggested he resign and have shunned him in unprecedented fashion. Burris is not the only Democrat to insist on creation of a government-run health plan. But he is the one who has the least to lose by defying President Barack Obama and the Democrats who once turned him out in the cold rain.

It was early January and Blagojevich had appointed Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, to Obama's former Senate seat — defying Democrats in Washington who had wanted someone without a tainted patron and with a better chance of winning election in 2010.

What happened next was a procession of ugly images, from Burris' rain-swept news conference after Democrats turned him away from a swearing-in to Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush daring Democrats to block an accomplished lawyer who would be the chamber's only black.

Bitterly, the Democrats seated Burris. But when it came out that Burris had admitted what he had denied under oath — that he'd unsuccessfully tried to raise money for Blagojevich — Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., suggested that Burris resign. He refused.

A Senate ethics committee probe is pending into Burris' statements. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, refused to support any effort by Burris to seek a full term, and he will leave the Senate in 2011.

Meanwhile, his relationship with the rest of his caucus has settled into one of mutual, if chilly, benefit.

It works this way: Burris stays mum about any bitterness he may feel about his reception, and he gets Obama's Senate seat for two years. Democrats seat him, don't speak of him and can count on his loyal vote at a time when all 58 Democrats and two independents must vote together to prevent Republican filibusters.

They've never needed 60 votes like they do on the yet-to-be-finalized health care bill. A disciplined grin shows that Burris knows it.

No, he says, he will not vote for any version of a government-run plan circulating in the Senate, other than the full-blown one from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.. . . .
THERE IS MORE. . .

Guess he needsta FEEL THE LOVE!! :>) :>)

You know I really appreciate the update GreenLady. I received an email today that said he confirmed on todayd that he would definitely not be supporting the bill. So, I was trying to get updated. If he does not support it and his vote is critical, where does that leave healthcare reform?

Myth: TODAY? Wellll, I guess that is his story annnnnd he's stickin' 2 it! :>)

I really haven't kept up with him, though, B4 my "situation", I was attemptin' 2 "TRAIL HIM." :>)

At this point, I have "lost his scent" - - -so 2 speak! :>) :>)

So I picked up on that bit of info from YOUR post.

THANK U!! :>)

Just speculatin' - - - some other turns of events MAY happen that MAY NOT make his vote so crucial.

I 'on't KNOW! :>) ***shakin' my head*** :>)

he already said that he wants a bill with a Public Option or he wouldn't vote for it.

rikyrah: THEY'RE BACK!! [From Camp David 2 "THEIR HOUSE!" :>)]

+NOVEMBER 8: US President Barack Obama holds the hand of his daughter Sasha (L) as daughter Malia (2nd-R) walks with her mother first Lady Michelle Obama (R) and grandmother Marian Robinson (L) to the White House November 8, 2009 in Washington, DC. The Obamas were returning from spending the night at Camp David.

What a WONDERFUL - -FIRST FAMILY!! :>)

Look at this one ....perfect catch of the eyework between Sasha and the president.

"Ya comin' Daddy?"

that is a good one

HEEEEY WordSmith! ***BIG HUG*** :>)

"Ya comin' Daddy?" :>)

P-R-I-C-E-L-E-S-S!! :>)

+THANK YA!! GOOD 2 C U!! :>)

rikyrah: The WH will change plans on Tuesday.

+Changing plans
POTUS to Ft. Hood Tuesday

President Obama has cancelled his scheduled address to the Jewish Federations of North America on Tuesday because he will be attending a memorial service in Fort Hood for those who were killed in the shooting this week.

Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, will speak at the meeting instead, and the president will meet with a small group of leaders from The Jewish Federations at the While House, the organization said Saturday.

The White House announced Saturday that the president and first lady Michelle Obama will be attending Tuesday's memorial service.

The Jewish Federations' email notice said Obama sent his regrets, and added: "We offer our prayers and sympathies to the families of the victims of the attack in Texas, and stand with our brave service personnel at home and abroad." :>)

LEADERSHIP with EMPATHY!! :>)

rikyrah: EVEN from the BACK - - - - -

+THEY! R! A-DOR-A-BLE!! :>) [FIRST PIC] :>)

"“Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism. For a century, the imperatives to strengthen journalism and to strengthen newspapers have been so tightly wound as to be indistinguishable. That’s been a fine accident to have, but when that accident stops, as it is stopping before our eyes, we’re going to need lots of other ways to strengthen journalism instead."
We have been asking for the media to do its job. After reading this I think we are asking for the wrong thing. What do you think?
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/living-in-...

I don't know what to say. Our country is going to let Sen Joe Liarman fraudalent Democrat lead the investagation of the Ft Hood murderer. This guy is going to try and hang President Obama over BS that will be so unspeakable between now and the 2010 elections it is funny.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087...

Joe ain't gonna do shit. Fuck him.

that is ridiculous on so many levels.

"The Torturer": A Terrifying New Thriller starring Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura, 'Star Trek'!)

The Torturer, starring Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek’s Lt. Uhura), released Oct. 20, 2009, is an unstinting look at what happens when a special interrogator, trained in Iraq and suffering from acute PTSD, returns to civilian life and meets the girl next door.

Nichols plays Dr. Colleen Darnelle, a military psychologist trying desperately to re-integrate the Torturer, Rick (Andrew Walker, CSI: Miami) into polite society. Newcomer Mahsa Masoudi (Revenge of the Nerds, 2007) is also featured.

* “Shocking, Compelling… Intense...”, Thom Hartmann, Air America Radio

* "You've got to See This FILM!", Mike Malloy, Mike Malloy Radio, Sirius/XM, KTLK, etc...

Visit www.thetorturer.com for details and trailer.

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