Women in America had been agitating for the right to vote since the early nineteenth century. Although there were territories where women had the franchise before the Civil War, that right was scarce for women. When the war came, women were urged by the liberal abolition movement to put aside their divisive pandering for the greater good of the emancipation movement. As a result, it would be another fifty-five years before women got the right to vote.

Black Americans were told time and again to put aside their calls for equality in the face of a never ending succession of crises – World War I, the Depression, World War II – that demanded the country present a unified face against whatever the threat of the week happened to be. As a result, there’s a good argument to be made that the Civil War didn’t really end until not 1865, but 1965, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. And I have to tell you, that battle is STILL only half-won.

There comes a point where making common cause with groups who really don’t have your interests at heart is no longer laudable, but laughable. I’m not trying to say that this is such a time, because I’m not in a position to make that call for anyone else.

I’m just saying that if the Democrats find it hard to get the support of people on the left, then perhaps they might want to spend less time pointing fingers at those of us who are, and maybe a little more time figuring out exactly why it is we’re so unhappy with them.

I simply cannot recommend strongly enough that people read Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” on this topic. Mostly because he is far more eloquent in explaining this than I could ever hope to be.

You’re way sexier than Retardeau.

Nonsense! At least, theoretically, we have some idea what Retardeau looks like, and while I am infrequently partial to guys with long hair…
um…
OK, I’ll stop now. I see that look of gathering panic in your eyes. Sorry!

I thought he was great, and said so both at the time and at the beginning of the post that set Retardo off. Since when is a comparison to Jonathan Swift considered a put-down?

Cox said he mostly wasn’t funny, which I thought was mostly right. But there are better things to be than funny. Colbert was on target.

I’m gonna take the Colbert approach and speak truth to pundits. Ready? OK, here we go!

I come here for teh funny. Every now and then, something compelling happens. So I want you all to go back up and read all this shit. No problem, I’ll wait.

OK. Done? Good. NOW LISTEN CAREFULLY!! People are DYING! Real people, with real blood and extremities are being shot, blown up, tortured, indefinitely “detained”, kidnapped and murdered. Families. Children. American kids. WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING NOW!!

I want you all, right now, to look into your heart. Stop acting like a bunch of kids at a field day debate contest, and open your fucking eyes. Ask yourself one question. Is the current administration likely to stop the killing and bloodshed and warfare? Lemme help you here. sADLY, NO!! They will start more wars and kill more people (In YOUR Name) without a thought to further their agenda. So whaddaya gonna do?

One. We have to get them out of power and somehow make them accountable.

Two. We have to take the control of the American Military out of their hands, so they can no longer expoit that power to advance their political agenda, in spite of the human suffering it engenders.

Three. We have to take back the true definition of what it means to be an American. We have to make them accountable to their oath to protect and defend the constitution. I ask you–what has become of the separation of powers? Indeed, what has become of the 4th amendment? How much more can we afford to give away in the next 2, 4, 8 years?

So stop it. Recognize that these are, indeed, real differences, and that there are people in YOUR party who are first-order wankers. Now, examine your conscience and ask yourself how you’ll look in a fucking mirror if this shit goes on to it’s logical conclusion. These assholes are thugs who have hijacked the American Political Process, and are SHITTING on everything you believe. Put your goddam ego in your pocket and DO SOMETHING!!!

mikey

Nicely put Alloicius.

The unspoken idea behind these arguments is that Democratic voters are all fuking pansies. Look, it’s the internet. When somebody calls you a dimplewad on-line, you have plenty of time to cool off and deal with that person on a rational level.

Civility is important in face-to-face interactions but it has no place on the internet.

“y’all are acting like colonels rubbing your hands in glee and arguing over how to divvy the spoils when the GOP comes crashing down. they’re still up and stomping, lamebrains. kick their asses out of their comfortable sinecures, and then figure out whose ideological thrust is better suited to strike resolutely against the neo colonialist warmongers.”

What I’m hearing here is, “First elect the democrats, and then you’ll have time to figure out whether you agree with their politics”.

That seems backwards to me.

What-ever! You admit you don’t even read my posts, and you say that Bradrocket is sexier! Where’s the love in that? (Love for Brad, certainly.. but..)

Way ahead of you, Jillian…

Good one!

Isn’t there a point where we all step back and realize that it’s just blogging, that the people who read this (or Powerline, or Atrios, or Instawhatever) are the already politically active, and have probably already formed their opinions? I mean, I doubt any blogs have changed the world–take down Jeff Gannon, and another will take his place, and it won’t have mattered really.

In other words, don’t most of us have day jobs? Don’t we have a right to waste space? Or does every single blog post have to be serious? Does every blogger have to worry that everything they write will damage The Party?

Hopefully, No!

And the Know Nothing Party!
Don’t forget the Know Nothing Party!

I love you guys.

Annie’s having a bad day. Stop by and cheer her up. Or at least spring for some more corona’s.

That manners-not-morals stuff (flashbacks of Victorian hypocrisy) is of a piece with “angry liberals” and “activist judges” and “with us or against us”– they’re intellectually dishonest GOP memes deployed to unfairly tilt to public discourse in a manner advantageous to the GOP.

Cox decided to join the sensible liberal types who tut-tutted over Stephen Colbert not diluting his humor with anodyne pleasantries, as if it really fucking mattered. I’m sorry, but there’s no reasoning over that kind of difference. You either see why it’s important that a lowly comedian had the guts to poke Bush’s bubble with a sharp stick, or you don’t. Maybe if our useless media actually did their fucking jobs, comedians could get back to knee-slappers about the differences-between-the-sexes-shtick to suit idiots like Cox and Richard Cohen. No wonder they were so quick to defend the sanctity of bubbles and the people who live in them, though. Those are the kind of fucking morons who would have been griping about the performance of the band as the Titanic sank. Totally goddamn clueless.

The point being – as long as those fuckstains are going to keep scoring points by sneering at the unwashed masses and their gauche mannerisms outside of the Beltway, there’s going to be people calling them on it. No point in lecturing us about it.

Besides, Brad, I’d take your point a lot more seriously if you hadn’t wasted space just a week ago sticking up for a useless sack o’shit like Andrew Sullivan on a trivial point. It seems you’re just a little too into the idea of fairness for the sake of fairness, regardless of context.

*You could argue that this entire phenomenon of Sensible Liberalism all got started with a group called the DLC, the likes of whom apparently still haven’t gotten the message that constantly pissing on various parts of your base isn’t going to work anymore, but that’s another topic.