I hope that Joe Sestak, in his run for a Senate seat from Pennsylvania, won’t be pushed into a corner by Right Wing Toomey and act defensive. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 16, 2010,“Sestak had a 'hypersensitive reaction' to valid criticism, Republican opponent Pat Toomey said Thursday.” Sestak needn’t apologize or minimize support for a liberal, progressive, populist voting record. He needs to point out strongly, as he is very capable of doing, that the right wing has successfully deceived much of the middle class into thinking that right wing politics favor the average American. The right wing media has cast a spell over a lot of people and created the very false impression that right wing politics are populist and liberal politics aren’t. I think Joe can campaign to expose that fallacy.
Exposing the agenda of political groups favoring large corporations would be a good way to start. The US Chamber of Congress is one such group. Here are their talking points published this week:
- Privatize Social Security
- Cut taxes for the rich
- Log the national forests
- Expand offshore gas and oil drilling
- Privatize highways and waterways
The above list is as anti-average-person as possible. All progressive folks, Democrat, Independent and Republican alike need to blast such policies.
When Joe dickers over 94% vote with Nancy Pelosi vs. 100% he is defensive. When he is defensive, he is not attacking the anti-average-guy right wing. He seems as though he is trying to be “Republican Lite.” Instead, he needs to be aggressive and show the right wing leaders for what they are: self-serving defenders of the wealthy corporations, who have become the 21st Century King George ruling and dominating the American people.
I think the CoC's (and that acronym says it all) list of useful changes does not go far enough.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see there a proposal to monetize air and sunshine. There is absolutely no reason why all kinds of lazy bums should be allowed to breathe and soak in sunrays without paying for them. IME(steemed)O, no money = no air and no sun. It's only fair.
In this day and age, we have to be able to capitalize on all natural resources and not just select few. There is much money to be made on charging for these two so far widely available -- and erroneously free -- goods that nature has given us.
I'm afraid that those stinking libruls, like Sestak, would only make us falter in this noble endeavor.
Wait... Ha ha ha! Who am I kidding? Libruls have been so woefully ineffective that there is no risk of this happening, ever.
Go, CoC!
In Florida, the GOP candidate for Senator, Mark Rubio, is running on the same program of Bush era economic policies ... make the tax cuts permanent, eliminate the estate tax, privatize social security, drill-baby-drill, deregulate, sell off public assets ... its a Republican juggernaut taking place on a national scale.
ReplyDeleteAnd what bothers me most of all, these are the same policies that brought us to the brink of disaster and now the GOP is playing it again as if nothing were learned. Of course, the policies are NOT about us; they are about the plutocrats and their lobbyists who want to keep their perks and privileges.
One thought to share: When our mainstream media turns 'yellow" and our news content is shrouded in deceit and deception, and shrink wrapped in partisanship, the only real fact-checking takes place in the Blogosphere, which makes us the last line of defense.
I call on all Liberals/Progressive to "refudiate" the regressive policies of the Tea Baggers, especially any policy issuing from the infertile mind of Sarah Palin.
ReplyDeleteRepublican financial policies have left us 13 trillion dollars in debt, with high unemployment.
ReplyDeleteThe middle class is shrinking.
We are still playing policeman of the World, which we cannot afford.
We are still addicted to foreign oil, and instead of getting us off that addiction, Republicans have chosen war, to effect that import.
The list goes on, and on. I can't do more than point out the facts. I can't stop some one from supporting those that hurt America.
Shaw - any policy issuing from the infertile mind of Sarah Palin
ReplyDeleteYou give her way too much credit. What mind? Everyone knows she's returded.
Octo
ReplyDeleteIt certainly seems like this is the only place to get the truth. Makes our cause that much more important.
Now we need to organize as one voice with many votes.
I hope Joe Sestak can keep it together and kick Toomey's ass. Joe's an outstanding candidate.
Tim, there are 17 writers in this forum ... all brilliant, first rate bloggers ... and all members of an extended family.
ReplyDeleteWhen you consider the sorry state of mainstream journalism these days, the blogosphere is our last best hope. The more voices there are, the more likely lapses in journalism will be caught, exposed, and corrected.
To reach a wider audience, now that is a challenge.