Oh well

I don't expect quite that level of animosity, but maybe I'm going to be in for an unpleasant surprise.

The main issue for me is, will Al Gore save us from what we just saw by entering the race?

JRM

by John R Moffett (83 articles, 17 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 652 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 11:56:02 AM
 

If Gore Jumps in...

will he save us, or will it get worse. I don't expect any love lost between him and Hillary if he joins the fray.

by Rob Kall (890 articles, 4056 quicklinks, 350 diaries, 1922 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 11:57:47 AM
 

The premise behind this video is exactly 100% wrong.

The idea is that if Dems (ie, Hillary fans & Obama fans) aren't "nice" to each other in the primary, the resultant lack of unity will damage the party, handing the election to an out-and-out fascist Republican.

Once again, we see the age-old notion that the Dems are "less evil" than Republicans, & that people should vote for D's mainly out of fear that the R's would be even worse.

Anyone who still accepts this obsolete idea has not absorbed the lessons of the last 45 years. There's nothing to be gained by voting for candidates who essentially represent giant corporations & the military-industrial complex, regardless of whether they wear 'D' or 'R' on their jerseys. The differences between a Clinton (either of them) and a Bush (any of them) are negligible, and are matters of style more than substance.

This country's democracy is in its dying gasps, and we got here because of the institutionalized mindlessness of the political process, typified by stupidity like "lesser-evil-ism." Continuing to regard politics as basically a question of "Who is less evil" is not going to fix the problems that that mode of thinking has engendered.

by Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1289 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 12:17:42 PM
 

I wonder

if this was made by a Republican? A reason for most everyone to hate them both. The only one who comes off looking good is the Rudy guy. Hmmmm....

by Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 1:00:47 PM
 

That Just About Covers It

Can we go talk about issues, now?

by KarenDetroit (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 1:09:02 PM
 

as they say....

if elections could change anything, they would be illegal.

Besides, Americans are just plain stupid.

The Marjority has it ! 

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 4:01:51 PM
 

Illusion

I agree with Rossini:  If elections could really make a difference the powers to be would somehow make them illegal.  So why not maintain the illusion that "the people" still have a voice by using electronic voting and other means to give the appearance of democracy while manipulating the vote any way you want it?  Further, and even more important, use the mainstream media (owned by the powers to be) to keep any real progressive candidates from even being taken seriously, leaving the choice of: the lessor of the "evils or undesirables".

by carl (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 130 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 4:18:13 PM
 

exactly

"electronic voting and other means to give the appearance of democracy while manipulating the vote"

I likes it when other people say it better.

This doesn't mean we have no choice. It does mean we have to re-think our position in this battle. The video (in question) represents the big bird, if I may....the left and right wing of the corporate party. The rest, without further ado, should hopefully, become history.  

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 5:35:22 PM
 

Humor sometimes can be truthful

Judging by the responses it might not be a bad idea to state the obvious.

If the Democrats get into mud-slinging in this primary it will help the Republicans.

This is important because elections do matter and an engaged citizenry can change things.

The difference between the Republican and Democratic candidates vying for their respective nominations are stark and meaningful.

Not voting this time around is just another way of saying that you don't care enough to even try.

Robert Chapman

by Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 556 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 5:48:52 PM
 

no humor

not voting was not mentioned prior to what you wrote. It remains an option. I've voted before and I still don't believe my ballot made a diference one way ot the other.

You have two wings of the Corporate Party to choose from.

DemoCrazy. Not humorous. Real.

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 6:10:03 PM
 

Hmmm...

I'm listening, but I was just getting out of the service in 1960 and going to work for JFK. I was a Liberal kid, with a BA and heading to graduate school. JFK wanted to keep us out of Viet Nam. He took to heart the pleas of our French allies, he had been trough a war, as a hero and wanted no more of that for the next generation of Americans. Someone reported here on OpEdnews that a late CIA guy's son has his dad's paper's saying he'd been approached about helping to kill JFK and the material was to be released after his death. We knew that Eisenhower's words to him at JFK's swearing into the presidency, about "...beware the Military Industrial Complex..." were now echoing ironically through our lives. They killed him because he would not go into war. It was not a lone shooter and I predicted that someone would shoot LH Oswald before he spilled the beans and then the man they'd arrest would die in prison. I am doing as Woody Allen said, "… writing the non-fiction version of the Warren Report."

I stopped voting democrat in the Viet Nam era and in 1987, I went back from Independent to Democrat. As awful as Viet Nam was, we still had the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and we had no Adolph Hitler in the White House. Now we have only each other. Let's don't forget, we need each other to achieve the ouster of Satan's playmates from our nation. I say:

STEP ONE-Exile the Bushites to Iraq or Iran.

STEP TWO-Arm our military and go to war with Halliburton. Attack them and then hang the treasonous, bastards from a yardarm.

STEP THREE-Arrest all the Mutha-F-er's in the Military Industrial Medical Complex, exile or hang them.

STEP FOUR-Recall or Impeach 5/9Th's of the Supreme Court and appoint only unbiased men and women. Exile; send the Treasonous fascist-loving, Scalia back to Sicily.

STEP FIVE: Nationalize and turn over to the major Universities of America, the following industries: Energy/Oil, Medicine, Drugs, Military Ordinance and goods, water, fuel. Tax corporations, which outsource at a 75% rate, sans write-offs. Give giant tax breaks to the companies with the best compensation packages tied directly to 25 times employee average salaries, with no one making more than $2.5 annually.

STEP SIX-Only one Death Penalty and that would be for any one giving money or other gifts to a politician and any politician accepting money or gifts from anyone. Hang or exile every lobbyist, whether they are man woman or goat.
That's for starters.

by Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 95 diaries, 1311 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 9:23:10 PM
 

IT MAY BE TRUE

That we're flying with 2 wings of the same bird. Our system is faaar from perfect, but we can do better than this, can't we? American democracy has always been wide open to corruption and always will be,we just have to find a way to keep it in check. I'm sensing a lot of give-up in these comments.

by mike wygant (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 287 comments) on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 10:13:33 PM
 

All Politicians are the same, yada yada yada

If anyone thinks that Al Gore would have taken us to war in Iraq in 2003, had the Supreme Court allowed the votes to be counted properly after the 2000 election, they are crazy.

Not all Democrats are DLC Democrats. Not all of them are corporatists. Look at Dennis Kucinich or Russ Feingold for example. Just because Hillary Clinton is a DLC Democrat does not mean they all are.

Elections not only matter, they matter a lot. If you don't believe me, let's all vote for Mitt Romney for president and see how things in the country go. Hell, it doesn't matter who we elect, right?

by John R Moffett (83 articles, 17 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 652 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 7:19:58 AM
 

My point is

....if we could actually get our sh*t together and elect an honest man who would not give in to the M(ilitary) IC and P(haraceutical) IC, we'd have another assassination on our hands.  Any President who would dare to attempt to stop large amounts of cocaine & heroin from being smuggled into the USA would become a moving target ; the system of generating black monies to finance illegal operations at home and abroad has become a monster big enough to make rid of any individual at most any time if they wish and there's a hell of a lot of money at stake for those involved. The chances of the DLC backing anyone half as good as JFK are near zilch but imho, JFK was the last real President. All who have followed have been puppets. Jimmy C. was a lesser puppet, grant you that but they had a sufficient amount of control over him as well. The swinging back and forth between Ds and Rs is a pacifier and we don't stand a chance in hell of convincing the majority of Americans to vote for Romney or anyone else of caliber. Imagining we were able to...as long as we don't revert back to

Hand Counted Paper Ballots

elections will not bring about the changes we want and need.  

It's not all yada yada yada. Blind faith in the Ds chances of changing anything in great ways is yada yada yada. No, it's just plain naive. The police state is not going to allow us to fight for our rights to fair and clean elections, let alone our freedom.

Let's face it, we've been royally screwed and the election is propagandistic pacifying entertainment ! 

I'd like to see Gravel and his likes make it to the top and I'd go out and cast my vote for such as candidate but I'm not fooling myself into believing he stands a chance of winning or a chance of living long after winning. Not in the USA I grew up in. Nope.

That's my nickel on this. The video clip is okay but it would be loads better with Gravel, Romney or Kucinich showing up in the last few seconds to point out how the top tier candidates are bought and paid for members of the left wing of the corporate party. In fact, the video is an attempt to supress any in-fighting amongst the Ds. But without in-fighting or at least some real down to earth fare debating, the big D ain't gonna go my way. Not in a thousand years. 

by Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments) on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 10:10:24 AM