Palpable Rage
by thereisnospoon Sat Feb 18, 2006 at 04:11:46 PM PDT

Yesterday, my fellow Kossacks, was an amazing day. 

Yesterday was the day I discovered that it's the beginning of the end for this criminal, kleptocratic government.

Yesterday was enough to turn me--an avowed pessimist--into a bold and hopeful optimist.

And yesterday brought tears to my eyes and made me want to cry, or just crawl out of my skin in rage and scream out to the world.

Yesterday I heard the voices of a working nation crying out in pain, anger and suffering.  And it was a beautiful, heartwrenching sight....

~~I'm a focus group moderator, you see.  I mostly work out of the Los Angeles, but I do travel to other places to conduct business rather frequently, and fly back home when my sessions are done.

It was two nights ago that I flew out of Los Angeles to a city that will remain nameless on United Airlines.  It was a red-eye, and the flight was delayed by two hours.  When we actually got ready to taxi out for takeoff, the pilot said something that thrilled and chilled me simultaneously, causing me both fear for my safety, and also political exhilaration:

Sorry about the delay folks, but as you know, times are tough.  Every minute these planes are on the ground, they're losing money.  So our corporate overlords make sure we fly these planes to death and fill them to capacity.  So we're doing the best we can.

I couldn't believe I heard a pilot use the words "Corporate Overlord" on an aircraft.

Thereafter, we learned that there were no pillows available on the flight.  There was a lot of grumbling, but I was shocked to hear the woman just behind me say:

"Yeah well, I'll just bill my hours of lost sleep back to the White House.  Bastards."

The "White House"?  What airline was a flying?  "Commie pinko Librul" airlines?
-----------------------------------

I arrived at my destination in [City.]  The cabdriver brought me at 7:30am to my destination, a hotel in a suburb far to the northwest of the main city I flew into.  I had breakfast before going into my room.  In the breakfast area were only two men.  One was reading the newspaper, and watching the Olympics on TV.  The conversation went like this:

"You hear about the whole Cheney shooting?"

"Yeah.  He's quite a character, to put it mildly."

"I know.  I don't buy it.  I just don't.  I think he was drunk of his patootie, and they don't want to say it."

"Well, this country needs to get rid of the whole lot of them, but the Republicans need to at least get rid of Cheney."...

~I believe in maintaining loyalty.  You gain respect by giving it, and having a sort of family feeling in your working environment.  And that means being accountable to people--especially to your employees....

You hear about the Enrons and the WorldComs and all these other companies that have been aided and abetted by this government's policies, and it's true.  I refuse to work that way, and this company refuses...

Our competitor, three years ago, was off of its sales projections by [x%].  So they fired [the same x] % of their workforce.  That's [x] number of people laid off, plus all their families, so that's really [3x or 4x] people.  The very next day, the same CEO gave himself a multimillion dollar bonus, and then the day after that gave the ex-president memberships to eight exclusive golf-courses and diner's clubs.  It's disgusting.  People won't stand for it for long--and it's just bad business.

I was stunned.  I couldn't believe that a company executive was speaking to me in these terms--politically enlightened, progressive, and absolutely disgusted with the way things are operating.

~ thought cabdrivers were pretty reliably conservative!  that had certainly been my experience...What was happening?  At this point, I could feel the anger welling up in these hardworking souls all across the nation. I started to get sick to my stomach with the feeling of empathy and shared rage...

~This is it, Democrats.

The seething rage and fury of this country is at a boil.

I have never seen ANYTHING like this in my life.  The level of political consciousness--the level of sheer outrage at what is going on in this country--is enormous.  And the American people are ready.  Ready for a change.  They are ready for progressive leadership to guide them out of this hell that they are living every day, and complaining bitterly about every day to random strangers.

And all we have to do is channel it.

My message to my fellow progressives is this: Keep up the fight, people.  It may feel like we're losing battle after battle in DC, the Supreme Court, on the ground in all the halls of power.

But we're winning the battle for the hearts and minds of America in our outrage and our ideas--even if it hasn't yet translated directly into Democratic votes.

And my message to the Democratic party is this: Give us firm, unabashed progressive candidates that are ready to give the Republicans hell.  The people are ready to follow.  Just give them a chance and a reason to channel their anger into votes for DEMOCRATS.

[Cross-posted at my blog There Is=Voting turnout The problem is that a lot of these people are disillusioned with the whole system.  Less than 50% of eligible people even turn up to vote anymore.  If they all showed up the election would run SOLIDLY democratic; it's just that this culture of helplessness pervades and people don't bother voting.

==That's impossible to prove I've seen studies that suggest that the folks who don't vote aren't that politically different in attitude from those who do.

But I don't know if that's accurate or not.

And you don't really know that the disaffected voters are all disaffected for the same reasons. There may be folks who don't vote because their socialist views are ignored by elected representatives... and other folks who don't vote because their libertarian views are similarly neglected.

I'd love to believe that you're right and that there's a huge "Silent Majority" of would-be Democrats out there.  I hope you're right.
 
==Flight attendants--every one of them despise Bu$hco.  They know he hates them and the felling is mutual.  They know he despises unions.

Before the election I proudly wore my button that said "Fire the Liar".  Well let me tell you, I bonded with so many flight attendants because of that little button. I got served more wine and first class food in coach from my comrad flight attendants all thanks to my little button.
 
==Heartening, BUT....

I liked this diary a lot up to the part where it says we just have to "channel" the rage. This is dead wrong. Thats what the Dems always do, channel rage. What needs to happen is that all that rage needs to become educated and organized rage that refuses to be channelled by either of the two parties of corporate power.

Maybe the disconetent you encountered will result in massive Dem victories this November. I hope so. But then what? What the hell are the Dems going to DO to seriously address the problems that poor and working class people are facing. I'll tell what they will do. Precious little. They will take some symbolic stands and tinker here and there. But they won't challenge the death-grip of the military-industrial complex on this country, they won't fight for single-payer universal healthcare, they won't equalize school funding between rich and poor communities, they won't really stop the devastation of the planets eco-system.

I think the country is coming to a slow boil as well, but it wil not produce teh sorts of social changes we need if we continue to rely on the Dems to lead the way.

"Tell no lies. Claim no easy victories" -- Amilcar Cabral

==Not so It is just wrong to paint all dems the same. Yes, some are beholden to 'corporate power.' but some ain't. my rep grijalva who would fight for  all that you mention.

I say bull. If Gore had been president:

we would be doing something about global warming.

we would not have invaded Iraq

He would not have encouraged the epa to relax oversight

If Dems led in the House and senate we would not be

passing bankruptcy bills that screw people
considering drilling in the artic refuge
Giving tax gifts to wealthy billionaires
cutting school loans and medicare.
etc, etc, etc...

I guess you are wealthy, and not disabled because obviously little tweaks like school loans, medicare etc are insignifcant to you. But to people who have to put themselves through college or have disabled relatives, these little things matter.

=You have no idea how much I needed to read this today.

After a full week of trying to decide whether it's worse that Cheney shot a guy and stonewalled it, or that the Cheney-shot-a-guy story overshadowed some really bad, scary shit that's been happening in DC..... Thanks, anyway. Now I can go have my dinner and know I'll be able to digest it.

Just one suggestion: you might want to change the title, from "Palpable Rage" to "Palpable Hope". I know it's already up on the rec list and all, but I almost didn't read this diary because of the title and the aforementioned mood I was in.

==You and me both The Paul Hackett fiasco just about finished me off insofar as any belief that I may have held that the Democrats would make any real difference.  I still don't really trust them.  But I am happy to hear that the public is getting as pissed off over this administration as I am.  It has been looking as if they could get away with anything. 

===Democratic evangelizing

That is my favorite political activity.  In my work, I look for opportunities to grumble about Bush and the Republicans:  Medicare Part D provides a rich vein; bad-mouthing WalMart is fun ("I don't shop in stores that don't treat their workers well"); HMO shenanigans are easily generalizable to corporatocracy under Bush.

Usually an under-the-breath comment is enough.  Sometimes the opportunity comes up in another conversation.  If there's a receptive response, I can always follow up  with "Well, remember that when it comes time to vote.  It makes a difference."

Almost always I find a receptive ear.  In the purple city where I work it's very unusual to get any pushback from Kool-Aid drinkers.  The real secret seems to be identifying the problems in people's lives, and gently showing them the political context.  I think most people see that context; its importance is what is often missed.  We have to show folks how important political questions are in their lives.  That's where converts come from, in my experience.
 
==Seniors are very confused about Part D
They're scared, confused, overwhelmed and angry, almost to a person.  It's up to Democrats to show them who's to blame, and who to elect to actually fix the mess.  There's the rub, eh?

=They already know

I live in Northern San Diego County a pretty conservative area,lots of retired military.In the past 3 years, I have not met one Senior who supports George W. Bush. Since the Medicare/Perscription drug bill things have gotten worse for Bush, they now hate him. My husband and I just turned 60 and are considering selling our home and moving to a retirement community. We were out looking last Sunday, as we drove up and down the streets we saw a few folks walking their dogs, there was one lady in particular who caught my eye.

She walked her dog and went into her home through her opened Garage. I could not help but peek into her garage, to my surprise, she had in there picket signs, all anti-Bush. I couldn't believe my eyes, she also had a sign identical to Cindy Sheehan's T-shirt with the number of dead on it, the one that got her into so much trouble. As we drove by, I honked and gave her the thumbs up sign, she was happy to return it. Senior Citizens are the largest voting block in the country. You know when you go out to eat, "you don't want to piss off the cook" by complaining about your meal.

Well, in politics you don't want to piss off the Seniors, and it seems as though George W. and his Republican buddies have done just that. If we can be assured of fair elections and voting machines that actually record the vote cast it is going to be a landslide for the Democratic party.

==Recently while reading Al Frankin's latest book at a fast food place, I had several total strangers stop by my table and start up conversations. They were all really pissed at Bush. Yeah, it's out there. People are mad as hell.

Man's most judicious trait, is a good sense of what not to believe. Euripides
=Grumblings among conservatives

I was at a shooting range a couple of weeks ago, in a red state.  The topic of the Iraq War came up among a number of self-described "gun nuts"  whom you'd expect to all be backers of Bush and company.

But imagine my astonishment when the conversation went 180 degrees opposite of what I thought it would!  Individual after individual were slamming the Bush Administration as inept, incompetent, and looking out only for the interests of the wealthy, destroying the nation in the process.  The anger was so strong that the term "revolution" was used a number of times.

Now I don't know if any of these individuals would be able to bring themselves to vote for a Democrat in '06 or '08 given the Democrats' track record on gun control, something over which these individuals become single-issue voters.  But I can tell you that if the Democrats don't offer up candidates (such as Hillary... please God, don't let this happen!) whom would motivate these folks to turn out to vote AGAINST the Democratic candidate (which is different from voting FOR a republican candidate), these individuals will at the very least stay home.

Yeah, maybe the times are a changin'.  Let's keep our fingers crossed... lest a non-peaceful revolution be in the making.

"Life is forever menaced by chaos and must restore balance with every intake of breath"-- Jean Gebser

==LMAO!! WooHoo!!

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one hearing this!!!
Even the little ole' ladies at CVS are talking in the check-out line!
The baggers at the grocery stores!
The video store workers!
The guy at the gas station It's everywhere!
You need to get out more!! LMAO! J/K!
Thanks for posting a positve observation!
More DKer's need to read this!
lol!
I rate this a FOUR!!!!

=Now, if we can get Democrats to understand
that 1) these people are their constituency, and 2) they will vote for Democrats if they are convinced a) that their votes will be counted and b) that Democrats will do something about their lives, then something is really happening.

(I should have provided a chart . . . )

But until that, nothing is really happening, unfortunately. And that's been the status quo for a damn long time.

= am hearing a lot of discontent at work
when I am on my break.  No one use to talk politics before but they sure are now.  The only "W" sticker left in the parking lot is on the vehicle that belongs to my boss.

I think the Cheney incident really grabbed  their attention.  Maybe now they'll listen a bit more carefully to the real issues.

==Perfect soundbite!
The only "W" sticker left in the parking lot is on the vehicle that belongs to my boss.

   Says it all, right there.

   Why do Dem leaders have such a hard time with messaging? It's as simple as the above.

==I talk this way every time I am in public now.  I get such positive feedback that I just do it every time.  I live in a democrat majority area but with a lot of people who have gone the wingnut route over the last ten yrs. thanks to talk radio.  We have no liberal anything in our media.  So it is very refreshing to have people agree so readily with me.  Bush must go is the theme now.

     It is vital that everyone keeps up the conversations that will keep the rage boiling and the talking points out there.  All democrats should be starting these types of conversations, it's a very easy way to help the cause.

==this may be truer than you think.

Ever since I can remember, I've thought of myself as moderate.  Nothing too extreme, I believed.  Then I took a political ideology test and discovered that MY beliefs, MY middle-of-the-road beliefs were actually considered LIBERAL now.

I was shocked to find out that the political ideologies have been pushed so far to the right of the spectrum that my modest beliefs were considered the Radical Left, one step short of Socialist.

What a mind-blower that one was.  I had to take the test again, just to make sure that I hadn't screwed it up somehow.  It came back the same.

That left me only one conclusion: I believe that "political labels" are misleading folks.  They really don't understand where they fit into the political spectrum any longer. 

We keep saying that "it's not your Daddy's Republican party any more."  Well, the converse of that is that neither is the Democratic party. 

It's my hope that the Democratic party will begin to promote what our values REALLY are.  If they blanket the country with our platform, these "regular people" would discover that LIBERALs really aren't that far from their own beliefs.  If, in fact, they are different at all.

==Great post

I always considered myself a moderate as well, and tended to vote Republican.

I took the test and came out liberal/libertarian.

What's funny is that in lurking at Free Republic, I've found that they love to quote Ronald Reagan and Zell Miller claiming that they used to be Democrats but the party moved away from them.

Well, I feel the opposite way, I used to be a Republican but when Bush decided to invade Iraq based on cherry picked, non vetted intelligence, I realized that it was no longer a party that I could support.

Then they turned their battle cry into trashing gays, abortion and evolution, and I knew they were crazy mad.

The Republicans have a fundamental problem with telling the truth - Howard Dean.

==Drowned in a wave of popular revulsion.

My message to my fellow progressives is this: Keep up the fight, people.  It may feel like we're losing battle after battle in DC, the Supreme Court, on the ground in all the halls of power.

We are losing battle after battle -- because they are cheating us out of proper representation.  Remember when you were a kid swimming at the oceans edge and a big wave surprised you and knocked the breath out of you and left you scared and bewildered?  That's how hard I want to the wave of American revulsion at the lies and theiving that passes for governance under Bush and the Republican kleptocrats in control to hit those turd-faced guppies in November.  Work for it!

And remember, the media will tell you that you are having no effect -- that's just another part of the strategy of "the big lie".

" W " is the New Swastika

==I should credit another Kossack ...  ... in whose message I saw it for the first time.  I don't remember who it was, and I don't know if it was original to that message.

But I think it true.  We have W (well, more like the universal NO sign) on our cars, but though we live in a heavily Democratic city, I've not seen any others.

Someone pointed out to me (here on dKos) that there is in the south something like a W salute, done with the arm held over the head.  This seems too asinine to be true, but scary if it is.

If I had any graphics skills I'd make a GIF of a swastika rolling over, flipping one arm up and straightening the other to form a squared, ugly, W, and then I'd figure out how to put that in my sig.

" W " is the New Swastika

=="Wave of revulsion"... or a TSU - NA - MI !!!!!!!!!!!!!

==Hopeful, but cynical We have anger, disgust, revulsion, and the truth. They have Rove, Diebold, and the corporate "liberal" Media.

Will those little old ladies from Omaha remember to vote Dem when Rove tells them that Dems will ban the Bible and force them to marry lesbians? If they do vote Dem, will their votes be counted honestly, or by a Rethug campaign co-chair? If the Rethugs steal another election, will we finally take to the streets the way they did in Ukraine, or will we just sigh, shrug our shoulders, and see what's on the other channel?

You're telling us to be hopeful because we're in the majority. I got news. A majority voted for Gore 5 years ago.

==Was the 2004 election fixed? I didn't have the time or patience to follow in detail all the exit poll analysis etc. and the fraud/no fraud arguments here.

But now I think so, not based on fraud evidence, but simply because they could not afford to lose. 

Look at the prosecutions now (Plame, Abramoff, etc., etc.)

Now imagine a Kerry Justice Department prosecuting these cases -- and much more --

How many Iraq plunderers would now be in trouble? 
Would Scully (the guy who extorted Foster into clamming up about the cost of the Medicare drug plan) be lawyering up?

They could not afford to lose.

Look at the stonewalling on government records on pre-war intelligence, the NSA plan, etc.  If Kerry had been elected, FOIA requests would have been honored the next day.

Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out -- Emperor Claudius

==love you for opening up your soul for your and other's rage.  That rage is there because people are deprived of love and trust.  I am more pessimistic than you are because hardly anybody is willing or capable to see how ruthless and thoroughly prepared and lavishly funded the other side is.  I was shocked into realizing that just last August when I had to admit based on plain physical evidence (I am a physicist) that 911 was an inside job.  I haven't been the same since.

=James Retter just said the same thing today, speaking to Democrats of the Desert.  He believes the tide is shifting, and if we just take on rightwingers with simple facts, we'll always win the argument.  Apparently Ann Coulter won't appear opposite him on talking head news anymore, because he wins.

Retter wrote "Anatomy of a Scandal" about the anti-Clinton VRWC.  Very interesting guy.

Got a supportive beep for my "Enough is Enough" bumpersticker today, and I live in a Republican stronghold. 

We just need to speak up, calmly and helpfully, as you did at the airport.  Good for you.

Are we still routinely torturing helpless prisoners, and if so, does it feel right that we as American citizens are not outraged by the practice? -Al Gore

===Aw....come off it. Democrats aren't necessary.

Industry can be trusted to police itself.

Airlines
Pharmaceuticals and medical industry
Brokerages
Insurance companies
Beef and food industry
Energy
Banking
Automotive
Software

Self correcting market forces make sure they all stay honest. 
</snark>

The world was my oyster but I used the wrong fork -Oscar Wilde

==Great to hear I live in New York, so I am used to hearing people rail against Bush.

(Vets waiting rooms are especially fun)

I will be visiting my parents in Arizona in a couple of weeks, so I am looking forward to seeing reactions there.

The Republicans have a fundamental problem with telling the truth - Howard Dean.

==yep we had a cabbie quoting air america chapter and verse on thursday

==Are you in Arizona? That's great news.

The Republicans have a fundamental problem with telling the truth - Howard Dean.

Also a New Yorker (And in the People's Republic of the Upper West Side, no less.)

But I can sense it even here.  People who might have been passive Democrats are becoming furious.  Some Republicans are now convinced that Bush is a disaster.

People in this country have to be beaten over the head by disaster after disaster to realize how much they're being screwed.  It's now come to that point --

Schiavo
Social security
Katrina
Abramoff
NSA
Medicare Plan D
and Iraq as a constant horror in the background.

If people feel this way with under 5% unemployment, wait until the inevitable downturn.

This is why there was little or no political downside to filibustering Alito.
 
=Salon had an article on pilots feeling the crunch. Ask the Pilot had a lot to say about how pilots go through a long, low-paid period before they start making $85,000 plus (they're 42 to 50 years old on average when they start making that kind of money).  They're feeling the fear and loathing that the rest of us are.

The only people saying "Stop-loss" isn't a backdoor draft -- are people who aren't affected by it.

==Delta Airlines pilots are striking now as we write.  The airlines are a mess, we tried to fly from Pensacola to Phoenix last week and ended up visiting every damn state in the complete southwest before finally arriving in Phoenix (the wildfires burning in Santa Ana, CA were truly amazing and scary, though) and God it was so cold in Charlotte, NC when we sat there for four hours!  And do you know they have renamed Houston Int'l Airport 'Bush Int'l Airport'??? 

We heard lots of complaining, lots of comments, none positive, none a compliment to this great country or the people who are in charge of our travels and our inconveniences.

==Who will lead?

First, I've noticed this phenomenon too. Granted, I'm now living in the SF Bay Area, so I don't take it as any measure of newness, but I have noticed an uptick in people's rage, their anger at this regime.

The anger is out there. Among many of us. That palpable rage against Bush is the exact same rage many of us had when the Democrats caved on Alito. We are seeing Americans grow tired of the GOP's bullshit, but also are seeing Democrats acting timid and unwilling to stand up and lead that rage against Bush.

I'm not saying this to be pessimistic. Just to point out that without leadership, all that we'll have is palpable rage, which won't coalesce into actual change unless someone steps up to make that happen.

Of course, that "someone" has got to be us. If the Democrats are too chickens to lead, we'll do it for them.

==Also ... (I live in CA too, so anti-Bush stuff isn't that rare).

But what I'm noticing more and more are people connecting the general shittiness of their lives to politics. It's no longer a bad boss or a shitty company they're working for or the fucking credit card company any more ... it finally seems to be focused on one step above that, at the policy/political level. People, I think, are sensing that the problem is bigger and deeper and wider than their individual gripes and circumstances. Thus, I'm seeing a lot more people waking up and becoming at least slightly politicized.

My impression: Katrina. Katrina really made a deep psychic impression on this country, even if it's subliminal. Because the message that came through was twofold: This was an act of chance, it could be your community next; AND ... no one gives a shit (at least at the federal governmental level) if you die.

Those are really earth-shaking realizations. The people you pay taxes to in order to defend you and keep you safe DO NOT CARE if you die.

==Absolutely. That's an excellent point. I think that's precisely the source of the rage (making political connections to personal problems) and the reason that connection has happened (Katrina and the exposure of the basic negligence of this government).

===It has substantially eroded Bush's 9/11 aura, which is the sole reason he was "re-elected." But it's not completely gone, because he still gets his highest poll marks for protecting against terrorism.

On the other hand, the old tricks are not working -- e.g., the "foiled LA plot" gambit laid an egg, and the NSA wiretapping polls show that majorities are now skeptical.

== heard on the news the other day

Barber Boxer and Diane Fienstein demand to be heard by Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security, who now controls FEMA, because there seems to be no plan if California gets hit with a major earthquake. Mr. Chertoff, seems to think those plans need to be made by the state of California. Katrina taught us all a lesson, our government can not handle a freaking hurricane, how in the hell can we expect them to respond if God forbid there is another terrorist attack in a major American city. Oh I forgot, Chertoff, said they mishandled Katrina because they were so overly focused on terrorism. Suppose for one minute, terrorists blew up the levees in NOLA,(NOLA made it through the hurricanes, it was the breach of the levy that flooded the city) what would they do differently, since they were so focused on terrorism.

==Yes, incapable of care Neither about human beings nor the planet and everything on it

==This time around, in '06, we've got ... ..the perfect opportunity to kickstart that leadership at the local (district) level.

Got a red district near you? I do. It's David Dreier's. And I'm signed up to do whatever I can to get Russ Warner into that seat. It's a long-shot. But what I'm hoping to do in my calm and measured way is persuade Warner that he has nothing to lose and everything to win by tying into this seething rage by addressing it and its causes directly, without mealy-mouthing, without hedging. My educated guess is that - lose or win - he'll get more votes that way than trying to triangulate in a GOP-controlled district in which 25% of registered Democrats don't cast ballots.

Every one of us who lives in a blue district and has the time and energy should be working to elect the challenger in a red district.

==Great Diary! Yeah well I'll just bill my hours of lost sleep back to the White House.BastardsToo funny! I laughed out loud- you can feel the frustration. I usually have interesting conversations at the gas pump. Obviously about the cost of gas but they always tie it into the debacle in Iraq and I live in a red county in blue Maryland. Maybe you can turn this into a series. Recommended

==Then how did the Shrub win re-election? I hate to do this, but I have to burst some bubbles here. I really would like to see some discussion. I agree that there is rage and frustration about to boil over.

But is this a higher level of anger that has been reached in the year and a quarter since ShrubCo. won re-election?

And another thing (maybe it's NOT another thing) what if ShrubCo. just out right steals the 2006 elections? The stories about electronic voting machines and fraud, Diebold, etc., have me scared. I really thought that there was NO way that ShrubCo. could win Florida in 2004. The way I figured it, with the Supreme Court stopping the recount, and the massive allegations of voter intimidation, voters dropped from the rolls, etc., I thought the Democratic Party, the various Afro-American organizations and churches, and so on, would be fully mobilized and would simply swamp ShrubCo. in 2004. When Bush actually won, I immediately suspected there had to be fraud. Then I started seeing the reports of the suspected fraud in Ohio. And those were the two key states all the pundits and politicians had been talking about for days before the election.

So, what happens if this massive wave of anger is negated by outright vote fraud?

And here's something else: what if there is another terrorist attack with massive casualties in the U.S.? I think all bets would be off then. You know that ShrubCo. has NOT really done much to actually make the U.S. homeland more secure (remember the 9-11 commission issued all those "failing grades"?).  I think another terrorist attack is inevitable.

Finally, what if ShrubCo. pulls off an "October Surprise" by simply declaring victory in Iraq just before the election? There was a diary on this yesterday, but I neglected to flag it and now can't find it.

==He didn't win in 2004 that is "how" he won.

This same anger was there then, and everybody thought that they had the power to kick his ass out.   They didn't.

You only have the power if you can actually vote.

I heard someone say the other day "who's stopping them from doing whatever they want?  Nobody!"

Which is exactly right.  Nobody's stopping them.  Here in California was just got Diebold shoved down our collective throats for 2006. 

==I thought the pretty much same thing If everyone who voted for Al Gore voted for John Kerry, plus almost everyone who voted for Nader, plus the principled GOP voters who didn't buy the Iraq war and so many other bad Bush moves, 2004 should have been a Democratic landslide.  But the Dems blew it on national security and foreign policy by not offering clear alternatives.

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on. --Winston Churchill

==Exactly!
"If everyone who voted for Al Gore voted for John Kerry, plus almost everyone who voted for Nader, plus the principled GOP voters who didn't buy the Iraq war and so many other bad Bush moves, 2004 should have been a Democratic landslide."
You are absolutely correct. Plus, people like me, who previously called myself Independent, were out there working for Kerry's campaign! On election day 2004, I was out walking door-to-door with another woman who had never worked on a campaign before. There were lots of us!

"The election's over. We won. It's all over but the counting, and we'll take care of the counting." Rep. Peter King (R-NY) at WH function, 2003

=Good points you make... except that I don't buy into the voter fraud part as the explanation for why Shrub won.  In my opinion, the democrats didn't offer up good candidates, and the republican machinery did an awfully good job at getting out the vote, especially through churches.  I think there's a wave of religious fundamentalism out there that hasn't yet been accurately assessed.

And Bush and company are the best things going for al Qaida.  Look for something there to happen if al Qaida is thinking strategically.

And look for aerial bombing of Iran in October.

The issues to address in 2006 and 2008 will be national security, corruption, and the consolidation of wealth, in that order.  Democrats will need individuals who can get up in front of the people and resonate with authenticity and not pandering opportunism.

That's why I'm keeping my eye on both Wesley Clark and Russ Feingold.  I'm looking for a standard-bearer.

=Even my Dad Who sent out letters before the 2004 election stating what a scary guy Kerry was mentioned what a mess Bush has made of things. Recently he said he actually missed Clinton (Clinton never received any praise from my Dad when he was in office). 

My Dad, the wingnut, even said people would probably vote for Hillary just to get Bill back in office - he was pretty lit when he said it, but one can hope the tide is changing.

These are strange days indeed!

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known---Carl Sagan

=Let's Hope He Goes to the Polls lit this November.

Buy the man a bottle the Monday before election Tuesday to get him off on the right -- er, left -- foot!

They burn our children in their wars and grow rich beyond the dreams of avarice.

===I will be making martini's at the polling stations if that's what it takes.

=Pilots are working class grunts... just like most of us are, and flight attendents are even more blue collar than the pilots. 

Your message comes across loud and clear, the Democratic party needs to clean up whatever little lobbying issues they might have and then run on a loud and clear message, the republicans have sold the country out to big business, let the record oil profits and big giveaways by republicans to the oil industry be their big battle cry, and don't let this die. 

The Democratic party needs to get with it, the economic populist message is where it's at. 

Howard Dean keeps getting picked on for not courting the big dollar donors for the DNC, Howard has done the party a favor, the Dems can truly be the party of the average American if they truly turn their backs on the corporate big dollar folks that Clinton got them in bed with. 

==Hope rears its ugly head ... As someone said in her diary on the professionals suddenly getting the blog "religion," where is the action? BushCo has been the most impeachable administration for years now, and what have the Democrats in Washington done?

Grok Your World
grok: to understand something in a deep and empathic way

==Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S These are our opponents. But not for the DREs and tabulators the GOP would be toast.

Thank you for this reassurance that the people are not fooled by these psychopathic, kleptocratic usurpers.

For those of you who need to understand the psychology of how these whackos have taken over our beloved country I recommend delving into the following:

The Psychopathic Tendency in World Politics (and the rest of the postings on ponerology.blogspot)

Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes (This is page 1 of 2; the really good stuff is on page 2)

It's heavy reading and makes my brain hurt with rage, despair and determination to fight back.

Another writer who gives great insight into the psychology of our time is Arthur Silber

oil=lebensraum

=More Suggested Reading if you have the stomach...

Becker, Ernest. 1973.  The denial of death.
Becker, E.  1975.  Escape from evil.
Fromm, Erich.  1973.  The anatomy of human destructiveness.
Lifton, Robert J.  1979.  The broken connection: On death and the continuity of life.
Peck, M. Scott.  1983.  People of the lie.

As you said, not light reading, but highly instructive nonetheless on what we're seeing in our society.

==Rage is no good to anyone unless it can be transformed and the energy channeled into positive thought and action.

So how do we do that?  Simple.  Democrats have to get their act together and present a strong, positive alternative to Bushco.  They have to stand FOR something rather than AGAINST something.  People are tired of being rageful.  Rage saps the strength.  Hope instils strength.  People want to be working, somehow, to fix things.  The Democrats have to show that they're the party that knows how to fix things and has the will to do it.

Notice I said it was simple, not easy.

Perhaps some mighty victory is growing in you now. - Mike Finley

==Actually, this is not what wins elections

What wins elections is a well-organized, on-the-ground, GOTV effort, planned well in advance and fully implemented with lots of local volunteers.

It is a truism that the only people who care what the party stands for are the party activists.  Issues do not turn out the vote.  Issues motivate the party activists.  In the Republican Party, those people direct their energies to getting all the other registered Republicans out to vote.  In the Democratic Party, those people direct their energies to yelling at their party.

Parties do not get out the vote.  That is the job of the individual candidates and their campaigns.

People don't go out to vote for their Party.  They go out to vote for candidates.  Especially in a non-presidential election.  The Party can stand for whatever it wants, it doesn't matter to them.  People care what the individual candidates on their ballots stand for.

If you think the Democrats are going to take back the Congress based on anything the Party does, you are sadly mistaken.  Each and every Democratic candidate is going to have to win their own seat themselves.

So...if you want to win back the Congress in 2006, stop yelling at the Democratic Party, go find a Congressional candidate to support, and work your butt off for them.  Because that's how it's done.

===No more Bizarro-World ?!  Wow _ that sounds like the America I know and love!

The small town where I live is so overwhelmingly blue that Kucinich was the flavor du jour last election, so it's hard to tell what is going on out there. I am glad to hear some good news and I hope it is still enough of a democracy that the votes will be counted.

 Thanks for the hopeful diary !

"If you have any poo, fling it now !"

==yes...but ( a loving but firm rant) I agree with you completely that the country is ready for a change.  But are we offering it?

Forget for a moment whether our party leaders are offering it.  We know the answer to that.  But WE...as in the grassroots soul of this party.  Are we as a movement offering it?

I log into Dkos and can reliably have my quota of outrage filled every time.  If I'm looking for snark or Bush vitriol, that is never a problem.

But I want more - and I think those people you encountered do to.  I want to be inspired.  I want to be the good guys again, not just the angry opposition.  When I talk to folks here about seeking higher ground, I'm told that a "Fighting Dem"  doesn't wear white gloves and flowered hats and let the Republicans win by fighting dirty.  "It is time that we get in the mud and beat the Republicans at their own game," I often hear.

But I don't think the ccountry needs more mud slinging.  I don't think we need more anger.   What we need is righteous conviction on the line of MLK and Ghandi.  That is what those people you met are hungering for.  Can we give it to them?  I know we can't control everything, but we can certainly control the message here at DKos if we choose to - and what happens at Dkos is noticed by folks at the very top of the power pyramid - on both sides.  If a movement towards a more inspiring view of this country swept through this place, the repurcussions would be felt throughout our society.

We have the power.  Now we simply have to get over our anger and frustration enough to use it.    

==Good points

Being tough doesn't mean dirty politics, at least in the Rovian sense, or gross deception or outright lying.  It does, however, mean confronting issues head-on by clearly defining them and that does require a direct attack on Bushand his administration because they have made themselves the issues and continue to force them.

I still remember Bush's first speeches after 9/11.I expected to hear how "we" would respond as a nation; what he spoke about was what "I" will do.  The tone was somewhat ameliorated later, but the message was definite.  America = George Bush.  From that evolved the us/them, either/or logical fallacy which still continues less directly into the present.

I don't believe we hope win until we address the Bush cabal directly, as difficult and unpleasant as that may be. by blueoasis
=I don't think we ought to ignore him But the problem with spending too much of our energy on him is that the next Republican candidate can also claim the mantle of change...even go as far as running against Bush if they choose.

Call him out - sure.  but we need to train our sites beyond Bush.  He's not running again.

Unless he changes that law.

=I hope you're right but I remember seeing diaries like this before the 2004 election, relating anecdotes about anti-Bush comments from strangers and from conservative family and friends.  I'm sure that most of these stories were genuine, and I strongly suspect that these did reflect widespread anti-Bush sentiment.  But in the end, Bush and the Republicans won.  I think this is largely because we didn't present an appealing alternative.  We had a candidate who couldn't articulate a clear position on the big issues (opening himself up to charges of "flip-flopping") and whose main advantage over his Democratic competitors was not his political views but rather his military service (which was neutralized or even turned into a liability by the Swift-Boaters).  The public was sick of Iraq, but the Democrats offered no alternative except Kerry's proposal to get help somehow from the international community. 

We have the same problem now.  People are tired of Republican rule, but they have no reason to think that the Democrats will be dramatically different.  We're all over the place on Iraq.  We're struggling against a hostile media to prove that Abramoff is a Republican scandal, not a bipartisan one.  I don't think that 99% of the public understands what Abramoff did anyway.  The domestic spying and Patriot Act issues have potential, but only if we can make clear why the average American should regard these things as dangerous. 

In short, I basically agree with your conclusion.  We need candidates who are able to articulate exactly why Republicans are bad and why Democrats will be better.  We need candidates who can provide both substance--concrete differences between themselves and the Republicans--and style--the ability to explain why these differences should translate into a Democratic vote.  Otherwise all this rage means nothing. 

==We can start...   ...by not immediately garroting every emerging Democratic figure who projects strength.

    Howard Dean projected strength. He was taken down for it. "Unelectable", they said.

    Paul Hackett projected strength. To "risky" for the establishment. He had to go.

   Instead we field one bland, milquetoast candidate after another. Helps explain our unstoppable winning streak nationwide, no?

   Unfortunately, I'm dreading a repeat of 2002. The Dem candidates will fall all over themselves showing how Republican they can be, how cool they are that they're so willing to play with Bushie and that unassailable 39% approval rating of his. And they'll be shocked, just shocked, when the RNC runs the smear-machine on them full-throttle and they get destroyed in November.

   Our current leadership, give or take Dean and a few others, will probably never learn. The best bet is to change that leadership -- and we do that by BECOMING the party.

  Join your local Democratic organization and start making a difference. I have.

Of course Republicans oppose abortion. If you kill them in the womb, they're not available to be killed on the battlefield.

==You're right. I never gave a whit about politics until 2000.  I voted Democrat because in my family, that's just what you did.

Since 2000, I have:

>Volunteered
>Protested the Iraq War
>Put "Impeach" stickers up wherever I can find a non-vandalistic way to do it
>Called my Congressman (Baird) and Senators (Cantwell and Murray)
>Campaigned for my Congressman
>Attended a meeting held by my Congressman
>Written a LTE
>Found and fell in love with Daily Kos (Markos is actually pretty damned cute, himself)
>Called Randi Rhodes on my beloved Air America Radio
>Talked politics with perfect strangers

And it's infectious.  Several of my apathetic friends have joined me on my fool adventures.  It's not only fun, it's better than sitting around waiting for the next election to be stolen.

==Great!    That's what we ALL ought to do. Think nationally, act locally.

   My entree into local politics started when I joined Dean for America in the summer of 2003. While the campaign itself was unsuccessful, I made some invaluable new friends and contacts.

   I wound up helping manage a local city-council campaign, and we kicked ass -- we've now got a reform Dem in our city council. And he's young enough to have a good political future ahead of him.

   Since then I've built relationships with several Dem Central Committee members, as well as some other highly motivated young activists. I'm in my early forties, so I can relate to both younger and older Dems. We're independently building a brand-new Dem infrastructure in our county -- a website, blog, publicity (TV, radio, internet). We've got some amazingly talented and motivated indivduals working this -- covering backend, fundraising, recruiting writers for the blog and website (that's yours truly). I'll write a diary about it here when the blog's ready for launching (target date is May 1st).

   If we can get this kind of effort going in every county in the nation...we can't lose.

==I read diaries and anecdotes like this and one tin foil thought comes through my mind:

The DLC Democrats - the ProCorporate Democrats that continually undermine progressive and populist reforms and appear to be doing their best to sabatauge 2006 (latest example - Paul Hackett), are Republican plants.

I know it doesn't pass the Occam's Razor test - never use a conspiracy to explain events when simple human stupidity will do - but given the size and scope of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (why the hell  isn't Rob Stein's powerpoint on said subject publically available), it is more than plausible, it is highly likely. 

Freedom does not march. I saw an invasion. I see an occupation. I don't see a war. "Constant war is not a family value." Cindy Sheehan 8/22/05

=Not tinfolish at all  The DLC does NOT want "unclean" Democrats to win.

  DLCers make a lot of money in their current role of Permanent Minority. Great cocktail parties. You might even get to meet Rumsfeld! Get autographs to show your friends and cool stuff like that. "Ken Mehlman shook my hand!! (fey little gasp)"

  It's a nice, comfortable life.

  Netroots Dems winning elections would muck up all that. These Dems might actually, you know, make Washington about serving the public interest again.

  Can't have that.

==Yes... They do do that... they will do that...

so we plough through... expect them to undermine us, and don't get all hyper-introspective and whiney when it happens... Keep working... don't let them throw you off your game...

the "them" I'm referring to is the DLCers and the Repugs...

It sucks that we lost Paul... now we have to work for Sherrod...

==I meet lots of pissant, redneck Canadians Who've always tended to love up militarist, racist, capitalist agenders and secretly wish they were Americans because they think the chances for shootin' and killin' and untrammeled aggression are much better south of the border. 

Even this crowd now thinks Bush and friends are spoiled, lying , thieving wimps, and they feel really sorry for the troops stuck in Iraq, because they see it as a rich man's war. This really is something new... cripes, one of my scariest paranoid neighbours told me that FOX is owned by the US government and is only there to keep up support for Bush/Cheney and the Iraq war, which he now believes is "bullshit."

My point? Even the dumb, racist and bloodthirsty are beginning to resent BushCo. The aspens are indeed turning.

the blue sea seethes with reason

==Even in the redder parts of Colorado.. ..you're starting to notice that all is not well.  I live in Douglas County, which is rather red - Tancredo shudder is our Rep.  But today in Highlands Ranch, there was a crowd of people protesting Bush at a busy intersection - something I didn't even think was possible a few years ago!

I'll be travelling in a few weeks myself - very interested now to hear what people are chattering about.

==I hope every political reresentative who comes to post here reads this diary.
The natives are restless, they want a political leadership that is going to bat for them and won't back down, not now, not ever.

Common sense isn't that common - Voltaire

===You know, I have a grad student who is increasingly disgusted with this administration that she helped vote into power. But come November, her pastor is going to preach to her from the pulpit that if she doesn't vote Republican again, she's going to hell.

How can I fight that?

The less a man knows about how sausages and laws are made, the easier it is to steal his vote and give him botulism.

Tell her That if she doesn't vote Democrat, we all get to go.

==That's too bad I seriously read the Bible, cover to cover, several times.

I don't remember anything about Republicans in it at all.

The parts about the Pharisees were very reminiscent of them, yeah, but they never mentioned Republicans by name.

I do remember there being an awful lot about forgiveness, loving your neighbor, and looking after one another. Sounds like bleeding heart liberals, if not Democrats.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Jesus was the original bleeding heart.

Don't mourn: organize.

===I'd go for the 'compassion' thing Is it compassionate to be unforgiving of debt? Matthew 25:45 the parable of the unforgiving servant, then compare to the bankruptcy bill that has no provision for allowing bankruptcy for natural disaster victims.

Luke 10:25-37 has the good Samaritan - Medicare D and what the dickens is the doughnut about? What about the cuts in Medicare/Medicade?

Luke 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.  What is merciful about torture, both abroad and in our prisons at home?

Plenty of good references.

=Tell her that her Pastor must want to have the IRS on his case. Cite the case of the Episcopal church in Pasadena, CA and then the cases in OH if she doesn't believe you.

You only can ooga booga people for so long.

Ask her a few questions. Does she think that lying is a christian value? Does she think that cheating is a christian value?

==Micah 6:8 "And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Jesus spoke a lot more about poverty, hunger, and economic justice -- what we might call "social morality" issues -- than he did about personal morality issues like sexual behavior.

And as far as I can tell, he said nothing about dancing or going to the movies.

=Wow - *grad* student doesn't think for herself... In any case, you might try recommending some liberal evangelical texts, like anything by Jim Wallis or Tony Campolo.  Michael Lerner is Jewish, but just published something recently that's getting a lot of attention on alternet.

Also, on my to-read list is Myths America Lives By by Richard Hughes, which has a religious critique of some of the narratives that fuel right-wing politics. 

For a good, solid liberal, yea even radical, and very readable Christian writer, Robert McAfee Brown is fantastic.  He was a Presbyterian theologian, very much influenced by liberation theology, and had a great sense of humor.  He died in 2001, a few days before the attacks. Perhaps Unexpected News: Reading the Bible through Third World Eyes would be a good starting point.

Finally, I just finished reading Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization, and World Religions by Rosemary Radford Ruether, a prominent Roman Catholic feminist theologian (and a former teacher of mine) which is compact, to the point, packs a punch, and has lots of good information.  I'd recommend it to any and every activist out there.

My old grad school roommate, a born-again Baptist, voted for Bush in 2000 (strictly on the basis of the abortion issue) and was kind of embarrassed about it, and really mortified when the Iraq War was imminent.  He voted for Kerry in 2004, so there's hope.  I think he's also become more understanding of the abotion issue itself.

==Even the most loyal R's are reeling  A lot of folks who cheerfully called themselves Republicans during Reagan's presidency now call themselves 'libertarian' to avoid the stigma and prevent having to face what their party turned into.

 When they talk, regardless of WHAT they're defending, you can see their feet shuffle. They don't look you straight in the eye. They KNOW it's BS they're spreading, but they're trying to act like the shovel in their hands doesn't exist.

 Then you've got the silent ones who go along because they have some overwhelming faith that the President is always right. In many ways, those are the hardest to persuade. One example:

 One of my coworkers talked seriously about shoot-on-sight orders for our troops in Iraq. It was even more jarring hearing him talk about imprisioning people forever on say-so, torture, and loss of our civil liberties....because he's a black man who's older than I am.

 He grew ashamed with my counter arguments. He agreed with me that we ARE supposed to be more moral than terrorists; I pointed out that many of the things that were happening now were being done not all THAT long ago to folks just like him in America. I asked him if he believed MLK died for nothing, and watched his eyes hit the floor cracks and stay there.

 Finally, we came to the root of it all: He's afraid. He's literally afraid that terrorists are going to come over here and kill him. It took me about 45 minutes of vigorous debate to strip all his evasions and misrepresentations away, and bring him to that point. Then I said this:

 "These people lied to you. They made you scared, and then they lied to you. You knew it was a lie..."

 Small nod.

 "...and yet, you listened. And when NOTHING they said would happen came about, and when NOTHING they promised to do actually got done, why on God's green earth did you listen to them? It's not even like they really CARE about you - New Orleans proved that. They just used you."

 It's been a few days since then. He's still not talking about it, but I can see it's not from hostility, but because he's soul searching. You can almost SEE the pauses as his worldview switches over.

==I've seen it too, every day I'm out And I see it from people I would least expect it from.  I see it from men, from macho-looking, pickup truck-driving men, from young  men who look like football players -- guys you would normally just glance at and be pretty damn sure they were Republicans.

And I hear them say things that I can't even repeat here.

They are PISSED OFF.

But how 'bout those voing machines, huh?

As long as our votes are controlled by Republican corporations, none of this will matter.

This same rage was there in November 2004.  Maybe not quite as much, because people were all pretty sure we were gonna throw the bums out, but it was there.

Until we have actual voting in this country, people are just gonna be more and more angry.

==Ah, the pendulum swings and a lot of our good work (and even our blah-de-blah-blah talk) is seeping out into the mainstream.

If you don't think reporters and news-writers are up late at night, in their pajamas, reading DailyKos for their jobs tomorrow, think again.

Cheney is a gift from God.  Thank you, Lord Serendipity!  You can't buy press like he's given us.  A dagger pointed at the heart of their NRA core support!

The comedians have done their jobs, too.  Ultimate patriots to our rescue, though none can claim it aloud, jumping in so fearlessly -- of course, the material fairly writes itself, but at least they're not shying away.

The "silent" majority is finding its voice, as the Neo-Con Death March goes one bridge too far.

Don't imagine that campaigning will be difficult this Fall.  I think you will be welcomed into homes all around town, and you will have a blast!  (Just remember to do the Election Day follow-up -- and to extend your efforts to neighboring swing Districts.)

I certainly intend to take advantage of the festival atmosphere that may be had as we all celebrate our chance to "Throw the Bums Out!"

And, especially if they spring an October Surprise on us, we'll need to be the calming voices that people can express their natural skepticism to.

From Schiavo, to Cheney -- What A Year!

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SH** UP!

If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State...

==Thank you so much!!! I really needed that!!!  I get very, very discouraged sometimes. I know the public is very angry - at a boiling point. I just don't know if we can capitalize on that. There are days I think only a Bernie Sanders could.

The key is to get people to associate the ever growing gap between rich and working class with the Republican Party. If we can do that, we will win in 2006.

=talk about rage! my parents are getting a divorce. my dad is talking about moving anywhere from three to seven hours away simply because he cannot afford the rents in our area. a man who has worked for the government for more than twenty years relying on a pension and social security and savings cannot afford to live in his home state.

after a lifetime as a mechanic, my friend's father is suffering from joint pains and arthritis but he can't quit his job because of the health benefits.

i haven't felt this level of outrage since 9/11. maybe ever.

i feel outrage when i look at photos from Abu Ghraib, for sure. but this is so different, this personal outrage, and it strikes deeper for more people, especially in a country in which personal and political decisions are made on gut instinct and faith and not the facts. maybe, hopefully, finally they are smacked in the face, punched in the gut with the facts and they are losing this ill-placed faith.

in the middle class, even the upper-middle class, and below, no one's life is getting better. everywhere i turn it seems there is a new regulation that takes away more of my money -- as if i had that much to start with. "Tax reform" is a bunch of bullshit albeit an admittedly brilliant frame (much like "tort reform") to get people to buy into redistributing wealth to the wealthiest. Oh there's been PLENTY of tax reform -- little "tweaks" to snatch money from me and us and hand it over to corporations and wealthy elites. ruling elites.

i sense class revolt in the air.

=Want a revolution?Try mentioning health care and see the reaction you get from across the spectrum. It's also a safe non-partisan issue to start a seemingly non-political conversation.

I'm in medicine and I often slip in a comment about how "we really need a single payer health plan" when people start reciting their tales of health insurance woe. Their heads often nod in agreement.

I also try to throw in a comment about "it's not socialized medicine, it's socialized insurance --like your car insurance". I find heads nod, lights go in.

Speak up people and keep slipping in the comments -- the breaking point is not far off.