This is just on the edge of being a GBCW diary, except I like the site too much to leave. On the other hand, the purity trolls really get under my skin and I can't ignore them, so it substantially compromises the vallue of the site when all the little trolly trolls are running around spewing and exploding all over the place -- messy, to boot.
Ralph Nader said it didn't matter if we elected Bush or Gore because Gore was a centrist. Do you believe that? Because that's exactly what you're buying into [again].
Barack Obama recently said he'd be a failure if after four years we hadn't done three things:
* ended the war in Iraq
* made meaningful progress to curbing CO2 emissions and promoting alternate fuels
* enacted universal health care.
These are the stakes.
What will a McCain presidency do for those goals?
Not bad enough for you? Contemplate what a McCain presidency will do on every other issue you care about.
I was under the impression that dKos is a netroots tool for electing Democrats to office. Lately we've been acting like a freshman debate club -- disconnected from reality and thinking that our opinions are the most important in the world, and whining that the grownups aren't listening to us.
On the most critical issue facing Democrats today, I have to say that I'm against the teeth post. Tacky. But so-fucking-what?!?!?!?
McCain's teeth aren't going to win us the White House. McCain's poor speechmaking skills aren't going to win us the White House. McCain's misspeaking about everything he opens his mouth about isn't going to win us the White House.
WE have to win us the White House [and the House, and the Senate, and governships, and state houses across the country, and dog catchers too].
Short version: eight years ago a woman who worked for Wal-Mart and was covered by their health plan was seriously injured in an accident involving a truck. Her short-term memory is completely shot -- she asks after her 18 year old son and each time she's told he died in Iraq, she cries anew because she doesn't remember that she already knew this. The family had sued the trucking company involved and received a settlement that was invested to pay for her future care. But Wal-Mart's plan allows them to recoup what they spent on her treatment from any legal settlements -- so they have sued and won the money and the judgment has been upheld and a Supreme Court appeal denied.
Yes, I'm excited that Obama is giving a seminal speech tomorrow on race in America.
But, honestly, I'd rather he were giving a seminal speech on the economy -- on how a new approach to politics is critical to confronting and curing some of our economic ills.
We're facing the worst economy since before WWII -- even if it's Alan What Bubble? Greenspan saying it, it's still true. We need a new FDR -- someone willing to take on the special interests, toss the conventional wisdom, and actually change in fundamental ways how we imagine the role of the government in our economy. God knows that Hillary can never be this paradigm shifting President. Now more than ever we need someone with the independence and wisdom of Obama to go straight at our economic crisis -- but we're not hearing about the economy from him. This is dangerous.
I know this barely rises to diary level, but on a day when the MSM is awash in serious, sobering economic news, I find myself having one of those double-take days when I come here and find the discussion largely detached from the looming catastrophe.
Above all I believe that the progressive community is the reality-based community -- time for some reality!
No, this first time diary isn't about Edwards, or Hillary, or any of that.
It's about me and a mistake I made about ten years ago.
Perhaps it's a mistake many of us have made -- I woke up to the error, oh, about 5 years ago. You probably woke up earlier, or didn't make the mistake in the first place. But I fear that much of the US electorate and many of our leaders are STILL under the influence of this mistake. We need to wake them up.
If any one reads this, follow me below the fold for a trip down memory lane accompanied by a little self-flagellation.
