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Truth, Justice And The American Smear

Uh oh. They’re starting to figure it out. HuffPo scribbler Peter Daou to Dems: Stop doing the right favors by elevating Rush. Fun read. 

Focus relentlessly on the disastrous Bush presidency to tarnish Republicans, yes.

Overturn every single illegal and unconstitutional Bush-era policy and show the country and the world that we’re reclaiming the moral high ground, yes.

Implement bold strategies and use soaring rhetoric to inspire Americans, yes.

Hew fiercely to Democratic principles, reassert the greatness of our American identity, demonstrate the true meaning of liberalism, of progressivism, providing opportunity, seeking justice and fairness, helping those in need, yes.

Spend our resources healing the sick, feeding the hungry, lifting the poor, cleaning the planet, rather than on war and more war, yes.

But expand Rush Limbaugh’s profile and platform? No.

It’s bad for the country and it’s bad politics. Limbaugh and his cohorts (Coulter, Hannity, Beck, Savage, and so on), are largely responsible for our toxic political environment.

It’s a kind of a “to save this political discussion we’ll have to smear them” argument combined with a “don’t get into a pissing match with a skunk” strategy. 

I guess the lefties were forced into all that stolen election chimpy mchitlerburton dark lord cheney bush lied people died inheritance blah blah blah as a strictly defense measure. Anyway, the Huffpo scribbler has a point. You’d think they’d be satisfied to let the GOP keep shooting itself in the foot.

HuffPo scribbler Daou actually goes on to make glimmers of sense:

I know it’s hard for Democrats to appreciate how quickly political fortunes turn — the glow of victory, the high of electoral success gives a sense of inevitability and invincibility, of permanence. But there’s nothing permanent about power.

…

It’s a truism that victory makes every decision seem genius, defeat, the reverse. Democrats, now in power, have a sense of triumph that makes every decision feel smart, every chess move a checkmate.

…

It’s easy to feel like the old era is gone, the old demons slain, that we WON, that nobody’s afraid of the once-vaunted Republican attack machine. But Barack Obama’s unquestioned discipline, steadfastness and intelligence notwithstanding, he wouldn’t be president without a tsunami of Hillary-hatred expertly surfed by his campaign, mishandled by hers, a tsunami generated over the years precisely by people like Rush Limbaugh.

The myth of a technological, grassroots revolution, of prodigious strategic and tactical brilliance, of a do-no-wrong campaign, perhaps the greatest ever run, that myth sounds good, but it’s not what happened. The reality was that the 2008 election was the age-old battle of character-building and character-destruction.

Well, Daou was a Hillarite, so what do you expect. He’s already tasted bitter defeat and knows how the worm turns. Though clearly not over it, now he’s trying to tell his new Obamist pals the score.

Meanwhile, here’s Think Progress with its shorts in a twist over Repubs who say they want Obama’s policies to fail. You know, policies like “higher taxes, massive increase in government spending, a huge increase in the role of government, in our daily lives, departure from traditional values.” The shocked reaction is a little disingenuous coming from people who were eager to surrender in Iraq and subject the nation to a humiliating defeat in time of war in order to advance their political agenda. Though in fairness, international humiliation for the United States has been a major lefty goal and a fundamental value for decades quite apart from situational tactics of the Bush era.

Topics: Bush, Clintons, Obama, pols

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:00 pm on Tuesday, March 3, 2009

2 Responses to “Truth, Justice And The American Smear”

1. Robert Says:
   March 3rd, 2009 at 11:12 pm

   “they want Obama’s policies to fail. You know, policies like “higher taxes, massive increase in government spending, a huge increase in the role of government, in our daily lives, departure from traditional values.””

   I don’t want Obama’s policies to fail. What I want is irrelevant. Obama’s policies are going to fail because they are bad policies. I was trying to do him a favor by pointing that out.

2. Danielle Says:
   March 4th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

   While I disagree with Rush and his supporters, I do not agree with this statement

   “It’s bad for the country and it’s bad politics. Limbaugh and his cohorts (Coulter, Hannity, Beck, Savage, and so on), are largely responsible for our toxic political environment.”

   Why is it bad for them to state their opinion? Do I think they should support this President and his policies even if they conflict with their political ideologies? Well, yes. The poicy has already been set in motion and hoping that it fails is the equivalent to hoping the American people fail. This video has great comments for and against Rush’s rants - http://tinyurl.com/cfvzd9- but I think that regardless of whether we agree or disagree, he is still allowed to say what he wants.

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