MoDo has written a splendid column. As it starts, you groan because she seems to be using her usual cheeky tricks. And then it picks up speed and gravitas. I know, Maureen set the bar kind of low, but this is her magnum opus. First time in years I’ve read one her columns and ended up angry – and not at her.
Have to add the money quote – a long one.
OBAMA: What would you do?
BARTLET: GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!
“Heh. Read the whole thing.”
1
By Buck
I guess that what’s happened is basically the equivalent of a bloodless coup d’etat of an Obama presidency? Another 9/11, but in a different form. Now there’s no money for anything—no money for health care reform, no money to cover the baby boomers’ retirement, no money for education, no money for clean, renewable energy. Nothing.
I suspose that it was a bit naive to imagine that they’d ever let a black man have a chance at real change?
September 22, 2008 @ 2:33 pm | Comment
2
By Buck
Published on Sunday, September 21, 2008 by the Huffington Post
Welcome to the Final Stages of the Coup…
by Larisa Alexandrovna
If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.
– Julius Caesar
In 2000, the long fought for and long admired democracy of the United States of America began a slow and steady decline toward fascism – a Bush family tradition – with the installment of a president – a man the citizens overwhelmingly rejected (although the funny math told a still believed myth) – by a few corrupt judges on the US Supreme Court. That coup is now nearly complete and checkmate is all but unavoidable.
Let me first point you to the Bush administration’s so-called Wall Street bailout bill, here, so that you can see for yourself that this treachery is being conducted in the light of day. Fascism is finally and formally out of the right-wing closet even if the F word is not yet openly being used (although it should be, and often).
Now, if you do not yet understand that the Wall Street crisis is a man-made disaster done through intentional deregulation and corruption, I have a bridge in Alaska to sell to you (or Sara Palin does anyway). This manufactured crisis is now to be remedied, if the fiscal fascists get their way, with the total transfer of Congressional powers (the few that still remain) to the Executive Branch and the total transfer of public funds into corporate (via government as intermediary) hands.
Adam Davidson of NPR blogs about the so-called bailout bill as follows:
I would guess that this has to be one of the biggest peacetime transfers of power from Congress to the Administration in history. (Anyone know?). Certainly one of the most concise.
The Treasury Secretary can buy broadly defined assets, on any terms he wants, he can hire anyone he wants to do it and can appoint private sector companies as financial deputies of the US government. And he can write whatever regulation he thinks are needed.
Most importantly, Davidson points to this passage in the bill:
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
The Bush family, in the form of Prescott Bush, has tried a more aggressive coup before in order to install fascism in this country. This treasonous plot was called “the Business Plot,” because the high-level plotters – including Prescott Bush – were Wall Street men who openly supported fascism.
It seems this time around, the Bush family is trying the more subtle approach to open bloodshed: first create a crisis, then under the guise of addressing that crisis, overthrow democracy. Yes, it does sound terribly conspiracy-theory-esque when explained just this way. But what else does one call a criminal conspiracy to destroy Congressional powers permanently, alter Judicial powers permanently, and steal public funds?
As I see it now, we have but two options and I have long alluded to hoping against hope that one of these options would not be the only one left to a peaceful people. The first and frankly most preferable option is for Congress to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against the members of this latest Business Plot.
No time needs to be wasted on hearings as we already now have in writing, formally as presented to Congress, the intentions of this administration to nullify Congressional powers permanently, to alter Judicial powers permanently, and to openly steal public funds using as blackmail the total collapse of the US economy if these powers are not handed over. You do see how this is blackmail, do you not? You do see how this is a manufactured crisis precisely designed to be used as blackmail, do you not?
The other option, the one I have long prayed we would never need to even consider, is a total revolution. But, If Congress won’t act in its own self-defense, in the defense of democracy, in defense of us – the people who have elected them to protect us from this very danger – then what is left for us to do? I don’t want to see it come down to this, but I fear that it will. Put your party politics aside right now. We are in a crisis so dangerous that should these people succeed in their coup, your party affiliation will no longer matter, your American flag will be a nice collectible item of something that once was, and your version of God will be worshiped in secrecy because your freedoms will be owned by the few.
You are no longer Republicans, Democrats, or any shade of voter. You do not live in a swing state or a solid colored state. You are simply this: an American. That is the only side that matters. So call your members of Congress and demand, no, declare that unless they do their duty to the Constitution and to us, we will move to the streets – not because we want to, but because our founding fathers demanded this duty of each and every citizen in the face of such a domestic enemy. Demand – as is your right – that this bill be voted against and demand – as is your right – that the people plotting this treachery be held to account. We are either a nation of laws or we are no longer a democracy. Pick a side, because there won’t be another time, another moment, another chance to be a patriot.
UPDATE
You guys have to read this, the guy is near ready to call 911 and report me to the secret police for daring to suggest that I fear that there may be a revolution and want everyone to contact Congress and demand no passage of the Coup Wall Street bill (oh, and did I mention that he calls himself the Confederate Yankee?)
“I can only hope the lawful authorities are monitoring such enticements towards insurrection with all due seriousness, and find a nice, well-lit and cheery cell for those who require one.”
Enticements? I did not realize I was standing on a street- corner pulling on my fishnet stockings in hopes of starting a revolt. Now let us examine what I actually wrote – I will bold the key points:
As I see it now, we have but two options and I have long alluded to hoping against hope that one of these options would not be the only one left to a peaceful people. The first and frankly most preferable option is for Congress to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against the members of this latest Business Plot.
No time needs to be wasted on hearings as we already now have in writing, formally as presented to Congress, the intentions of this administration to nullify Congressional powers permanently, to alter Judicial powers permanently, and to openly steal public funds using as blackmail the total collapse of the US economy if these powers are not handed over. You do see how this is blackmail, do you not? You do see how this is a manufactured crisis precisely designed to be used as blackmail, do you not?
The other option, the one I have long prayed we would never need to even consider, is a total revolution. But, If Congress won’t act in its own self-defense, in the defense of democracy, in defense of us – the people who have elected them to protect us from this very danger – then what is left for us to do? I don’t want to see it come down to this, but I fear that it will.
Hmmm, sounds like a massive terrorist plot, right? Oh, and don’t forget to contact your members of Congress. Seriously, is this guy taking heroin with his coffee? Which part of “I hope against hope” and “I fear” is an enticement for anything that would require me to be arrested and put in jail? Freedom of speech, a no-no in Confederate Americana. Stop by and tell this guy what you think of his hopes that I end up in prison.
UPDATE 2
Another kook joins the distortion train and swift-boat party. This one is actually now claiming that I am calling for an insurrection (wow, in a few hours they will be claiming that I armed the rebels, and charging the Bastille). And if you read the comments section of this blog, you will find yet more examples of rabid xenophobia and bigotry.
And yet even more stunning? Not a one of them can seem to find the time to react to the unlimited power the Executive Branch is demanding. Perhaps they are too busy eating their racist Obama waffles?
On a side note, please use the phrase “insurrection in bed” in every comment since the right wing requires a distraction, even an imaginary one.
UPDATE 3
I have gotten some emails where people appear confused by my use of the Caesar quote. Just to clarify, this is in reference to Bush as Caesar, not my support of Caesar. This is in reference to the massive Bush power grab buried in the bailout “coup” bill. Sorry for any confusion.;)
Economy
Terrorism
UPDATES AT BOTTOM If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it. ~ Julius Caesar In 2000, the long fought for and long admired democracy of the United States of Ame…
UPDATES AT BOTTOM If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it. ~ Julius Caesar In 2000, the long fought for and long admired democracy of the United States of Ame…
© 2008 Huffington Post
Larisa Alexandrovna is a journalist, essayist and poet. She is currently managing news editor for Raw Story, and contributes regularly to other publications in the alternative press both online and in print. She also hangs out at her blog, AT-LARGELY.
Her work is cited by mass media outlets such as Rolling Stone, New York Times, Mother Jones, and other notable publications. She is best known for her reporting on domestic intelligence issues and foreign military affairs. For the past year she has been investigating the political prosecutions of Don Siegelman, Paul Minor, Oliver Diaz, John Whitfield, and West Teel in an award nominated series called the Permanent Republican Majority. The reporting of Alexandrovna and her team was instrumental in getting Don Siegelman released from prison.
Alexandrovna’s essay on the Siegelman case appears in a new anthology edited by Mark Crispin Miller called Loser Take All:
September 22, 2008 @ 2:36 pm | Comment
3
By Ryan
Brilliant op-ed, and the Huffington Post article illustrates a similar point. When are the level-headed “Americans” going to stand up and raise their voice. Where’s the intelligent middle in all of this?
September 22, 2008 @ 2:57 pm | Comment
4
By Stuart
Dowd is spot on; and very imaginatively written if, indeed, it was she who authored the piece. I’m not so familiar with her style, but it reads to me as if Aaron Sorkin wrote the dialogue. Either way, excellent stuff and right on the money.
Obama should consider Sorkin as a speech writer, assuming his services aren’t already being used. All fans of The West Wing will be in no doubt about Sorkin’s credentials for the job.
September 22, 2008 @ 2:58 pm | Comment
5
By Richard
Unfortunately, the HuffPo piece sounds hysterical and the right is already pointing to it as a classic example of “nutroots” derangement. She makes some fine points, but her links and her general tone are unfortunate (the pasted version above doesn’t include the links). By saying we need a “revolution,” right-wing dumbasses are saying we need to call 911 and report her as a subversive. In order to get a message like this out to the masses, and not just to those within your own echo chamber, you have to hold back some of the rhetoric and not appear to be hysterical. As I read it yesterday I knew the Ace of Spades and Confederate Yankees of the world would eat her alive. A shame, because she’s a good journalist.
September 22, 2008 @ 4:44 pm | Comment
6
By Hong Xiuquan
Here’s to hoping Obama does NOT take the advice about reclaiming the word ‘elite.’ There’s practically no way to do it without coming across as pompous, particularly since he would be applying the word to himself.
September 22, 2008 @ 5:10 pm | Comment