Sunday, November 07, 2004
Hysteria on the Left
The cynic in me is amused by it, but the normal person hidden inside finds it depressing. After every election, there is an outpouring of hysteria from the intellectuals, and it is embarrassing. This time is no exception.
Indeed. And it is not just embarrassing. You have to wonder whether the chattering Left's emotionalism isn't in some sense responsible for this.
CWCID: Bainbridge.
UPDATE (4:50 am EST, Nov 8): Unwittingly, this post seems to have triggered quite a lively debate in the comments section. Both sides are making some very strong points. Only one thing is clear: however much success or failure Bush will have in reaching across the political divide in America, he will do little to bring the blogosphere together. Which is just fine, because the open taking of shots is part of what makes blogging so much fun. Thanks in particular to Screwy and Catchy of the Scrutiny Hooligans and Brendan from The Facts Machine, who have done a great job fighting the fight in basically hostile territory (although, I might add, there are much more hostile places to go!). None of them are hysterical. At least not at the moment.
8 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Nov 07, 08:31:00 AM:
To quote from Sam Kinesen in "Back to School", "I like the way you think... I'm keeping an eye on you..."
Beautiful Post Pedro. I'd add some bullet points for:
* Admitting Michael Moore really is a big fat loser and asshole, and deliberately lied to try to derail the Bush presidency;
* Admit that in spite of no new gun control laws, that enforcement of them apparently works, and that legal gun ownership both by true gun owners and faux goose hunters is just fine.
I'll give them the one about a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage is stupid, once they admit that putting the question to the states (where 9 of 11 voted it down by at least 60%) shows America that we really don't want gay marriage in America, and don't want to hear about it anymore.
By 
Gordon Smith, at
Sun Nov 07, 03:38:00 PM:
As one of the 55 million people who voted for John Kerry, I'd like to remind the ruling party that we're not a fringe organization a la the Constitution Party. Liberal democrats are only barely in the minority, and to treat almost half of America's voters as second-class citizens is to invite the decay of civility.
When Bush said he would reach across the aisle to anyone who agreed with his goals, he made it clear that he plans to go ahead with whatever the hell he pleases as the Republicans in the House and Senate kowtow to his every wish. The right has effectively installed a parliamentary style government in this country in which the members of the ruling party get in line behind the President no matter the issue. I'm holding out hope that Lincoln Chafee and his ilk will provide us with the extra heft necessary to slow the imperial desires of this criminal President.
I'm not emotionally unstable, but I am awfully emotional about losing. I'm also curious as to how the right is prepared to react to the systemic voting irregularities across the non-paper ballot states. To help you get started - Imagine if the tables were turned and the exit polls had shown your man ahead only to later discover that many largely republican counties with computerized voting had voted overwhelmingly for Kerry. Discuss.
I really don't think I want this election overturned, though I'm increasinly convinced that the result was manufactured. An overturned election would turn the Bushies into a rabid pack of DeLay's minions, and they would rend this nation in two before they would accede to believe in the basic dishonesty of their leadership.
You won. Cool. Now how about coming up with something to actually move the country towards civility rather than ordering 55 million Americans who voted for the other guy to get on board with your agenda or go to hell. That's no way to run a country.
The responsibility is yours.
By Bren, at
Sun Nov 07, 09:18:00 PM:
Dear Sore Winnerman,
-No elected Democrat said that, and only one member of the entire Congress voted against Afghanistan. And given that F911 includes snippets from a Richard Clarke interview where he talks about our efforts in Tora Bora, this bit doesn't work for Michael Moore either.
-No.
-No. Tell that to the drivers of the empty trucks Halliburton had people driving around so the company could get a larger piece of the no-bid pie.
-No. Certainly not before we find out about those present at the crafting of Cheney's energy policy.
-No, and does this make you a murder-monger?
-Okay, November's job numbers are encouraging, if inflated by the hurricane cleanup, but not all signs are good.
-No. Tell it to Condi "I never met with Sandy Berger" Rice.
-No. Tell it to Lafayette.
-Wow, we've been doing that!?
-Fucking Richard Nixon and his stupid commie EPA! Also, I remember Bush in the 3rd debate, pimping his increases for Pell grants...
-No. Ask Valerie Lakey.
-HAHAHAHA!
-Peace Corps too commie for you?
-I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with those two terms.
-Not a chance.
-I have a counterproposal, and I'm sure you can guess what it is.
-I'd rather read, you know, the reports from both UN and American inspectors saying there weren't any.
I could go on, as well.
By , at
Sun Nov 07, 10:30:00 PM:
Very well said Pedro! I'll add four more:
* Don't treat Republicans like being Republican is a character flaw.
* Start working on a real Democratic ticket. It's a little under 4 years til your next ass whooping and your party has a lot to do.
* Do your party a favor and leave losers like Michael Moore in the closet. What a joke he is!
* If you bring a Hollywood team to the 2008 election. tell the celebs to actually go out a pull a few levers and vote after their celeb campaigning. Apparently most of them didn't even vote this year.
- Crusader
By Catchy Pseudonym, at
Sun Nov 07, 10:33:00 PM:
I'm one of those "Losers, aka Lefties, aka Democrats" you mentioned and I've got your apology right here:
I'm sorry you're an uninformed and misled douche bag. I’m sorry that your president’s failed foreign policies are screwing America as you read this. I'm sorry for all the people being hurt by your president’s dismal domestic policies and "moral" initatives.
I'm sorry that for election results that any other incumbent president would have been embarrassed by, you're guy is strutting around like he has a mandate. He doesn't. He squeaked in a win.
We don't need an olive branch. We don't wont you to be nice. We will do what it takes to gain the ground we lost. I won't let my country or my religion be hijacked by pompous, arrogant, homophobic elitist rednecks. So go ahead and wallow in your victory now. There are many people working very hard to make sure that there is no repeat.
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Nov 08, 04:38:00 AM:
Well! I vanish into a conference room in Paris with ten French people, emerge 20 hours later somewhat worse for wear, and here I see the most entertaining slugfest ever to darken a TigerHawks comments thread. Very good. Thank you Screwy, Brendan and Catchy for coming in to a tough room and saying your thing. Frankly, I agree with much of what you say, and a good bit of what pedro wrote. If I ever get out of France I may even write up a post on the subject. Of course, at the rate I'm going (more than 60 total hours in said conference room in four days), it may be a while before I get out of France.
Bon chance.
By , at
Mon Nov 08, 09:22:00 AM:
The 'rags and gooks' part, Jack? In which case, do I get to say that 'pedro' is an ignorant dago spic wetback whose disbelief in evolution is based upon his own lack of it?
Frankly, the sane left doesn't want to be tainted by any hint of bipartisanship, given that Bush has sold his next four years for a mess of holy pottage.
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Nov 08, 07:50:00 PM:
Sigh. No, of course I don't approve of "rags and gooks." For all I know, pedro is hideously racist in his daily life. Or maybe he just went wild and wrote something unusual for him behind the anonymity of a blog comment -- it would hardly be the first time that happened. For the record, TigerHawk disapproves of "rags and gooks," and any number of other epithets. But pedro's personal shortcomings -- however systematic or anecdotal they may be -- do not destroy the truth of much of what he wrote even if they tarnish his comments in the eyes of polite society. In my experience, the vast majority of politically passionate people harbor bigotry of one sort or another. On the American right it is often against ethnic groups or gays. On the American left it is usually against devoutly religious people or Southerners. On the European left, anti-Semitism is virtually de rigeur. Yet many of these same people make interesting political arguments that add to the conversation. Point is, if you keep your mind a little bit open you can learn something from each of pedro, Brendan, Screwy and Catchy.
