We MUST primary him because we do not exist for him. He does not consider us. I am not asking for any ponies, but for someone who agrees with me on important issues or at least considers my concerns to be more than just the first round of capitulations he hands over to Boehner.

Well, good luck with that, and whatever the hell it is you’re trying to achieve over on your impenetrable blog.

My advice: Read Ecclesiastes. It’s real short, and it’s everything you need to know.

Thanks. I read Ecclesiastes just last week. One of the problems with being ponderous is that you answer questions no one is asking. I hear pragmatism is nice.

As a progressive, it is frustrating that the last Democrat we had in the White House was Jimmy Carter.

I’ve always considered Ecclesiastes to be the “Surgeon General’s Warning” on the Bible (except for the last six or so verses, which were obviously welded on to the main text). If it were placed first ahead of all the other entries, no one would ever smoke the rest of the book.

Sorry to hear you’re disappointed with Democrats. Personally, I regret that there hasn’t been a truly believable Superman since George Reeves.

Yeah, he was good.

Of course, back then I could lay on my belly on the floor with my hands holding up my head for a half-hour.

Thanks. I read Ecclesiastes just last week. One of the problems with being ponderous is that you answer questions no one is asking. I hear pragmatism is nice.

As a progressive, it is frustrating that the last Democrat we had in the White House was Jimmy Carter.

Yeah and look how well that worked out for yah, eight years of fucking Renaldus Magnimus, thanks a fucking bunch moron.

Of course, back then I could lay on my belly on the floor with my hands holding up my head for a half-hour.

Later, no doubt, you put childish things behind you.

it is frustrating that the last Democrat we had in the White House was Jimmy Carter.

That’s funny; there was a poll a couple of years ago of presidental historians and Carter was ranked something like the 7th or 8th most conservative president in our history.  (Can’t find a link, sorry, but I remember Carter was on the Daily Show to talk about it.)

The reasons for challenging a president from our own party were many and varied: Carter had either done nothing to help or actually put the brakes on congressional Democrats’ attempts to pass full employment legislation, a universal health care bill, labor law reform, and other enactable progressive initiatives. He was clearly the most conservative Democratic president since Grover Cleveland.

If someone could tell me what primarying the current president (from the Left) would accomplish besides stroking some egos I’d appreciate it.

Thanks!

As a progressive, it is frustrating that the last Democrat we had in the White House was Jimmy Carter.

Who fucking cares?  Obama is not the enemy.  Not. The. Enemy.  The real enemy is the batshit crazy republoteaplutocrat ignoramuses who have completely hijacked the Republican party and are literally threatening the future of our country.  Minor idealogical differences or not we need to get behind Obama and other Dems in 2012 or watch our country literally flush itself down the drain.  That’s the reality of it.

@elisabeth — Beats me.

I’m so disappointed in Obama for allowing the US Women’s Soccer team to fail.  If he had used the bully pulpit, Hope Solo could have made those saves.

I feel that as a women’s soccer fan, he has abandoned me.  I’m not asking for ponies, but… 

Wait, ponies would be really cool, actually.

I too, have failed Progressives, dweebs, cutters, jocks, goths, preps, joinks, wads and skeeters, and I apologize.

I promise from here on out fight for lower cafeteria prices, more afternoon brekas and an end to the scourge of pencil-fighting.

Vote HB for Student Body President, he’s rad!

Primarying sitting Democrats from the Left is a perpetual hobby of Trotskyites and UFO contactees, just as religious purity pledges and global financial conspiracies are perpetual hobbies of the Paranoid Right.

I think yer being a bit harsh, @Strange. I find the multicolored text over there kind of pretty.  That had to take some effort, which to me indicates a certain level of commitment and dedication.  And I hate to be critical, but I do NOT see such pretty, multi-colored text in this place.

Critics of such a site must first prove their own worthiness, perhaps best accomplished by using multiple fonts in different colors, to express all the moods and attitudes that we are capable of, like a wondrous kaleidoscope of shifting and unpredictable personalities. Summoning a unicorn will require nothing less.

@meepmeep09: It’s a pity that NPA didn’t use comic sans for their manifesto.

Primarying sitting Democrats from the Left is a perpetual hobby of Trotskyites and UFO contactees, just as religious purity pledges and global financial conspiracies are perpetual hobbies of the Paranoid Right.

About those global financial conspiracies ...

It’s only a “conspiracy” if there’s an actual plan that’s known to all the players. If it’s just a bunch of greedy bastards screwing each other and everyone else as hard as they can, the end-result may look like the product of an organized conspiracy, but it does not imply a conspiracy any more than a head-on collision between a Kia and a semi-truck implies a pre-negotiated suicide pact between the drivers.

Which is not to say that there aren’t any conspiracies; only that real conspiracies are difficult to distinguish from random, uncoordinated Evil, unless all the bad guys are wearing robes.

Okay ... Let’s go back to Johnson, then. All those Civil Rights and Great Society bills which got passed, which the Republicans hate and have spent 50 years demonizing and the media have accepted their definitions. And Obama accepts the Repub’s framing of the whole issue and is accepting drawbacks on programs which benefited him growing up. Isn’t that a Republican stance? I got mine so forget you?

Or, FDR and the New Deal, which Republicans hate and have spent 75 years demonizing and everybody, including Obama accept their framing of the issue. In public discourse, right of center is the new Radical Left. Absolutely no ideas left of Paul Ryan? Really?

So, the pragmatism of having some lefty promising ponys weakening Obama’s election chances is one thing, but though I will vote for Obama who will spend another four years calling me an “effing retard”, I will work for the election of people who support the things I support.

You’re welcome to support whoever you want to support, since that’s the miracle of Democracy.

Personally, I don’t feel spectacularly betrayed at this point, since it isn’t the ‘60s anymore, the political dynamic and the players are different, and there certainly aren’t any Lyndon Johnsons waiting in the wings. And, anyway, we saw how burning down Watts and rioting at the Democratic National Convention worked out.

Ahhh, yes, the “effing retard” faux outrage.  Go back and read what Rahm actually said if you dare.

And while I do happen to agree with the frustration at some of the framing I also agree with the president that dealing with some of the deficit now allows us some leeway to spend as well.  Not all cuts are bad cuts.

slippery slope on the table plot to undo New Deal Obushma hippie-punch no difference means-testing cat food SKREEE!!

Just trying to make Xulon’s job easier here. Any buzzwords I left out?

Now back to building on the glorious legacy left us by Jimmy Carter’s second term! What a turning point for the nation that was.

Yeah. You’re right. I wish I could come up with original, on point phrases like “Pony-Promiser” “Trotskyites” and “UFO contactees”

It is my gift, it is my curse.

Let’s go back to Johnson, then. All those Civil Rights and Great Society bills which got passed,

Oh, if only Obama behaved like second-term-mandate LBJ; surely that would save him from being primaried from the Left. No one would have ever primaried LBJ from the Left.

(Xulon, at this point you’re going to have to read LBJ’s wikipedia page to get the joke.)

LBJ was a hero of the Progressive Left.

I still remember the chants of “Hey, hey, LBJ. How many Great Societies and Civil Rights Acts did you pass today?”

xulon, you’ve been a good sport, but in this particular corner of the World Wide Web of things and stuff, you aint gonna get any love for the whole “I want someone who represents me.”

If that’s what you want, here what ya do.
Start with the city council, county supervisors maybe even a state senator/assemblyman. That’s where you’re gonna find folks who want to represent your particular feelings/positions/sexual perversions.

At the Fed level they don’t give a flying fuck and pretending that they should only leads us to point and laugh at the pony-boy. We’re Democrats, at least I am, Strange is a fucking wizard, Polly is a mushroom grower and Xecky is a gay porn star, but we’re still Democrats and we support Democrats, particularly the most dynamic political figure we have seen in our life times.

And don’t pay any fucking attention to
meep, elisabeth or AWS, they are closet Palin fans with a penchant for spanking and goat-skin leggings.

But the whole “it’s about me and my feelings and my desires” only leads us to back to firedoglake and we fucking hate that place because of what happened last summer with the warden, the fish and game guy and the altruistic loner who lives on the hill.

Thanks for the info Humboldtblue.

I am a little inexperienced on the internet lefty civil war thing. I was kinda curious where all the baggage people were hanging on me was coming from.

Embarrassingly, I am in agreement with the Irish Kenyan.

I used to be silly enough to get excited about political issues until I realized the immutable truth that the Irish Kenyan offers us.

Politics is about working hard for the achievement of mediocrity.  Politics is the art of compromise, and this seems to be a hard realization for those of us with passionate idealism.  If one follows the actual votes of Congressmen and Senators and completely ignores their stump speeches, one can discover that liberals are not very liberal and conservatives are not very conservative.

If you follow the Olympics, you see people who are the very best at what they do.  If you go to the Met, you will see people who are at the peak of their talent.  But in politics, if they manage to bang out a ‘C’ they have managed to do a superior job that day.

Both political parties are psychologically inflated propaganda mills that exist primarily for getting useful idiots excited.  In the grim halls of political power, committee members are just trading favors while they demagogue hot-button issues.

In politics a ‘C’ level performance is just about all you get.

I’m agreeing with Amherst on something. Jesus, get me the smelling salts! ;)

Hey, I’m sorry, but xulon drew first.

In a town like this, you don’t wait to find out if a buckaroo means to kill you or just make you shit in your boots. And I’ve got witnesses.

Oblomova, I am humbled and honored. 

However, please be careful.  A month ago, Betty Cracker agreed with me about something, and an hour later the plumbing systems in her home burst, causing extensive damage.

Was God trying to tell her something?

Shit, he Amherst makes a great point, Oblo ... awww fuck, now I’ve gone and done it. Fucking pragmatists.

Gabby Johnson expressed the most penetrating political insight this poster has seen in at least a decade.

This country cries out for more Gabby Johnsons.

Well, in any case, thanks for the welcome. I was kinda hoping that was shine-ola on my boots.

That’s why, every couple of years, we get another one of these things, and an assortment of Acronym Party Candidates who would lose a job interview at a Baskin-Robbins to Brother Theodore.

LOL, the NewProgs have blocked that link.  Further confirming that being progressive means never having to listen to dissenting ideas.

@marindenver — Thanks for the alert. Fixed. Fortunately, they cross-posted it at FDL.

That one doesn’t come in a rainbow of text colors, but all the FDRaliciousness is still there.

I was going to check and see if you could get to it with refers turned off, but you changed it underneath me.

I wonder why they’re so ashamed of what they believe?

As a progressive, it is frustrating that the last Democrat we had in the White House was Jimmy Carter.

Who fucking cares?

Oh, and xu? That too.

Obama is not the enemy.

Figgered I’d add that. Forgot it earlier.

ahurrmmm ...

He’s certainly not acting friendly towards progressive causes, and telling young kids they shouldn’t fight for their dreams, that should be on the Democratic plank for 2012.

Yeah, he should really moderate his message with more bunting and sparklers.

As some have pointed out. This message is the exact opposite of what Candidate Obama said when he was hawking the “hopey changey thing”. I see now that I was foolish to get my hopes up for change. I really did not expect the continuation of Bush’s policies or the gridlock under the lack of leadership by Obama coupled with the spinelessness of Harry “I can’t do anything I only have fifty-nine and a half votes” Reid.

What I’ve been hearing is that should Democrats be stupid enough to primary and allow such weakness to show, we should strike a blow for solidarity and vote for the Republican Democrat because no Democrat is electable. We know this because the Republicans and the corporate media tell us this and besides look at Carter. To do otherwise would be to flush money down the toilet.

Then in the election, vote for the Republican with the (D) behind his name because at least that is better than voting for the Republican with the (R) behind his name.

It’s kinda like when I would like to move from Ohio to Boston, I should bow to the pragmatics and move to Dallas, don’t I know its called “The Big D”? Seems to make sense, but I can’t help to think that it is built on totally false premises. Even if false is more pragmatic than true short term, I don’t think false is better in the long run.

Suit yourself. You seem to be awfully wrought-up about all this, so by all means vote for someone who makes you feel good about yourself.