Preach it, brother
Barry addresses some political problems liberals are facing. You really should read this. Choice quote:
But things have changed in this past year. I’ve seen Democrats and Liberals alike shift to the left and abandon a number of the principles that the party stood for, in order to pursue a partisan agenda against George Bush and his War on Terror/Iraq War plans. For some, it has to do with Bush’s National Guard record, to some it’s his background as an opportunistic frat rat; for a large, large number of people it’s the continuing belief that he, his brother Jeb, the Florida government and the US Supreme Court stole the 2000 election from Al Gore. But underlying all of that is the pure desire for revenge for the eight years of partisan hell the Republicans put this country through opposing Bill Clinton.
Read the whole thing.
Update: quote updated.
February 10th, 2004 at 11:31 am
Bush was in the ROTC? News to me.
February 10th, 2004 at 11:36 am
I think it was sarcasm.
February 10th, 2004 at 1:11 pm
No actually, I meant National Guard – I’ve corrected it.
February 10th, 2004 at 2:49 pm
I wrote up a goddamn essay in response to his post only to be hit with the 2000 character limit and then accidentally delete it. Sigh. Oh well.
February 10th, 2004 at 3:19 pm
I have responded over about six or eight posts (stupid 1000-character limit) over at Barry’s. I think he is sorely misguided here (although, in his defense, he’s far from alone). For some (Barry included, it would seem), it’s an article of faith, beyond reproach, that the War on Iraq has anything at all to do with the War on Terror. No amount of evidence will ever convince them otherwise. I need only look to the 1998 letters to Congress and The White House, signed by Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and Kristol, among others, begging for preemptive action against Iraq. Take note of how many times they make mention of “terror,” “terrorism,” “Islam[ic],” “Muslim,” or “fundamentalist[s].” Zero. They’ve been begging to wage this war since at least early 1998, over three and a half years prior to the attacks of September 11, and terror had NOTHING to do with it.
But Bush says so, therefore it must be so. He also said they were a grave and gathering threat because of their weapons programs. Oops. Oh, but it was “bad intelligence” to blame, not the zeal of the old Team B guys…
February 10th, 2004 at 3:22 pm
It seems to me that some liberals are going through the same thing that some people who tend to vote conservative (ahem, me) are going through. Disenchantment with the current leadership.
February 10th, 2004 at 3:23 pm
Case in point.
February 10th, 2004 at 3:23 pm
“it’s an article of faith, beyond reproach, that the War on Iraq has anything at all to do with the War on Terror. ”
More than that, it is perfectly possible to think that this war at this time under these conditions is a damn stupid idea, destined to set back both the war on terrorism and the cause of human freedom. Thats not blind partisianship, thats having a different opinion.
February 10th, 2004 at 3:28 pm
The gist of my comment was going to be, essentially, two points:
1) Just because you disagree with someone (other democrats) doesn’t mean they are a) blind, or b) vengeful
2) He’s mixing domestic and foreign contexts. Democrats stand for liberal ideas .. domestically, within the context of our system of political representation. Using “isn’t that what Democrats are supposed to stand for?!” with regards to “oppressed peoples” as some sort of accusation of hypocrisy in the context of foreign policy is retarded. Neoconservatives may have forsaken any respect for sovereignty and the rule of international law, but I haven’t, and I think most Democrats haven’t.