A rising sense of injustice
Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean gives voice to Democratic voters'
outrage over the 2000 election -- and the spineless conduct of their party
since then.

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By Sidney Blumenthal

Dec. 11, 2003 | Since the trauma of the 2000 election the Democrats have
endured a history of loss and defeat, not only of office and program but
identity, self-confidence and self-respect. As a congressional party that
lost its majority in 2002, it has seemed to be in a nightmare from which it
is incapable of escaping. Republican bullying has been met almost inevitably
by Democratic cowering, the ruthless will to power by timid retreat. Before
this spectacle, Democratic voters have felt themselves unrepresented and
voiceless. But until the presidential candidacy of Howard Dean their burning
sentiments lacked expression. Now, Al Gore's early endorsement of Dean
dramatically amplifies them and partly explains them.

Above all, Democrats are consumed with a rising sense of injustice. They
believe that democracy was undermined when the votes were not counted in
Florida and the Supreme Court made George W. Bush president; that the social
contract since the New Deal is being shredded; that the internationalist
alliances since World War II are being shattered; that the president
systematically and knowingly lied about the reasons for war; that the Bush
administration acts with authoritarian impunity (refusing, for example, to
make public even the members of Vice President Cheney's energy policy
panel); that rules and precedents in the Congress are being wantonly broken
for partisan advantage by the Republicans; that the news media is being
overwhelmed by the din of a right-wing echo chamber that masks itself as
journalism.

In the face of constant provocation, Democrats see their own party as
hesitant, compromised (if not complicit) and cowardly. "You're either with
us or the terrorists," Bush has repeated many times. Yet, virtually
unanimously, the Democrats supported the war in Afghanistan. The vast
majority of Democrats in the House and Senate backed the war resolution on
Iraq. None of this prevents Bush and the Republicans from challenging their
patriotism. As recently as last week, after Sen. Hillary Clinton, who voted
for the Iraq war, returned from an inspection tour of Afghanistan and Iraq
as a member of the Armed Services Committee, a Republican Party flunky and
longtime Bush family retainer named Scott Reed was trotted out to smear the
former first lady as "un-American" when she called for more troops and
international support.

The Democrats' feelings toward their congressional party are inextricably
linked to their feelings toward Bush. They watched Democratic legislators
voting for the regressive Bush tax cuts on the notion that it would insulate
them from Republican assaults in the 2002 midterm elections, only to see
enough of those Democratic senators lose their seats to tip the Senate. Time
and again, even liberal lions like Sen. Edward Kennedy have been bamboozled
on education and Medicare, only to see their good faith turned against them
and the Bush administration use the programs to undermine public education
and the public health system. Somehow, the congressional Democrats have been
in denial about Bush's conservative radicalism. They preferred to believe
that fundamental comity still existed even when it was being smashed. They
gathered no clue about the simmering among Democratic voters from the
phenomenon of Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a silver-maned irrelevance,
given to florid orations on the Roman Empire, suddenly being elevated as a
cult hero for his opposition to Bush on the Iraq war.

All the major Democratic candidates running for president from the Congress
voted for the war resolution. Only Howard Dean, the only key
noncongressional candidate in the race, stood against it. The late entry,
former Gen. Wesley Clark, not only flip-flopped on the war -- in effect
turning himself into a congressional Democrat -- but declared that he had
voted for Nixon, Reagan and the elder Bush, and spontaneously volunteered
that he's for a constitutional amendment banning the burning of the U.S.
flag, a hoary Republican demagogic device.

Al Gore's endorsement of Dean is the most important since grainy film was
shown at the 1992 Democratic convention depicting President John F. Kennedy
shaking hands with an eager teenage Bill Clinton. Gore's endorsement is not
the passing of the torch to a new generation, but another conferring of
legitimacy. For Democrats, he personifies the infamy of the last election.
He is not another politician, but the rightfully elected president -- by a
popular majority of 539,895 votes.

But the Gore of today is not the Gore of 2000. The careful political figure
trying to distance himself from Clinton and contorting his personality to
project likeability has been tempered by defeat. "If I had to do it all over
again, I'd just let it rip," Gore told the small group of his supporters a
year ago. "To hell with the polls, the tactics, and all the rest. I would
have poured out my heart and my vision for America's future." Gore now calls
the right-wing media a "fifth column" within journalism, and he's raising
millions to build a TV network of his own as an alternative. In his own way,
he's absorbed the lessons of the past three years and become a
representative Democrat. His endorsement of Howard Dean is his commentary on
his campaign and the conduct of his party since

Sandy smooched:

A rising sense of injustice
Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean gives voice to Democratic voters'
outrage over the 2000 election -- and the spineless conduct of their party
since then.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Sidney Blumenthal

Good old 'Sid Vicious' is in fine form, ain't he, silly Sandy?


GeoSynch

"GeoSynch" wrote in message
link.net...
Sandy smooched:

A rising sense of injustice
Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean gives voice to Democratic voters'
outrage over the 2000 election -- and the spineless conduct of their
party
since then.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Sidney Blumenthal

Good old 'Sid Vicious' is in fine form, ain't he, silly Sandy?


GeoSynch


Sid "the Liar" Blumenthal, now there's an objective source.