I'm going to be charitable and chalk up these churlish comments from an unnamed official to fatigue rather than stupidity.
Those churlish comments were:
"Organized labor just flushed $10 million of their members' money down the toilet on a pointless exercise," the official said. "If even half that total had been well-targeted and applied in key House races across this country, that could have made a real difference in November."
The White House Official was being neither cranky nor stupid. He was saying what the administration thinks. If Democrats refuse to believe what he says, that's their problem.
The AFL-CIO does not believe Mr. Official Unofficial Spokesman.
If that's their take on this, then they severely misread how the electorate feels and how we're running our political program. When we say we're only going to support elected officials who support our issues," said AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale. "When they say we should have targeted our money among some key house races among Blue Dog Democrats — that ain't happening.
Labor isn't an arm of the Democratic Party," Vale said. "It exists to support working families. And that's what we said tonight, and that's what we're gong to keep saying.
The man from the unions understand for whom he is fighting. The middle class Democrats don't, and supported a man who immediately gave all their money to the banks. They will side with the Blue Dog candidate when they are "forced to." For the good of the country. They just don't have a choice, you know.
Digby again:
But in the future the White House would probably do well to remember that as much as they loathe their base that they still need them to get out the vote in November.
No, they don't. The real elite don't care who is in office, as long as he or she will do what he's told, like advocate for off-shore drilling and keep the money and guns flowing in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan and Yemen and bail out the banks while unemployment soars. Just like the financial Masters of the Universe knew that they'd come out okay no matter how much of a mess they created, the elite's servants in Congress and the White House know they'll be set up for life if they play along at the right time.
They should also remember that Blanche Lincoln is not a particularly reliable ally to the administration while labor is essential.
It all depends on whom she's allied with, doesn't it?
Also, constantly belittling the democratic process and condescendingly telling their voters to shut up and do as they're told is not likely to garner the defense of the netroots who are the only defenders they have when the right wing and the villagers decide to turn the administration's sleazy-but-legal political practices into a scandal.
Is Mr. Unofficial Official likely to be afraid of the bat-shit insane denizens of Wingnuttia? If they needed and wanted blogger to defend their interests they would pay them. They don't. The liberal/conservative wars for political dominance exist for the elite's entertainment. It keeps the kids busy while the grown-ups do the hard work of running wars and gutting the financial system and spreading propaganda.
It gets harder and harder to work ourselves up on their behalf when they say things like this.
Then don't.
Being close to power isn't the same as having power. The unnamed official insults the netroots because he knows he can. What are they going to do about it? All their little contributions in the world won't replace corporate money and therefore they will just have to swallow his insults like the good little nobodies that they are. In the end they will decide that the Official made a mistake, or was tired, or just wants what's good for the Party, anyway.
This is just stupid politics and they should be above it.
They will slap down whomever they please, and they are not interested in moral lectures from the little people.
I assume they do want to win some more elections against Republicans, but maybe I'm wrong about that.
Who paid for Obama's election, again? His top 20 contributors donated more than half of his total amount.
They certainly seem less inclined to use them for a doormat for petty reasons and they rarely forget their manners to quite the same extent.
If you're going to threaten someone, you should be sure you can back it up with action. The White House just kicked the netroots in the teeth because it could. It knows they'll be back for more in 2012 because otherwise the uncooperative Democrats will have no access to power.
It's funny. All this fuss and bother to get people elected to Congress and put in the White House so they can obey the military industrial complex. We could try to get rid of the military-industrial complex instead but then we'd have to give up our credit cards and corporate jobs and perhaps our freedom and lives.
It's much safer (and far more pleasant) to focus on the primaries.
I agree with you completely. When Glennzilla and Jane Hamsher went off the deep end, by targeting 'blue dog' democrats with extinction they were just farting into the wind. Does anyone out there think that you can elect a flaming liberal from a mid-western state, from a great plains state, from the south, from the mountain west. If you do then your smoking to much weed. There is a reason that there are blue dog democrats, because that is the only type of democrat that you are going to elect from these states. These blogs are fun to read but unless these blogs are being read by millions instead of mere hundreds or in some cases like the Huffington Post to near a thousand, then you aren't good with math.
ReplyDeleteWe need to do everything possible to alleviate suffering so I don't have a problem with activists, but supporting an immoral system is wrong and futile. The only thing I can do is remind people that making decisions based purely on emotional needs will lead to error and misery. It's not practical to believe that everyone will give up their old lives until they are forced to. We all have families and want to live what we think is a normal life. I'm not sure how much longer it'll be normal, but we Americans are better at dealing with tragedies than preventing them.
ReplyDeleteI think Greenwald is fantastic. He is rational, factual, logical and has emotional reactions based on good moral principles. I don't have a problem with working with the other side like Jane did, although since I would be rude Gingrich would probably not want to work with me, heh.
At the end of the day, the problem is what it's been for the last 30 years: Democrats are absolutely terrified of being associated with their base, no matter how moderate and middle-of-the-road that base is.
ReplyDeleteLabor is now pretty much the hand-maiden of business. But Democrats go out of their way to punch the working man as often as as hard as they do the hippies. Middle-class people likewise suffer because even the most modest of proposals that benefit middle-class white-collar workers (like say, ending health-insurance recision) have now been cast as being extreme far-left socialist policies, and that make Democrats run away in fear.
Our party is lost!
I never said that Glenn is not bright and articulate nor is Jane is brazen fool; I said that there is a reason for blue dog democrats. You can't elect statewide liberals from those areas I mentioned, which pretty much leaves only the east coast and west coast. Even there, most are in the pocket of the corporate whores that run this country.
ReplyDeleteI know, I was just being chatty.
ReplyDeleteYour post is like one of Woodehouse's "gas furnace explosions that kill six". I really really liked it.
ReplyDeleteBut I think real Liberals would have a chance in MANY "red" states, if they were smart and honest. DEEEP sigh. Smart and honest, yeah.
I have often felt Digby is more damaging to liberal politics than Rush Limbaugh is. She soothes the hackles of the malcontents, bringing them back into the fold. She acknowledges the offenses of Democrats and votes for them each election.
ReplyDelete