Proud Socialist, in comments, asked for a cute cat picture, so here you go. I know how he feels: I kinda need to check out from the politics at this point, too. I really don’t want to be getting any more e-mails from MoveOn and Change.org and everyone else telling me to call my Congress Critters over this or that issue. I don’t want to be told to host a house party or boycott some big-box store, or asked for a donation or take a survey or show up at a rally.
This shit ain’t working, people. We’re not the Tea Party. The media doesn’t listen to us, and if the media isn’t going to listen to us, no one else will. Fuck it, I don’t care anymore, I really don’t. Let the assholes burn it down. I’m over it.
Aw, screw it. I'm gonna take a nap.
[UPDATE]:
Did you hear about this in the media? I didn’t. I guess if they aren’t wearing knee britches and tricorn hats or burning Korans, the news media isn’t interested.
[UPDATE] 2:
Oh, man. Even Randi Rhodes refuses to have a hissy fit over this deal:
It might not be the “balanced approach” that Obama wanted, but this is about as balanced a deal as you get when you’re dealing with people who are completely unbalanced. As Tom Brokaw pointed out, this isn’t the end of the process, this is the beginning. That’s good news in that nobody wants it to end this way, but bad news in that nobody really wants this process to continue, at least in the way it has been. As much as I despise the phrase, essentially, the can has been kicked down the road. So it’s up to us to elect people who will do the right thing with that stupid can once we get further on down the road.
I think we’re all just worn down and used to the BS by now. I simply don’t have another hissy fit left in me. Let’s hope this is temporary, or I’ll need to get some more cats.
[UPDATE] 3:
Oh Geez. Keith Olbermann’s special comment tonight (look for it here, maybe?) basically said we need to be like we were back in the ’60s, and rally and protest and boycott and petition and organize.
Dude, been there, done that. Hello? Has this been completely lost on everyone? I’ve been blogging about this since, well, forever, but it just seems that when liberals do it, it isn’t news. And if it isn’t news, then no one gives a shit. Six hundred Teanuts show up at Nashville’s Opryland Hotel and it’s front page news everywhere; twice that amount (and some big power players) show up at the first Netroots Nation and no one notices. Look, if it doesn’t get on the news, no one cares. No one “important,” that is. The politics of influence are completely different now. Get a clue, folks.
It’s a brand new world, with a brand new dynamic. The Left needs to come up with a new way of doing things. Let the Teanuts adopt our old tactics from the ’60s, the right always copies us anyway. Fuck ’em. We need to come up with something completely new. What that is remains to be seen.
Southern Beale 
Ahhh… the soothing image of a cat at rest (at least until that phone rings and then vaVAVOOM to the MOON, Alice!!!
thanks SB, my blood pressure went down a little.
SB — I know how you feel. I got a mailing from NARAL/Prochoice America s few days ago. There were petitions for my federal representatives and an ask for money. I signed the petition sheets. Then in big letters told them that I’m unemployed and have no discretionary money for anything, and mailed it back to them.
Right now I’m watching Guys and Dolls. Can’t do much reading in the blogosphere; I’m too disappointed and upset about what is happening.
LOL! I am watching Guys And Dolls too! While cooking dinner! ZOMG what are the odds? It’s that or a Real Housewives rerun on Bravo. I need mind-numbing entertainment right now!
Caption:
*sznrx.*
🙂
…and for some reason when I first read this, I parsed it as “burning Koreans”…
,,,O!O,,,
Yeesh. Don’t want to do THAT …
🙂
Well (as Reagan might say), I am in complete agreement with you. I have been an active voter. I have worked as a Election Officer for four General Elections and Primaries. I have tried to stay informed and objective. My conclusion? It was all a waste of time. They will have their way with us and there ain’t anything we can do about it. Time to focus on the important stuff–in our case, Gracie Mae and Hannah Sue Charlotte–our Tuxedo Cats.
So with fewer votes in congress you think it will get better?
When we had two majorities, we got a health care bill. Not the best health care bill, but better than what went before. It was progress.
With one house we kept the social safety net intact and got cuts to military spending. That’s not as good as we would want, but it’s better than it could have been.
If you doubt it, look to Wisconsin. With a three vote majority they got rid of public unions, required paperwork to exercise constitutional rights and shut down the places poor people can get the paperwork.
Now is not the time to quit.
I know it’s not, MikeJ, but it’s hard to keep up the energy. I’m 74 years old and I’ve been through all these battles before and now find that we’re facing stuff I thought we’d straightened out years ago. The biggest problem is that the people who are now pushing the country over the cliff are far crazier than the ones we faced before. It’s getting harder and harder to keep up the optimism I’ve had all these years.
Yes, I’ll climb back on my mule tomorrow and start tilting at the windmills again. But the next 16 months are going to be a looooong haul for this old grandma!!
Illanoy Gal is right. We’re not gaining ground with our fights, we’re trying to keep from losing what we won decades ago.
Someone wrote a great blog post about how the right works (I’ll have to find it .. I think it was at Balloon Juice?). The right keeps giving their base little wins. They may not got the big stuff they want, like outlawing abortion, but they get all of these little successes on the state level that edge them closer to their goal.
The left, meanwhile, throws its people under the bus over and over again. We don’t get big wins and we aren’t getting little ones, either. We’re supposed to be happy with Republican ideas like tax cuts for millionaires and corporations and told, “well, it’s better than the BIGGER tax cut that they wanted!” To paraphrase The Tourist (bad movie), It’s not so bad when you downgrade it from murder. But when you upgrade it from room service, it’s pretty bad.
Hear, hear, Mike.
The great thing about a constitutional republic is that there’s always another election. It’s time to make progressive candidates commit to being actually being progressive and then hold them accountable for their actions. The Tea Party does it; it’s time the progressives did, too. I am sick to death of holding my nose and voting for the least rotten egg in the carton.
I think the reason the Tea Party is able to hold their people accountable is that they really represent the monied interests, too. So rallying to keep taxes low works because that’s what the rich assholes want, too. Rallying for extending unemployment benefits or for a single payer healthcare option or card-check? Meh. Only working stiffs care about that stuff and we don’t have the clout to hold anyone’s feet to the fire.
I’d include a pix of our cats, but don’t think the system permits it in comments. In any event, enjoy your feline sanity…
I would suggest that Democrats take a moment and learn how the other side use emotional arguments to present their case and Democrats try to use logical arguments vs emotional arguments and Emotion wins over logic every time, How many times have you heard your friends say, I just like him/her . It really is simple the Republicans spend Billions of dollars on messaging, all national elected republicans attend a two week media basic training camp which are now being extended to key STATE Level elected Republicans. Democrats during the last election cycle spent thousands on messaging. To get on the right 😉 track I would suggest everyone read Drew Westen’s “The Political Brain” which you can buy as a used paperback for $.38.. Take a moment and just google his name you all might learn something about marketing and how people are manipulated.
Yup really good advice. Of course we’ve been talking about this since the “Don’t Think Of An Elephant” days, back in the 2004 election. For whatever reason, Democrats and liberals aren’t interested in this or can’t grasp or just don’t do it.
It does seem to me that once they get elected, Democrats are more interested in actually governing, whereas Republicans are pretty much doing nothing except working on the next election.