The PCTC Blog: ….A quick perusal of the leftist “blogosphere” shows people who like to spout facts and figures …. but they seem to neither know nor care about the average person, and they definitely lack understanding of basic politics. It’s amazing how little they know, yet they act like experts, despite the fact that the only people who actually buy their bullshit are like-minded people who are gullible.
Yes, folks; a lot of the far left is JUST LIKE the far right in that way.
… The denizens of the far left are almost all white, they’re almost never poor and they have college educations. They have very little contact with any of the people they claim to be advocating for, yet to listen to them, they know more about being poor or being a minority than the poor and minorities do.
The liberal side of the political debate has been sitting on the sidelines for the better part of 40 years, primarily because a very noisy segment of our ideology is ruining it for the rest of us. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick of it. It’s time we taught basic politics to the far left……
See the full magnificent post here (and the list of lessons!)
Thank you Dorothy
The Obama Diary 
In terms of attribution, I just thought I’d put out there that Extreme Liberal re-posted that article that was actually written by Mitt Shook at The PCTC Blog.
Thanks so much for that Smartypants, I’ve changed the link and attribution in the post – appreciated!
Thank YOU!
That article deserves all the attention it can get.
I’m grateful to Extreme Liberal for bringing it to my attention – but Milt Shook gets al the credit for writing an amazing piece.
My fault smartypants. I did not think about it until I had sent it. I also have added Milt to my favorites list.
Sorry Chips.
No worries at all Dorothy, I didn’t spot it either! Thanks so much again for the link, it’s brilliant.
Thank you Chipstick. I am a commenter on Extreme Liberal. I love the guy. Everyone, makes mistakes. dr
ps. It is a fabulous piece.
I love that site Dorothy, he’s a wonderful writer with the sharpest of minds!
ditto. You are a queen.
Thank you Smartypants and Chipsticks for posting Miit Shook’s article on this site. I completely agree with all the lessons that he lists liberals/progressives must learn. It is leasson #9 that interests me the most. I say that because “purity progressives,” who hate President Obama, constantly invoke FDR as an example of a real progressive President. The same FDR who compromised with Southern segregationists to exclude Agricultural and Domestic workers from being covered by Social Security, minimum wage, and forty-hour work week. The same FDR who refused to publicly endorse the anti-lynching bill because he feared loosing the support of Southern Segregationists. The same FDR who presided over a segregated military in spite of black protest. The is same FDR, the “hero of progressives,” who sent hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese Americans to detention camps, not because they had done anything wrong, but simply because they were of Japanese ancestry.
Please don’t get me wrong. I still consider FDR a great president because he eventually led the country out of the great Depression and provided brilliant leadership during WWII. Most importantly, he led congress to pass legislations that instituted structural changes that have worked (until they were tampered with in the 1990’s) to prevent the country from going into another great depression. But he did that in four terms, and not in just two and half years! But lucky for him, the congress that he lead was, for the most part, dominated by Democrats.
In the Summer of 1935, two and half years after FDR was elected, unemployment was still in double digits. For the African American community it was in the high triple digits and in some specific African American communities, like Detroit, it was as high as 40-50%. So, this notion that some how FDR’s New Deal immediately ended the Depression is purely based on mythology. FDR instituted great programs. But they took a long time before they could bare fruits. Moreover, it was World War II, and the massive government spending to prosecute the war, that finally broke the back of high unemployment. Just so we can all keep some perspective, Unemployment did not drastically go down until FDR’s fourth term! That is of course not to take away the invaluable contribution of New Deal programs like WPA, and CCC, in providing employment. Except for people who live in the mythological fantasy land of history, where, by sheer will, a strong President, using the so called “bully pulpit,” can bend the will of Congress and force it to pass laws of his choosing. I just don’t see how the “bully pulpit” would work in the second decade of the 21st Century. It seems to me that central issue that unites all Republicans is to do everything in their power to make sure that President Obama is not re-elected. Shockingly Teapublicans seem to be bent on destroying the American economy, and ruining the lives of millions of Americans, so lon as they feel that that is their ticket to reclaiming the presidency.
The venom and outrage that the “purity progressives” have unleashed against President is without merit. The President occupies one branch of the three branches of government. Until the President has a super majority of members of Congress who share his agenda, the President has no alternative but compromise so as to move the agenda.
Excellent article and a good one to both keep and share.
I sent it to Maddow, O’Donnell, Ed, and Chris. I asked them if they were willing to acknowledge what Milt S had to say.
That was a great idea. I wonder if at some point they will recognizyou we should be joining together, for maximum impact. They can still exert pressure from the left, but a more realistic attitude and certainly a recognition that President Obama serves their causes in the long haul.
I do think some people enjoy being petulant, and some can only feel better at the expense of others. Immature.
Thank you Sue. I would encourage everyone to send it to the main msnbc crew. We are getting very good at flooding the nonbelievers.
We are doing the labor, not just sitting at our keyboards and typing–like DailyGotcha. Good on us. This is what PBO was talking about when he says make me. He wants us involved. Yahoo to Chipstick, Deaniac, BWD, and so many other sites that are standing up.
I feel this has been a watershed week for us. I hate writing, so I won’t elaborate (yeah, what AM I doing on blogs, LOL), but I believe you all know what I mean. The latest ditz to squeeze into the clown car, whose photo reminds me of Count Dracula, was the finishing touch.
lol Count Dracula.
Long read but so worth it……..he nailed it..
I’m feeling something like that too gc. Don’t know if it has the same origins or not.
But for me there’s two things brewing:
1. The brinksmanship of the Republicans over the debt limit has gone so far over the edge that a watershed moment seems to be being reached.
2. I sense the building of all of our work on defining the pragmatic progressive position in support of President Obama finally coming together as an alternative voice to the PL.
Maybe I’m tired or dreaming or something. I don’t know.
Your phrase “pragmatic progressive” sums it up perfectly for me, a marriage of optimism and realism.
Smartypants,
Norbrook has a comment over at the People’s View that makes a brilliant observation about the Republican Party shenanigans and the debt limit. The 14th Amendment question is fascinating. The Republicans keep forgetting that President Obama taught Constitutional Law. The constitutionality of the debt limit never came into question until now because neither party ever used it as a bargaining chip. In the past, the party in power just made sure the debt limit was raised.
————Norbrook——————————————————-
It’s going to be interesting, and I’ve been hearing a lot about various constitutional options available recently. You’d think the Republicans would have been paying attention when the read the Constitution at the beginning of this year.
The main reason that this has never been brought up before is that Congress has never failed to increase the debt limit. Since it’s never been a real issue, except for political maneuvering and posturing, it’s never been something that has been put to constitutional scrutiny. It’ll be interesting to see just how fast the Republicans try to come up with a spin on this.
——————————————————————————-
Obama’s Big Leverage: (Un-)Constitutionality of the Debt Limit
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2011/07/obamas-big-leverage-un.html
Thanks GC, for this excellent comment. I know you always say how much you hate writing, yet you deliver so much punch in what you write. Believe me, I wish I was able able to master the art of condensing my thoughts, in just a few words and sentences, the way you do, most of the time, in all your posts.
Pat buckanon just said the president does not have the balls to default on the debt.
Well, time fir some more emails!!!
This is how the President Obama beat them every time. They simply underestimate his talent, foresight, and strength. I do not who Buckanon (funny) being watching the last two and half years but the man I watched in unafraid make difficult decisions. President Obama is a gambling man!
Pat Buchanan is a wrinkled old fartbag who talks out of his wrinkled wide as a truck ass.
hahahahahhahahahahaha 😆
Do Pat Buchanan have the balls, any balls? With his dried up old racists fool.Why do Msnbc keep fools like that around?
tell us how you really feel utaustinliberal. 🙂
Ah, UT. Lol. The only thing these people know how to do is insult the president when they know that he has outwitted them and whupped them at their own game. They have no other cards to play but the insult cards and they lose every single time.
Go freaking figure.
The #1 most hilarious comment of the day! It also happens to capture the real essence of Rachel Maddow’s beloved uncle Pat.
The GOP is trying to emasculate him!
But they can’t, that is the folly of these fools. Why would President Obama default on the debt, that’s ignorant posturing of the clowns in the GOP. Wrinkled old fartbag indeed!
Pat Buchanan wishes the president would play the same childish games with the Republicans so that they can muddle the waters and say, ‘see, they are all the same.’ No, not this president. He does not work as hard as he does because he wants to play games with the lives of the American people. He will outwit them once again and they know it is coiming.
Folks, these cowards know it is coming.
Was he on MSNBC? Mathew’s show? I think it is time that racist, sexist man to follow Halperin.
No DR, he was on Cenk Uygur’s show, which comes on after Hardball. At least for once Cenk defended the President.
Wow. The ugly Uygur actually defended the president? I am shocked. Smelling salts please–I might faint.
“Buker” as we call Buchanan, rhymes with puker, must have been called back in from vaca right after the Halperin dismissal. They had a rt. wing shortage and Buker began appearing within a couple hours after the dick remark and appeared multiple times throughout the day on msnbc yesterday and today. He just yells rt. wing nonsensical insanities. I just laugh at him and am amazed that someone employs him.
yes, surprisingly
UT, Cenk may have defended PBO because he just witnessed what happened yesterday. He does not want to feel the wrath of PBO’s twitter, e-mail, phone or facebook brigades. Never again are we going to let them get off with their foolishness.
Africa, Excellent point. We will attack and defend. That is what they will have to deal with.
Pat Buchannan wouldn’t know what a ball is even if he used viagra 🙄
I tell you once again from Halperin calling the President a “pussy” to Noonan calling him “Obambi” to Buchannan today they are all trying to effeminate him
good article.Halperin has made a huge mistake.We WON’T remain silent anymore.We’ve remained silent since 2008.NO MORE.NEVER AGAIN!
Fred, WHAT? When did all of this happen? Halperin is making more nasty comments? Peggy Noonan is a skanky neocon who has no ethics what so ever.
Hi Dorothy, during the 08 campaign Halperin claimed that John Edwards believed the President was a “pussy” and was reluctant to endorse him. So, he has a track record.
if the President is a “pussy” he is a “pussy” who keeps his wiener in his pants and doesn’t go around parading his wiener to women that aren’t his wife and has not fathered any kid outside of marriage like John Edwards.
Makes ya wanna go whose the “pussy” now asshole? 🙄 but ya’ll get my drift 😉
from Edwards to Weiner they talk out of their arses about this President and the always get caught.I have a little ritual now;when someone really gets out of pocket I always look up and say God;don’t make me wait and He never fails 😀
;lol: ;lol: 😆
glad I made ya laugh Zizi 😆 you are very welcome 😉
ROFL, you’re on a roll tonight Fred
I know a lot of people thought Edwards was a defender of the poor. I am sorry, but I think he was talking the talk, but he never would have walked the walk.
I had no idea. Halperin, needs to get slapped down. I see he has now openly declared war against Obama.
Halperin called candidate Obama a “pussy” during the campaign in 2008. I called Starbucks this afternoon to tell them and they are more closed mouth about their stance towards Morning Joe than they were yesterday.
what’s funny is that Hapless Halperin is the biggest p alive. Can you imagine him in a room with the president? He’d shit his big-boy pull-ups so fast, SS wouldn’t have a chance to boot him out in time. Ha!!! The only way a p like Hapless has any courage is miles and miles away from his target and in front of an audience hiding behind a supposed 7 second delay. Such a sleaze ball 🙄 PBO’s presence alone would induce so much fear and anxiety, Hapless would be lucky to make it out of the room only felled by a heart attack instead of a drop kick aimed straight at his flat ass.
He is just envious of our President’s swagger. Halperin is such a toad, I may regret going here BUT I wonder if he is another closeted sexaully repressed Republican homosexual. His obssession with Obama seems to reflect alot of sexual undertones.
He has spent a bit of time making sure the repubs understand the power of the president. He know Obama is someone to be dealt with.
Now he is really afraid. The natural response is to then really go after the president. It will not serve him well.
ROFL, Fred I can always count on you for a good laugh lol
It doesn’t take balls to default on the debt…..it requires suicidal lunacy. Pat is trying to confuse the ignorant and the misinformed.
Exactly….only a dick would want to default on his obligations. These people are brainless!.
Can someone PLEASE tell me why that batshit crazy racist old crusty dude is STILL on the tube? He grates on my nerves…..this is not the 1950’s….MSNBC..please get rid of this man! I don’t CARE what he has to say, and when he’s on…I always change the channel.
Why are these silver-spooned idiots so obsessed with PBO’s genitalia? It calls for some Feudian interpretation . Penis envy? Size deficits? Their morbid and primordial fear of the bogeyman “over-endowed” black male has really sent them into a tizzy.
And the fact that the President is not giving them a single reason to get into his private life is just driving them nuts that they cannot Clintonize him. If they could then they could feel better about themselves. But his bodily and moral discipline is a direct affront to their sensibilities.
Frank Luntz admitted in 2007 that the GOp had been looking all these decades for a star to carry Reagan’s mantle. But when he appears he turns out to be a Democrat. they have never forgiven PBO for belonging to the “other party”, and now they cannot forgive him for being morally disciplined guy either, hence their prurient interest in his genitalia.
I agree with you on that. They hate him because they wish he were theirs.
zizi, it is nice to see you.
Pat should know about not having any balls.
Great article. This is what I sometimes feel about the far left. They have a very loud megaphone, yapping about this issue and that issue, yet many of them have never come in contact with the main street Americans they purport to be fighting for. They don’t know what it is to struggle for every dime or be dogged constantly by desperation. They sit in their lofty mansions and scream scream scream. Yes, they may be fighting for the ultimate good, but many of them are comparable to their counterparts on the right. Lily white republicans who have no concept of what poverty looks and feels like; who have been fed with silver spoons and all of a sudden want to become President because they “understand” what middle and working class individuals go through on a daily basis.
Let’s see….Bill Maher said last week that the President did nothing progressive, that his base won’t show up in 2012.
Rachel Maddow told her big fat lie about the president last Friday….she was fuming…..sooo angry..
O’Donnell had the lunatic Choi on his show….the guy who call the president .. the worst president ever.
Jon Stewart was a major douchebag ……
And so on….
This is not a game, this is not a joke…..2012 is coming fast enough…….what are they thinking? why are they always attack him?
Like 7-10% constitutes a base! That can’t elect anybody. Either they join forces with us and those from the middle, or they continue to throw mud from the safety of their corner , forever stuck there. Thought these people were supposed to be so smart.
what a wonderful post….so many great points….i have a few folks that i will send it to…..what a great article to discuss…i love this blog….
I think the author climbed in my brain and unscrambled my thoughts and said what I have been thinking for years…… Thanks for this great place to gather. I am mostly a lurker but feel strong community here. Thanks all.
Buchanan is a racist and an idiot. He has balls on the brain….defaulting will wipe out IRAs raise interest rates, tank the economy he thinks with the wrong head..
President Obama is the best President of my life which is now in its 6th decade…
I have been sickened by the Pundits, who have no analysis no facts they are gossips and fear mongers. This event has exposed the frauds behind the curtain. The Pundits are poisoning our dialogue with their undigested rage and jealousy. They need to be challenged and exposed for the lying hypocrites that they are.
My personal fight is to use the anger I feel towards them constructively and not get overwhelmed and depressed at their sheer wickedness.
Is it alright to let people know that The Pierce County Washington Auditor is advertising for seasonal jobs in elections. Her name is Julie Anderson,Pierce County Auditor,253-798-3189 l phone
Welcome Laurie, our community embraces you and we are glad you are joining forces with us.
I also work to manage my anger, and am pealing the layers off my own naivete. I look to our President for guidance. Everything I have learned about him I feel I can strive to use as an example for my own evolution. I just am not willing to be a hater or defeated.
I hope you continue to add your voice to the chorus.
Really lovely to have you here Laurie, thank you so much for commenting. And, needless to say, I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts on these poisonous pundits – the only good thing is that Halperin has, finally been exposed, for those who actually believed he was impartial. By his own prejudiced, poisonous tongue.
Laurie, I am in Seattle. Yes, there are lots of progressives here, but the state struggles to stay blue. Thanks for the info.
I meant to post this early, but I’ve been buried at work. Last night I attended an OFA strategy meeting. There were only three other folks there, but I was cheerfully informed that usually there are more. One of the attendees is a 17 high school seniors who was very impressive and I’m glad to say that he is the future.
It was an interesting time in that they were planning future events trying to keep in mind their purpose over the next several months. Folks, if you haven’t already done so, please get in touch with your local OFA chapter and start volunteering. They need the voices in the community even if it’s only you talking to your friends and associates. While the Repubs are chasing their tails we have to get busy. Not to be a downer after last night’s great fundraising achievement, but for all the money Obama/Biden are able to raise they will always be at a disadvantage because of Citizen’s United. It will be with enthusiasm and boots on the ground that we are able to even the playing field. We have to overwhelm them with proof of our support for President Obama.
Happy 4th of July folks. I’m sure you will hear from me again this weekend.
Great recap AnitaW. Thank you for the news from the ground. You are right that due to Citizens United we can and must never take our eyes off the ball. We have to fight fire with a plethora of donations and win 2012 for our guy. I’m glad a 17year old high school student was at the OFA meeting and impressed you with his fount of knowledge. Even though the turnout was small, it doesn’t matter. We may be small in some quarters, but we are a fierce tide to behold. I also wish you a Happy 4th and commend you for the great work.
Good kos diary on the HCR law:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/01/990556/-Solicitor-General-under-Reagan-calls-ACA-decision-devastatingly-convincing?showAll=yes&via=blog_1
I did not even check the comments, but this is informative!
Jovie, that ruling was important. If some repugs, who are honest acknowledge that, we are in a great place.
I believe these people of the far left as described in the post are what my Republican parents used to call “limousine liberals.” They didn’t live in the real world, but thought they knew best for everyone. I find them despicable. However, it didn’t take me long after leaving home to realize that I was not a Republican in philosophy. My first vote was in the Goldwater/Johnson election, at that time we still had to be 21 to vote. Even though living in a Republican home for years, I knew I could NOT vote for Goldwater. His speech in San Francisco “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice”is what changed me forever. So…..I have been voting for a long time, and remember numerous elections and presidents. I see the far right going Goldwater crazy, and hope that people wake up soon enough. McConnell (the chinless wonder) and other Repub congress people, are unbelievable. I cannot imagine Republicans of the 50s, 60s and 70s acting this way. Once again, as I’ve said before, this attitude and belligerence began with Reagan. I remember when he cut off the Air Traffic Controllers with no conscience whatsoever. That was his opening blow. California’s problems began with him too, and look how long it is taking to correct them!
Wow. I love it.