jac's: an election 2008 diary: be very afraid

Sunday, August 31, 2008

be very afraid

If you think John McCain's choice of VP has somehow guaranteed Obama the election, you have an information gap.

Last time I checked the statistics, there were more Democrats than Republicans in this country, but the Democrats were more likely to defect or stay home.

Liberals comprised something like 18% of the population. (This is something that the Democratic party activists and bloggers love to ignore when they keep insisting the Democratic party ought to pander more to this group above all others.)

A huge number of Democrats have significant disagreements with the party on major issues but, above the local level, the party doesn't listen - instead it just insults its membership, calling them names, assuming they're backwards hicks who aren't as sophisticated as the demographic groups living in the "right" (or "good") areas, and, above all, pointing to the fact that this disagreement, while often quite strong, is usually only partial. Look - people are changing their views on issue X, but they agree with us on this part. The Democrats nit-pick. They insist that it is a sign that "people are dumb" when people agree with a Democratic goal (for instance, equality for minorities and women) in a broad and general sense, and yet fail to agree with the Democrats' chosen solution. Look, the amused Democrat says. These poor uneducated fools like the idea of eradicating inequality, but they're not willing to support it when they see it in the real world*.

I'm not a liberal and I'm not a feminist. I'm no "Reagan Democrat", though, because I hated Reagan. I have never believed in him or his vision. I believed in the vision of the Democratic party - the one articulated by Hillary Clinton**.

So that's where I am on the spectrum - apparently further right than most Democratic bloggers, but not as far right as so-called "Reagan Democrats" because I still believe Reagan was, to put it very politely, wrong.

But I'll probably vote for McCain/Palin. What option has the Democratic party left me?

Be very clear on this: it's not because I like McCain/Palin. It's because what my own party is offering is even less appealing:

Go ahead and say that Palin wants to teach creationism in schools, side by side with evolution. So does Obama.
Go ahead and say that Palin is pro-life. (Obama Girl is going to hate that a whole lot more than I will.) I say, well, here's a debate our nation is ready to have. Let's get this thing duked out - once and for all would be nice.
Go ahead and say that Palin has no experience. I laugh at this: do people realize they have already fallen to comparing Obama to McCain's veep choice?
Go ahead and point out how conservative McCain's policies are. Now explain to me how Obama is any different - except, of course, for the very significant fact that Obama wants to do his conservative governing in the name of the Democratic party.

Obama offers me worse than nothing. If he is elected, I can expect he will behave like an enemy, (D) or not. He will oppose my issues. He will be just as bad as McCain on the issues I care about, while at the same time he will represent things I abhor:

He openly insults every demographic I am proud to belong to. I have no use for a candidate who harasses women and mocks small town America. I have no use for a candidate who thinks patriotism is stupid, whites are evil, and working class is just another word for trailer trash***.
Every issue I care deeply about - Obama will undermine. If we're going to see the overturning of the rights I care about, I want it done by a Republican.
McCain/Palin win on the character issue - and Obama's character flaws are so troubling that character matters in a way that never even occurred to me before.
Obama's response to criticisms is to attack his critics. I'm not really looking forward to four years of his name-calling.
A victory for Obama means that the pro-Clinton factions in the Democratic party are driven out, while the sleazeballs will gain total control over the new "Obama party".

And this is no small point. Obama wants to reroute the Democratic party's power through him personally, co-opting and/or shutting down all competing forms of power throughout the progressive movement. Are we not supposed to notice or mind this? Because I do notice and I do mind.

There are many arguments about not being complicit in one's own victimization. I am not going to forgive the Democratic party for what it did. Even if all other things were precisely equal - even if Obama were a better candidate than McCain - there is still the fact that a vote for Obama equals

a vote for stolen elections and the legitimization of corruption
a vote for not being listened to by the Democratic party
a vote for bullying - affirming the despicable tactics used by Obama and his campaign
a vote for misogyny, disrespect, and hate toward women
a vote for "post-partisanship" - which seems to be a formalization of the policy that Democrats exist to rubberstamp whatever Republicans want. Democrats will stop being an opposition party and will instead be a party that serves Republican wishes. (No thanks!)
a vote for the idea that the Democratic party is all about Obama - instead of being about its people, or about its principles, or its issues, it will be power concentrated in the hands of one man I have come to really dislike.

It has become obvious that the Democratic party isn't sincere about offering opportunity (let alone equality) for women, and has proven repeatedly that the party turns rabid and vicious if a woman actually dares to challenge their male power.

Oh sure, those probably aren't real Democrats - Kos and Huffington used to be Republicans, until right around the same time someone picked out puppet Obama to prop up, when suddenly they converted to Democrat and started blogging. And media personalities are obviously ruled by the rich man holding their leash.

But so what? What did the party do to defend its own? That's the real point. How can we vote for something that is so rotten through that when a Republican steps on it, it caves? It is impossible from this distance to tell the difference between infiltration vs. plain old incompetence, but neither one is what we need in our leader.

Palin will deliver women. She won't win liberal women - but so what? She doesn't need to. Every other woman in the nation is probably as grossed out as I am by "that's a cell phone in my pocket, HA HA HA hey you don't mind if I slap your butt SWEETIE!"

Palin is an image of womanhood that reflects what a lot of women would really like to be.

Palin will deliver for McCain those states which McCain probably would have won anyway. Palin will clinch it, deliver energy, make it strong. She will win unions and she will win the working class. She will win Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, and all those other working class states (that would have voted for Hillary).

My best hope now: McCain/Palin for President with a Democratic congress.

I would have really, really liked a Democratic President, but I don't imagine Obama (or his fanboys) to be the least bit Democratic.

Democrats need to figure out what to do next. If they keep letting recently-converted Republicans-turned-Democrat to behave the way they have been (in the name of liberals and the Democratic party), Congress will be gone too.
_______________________________________
* And of course the affluent white liberal Democrat in his gated community or his ivy tower - the idea that this guy could be the one who genuinely doesn't get it never occurs to him. Democrats just know their solutions work - and if you were to point to the last thirty years and say, when does the part where these solutions work start happening? they'd just call you a name.

** I see Obama as the unmaking of that vision - not a step toward the fulfillment of it.

***Oh, and just what is so comical about a woman shooting a gun?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: According to Oxford Dictionary the definition of Feminisim /Feminist n. & adj.

ADVOCACY OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND SEXUAL EQUALITY.

Are you sure you are not a feminist?

This primary season was extremely disturbing, I felt as if my ideals were crashing in front of my face. Progressives attacking a good hardworking, intelligent woman. A woman who had worked for all people of all different colors. Eathing their own? If this was happening, my whole concept of humanity seemed inadequate. I really was in despair, part of my identity was crumbling.

What I have come to grasp is that life is really about survival of the fittest and if you want your side to win, most will do anything to achieve that end, even if they label themselves as a "peaceful progressive." What then makes these people any better than the "right" who I have so come to view as "bad"? Answer is, nothing.

I picked up Ron Paul's book Revolution and was able to understand what true conservatives were and what they wanted. I would define Paul as a compassionate conservative. They themselves were fighting back for their party against the neocons who had taken over and used Gwb as a puppet. I ended up reading books on history, diplomacy, current world events and leaders. I can say my grasp and vision of the world has changed. I have registered as an Independent voter and will not show an allegiance to any political party as of now. It is one of the great dangers to our Democracy, hence the Obambi takeover of the Democratic Party. Why wouldn't they think, "Where else can they go"?

All this being said, you speak of the character of Senator Mccain and Gov. Palin and I couldn't agree with you more on the importance of character in a leader. Read THE BUSH TRAGEDY, it is solely based on the character of GWB and how it affected his decision making. Knowing that Obambi has no character, it is highly dangerous to our country if this man enters office.

I have been reading up on Gov. Palin and am truly impressed. She supported Ron Paul in his quest for Presidency. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV9rW25bT5o She has exposed corruption in her own party and she truly is a Washington outsider who has made real changes in her Govt. She is the epitome of the word public servant. She is not anti environment and she will not seek to overturn roe v wade.

With his choice for Vice President Senator Mccain has displayed his character and decision making skills and I could not be more delighted. It has calmed my fears of voting for the "evil republicans".

My new self is still on shaky ground but I'm getting used to me. I think this whole country has been on a roller coaster ride through this election process and we have all learned something and grown. Without Hillary we would never have had VP nominee Palin. If women didn't stand with Hillary, we probably wouldn't have either. The Democratic party needs to fall and rebuild in the classic Democratic tradition. If Obambi gets elected this will not happen, so it is of upmost importance he loses a landslide victory, so we as citizens can have two real choices from Parties for the people. No more puppets! Real leaders who put country first.; August 31, 2008 at 9:03 PM
jacilyn said...: Are you sure you are not a feminist?

Depends on how one defines "feminist".

At any rate, I'm not sure what I am anymore. I am still trying to make sense of everything that is going on....; September 1, 2008 at 6:22 PM

Post a Comment

quote, unquote

...not just party officials, but also the intelligentsia that formulates the political philosophy and the echo chamber that shouts its approval, is running a campaign on little more than class resentment against former Democratic constituencies. (White) Race is elided with (working) class to create the ultimate clash of culture – to make racist demons out of people asking to have their material interests defended.

It is no less than the mobilization of resentment of the socio-economic winners against the losers. How dare you not keep us in power, when we have done so little for you and promise to do even less?

...

The ultimate shadow of Reagan is that you don’t win by defending losers, only by securing the interests of the winners. That is the dark heart beating in the chest of the Unity Democrats. They are done with the losers.
- Anglachel

They're just not used to somebody really smart. They’re just not used to somebody who’s really well educated. They just don’t know quite how to handle it. Cause if he’s as smart as Barack is he must not be from my neighborhood.
- Joe Biden
(on why "Republicans and blogs on the far right" are 'mischaracterizing' Obama)

One of the things I really like about PUMA is that, unlike an unfortunately growing faction of the Democratic Party, there are no loyalty oaths, no uniforms to wear, no hierarchical leadership structure to pay homage to or suck up to, and no demagoguery to reflexively swallow. I’ve read and participated in many disagreements on The Confluence, esp. recently with regard to voting McCain, and never once been told ’you’re not a true PUMA!’ or had ’you’re a Republican/bitch/trailer trash/freak because you disagree!’
- commenter, Corrente

Whatever Palin’s political impact, her cultural significance is profound. For better and for worse, she introduces a new and likely long-running cultural type to the national stage—the red-state feminist.
- Kay S. Hymowitz, City Journal

The vice-presidential candidacy of Sarah Palin is, in part, an effort to wrest the leadership of the feminist movement from the elite and militant left, and to put it in the hands of a silent majority of relatively traditional but ambitious women. It is a bold move to try to separate abortion from other issues generally associated with women’s rights.
- Conrad Black

I think we need to add a new term to the lexicon to sum up that prevalent bit of sexism. I'm calling it Penis Years* (not a coincidence that it echoes the term dog years.)

*Penis Years: Each year of any experience of a person with a penis is equivalent to five years of experience by someone without a penis.
- The Confluence
(alleging bias in the media's treatment of female candidates Clinton and Palin, as compared to the media's treatment of Obama)

Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman.
- Wendy Doniger, Newsweek

They believe that the Democrats are right in the same way, to the same degree, that 2 plus 2 equals 4 and the Earth revolves around the sun. They take the ‘rightness’ of liberal and Democratic views as such a given, that they are not even able to think within any other framework.

Conservatives, and I am one, understand that some people disagree with us and it’s up to us to sell our ideas and get their vote. Liberals think that their correctness is self-evident and that those who don’t agree are uninformed, stupid or evil. They should be lectured and if that doesn’t work, mocked or ignored.
- commenter, FT.com

[Democrats'] concern is real and admirable. The trouble is, they lack respect for the objects of their solicitude. Their sympathy comes mixed with disdain, and even contempt.
- Clive Crook, columnist

She added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn't already have sewn up, the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America's name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right....

...Palin was not a sure choice, not even for the stolidly Republican ladies branch of Citizens for a Tackier America. No, she isn't even female really....

...Palin has a toned-down version of the porn actress look favoured by this decade's woman, the overtreated hair, puffy lips and permanently alarmed expression. Bristol has what is known in Britain as the look of the teen mum, the "pramface." Husband Todd looks like a roughneck; Track, heading off to Iraq, appears terrified. They claim to be family obsessed while being studiously terrible at parenting. What normal father would want Levi "I'm a fuckin' redneck" Johnson prodding his daughter?

...Palin has it all, along with being vicious....
- Heather Mallick, CBC

Sarah Palin thinks she is a better American than you because she comes from a small town, and a superior human being because she isn't a journalist and never lived in Washington and likes to watch her kids play hockey.
- Michael Kinsley, TIME

...those numbers showing a 20-point swing in the support of white women have got to be in error -- unless of course, they meant to say ditzy white women, and the first adjective was omitted in error.
- commenter, TalkLeft

On the day McCain announced her selection as his running mate, Palin thanked Clinton and Ferraro for blazing her trail. A day later, Ferraro noted her shock at Palin's comment. You see, none of her peers, no one, had ever publicly thanked her in the 24 years since her historic run for the White House.
- Tammy Bruce, San Francisco Chronicle

One ''hot-button'' issue is whether a woman with young children could be a good president and still handle her domestic obligations, or would she become conflicted, so that, say, if the Russians were getting ready to launch nuclear missiles at us, and the president was supposed to get on the Hot Line, she would instead be seized by an uncontrollable maternal instinct to make a pediatrician appointment.I don't know about Palin. But I do know this: women in general are WAY better at work/home multi-tasking than -- to pick another gender at random -- men.
- Dave Barry

She was put on this earth to do two things: kill caribou and kick butt. She's all out of caribou.
- Jonah Goldberg
(enthusing over Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin)

And Hillary….I know you want to keep your job but for God’s sake woman how much abuse are you willing to take?
- Mountain Sage

There is always talk of conservatives loving to start cultural war when they are down, but I can’t say that I’ve found this any more sickening and disgusting than the liberals’ tactic of belittling and demonizing much of the population of this country. I’ve found it incredibly hard to get mad at their usual attacks on liberals when my fellow liberals attack with the same degree of ferocity, but in a different way. If they are stereotypically “cheerfully vicious”, than we are most definitely “blissfully smug”.
- commenter, Corrente

What is it about Republican Conventions that bring out America's inner police state?
- Tennessee Guerilla Women

He's a one-trick (unity) pony, whose trick has been trotted out once too often. His sole and only schtick – standing at a podium in front of huge crowds and offering himself as their mirror – is already so yesterday that nobody can even work up much energy praising it anymore. Witness the speeches at this convention. All anybody could say on his behalf is that he isn’t John McCain.
- Falstaff (on Obama)

The reason that some of us will support Palin, even though we may not agree with all of her political positions, is that she is not an illegitimate candidate. She did not steal votes from her opponent. She did not smear us with charges of racism. She actually has a lot in common with some of us (mother, businesswoman, athlete, etct). And the man that will be her boss showed us that he is at least listening and aware of our presence. He didn’t flick us off his shoulder and tell us we weren’t needed. He didn’t play the abusive boyfriend and say “where else are you gonna go babe?”.
- The Confluuence

Party bosses fixed a title fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In bare knuckles Scranton where I’m from, that’s tantamount to treason. So they better watch out when I come looking for a rematch.
- Steve Corbett, talk show radio host

All those years I took pride in my party loyalty and now I realize I was just a fool, because I was telling the Democratic party and candidates they could take me for granted and ignore my wants and needs. The could pursue their own agendas without interference from me, because no matter what they did (or failed to do) they could count on my vote.

If I had been more disloyal they might have offered to pay me for my vote instead paying me no attention. Who knows what I could have got in return for my vote? I might have universal health care right now instead of my current plan which is called “don’t get sick.” We might even have “Congressional oversight” of the Bush Mob.
- Klownhaus

Nancy Pelosi said not too long ago that she supported Obama because he has the judgment to be President. This is of course, like a homeless person giving advice on how to fix the housing crisis.
- Marc Rubin

The Republicans couldn’t have come up with a better way to destroy the progressive movement from within if they’d invented him. Which maybe they did.
- Reclusive Leftist

Resolved, that 18 million Americans voted for Hillary Clinton, more than any other presidential primary candidate in history, and they have a right to help shape the agenda and processes of the Democratic Party.
- Declaration of Objections

I know that candidates usually run toward the center during the general, but, damn, they don’t usually run all the way to the opposite goal!
- commenter, Corrente

who I am

I am an alienated former Democrat, who intends to vote independent from now on.

I took down my blogroll because I don't want to belong to any communities at the moment. I think groupthink is the biggest threat there is right now.

I always did like to play devil's advocate, and I think an honest debate is worth more than a hundred "right" opinions. Two hundred if it's lively.

I'm not ashamed to place myself near the center of the political spectrum. I have little respect for people who are way out on either wing, who see nothing but their own little bubble, and hear nothing because they can't listen to anyone but themselves and their mirrors.

I am an unashamed member of the low information bitter small town gun totin' hick crowd, though I've lived in cities too.

I've been a Democrat ever since I could vote, but I'm fed up with the sneering contempt liberals have aimed at everyone outside their little gated-community world.

To me, the word elitist brings up images of Brad Pitt on ice skates, and it is exactly how I think of the Democratic party. And, no, "elitist" has nothing to do with how wealthy you are. It is merely the opposite of someone who believes in equality (or, ironically, democracy), but who believes that 'some pigs are created a little more equal than others'.

I don't pretend to be particularly well-educated; I have no fancy degrees and I've learned (the hard way) to be very cautious of assuming a fancy degree is worth jack.

I care about eradicating poverty and I care about dignity for all (even poor people, trailer trash, Southerners, and Republicans). I care about education, equal access to opportunity, FDR's Four Freedoms, minimum protections for workers, and a fair shake for anyone willing to work hard and obey the rules.

I care about an honest dialog, and the idea that everyone ought to have a voice. I care about fair and honest elections. I am angry about how manipulative the media is. I care about procedures being followed and process being respected.

Also: when I comment on other blogs - which I don't usually do ever since I noticed someone going around posting this site as his or her personal link (??) - I use this Blogger account. If the name is the same as mine, but it's not a Blogger account - it isn't me.