Comments on: Splitting Heirs: Harriet (and) The Spy… http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1141 BTC News: News, politics, opinion and satire Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:52:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Demosthenes2 http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1141/comment-page-1#comment-11731 Demosthenes2 Sat, 29 Oct 2005 16:29:48 +0000 http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1141#comment-11731 Well, we’ll see Publius… I’d like to hope you’re right, but I suspect that the far right wing neo-conservative socially policy religious based agenda isn’t going away. The best hope lies in splintering that faction from the old line conservatives. I’ll take their pragmatism and lack of empathy over the proselytizing of the religious right any day, and the truth is that victory comes not form energizing the base, but from splintering the opposition’s base. Clinton won by drawing the “Reagan Democrats’ back. Reagan won by drawing moderate democrats with concerns about extremism segments of the democratic party. Hillary Clinton won NY State by performing very well in the Upstate conservative bastions of Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and Utica, not by bringing out the NYC vote. If the Democrats annunciate their alternatives with courage and clearly (and that’s a mighty big if—so far only Hillary is even coming close) and fracture the neo-conservative alliance where it lives—on abortion, end of life issues, disaster preparedness, stem cell research, health care costs and social security, they will win. Cronyism is the fracture point. Policies that tell you how you will live, like it or not, are the chisel. Well, we’ll see Publius… I’d like to hope you’re right, but I suspect that the far right wing neo-conservative socially policy religious based agenda isn’t going away. The best hope lies in splintering that faction from the old line conservatives. I’ll take their pragmatism and lack of empathy over the proselytizing of the religious right any day, and the truth is that victory comes not form energizing the base, but from splintering the opposition’s base. Clinton won by drawing the “Reagan Democrats’ back. Reagan won by drawing moderate democrats with concerns about extremism segments of the democratic party. Hillary Clinton won NY State by performing very well in the Upstate conservative bastions of Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and Utica, not by bringing out the NYC vote.

If the Democrats annunciate their alternatives with courage and clearly (and that’s a mighty big if—so far only Hillary is even coming close) and fracture the neo-conservative alliance where it lives—on abortion, end of life issues, disaster preparedness, stem cell research, health care costs and social security, they will win.

Cronyism is the fracture point. Policies that tell you how you will live, like it or not, are the chisel.

]]> By: PubliusToo http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1141/comment-page-1#comment-11724 PubliusToo Fri, 28 Oct 2005 19:23:52 +0000 http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1141#comment-11724 Demos, although I agree with your analysis as far as it goes, I think we are witnessing a more fundamental change here. The rats are deserting the sinking ship because there is no alternative if they want to be re-elected. The Reagan Revolution is officially ended; the federal government has not been and will not be downsized. FEMA’s mismanagement of New Orleans was simply a convenient, demonstrable focal point for the American electorate to realize the utter failures of the Bush administration and of the Reagan Revolution. Iraq is another such focal point, but that may take longer for the electorate to realize. Because the republicans have controlled both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government during the entirety of the Bush administration, the republican true believers can no longer blame the so-called liberal Congress for failing to control spending, losing the war, etc., etc. The withdrawal of Ms. Miers’ nomination also confirms that the President is truly a lame duck. He cannot command even a majority of a Senate controlled by his own party because the political pendulum has already begun to swing the other way. The religious right was able to buck the nomination because the president is too weak to command their respect. They say that a shark must always be moving forward to breathe. I think what we have on our hands with both the Bush administration and the Reagan Revolution is a dead shark. Demos, although I agree with your analysis as far as it goes, I think we are witnessing a more fundamental change here. The rats are deserting the sinking ship because there is no alternative if they want to be re-elected. The Reagan Revolution is officially ended; the federal government has not been and will not be downsized. FEMA’s mismanagement of New Orleans was simply a convenient, demonstrable focal point for the American electorate to realize the utter failures of the Bush administration and of the Reagan Revolution. Iraq is another such focal point, but that may take longer for the electorate to realize. Because the republicans have controlled both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government during the entirety of the Bush administration, the republican true believers can no longer blame the so-called liberal Congress for failing to control spending, losing the war, etc., etc.

The withdrawal of Ms. Miers’ nomination also confirms that the President is truly a lame duck. He cannot command even a majority of a Senate controlled by his own party because the political pendulum has already begun to swing the other way. The religious right was able to buck the nomination because the president is too weak to command their respect. They say that a shark must always be moving forward to breathe. I think what we have on our hands with both the Bush administration and the Reagan Revolution is a dead shark.

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