Reply #15: I don't know if I agree with that assessment

[tom_paine]

I still hold on to the idea that the Party-Loyal Right-Wing Sub-Media, having thoroughly looped what remains of the Formerly Free Press in their wake has created the "Republican Matrix" (as Tom Tomorrow calls it), which is deadly to those who believe it's lies.

Like the rest of the Empire's citizenry, Democratic Congresspersons are also surrounded by the Right-Wing Fantasy Bubble that spews out the TV at them. They have bad information and have fallen for sucker plays...just like we all (or almost all) did during the Last Days of the Old Republic when we sat on our asses watching that Imperial Roman Circus that was the Attempted Coup of 1998, convinced that everything was ok and the Old Republic was strong, instead of dying.

Plus, politics inevitably makes people conservative (not politically speaking, but the "cautious" definition of the word). I worked briefly in state-level politics and things must be truly bad to see Dean and the others saying what they are about the Busheviks. That is an incredible occurrance, in a political sense, if you think about it, for Dean to speak so directly.

Now, I am a moderate who comes down to the right of most DUers on many things. I do tend to differ from the other moderates in that I disagree that stifling ourselves with timid caution and becoming more conservative is the way to victory.

Having said that, I'm not sure the Democrats' confusion and dismissing of their base is all their fault (naturally it takes two to tango) but for the last 15-20 years the entirety of Corproate TV Pravda (and Raygun's artificially-produced "teflon" is proof that this is no overnight occurrance, but a long-term issue) has been telling them that this is exctly what they must do in order to win.

Then, along comes Clinton who does pretty much just that (to some degree, not completely), running as an Eisenhower Republican, a creature that has all but vanished in today's Empire, which validates the strategy.

My take on that was that Clinton adapted to successfully combat the symptoms, but the disease rolled merrily along, continuing to warp the fabric of American Sanity and changing mores and beliefs as swiftly as only psychoengineered propaganda with a Billion Dollar "Innoculation" Machine. So that, while Clinton's success was total, it was only temporary, tailored to a situation that was a frozen moment of mobile transition.

The situation has changed beyond all recognition. And in Clitnon's success lay the seeds of future troubles that are being discussed here.

That my take on it.