Some truth from James Boyce and Dave Johnson

[Mass]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson-and-james-boyce/the-al-gore-lie-is-halfwa_b_42393.html

The Al Gore Lie Is Halfway Around The World And The Truth Is Sitting In Nashville.

...


Furthermore, it's our collective fault. As we noted in our post a few days ago, no one should have been surprised when Al Gore was attacked for the positive press he and his movie received last weekend. An Inconvenient Truth was sure to win an Oscar. Gore would then speak to a billion people about the problem of global warming. The well-funded global warming denial industry would respond, and $mearing people is their standard method of attack. They destroy our leaders.

And yet, there was surprise and a lack of preparation to fight back. How many times will one of our leaders be attacked and be marginalized before we get it through our thick heads that this is a pattern? How many times will this happen before we start to do something about it?
...
And not only are the targets of the attacks often caught off guard, but the Democratic institutions and leaders are often nowhere to be found when it happens!

...
Last fall, we (James, Dave and Taylor Marsh) worked together on The Patriot Project. We struggled mightily to raise money to help veteran candidates like Joe Sestak, Patrick Murphy, Charlie Brown, Jack Murtha and Chris Carney. We raised money online but traditional donors didn't help us. The progressive bloggers are also largely unfunded and are the targets of strategic marginalization attacks themselves. The progressive donor base continues to play it safe and avoid controversy, funding the large, stale, DC-based "traditional" organizations.

And the attacks continue.

When John Kerry was the focus of the machine when he botched his joke, the wingnuts misrepresented what he said and pretended outrage, the right's online sites echoed and amplified the smear, the Drudge Report spread it widely, Limbaugh blasted it out, and then the networks dutifully picked it up and spread the lie to the rest of the country. And not only did no Democrat come to his aid, some actually piled on.



How many similar episodes have we seen in just the last few months? Where are the Democratic institutions? Where are the other Democratic leaders? Don't they understand that they're next?



It is a tragedy.

First the wingnuts came for Bill Clinton,
I remained silent;
I am not Bill Clinton.

When they made up stuff about Gore,
I remained silent;
I am not Gore.

When they lied about John Kerry
I didn't speak up for him;
I complained about how he ran his campaign.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out;
I am a Democrat.

Also posted on GD
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=317936&mesg_id=317936

[beachmom]

1. Awesome. Beyond awesome.

Um, Gore is having a tough time here. Per dailykos, NPR aired this smear, so yes, it did go up the foodchain to the MSM. Gore has been . . . Gored again. So this isn't just Kerry -- it's about stopping what they're fighting for.

[karynnj]

7. Didn't Bush replace the top person in Public Radio with a crony

NPR is becoming not NPR. It is more than Kerry. The candidates need to admit that or they will be sunk.

By the way that is a cool parody of the Niemoller prayer - searching for it, I found a website with what purports to be the original.

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.





http://www.serendipity.li/cda/niemoll.html

[_dynamicdems]

2. Reading this really got to me.

So effing sad. Tragic.

Some did pile on. And we know who.

[Mass]

3. There was another thread on GD and of course, people are missing the point.

They think it is all about Gore and not about how Democrats cannot stand for Democrats.

[Democrafty]

4. I am so upset about the fact that the Patriot Project didn't get

sufficient support. I thought it was one of the most important blogs ever.

[karynnj]

8. I agree and it's because so many are arrogant and think that

it can't happen to them. Because Edwards (Clark, Hillary ...) are just so much better at fighting back. (Hillary is whining about stuff that Kerry would have smoothly batted back.)

[wisteria]

5. Sad, but very true. If we would all stand together as a team and support one another

we would all be stronger for the effort. This is the one thing that drives me crazy about our party- most times no one backs anyone else up, so we continue to be easy and effective targets for the RWes.
There are exceptions, Senator Bird's recently letter to the editor defending Kerry and denouncing lies appearing in what supposedly was later described as a joke piece.

[ProSense]

6. And it's happening still!

Kerry questioning Fox is a huge deal (and it brought out the leading wingnut liars), not just because Kerry got a chance to confront a liar, but because Bush had the audacity to nominate him. The posts are popular here, but not one of them made the front page.

A lot of coverage in the media and on the blogs, Beachmom did one on Kos, but that was it for the more prominent left blogs. No, Think Progress covered it, but I didn't see anything on several of the others.

There have been no comments by Democrats, in or outside the Congress.

[MBS]

9. thanks!

That rewording of the classic poem is just the best.

[TayTay]

10. I am going to print that last bit out, suitable for framing

So true. So very, very true.