Quitters! Whiners! Tantrum-casters! Bind your wounds and FIGHT!

[Dogmudgeon]

So Alito's confirmation is a done deal. Some real damage could be done to the American People. And Little King George got his way, again. It's his "political capital" at work.

And now, you're going to leave the party. You're going to withhold your vote as punishment. Maybe you'll work for a third-party candidate, just to show them that your conscience is a mighty and unforgiving taskmaster.

Those damned Democrats. Liberals! They're all crooks. Jerks. Spineless. Gutless. Just like the Republicans. Whores ... WHORES!

Well, I have a 'tude about this, too ...

This is no time to give up the fight!

First, keep in mind, most of our Democratic senators came through and voted against this dissembling hypocrite, this overstuffed tool of the enemies of Life, Liberty, and Planet Earth.

I haven't heard the final count, but there are several of our own who have knuckled under. We can deal with them in due time -- one-third of them every two years. The day of their dismissal will be the coldest day of their lives, but it is not our current business. We must keep in mind, when our solidarity is most important, that MOST of the Democratic Senators DID vote in our interest.

And maybe, just maybe, a few Republicans did, too.

What does a fighter do when he's taken a savage beating and been thrown from the very ring in which his humiliation took place? He lets his friends take him back home and tend his wounds. He lets the wounds bleed a while, cleans and binds them, and allows the swelling to go down. There is ice, bedrest, and video rentals to concentrate on.

When he's fit to return to the gym, he works with his coaches and trainers on a new strategy and commits to it. He knows that there will always be a fight date on his calendar and an opponent in the opposite corner.

He comes out of the ring again, a man on fire, his hunger for victory as keen as it was on the first day he stepped into the ring.

And it has to be that way for US.

This is NOT the time to tuck tail and run. Take a day or two and get your mind off the catastrophe; then, come back fresh and ready to take new action against the Empire. There are still literally dozens of options that are open to us.

We can move our fights to the lower courts and the legislatures.

We can work for supermajorities and PACK the courts, even the Supreme Court.

We can carefully focus on removing the premiere Democratic turncoats at primary time.

We can take our case to our friends and neighbors.

And, I certainly hope some of us are already doing that.

The Republicans may have just gotten a lock on the Supreme Court, but the days of their hegemony are numbered even as they cackle in demonic glee. Team Bush is bracing for a raft of Impeachment charges. Their fundraisers are going to prison like subway frotteurs, turnstile-jumpers and stickup-boys who leave their wallet at the scene of the crime. Their "base" (well-named) is cracking like the dessicated, unwashed, eczematous skin on a neglected patient with bedsores. Their days are fraught with worry and hold no further pleasure for them.

Our own best days are still ahead. And so are our greatest victories. At times like this, we MUST redouble our efforts and keep at the fight. And NEVER give up.

(Cue John "Bluto" Belushi's rant from Animal House, right after Delta House and its men are expelled and evicted.)

Defeats like this one are difficult to bear. But we will all survive. Our future victories and our ultimate triumph will be that much sweeter.

But it ain't over 'til it's over. The Fat Lady has scarcely begun to warm up her great vocal cords. The inning may be lost, but the Series is just about clinched.

We're not finished until every last stinking one of us has been silenced, imprisoned, exiled, executed, and wiped from the memory of the Human family.

This is the time to FIGHT!

Okay ... take the rest of the week off. Get out of the house, go get loaded and laid, sleep off a couple of epic hangovers, and then it's first thing Monday morning, the attack resumes.

Here's the plan: We don't give up.

We never give up.

--p!

[blm]

1. Word. Don't Tread on Me.

.

[New Earth]

28. 311

:)

[samhsarah]

2. You Rawk!

Thanks. I needed that.

[samhsarah]

5. Oh, yeah, and K&R

:kick:

[JeffR]

3. Thank you Pidwidgeon

Thank you.

[mmonk]

4. Give me liberty or give me death.

The dems can't deliver that. Who's the cowards?

[sweetm2475]

6. Thanks.

Now I'm gonna go get drunk.:beer: K&R

[Burried News]

7. Fight? This wasn't a fight - this was just alittle something to sand

their gears.

[MadHound]

8. True, we never give up1

The trouble is that the party does, and has, time and again. The IWR, the Patriot Act, the prescription drug bill, each and every single one of Bushco's nominations, the bankruptcy bill, and on and on ad nauseum the long litany of Dems rolling over and pissing on themselves like whipped pups is almost endless.

Sorry, but even though I've worked in the Democratic party for over thirty years, from the streets to convention delegate, I cannot continue to support a party that will not fight for us!

All that you're doing by continuing to support these spineless curs is enabling the ongoing rush of corporate control and rampant fascism. I, because I'm a fighter, will not lay down and except such a fate, no matter which party is forcing it on us.

Yes, the Greens are small, for now. But by God they're fighters, and as the Dems continue to roll over for their corporate masters and leave the rest of us on our owns, the ranks of the Greens will swell, and the Democrats will go the way of the Whigs. When the people in this country no longer have a voice through traditional political channels, they will find other ways to make themselves heard. That is what you're seeing now.

You want the us to fight for the Democratic Party? Then by God, tell the goddamn Democratic Party to fight for us, it's that simple.

[Rowdyboy]

9. Damn well said.....

You speak for me

[cry baby]

10. I just got told that I am in denial if I don't see that we are losing

everything and there is no way to win anything ever again.

Bullshit - I say! I won't give up!

[Midlodemocrat]

12. I agree.

Bullshit. I won't give up until I get my country back!

[katsy]

11. Don't leaders lead by example?

So when have they filibustered any judge or piece of legislation that was bad for our country and average Americans?

They serve their corporate masters just as the gop does.

[cry baby]

15. What are you going to do about it?

give up?

[katsy]

20. Me? Give up?

Never.

But IMO, the dems in congress have.

They no longer represent me.

[zanne]

29. We're behaving like abused spouses....

We'll stay with our abusers, because they "really don't mean it" or "They're under alot of stress" or "Deep down inside, they really do love us". Well, I'm tired of being an enabler. And to think, we've been criticizing Republicans all this time for having "blind faith" in their leaders. Wake up, people.

[bowens43]

13. EVERYTHING changes if we take back congress .

Damn right it's time to fight. It's time to hold this administration accountable for all that it has done to our once proud county. To do that we need to win in November. After that, the thrashing will begin.

[dogfacedboy]

In the current political climate,

taking back the House will be easier than you think. I don't care if it's a radical right tactic or not, but I fully intend to do to the word 'Republican' what the right did to the word 'Liberal'. I want to make 'Republican' sound as vile as the phrase 'pedophile rapist' in people's minds.

[dogfacedboy]

14. It would be completely cowardly to give up now.

I've been beginning to take a page from the right-wing playbook in not letting my emotions get the best of me. As far as I'm concerned, Alito's probable appointment to the SCOTUS is just another punch thrown in a fist fight which I'm determined to win, by whatever means necessary. Sitting around whining and threatening to "quit" will solve nothing.

It would be foolish to believe that this Senate vote will go in any direction other than party lines. Face it folks, a filibuster probably isn't going to happen.

What now? If the Congressional District you live in has a seat up for grabs this November, and there isn't a true Democrat in that seat, work your ass off to get one in there. I live in the District where Jabba the Hastert now holds that seat. My priority for the rest of '06 will be to get his fat ass out of Congress. You folks in the 'red' states have a lot of work to do. Get to work. The radical right is counting on Democrats to sit around licking their wounds. Don't do it! There's no time for that. For one thing, the corruption scandal can be a gift that keeps on giving. As a 'good government-type', I'm salivating at the opportunity for DC to be cleaned-up.

[Cats Against Frist]

16. WTF?

I'm watching this fucking dog and pony show, and licking your wounds and fighting means standing up for what's right -- not aligning with a weak, shallow, out-of-touch, chickenshit, ineffective bunch of assholes, that are more worried about their sound bites than our rights.

FUCK THAT. FUCK THAT. FUCK THAT. To hear Nelson call Alito an "Authoritarian," has just made my ass hot. The Dems don't filibuster, and I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do. I'm already a person without a party, who votes for Dems, but I don't know what the fuck, now. I don't know what the fuck. I'm just about to cry -- those fuckers had better stand up for us.

[SledDriver]

17. Would be true if your hypothetical fighter actually fought....

Y'know, maybe took a swing or two at his opponent?
Instead, your hypothetical fighter just kinda stands there, says he doesn't agree with his opponent's wanting to beat him up, and proceeds to get his ass kicked.

over...

and over...

and over...

His loyal friends take him home, clean him up, rent him some movies. He heals, trains, goes to the weigh-in and makes it seem like "this time" he's gonna fight. He gets in the ring but then decides that "this isn't the time to fight". And proceeds to get his ass kicked.

over...

and over...

and over...

and over...

Pretty soon his friends will wise up, dump him, and go with another fighter. Maybe this new fighter isn't as big, maybe he isn't as strong, but at least he'll go down FIGHTING!

[JeffR]

18. His hypothetical fighter is US

Every one of us.

[Jose Diablo]

19. Yes, 'gird up your loins', so to speak

LOL, I love that phrase, 'gird up your loins'.

[yellowdogmi]

21. hear hear! Except

Stay tuned for Friday. It ain't over til it's over. Thanks P

[Dr Fate]

22. Or, DEMS could filibuster and unify & energize the base like never before.

n/t

[tomreedtoon]

23. Watch out! People on DU will HATE you for saying this!

I've addressed just such a defeatist in another thread, someone who concluded he's going to leave America and said he's going to meditate on his failures. I called the guy on his pretentions. I got called a right-wing plant.

Mind you, I agree with you. (I really wish more of the Democratic candidates for President had such a fighting spirit.) It's just that I suspect some of the gloom-and-doom people never really understood that having principles and fighting for them isn't as easy as slapping a bumper sticker on their cars.

(Cue that cut of Billy Joel's "Second Wind," please.)

[Dogmudgeon]

26. Plenty of people on DU hate me already. I like 'em anyway.

So, what's a few more?

My old DU user name was "BareKnuckledLiberal". I should have kept it, especially since I discovered, to my horror, that my long-time general Internet user name, Pigwidgeon, had been appropriated by J.K. Rowling for one of her Harry Potter characters, and may now be the "intellectual property" of her publishing house.

My aim is to return some of the fighting spirit to the Democratic Left in general. Disappointment has festered into defeatism, snobbery, paralysis, cynicism, South-Park-ism*, Counterpunch-drunkeness** and political entitlement passivity.

"Political entitlement passivity" is a piece of jargon I coined to describe the attitude that many angry, disappointed Democrats develop. They get the idea in their heads that the Democratic Party is run by experts, authorities and specialists, and that they have no right to become involved with it. Conversely, they come to believe that their representatives should do things for them, and when a desired piece of political action is undone, they blame the representative, swearing that they will call down fire and brimstone and a loss in the very next primary. (I don't always disagree with that, but I think the harsh action is much better used in a carefully targeted manner.)

I believe that I have a better case to leave America than most of the people who claim they're going to leave America -- I have longstanding chronic illnesses, can not qualify for medical aid, and I could pass the Canadian Immigration Candidacy exam sans aucune difficulté. Once in Canada, I would be able to get all the health care I need, and be able to return to full-time work as soon as I can. I get no joy out of either illness OR idleness. So, why do I stay? Because I love America, and I'll be damned if I let some overpaid cabal of power-drunk God-floggers and vampires-manqués take it away from me and those I love.

I love Canada, too, and get just as misty-eyed reading a stirring speech once given by Johnny Mac as any of our American founding fathers, but America is my home and my heart, my mother, my lover, my wife, and my daughter, every bit as much as a good citoyen of France is devoted to his (or her) Marianne.

I love the world, but America is mine -- and I am America's. Those who would batter, rape, despoil, prositute, and subjugate her will have to contend with me -- and, I hope, millions of my fellow Americans, still passionately in love after 230 years, whose most-cherished love-letter begins with the words "We, The People ..."

Okay, okay, I'm mad for poetic hyperbole. But somehow, in the course of growing up in the 1960s, I learned Patriotism without hatred. My Dad was in the military, and although he wasn't exactly a radical, he once told me he was fighting for the protesters and demonstrators just as much as he was fighting for the flag-wavers.

I think the attitude he passed on to me explains why my love of America remains strong, in spite of her decades of enslavement under the gorilla pimps of neo-Conservatism. America, body, heart, and soul, is worth fighting for. And the date on my own tombstone will never be later than the date to be written on hers.

And what of our fellow Americans at DU, who may be ready to seek a divorce? Well, loneliness and a long night of defeat can cause anyone to make a bad decision. It's part of our task to turn that situation around. Our enemies aren't simply limited to the radicals of the GOP -- there are enemies inside the House of Democracy, intangible things that don't respond to fighting or to medicine, but only a rekindling of love and a renewal of encouragement.

So, it's true, I fight a lot with some of the people here for many reasons, but not over America. I look at the problem this way: At DU, I have friends and co-partisans (some of whom I like to spar with), and I also have friends whom I may have let down by not providing encouragement and support when they needed it. It's tough to tell sometimes, and I haven't really gotten used to assuming that anyone could be ready to bug out.

Some of them may, in fact, leave America. Keep a spare room for them -- they'll be back. They will always be a part of America wherever they go, and America will always be a part of them.

Which part? The best part!

--p!

* South-Park-ism: A form of elitist cynicism expressed by South Park creator Matt Stone: "I hate Conservatives, but I f*ckin' hate Liberals."
** Counterpunch-Drunkenness: A form of elitist cynicism that often appears in Counterpunch magazine, similar to the complaint of stand-up comedians that their failure was due to being "too hip for the room".

[LSK]

24. K&R

[Walt Starr]

25. Everybody will do what they feel they gotta do

once cloture is invoked.

[Walt Starr]

27. You'll be waiting six years to take out the turncoats

Most primaries are SET.

I, for one, am holding my Democratic Senaotr who is up for re-election directly responsible since he is the Minority Whip.

[Bake]

30. Sometimes you gotta look for a new trainer/manager.

To borrow your analogy.

When your trainer and manager tell you they're throwing in the towel FOR you, to save your strength for the "next" fight, TIME AFTER FUCKING TIME, then maybe it's time to find a new manager and a new trainer.

And our "leaders" have been doing that over and over. And over again.

Bake

[Dogmudgeon]

31. Expansion -- Who is a Democrat? And why fight?

I'd like to thank everyone who's replied to this message. I usually get about four or five responses, then it dies. I'm glad to see that I posted a good one finally.

Several people replied from the point of view that I was talking about Democratic party members ONLY. I wasn't, and I probably erred in invoking the party as often as I did. Although Democratic party members are the only ones we currently have in Congress who even occasionally represent our interests, there are also third-party activists, Republican partisans (who want to reform their own party and are seeking inspiration and ideas), and Democratic party members thinking about leaving, increasing their activism, and in all different situations.

I mean to exhort people to NOT give up on Democracy. The Democratic Party is still a major part of the struggle for "a more perfect Union", but the struggle itself is larger than just a political party.

Activists should, ideally, work with whoever they must to achieve their goals. I assume that we all want the same overall goal, even if the smaller goals differ. So, we must work together, and we must often work with or as Democratic partisans. But I'm not urging obedience to any particular organization. And the Democratic Party organization is in dire need of reform and reconstruction, no matter whether you're within it or outside of it.

I'm convinced that Democracy is eroding for a number of reasons; mainly because the average voter is in a kind of punch-drunk state from overwork, anxiety, political paralysis and alienation from their community. There's nothing like a good fight for what one believes in to eliminate that helpless, distraught state. It's more than just a fight for political supremacy, or even liberty -- it's a part of the fight for survival, for life, for existence.

That's why Alito -- like Bush -- is ultimately a little flake of ash in a huge universe, and that the fight we have on our hands is eternal. It's the kind of fight that gives life, not takes it away. Far from being a helpless, hopeless cause, it is really the only cause that we can fight for. And we can begin that fight dealing with that little flake of ash.

Or, you could say, "it's a big world -- start here." Wherever "here" is. Wherever you are.

Hope isn't gone. In fact, it's just begun.

--p!