Bill Moyers: "Mystified, Puzzled, Vexed, Curious, Troubled, Astounded & Dumbfounded"

[Hissyspit]

This was posted last week when Moyers gave his speech, of course, but I felt like reposting and emphasizing one particular section again, but I encourage you to read the whole thing.

FULL TRANSCRIPT: http://www.truth-out.org/how-did-happen/1320278111

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOIQ5-W1Epw

Bill Moyers: "Our Politicians Are Money Launderers in the Trafficking of Power and Policy"

Why New York’s Zuccotti Park is filled with people is no mystery. Reporters keep scratching their heads and asking: “Why are you here?” But it’s clear they are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied the country. And that’s why in public places across the country workaday Americans are standing up in solidarity. I relish the sign a woman was carrying at a fraternal march in Iowa the other day. It read: “I can’t afford to buy a politician so I bought this sign.”

- snip -

You know these things, of course, because you’ve been up against that “veritable crusade” all these years. But if you want to see the story pulled together in one compelling narrative, read this – perhaps the best book on politics of the last two years: Winner Take All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. Two accomplished political scientists wrote it: Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson – the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson of political science, who wanted to know how America had turned into a society starkly divided into winners and losers.

Mystified by what happened to the notion of “shared prosperity” that marked the years after World War II; puzzled that over the last generation more and more wealth has gone to the rich and superrich, while middle-class and working people are left barely hanging on; vexed that hedge-fund managers pulling down billions can pay a lower tax rate than their pedicurists, manicurists, cleaning ladies and chauffeurs; curious as to why politicians keep slashing taxes on the very rich even as they grow richer, and how corporations keep being handed huge tax breaks and subsidies even as they fire hundreds of thousands of workers; troubled that the heart of the American Dream – upward mobility – seems to have stopped beating; astounded that the United States now leads in the competition for the gold medal for inequality; and dumbfounded that all this could happen in a democracy whose politicians are supposed to serve the greatest good for the greatest number, and must regularly face the judgment of citizens at the polls if they haven’t done so;

[slay]

1. K&R for Bill Moyers and the truth

:kick:

[sendero]

2. Pure..

.... effing poetry.

[Enthusiast]

3. Kicked and recommended!

Bill Moyers: "Our Politicians Are Money Launderers in the Trafficking of Power and Policy"

Thank you, Bill! This must be repeated over and over again.

[Solly Mack]

4. k/r

[chervilant]

5. Wow...

I keep waiting for any one of the Anti-Moyers crowd to come along and crow about his 'irrelevance' or his 'dishonesty'! Where are all of you "Bill Moyers sucks" people?!?

***crickets***

[femrap]

12. People on

DU hate Bill Moyers???? That is grounds for Banning. Must be employees of The Heritage foundation....

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Poll_Blind]

27. ^ This

PB

[CanSocDem]

23. I'm waiting for.....

...the Nader haters. Luckily they're too demonstrably dense to realize that the essence of Moyer's speech is a tribute to the long history of Ralph Nader's commitment to the public interest.

k&r just the same!

.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

24. I'm a former Nader hater.

I think he has tried to apologize for his grave misdeeds, to the extent he is emotionally capable. But I listened more to Mr. Moyer's message than the accolades and was amply rewarded.

[felix_numinous]

6. K&R

[zeemike]

7. That was a powerful powerful speech.

I had not seen it or read about it before and I was enthralled by his honesty and integrity...
He is am amazing journalist...and one of a dieing breed.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.

[Jakes Progress]

9. Bill is the guidepost that Democrats in office should turn to.

[Beartracks]

29. +1000 n/t

[SunSeeker]

35. LOVE your bumper stickers. Zazzle here I come!

[Beartracks]

37. Thanks!! :)

:loveya:

Was looking for an :aw shucks: smiley, but didn't see one. lol

========================

[Sportsguy]

34. Yes He Is

I agree.

[redqueen]

10. K&R

[femrap]

11. Holy shit, what a history

lesson. I didn't know about this Powell dude. I always knew there was an 'organized plot' to starve us...I had known about the Business Roundtable and other groups. And it all started the year I graduated from high school.

Everyone should have to read this. Send Bill Moyer's words far and wide, DUers.

I actually think groups such as the Business Roundtable should be brought up on charges of Treason and disbanded. Only so many lobbyists should be allowed on K St....or maybe they should have to pay for Working People's Lobbyists.

Wow...we are a bunch of frogs in a warming pot of water. But I think we're all starting to jump out of the pot!

And somehow the Boomer Generation get blamed for this. All I gotta to say is there are good Boomers and very evil Boomers...Rove for one.

[The Wizard]

13. Being born in a particular time period

neither negates nor lends credence to a person. Their words and acts speak for themselves. Karl Rove is a criminal and the most dangerous man in the world as the true leader of the Republican Party. Limbaugh and Pox might be the propaganda wing, but it's Rove who determines political actions, and it's Rove who tells Limbaugh and Pox what to say.

[xxqqqzme]

18. I think it is a tie

between saurove and the norquist. The persons signing his 'pledge' are traitors.

[nashville_brook]

14. thank you for giving me my afternoon listening enjoyment

[bobthedrummer]

16. K&R#100

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[Martin Eden]

17. K&R n/t

[Octafish]

19. Gah. What's this got to do with Kim Kardashian, again?

Everything.

Thanks, Hissyspit! Very much obliged for the heads-up and re-heads-up.

[DeSwiss]

20. ''Reporters keep scratching their heads and asking: 'Why are you here?'''

The better question for the reporters is:

Why are you there?

Why are you downplaying or ignoring the truth?

Can you be bought so cheaply as to ignore the collusion of your company in the death and destruction they wrought?

Are you so disconnected from reality that you don't think you could be next?

Because once rid of us, who needs you?

Are you so stupid as to not see the connection between a NBC/GE and the slanting of the truth of the death and destruction they have done, and are at this very moment in time still committing?

Of their total absence in supporting this nation through its participation by paying taxes?

You pay taxes, right? Why not GE?

Are you so stupid as to not see how a company such as ABC/Disney has a vested interest in avoiding the reporting of the truth so as to not undermine their stock's price? And to not weaken their stranglehold on the sale of fantasy and escape?

So that they can continue to distract and entertain America with mindless gobbledygook, while giving us the hurrah's for the illegal wars and the killing of innocents without any debate or argument?

And while they hand us what now passes for "reality" in order to numb minds and to keep "we the people" from truly seeing the horror of the deaths and the thefts occurring all around us?

Can you not see the connection between these multinational companies like Goldman-Sachs, JP Morgan, etc., etc., -- those who at this very moment are hoarding cash STOLEN from the taxpayers, while also withholding food and commodities from the marketplace just so they might drive up the prices -- while murdering and starving children all over the world?

Don't you know that every time you fail to tell the truth, you become complicit in these murders and wanton acts of debauchery?

If you had the excuse of insufficient intelligence in understanding the connection between these things, then you might have an excuse. But then you wouldn't have the job you now have.


- So the obvious question is: Have you no conscience, have you no shame?

K&R

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

21. Bill Moyers is a god..

You do learn something new every day. I didn't know about Powell's memo until now and to think this cretin sat on the Supreme Court is absolutely astounding. I knew about Simon's diatribe against liberals prior to this, but I didn't know about Powell's.

This speech is amazing and it needs to be sent far and wide.

[snagglepuss]

22. Bkmrkd

[nineteen50]

25. Moyer/Nader 2012

[Martin Eden]

26. Moyers does not go easy on Oabama

"Barack Obama criticizes bankers as “fat cats”, then invites them to dine at a pricey New York restaurant where the tasting menu runs to $195 a person.

That’s now the norm, and they get away with it. The President has raised more money from banks, hedge funds, and private equity managers than any Republican candidate, including Mitt Romney. Inch by inch he has conceded ground to them while espousing populist rhetoric that his very actions betray.

Let’s name this for what it is: hypocrisy made worse, the further perversion of democracy.
Democratic deviancy defined further downward. Our politicians are little more than money launderers in the trafficking of power and policy – fewer than six degrees of separation from the spirit and tactics of Tony Soprano."

[Poll_Blind]

28. About 3/4 of the way through this. This is an incredible...INCREDIBLE speech.

And I support every single word he says. Bill Moyers is a national treasure.

PB

[bertman]

30. Huge K & R. nt

[OnyxCollie]

31. K&R. nt

[orbitalman]

32. Kick and Recommend: Recommend: Recommend: Recommend

[alfredo]

33. Kick

[DallasNE]

36. Has Moyers Heard Of Frank Luntz?

He is Mr. Focus Group tester of sound bites. He is paid very well to provide sound bites that best tell people what they want to hear. Following in this manner tells us why Republicans can't lead. Duh!!

Marketing people have long used focus groups to sell their wares. Politics is no different.