Among the “end of the world as we know it” emails I’ve received today from the Democratic Party is this plaintive lament:
We’re out of people to email you.
In the last week, you should have received an email from:
— President Obama
— Nancy Pelosi
— And every other Democrat on the planetBut it just wasn’t enough. The Koch Brothers’ last-minute ad blitz just made it too tough to catch up before last night’s deadline.
We’re not making this stuff up. Control of Congress is at stake. We’re dangerously behind. And we just fell short on the final public fundraising deadline of the election.
So here’s our last ditch effort: we’re extending the triple-match TODAY ONLY. We need 9OOO more donations in the next 12 hours if we want any shot at giving President Obama a Democratic victory in this election.
We’re begging, Brad. Can you chip in right now?…
As you know if you’ve ever found yourself on one of these email lists, all of them sound like that. The world’s about to end, you’ve been reached out to by people pretending to be various famous party members, and there’s a demon on the other side. With Democrats, the demon is usually the Koch Brothers or Karl Rove or their imaginary War on Women.
Basically, they’re always freaking out.
But as I read this particular cry for help, something struck me: This time, the Democrats really are in dire straits. Not that that matters, of course — I wouldn’t give two cents for either party to come out on top. But for once, all their moaning and wailing and gnashing of teeth actually has a foundation.
Every indicator out there shows that Republicans are going to win pretty much across the board. They’re going to keep the House, and win the Senate. All the energy and enthusiasm is on the GOP side, all the depression on the Democratic side.
Things are looking so bad for the Dems, such tectonic forces are at work, that it really doesn’t matter whether you give them money or not. (And of course, I would urge you not to.)
The Democrats are in the same situation Mr. Posner was in when Billy Jack told him he was going to take THIS foot and kick him on THAT side of his head:
There’s not a damn’ thing they’re going to be able to do about it.
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Brad, don’t you know It’s the two million people (mostly retired) who watch Fox News who have decimated the Democratic Party? Had nothing to do with Obama’s performance over the past six years… no way. It’s 78 year old Henry in his nursing home taking his marching orders from Bill O’Reilly. Or 83 year old Mabel in her in-law apartment telling her sister Ethyl about Sean Hannity’s latest rant. Or 63 year old youngster Charlie telling his buddies down at the barbershop about Charles Krauthammer’s take on ISIS.
Democrats always look for someone or something to blame: Fox News, white privilege, the Koch Brothers, voter id preventing 0.01% of people who refuse to get an id from voting, Scalia, George Bush… They had their chance and they blew it. It’s been one botched effort after another. Obama has shown zero guts – no single payer, no closing Guantanamo, punting on all the tough political components of Obamacare, moving red lines. Not that any Republican would be better. We’ve lost the battle when it comes to leadership in this country.
I don’t think it’s right to put Krauthammer in the same category with those others…
Democrats have been ‘that desperate’ for a long,long time.The big difference now is,Haley’s the worst SC governor in recent history-the kind who’ll have me moving to another state…
And Democrats don’t need anyone or thing to blame,Doug.This is,South Carolina.
Doug Ross has a point. So many decisions made today by our Government are based not on what is good or best for our country, but rather on what’s going to win votes. How can I get re-elected? How can I make my party stronger? These are the Aims and Aspirations found in Washington today. Our congressional leaders display no shame for sitting on their rumps, refusing to enact badly needed legislation. And many of their decisions that are made are predicated on what kind of jobs will be created in my district or state. It’s easy to blame Obama for everything, but we have to also recognize that Congress deserves a lot of our criticism. Reform, I believe, has to be deep-seated within each party; change should best be executed within the GOP and Democrats. Abandoning the parties for a Third Party Movement weakens the existing working structure. We may dislike the way they operate, but they do have the discipline and machinery to bring both movement and change.
Brad:
Great scene from the movie, but you’ve got the characters reversed. Democrats are the more altruistic and sometimes quixotic under-resourced character, fighting the self-serving, power structure, getting a few licks in now and again before being beaten up and handcuffed by the hired-hands of the bosses who own just about everything. If you don’t think Fox News, numerous well-funded “think tanks,” and the whole Armey/Rove/Koch-led propaganda machine is effective in clouding and shaping the public dialogue, look around, and ask some questions. What were Howie Rich’s aims? Did his spending efforts have any effect? He blew a lot of money, but he also got us some folks in office who are seriously damaging.
Harry Reid lives in the Ritz Carlton in D.C. If he’s altruistic, I’m Al Sharpton.
If your point is that all altruistic people live simply and starkly while working for the betterment of others, you’ve left out a lot of well-off folks who do a lot to help people outside their self-interest. If you wan to say Sen Reid is typical of Democrats, I want to direct your attention to some other people. If your intention is just to find some arguing point, well, I understand that.
Actually, Harry, the logic applies either way. You can call Billy Jack the Democrat if you want, since as he notes, these guys are going to pile up on him no matter what he does — which is why he decides to put Mr. Posner ALSO in a position of having something happen that he can’t do a damn’ thing about…
Poor Billy Jack. He really TRIES to be all nonviolent the way Jean and the kids at the school and all the other Democrats urge him to be, but sometimes he… just… goes… BERSERK!
What an awful movie,although it was fun to hate..
But nice theme song
Actually, that was one of the trite things about it. But the song WAS better than a lot of the dialogue, and the acting.
Speaking of theme music… I saw my very last “West Wing” episode this morning, alas… Got a little choked up over the going-away gift Mallory gave Bartlet…
I’m wondering if I’ll have the will to continue my early-morning workouts without WW to look forward to…
They’ve done me a lot of good. J was kind of sore after the Walk for Life, but I didn’t even feel it…
What an awful movie,although it was fun to hate..
I loved it — because I was 17 years old when it came out, and because it was before “Kung Fu,” so there was a novelty to the whole “Man of Peace Who Kicks Ass in Really Cool Ways” shtick.
It was the fall semester I was a freshman at USC (my ONLY semester at USC), when I was taking that karate short course from John “Bull” Roper, so I was even more excited to see martial arts on the screen.
When I saw it years later, as an adult, it was embarrassing…
Yeah! Well, go ahead and hate your neighbor…