Can the Democrats Weather the Rage of the Pitchfork Brigade? (DU Mention)

I just had lunch with my mom for mother's day. She found this in the local paper and I think she was surprised to see her son's website mentioned. I don't think she realizes that Democratic Underground is actually a big deal. Anyway, it's typical right-wing "angry liberals" stuff. Barely worth reading, but I figured you'd appreciate the mention. --Skinner

The Angry Left: Can the Democrats Weather the Rage of the Pitchfork Brigade?
A. BARTON HINKLE
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST

May 11, 2006

The Democratic left is seething. It is in serious danger of coming completely unhinged. This is the view from the Republican right, of course, and is to be expected from that quarter. But, less predictably, it is the view from the Democratic center as well.

The Washington Post's Richard Cohen, for in- stance, recently wrote about the tsunami of vitriolic e-mails he received after a column characterizing as "unfunny" comedian Stephen Colbert's Bush-bashing performance at the White House correspondents' dinner: 3,499 messages in four days, consisting of "raw, untreated, and disease-laden verbal sewage." Cohen continued: "The hatred is back. The words are so angry, so roiled with rage, that they are the functional equivalent of rocks once so furiously hurled during anti-war demonstrations."

Over at The New Republic, Jonathan Chait makes a similar point about "the left-wing blogosphere." That part of the political spectrum, Chait says, "is simply unable to process the fact that TNR has published lots of extremely sharp attacks on Bush, and lots of genuinely liberal commentary, from the very beginning. That stuff is 80 percent of the political commentary we publish. disagree with the other 20 percent, and they should. The problem is that they have no mental category for an institution that agrees with them 80 percent of the time."

...

That fanaticism is on regular display in the reader-comment sections at Websites such as smirkingchimp.com, democraticunderground.com, and countless others -- where the party of Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean practices "tepid, timid, Clintonesque politics"; where corporate masters control the marionettes at Democratic Party headquarters; and where the dark night of fascism is always about to descend on an American electorate so bovine-stupid that it has it coming.

More...

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&%09s=1045855935007&c=MGArticle&cid=1137836018740&path=%21editorials%21oped

wait, that's a French Revolution reference. What do the French say when they want to express raucous joy?

and I await the tumbrils.

I'm afraid what they're calling the Democratic center is really the conservative wing of the party, one the Clintons represent fully, along with Lieberman, Bayh, Biden, and a lot of the other enablers of the present poisonous administration.

The awful truth is that the party has ignored its working class base for the past 37 years, and no party can do that for long and expect to win. Whichever party energizes working class voters is the party that will hold power; the GOP has offered them bait and switch tax cuts sweetened with hate. The Dems have offered them nothing but business as usual.

My own guess is that any candidate who ignores the DLC's kind offer of handlers and instead takes a leaf from Brian Schweitzer's playbook will energize the base in a way they haven't felt for many years.

We might see a majority of the electorate actually go VOTE for a change.

The loony left Cohen and the New Republic refer to are sick of the oligarchy killing the potential of those slightly less fortunate. "I've got mine, why are all these people complaining?"

or something like that. :-)

just bought a bunch of 'em for my back yard!

:rofl: :rofl:

The words are so angry, so roiled with rage, that they are the functional equivalent of rocks once so furiously hurled during anti-war demonstrations."

What does he mean that "The hatred is back." I thought they said we were *always* hate-filled. How could it be 'back' -- if we have always had it?

I wish they'd be just a bit logical while hurling absurd insinuations.

:mad: <- See, I've always been hate-filled.

:hi:

protests. What I remember mostly is hundreds of thousands of lovely, peaceful Americans from all walks of life marching and singing and rallying. Even when there was civil disobedience--usually a small group of people burning draft cards or sitting down--it was entirely peaceful in the spirit of Gandhi. In the one protest I was in where violence occurred, the violence was entirely committed by the police (Century City), who suddenly decided to force about 75,000 to leave the premises, when there was no way to do so--we were all packed closely around the buildings, and would have had to trample each other to obey that order--and they sent flying wedges of police wielding billy clubs into the crowd, overturning baby carriages and beating people up. I remember finally getting away and running with lots of other scared people, running away in the night from the Century City towers, with police helicopters chasing us down with their spotlights on, and I remember thinking, this is how it must feel to the Vietnamese: hunted by monstrous machines that were igniting the countryside with napalm, and were hunting you down. Running for your life, in your own country. The war had come home--and we, the people, were the enemy.

There were no rocks. And there was surprisingly little anger. It was just good people--the American people--wanting peace.

It's interesting how the peace-lovers get turned into rock throwers, in the imaginations of those who are profiting from war. They did the same thing to the Seattle 1999 anti-WTO protests: 50,000 people in the streets, peacefully shutting down the WTO meeting. There WAS some trash can burning and breaking of windows, late in the day, by a few out of control youths. The protesters tried to stop them. But this was only after about eight hours of a police riot--brutal police assaults on entirely peaceful, civil disobedience groups who were sitting down in the intersections, blocking traffic to the WTO venues--a police riot that then spilled into neighborhoods and harmed completely uninvolved people, including the police beating of a city councilman. The real protesters--the 50,000 who were there to peacefully insist on fair and democratic trade deals--were then slandered from one end of this country to the other, including slanders I read in some so-called leftist publications.

Seattle 1999 was one of the most amazingly PEACEFUL mass acts of civil disobedience in history. It is probably unprecedented, for its size, high level of organization and peaceful intent--and effectiveness. I have never felt safer in a big crowd than among those protesters. It was the police arm of the corporate state that was dangerous, and full of ill intent.

Nope, we're not rock throwers. We're just people, the American people. And someone told us, somewhere along the line, that we have a right to speak our minds, to peacefully assemble and to petition our government. And someone told us, also, that there is a higher moral law that you are sometimes called upon to obey, when the powerful are doing great harm, and you must put yourself at risk, and put yourself at the mercy of the powerful, and put your body on the line, to make it clear to them that they cannot do that great harm in your name.

Now, we have USA Today and others trailing behind us, saying what's this about Loose Change,
what are you watching that for, don't you believe Fox News.

What's that about Gore's speech on Martin Luther King Day, it wasn't even televised, why
are you watching it?

What's that about Steven Colbert's routine at the dinner, look it was not funny, why are
you watching it.

What this about Al Gore on Saturday Night Live, why are you watching this.

Why are you turning off George Bush, when we try to spoon feed him to you. More of you
would rather watch "Chimps do low fat!" than Bush addressing the nation.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

...the very act of such right wing-style name-calling casts a dark cloud upon you. One wonders from whom you receive your marching orders.

And, by the way, if we are to assume that your 80-20 ratio is accurate, it must also be assumed that you would settle for a glass of water that is 80 percent clean. I, however, will not.

maybe they could focus on some of the letters that Ava received. I'm sure Colbert got a few he could share.

Right after she published their names and addresses.

Or the racist, homophobic sewage that you can encounter any day on Little Green Footballs

Those are examples of hatred.

How does one seethe? I need to practice!!! Cowabunga!!! Seethe!!!

:grr:I'm pissed at the US Supreme Court which installed this fool in office. I'm pissed at the MSM which only reports that which their corporate masters want us to see. I'm pissed at the "moderate" Democrats in Congress and the Senate who've rolled over and played dead for the smirking chimp. I'm pissed at John Kerry for failing to stand up to the Swift Boaters who did Rove's dirty work for him, and for failing to run a competent campaign.:rant: But most of all, I'm pissed at the cheerleader and his sycophantic aides for running my beloved country into the ground.

I live in Richmond and don't subscribe to this paper because it is such a hyperventilating right-wing piece of crap.

The columnist probably listens to Rush every day and doesn't find any of that language hateful. More double standard, where the right gets to name call, race bait and spew religious bigotry non-stop and if we complain about the names we're called then we're too angry.

and the internet is mightier than the media.

Yee haw!

And hey, Skinner. Wish your mom a happy Mother's Day from us. Her boy's made the world a better place. :hi:

I am NOT hurling rocks, building bombs, threatening to shoot anyone (I share the rifle range with RW NRA types I get along well), vandalizing, preaching revolution, encouraging treason, refusing to pay taxes, acting as a vigilante on the Mexican border, or do I write hate mail to anyone. All activities I associate with Right Wingnuts and some Fundamentalist religious fanatics (the most dangerous segment in any society).

I am not donating money to the Democratic party until they address voter fraud. I refuse to watch Corporate Media.

I do on occasion express opinions on DU (anonymously).

Guess that makes me a thought criminal.

"Confronted with so much rage, Democratic Party leaders have their work cut out for them".

It's as if the repukes do not exist in this relationship between the left forums and the Democrats.

LOL

always have, always will.

Then again, I've been angry, FUMING, since Bill Clinton was the target of an attempted coup d'etat by a right-wing conspiracy of vile hatred and vituperative in the 1990's, the same bunch that Bush represents now.

Bodies in Iraq, bodies in N'Orleans, lies, corruption, my grandchildrens' future given away to Halliburton... If you don't despise Bush with a bloody passion, you haven't been paying attention. At all.

Rightwing hate radio, is not rage, it's justified! Spreading hate for gays and Muslims is not rage, it's patriotic! :sarcasm:


Why is he so angry?

My daughter who is about your age a couple of years older, maybe,thinks her mother is crazy. The highlight of my Mom's Day present was to go to our local NC Bookstore to have Markos and Jerome sign their book "Crashing the Gates," to me.

BTW...I had to leave because hubby had "Champions on Ice" tickets for me here in NC and I was so torn trying to get to the 7:30 performance of Markos and Jerome at Quail Ridge Books and down the road to these expensive tickets my hubby bought me way back for an 8:00 p.m. "Champions on Ice."

We actually managed to do both although we mised about 20 minutes of "Champions" for "Kos/Jerome and" our Congressman Brad Miller and I bought my book and left it for them to sign for me to pick up later since I had to leave.

I left the "message" for them to sign: "DU was here" with my "name" for them to sign. Jerome wrote in my "signed copy" "Thank YOU, DU was here."

I was there representing you and all of us here!

Just wanted to say...if your Mom and my Daughter don't know the importance of DU then we need to bring in some "Sociologists" to do a study on how "quirky" those of us who have gathered together to save our Democracy are!

My daughter was the "Free to Be You and Me/Electric Company Generation." And throughout her teen years a total supporter of liberal causes. She changed and became a Republican Lite after College. Her mother is a 60's person ...not a hippy but someone who supported CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT in whatever way she could and tried to always be supportive of my daughter in whichever way she chose. But she remembers her parents being totally against Vietnam War and Nixon.

So...I think your Mom should be hugely PROUD OF YOU...and if we have some generational weird conflicts which could seem very bizarre ...then so be it.

We all need to work for what we BELIEVE IN (I think) no matter how Old, Young or InBETWEEN WE ARE!

TOAST! and :-)'s

Who has more credibility?

The Establishment Press, The Republican Party, and the "Centrist Wing" of the Democratic Party who have supported and assisted the bush* administration is ALL of the disastrous policy decisions of the last 5 years?

or

The "Pitchfork Brigade" (The Fringe LeftWing) that HISTORY has PROVED correct?



I'll stand with the people who Got It Right!!!

Time to Face the Facts.
We were right; they were WRONG!!!!

Over 71% of the American People now recognize that the Nation is headed in the "Wrong Direction."
Are you going to continue to trust the people who steered us in the "Wrong Direction"?
or
Is it time to listen to the smarter people who KNEW that it was the "Wrong Direction" BEFORE the horrendous damage was done?

There is NO debate.
The Lunatic Fringe was right!
The Republicans, The Punditry, and the Democratic Party Centrists were (and ARE) WRONG!!!


Sincere apologies to:
*The 100,000 DEAD Iraqi innocents
*The 400,000 "MAIMED for LIFE" Iraqis
*The 30,000 (and counting) WASTED American soldiers
*The DEAD and dispossessed of the Gulf Coast
*The Underemployed and Unemployed of the Middle Class
*Special apologies to our children and grandchildren who will actually have to Pay the Bill for the above disasters.

WE (The Pitchfork Brigade) tried to stop them!

The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

Dear Mr. A. Barton Hinkel,

You recently wrote that the Democratic left is in danger of becoming unhinged; and that there needs to be a renewed appeal to the "common good" (which you fail to define).

Do you think it is reasonable to become "unhinged" over the murder of 2500 U.S. military personnel in a fraudlent war???

Do you think it is reasonable to become "unhinged" over our country's murder of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi's in a fraudlent war???

Do you think it is reasonable to become "unhinged" over the torture, renditioning, and violence by proxy done in the name of the U.S. by this administration???

Do you think it is reasonable to become "unhinged" over the gross negliegance of this administration in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the subsequent loss of life???

Do you think that it is reasonable to become "unhinged" over the sale of the inspection of incoming freight and cargo to the very terrorists that that destroyed the WTO on 9-11???

Actually, I am unhinged for these reasons and more. I am now going to my local hardware store and try to find a pitchfork.

Guess where I want to stick it.

(Other than the use of the pejorative term fanaticism)

"That fanaticism is on regular display in the reader-comment sections at Websites such as smirkingchimp.com, democraticunderground.com, and countless others -- where the party of Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean practices "tepid, timid, Clintonesque politics"; where corporate masters control the marionettes at Democratic Party headquarters; and where the dark night of fascism is always about to descend on an American electorate so bovine-stupid that it has it coming."

Yeah that about sums it up for me.

And what's wrong with that?

And that according to some people:

"...democraticunderground is a prime example of why the Democratic Party is swirling in ... A postmodern form of nepotist, populist Caesarism, more probably. ..."

"....Otherwise take your snarky postmodern bullshit the fuck BACK to DU and ..."

"...I see you're repeating the mantra from democraticunderground. ... Calling the current "power" reality (in any form) is very postmodern, and ultimately will ..."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1176964#1185648

__

Read this thread and then talk to you mom about DU and Deconstructive Postmodernism vs. Constructive Postmodernism and she should be quite impressed.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1176964#1185648

;)

and do whatever you have to do to get everyone out of the building safely and to procure a way to stop the fire.

You yell.

You scream.

You cuss.

The nice, Prozac-pickled pundits who enjoy characterizing lefties as "out of control" and "angry and hate-filled" need to stop their meds for a while, wake up and smell the house BURNING TO THE GROUND.


And it's so damned amusing that these flat-affect, arrogant writers never notice the "out of control" and "angry and hate-filled" blather of people like Coulter, Savage or O'Reilly. Coulter wants skin-heads to kill for her, Savage is just...bloodthirsty, constipated and horrid every day with his hatred, and freakin' Falafel O'Reily wanted the Taliban to bomb San Francisco! I'd dare any of these fools to actually LISTEN to right-wing versus left-wing talk shows. The idiot writers spouting this lame "Dems are so crazy" crap would have a hard time justifying that statement against the reality that the talk hosts - who represent the two sides - prove that the REPUBLICANS ARE ANGRY AND HATE FILLED.

I am so sick of these lies. SO damned sick of them. In the past, I could deal with the bias, the prejudice, the mischaracterization of PEOPLE WHO CARE as "disorganized, bitter misfits & ex-hippies" but it's too fucking late for that "be nice and pretend not to notice" shit now.

The house is burning. PEOPLE ARE DYING, and some young, snarky reporter or columnist sits pretty in his cubicle, composing out-of-touch diatribes on the "anger" of the left. He isn't angry that our soldiers are in a living hell. He's not hungry, even though our soldiers are begging food off Iraqis. He's not fighting for his life.

GOD!!!! THEY MAKE ME SICK!!!!!

Yes, we're angry, you stupid young idiotic safe-at-home-mama-still-powders-your-butt political "writers." WE're angry as hell. And if you were a decent, caring TRUE AMERICAN you would be angry as well.

Oh, but you're a goddamned coward, sitting behind a typewriter. Maybe a week in Iraq would shake you up enough to get pissed? Or a week down in coastal Mississippi? Or in a VA hospital? Or an inner city school? Or the ER in a pediatric hospital when all the babies who can't breathe inundate the staff?


There is anger. And it is justified. And it is the kind of anger that can move mountains and put cowardly, vacuous, untested, arrogant punk writers in their place: with the other creatures inhabiting the slime.

:rant:

Okay, sorry Skinner. I'm just so sick of people who want us to burn in silence. I want them to wake up and smell the flames.

I think it's cute that your mom doesn't realize your "little website" is a National Treasure. :)

feels like.

Since you provided such shallow treatment of democraticUnderground.com's discussion forums, allow me to return the favor.

I will comment only on this paragraph in your article:



I guess my most significant criticism of what you wrote is that you provided little more than your opinion when you painted democraticUnderground in a bad light. You certainly did not make a case as to why you felt the views you commented on were erroneous in any way.

Let's take your first example: "the party of Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean practices "tepid, timid, Clintonesque politics."" Merely creating a sentence that implies just how far out of touch those wacky websites are does not make it so. Is your point that it is foolish or outlandish to suggest that anyone could possibly prefer a more aggressive style than Pelosi or Dean has demonstrated? Why would that be? And, of course, one can only assume that you refer to the media-created caricature of Howard Dean created during the infamous "Dean scream" incident. You provide no commentary on the Howard Dean we see in the role of Democratic Party Chair. Dean the candidate is vastly different from Dean the Chair; but you probably wouldn't want to acknowledge that. You're content to just run with the media hype.

For your second effort, you offered: "corporate masters control the marionettes at Democratic Party headquarters." That's a colorful phrase to be sure. You wrote it dripping with a satirical tone. What you failed to do, of course, was provide any real insight into the role big money, big corporate money, plays in the American political process. You think cloaking your words with attitude makes them credible? Our democracy has clearly been poisoned by money. How many articles has your own paper run on campaign finance reform? I'll bet the count exceeds one hundred. Why then, do you mock those who are deeply concerned about the issue? Is it fair to say that you are not concerned about the stranglehold big money has on the American political process including the Democratic Party?

And finally, you chastise "the left" with: "where the dark night of fascism is always about to descend on an American electorate so bovine-stupid that it has it coming." First, let me say that I have seen posters on this website refer to the electorate as stupid; I have not done so nor would I. Americans are often ill-informed and sometimes apathetic; I do not see them as stupid. It's unfortunate that you presented only a portion of the truth just to make a point. You did many posters here a disservice by painting with such a broad brush.

But it's the first part of this last example that is truly the most troubling. That's the part about the "dark night of fascism." Again, your mighty pen wants to paint a picture of those "extremist bloggers." Instead, why not spend a little time writing about the importance of eternal vigilance in a democracy? What was the meaning of Ben Franklin's words: "a republic if you can keep it?" Have we not seen clandestine meetings with those in the energy industry? Have we not seen purges at the CIA of those who dare to tell the truth? Have we not seen torture camps? Have we not seen an intimidated fourth estate just before the invasion of Iraq? Have we not heard Bush lie about how the wire-tapping was only being conducted on calls between the US and other countries? Have we not had discussions of national ID cards? Instead of understanding that real Americans have very legitimate concerns about the loss of our Constitutional freedoms, you prefer to mock us. Let's all hope our concerns are ill-founded and that all is well. Your cavalier attitude about such critical issues would then be far less costly.

I like this:
"Conservatism, though, ultimately might be saved by its non-ideological moorings: Properly understood it entails not merely a philosophy but also a temperament, a recognition that "out of the crooked timber of humanity, nothing straight was ever made."

So conservatism needs to be saved does it? Needs to be "properly understood" hmm? Running a bit scared are we? So much verbage, Mr.Hinkle. Protesting a tad to much, methinks. Tsk, tsk.

Oh, and by the way, I watched that history channel show about the antichrist and found, much to my chargin, that Bush CAN'T be the antichrist, since evidently the antichrist will be eloquent, attractive, initially a peace-maker, a seductive personality and all around world shaker from Romania. Darn us lefties, wrong again.

will not weather the rage of our pitchfork brigade?

And about "The New Republic": I do indeed know that they are very often liberal in stance, but I could no longer justify the high cost of that publication when they gave a thumbs up to the Iraq invasion.

That was a very big deal indeed, and since they couldn't quite figure out the facts on that one--while the blogosphere could--I chose good ol' DU over them.

The magazine's regular and silly Howard Dean bashing during campaign 2004 (after an initially balanced report about Dean early on) was purest crap. Oh, and I do believe they endorsed Joe Lieberman for president.

Oh, brother.

Hinkle really isn't that bad or course that is in comparison to H.Ross MacKenzie who is batshit crazy (and the inspiration for the comic "Shoe")

This is really just typical bow tie journalist fighting off the rising waters of the internet. Nothing more.

Nancy Pelosi is one of the most APPROPRIATE politicians in existence today. What do they mean by such lies. :shrug:

Left Wing = Nope! "I wish." ;)

The Right Wing is doing their best to "fire up" the base with figurative spit balls.

What maroons! :P :rofl:

The right wing certainly sees her as on the "left".

I realize she's the DU "let's trash a Democrat" flavor of the week, but do some research.

start here:

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=H0222103&type=category&category=National%20Journal

speaks she don't release <gasp!> all of our liberal views. That should settle your centrist worries.

How about you DO YOUR RESEARCH by watching her press conferences and reading her news releases?

So yeah, she votes liberal, but she REPRESENTS as speaker *all DEMOCRATS*!

and not all Democrats are as far to the left as you are.
In fact, very few are, taken as a whole.

------------

on a side note, DU is the only place, in my entire life, where I've ever been called a centrist.

it's kind of amusing, actually.

By your previous statement, you should not have "pounced" on me to begin with. Really, you only know that I don't support the centrist Hillary Clinton for President. But like a typical, we don't want you LIBERALS, you over-generalize and extrapolate.

We haven't talked specific issues. Have we? You can not make such a glaring generalization but you will, just like the DLC will of ANYONE, I mean anyBODY who dare speak against their "Golden Girl" Hillary Clinton.

I'm trying to convey to you that I'm NOT the FAR left wing, more like what Centrists used to be considered during the 80s. ;) Take this to the bank: In 2008, The People who claim Democratic Party affiliation will NOT support a DLC picked their candidate again. We did in 2000 and again in 2004, but NOT in 2008. :(

Even if the DLC verbally bludgeons and intimidates the Democratic electorate into selecting Hillary Clinton, be advised it will be the worst Presidential loss since McGovern loss to Nixon in 1972. Yes, for entirely different reasons (pissed off left of center into staying HOME) but, no doubt, the same effect. How can you blame us - we've been fooled twice? :shrug: Once your DLC selection gets approved, you give them THE WORST campaigning advice, AS IF, on purpose. We saw what you did to Dean, a true people's candidate. I don't trust Corporate loving centrists - and that makes me a LIBERAL, who supports Regulated Capitalism, vice DLC "kiss you first" type Oligarchy.

on this board. Your political leanings can be extropolated from this.


------------------------

I am not a member of the DLC.

I do not support Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination.

You can sit on your hands come election day, for all I care - your vote is yours, don't threaten me with it.

-------------------------

generalize. And no, it was no threat, people who have been bullied into supporting CENTRIST Corporations First Candidates into the nomination will not be "fired up" come election day.

Prediction Only: If Hillary Clinton is nominated it will be brutal and will go down in history as one of the worst Presidential Defeats in our History.

Really, how many people do we know "in real life" (outside of the MSM) have ANY real gut support of Hillary Clinton? The MSM guided by the DLC is pushing her on us. Why must we go along with this PR campaign?

And no, it is INAPPROPRIATE of you to MAKE THIS PERSONAL. I believe in Regulated Capitalism which IMO (and many others) hardly qualifies me as *far left." LIBERAL is my honorable label - one who supports The People over the welfare of The Corporations. Also a proud American. ;) :patriot: :hi:

Didn't someone famous say that?

Attributed to Brendan Behan, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity, except your own obit”

Didn't someone famous say that?