Democrats biggest mistake: NOT CHALLENGING "The War on Terror"

I really hope that someone has the goods on MIHOP/LIHOP because this WAR ON TERROR bullshit has Democrats boxed in a corner...everything the Republicans will do will make them look strong on the WAR ON TERROR and make us look weak.

I really wish the Democrats would have been brave and stood up to the Bully Republicans and stated the obvious.....you can't declare war on a tactic. The proper response to international terrorism is cooperation between national law enforcement agencies.

There would have been some short term impact but I think by now with all that's come out that short term impact would have been overcome and we'd be in a better position.

Republicans literally get to subvert reality.

"War on Terror"

"War on Christmas"

"War on Drugs"

Anytime they declare war on something any deviation from thier policy is capitulation.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2004/121104powerofnightmares.htm">The Power of Nightmares

I can't wait for F911 1/2 too!

So much to cover:

1. Another stolen election, including the congressional (protest?) of the ohio vote.
2. Downing Street Memo
3. Illegal Domestic Wiretaps
4. Illegal monitoring of Domestic social activsist groups (Cointelpro 2005?)

This post is dead-on.

But there is so much of the radical Bush agenda that Democrats were a part of.

Where did Lieberman first hear the words "Homeland Security?" When did this nation of immigrants become a homeland for anyone other than the Native Americans?

Our people went along because they were afraid to risk the wrath of the people. People are smarter than the Democratic Party establishment has given them credit for, and Dems have paid the price at the polls.

I doubt that very much. I wish you were right but we have a solid 30% in this nation who are not only dumb but evil as well.

I think the Democratic party can be the party that treats the American people like adults...once the press stops freaking out about it I think it will reap rewards. Before the internet this might have been a suicidal move but now we can circumvent the traditional media and get out our message on the internet. after awhile the traditional media will have to adapt or face irrelevance.

I was very young when Perot was on TV with his charts but I still remember it. He treated the public like adults and he commanded a huge percentage of the vote. We need to adopt that tactic.

They voted in lockstep (except for Feingold) for the Patriot Act. Half of them voted for the Iraq War, despite Howard Dean and Al Gore's pleas, not to mention the 100,000 people who crowded onto the Mall a few times during the run-up to war.

If someone wanted to vote for all that, they could just vote for Republicans.

And yes, the people are smarter than they are given credit for. Or do you think you're the only one with a brain, and it's everyone else that is dumb?

Individuals are smart. People, in large numbers, on average, are dumb. Still, even in large numbers, they can be persuaded to make good choices given the right guidance. Dems failed to do that until recently. They didn't put up a fight or seem to care that someone was selling our country to the highest bidder. Maybe they'll do better now.

I have always thought the WAR ON TERROR was bullshit.

The repugs need to shown as cowards for deciding to shitcan the constitution in the name of homeland security.

Are we going to let 19 hijaakers cause us to cower in fear for the rest of our lives??

We are not at war. We are occupying a soverign nation illegally.

Ladies and gentlemen of Earth - I am here to tell you not to be afraid.
There is no boogeyman.
Stay alert, don't talk on your cell phone while driving, don't have unprotected sex,
don't lie or do harm to one another. You'll be okay.
Enough hyperventilating already.

Let's get to work on a new age of enlightenment. Together.

I would vote for the politician who says the above.

...and then built an entire agenda around fighting the same boogeyman they created.

uttered those words. And I don't give a shit if someone calls me weak... They rarely do it to my face anyway, so fuck them. And they can shove their fantasy war on xmas, too.

The "War on Terror" is total b.s. I've been suspecting that for a while now. It's nothing more than an excuse for a few neocon thugs to rob the treasury and wipe their butts with the Constitution, and get everybody else so cowed they don't dare state the obvious.

Instead of their fat paychecks. Nice trend, I hope it continues.

Just sayn'.

They've been using it against us ever since.

I cite examples:

--Democrats boxed in a corner
--everything the Republicans will do will make them look strong on the WAR ON TERROR and make us look weak

There is no way anybody could have stopped America's lust for revenge after 9/11. Reporting was incomplete, most people were rallying around the government, and militarism was wholly in vogue. I don't know what country you were in in 2001, but there was no way someone could speak out and demand a cautious approach based on gathering facts and developing strategy.

Murder is illegal in the U.S.A. yet murders happen every day.
Why?
Because Murder is an act, not a nation. You cannot defeat an act. Even if you jail every murderer today, tomorrow, someone will commit an act of murder. You cannot win a war on Murder. All you can do is pass laws to maximally protect people from murder and inflict penalties on those that commit murder, and then go about your lives.

Replace the word Murder with Terrorism and its the same thing.

You cannot win a War on Terrorism, because tomorrow anyone can choose to commit an act of Terrorism,

THE ONLY WAY TO STOP TERRORISM IS TO KILL EVERY HUMAN ON EARTH.

simple fact they dont go around saying be afraid be afraid, but actively work against that attitude. that they shouldnt use fear to lose rights. i think htey have often chipped away at this war on terror, and effectively. you may not see it, and it may not be in your face challenge exactly your way. but i disagree with you. i have heard many many dems go after war on terror

also just to say. DEMS BIGGEST MISTAKE

damn i am tired of that

Why reporters have not questioned the meme.

:toast: iconoclastNYC

The 'war on terror' is THE BIG LIE!

I grew up under threat of destruction by thousands of nukes and metric tonnes of chem/bio weapons. Any cave-ridden Al Queda production pales in comparison to the proxy possibilities of the Cold War. If a 9/11-type event occurred yearly, every American would still be five times more likely to die in a drunk driving accident. The * maladministration has completely capitulated to the terrorists from reorganizing the government to prescribing duct tape for our perceived ills. Bottom line, imho: the War on Terror is for cowards.

R & K

What's stopping DK or Feingold from authoring a bill spelling this out? It is beyond time we actually took ahold of the national dialogue AND the corruption of our laws when it comes to flinging the word "WAR" about.

It seems like republicans might have a hard time arguing against this if a well crafted bill allowed for "Struggle and Effort" against these abstracts while specifying that WAR was something else. And there should NEVER EVER EVER be anything that is called WAR that does not have an ACTUAL TARGET with an ACTUAL gauge for victory in the ACTUAL world. Perpetual wars over perpetual fears must end. We must evolve or die on this issue. Anyone out there legal crafty/savy enough to actually mock up resolution that might spell this out?

Maybe they'd consider it if WE wrote it out for them....I don't care if we have to spoon feed them...as long as they eat.

It is time to totally reframe these issues by replacing WAR and then defining war in a proper way and legislating it.

with the republican owned media, they made it very clear to the American people,... That you were against America and the American people if you were against the war, (personally I protested in the streets before the war)...They labeled you unpatriotic if you were not with Bush...Only Paul Wellstone was making it very clear he would fight Bush at every turn and coincidently when Wellstone died, all dissent in Congress died with him. And just like 9-11, how convenient, for Bush & the republicans...I'm sure both tragedies sent chills and a messages to every democrat... NO DISSENT ALLOWED!!!!

We need alot of chairs, bright lights and cigarettes.
It will take some "hard worK" but we normals can hammer them like cops in an interrogation room
with the truth until they are deprogrammed. That's all it takes.

Republicans are greedy sissies. That should be the new meme.

and the beat will just get louder and louder. more are willing to hear

The third behind impeachment are once again goose stepping along; the two thirds on the left and middle are appalled.

They did Chomsky one better.

"War on the Constitution"

"War on Public Education"

"War on the Separation of Church and State"

and numerous other "wars" that should be obvious?

George W. Bush is the biggest coward of them all. May he, and all the filthy cowards he rode in with fuck themselves on a cholla cactus.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.

Or how about:

This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins.

--Benjamin Franklin

How's that for talking points?

:evilgrin:

Seriously. Why don't the Dems start playing the same "War of Words" and lets start to be honest. What this President and the GOP Congress are doing is a "WAR" on our Constitution and our Democracy. So, Dems need to start playing "offense" instead of always being on the "defense", and start putting the Bush administration and GOP on the defense. Make them have to defend how it is that they aren't "destroying our democracy". Up until now, the Bush Cabal and GOP have been controling the debate.

Someone send the DNC and every Dem Senator and Congressperson a copy of Lakoff's book....

I like the idea of framing the administration's war on democracy. A strong, strong case can be built from misdeeds over the last 5 years showing that democracy has taken a step backwards. Easy case to make. Lots of evidence. Lots already written in many books and articles (Dean's Worse than Watergate, for instance, talks about secrecy).

The good question you pose is...Why haven't dems used this argument to better advantage?

squarely on Bush's shoulders.

The attack happened ON HIS WATCH. He got A WARNING one month prior and DID NOTHING. The day of the attack he froze in panic, and spent the rest of the day in hiding. Dems should have been repeating 24/7: "If Gore were President, 3000 people would still be alive." Then they should have played the Pet Goat video on every news station constantly.

I have no doubt it's what the Republicans would have done if the situation were reversed. After Kerry said "Bring it On!" I thought FINALLY someone is going to expose Bush for the incompetent moron he is. But we all know what happened instead.

perpetrated these crimes upon humanity must be brought to answer their shameful deeds, but first we must gaurentee america her rightful place before the eyes of a watchful world with liberty and justice for all..." would have gone a longer way imo toward dispeling the insanity the bush admin has brought upon us instead.

the bush admin's use of 'freedom & liberty' to usher in a protracted period of neo fascism is a most heinous misuse of america's greater poetry. HELL YES!!

the war on terror should have been questioned...would have been great to have had a free press around that time kissing some other ass than the bfee