A Boot to the Head...from Michael Moore

By Michael Moore

There she was, thrown to the pavement by a Republican in a checkered shirt. Another Republican thrusts his foot in between her legs and presses down with all his weight to pin her to the curb. Then a Republican leader comes over and viciously stomps on her head with his foot. You hear her glasses crunch under the pressure. Holding her head down with his foot, he applies more force so she can't move. Her skull and brain are now suffering a concussion.
The young woman’s name is Lauren Valle, but she is really all of us. For come this Tuesday, the right wing -- and the wealthy who back them -- plan to take their collective boot and bring it down hard on not just the head of Barack Obama but on the heads of everyone they simply don't like.

Teachers union? The boot!

Muslim-looking people? The boot!

Thinking of retiring soon? The boot!

Living in a house you can no longer afford? The boot!

Doing a bit better with your minimum wage? The boot!

Stem cell research, the bullet train, reversing global warming? Ha! The boot for all of you!

What? You like your kids being covered by your health plan ‘til they're 26? The boot for them and the boot for you!

In love with someone of your own gender? A double boot up the ass for every single one of you sick SOBs!

Hoping there's a few jobs left here in the U.S. when you graduate? How 'bout just a nice boot to your head instead?

And most importantly, the last boot is saved for the black man who probably wasn't born here, definitely isn't a Christian and possibly might be the Antichrist sent here to oversee the destruction of our very way of life. A boot to your head, Obama-devil!

Yes, one big boot is poised to stomp out whatever hopey-changey thing we might have had two years ago and secure this country in the hands of the oligarchs and the culture police.

And if they win on Tuesday, they plan to show no mercy. They will not speak of bipartisanship or olive branches or tolerate any filibuster threats. They will come in and do the job with a mandate they'll perceive the electorate will have given them. They will not fart around for two years like the Democrats did. They will not "search for compromise" or "find middle ground." They will not meet you halfway on the playing field. They know that touchdowns aren't scored at the 50-yard line. Unlike our guys, they're not stupid or spineless.


http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/boot-head-michael-moore

...I'm for it. Because all of our heads are potentially under their boots in this election.

Voting for them only encourages them, and won't THEY have egg on their faces when Republicans take over! Maybe then they'll pay attention to us!

:sarcasm:

I feel stupid even *needing* to use the sarcasm tag. But I probably should have...

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I had a moment of considering not actually needing to point out my sarcasm, but then thought about the state of things and realized how sadly necessary it was.

Great job you two. I am certain that sarchasm will definitely bring in those progressives that have not felt their voices were listened to. I think Moore's message was effective enough and reminded us what we are up against. It would be impolite to point out what your silly little sarchasm-off reminded me of.

Why does your need to be self-righteous and antagonistic take precedent over the need to get more Democrats elected? Mr. Moore just gave you an example of how you get out the vote. For the party's sake, learn from it.

you do realize I was being sarcastic, in playful response to Chulanowa's sarcasm, don't you?

Was the point of your post to make fun of those who think the president is too conservative? If not, then why the sarcasm smilie? And how is making fun of people whose vote you need going to help?

And that there are some very vocal Obama haters here who go beyond constructive or policy criticism. There are some who are critical of everything he does and you have to wonder what their agenda is.

Now, the only reason I'm engaging your odd post is to help kick this thread. I really am finding it difficult to believe you're being serious.

I think the post needs kicking also. Mr. Moore does an excellent job of explaining why, even if we think Obama and many elected Democrats are doing a poor job, we ought to elect them anyway. He didn't call those with doubts names. He himself has voiced serious doubts about the effectiveness of this president and this Democratic congress. His post elicits a reason to vote for Democrats without the mind-numbingly stupid ploy of making fun of those whose votes you need.

Let me try to make it very simple. I assume you want more votes for Democratic candidates. if we can agree on that, then let me point out that you are not helping those who are pissed with Obama's performance decide to vote your way by calling them names and high-fiving your buds about how cool you are. You won't be convincing the very people you need to go to the polls and vote the way you want by your actions here in this thread. It may give you some personal pleasure to make fun of others and their concerns, to berate them for not shutting up and seeing things the way you do. But can you honestly be so dense as to believe that will convince them to vote the way you like. If they call you a simple fan boy with no principles, would that make you decide to not vote for Obama's candidates? Then why would you calling them eeyores and chuffing about it actually help the party? Do you feel that your personal need to call names and prattle on is more important than the results of the coming election?

Hence the call to shame if you can't learn a lesson from Mr. Moore's words.

my doubts loud and clear on DU, BUT I HAVE ALREADY VOTED AND ENCOURAGED EVERYONE AROUND ME TO VOTE.

I'm not out getting out the vote like I usually do. I just can't defend a lot of what has happened. But I was among the first to send in my absentee ballot.

I will continue to voice my criticisms, and I cannot go out and argue for half-measures when Obama could have done so much more.

A lot of the Blue Dogs thought they could save their seats by pandering to the conservatives in their constituencies. We shall see how that has worked out next Tuesday.

Be bold. That is what wins the day. You don't have to be mean or nasty, but you must be bold. Because being bold indicates courage, and that gives everyone around you confidence.

That is the most important thing that Democrats need to learn.

My complaint is about the frat-boy, big game attitude that abounds here. What those who whine about the complaints about Obama don't get is that they aren't helping Democrats by crapping all over perfectly good Democrats whose votes they need. It is more about their gamesmanship and name calling. I still know at least two Democrats who are fence sitting because of the behavior of this administration towards progressives. My calling them names isn't going to help anything.

Democrats will get progressive votes, but not progressive support. And right now, they need that support more than they need rahm or gibby.

The Dems and some of their supporters don't seem to understand that.

:shrug:

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It's broken. For heaven's sake, untwist your panties.

Shame on you for not getting it. Alienating still more voters is not the way to do this. Your fun with sarcasm isn't more important than the election. Try learning from Mr. Moore's post.

You know as well as I do that if, this late in the season, you don't know if you're going to vote, then you aren't going to vote. You're going to grab any shitheaded excuse you can think of to not vote. "My cat has a sniffle. It might rain. My ego was bruised on the internet."

It's four days till election, anyone who is still considering giving an apathy vote to the GOP deserves less than my consideration - they deserve my contempt, both barrels, to the fucking face.

And if I can put up with Eeyore motherfuckers telling me how doomed we all are and we might as well not do anything and democrats and republicans are all the same and we should just let dems lose, like I have been seeing crammed all over the DU greatest page for the last two goddamned years, then those worthless shits can stand to see one or two posts from me calling 'em on it.

Grow up.

You think your fun and games are more important than getting Democrats elected. You think so highly of yourself that you have decided that it is okay for you to alienate voters and risk losing a few votes. Did you see Al Franken's email? What if it came to three votes that put a republican majority in the Senate? What if you were the straw?

I've voted straight Democrat for the last forty years. I never miss an election. So I don't need frat-boy mentality motherfuckers telling me that it doesn't matter if they keep some people from voting. I want all Democrats voting regardless of whether they appeal to your sensibilities. You are not nearly as important as you think you are. If you think it is a good idea to piss off voters, then you need to examine your motives. Yeah. Fat chance of that happening.

"Delicate little flower that Obama must be, according to his biggest supporters here, we ought not to make him feel bad. Sure he can dump on us, but we have to be very, very careful around him so we don't make him cry."

"The Democratic party is disappearing. Just like the republican party disappeared. Reactionary radicals took control of the republican party pulling it into positions and behavior that stalwarts of the gop thirty years ago wouldn't recognize. Meanwhile, the moderate and conservative members of the Democratic party have commandeered the train and pulled it even to the right of the center track. Corporations have won. In the days of the old monopolies, we had company towns. America has become a company country. "

"I think the centrists in the early stages thought they could do the right thing with that strategy. Gore may have been one of those. But shortly after the Clinton election, the neocon movement just used their good intentions to roll over them. The roll over continued until the ones who started out caring just stared caving. Then the corporate opportunists in the party started taking over when they saw the money to be made."

"But, but if the administration thinks it's good, that means it's good. Right? Pretty soon we can get rid of all those pesky regulations and rights that the nasty old unions fought for. Bring on the 60 hour week. Who needs vacations. We've killed off day care and pensions and health care. Why shouldn't an 11 year old be able to work a six day week?"

"The OP thinks Obama should only listen to other people when other people tell him his is right."

"Go ahead and trash anyone who questions Obama. You have a dedicated few here that will join you."

"I'm going on a current assumption that arne is an out-and-out neocon and that Obama is either an elitist who thinks that discrimination is fine, or too busy with other stuff to pay any real attention to what his basketball buddy is doing as long as his handlers tell him this is good politics, or he is just not bright enough to really know what this stuff means. "

"Biden needs to put his big boy pants on and stop whining about not being appreciated enough. "

And many, many, many, many, many, many more.

You sure you want to be the one claiming I'm being "divisive" and that I'm the one who's ego is "getting i nthe way of getting democrats elected"? 'Cause, from all these locked threads I've found you on, Jakes, you're a box of Lipton short of a Sharron Angle rally.

You're just shitting your pants because Matariki and I are calling you and your Eeyore buddies on your vote-suppressing, apathy-inducing, doom and gloom, fuck-the-Democrats-they're-just-like-Republicans bullshit.

I thought those words were gone forever. But you bring them back in all their glory.

Just how many hours did you spend putting that together. You definitely have a problem. Get some help.

Notice that you said that these were selected quotes. You avoided all of the quotes that praised the president for his actions. But that would have been being honest and wouldn't "prove" your point. Of course your point is crap. I never said I supported everything the president does. I never said it was necessary to fawn and dote on his every movement to be constructive and helpful. I think that the fan-boy adoration that passes for party unity here in some cases is one of the reasons that we are in the trouble we are in. You don't seem to care if the president acts like a republican. You don't seem to care if the party folds for every republican wish. So when the election comes, those that the president is trying to attract with his moderate ways won't vote for him because he is somewhat right-wing. They will vote for the real thing - real right wingers. But your kind just doesn't get it. You want to support the party regardless of what it does. I support the party because of what it should do and what it has traditionally stood for. I get the impression that you are new to politics and that voting became important to you when a rock star became the candidate. Perhaps not, but your short-sighted, narrow, game-day attitude about elections would indicated such a case.

Now. Let me explain to you why you are suppressing the vote and I am not. See. I don't have to worry about your vote. You are in our pocket. You will vote for Obama's candidates regardless of what they do. I don't have to woo you. I don't have to convince you. I don't have to even think about your vote. It's mine. But there are thousands out there who are not as simple-minded and easy. They are concerned about where the party is going. They are concerned about being fooled again. To get their vote I have to show them that the alternative to a wishy-washy, moderate, barely capable Democrat is a really bad group of people. I need to show them that it is in their best interests to hold their nose, take a tums, and vote for the sorry excuse for progressive candidates the Democrats are running. I don't convince them to vote by calling them eeyores or by being as patently offensive as you and your friend are in their posts. You come on a thread started by a Michael Moore article and shit all over it with your divisive behavior. Mr. Moore did a wonderful job of convincing the progressives that they should vote for Obama's choices. Then you and your friend come on and start your frat-boy antics. Yes, your ego seems to be so big that you want to strut your crap more than you want Democrats elected.

In short. You don't understand how elections and politics work. You don't understand that your behavior is vote-suppressing. But the worst is that you don't care.

Now if you want to try calling me a tea-bagger again, you can man up and try it. Then we will see who gets deleted.

Oh. And I stand by every word you quoted. I also stand by my praise for the president. Thank you for bringing those golden-oldies back to life. (But seriously, dude. That much work just to look more like an ass. You could have actually done some work down at the Democratic headquarters that would actually do something. I spent four hours yesterday and will be working with my crew another four today. If you can stuff your ego down long enough to be useful without offending voters, we could use your body down at the local headquarters doing some real work.)

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Please try to do something constructive and useful. Your web efforts are pathetic.

So that we can vote FOR them instead of just voting AGAINST the bad guys. Anyone who is paying attention knows that the best way to "punish" team Obama is to give the Dems a BIGGER majority. How will he explain a further shift to the Hard Right then? Who would he blame for his pro-corporate, anti-Progressive agenda if he was given a historic majority? I'm sure that he'd find a way to shift the blame to the blue dogs and "professional left", but who (other than the most devoted acolytes) would buy it? Help the Dems to WIN BIG; leave them without a single excuse.

When Bush got a small increase in the Senate for his second term, he was quick to say he would spend the political capital. It would be difficult for Obama to move further to the right with an increase. A big win would at the very least keep his progressive options open.

But if you are in California or Oregon, you have no excuse for refusing to vote.

We have good candidates, and the Republican candidates are horrible.

Now if you are in a blue dog state, I can see that you might have a hard time getting yourself to the polls.

We can regain our ground in 2012 with stronger candidates than Ben Nelson.

If Republicans take the House, absolutely nothing will get done, and Obama can go back to the American people and ask for a progressive House. We shall see what happens then.

Some of the Blue Dogs are worse than Republicans. They make Obama look weak because they refuse to support him. And Democrats in some of the Blue Dog districts might wake up to the reality that they need to be out there between elections talking to voters, organizing voters to understand the issues if they didn't have phony Democrats representing them.

And that's just from people here.

Alan Grayson has said it pretty well too. We haven't heard from him lately.

Boot to the head

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5kGUW6M7W0

and the music in a mash-up

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/235688

The Republicans haven't exactly been shy about letting the mask slip and revealing their real agenda. I'm sure a lot of people have fallen for the lies, and will vote Republican. They will then be quite surprised when the Republicans enact the most odious, repressive and anti-American program they dare to launch. Some, indeed many, of the people who put Republicans in a position to do what they said they'd do will protest and try to say that's not why they voted Republican.

And before I invite them to pitch in and help try to clean up the mess they just created, there's a big part of me that's going to say, "Tough shit. Pay attention next time, you fucking dumbass."

sets in on those that voted Repug?

So I'd give it until January 7 for the full dimensions of the horror these nitwits have visited on our country to manifest. And it'll just get worse and worse for the next 20 months, as the country is treated to an orgy of the stupidest things the most partisan Republicans can think up. The Terri Schiavo debacle will come to look almost sane by comparison.

Congress for decades, have consistently supported screwing everyone but the wealthiest, and have vowed to continue doing so - and they still get re-elected.

The asshole who "represents" me gets re-elected every time with about 60% of the vote. People reflexively vote for the incumbent even though apparently they have idea what they are voting for.

The ignorance of the American people is a huge part of the problem- and the media is absolutely determined to keep them that way.

I'd like to see a PhD thesis that consists of a study of two districts, one blue (say Dennis Kucinich's district) and one red (say John Boehner's district). What are the voters' beliefs, socio-economic distribution, and motivations when voting? That would be colorful and fascinating. Two districts in the same state.

Sure, one is urban and one is rural/small town. But neither is particularly wealthy. So why the different voting histories? Why the different points of view?

But I suppose it's only a matter of time before someone rushes into this thread to explain how we shouldn't listen to Mr. Moore because he's too idealistic, or too fat, or too rich, or all of the above.

:eyes:

Everything we've fought for since the Civil War. They want to take it all away. They don't want to help you with anything, be you sick, old, poor, beaten, discriminated against, raped, tortured, or interested in the welfare of others. They want to have guns so it's easier for them to take it away. They want to be able to physically harm anyone who opposes them. They want this to be a dog-eat-dog starve thy neighbor "meritocracy" where they define "merit" and they want to bully and claw and fight their way to a top that doesn't exist, because they don't have a clue that they are the jackbooted puppets of a corporate master too clever to let its face be seen and rich enough to funnel its greedy agenda through a million mean, grasping, insecure little fascists who don't have the sense to look up and realize who's pulling their strings.

If we don't stop them with sheer numbers of outraged citizens taking the poewr out of their hands, we are in for hell.

Republicans have done it before and are not below doing it again. Vigilance.

:kick:

Oh, that's right... because its the boot to poverty, no matter what.

Living in a house you can no longer afford? The boot!
Doing a bit better with your minimum wage? The boot!

Not good enough, huh?

I'm reminded of an old Laurel and Hardy short wherein they are living in a small travel trailer, and cooking up an old boot for dinner.

Whatever happened to Republicans who would never tolerate jackbooted thugs?

;)

K&R!

and apologize and continue to kick liberals in the figurative head.

So many DINOs and republicans hate liberals. One centrist spokesperson here posted an endorsement of "hippie punching" not long ago to the great rejoicing of other centrists. It was sickening display of bigotry and idiocy.

The irony is that liberals are completely shut out of the policy making process. We wouldn't have bailed out the big banks and excused torture, nor claimed oil drilling as absolutely safe. We wouldn't have censored the oil spill data, we wouldn't be spending more in Afghanistan than we did at peak of Iraq. No - we would not have funded the bankers bonuses, instead we would have funded a single payer plan.

So, you've shut us down, yet we still get the blame. Why the hate? Maybe centrists and republicans need to take some responsibility for the harm they are causing.

If not, let me repeat it for you:

"And if they win on Tuesday, they plan to show no mercy. They will not speak of bipartisanship or olive branches or tolerate any filibuster threats. They will come in and do the job with a mandate they'll perceive the electorate will have given them. They will not fart around for two years like the Democrats did. They will not "search for compromise" or "find middle ground." They will not meet you halfway on the playing field. They know that touchdowns aren't scored at the 50-yard line. Unlike our guys, they're not stupid or spineless.

People need to read this!!!
Let's get it out there to motivate the disillusioned to vote anyway!
The alternative is unthinkable.

with Moore that the Dems have "fart(ed) around" for two years and have behaved in ways both "stupid" and "spineless." That said, there's no alternative. Anyone who doesn't get out on Tuesday and vote Dem is asking for a shit pile of trouble from the idiot fringe.

this Dem ad: The Rand Paul Stomp

& R

see why Tuesdays vote really has anything to do with the debacle that is "0" or the bluedogs and Dlce'rs; as far as progressives are concerned. I for one have discounted him and them, in this election; yet I can most assuredly say, every progressive that can get to the voting booth, will be voting; and will be voting a straight Democratic ticket; in some cases holding their noses.

It is the Independents and some Democrats we have to worry about and how the bluedogs and DLC'ers have destroyed their faith in the Democratic party to the point of outright anger and apathy.

Those "center" democrats and independents, I must assume, are who Moor is addressing and every word in this OP is exactly the reality of our dilemma and the outcome of what happens on Tuesday if R's win the day.

about it either. They are loud and proud of their bigotry, their hate and their arrogance. They have told us what their agenda is. If you happen to be one of the 2% of the population they acknowledge, then your opinion has merit. They are spending a shitload of money convincing the other 98% that dirty water and air is good for you, endless wars are to our benefit and civil rights are so 'yesterday'.

:eyes:

Michael Moore you have a tremendous heart, and are a true genius.


:kick: :loveya: :yourock: :patriot: O8):loveya: :kick:

We'll only have to compromise with the conservative Senators in our own party. ugh :banghead:

From 2005 HBO Special, George Carlin:

You and I are not in the Big Club

(Editor's note: WARNING- This is an R-rated excerpt from George Carlin's lastest special, "Life is worth Losing." It's been airing for the past few months on HBO. The first time I saw it, and heard this segment on what I have been calling "The Circle of Greed," about how the ultra-wealthy use Washington and Wall Street to rob America blind, about how the rich get richer and the rest of us get screwed, my first thought was "if a 69 year-old comedian understands what's going on, why don't those in charge get it?" And then I realized: they do get it...and that's exactly the problem. But as Carlin says in a trailer for this special, which was taped in 2005, "you can't shut me up, and you can't dumb me down." Enjoy.)

There's a reason that education sucks, and it’s the same reason it will never ever ever be fixed. It’s never going to get any better, don’t look for it. Be happy with what you’ve got. Because the owners of this country don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners now, the big, wealthy, business interests that control all things and make the big decisions.

Forget the politicians, they’re irrelevant.

Politicians are put there to give you that idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations, and they’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State Houses, and the City Halls. They’ve got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear.

They’ve got you by the balls.

They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else. But I’ll tell you what they don’t want—they don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interest. You know something, they don’t want people that are smart enough to sit around their kitchen table and figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago.

They don’t want that, you know what they want?

They want obedient workers, obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it.

And now they’re coming for your social security money.

They want your fucking retirement money; they want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you sooner or later because they own this fucking place. It’s a big club and you ain’t in it! You and I are not in the Big Club. By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you in the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to believe, what to think and what to buy.

The table is tilted folks, the game is rigged.

Nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. Good honest hard working people, white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard working people continue, these are people of modest means, continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about them. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about…give a fuck about you! They don’t care about you at all, at all, at all.

And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care.

That’s what the owners count on, the fact that Americans are and will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white, and blue dick that’s being jammed up their assholes everyday. Because the owners of this country know the truth, it’s called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.

Sad that we get the most truth from folks like George Carlin, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, et al. (of course Rachel and Keith) - but really largely none from any other "news" outlets.

Cant forget that one....

tells me that Emma Goldman (apocryphally) was right, "If elections could change anything, they'd make them illegal."

But I always vote anyway...

(but seldom for the lesser of two evils any more -- I don't want to contribute to more evil -- I DID NOT VOTE for my local blue-dog but rather wrote in a local Progressive who's going to run against her in the next primary!)

It's called "Cognitive Disconnect" and most of us are victims of it...

Not surprising in the crazy status-quo we have to wallow around in...

...that the other side won't "fart around for two years like the Democrats did."

And it's high time the president wakes up to the fact that it's not noble to bend over backward to do business with sociopaths - it only emboldens them and may in fact lead to the end of democracy.

:kick:

eom

I do know why anyone would vote for stupid and spineless Democrats. Fear of the Republicans. That's easy.

Why anybody would think it'll be different this time, and the Democrats will finally get their act together and stop selling us out to Repuke donors and acting like headless chickens- that is the Unanswerable.

at the same time.

I'd like to see more brutal honesty than this but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

DEMOCRATIC- IT'S WHAT A CONCERNED AND CARING CITIZEN DOES WITH LOVE FOR THEIR COUNTRY!!

Voting is our right and our responsibility as well as a privilege - Wouldn't you agree?

The Nazis Are Here!

:bounce: :smoke: :grr: :cry: :patriot:

Why should I vote for anyone who isn't going to stand up to the obstructionists? Or, for that matter, the Corprocrats, DLCers, and the like?