Blind Partisanship is a form of Denial

Whether or not you voted in the midterms. Whether or not you still support the President, fact of the matter is he has turned off many of the people that voted for him in 2008. That is a fact that is inescapable, and no I don't think it's just because it's the midterms and the party in power always lose seats. The Rethugs won more seats last Tuesday than any challenging party since the 1940s!! That's a major fall from grace. There is a difference between people who vote because they think a Party represents something (regardless of whether that's true or not), and people who vote based on results. Results-based voters will be the quickest to abandon ship and either sit at home or vote for someone that they agree with. Part of Obama's appeal in 2008 was that he came off as being the most Progressive Democrat to have a serious chance in a very long time. There were signs this wasn't the case, but it was '08 and we were coming off of the disastrously bad Bush Administration. Now that he's been exposed as just another corporate Democrat who won't rock the boat and adhering to the world of the "Reagan Revolution" (as opposed to forging his own "movement") he's lost supporters VERY fast. The problem with blind partisanship is that people will vote regardless of results. It's an empty vote and requires the complete buying into the media hype and hoopla of election season. They tell us who to vote for and like good slaves we follow their command. No one else on DU is sick and tired of being told who the hell to vote for? Blind partisanship also requires you to ignore the bad elements of a Presidency and make excuses for them. That doesn't help a situation at all, it only makes it worse when we don't hold our elected leaders accountable. That may be why we're in the problem we're in. No one wants to think for themselves anymore I guess.

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Yeah, that's pretty much the excuse you hear. Well the other guy would be worse!!!

Can you imagine any of us living our actual lives that way?

"Well yeah, dad I got all D's on my report card. But that other kid got F's!!!!"

"Sure mom, I know I'm drinking a 5th of Jack Daniels every day.....but those other kids are doing heroin!!!!!"

"Well, yes Boss. I know you caught me sleeping on the job. But there's this guy who was drunk on the job? Now isn't that worse?!?!?"

It's pathetic that people (a lot of them on here) expect us to pick our leaders and hold them to this degree of accountability. "Yeah, sure they suck but the other guy would be worse!!" Bravo. That's some excellent motivation right there.

A perfect constituency.

on an election that was decided by conservatives.



The real reason Republicans won is because more Republicans voted in a lot more races.

Dems win moderates, conservatives dominate GOP

A lot of House Democrats in traditional red states lost and a lot of blue dogs lost. Most of the Democrats who lost opposed the President's agenda, the Democratic agenda Nancy Pelosi helped to push through

It's just as easy to say Dems lost because they failed to support the President's agenda.

A Skirmish Lost, A Great Battle Won

Dems lost a lot of House seats, but Republicans didn't win the Senate.



Health Reform And The Midterm Elections — A Historical Perspective

Throwing the Bums Out for 140 Years

we don't. That's why the decks are stacked against us, and although we have the numbers, we don't have the cohesion like the Repubes do and winning elections is not easy for our side.

An old Dutch saying: Two dogs are fighting over a bone, while a third dog walks away with it.

The Liberal and average Democrat are the two dogs quibbling over a bone, and the third dog symbolizes the Repubes walking away with the prize.

We can have our differences. We can be furious with this President, but no matter how horrible he is, he can never be as bad as a Republican president, but that's what you'll be getting if you can't learn to curb your anger that can affect other like-minded people around you.

A third party is IMPOSSIBLE to form and get into power unless we can somehow find a way to combine all our voices, all our thoughts, chart out our plans, and collectively vote for a third party even if there a minor disagreeements. But wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a third party? Wouldn't that be blind partisanship, too?

I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet. No one is perfect, and if you're waiting for the Progressive's version of Jaysus, quibbling with other Democrats, Liberals, and Progressives {because we can never see eye-to-eye on everything - that would taint our individuality} the Repube dog will walk away with the prize again and again and again ...

Just my take.

Furthermore, Repubs had the higher turnout, because the Tea Party and Repubs were energized.

oh and unrec

A few decades ago I might have voted for a republican every now and then...but since at least Clinton's term they have become out and out crazy. It's the greed, the religious crap, Glen Beck, Fox News, the tea party, etc. I couldn't possibly vote for any member of a party who actually would risk having someone like Palin as president. To not vote is as good as a republican vote...so I won't do that either. Nothing will change until we get serious campaign finance reform and lobbyists and corporations can't run our government and own our politicians. Until that happens I will proudly be a blind as a bat Democrat and only vote for those with a (D) next to their name. It's not perfect by any means, but it's our best and only hope.

To be elected and serve you have to play the game...that's just a fact. I firmly believe that President Obama has the capability and desire to do all the things he said he would and it probably hurts him deeply that he hasn't been able to. Being a Democratic president in this climate is like scrubbing the floor with a tooth brush...a lot of work with little results. All we can currently hope for is that eventually the floor will get clean.

I've supported this President even more so than I normally would have, if only more folks would have consistently been better balanced with their criticism. But since that was not to be the case, I have felt compelled to negate the downbeat effect that they generate at DU. Act as a counterbalance, sortaspeak. It is clear to me that many here only intend to be negative, no matter what, while many more, IMO, are just trolls using the cover that Frustrated Dems provide to do their thing; keep us fighting with one another.

I've witnessed folks not agreeing with some things done by this administration and then converting that into disagreeing with all things, and staying quiet when something they like occurs (not giving due credit). It's like disagreeing with the President on one or two issues, and then deciding to spread the distaste of that disagreement into vile hate for anything he says or does. Immature folks do that kind of thing; maintain a vendetta. Sure, some of those Vendettas are due to the fact that some really wanted Hillary badly, and they really never did get over it, period. Others really did believe that this man was a Tall Dennis Kucinich, as they got swept up in the GE campaign of 2008. Some believed that they were going to be able to change Obama once he was elected (think of one who marries another thinking that the flaws that they see can be changed over time). Others just got mad at him for one thing or another that he didn't proceed in the way that they had wished, and can't get past the fact that he didn't do what they wanted there, and therefore have abandoned giving him any benefit of any doubt on all issues, period.

Bottomline is that everyone has a good valid reason to disagree with some of what the President has done, but to just disagree with everything and anything, and to transfer that into intense dislike of the man to a point that unreccing his pictures makes one feel better.....well to me, that's childish and silly and does not reflect the serious mind of an issue oriented person...and certainly does not translate into the nature of a progressive OR a Liberal.

The day that I note certain posters becoming more fair in their analysis of this President and what he has accomplished, is the day that I will feel that things are balanced enough that I can publicly disagree on a aspect of what he's done or might do (negative speculations get on my fucking nerves) without feeling like I am aiding and abaiting those who really don't desire to exhibit any good will, or feeling like I'm helping the GOP/Naderite troll game at DU to the detriment of the Democratic party, and the issues that I hold dear and want to see progress on.

Of course you and others will continue to do as you want.....
But sometimes folks have to acknowledge that their personal "wants"
when translated into imbalanced outrage and frothing negativity,
may have consequences that will affect negatively in a long lasting manner
the causes that they claim to hold so dear.....

Thinking for one's self has to be accompanied by actually thinking what is being done all the way to the end.....

people made history by staying home sitting on their asses instead of voting.

The rest of us made the effort to vote and get others to go to the polls.

Blah blah blah fuckity blah... whatever.

There are a hell of a lot of us who do NOT "make excuses" but are lumped together because we still back the President.

From my POV it's ideals like yours that are blind and destructive to the country.