On prostitution, abortion & framing, Ferrarro & the future of the Democratic party . . .
I favor the decriminalization of prostitution--one of my best friends from the 90's was working as an escort at the time we were friends plus I dated two other people who had worked as prostitutes in the past, & I've several times commented that as long as they're not hurting anyone, politician's personal lives should be between them and their family and friends. So you might think I'd have some sympathy for Eliot Spitzer.
No. Zero. Zilch. None.
While he made in career in part on cracking down on financial sector abuses, which was a good thing and might even give some validity to theories on why he was investigated & taken down in the first place, he also made his career in part on putting prostitutes in jail. He was probably seeing them then, too. Hope I don't need to elaborate further. Hang the fucker.
*****************************************************************************
I am somewhat upset with myself for leaving out something important the last couple of times women's reproductive freedom has come up, and one of the reasons I used to get so extremely upset with the people over at Kos on this subject, and why I once got so upset with the language Hillary used (though I do think she's redeemed herself several times over since then), and why I wish this issue would be stressed more:
Choice, reproductive freedom, abortion, however you call it, was always a *winning* issue for the Democrats. The *vast majority* of the country favored keeping it legal, with minimal restrictions. There was no sense of "badness" about it in liberal/progressive circles.
Then after 2000, a bunch of fucking idiots noticed we were not doing well in the South, and that many people in the South tended to be rather frighteningly anti-abortion. (having grown up there and still visiting it at least once a year through the millenial new year, let me say that these same people tend to be racist, sexist, homophobic and put up giant billboards by the side of the road saying "Go to Church or Go to Hell", not to mention occasionally frame people for murder because they are goth/pagan, and all sorts of other fun stuff, and catering to them is so fucked up I don't know what to say) It became conventional wisdom that right wing nutters who voted against Democratic politicians could be won back without losing any left wing people because left wingers don't base their vote as strongly on this issue. Suddenly, you started hearing all sorts of muted and qualified language on abortion, because the most incompetent consultants in the world decided that if we eased up on this issue, maybe we could win back the South.
Three things happened as a result:
(1) Public dialogue on the subject shifted rightward.
(2) Shortly following this, public opinion on the subject began to shift rightward (tho it is still at worst a 50/50 proposition for us)
(3) The South continued to be as conservative and solidly Republican as ever.
And no, I don't think this is why the Democrats took back Congress in 2006. The economy and Iraq are why we took back Congress. And quite honestly, given what these new, not at all progressive people the complete strategic dumbasses at Kos have championed have done since they got in, and for that matter, what all the Democrats have done since they got in, why the fuck should we compromise the framing on even a trivial issue, much less a life or death issue to a lot of people that also tells you a lot about what people think about human rights and civil liberties in general, (not to mention it's kind of telling to see what people think about the relative importance of women and fetuses)(and self-defense rights, for that matter), in order to help worthless dipshits like these get elected?
But I digress . . .
In sum, abortion used to be a winning issue for us. I still think it could be, and would not be a losing issue, and is one of the last things we should compromise on, not the first. And the compromising that Democrats have done in their votes/statements about the issue is in part responsible for the rightward shift in thinking on the issue in this decade, and basically, it would be nice if *all* the progressive Democrats running for *anything* this fall spoke up about the link between the right to abortion and women's basic freedom and right to self-determination. Or at least said something about it on their website, instead of leaving it off while including a link about their fondness for "Sportsmen".
**************************
Geraldine Ferrarro -- Okay, this was stupid of her. Glad she resigned. No question that she was right about Obama not being where he was today "if he was a woman of any color." And I've noticed that part of her statement isn't generating quite so much controversy. And while I would have urged caution about saying it, given the already heated nature of the race, given how much the Obama campaign keeps hammering on the race issue, I think this would have been a fair thing to bring up.
But the part about him not being where he is now if he wasn't black? You can argue yay or nay on this one, but that's totally beside the point. The reaction to this was 100% predictable, and the campaign is already overheated, and this ain't gonna help either the party or Hillary's campaign, and even though the remark was made for some out of the way paper somewhere and didn't get any headlines nationally until days later when Obama supporters began jumping on it (so much for the "trying to influence the electorate with dog-whistles" theory on this one), how could she not realize how it would be taken? At one point Bill saying he thinks Obama is a good candidate was called a racist remark. And the MSM and the pro-Obama wing of the blogosphere and the Obama campaign itself have all accused the Clinton campaign of racism so much that, people being the easily manipulated, infuriatingly sheeplike creatures that they are, many many many people who should know better are actually starting to wonder about or even believe in this despicable shit simply through sheer repetition and the not-always-apt smoke/fire analogy that gets put into our brain as babies.
For those out there who actually think the Clinton campaign is deliberately doing this -- okay, I'll grant you, democratic campaign strategists have not exactly impressed over the last 8 years or so, or really for the last 24, at least, come to think of it, but . . . they're not *that* stupid. WHY would the Clintons do this? It's not a general election campaigns, and for the most part the racists are in the other party. To the extent there are racists in the Democratic party, they are a tiny fragment, dwarfed by those of us who think being called racist is akin to being called a child molester. It's a lose-anyway-you-look-at-it strategy for Clinton to do anything vaguely racist, which is exactly why the rather sociopathic Obama campaign strategy has been to focus on anything which can be portrayed as racist and publicize it to the Heavens. Granted, he might be out of the race now if he hadn't done this, but I think it will hurt him in the general election (while it was the Obama supporters who started back in December or January blathering to the point of making me wanna scream about how they might not or would not vote for Hillary in the general, and were in some cases way back then saying they'd vote for the Republican nominee if Hillary got it--and this was when Huckabee was still in contention!--I think both his fans in the DNC and Obama himself have failed to count on just how angry and disgusted his tactics would make Hillary supporters) and may have already destroyed the Democratic party beyond fixing (see again: anger & disgust on the part of Hillary supporters, many of whom now regard Obama with the same fondness we have for the MSM and the Bush administration; while, should she win, we have the dilemna of Obama supporters. If they don't think their candidate is a complete phony who preaches high-mindedness while running a campaign that is spiritual twin to those of Karl Rove, they pretty much *have* to regard Hillary as an evil monster, since that is how Obama's top campaign people have insisted on portraying her for months now, unless Obama can convince them to believe he had nothing to do with w/what Axelrod & Jackson Jr & etc have been putting out there).
I was going to write more on all this, but I suddenly find myself incredibly tired of the mess. Whether the Democratic party is even worth saving and how even if it isn't I wish it had picked a different election cycle to self-destruct because I don't think we can afford another 4 years of Republican economics and war-mongering, and several other topics I meant to cover will have to wait. Y'all probably figure this post is long enough anyway . . .
No. Zero. Zilch. None.
While he made in career in part on cracking down on financial sector abuses, which was a good thing and might even give some validity to theories on why he was investigated & taken down in the first place, he also made his career in part on putting prostitutes in jail. He was probably seeing them then, too. Hope I don't need to elaborate further. Hang the fucker.
*****************************************************************************
I am somewhat upset with myself for leaving out something important the last couple of times women's reproductive freedom has come up, and one of the reasons I used to get so extremely upset with the people over at Kos on this subject, and why I once got so upset with the language Hillary used (though I do think she's redeemed herself several times over since then), and why I wish this issue would be stressed more:
Choice, reproductive freedom, abortion, however you call it, was always a *winning* issue for the Democrats. The *vast majority* of the country favored keeping it legal, with minimal restrictions. There was no sense of "badness" about it in liberal/progressive circles.
Then after 2000, a bunch of fucking idiots noticed we were not doing well in the South, and that many people in the South tended to be rather frighteningly anti-abortion. (having grown up there and still visiting it at least once a year through the millenial new year, let me say that these same people tend to be racist, sexist, homophobic and put up giant billboards by the side of the road saying "Go to Church or Go to Hell", not to mention occasionally frame people for murder because they are goth/pagan, and all sorts of other fun stuff, and catering to them is so fucked up I don't know what to say) It became conventional wisdom that right wing nutters who voted against Democratic politicians could be won back without losing any left wing people because left wingers don't base their vote as strongly on this issue. Suddenly, you started hearing all sorts of muted and qualified language on abortion, because the most incompetent consultants in the world decided that if we eased up on this issue, maybe we could win back the South.
Three things happened as a result:
(1) Public dialogue on the subject shifted rightward.
(2) Shortly following this, public opinion on the subject began to shift rightward (tho it is still at worst a 50/50 proposition for us)
(3) The South continued to be as conservative and solidly Republican as ever.
And no, I don't think this is why the Democrats took back Congress in 2006. The economy and Iraq are why we took back Congress. And quite honestly, given what these new, not at all progressive people the complete strategic dumbasses at Kos have championed have done since they got in, and for that matter, what all the Democrats have done since they got in, why the fuck should we compromise the framing on even a trivial issue, much less a life or death issue to a lot of people that also tells you a lot about what people think about human rights and civil liberties in general, (not to mention it's kind of telling to see what people think about the relative importance of women and fetuses)(and self-defense rights, for that matter), in order to help worthless dipshits like these get elected?
But I digress . . .
In sum, abortion used to be a winning issue for us. I still think it could be, and would not be a losing issue, and is one of the last things we should compromise on, not the first. And the compromising that Democrats have done in their votes/statements about the issue is in part responsible for the rightward shift in thinking on the issue in this decade, and basically, it would be nice if *all* the progressive Democrats running for *anything* this fall spoke up about the link between the right to abortion and women's basic freedom and right to self-determination. Or at least said something about it on their website, instead of leaving it off while including a link about their fondness for "Sportsmen".
**************************
Geraldine Ferrarro -- Okay, this was stupid of her. Glad she resigned. No question that she was right about Obama not being where he was today "if he was a woman of any color." And I've noticed that part of her statement isn't generating quite so much controversy. And while I would have urged caution about saying it, given the already heated nature of the race, given how much the Obama campaign keeps hammering on the race issue, I think this would have been a fair thing to bring up.
But the part about him not being where he is now if he wasn't black? You can argue yay or nay on this one, but that's totally beside the point. The reaction to this was 100% predictable, and the campaign is already overheated, and this ain't gonna help either the party or Hillary's campaign, and even though the remark was made for some out of the way paper somewhere and didn't get any headlines nationally until days later when Obama supporters began jumping on it (so much for the "trying to influence the electorate with dog-whistles" theory on this one), how could she not realize how it would be taken? At one point Bill saying he thinks Obama is a good candidate was called a racist remark. And the MSM and the pro-Obama wing of the blogosphere and the Obama campaign itself have all accused the Clinton campaign of racism so much that, people being the easily manipulated, infuriatingly sheeplike creatures that they are, many many many people who should know better are actually starting to wonder about or even believe in this despicable shit simply through sheer repetition and the not-always-apt smoke/fire analogy that gets put into our brain as babies.
For those out there who actually think the Clinton campaign is deliberately doing this -- okay, I'll grant you, democratic campaign strategists have not exactly impressed over the last 8 years or so, or really for the last 24, at least, come to think of it, but . . . they're not *that* stupid. WHY would the Clintons do this? It's not a general election campaigns, and for the most part the racists are in the other party. To the extent there are racists in the Democratic party, they are a tiny fragment, dwarfed by those of us who think being called racist is akin to being called a child molester. It's a lose-anyway-you-look-at-it strategy for Clinton to do anything vaguely racist, which is exactly why the rather sociopathic Obama campaign strategy has been to focus on anything which can be portrayed as racist and publicize it to the Heavens. Granted, he might be out of the race now if he hadn't done this, but I think it will hurt him in the general election (while it was the Obama supporters who started back in December or January blathering to the point of making me wanna scream about how they might not or would not vote for Hillary in the general, and were in some cases way back then saying they'd vote for the Republican nominee if Hillary got it--and this was when Huckabee was still in contention!--I think both his fans in the DNC and Obama himself have failed to count on just how angry and disgusted his tactics would make Hillary supporters) and may have already destroyed the Democratic party beyond fixing (see again: anger & disgust on the part of Hillary supporters, many of whom now regard Obama with the same fondness we have for the MSM and the Bush administration; while, should she win, we have the dilemna of Obama supporters. If they don't think their candidate is a complete phony who preaches high-mindedness while running a campaign that is spiritual twin to those of Karl Rove, they pretty much *have* to regard Hillary as an evil monster, since that is how Obama's top campaign people have insisted on portraying her for months now, unless Obama can convince them to believe he had nothing to do with w/what Axelrod & Jackson Jr & etc have been putting out there).
I was going to write more on all this, but I suddenly find myself incredibly tired of the mess. Whether the Democratic party is even worth saving and how even if it isn't I wish it had picked a different election cycle to self-destruct because I don't think we can afford another 4 years of Republican economics and war-mongering, and several other topics I meant to cover will have to wait. Y'all probably figure this post is long enough anyway . . .