Watch Out -- It's Going Around

I have been a Democrat all of my life. As a young man I remained faithful to my party despite the disgusting antics of Senators Bilbo, Rankin, Thurman and their like. These scurvy fools were larger than life -- perhaps they all seemed that way before television shrunk them -- but they stood out starkly from the general run of congressional Democrats like lipstick on a donkey, the symbol of our party. Their diseased minds didn't seem to have infected our Democrat body politic. And so I could remain a solid, often prideful Democrat.

I find myself struggling to feel that way today. I worry that my party could be coming down with a kind of political swine flu. It's new to our politicos and spin doctors but known to be lethal; resembles what we've experienced, yet we are totally unprepared for it. Its symptoms among congressional Democrats are a failing strength of conviction; a sudden shift in attitude; capricious and/or unpredictable voting patterns and feverish explanations for same.

I am not identifying the congressional pol swine flu carriers as I see them so as to concentrate on the disease. Pick the carriers as you see them before this illness becomes systemic in our progressive body politic.

The only known antidote is WE, the people who continue to call ourselves Democrats.

Comments

[saysay]

coming down with a '"flu" can be an inevitable thing when you stop taking care of that little sniffle you have in the beginning.­..when they started snotting up about health care(Dashie) and not taking care of that sniffle quickly (so the man messed up ,watch him close but let him get the job done, watch him closely and let him work!) in the beginning ...then the nose started running (and everyone else that wasn't perfect on their tax return=Killefer) left with all the possibilities she could of offered to get rid of the becoming bad cold....ac­hes and pains(doubt and greed) started working its way through the system and weakness(fear) set in slowing us down and putting us into flu(republican like, poor,selfish, not thinking of your fellow man) behavior..­... what we need is a strong dose of antibiotic(courage, integrity,­conviction­s, and forefather stamina) and get rid of this thing before it spreads to every sensible,k­ind,though­tful,carin­g , really wants to do something for others person in government­...if not flu can spreads quickly and kill...gre­ed and self preservation are not antibiotic­s...i think swine flu was a metaphor we can learn from senators..­...money and title and houses on hills wont protect you if everyone else in the world has it...how lonely you'd be with all your stuff and no one to see it or enjoy it with you...stop being fearful and stupid...S­enator Reid is looking better already...­...tissue anyone?

[Dustee]

There are several self serving and/or spineless Dems in Washington. I totally agree with Mr. Lear!

[peterg76]

If your point is that Democrats have betrayed their ideals, their constituents, and possibly their country, you will have to be more specific.

[ponderingmuch]

For me, the lack of caps on credit card rates and income for the people who head our failed financial institutions is betrayal.

[MegWe]

it is me: so where did you read that Lear was slamming Obama - I read that he is slamming CONGRESSIONAL DEMS!

[SCG]

“It makes no difference who you vote for - the two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people” - Gore Vidal

[starrianna]

The GOP Swine Flu analogy is a GREAT ONE!

(by the way, it's called the "Smithfield Swine Flu" everyone..­.BOYCOTT SMITHFIELD FOODS!)

Just like the Smithfield H1N1 Swine Flu, the GOP now is suffering from a constant, violent, completely toxic diarrhea of ideas so completely disorganized that all they are doing is dirtying up the halls of Congress with their rantings and wasting taxpayer dollars and time.

Just like the Smithfield Swine Flu, there is no vaccine predicted until at least the Fall of 2009, when I'm sure they will come up with some darkly dramatic desperate move...

...in the meantime, send your local (R) Republican Congressman a packet of Immodium (R) and tell him to shut his sphincter.

[mommadona]

I'll say it once again:

ELIMINATE THE 'DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP COUNCIL'

Biggest oxymoron EVER.

It was started under CLINTON and is DINO/Republican Lite in the WORST possible way.

GET RID OF THEM.

(Yeah, that means you, Rahm)

[jmpurser]

I agree. The DLC (Democrats Loving Corporations) are an abomination and are killing the party as surely as Reagan and the "Southern Strategy" killed the GOP. It looks good in the short term and is poison in the long run.

[itsmyparty]

Mr.Lear,if only we had folks like you reinventing television today,maybe someone would watch it!As it is,I'm glad folks turn the darn thing off!I became an Independent in 2000.I became convinced that we'd entered The Brave New World of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee at that point.The only real question in DC is related to which special interest will get how much.I am a student of history and I believe our times to be possibly the most corrupt and possibly will prove to be the most damaging to life on this planet--ever(with the exception of The Ice Age).How lovely to hear your voice again.And,­as usual,so on target.So timely.God Bless You.Sir

[jmpurser]

Yep. For the last 30 years the GOP has stood for evil and the Democrats have stood for nuthin'. Every time I hear a Democrat described as "liberal" or "far left" I want to choke.

[StPeteRickster]

I was really hoping to see the word 'Meathead' in the article, somewhere.

The fights between Archie Bunker and Michael Stivic still live on in the partisan bickering that still pervades our society.

Same issues they fought about, we are STILL fighting about, Norman Lear was very in tune with the political pulse of our country.

[mesmerised]

The people of America do not want enactment of most of certain policies the Democrats propose. Many who thought they were voting for hope and change thought no further than those two words. Now that Obama's lid is off, people are rejecting big government and higher taxes (which will hit EVERYONE, don't be fooled) and the typical liberal, weak, pacifistic approach to foreign policy.

The Democrats in office are hearing about these bad deals from their constituents. Not the elitists and the easily led, but the people who listen to all sides and make up their own minds. That's trouble for any extremist group.

[Oldtimer]

I'm so pleased to see I'm not alone in my disappointment with the Democrats.
Actions taken By Obama and Emanuel, Pelosi and Reid, are proving what
Ralph Nader has been saying for decades. That is there may be two parties but
there is only one reality - that of the special interests. Right now we are seeing the
Chicago pols - Obama and Emanuel, water down all the campaign promises.
The priority of the Democrats is to consoldate their power in Washington by
garnering the money and favor of the Banksters, the health insurance mob,
the Paris Hilton tax bracket elites, and the kill campaign finance reform gang.
We must acknowledge that Democrats have taken single payer off the table,
that they have no interest in returning to Pre Bush tax rates let alone
pre-Reagan rates, that marijuana will NEVER be legalized to alleviate expensive
prison costs and to raise tax revenue, that banks will NOT see usury credit card
rates capped at 18% let alone 15%. The evidence of Democrats abandoning the
left is everywhere. Obama is no FDR, no LBJ. He's a Chicago pol and the first
order of business is consolidate power - even if that means NOT making the
tough and obvious choices.

[JMac79]

This "political influenza" is something very problematic for the Democratic party (for whatever the not-so-hidden causes are - lack of leadership, corporate lobbying, etc.); I tend to think that the 2006 and 2008 elections swayed towards the Democrats because people were tired of seeing the same disconnect between the Republicans' political rhetoric and their actual applied governance, and decided something had to be done to fix the problems created by these people that didn't govern the way they said they would. This was one of my biggest criticisms of the Republican party, this disconnect between rhetoric and policy, and what really concerns me is that it looks like the Democrats are heading down that same exact road.

A majority of Americans want some critical changes made which the Democrats have promised - fundamental changes to the healthcare system, moving away from fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives, and a return to cooperative, diplomatic, and moral international policies. Americans don't want these changes because they're "nice" or make them "feel better" about our government, but because such changes will fundamentally alter the course our nation has been on for the past 30-40 years - a course which many of us see pointing towards a not-so-wonderful future (which is putting it mildly).

[KellyJohnson]

The rich rule and everything in life is geared toward their continued success.

[Strepsi]

NORMAN -- you are a brilliant man, but this is not a new disease. Remember Clinton's election promise to make the U.S. military equal? The disease has progressed since Reagan, when the Dems became the un-charismatic party, then worsened under George H W Bush who managed to make "liberal" a slur -- and the dems let him! Gingrich removed the testicles of the Dems. Now Obama -- the most popular charismatic leader in 30 years, with a majority party -- can't garner the political will in the Democrats to STAND UP FOR THIER VALUES? Norman, this isn't the "swine flu" -- take an X-Ray -- THE PATIENT LACKS A SPINAL CORD.