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Steven Weber

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The Climax

Posted: 08/07/11 01:21 PM ET

"And they'll all be so thoroughly disappointed in their 'savior' that those liberal pantywaists will split the vote, our guy will be elected, and our strategy will have been a triumph. It's fucking genius!"

 

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08:38 AM on 08/11/2011
Everyone just piles on Obama. I can't stand it. Even his own party can't seem to unite and get behind him. They don't broadcast his successes, they only chase crisis after crisis, many of them manufactured.
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
03:47 AM on 08/10/2011
"Hope is the thing with feathers." Emily Dickinson

"How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not "the thing with feathers". The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich." Woody Allen

So which is it, concerning Wisconsin?

Hope has certainly taken flight there. Though they weren't the across-the-board victories we'd "hoped" for, they are solid victories in a very conservative part of the country all the same. Kudos to all involved who made those victories happen. They have shown the way to a national victory next year.

And for Woody's fine feathered, but bereft of flight nephew-types? There's hope for them still. In Zurich, of all "socialist" places.
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
07:16 AM on 08/08/2011
Just an observation to post here, for anyone debating a teabagger about the importance of government.

The latest issue of Rolling Stone, has an article on Haiti by Janet Reitman concerning the continued misery in that STILL devastated region.

"I wish I could organize a trip of Tea Party activists and take them to Haiti," says one veteran aide worker, "so they could see what happens to a country with no government."

You know, assuming the Tea Party leaders would agree to such a trip, I believe that would be campaign money better spent, than on TV adds or slogans promoting Dem candidates.

We seemed to be creatures who need to have our noses rubbed in misery to finally smell it. Maybe it's time to ask the Tea Party, by showing them the actual end-game, if they prefer the current government services US of A, to Haiti?
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
09:10 AM on 08/08/2011
Last line should have read, "current government services of the U S of A, OR Haiti?"
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
momosity
Liberal Since In-Utero
06:21 PM on 08/08/2011
It would be a waste of time; what little minds the Tea Partiers have are closed.
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Social Construct
Go left, young man.
06:15 AM on 08/08/2011
It could almost be a line from a re-edit of The Producers.
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
09:15 AM on 08/08/2011
LOL!!! Brilliant observation!

Spingtime for Republicans and Teabaggery.
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
trishinpitt
No, your micro-bio is empty!
03:38 AM on 08/08/2011
Those Republicans are crazy lie a Fox... hey.. wait a minute!!!!
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
12:07 AM on 08/08/2011
Whew! I couldn't find your blogs listed on your profile page, and worried you'd been censored, Steven.

SirReal1 let me know that your reply to my post on "Snap Out Of It," didn't get posted. That's not cool at all.

My post was heavy with imagery and sarcasm, and, with your reply censored, I worry it was taken the wrong way. I think the reply fits this blog as well, so I'll post it here again sans the imagery.

Your "Snap" blog sure opened a can of worms, Steven. What's your take on all this division?
People are so divivded and battling one another over whether to support Obama. A battlefield of allies firing at allies.

One even insulted Matt Damon, and implied wealthy liberals don't really care. Using the Right's ammunition, against one of our own soldiers.

And the anti-Obama posts are littered with all the dead-horse-beating (HCR, Bush tax extensions...) issues, that cannot be changed or improved on if a Republican replaces Obama in 2012.

This country isn't just terribly divided between right and left, but even within those two opposites. Who has the experience and basic constructive political know-how, to right this house. To end this destructive division that is killing this nation?

It surely won't be a Republican.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Steven Weber
Winner of 1967 Pond's Cold Cream Man of the Year
03:51 PM on 08/08/2011
I really do believe it is all tactical. As I have written (blurted, spewed, whatever) many times, watching pundits describe the current sociopolitical situation is like watching a robber run through your house alternately bagging and trashing all your possessions while you engage in an in depth discussion about why your standard of living is going down, along with asides about the weather and Kim Kardashian. It is an aggressive battlefield war plan adapted for domestic use. The Right is as unified and aggressive on all fronts as any aggressive unified army. They have, over the last few decades, taken over the media which everyone is literally hooked onto and into, defined the "world" and concocted a resultant morality. The world is pretty much onto it; one need travel outside the US to realize this.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SirReal1
09:22 PM on 08/08/2011
Wonderful to actually see your comments showing up IN the thread.

Welcome back.
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The Smartest Monkees
Planet of the Apes? We're on it, baby!
10:05 PM on 08/08/2011
Thanks, Steven. Your reply is about as concise and astute an observation as one can read concerning the situation we find ourselves in.
When virtually every action being taken by the anti-government "hostage takers," is, one-after-the-other and against all logic and past experience, digging the hole deeper, it has to be by design.
The way the Right has gained the trust and poisoned the minds of the very people they are out to destroy, is utterly diabolical in it's efficiency of execution. And, as you've pointed out so well, poisoned the left's minds as well.
These TP's, many of whom are on Medicare, will march on Washington this Fall with Dick Army and the Koch Brothers' money in their pockets, demanding the "Super Congress" slash Medicare this year.
But when you debate them on this inanity, they are utterly convinced that the Dems are going to allow Medicare to die in a couple of years unless "something (Ryan's Bill) is done."
You could almost admire the cunningness of the plan, if it weren't so cruel and dastardly in it's heartless goal.
I've been as guilty as anyone at blaming Obama, but, as you've been pointing out here in your blogs, it's time to stop firing at each other and recognize who the real enemy is.
"Unified and aggressive" they are, and we'd better get it together too if this nation is to survive. Thanks for being a sane voice in a crowd of babblers, Steven.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
23000Days
Life: Tragedy for feelers, Comedy for thinkers.
04:57 PM on 08/07/2011
I think the way forward for a progressive 3rd party is simple. First take a lesson from the T/P and challenge vulnerable congressional blue-dogs and centrists in 2012, while building a solid structure and base to use in 2014 and more importantly in 2016 when we would have a chance to field a presidential candidate.

That way we wouldn't sacrafice the presidency in 2012, but would put enough fear in the democratic party to pull them leftward (at least as far as the center!).
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SirReal1
07:46 PM on 08/07/2011
I absolutely agree, but I do see a hitch in the plan.

Progressive don't have much Corporate Sponsorship.

To apply the T/P model, we would need a significant "grass-roots" movement, with funding coming mostly from the very people who have been decimated by Right-wing economics.

It's likely the best plan available, but it's going to take a LOT of time and effort.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
23000Days
Life: Tragedy for feelers, Comedy for thinkers.
09:24 PM on 08/07/2011
There are many progressive organizations such as PDA, MoveOn, Democracy Now, DFA, Brave New World, Credo Action, Michale Moore, etc., just waiting to knit together behind a progressive banner.

Additionally, there are many well-heeled Americans and world citizens who would be joyous for a chance to turn the country toward reason.

Yes, it would be a lot of work but Americans are no stranger to that, just look at the productivity numbers.

I think it should be called The Progress Party. A friend says we need something catchier; I say we're not trying to appeal to those who cannot spell Progress!
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Manx
04:09 PM on 08/07/2011
The Obama groupies who look at him through rose-colored glasses are the ones who would enable the imputed Republican victory. If Obama, whose actions are like those of a de facto Republican, is constantly praised by these disciples, what incentive is there for Obama to change? Or maybe these Obama worshippers have more in common with Republican principles than Democratic principles.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SirReal1
04:58 PM on 08/07/2011
I, for one, AM NOT an "Obama groupie". I actually voted for the President out of "no other available option" rather than genuine support.

Yet, I still find much wrong in your premise.

It's simply getting too tedious to post the same points on consecutive threads, so I would ask you to read and comment on what I've already said on this issue.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/SirReal1/obama-2012-reelection_b_919002_101323033.html

and

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/SirReal1/team-dispirit_b_915479_100589843.html
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ChrisDWard
Real eyes realize real lies
11:45 PM on 08/07/2011
I'm voting Dem because of appointments to the SCOTUS. It's far too dangerous to allow a conservative president to appoint additional conservatives on this court. We can vote out a president we don't like after four years, but SCOTUS appointments are for life.
Konnie
PO'd PROGRESSIVE
03:29 PM on 08/07/2011
a gem my wordsmithie. a nugget to remember when thinking of alternatives.............
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
bekhuff
03:23 PM on 08/07/2011
Yep. And you've captured how it's about winning, and not about, you know, making the country stronger and/or responding to the wishes of the voting public.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
inmyhumbleopinion
Vote third party.
04:05 PM on 08/07/2011
Fanned and faved.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
laddieluv
Dogs are angels with paws.
07:42 PM on 08/07/2011
#39

Bingo!
03:04 PM on 08/07/2011
SupremeCourtSupremeCourtSupremeCourt GOBAMA!!
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artleads
Let's have a national retreat.
03:31 PM on 08/07/2011
To some degree, yes. But he's got to get congressional approval.
03:56 PM on 08/07/2011
Good point. I'm also optimistic that this has been a wake-up call that we need more jobs and growth. That translates to Dems getting voted in majorities.
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inmyhumbleopinion
Vote third party.
02:50 PM on 08/07/2011
It's become obvious to me, Mr. Weber, that no matter who is in office, we all lose. We have two parties who are slavish to corporate donations, to Wall Street, and to whoever yells the loudest. This is not governing. It is pandering. Therefore, I see no reason not to vote my conscience and my values, not blindly along party lines.
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03:16 PM on 08/07/2011
I'm with you. Trouble is, a third party either has to be so narrowly defined or so broadly defined that I don't think it could catch on here. For instance, a Bloomberg Independent is different than a Ventura Independent is different than a Sanders Independent is different than a Lieberman Independent. Maybe Bloomberg could make a dent and get the ball rolling for a 2012 Independent launch, not that I'd absolutely support him, but then all those other types of indies suddenly become something else because their "independent" isn't the branded independent.

Bill Maher recently mentioned the need for a liberal Tea Party. OK, so then you'd just have the two major league teams and their AAA clubs. That's not going to provide any relief for those in the middle.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SirReal1
03:43 PM on 08/07/2011
I'll go you one better.

Within the "Democratic Party" you have "Liberals", "Progressives","Blue Dogs", "Moderates", and "Conservatives" (just to name a few).

In the "Republican Party" you have "Fiscal Conservatives", "Social Conservatives", "Libertarians", "Tea Partiers", and "Conservative Christians" (again, to name a few).

The notion that there are "ONLY two Parties" is a fallacy.

There are, IN FACT, multiple Parties, aligned into "Two Major Coalitions".

Unfortunately, this places too much responsibility on the Voters. They are supposed to actually look at the individual running to figure out what they really "stand for" policy wise. WAY TOO MUCH WORK for most.
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artleads
Let's have a national retreat.
03:35 PM on 08/07/2011
Given a weak and distracted public, there is no reason to think there can soon be an alternative to the two parties. I think the Dems are better than the GOP. But short of a strong-enough public movement, nothing's going to change.