If Democrats behaved like Republicans...

[GPDP]

http://www.thismodernworld.com/arc/2009/TMW2009-08-19colorlowresopy.jpg

Interesting way to look at things.

[Red Icepick]

Democrats are barely superior. Maybe enough to vote for them but not enough for them to gloat about it. Their health care plan is idiocy, and the whole debate is framed. It shouldn't be a matter of a public insurance option, but that's all that's on the table. How about just create more doctors and treat everyone who is sick and drop the insurance racket althogether?

[GPDP]

http://www.thismodernworld.com/arc/2009/TMW2009-07-01colorcopy.jpg

This is what makes living in the states so frustrating.

[Dimentio]

Actually, if the Democrats behaved aggressively, the Republicans would probably get into a state of shock. The thing is that the Democrats don't have the support from the political centre in conducting aggressive reforms.

But... if they started to challenge the status quo and activate the inner city poors - the apathetic voters - they wouldn't need it.

The good thing would be that some needed reforms would be pushed through. But it will come with a price of turning the American political debate into something resembling the public sphere into something like Bolivia or Venezuela.

[The Something]

Insurrectionary democrats. If only.....

[Dimentio]

Insurrectionary democrats. If only.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYrcTd-u3N4&feature=PlayList&p=46EF024B97AF4D06&index=18

[Outinleftfield]

Its not like it would cost them votes to be a little more pushy. There will be more people who stay home because they are disillusioned with the Democrats than there would have been people who switched over to the Republicans or stayed home because they thought they were "too liberal". Something else is at work here. I even doubt I'm voting Democrat again in 2012 if they don't get their act together. I'll vote for the Socialist Party instead.

[Uncle Ho]

Honestly, if you just realized that America has succeeded in doing nothing but splitting the bourgeoisie into two hardly distinct factions from whom we enjoy the privilege of choosing who will oppress us every 4 years, I don't know what to say to you.

[GPDP]

Something else is at work here.

Maybe the fact the Democratic Party is a thoroughly bourgeois entity under the sway of the ruling class, much like the Republican Party?

The only time the Democrats ever do anything progressive is when they're forced to. Keyword there being forced. It's not about votes. It's about struggle. And as long as we don't struggle, they could care less about us.

[Spawn of Stalin]

I didn't realise there were two parties in America, always thought it was a single-party deal.

[RadioRaheem84]

The Republicans can take us to war, cut the top one percent's taxes, and deny us medical care all the while giving the finger to their opposition. Why is Obama and Co. so reluctant to do the same with his policies? Why does he care so much about bi-partisanship?

I swear it stuff like this that makes me wonder just how much more its going to take for people to wake the fuck up and realize that the Democrats are just another card in the upper class pocket.

The only thing that keeps people from seeing that is the media's love affair with Obama and the Dems. It seems like being critical of the President is just as bad as being critical of Bush at the Rodeo.

[KurtFF8]

The irony (perhaps) is that the Dems effort to stay in the center is precisely the reason that they are losing the center.

And the reason they are trying to appeal to the center is that the structure of the party, and how it can be influenced, wants it to remain there instead of swing to the left. This has of course upset the left wing Democrats to the point where they even at one point threatened to not pass Health Care Reform if the Public Option was dropped.

Although I'm pretty sure the latest bill (and the one that is likely to be passed) doesn't have the Public Option, and the left isn't making too much noise about it. There was even an AP article titled "Latest Health Care Bill is Health Industry's favorite so far"

[cb9's_unity]

American political debate is little more than shouting matches in which the republicans have proven they will almost always win. When the base ideologies of both parties are nationalism and support for the free market the slightly more nationalistic and slightly more economically 'libertarian' republicans can simply shout louder. The slight nuance of the democrats can't beat blunt screaming.

If there existed any sort of national device to actually sit down and rationally look at the facts the democrats would almost certainly have an edge over the republicans. However the capitalist media has always been sure to keep the level and accuracy of discussion to a minimum. Rational discussion and facts are dangerous to capitalism.

[RadioRaheem84]

I believe that we won't have complete unity among the workers or an organized opposition to the status-quo until there is ample opposition toward the "New" Democrats , i.e. Clintons, Obamas, Kerrys, Gores, etc. These vipers have been just as destructive if not more as the GOP. The only difference is that the New Dems have the media right in their pocket. All of them, with the exception of Fox News journalists, are in some way or another in cahoots with the New Democratic Party.

Left Democrats are marginalized, opposition leaders like Nader are shouted down and sometimes openly ridiculed and any dissent toward Clinton or Obama is viewed as blasphemy.

There first needs to be a loud, openly critical opposition toward the new administration and its failed attempts to be "progressive" and a final push to move the Democratic Party back to the left (if it even ever was).

But the opposition should be ready for a massive backlash, not from the GOP or even the right wing wackos but the mainstream liberal media that is pro-New Democrat and anti-Old Union backed Democrats.

In my opinion, and I already gave enough of it is to slow down the criticism of the right and add furious criticism of the Democratic Party. Pointing out the obvious flaws in the Republican mantra is too elementary, even counter productive because it gives more ammo for the New Dems to chime in that they're different (when we know they're not) and claim to be a suitable opposition. There needs to be equal if not more critique of the Dems out there in the open media.

What surprises me the most is that guys like Chomsky, Cockburn and Pilger have openly flailed the Clinton Administration as corrupt, an enemy of the working class and what not, yet there was hardly a mention of them back in the 90s. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was lambasted for arguing with Clinton on her show!

But when these same people critiqued the Bush Administration suddenly a multitude of people heard them and they were invited on to the mainstream shows!

The right is right, the media is liberal. Corporate Liberal in the hands of the New Dems.

[pierrotlefou]

I didn't realise there were two parties in America, always thought it was a single-party deal.
It's called the Greed party and there is only one.

[MaoTseHelen]

opposition leaders like Nader are shouted down and sometimes openly ridiculed

Nader makes a joke of himself. His last appearance on Bill Maher was him shouting TAX PAYER REVOLUTION over and over again at the audience, instead of articulating his positions. He looked like a clown.

[RadioRaheem84]

Nader makes a joke of himself. His last appearance on Bill Maher was him shouting TAX PAYER REVOLUTION over and over again at the audience, instead of articulating his positions. He looked like a clown.


I just meant that he is really hated by the mainstream media. Look at articles by Joe Klein and this ass-hat Eric Alterman. He is a self described liberal and loves to proclaim himself and his gang of liberals as the Enlightened ones. He argues against the argument that there is a liberal bias and is in constant praise of the New Dems. Both of these clowns pummeled Nader and his supporters.

[MaoTseHelen]

I just meant that he is really hated by the mainstream media. Look at articles by Joe Klein and this ass-hat Eric Alterman. He is a self described liberal and loves to proclaim himself and his gang of liberals as the Enlightened ones. He argues against the argument that there is a liberal bias and is in constant praise of the New Dems. Both of these clowns pummeled Nader and his supporters.
Ah, I never noticed. I voted for him back in '04 but after his appearance on Maher, he's got little chance of me ever doing so again. I try not to get overly insular but Indymedia's still my default news service, so I miss the opeds slamming people, I guess.

[Manifesto]

My God the first one reminded me of my dad and his ex-wife saying how Democrats hated America and basically called THEM Fascist:lol:.

[#FF0000]

The right is right, the media is liberal. Corporate Liberal in the hands of the New Dems.

The media is overwhelmingly very right wing what in the christ are you talking about

[The Author]

I stopped having faith in the Democrats when I became class conscious years ago. I always knew Obama would go back on his promises. This time last year, during the campaign, all he did was talk and talk and talk. He never specified how he was going to change the system, and going from his free market background, it was obviously apparent that he would never change the system.

It's been nearly nine months since the inauguration, and what have the Democrats done? Absolute shit. The quality of life is the same- if not worse- than last year. Not to mention the $700 billion flushed down the toilet that is Wall St. that could have easily paid for medical and educational care and housing for all. Obama is now a Washington man, and he's pretty much an actor following a script while capital still rules the day- that image of "change we can believe in" is eroding away and he now looks and acts like any other President in U.S. History. I predict, that because of the Democrats sitting on their asses all this time, a GOP victory in 2010 and 2012 will happen. The only way to break out of this vicious and pointless cycle is to choose the communist struggle.

[pierrotlefou]

The right is right, the media is liberal. Corporate Liberal in the hands of the New Dems.
Only half right. Calling the rest of the corporate media liberal is taking the pressure off of the reactionaries on the right and we can never let them slide. Fox news and AM radio are as bad if not worse and while we should indeed criticize the corporate liberal media for what it is, we should not relent on the right.

[RadioRaheem84]

The media is overwhelmingly very right wing what in the christ are you talking about


The media overwhelmingly liberal in the sense that its in the pocket of corporate interests in bed with New Democrats. The other half is GOP loving right wing mania.

There is nothing truly leftist or progressive about the American media. Liberal in my book is centre-right.

[RadioRaheem84]

BTW, where did you guys get the Tom Tomorrow comic strips from?

[chegitz guevara]

If the Democrats behaved like Republicans? They may be slightly wimpier than the GOP, especially when standing up to the GOP, but their policies are pretty damn close to the GOP as it is.

[cyu]

where did you guys get the Tom Tomorrow comic strips from?

http://thismodernworld.com/newest-comic/

[Mather]

Democrats and Republicans, two sides of the same coin.

Their policies are the same, their ideology is the same, their class interests and the class they serve are one and the same.

The only difference is their style and their ability to market themselves to the public. On that note the Republicans do it a lot better, they are more agressive, more shrill, more louder and they know what to say and when to say it to get what they want.

The USA will stay the course it is currently on and the capitalist system will remain as strong and as entrenched as ever until people in the USA start rejecting the farce of America's rotten democracy, its fraudulent elections and the corrupt set up of 'party politics'.

[RadioRaheem84]

The democrats and republicans have two different polar bases in the general public. They make appeals to these different base groups but once in office they shed their "right wing" or "left wing" persona in favor of a generally neo-liberal one that is in agreement with with business interests.

New Labour, New Democrat. is no different than Republican, Tory. In fact it was Clinton who made mention that the era of big government was over.

[Mather]

In fact it was Clinton who made mention that the era of big government was over.


And it was also when Bill Clinton was president that the working class and poor suffered a massive campaign of cuts in social services, the lowering of their living standards and the acceleration of the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor in society.

It was also under Clinton that the likes of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other neo-liberal treaties for the Americas came into being.

[RadioRaheem84]

Democrats ARE behaving like Republicans. Obama's goons in the media are fact checking an SNL skit which was critical of his first nine months in office. Now Obama is a little furious with the media, throwing a little hissy fit at those disagreeing with the "messiah".