Henry Ford was supposed to have said that about the Model T cars he was starting to roll off the assembly line.
The most recent incarnation of the current Democratic loyalist has this same attitude, it appears. Any0ne who has been following the heartbreaky true story of a man on the edge, ThereIsNoSpoon, trying desperately to gather a flock of lost sheep back into the fold, while fighting his own private daemons, has heard something to the effect that Barack Obama is our leader and we aren’t going to ditch him. Part cheerleader, part whicpcracker, part arrogant snot come to knock some sense into those brainless morons at Digby’s blog, TINS puts up with a lot of insults but those barbs just bouse off of him because the whiners are not going to get what they want from this president. They might as well stop complaining and get in line. Besides, all that complaining has shaken TINS faith and we can’t have that.
But with all of TINS insistence that Michele Bachmann (whooooo, scary, she’s going to bite you in your sleep!) would be so much worse as president in 2012, he fails to convince us that Barack Obama is that much of a prize worth fighting for. In fact, many of Digby’s commenters have decided not to fight for him. Or give money or maybe even their votes. And why might that be?
Well, TINS is holding up Obama as our Democratic president who is the only thing stopping us from the Republican Horde from Hell. But Obama’s performance through this debt criss has revealed that in some respects, he is to the right of John Boehner. He is happy to offer up cuts in Social Security, a program that does not add to the deficit, and he does this voluntarily regardless of how this will impact the lives of recipients who use social security as their primary source of income. Maybe $500/year less in income doesn’t sound like much to Barry but to grandma Edith, it could make the difference between buying something for her grandkids at Christmas or paying the heating bill. That’s not a choice Grandmas or grandchildren around the country are going to appreciate.
If all TINS has to get us to support Obama is fear, he’s got his work cut out for him. If Democrats surrender their principles and stop protecting the middle and working class, what would be the point of voting at all? And it’s not so clear to me that saving Barry’s ass in 2012 is all that important.
Is TINS saying that Barack Obama is the best Democrat we could run in 2012? There are no other Democrats in the entire party that could do a better job than Obama? That would be quite an admission about the quality of the politicians who identify themselves as Democrats. Obama hasn’t represented the party from the minute he started to run for President. But TINS is trying to tell us that it’s Barry or nothing. If not Barry, Michelle. What a choice.
Or is it that TINS has tailored his affiliation to the Democratic party so narrowly that he can’t imagine any other candidate who would fit his criteria who could actually run. That suggests that TINS and others like him who have a strangle hold on the political power structure would rather choke the life out of the party before they will entertain any other candidate, even if that candidate is more popular and more loyal to Democratic principles. Or, is TINS suggesting that the party leadership will not allow a challenger no matter *what* the snippy voters want. What do the voters know of politics? They don’t know what goes on behind closed doors and all of the horse trading and petty insults and careful accounting of who kissed whose ass. That’s right, they don’t know. All the know is what they see and they don’t like what they see. They want choices. But the party may have decided not to give them one whether because Barry’s money is so good or their too afraid of a primary or because they don’t want to look like they’re losing face or they don’t want to take on the Chicago machine.
So, what TINS is is an errand boy from the guys in charge who is to deliver a message to the rank and file to say, “You have no choice. It’s Barry or Michele and that’s final. Get in line, NOW, or you will be responsible for bringing on catastrophe.”
That’s what I’m hearing. I’m not hearing anything about a jobs program or saving the social safety net or exposing the Republicans as not being a party but the political arm of a group of uber wealthy investors who want to buy and sell pieces of America to each other. What I’m hearing is that the Democratic party is not really a party that represents Democrats. It’s a party that spends its time trying to manipulate its voters into doing what it planned to do anyway. That’s not a choice. And I am not sheep.
Democrats can continue to say there is no other choice than Barry and that’s true only if there is no Democratic party that I would recognize. What they’re saying is that they know Barry is not a Democrat with true Democratic principles but they want you to ignore all of that and vote for him anyway because it’s final, goddammit, get with the program. They’re saying that Obama is the icon that represents everything the Democrats believe. He is their leader. They will abide by his decisions whether they like them or not and we will have to get used to them too. They are saying that it is impossible to primary Obama 15 months out from another critical election and that this would weaken Democrat’s chances of winning.
And we get…..?
I don’t believe this for a second. This far out, the Democrats have choices. They can replace this guy who doesn’t seem to know how to do his job and is a lousy negotiator and whose stupid decisions may be endangering all of their seats. What is stopping them? A bunch of prissy ivy league guys who don’t want to work for a woman? Whose irrational clinging to Clinton urban legends is more important that the fate of millions and millions of unemployed people?
I guess so.
But everyone has choices, TINS. We own our votes. They’re more important to us that you might think. And if Barry is writing us off because he thinks we’ll cave when Bachmann gets the nomination so he can go after the independent vote now, he’s got another thing coming. He has to give us a reason to vote for him and right now, “You have no choice” isn’t doing it. There’s *always* a choice.
Filed under: General | Tagged: Barack Obama, debt ceiling, Digby, jobs, thereisnospoon |
The Confluence 
I think I remember TINS from DK and he was an apparatchik in training wannabe even then. The Repubs have them too. They get off being with the power and cool bunch. There are numerous obscene names to describe them. Who kidnapped Digby’s dog to force her to frontpage all of this cipher’s drivel?
She’s doing as told, either to retain “assess” that is no assess and so her ads don’t disappear over night . imo
of course I meant ” access” there…oy
So it is about money. I see. How much we talking about here? Real money or a pittance? I am always surprised at how little it takes sometimes. The money amounts in the Blaggo trial were very small to my way of thinking of selling ones soul.
More than money …we are talking about her career in Washington…she’s doing what is required to have one. If she doesn’t do what they say they will find another who will . I’m not letting her off the morale hook, just saying it’s not a mystery .At some point, perhaps it won’t seem to be worth it…
As Bob Somerby would say, make enough to put a down payment on that Nantucket dream house.
She could live next door to Tweety.
But she’s doing the other thing too, paper doll. TNS being one, apparently 🙂
what other thing?
At this point, my plan is to vote in the primary for anyone who would have the audacity to run against Obama. If there is no primary challenger or Obama “wins” regardless, my November vote will be a write-in: “None of the Above.” I find it sad when people say they simply won’t vote. Silence is poison. However, when you write something in – especially a statement like “None of the Above,” which isn’t a name, then you have left a mark, however tiny. Somebody in your state’s department of elections has to tabulate that.
I missed the civics class when they taught about write in votes. (Hell, I missed or slept my way through school) How would a write in for Hillary be tabulated? As a vote for Obama?
No. Write in votes are allowed in 48 of the 50 states and are not tabulated for anything other than who you wrote in.
I did not realize write ins were allowed in so many states.
If there is no primary challenge, let’s start a “Write in Hillary Clinton” Campaign. If everyone who wants her votes for her, we could actually win.
Wouldn’t that shake things up?
djmm
Love it. What a simple yet brilliant idea!
In some states it would be tabulated as a vote for Obama as they are registered in the same political party. You have to check the election laws in your state because each state handles write-ins differently. Sometimes names of party members are interpreted as a vote for party nominees. The now defunct WriteHillaryIn.com had profiles for all of the states.
This name loophole is why I encourage people to write in the phrase “None of the Above.” This simply can not be reinterpreted into anything other than either an abstention, protest or vote of no confidence in those officially on the ballot. Unfortunately, the question remains on a state by state basis should “None of the Above” receive a plurality or majority of the vote. Speaking only for Pennsylvania, it is my understanding after a phone conversation with an election commission official that at the presidential level, write ins are tabulated but ultimately counted as official abstentions. As such, if “None of the Above” received 34% of the vote in PA, the winner would still be whomever got the bigger slice of the remaining 66% of the ballots.
Terrific post!
I mean the fear shit is LAUGHABLE… “get in line or else” , when we are neck deep in “or else ” already with more coming
LOL!
What is stopping them? A bunch of prissy ivy league guys who don’t want to work for a woman? Whose irrational clinging to Clinton urban legends is more important that the fate of millions and millions of unemployed people?
oh sooooo much more vastly important to them. Plus they work for those bent on stealing every borrow trillion . There are trillions more to steal and serfs to be made. But they should not expect our help in this and finger wag when we don’t eat our peas and thank them
These are people whose mere pout gets scores of staff leaping …lol! so they can’t understand WHY we aren’t jumping too?Haven’t they made their displeasure known!! We peons must be stupid…yeah that’s it
Some of us see that on a smaller scale in our everyday lives. I divorced an Obot who is still ready to blame me for everything bad that happens if I don’t vote Obama. Your average Douchebag-American thinks women are stupid twats who need to be scolded and shamed into submission. For that reason alone I won’t vote for O.
They aren’t stealing, they’re (in Yves Smith’s phrase) “maximizing currrent extractable value.”
I am embarassed for Digby
She let the trolls take over during the primary. Any questioning of candidate Obama became a pile-on. I stopped reading her blog and several others infected by Koolaid drinkers around that time period.
djmm
There are currently several declared candidates for the GOP nomination but the only one TINS ever mentions is the one with scary lady parts.
Coinkydink? I think not.
Oh no. Girls can’t be allowed to sit behind the desk in the Oval Office because they’ll leave their scary girl cooties on the seat. Given that sex education is being left to pr0n, the younger Obot set may actually believe that.
It’s also cause she’s the one…they build one up and have no time or money for the wannabes. They need Barry back in and women as ticket top discredited….MB is the answer. The usual white bread Repug Govs haven’t gotten the memo: Thier phase is over. imo
Is it the lady parts or her and her hubby’s bizzare opinions?
Oh, it’s the lady parts. There’s plenty of bizarre opinions to go around in the GOP.
Spammy doesn’t like the word d0uchb@g!
I read Digby bringing on TINS as a congenial division of labor for her – she gets to continue to do what she really likes to do, which is call BS on the elites in both parties (without calling for the voters to punish them equally), while outsourcing the uglier “get in line, peasants!” bits to someone else.
Plus, Digby bears so little respect for herself, and the reputation of her blog, that she allows one troll who is either mentally ill, or engaging in some sort of Dadaist performance art which I am too Hobbitishly provincial to understand, to pollute her comment threads. I call him “T1KN” (the Troll of One Thousand Names). He seems to think most of the people who disagree with him are sockpuppets for his possibly imaginary adversary, whom he identifies as a 300-pound white supremacist in Sacramento. He also hates Mormons, Jews, and Protestants.
engaging in some sort of Dadaist performance art which I am too Hobbitishly provincial to understand
LOL!!!
I call him “T1KN”
sounds like he creates alot hits for her
which = more $ from ads…
so of course she would love him
I don’t know if you have been over to Black Agenda but this is a must read piece. http://blackagendareport.com/obama-fake-debt-ceiling-crisis_smarter-than-you#comment-form
Thanks for the link. I love BAR and think it should be required reading for any liberal.
Holy Hemiola! I wrote that? I almost didn’t recognize it. where the heck did that come from?
Wherever it was, I hope you drop by often … that’s really good stuff.