Anyone But Bush-By William Rivers Pitt.

http://truthout.org/docs_03/102203A.shtml

"ABBA people tend to be upfront about the fact that they would vote for a baloney sandwich before voting Bush in 2004. This does not pass the smell test for many of their fellow progressives. Has the baloney sandwich ever held office before? Does the baloney sandwich have a record it can run on? Did the baloney sandwich vote for the Iraq war? Did the baloney sandwich vote for the Patriot Act? Where does the baloney sandwich stand on the Israel/Palestine issue?"

Great article from Will Pitt here...

I highlited my own personal baloney for ye.

ABBA it is Mista Pitt. ABBA. *sigh*

*Gully aka Mzmolly* ;)

I am not ABB.

I do not hate George W. Bush merely for the sake of hatred, or because he is a Republican. I hate him because he is a cancer that is rotting out the guts of this country. I hate him because he would not know the truth if it crawled up his leg and grabbed him by the nose. Truth does not advance the profit motive.

True, but not the whole truth because the cancer has spread beyond the Repupblican Party.

The Democratic Party doesn't need to embrace a manipulative, DLC-driven slogan like ABB. Only the DLC would have the unmitigated gall to push ABB because they full well know that if they can't get people to pledge allegiance, they won't get enough votes for the candidates they are trying to force on us.

Let true democracy work for a change. We've been assured, seen it with our own eyes, that the majority hates Bush. Let the DLC embrace standards, morals, and integrity and get the hell out of the people's way.

We don't need ABB. We don't need the DLC.

Thanks for posting Gully. Excellent writing as always.

Sorry for being such a cement-head and a party pooper but I'm the type that has to make sure the candy's in the Original Wrapper

The LAST thing I want is to, 4 years from now, be wailing as loudly as the Reagan Democrats are doing now. God gave each of us a conscience, I'm not handing mine over to the ABBA. That's like walking into a restaurant and saying "anything but a baloney sandwich" ;)

I still love you Gully and I love Will Pitt too... This is going to be one of those rocky marriages! :)

UNLESS something solidifies before then. I'm not saying I won't or I will...I reserve the right to withhold my decision until I can verify the candidate.

I'm not voting out of fear only to turn around and be rewarded with someone who is similar to *it just dressed up in another wrapper to look more democratized.

I say the same, gotta love you all and it's not about principle here it is about not being fooled and accepting something that isn't.

Be very clear that your vote is stemming from fear. If it is then you will be more prone to fall for yet another lie.

:hug:

Great article btw!

1. What concrete and effective plan do you have to ensure that the best candidate will get the nomination in 2004?

2. What concrete plans do you have to change the nature of American politics before the nomination in 2004?

3. What strategies will you employ to see this plans into effect?

4. What will you do when you fail?

Will,

I don't have to come up with a plan. I have every right, if I want, to sit on my ass eating Peggy Bundy bon-bons all day and maybe roll over to the polls on Election Day. The fact that the DLC, in its determination, has come up with a plan to marginalize every candidate out there is no reason I should ruin my life coming up with some worthless Don Quixotic plan to fight them.

That said, I have already ruined my life and lost some of the things most precious to me because of Bush so I do have a plan. It may not work, but I will die trying if that's what it takes. I think you saw part of my plan in San Francisco and it is to tell everyone I meet, to include waiters in restaurants, about Dennis Kucinich. It is a minimum of 1 hour a day approaching people and passing out literature; it is driving hours to go table for him while honking my horn at every other stop-light to invade other drivers personal car space by passing them literature.

It's also posting mainly here and but also on a few other boards so that posterity will record my words for Kucinich which, while not as beautifully crafted as yours, will, I hope, resonate with a few.

It's getting my employer to let me use their equipment and supplies to provide the literature to anyone who needs it.

It's going without sleep if necessary but I will do everything within my power to make sure that people know that there is a Progressive candidate out there worth registering for and voting.

A concrete plan? Maybe not, but it's pretty damn effective and I even have Republicans seriously looking at Kucinich.

2. What concrete plans do you have to change the nature of American politics before the nomination in 2004?

The answer to this question is contained in the answer to question 1. I am not a concrete person but I am effective and I am counting on the people I talk to and on those who are already on board to change the nature of American politics before the nomination.

3. What strategies will you employ to see this plans into effect?

Well damn, do you have to go all logical on me? Remember the story I told you about the engineer and the artist? I wasn't the engineer so you're going to have to forget about me having a magical plan. The strategies are listed in my first answer.

4. What will you do when you fail?

Same thing the Moderates will do. Follow my heart and conscience.
===================================

ABB is an invitation to the Party to take me and my vote for granted. Never, ever again!

For years Progressives have been told: "the race is too close", "we need a Centrist to appeal to a bunch of fence-happy people political hermaphrodites". And for years, believing this logic, we let ourselves be blackmailed by a small minority into shifting out party rightward election after election because the race would be too close...

Well this time, the race will not be close- not if the votes are counted (and if there's not, there's not much ABB can do about that). This time the majority hates Bush and the Republicans so much that a Democratic win is practically a shoe-in.

Why, at this, the best chance we have to get a Progressive in office, would I start preparing myself now, before the Primaries have even been run, to whore my vote to whatever candidate gets the most corporate support and money for his cause? ABB is nothing more than conditioning people, starting right now, to vote for whatever evil they think they can throw at us. It's throwing my vote away and giving it to the DNC machinery to do with what they will when they haven't done anything to deserve it.

I earned my right to vote. Let the person I vote for earn my vote.

Damn Will! I still don't have my 40 acres and a mule; now you want to take my vote away? What's next? Back to the cotton fields?

I want my Party to give me a reason to vote for something instead of against someone.

Bush is not my problem, the whole damn cancer is and that's what I want gone. I won't accept malignant cells just because they haven't metastasized to bone yet. The entire Hydra must go- not just one head.

It's also posting mainly here and but also on a few other boards so that posterity will record my words for Kucinich which, while not as beautifully crafted as yours, will, I hope, resonate with a few.

Your words are certainly as beautifully crafted as Willy's, more so in my opinion, because they are inspirational...not defeatist.

Then run-up was almost orgasmic Willy, but the coitus interruptus leaves me feeling rather deflated.

RC

And I'm reallyhonored and flattered! I'm also embarrassed by all the typos but thank you from the bottom of my heart!

This election means so much to me that I frankly get angered when I seem to hear "Go back to sleep and just fork over your vote so we can sew this one up and old which-way".

Refusing to pledge allegiance and retaining my vote for a candidate who meets my criteria is my way of saying "Oh no you don't! Not again! This time, you're coming home with me if I take you to the dance!"


"You know, the only thing I never got over in life is I took a young lady to a dance when I was in high school and she left with somebody else. And that's what the Democrats, some, have done to the Black community."

"We helped take you to the dance and you leave with right-wingers, you leave with people that you say are swing voters, you leave with people that are antithetical to our history and antithetical to our interests. I am saying in 2004, if we take you to the party, you're going home with us or we're not taking you to the party".

Al Sharpton - Presidential Debates

September 2003

Having done my own part in my own way to wake people up to the political scene, I've sadly found that there's a lot of talk floating around but few who are willing to put in the blood, sweat and tears to actually DO something towards positive change. Please know that your efforts are appreciated and commended. Those who dare to Walk the Walk are today's true heroes.

Just a political junkie with few distractions- Barbara Streisand with few obligations other than an 8-hr/day job to pay the rent.

Small, small potatoes next to what I see the Greens doing. They're downright embarrassing me to tell you the truth! I'm convinced vegans don't sleep ;)

Thanks for everything you're doing! It will take all of us to make a dent in this machinery!

you gave me some bullshit about "wanting to take your vote away." I'm not Massa, and you have no right to use that kind of low, vicious hyperbole on me. Shame on you.

In the end, you answered none of my questions. I'm sorry I went "all logical" on you, but happy feelings and moonbeams don't win elections.

You lost me on this one, T. Big time. That was low.

it is not specifically targetted at you so please don't take personal offense. If you choose to, I can't, no matter how much I like you, let it bother me.

Your choice to push ABB is helping the very people who think they can force their candidates in by playing on my emotions. I won't play that game. I wouldn't play the DLC game 3 years ago and I won't play it now.

What proponents of ABB are missing is that for some of us, the hate has already turned into grief and I won't let it be exploited in such a paltry manner.

I have never espoused, supported or excused anything the Bush administration has done nor have I admired his Democratic enablers.

Now Will, for the rest, have no fears, you don't strike me as the plantation type so let's change the 'you' to 'they' ok? But, IMO, you are unwittingly helping the new plantation masters (corporations) by pushing ABB. I am sure, knowing you, that YOU personally have no intention of belittling my vote- but the ABBA does and you are pushing their new meme. :shrug:

It's horrifying to me that they couldn't or wouldn't come up with a better one.

What's wrong with something progressive that would resonate with everyone- something like "Healthcare for all"? Or "A living wage for all"? No, instead, all they can come up with is "Anyone but Bush"! Has the Democratic party sunk that low that the only rallying cry it can come up with is a lame "Anyone But Bush"?

Once again, don't take the Massa thing personally.

Pick a side in the primary, work to get him or her nominated, but if your candidate loses, for God's sake, don't take it out on the winner and withhold your support for the candidate who did win.

That having been said, the baloney sandwich IS better than Bush, even after it's been out of the fridge for a few weeks. It would take one serious LOSER of a candidate to get me to pull the lever for Bush - I'd probably stay home if that were the case, for all the good it would do to vote. Fortunately, any of the Dem. candidates is acceptable and deserving of our support - AFTER the candidate has been chosen.

...but then take no responsibility for your actions. You're encouraging people to throw away their vote...literally...on someone or something they may not believe in.

- A promise to vote for whomever the DLC/DNC throws at us lets the party bosses know they can take any position they want and still get our support. That is...they can cater to corporations and act like Republicans and suffer no consequences.

- If a candidate doesn't support traditional DEMOCRATIC values and principles...they can go to hell. Bush* is there waiting for them.

"1. What concrete and effective plan do you have to ensure that the best candidate will get the nomination in 2004?"

First, it might be useful to define "best." Does best describe the candidate who is most likely to win? The candidate with the most unimpeachable moral credentials?

"2. What concrete plans do you have to change the nature of American politics before the nomination in 2004?"

The nature of American politics in 2003 is so corrupt that no change is likely before or immediately after 2004. The apparent fact that only the status quo candidates are viewed as electable is telling in and of itself; only the most superficial of changes are being offered by the leading contenders. The ruling class does not want to change the nature of American politics, nor does the underclass. No one wants to give up what they have, willingly. The best we are being offered is a change of tone and image, not direction, and for most, that seems to be enough. The only plan I have is to try to weed through the bullshit as best as possible and challenge people to look at things from more than one perspective.

"3. What strategies will you employ to see this plans into effect?"

I'll say the Serentity Prayer.

"4. What will you do when you fail?"

ABB may be a success in getting rid of one of the world's worst leaders, but it may not prove a success in getting this country motivated to look at itself and make real changes. Time will tell. I'm not hopeful for the immediate future.

So an administration that wouldn't trash international law and invade a sovereign nation without provocation, an administration that wouldn't throw record-breaking tax cuts to the rich and create record-breaking deficits, an administration that wouldn't appoint wingnuts to the federal judiciary - that, by you, would be "a change in tone and image, not direction."

Regardless of which party is in power, American foreign policy is going to remain the same. Regime change became official policy under Clinton. The faux pas committed by Bush's gang of pirates was it's intolerable arrogance and dishonesty. They could have soft sold the Iraq war, and got our allies on board for it. It still would have been dishonest, immoral and wrong, but it would have smelled better. If there are no provocations, this country has an unfortunate history of creating them in order to further its interests. See: Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Spanish-American War, Gulf War I for starters.

Notice that Bush's tax cuts passed with the assistance of the Democrats, the IWR passed with the assistance of Democrats, John Ashcroft was appointed Atty General with the assistance of Democrats, the obscenley wasteful Drug War continues to be prosecuted with the assistance of Democrats and so on. Niether party is guiltless. I do appreciate that the Democrats have held firm on not nominating some of the more loathesome Bush judicial apppointees.

A change in tone can be a good thing, but it doesn't qualify as a change in direction in and of itself. It can lead to a change in direction. I'm just not hopeful under these circumstances, where it seems to be more of a good cop/bad cop ploy; the approach may be different, but the goal is the same.

Can you support that? I'm pretty sure it's not true, at least not in the meaningful sense of invading countries because we don't like their leaders.

And all the stuff "with the assistance of the Democrats" - you don't seem to understand the role of the minority party in Congress, especially when that party does not control the White House. The ruling party sets the agenda. The minority reps do the best they can to influence policy, keep communications open, and stay alive. I'll give you the drug war, but that's it - none of the rest of that stuff would have happened under President Gore, and I suspect that you know it.

Here's a couple Clinton regime change articles; a Google search will turn up others.

This from the Senate Foreign Relations record:

MR. CLAWSON: Thank you. It's an honor to be here with you today. I've submitted a statement for the record. And if you'll permit me, I would like just to summarize that briefly.
SEN. BROWNBACK: That would be just fine. And we will put your entire statement in the record, and you're free to summarize as you see fit.

MR. CLAWSON: Thank you very much. After Congress passed the Iraq Liberation Act in 1998, the Clinton administration decided a regime change was a necessary goal rather than just a desirable aim. By publicly identifying regime change as a policy objective, the United States has put its prestige on the line. From now on, the world will use a simple test to judge the success or failure of U.S. policy towards Iraq. Namely, is Saddam still in power?

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/media/clawson/clawtest.htm

The Iraq Liberation Act:

SEC. 3. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS REGARDING UNITED STATES POLICY TOWARD IRAQ.

It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/int/sup/iraq_liberation.htm

And a more general article from Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A55841-2003Feb23¬Found=true

I do understand that it is difficult for the Democrats to work as a minority party. However, they have managed to use the filibuster very effectively on judicial nominations. But where offical US policy is concerned, they won't rock the boat. Note Biden's and Feinstein's recent comments in support of the Patriot Act. And too many politicians of both major parties tend to do what is politically expedient.

As for Gore taking a different approach, I agree, he has a lot more class and intelligence than W. No doubt he would approach the goal from a different direction, but in most cases, the goal would be the same.

;)

XO to you as well Tiniore...

is that in a presidential election, it always boils down to a choice between two. A third-party candidate has never won. A third-party candidate has never come close to winning.

The point of ABB is that we need Bush out of the White House, and that any of the Democratic candidates would be a huge improvement. We have to get over the idea that politics is about getting everything we want. Politics is about what you can get 51% of the voters to agree on, and remember that we are fighting both money and the media this time.

Vote for whoever you like in the primaries. ABB isn't about how you vote in the primaries. ABB is a request for all progressives to unite behind whoever the nominee turns out to be and not take their ball and go home because it isn't their guy/gal.

Why make the request now? Because so many DUers are painting themselves into a my-way-or-the-highway corner. There's such a thing as pride - it's hard to swallow defeat when you've very publicly committed yourself, particularly to the proposition that everybody except is really no better than Bush. This is the brain-rot that Nader was selling progressives in 2000.

United we stand, divided we fall. You can build progress on victory, but you can't build a damn thing on defeat.

but what I am also not missing is that I am a Progressive who for years went to the polls and voted ABR (Anyone but a Republican) trusting that the Democrats were doing their promised job.

Then one day, quite a few years ago, I woke up to find out that the whole damn house was on fire and that my Democratic reps were upstairs partying with the Republicans and extinguishing their cigarettes on the curtains as a drunken frat boy was blowing rum fire-balls all over the place. It was at that point that I realized that ABR was totally unacceptable... and what is ABB if not a more specific version of ABR?

Pride here doesn't mean a damn thing to me. I don't live for DU and I won't die for it. In the end, nobody here will really know how anyone else voted anyway so I don't agree with your assessment that so many DUers are painting themselves into a my-way-or-the-highway corner.

I sincerely urge my fellow Democrats to stop annoying old DU activists with silly talk of ABB pledges because most of us have been awake and around much longer than most of the ABB crowd. It's really too humorous to watch 12,000 post activists being having ABB insults hurled at them by 120 post posters. I think there's also a matter of age involved- most of the ABB posters seem to be very young- almost as if this is their first football game.

ABB may sound like a nice catchy little slogan- effective for people who historically have trouble deciding between the Democratic and the Republican Party- a cheap manipulative tactic coined by the same people who to this day are taking the easy way out and blaming Nader for the 2000 loss instead of asking "what should we have done better?".

I am demanding my party do better than ABR or than its new version, ABB. I've grown too cynical from knowing too much to buy into that garbage anymore.

but what I am also not missing is that I am a Progressive who for years went to the polls and voted ABR (Anyone but a Republican) trusting that the Democrats were doing their promised job.

Then one day, quite a few years ago, I woke up to find out that the whole damn house was on fire and that my Democratic reps were upstairs partying with the Republicans and extinguishing their cigarettes on the curtains as a drunken frat boy was blowing rum fire-balls all over the place. It was at that point that I realized that ABR was totally unacceptable... and what is ABB if not a more specific version of ABR?

Pride here doesn't mean a damn thing to me. I don't live for DU and I won't die for it. In the end, nobody here will really know how anyone else voted anyway so I don't agree with your assessment that so many DUers are painting themselves into a my-way-or-the-highway corner.

I sincerely urge my fellow Democrats to stop annoying old DU activists with silly talk of ABB pledges because most of us have been awake and around much longer than most of the ABB crowd. It's really too humorous to watch 12,000 post activists being having ABB insults hurled at them by 120 post posters. I think there's also a matter of age involved- most of the ABB posters seem to be very young- almost as if this is their first football game.

ABB may sound like a nice catchy little slogan- effective for people who historically have trouble deciding between the Democratic and the Republican Party- a cheap manipulative tactic coined by the same people who to this day are taking the easy way out and blaming Nader for the 2000 loss instead of asking "what should we have done better?".

I am demanding my party do better than ABR or than its new version, ABB. I've grown too cynical from knowing too much to buy into that garbage anymore.

Second, obviously ABB is not sufficient unto itself. I don't think that anyone is arguing that ABB is, by itself, going to motivate the voters we need to go to the ballot box and vote for the Democratic nominee.

I've only been on DU since August, but I've followed the ABB threads pretty closely. My understanding of ABB is that it is an answer to those who say that if their candidate isn't nominated or their litmus test is not passed by the nominee, they will stay home/vote Green/jump out a window/move to Canada. The point is that any of the candidates, even Lieberman (who isn't going to be nominated anyway), is vastly better than Bush and that the difference is important enough for all progressives to commit to getting Bush out of office by voting for the Democratic nominee in Nov. 2004.

I'm not sure what you mean by "ABB insults." ABB is simplistic, sure. Slogans are - that's their power. Also, it's my understanding that DU is a forum for the free exchange of ideas, even by people who haven't been here very long.

When I chose ABB as my avatar, I meant to emphasize the importance of defeating Bush in 2004. Even if we end up nominating someone just like Clinton, the difference between the Clinton years and the Bush years is enormous. Even if the nominee is not what all of us want, we need to unite behind him or her - the only alternative is four more years of Bush. Look at the mandate he claimed when he wasn't even elected, and think what he'll do once he has been.

I'm a good eater and will usually try everything on a buffet. But there's always one or two dishes that I pass on.

I share Mr. Pitt's sentiments. Right now, anything different will do, if only to get the taste of Baloney out of my mouth.

Yes, I will go for "anything but baloney". Make it a double order, with FRENCH fries on the side and some strong black coffee.

walking into a resturant and saying "anything but a poisonous shit sandwich". Bush is not a flavor that we don't like, he is the most dangerous Chief Executive this country has ever had.

that the baloney sandwich voted for Reagan in '80!

I am voting for Oscar Mayer! :D

Oh, and hell yes, I read Pitt's latest. No pun intended, but he provides food for thought. :-)

Having read several posts in GD, I'm getting the impression that (most) of DU's impression of ABBA stands for "Anyone but BLANK Association", where "Blank" means Kerry, Lieberman, Clark, Dean, etc.

It's the 21st, so someone is late with the "can't we get along" post, where several members reply with "yes, of course!", "there's too much fighting", et. al. Then someone posts that X can't play the flute, or Y eats his cheeseburger upside down, and the posts start again.

No wonder I don't post much here. The bunker (Lounge) is almost a safe haven.

BTW, Mr. Pitt, I have admired your writing very much.

Work as hard as you can to get your candidate nominated, but at the end of the day you have to vote against George Bush.

will reflect the actual balance of forces within the Dem party. No matter who we individually might find most admirable. None of them will be the whole solution to the crisis facing us in this country. No matter who prevails, we will still need to continue to press for the kinds of values that our favorites represent.

But no matter which, any of these Dem candidates will provide more favorable conditions for resolving the tragic and vicious actions of the PNAC-Fundie fanatics, no matter how flawed (damn, I have to append "possibly excepting JL" but even "possibly" beats the alternative).

If we had another variant on democracy, rather than one where 51% equals 100%, we would have a choice beyond ABB, but in the here and now, that is the way the rules are written, short of insurrection, and if/when our preferred candidate fails, it only means we have more work to do. Boycotting the election won't help.

:toast:

And since there is a lot of Ham on this board.....I think that boloney is just fine.

Personally, I like my sandwich meat mixed...like a poor boy...

Because only being served one type of meat can become very uninspiring indeed!

Also new Boloney is way better than old already-chewed-on-Pastrami!!

And no, I don't care that my Boloney has gone both way...
if you ask me, it's a sure indication that there will be a delicious dessert at the end of the meal!

I would like to start with the words of the late Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, in her Senate floor denunciation of Sen. Joseph McCarthy:

"Mrs. SMITH of Maine:

Mr. President, I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear. It is a condition that comes from the lack of effective leadership either in the legislative branch or the executive branch of our Government. . . .

Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism-

The right to criticize.

The right to hold unpopular beliefs.

The right to protest.

The right of independent thought...."

We, too, are living in a time of great national crisis--- adrift, and without leadership; having been once denied our sovereign right to be a self-governing nation, there are those among us who still do not see the looming danger facing our Republic--- the extinguishment of that same sovereign right.

We do not behave as responsible citizens of this Republic if we blind ourselves to the awful reality facing us in 2004; while we may certainly exercise our electoral franchise in whatever manner we choose, that purely selfish action is not the same as an intelligent exercise of that franchise.

Do we serve ourselves and our fellow citizens better by uniting against a common enemy--- an enemy who has already fired the first warning shot 'across our bow'--- or do we better serve our nation and its citizens by selfish and self-indulgent use of our votes? Are we so interested in the 'purity' of whomever becomes the Democratic nominee that we are willing to aid and abet our sworn enemies in the destruction of our personal liberties, and the end of our Republic--- an act of national suicide?

2004 shall mark my first vote for a candidate for President of the United States of America; my vote shall be "ABB", because I wish to cast many more votes for other candidates for POTUS in what I hope is a long life.

Thank you.