When he's right, he's right

Steve M.'s got a great post up about the general public's perception of our two parties:

Then again, Charles Schumer is generally polite and soft-spoken even at his most dogged, whereas President Bush often can barely conceal his mile-wide mean streak -- yet it's Schumer whose character is frequently questioned and Bush who is seen as possessing an unmistakable decency at his core.

Why is this?

Because Republicans have mastered the art of persuading the public that Democrats, individually and collectively, are evil freaks, neurotics with malign intent. The New York Times may catalog failures in the Iraq War on its front page, but Rush Limbaugh and Fox News and the Drudge Report and the New York Post make it personal, snickering and recoiling in mock-revulsion at the unhinged perfidy of twisted yet powerful Democrats (and presumed Democrats) -- compulsive liar Al Gore, power-mad Hillary Clinton, sexual predator Bill Clinton, drunk Ted Kennedy, prissy traitor John Kerry, raving old coot ex-Klansman Robert Byrd, wacko GOP-basher Dan Rather.

This is a cancer on our politics, and it would be best if it disappeared from the scene, but it won't. So Democrats won't have a fighting chance until there's a comparable effort on our side.

Sure, we on the left do a good job of spreading negative impressions of Republicans amongst ourselves. But Republicans reach the middle -- mostly, I think, because they use tools other than snark and ridicule. The right-wing specialty is a fake tone of concern -- Bill O'Reilly is the master of this, Sean Hannity is quite adept at it, and even Rush, between infantile song parodies, regularly goes solemn while sounding the alarum bells about the crimes of Democratic and liberals. This is mixed in with relentless attacks on soft targets (e.g., Ward Churchill) and campaigns based on half-truths (e.g., stories about "the war on Christmas") to paint a picture of a vast, interlinked liberal/left/Democratic conspiracy of dangerous weirdos preventing the triumph of decency and of common sense.

It all plays in Peoria.

We might have won this thing if we had built a multi-tiered, self-referential advocacy/attack media that could persuade Middle America that Samuel Alito is an evil freak and so, for that matter, is the oleaginous Lindsay Graham; until we build it, we're going to get beaten over and over again. I'm not saying I necessarily want to live in a country in which we send as much poison into the political atmosphere as the Right. I'm just saying that may be the only way to prevent Republican rule without end.

Wish I could argue with this, but he's right. My question is, do we have to abandon our innate decency in order to wrest government from the hands of the GOP, and if not, do we content ourselves with being under their rule for the remainder of our natural lives? Is there a third option? Because right now relying on the American public to wake up and see what evil fucks are running the country just doesn't seem too realistic to me.

Women who hate women

So if you haven't heard of this yet, allow me to introduce you to the latest GOP book du jour:

Women Who Make the World Worse : and How Their Radical Feminist Assault Is Ruining Our Schools, Families, Military, and Sports (Hardcover)
by Kate O'Beirne

Yes, it's just as openly self-loathing as you'd expect, one wonders that Kate has actually written a book at all as one would expect her to view such a profession as "man's work". I suppose she felt the message was important enough for her to foray into an area opened up to her by the very feminists she mocks. But as we've noted before, dear friends, somehow the wingers have built up such a resistance to hypocrisy that they don't even notice when they're soaking in it.

Fortunately thanks to the blog-o-sphere, Jesus' General has managed to get his review of the book into first place. I copy it here for your enjoyment:

Mrs. O'Beirne avoids the most dangerous feminist myth of all, January 10, 2006
Reviewer: Gen. JC Christian, patriot (Tremonton, UT United States)

I found many truths in Mrs. O'Beirne's book, truths so self-evident that I have to wonder why no one has stated them until now. For instance, how could anyone argue with her assertion that feminists exploit female war casualties to "advance the feminist agenda of androgyny and abortion." Even I have to admit that every time I hear that another woman has been sacrificed in our glorious Iraq adventure, I'm tempted to tell my wife, Ofjoshua, to throw on a pair of jeans, head for the nearest women's health clinic, and help them slaughter a whole passel of blastocyst-Americans.

But I think it's her frequent attacks against the television show, "Sex in the City," that I value most about this book. By promoting the myth that women should enjoy sex, that show has done more to destroy the institution of marriage than even homosexual unions. I think most men will agree with me when I say that there isn't a woman alive who isn't thoroughly repulsed by sex. Telling them that it should be a pleasant experience rather than a vomit-inducing one only serves to cause them to resent their husbands when the impossible isn't delivered. Hopefully, this book will help destroy that myth.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I can't give it more than a single star because it has a fatal flaw. It promotes the most destructive myth of all, the existence of lesbianism. Mrs. O'Beirne discusses it throughout the book as if it is something that is real. She doesn't seem to be able to understand that women can't have sex with each other. They don't have little soldiers.

But take a look at many of the top reviews as they shred the book, it's rather gratifying to note that there is still some sanity left in this world.

What he said

Steve Gilliard on a possible Dem filibuster of Alito:

It's easy to talk about consequences and politics, until the first teenage girls flood the ER's again. Then this will sound like straight up cowardice. This will have a real consequence which will kill real people, it is not theory.

So fucking what if the GOP says the Dems are obstructionist, who gives a fuck?

Here's the point: getting all those Republicans on the record for supporting Alito, despite their claims of being pro-choice.

The Dems big problem is not Alito or Roe, but the unwillingness to fight for anything, anywhere. Harry Reid has reversed that, but too many Dems use this bullshit excuse "oh, this will hurt us". Well it may, but not nearly as much as not fighting at all. There are other, even more importanrt fights coming up, but if you can't fight on principle now, when the choice is clear, by the time you decide to fight, it will be too late. No one will trust your guts or heart. I think the Dems have done a good job in the minority in the last year, but to change the Congress, you need a sense that electing Democrats will create change, that they will stand up for average voters.

No one knows what happens when a fight takes place. You can guess, you can plan, but you don't know. If the GOP doesn't go nuclear today, they will tomorrow. But let's see if they like that choice three months down the road when no business is taking place and House members are being indicted.

Let Pryor, Nelson and Landrieu vote for cloture and then try to raise a dime outside their states again. The people who killed Roe is not how I'd like to run in a Democratic primary.

Look, I think a lot of people let out their frustration without understanding the details of politics, so they expect politicians to act in a way which will make them happy, which doesn't happen. You know, you need to listen to people who predict Dem failure They're frustated, they want someone to stand up for them , the way the GOP does for the wingnuts. They aren't the problem, they've just been disappointed so many times, they've lost heart and with good reason. They see CNN and they see failure all around for the Dems. You fight, and even if you lose, they will respect the fight.

One of the things I think people don't realize is that victory is earned. You build towards winning, it isn't handed to you. You have to do the things to earn it. Without that, you can never win.

Forget the calculations, make a fight and see what happens. We're out of power, about to enter an election cycle where the House leadership faces criminal probes, there's nothing to lose, and everything to gain by making a fight, even a losing fight.

Also when it's working, I highly recommend taking a look here

Quilt pics

Forgot to post the pics of the quilts I finished up for Xmas this year:

Aelf's quilt

The Infamous Snupin quilt

Kage models both beautifully, doesn't she?

More real time BSG blogging

( No one to chat with again this week as I get the East Coast feed, so I'll share my thoughts here... )