Progressive Movement

Amnesty use to be a good word. For instance, Amnesty International. ‘Amnesty’ traditionally suggested saving people from terrible conditions, repression, oppression, and abuse. Political amnesty was the primary definition of the word, and it implied compassion and a respect for human rights.Now the xenophobic and bigoted conservative wing of the Republican Party has turned the word on its head, using it to imply a weak response to criminal activity. Basically, they are applying the security and law and order frames to the word ‘amnesty’ in order to negatively cast any attempt to normalize undocumented immigrants into our society and economy. The Washington Post ran an entire article on this subject on Wednesday.

And even Bush gets it. This week he called out the xenophobic crowd on their nonsense and misuse of the word ‘amnesty’. Why do Republicans get this and Democrats do not? Where was the broadside by progressives on this attempt to transform the meaning of a word from good to bad, like conservatives did to the word ‘liberal’ 25 years ago?

Here is a quote from Bush:

“If you want to scare the American people, what you say is ‘This bill’s and amnesty bill.’ It’s not an amnesty bill. That’s empty political rhetoric trying to frighten our fellow citizens.”

And then for the positive spin:

“Will we be a welcoming place, a place of law that renews our spirit by giving people a chance to succeed?”

By contrast, Sen. Kennedy, the main Democratic proponent of the immigration bill, (more…)

Messaging, Immigration, Bush | No Comments »

I hope no one was caught by surprise by this, but Republicans are already backtracking from the September deadline for progress in Iraq.  Due to the pressure progressives put on Republicans over Iraq and the Supplemental bill this spring, the Repubs had to construct the arbitrary deadline of September for seeing progress in Iraq.  This was simply a tool to push back the immediacy of getting our troops out of this debacle. The conservatives needed more political space, so they threw up this idea of letting the escalation work unhindered for six months.

In other words, pro-war forces had to create the illusion that they too wanted accountability for the President and the Iraqi government and that they did not want an open-ended commitment.

Well, the ruse worked, and the Democrats capitulated on the Iraq Supplemental.  But in so doing, the idea of a September deadline has stuck.  And now some of the more prominent in the pro-war crowd are trying to dislodge the September deadline.

The reason is clear; there is no way the Iraqi government will do anything useful by the end of September, and the escalation is not working and likely will not improve by then.  Bush & Co. do not want to be stuck holding this bag when the time comes, because if they are, and they break their promise to get out if things are bad, then the Republicans are sunk in ‘08.  The political pressure for them to leave Iraq will be too great to ignore.

You can hear the calls now, ‘but President Bush, you said we would leave if things were not better by now’, or ‘didn’t the Republicans say they were going to issue Bush an ultimatum on Iraq this month if things were not better?’

In an effort to unpaint themselves from this corner, John McCain and others (more…)

Uncategorized, Iraq, McCain, Analysis | No Comments »

Rather than remembering those who have died in our armed forces from years ago, how about the 10 that were killed on Memorial Day this year in Iraq?

Despite that, I hope everyone had a great start to summer.  Tell me what is on your mind.

This is an open thread.

open thread | No Comments »

Wow, the fire from the progressive community on the Iraq Supplemental bill has been HOTT!  Kos, MyDD, Huffington Post, and others have blasted the Democratic leadership for capitulating on this piece of legislation.

Now, bear with me here.  I am going to break ranks somewhat with this general opinion from the left.  First understand that I want to get out of Iraq as much as anyone.  I thought it was a ludicrous idea from the start and have advocated leaving as soon as we got there.

But this capitulation to Bush on the Supplemental is actually a good idea.  The usefulness of it will largely be lost if the Democrats do not message it right, but more on that a little further down.  At the moment let me explain why this is a good idea.

As I have mentioned before, there has been so much energy fighting Bush on Iraq and the Fredo DoJ controversy that all the other agenda items the Democrats touted in their ’06 rout of the Republicans have fallen by the wayside.  They are quickly being labeled as a do nothing Congress since they have not accomplished anything.  Sure, they could spend more time trying to force withdrawal timetables down Bush’s throat, but at the expense of making no progress elsewhere.

Again, now that the supplemental has passed (with the minimum wage increase!) Democrats can now finalize popular bills Bush wants to veto, such as stem cell research, anti-terrorism legislation, Employee Free Choice Act, and others.  Soon enough it will be September and Bush will have vetoed these other popular bills, and his poll numbers will be even lower.

The escalation will have failed, and the pressure from Republicans will be even greater for Bush to get out of Iraq.  Against this backdrop the Dems can attach withdrawal language to the Defense Appropriations and Authorization bills in the fall, and as these bills fund the entire Defense Department, it will be nearly impossible for Bush to veto them.  It is here the Democrats can make their stand.

In other words, (more…)

Messaging, Bush, Democrats, Pelosi, Minimum Wage, Reid, Republicans, Analysis, Troop withdrawal, Iraq supplemental | No Comments »

This controversy has been flogged to death, but it does have messaging lessons. Former President Jimmy Carter claimed over the weekend that Bush had the worst foreign policy of any President ever. Here is the quote.

I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.

The Republicans went ape. How dare Carter publicly renounce Bush is such harsh terms! How dare a former President attack another one! Carter has lost his mind and his credibility.

There is no need to quote their nonsense, the important fact is they did it – in unison. So much so that Carter gave this lame excuse:

What I was actually doing was responding to a question comparing this Administration’s foreign policy with that of Richard Nixon.

What a bunch of malarkey. Where in “the worst in history” is anything about Richard Nixon? What about “worst in history” screams ‘worse than only the President to whom we were comparing Bush’?

Jimmy, buddy, pal, stick to your guns. You have the credibility to speak on these issues. You have a Nobel Peace prize for God’s sake! You have been our best ex-President ever, not just better than Nixon. If the Republicans come at you, so be it. It is part of the job. But never back down from the truth.

This episode makes Democrats look weak again. A simple, but controversial comment, and we all run to the hills?

Here is what I think: (more…)

Messaging, Jimmy Carter | No Comments »

On Meet the Press Sunday, Newt Gingrich related Iraq to WW2 and the Revolutionary War.  Sen. Dodd, while good only briefly challenged him on revolutionary war, reminding him that his analogy of the French helping the Americans then is not the same as us invading Iraq and getting into the middle of a civil war.  He did not relate Iraq to Vietnam, which he should have done since the analogy is more accurate.

And this WW2 stuff is nonsense.  This is a false analogy that is more commonly used now to justify staying in Iraq.  But the two wars have nothing in common.  The idea that Gingrich proposes, that giving up on Iraq now is equivalent to us giving up when the going got tough in Guadacanal is asinine.

And he extrapolates that to argue that we won in WW2 since we tried harder.   So all we need to do is try harder in Iraq.  Garbage.

WW2 was a struggle for our very existence.  Iraq is not.  Vietnam was not.  We had massive allied support in WW2; we have very little in Iraq, as we did in Vietnam.  WW2 had nothing to do with civil war, and it was conventional warfare, not asymmetric warfare.  Iraq is a civil war where our enemy uses unconventional tactics to oppose us; the same was true of Vietnam.

I could go on but why bother?  The point is clear.  Analogies between WW2 and Iraq are false, and they need to be crushed anytime someone spouts that nonsense.

Why?  (more…)

Uncategorized, Iraq, sunday talk, Dodd, Gingrich | No Comments »

Given all the scandal lately, and Wolfowitz’s resigning, it is only fair that we should talk about the James Comey testimony. I am sure you have all heard about it, but basically Andrew Card and Alberto Gonzales tried to strong arm then Attorney General Ashcroft on his sick bed, all jacked up on drugs, into signing off on the warrantless surveillance program. Ashcroft refused, and Comey, the acting AG, also refused. Gonzales and Card knew Comey was the acting AG, but knew Ashcroft was in a weak and probably delirious state, so they went to the hospital to try and take advantage of his condition.

How sweet!

My new favorite blog, The Carpetbagger Report, had a great post on this yesterday. Andrew Sullivan had best take on this whole scandal by claiming that this shows that Ashcroft was too moderate for the Bush Administration. Ashcroft! Holy cow, that is scary.

It also shows Gonzales’ utter incompetence and lack of knowledge and respect of the law. There is no way this guy should be Attorney General.

Message for this new wrinkle in the ongoing Gonzales scandals: When Ashcroft is the voice of reason, we have serious problems.

Feeling snarky? Try this: What does the Bush Administration think the government is, a sopa opera?

Messaging, Attorney Scandal, Alberto Gonzales, James Comey, John Ashcroft | No Comments »

Wolfowitz is down and out.  So what does this mean and how should progressives spin it?

In practical terms it probably does not mean much.  But politically it means that another neocon is down.  Wolfie pretty much failed at everything he did, at least since Bush took office, and he is the poster child for why conservative foreign policy is a failure.  More importantly though, his nepotism scandal at the World Bank highlights the corruption of this Administration.

Sure, Iraq is a mess and Afghanistan is not far behind.  Bush will be remembered for that first and foremost, but corruption will be a close second.  Wolfie screwed up a pretty cushy job because Bushies cannot help but bend the rules to achieve their goals and help other Bushies.  In what has become a hallmark for the Bush Administration, they cannot admit defeat.  Loyalty is part of the problem, but after a certain point the loyal should resign, since hanging on simply drags Bush down further.

There are two more aspects of this unseemly hanging on by officials who are caught red-handed breaking the law or acting unethically.  One is an intense partisanship that refuses to admit that Democrats and progressives might be correct.  The second is their idea that the Administration is above the law; that the executive branch has monarchical power; that the checks and balances established in the Constitution are a quaint anachronism (note though that the World Bank has nothing to do with the Constitution).

Wolfie should have cut the cord over a week ago.  At least he came to his senses though.  How long with Gonzales overstay his welcome?
So what is the message? (more…)

Messaging, Morals/Morality Frame, Attorney Scandal, Wolfowitz | No Comments »