Exasperation Within

July 3rd, 2011

Milt Shook recently wrote a "101" lesson plan for progressives who are as much under siege from their own fringe as they are from the conservative movement:

"...a large number of far-left “progressives” were actually crowing at the “silver lining” in the 2010 election results; that about half of all “Blue Dog” Democrats lost. Yes, that’s right; they were HAPPY. Nancy Pelosi was replaced by an orange Boner, the committee chairs all went from being progressive Democrats to being right wing Republicans. We went from having a House of Representatives that passed hundreds of relatively progressive bills to one that has repeatedly tried to kill Medicare and damage Social Security.

And do you know WHY this happened? In part, it’s because about 25 “Blue Dogs,” almost all of whom voted with Democrats at least 80% of the time, were replaced by right wing Republicans and teabaggers.

Does that sound like ":progress" to you? Really? If you do, then you must be one of those geniuses who thinks both major parties are the same."

Indeed, many of those Shook refers to as "far-left" bear the responsibility for last November's poor turnout. The fear that was stoked by the Drudge/FOX/Red State types on the right was matched and, in some ways, surpassed by the cynicism spawned within liberal ranks by our own self-declared purists.