I must say I was shocked, absolutely shocked, to read this on CNN today:
Calling Snowden a Criminal, Pelosi Booed by Progressives
Apparently Nancy Pelosi, a liberal member of Congress and America's first female Speaker of the House, was booed at Netroots Nation, a gathering sponsored by Daily Kos.
In case you couldn't tell, my surprise at this was sarcasm.
Those who have not been following developments on the Left end of American politics might find it surprising that one of the most liberal members of Congress and a pioneering woman in American politics might be booed by a gathering of people supposedly aligned with the Democratic party.
Nancy Pelosi seems to be among those who have not been following these developments, if she thought she could criticize Edward Snowden for supposedly caring about government snooping and then going to settle in China, Russia or Cuba, to a group sponsored by Daily Kos. Actually, she has not been following developments if she thought she could show her face there at all and not get booed.
But for those of us who have been paying attention over the past few years, our only question is why would Pelosi or any other politician who aspires to be part of mainstream American politics and reasonable political discourse be seen anywhere near Netroots Nation?
Daily Kos is the place where Judith Butler, a person who stated that Hamas is part of the Progressive Movement, is considered to be a sage. It is the place where 18 year olds statutory raping 14 year olds is considered good enough to merit a petition in favor, as long as they are the correct gender. And of course it is the place where no matter how insane someone is, their ramblings will be embraced and promoted by the management as long as they are sufficiently anti-American, up to and including if they literally believe that Obama is really a shape-shifting space alien.
Last year's Netroots Nation, the same convention to which Pelosi spoke this year, was going to have a panel on the Israeli-Arab conflict. The debate was effectively going to be between one side which advocates for the destruction of Israel but wants to allow safe passage for the 7 million Jews to settle somewhere else, and the opposing side which advocates for the destruction of Israel and more of a genocide of its inhabitants. Thankfully the panel never happened, but that shows where the full range of Daily Kos and Netroots opinions lie on the political spectrum.
Given all of that, it should be obvious that Nancy Pelosi would be booed. Daily Kos and Netroots Nation are now outlets of the Far Left, a political movement that, as I have discussed previously, is completely opposed to everything that actual liberals stand for. The Far Left now has more in common with the Far Right than it does with liberals.
I really like Pelosi and I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt that she didn't know what the Left blogosphere has become. Hopefully she has learned her lesson and will not associate with Netroots Nation any further.
Fiz, Let me apologize to you... When I deleted that fucked up bigoted asshole oldschool... Your reply was deleted as well... I will reinstate it along with my comment.
ReplyDeleteYou are very right... The Far Right with their nutjob cynical Libertarian contingent and the Far Left are really no different at all.
NetRoots and the modern progressive movement have really become a band of fools, and they are a mirror image the modern day Republican Party which has become a group of delusional fools, staggering to hold on to a mystical past that never existed except in their own fevered imaginations. It's just two sides of the same coin, and both sides suck ass.
Anyway... fiz.. here is your response to oldschool's stupidity:
I disagree that I sweep all conservatives into the Far Right. I think that I am pretty clear that the Far Right is the fringe of the Right, where the likes of extreme isolationists, Christian Identity, Survivalists, Neo-Nazis, radical anti-government and radical anti-gay factions hang out. Basically viewpoints represented by less than ~10 of the most extreme Republican members of Congress (Steve King, Michelle Bachmann, etc.). This is very far from putting "all conservatives" into this rubric. So strawman there.
The parallels between the Far Right and Far Left are real and obvious. They begin with a lack of commitment to our Constitutional framework, and encompass fringe notions, denial of empiracism, "off the grid" attitudes, conspiracism, and so on.
You are very right here.
Ok I am missing these deleted comments, but let's keep the comments focused on the topic, which is the booing of Pelosi and the migration to extremism of the "netroots".
ReplyDeletefiz... The deleted comments had sly little insults and the usual assortment of "STOP PICKING ON POOR CONSERVATIVES" rhetoric.
DeleteAnyway, I have to agree with you regarding the Hard Left and the Hard Right merging. What I am noticing at Netroots and with Rightist posters at places like DKos (where the "Let's go Iran" and "Obama is "Teh Ebilz' posters join together in their own weird sense of derangement that we see..) there is a distinct flavor of anti-American rhetoric. So, in other words you have the cynical Libertarians who want a return to the Confederate States of America, sharing hatred with those who think America is "the Great Satan". They are just looking for kindred spirits in hate.
The sad thing is that there are no great alternatives that have a chance at power. I guess the Democrats of today are the closest thing to political moderates out there, what, with the Republicans pushing insane austerity policies coupled with social policies straight out of the Dark Ages.
The fact of the matter is that the whole thing is sad and unfortunately tearing our nation apart. But that is what these people want. They don't want a strong United States and instead do nothing but tear down what out there because they know that is the quickest way to destroy the Union.
it was the same many years ago, when the extreme left hated Johnson for opposing communism in vietnam (can you imagine what Daily Kos would think of him in '67...they'd rip him to shreds!!!) and the extreme right opposed him for supporting integration. obviously then there is no difference between the extreme left and the extreme right... they are both one and the same!
ReplyDelete