BC,

You've been asking what happened to the Democratic party. Read this -
http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/00/2002/02/news0204d.html
 

"Among the Democrats' white base voters, 66 percent said they have a favorable view of Bush. Former
President Bill Clinton fared only marginally better, at 76 percent."

Have people lost thier minds?
That's what I asked myself when I first read this. Has America gone insane?

In a way, it has, but the reasons are real and very frightening. Democrats can't get their message to the
people. When Al Gore wants to talk about prosperity being the central issue on the presidential ballot,
and all the media wants to talk about is their lies about the lies he told but actually didn't, then how
in the world can the Democrats possibly convince the public that they are still the party of the people?

The Republicans own the media all the way down the line. George W. Bush is quite possibly the worst
president this country has ever or will ever have. You see that, I see that, but most Democrats don't. We've
been saying that the polls showing a high approval for Bush are rigged, but they aren't. It's the message
that is rigged, it's the messenger that's rigged. People buy what they see on tv, especially when they
go from channel to channel and see different people saying virtually the same thing. If they had any
doubts at all about Bush, when they see ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, CNN and everyone else talking
about Bush's  Churchillian presence, not only do they buy it, they have no reason to look elsewhere
for news and opinion.

If ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS and CNN all said that a meteor was headed straight for us,
would you then go check Democratic Underground to see if it is true?
Would you wait for the next issue of The Nation?
Or would you immediately head for the caves?

We can't blame the people and we can't blame the Democrats for treading lightly. If there is anyone to
blame, it is the wealthy elite of the Democratic party who don't create foundations to spread the message,
who don't provide grants to liberal and progressive writers and journalists. Bill Moyers is one of our
greatest messengers, but he is virtually the only one with nationwide tv access. The Republicans have
hundreds of messengers, they are well funded by the wealthiest members of the party through groups like
the Heritage foundation and Richard Mellon Scaife, they are coordinated and driven to succeed. For the
most part, those opposing them stand alone - they are people like Gene Lyons, alone in a conservative sea
called the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. There is Ted Rall, all by himself, trying to make a living. There
is Greg Palast, driven out of his own country just so he can report on real issues. There is BartCop, trying
to hold down a fulltime job and pleading for donations just to keep the treehouse door open.

Compare this to the Ann Coulters of this world, who will never lack for a venue to spew her venom or the
money to keep her coif perfectly dyed. Or Jonah Goldberg, whose batmomma got him a spiffy job as
editor of a national magazine the day he graduated college. Or Tim Russert, pulling down 8 figure
contracts for talking endlessly about Clinton's presidential member. Or Rush, courted by CNN;
O'Reilley and Matthews and all the other screamers who have books on the bestseller list.

We need a coordinated, well-funded organization to oppose the usurpation of the media - to start new
media companies if existing ones cannot be purchased, to fund liberal and progressive writers, journalists,
webmasters, and producers, to coordinate the message and provide a counter to the barrage that
overwhelms the average American and average Democratic voter. Because even against these odds,
Democrats are still elected, which means the message is the right one.
The Republicans can't beat our message, so they've bought all the messengers.

So that's why I think the Democrats in Congress are pink tutus. They know the message, they know what they
should be doing, but with Republican control of the media, they also know that everything they do will be
skewed and misrepresented unless they fall into line with the Republicans. The only time a Deomcrat gets
positive coverage on the news is when he is kissing Bush's butt - or, as they call it, supporting a
bipartisan measure. Let that Democrat step one inch to the left, and he gets nailed with labels of
tax-and-spend, liberal, partisan, and instigating class warfare.

Well, by Koresh, tax-and-spend is better than spending without taxes (aka running a deficit), liberal is not
a dirty word, partisan is how we should be when bipartisan implicitly means rolling over and raising our butts
in the air for the Republicans. And since in the last twenty years, the average middle class income has risen 9%,
the average poor income has dropped 2-3%, while the average wealthy income has risen over 140% - by Koresh,
it's TIME for some class warfare. Class warfare has been going on the whole time, people. It's being waged by
the wealthy against the middle class and the poor. That class warfare has a face and a name - it's called the
Republican party. It's time to fight back, it's time to retake the message and the messenger.

Jeff
 

 Jeff Crook  is the author of   
                                                                         Click to order this book from Amazon.com.