God knows the Democrats are awful. They're cowardly, they can't frame an argument worth shit, they're every bit as much in the pockets of corporations and Wall Street as the Republicans are, and they regard their base with scorn and disdain.
If the Republicans were normal human beings, the "There's no difference" argument would be a no-brainer. I've been voting since 1976 and I am sick and tired of voting for people who I know even as I hit the "X" on the non-verifiable Sequoia voting machine we use here in my hometown will sell me out for a corporate nickel.
But Jesus H. Christ....what are we supposed to do when the alternative is what Rachel Maddow reported on from the Values Voters Summit:
If Frank Schaeffer is right (as I suspect he is) that these people are not about any kind of ideology, that they don't even really believe their own horrific worldview, that it's all about bringing in money from frightened Americans, then giving them the keys to ANYTHING is not just stupid, but downright perilous. We already have one documented in Christine O'Donnell, who seems to be a professional campaigner for office so she can live off campaign funds. But it's starting to look like we have an entire movement that's a scam -- a cynical ploy specifically designed to wrest money from people who are frightened -- frightened about terrorism, frightened about jobs, frightened about what they rightly perceive as the twilight of the so-called American golden age. They're selling snake oil to the rubes, as snake oil salesmen have done for centuries. But the pennies of the rabble aren't enough for them. They see a federal treasury bulging with goodies, and they want to get their hands on it. I can't be the only one reminded of Jim Bakker,
who also sold snake oil in the form of salvation and amusement parks while raking in millions.
If willfully ignorant people want to regard a candidate who scams money from campaign supporters and lives off it instead of holding down a job (the way these same people expect the many unemployed in this country) as "just like me", it's their business. But giving hucksters like this the keys to the treasury is just insane.
And yet here we are, with a president who has no use for us and is still seeking the approval of those who hate him, Democratic candidates whose cowardice and craven cuddling with the same corporatists who give the big money to Republicans -- and the alternative is this. Is it any wonder that there's an enthusiasm gap?
Labels: scams, We Are So Screwed, wingnuttia