Have I Ever Told You That Republicrats Suck Too? Oh - Ok ... Well They Do

This is why I am beginning to loathe the Democratic party nearly (not quite nearly - but close enough) as much as the Republicans and for which last year I switched my voting party to Independent.

And please - don't comment to me telling me that in such case I should be gleeful and supportive for the third party alternative - the Tea Party.  Really?  If it hasn't occurred to you yet by reading my earlier views about the teabaggers, I would much rather drop a 75 lb. steel anvil on my bare toes - repeatedly - than vote for one of their Teatard candidates.

Anyhow, it's just all-out fucking depressing.  It makes me at times just want to emigrate to one of the Scandinavian nations where pretty much the entire national citizenry of those countries truly believes in the concept of humanity, national unity, and giving a shit about one another.

And therein hangs a tale: about grassroots Democrats who act like activists, who hold that slaps are sometimes what it takes to get the political job done, and Democratic leaders who act like you can solve all political problems with a hug. Which, pretty much, was Tom Barrett's entire election platform. As I explained here in May, the leading candidate in the primary to face Walker in the recall ran with a take-no-prisoners strategy to restore union rights: she pledged to veto any budget that didn't restore collective bargaining. That meant that if she won the statehouse, Republican legislators in Madison could hold on to their anti-union law only on pain of shutting down the state.

Then, out of nowhere, little more than two months before Election day, a new candidate announced: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Two days earlier, he'd had a $400-a-plate fundraising luncheon, closed to the media, hosted by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Here was a signal: Barrett was the Democratic Party Establishment's man. And the Democratic Establishment, in this age of Barack Obama, does things in a very certain way: it never takes any prisoners, never takes the most gutsy path (this is even true for the vaunted "tough guy" Rahm Emanuel, whose standing orders as White House chief of staff was never to take on any fights unless victory was assured in advance).

Barrett immediately announced a different plan to reverse the anti-union law if he became governor: He would call a special legislative session, in which he would introduce a standalone repeal bill. He would make it hard for his side on purpose. He would make the lions lay down with the lambs, Obama style. He would sell himself to the electorate as the peacemaker. He would follow the Bill Clinton strategy, triangulate against his own side. If swing voters hate union cronyism, he would prove he wasn't a union crony. "I'm not the union guy," he would say on the campaign trail – he was the guy the unions didn't want; they even tried to talk him out of running.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/how-republicans-cheat-democrats-and-democrats-cheat-themselves-20120612


----TFG