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We are not worthy.
Mainstreaming Crazy
…In fact, the default position among Democrats, Republicans and the media is that the only kooks in the country with whom it is unacceptable to be professionally or financially involved with are on the left. And “the left” is defined so broadly that it includes groups like MoveOn and Vote Vets. The right, in contrast, has fully integrated even their extremist fringe into the mainstream and everyone accepts it…
[emphasis added]
Go. Read the whole thing.
it is absolutely correct and expresses truths that we should not forget. This article from the American Prospect also makes some of the same points and gives them, I think, their proper context.
Digby’s observations also encapsulate the reasons why Obama seems to be moving to the “center” as he faces the general election race. There are people who argue that a real leader would hold true to right conviction and frame the progressive message so that the majority of the electorate, who stand to benefit from progressive government, would be persuaded and rally around him. Lovely to think about, but not too realistic.
It is currently fashionable to talk about the development of the conservative infrastructure over the past 30 years and most of what is said is undisputable. However, the left has been very effectively demonized since long before the rise of the current conservative movement and the narrative has deep roots.
Think about the hysteria occasioned by the labor movement, dating back to the time of William Sylvis in the 1860s. Was it in the 1920’s or the teens that “foreign-born” leftists, anarchists and other progressive rabble-rousers were rounded up and deported en masse? I personally remember the “better red than dead” picketers in a local park from when I was a child in the 1950s–as well mandatory programs in the public schools intended to instill anti-socialist, anti-communist and pro-capitalist values.
Just an example of how pervasive this narrative is and how engrained: We all agree that our health system is in very bad shape. But a business columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mary Jo Feldstein, noted that after writing about the uninsured:
It is going to take a long time to lay this mental framework to rest if it is even possible. A very important component of this framework is that the corporate media, which is now hugely responsible for promulgating and maintaining our collective myths, has as much to loose from a progressive change as any of the other large corporate interests.
I’m an idiot!
from what Digby wrote.
I disagree with her. I think the so-called “progressive movement” is well aware of how powerful this image is. Because no matter how smart Digby is – she really isn’t any smarter than the rest of us, she just writes better.
So when she says “it” is something that needs to be addressed in a much more cohesive way – big whoop. Like we all haven’t been saying for years that “it” needs to be addressed in a cohesive way. But you notice she doesn’t give us any ideas for addressing it.