Nathan, I appreciate you honesty and your views on the issue, but with all due respect - I think they demonstrate the damage that liberal democrats like Clinton inflicted on whatever is left of the left in this country. I would probably agree with your position, if I genuinely believed that this war if fought from the center-left. But honestly, I think that Clinton and his European cronies (especially that pathetic clown Blair) are as "left" as NSDAP (Nazionalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeitspartei or National-Socialist German Workers' Party) is "socialist" or "workers'."
This is precisely the case of Orwellian newspeak or corporate pr spin - words being used not to denote but to deceive. IMHO, Clinton's legacy is if not to the right of Reagan and Bush, then at least within that general framework. But just because that troll calls himself a Democrat and pays lip service to to progressive shibboleths - that lowers the defences of many genuine progressives.
Several years ago I attended a presentation on comparative research on social movements (mostly peace related) in the US and West Germany. The author was a German visiting scholar. One of the main points was the fundamental difference between these two countries in their attitudes toward the government. In Germany, the first lesson movement activists learn is to distrust the government and it sagents (including the media). Here is the oppostie - movement activists tend to believe that the system generally works, or at least can be used for the movement's purposes.
Well, I earned my social movement credentials in Europe. I do not trust the police, the media, and the so-called 'elected representatives' - no matter what their song is.
smooches (although I think you'd rather hear that from kelley)
wojtek