>
>One of Justin's earlier comments, however, cannot go
>without comment from this quarter. He wrote:
>
> > No, I don't mind criticism. We might be wrong:
> > that's axiomatic. What I
> > don't like is this language of betrayal and the
> > threats that the left will
> > be even more savagely sidelined than it has in the
> > past.
>
>This really takes top prize in the "do as I say, not
>as I do" sweepstakes.
>
>The entire Nader campaign was organized around the
>theme of betrayal by Gore and the Democratic Party,
>and if that was not enough, it was rapidly extended
>to all those who supported Gore's election. It ended
>with Nader threatening to do everything he could do to
>defeat the most progressive, elected Democrats, such
>as Paul Wellstone, by running Greens against them.
>
>Justin put himself on record supporting this type of
>campaign, when he denounced as completely lacking
>"self-respect" and being devoid of principles those on
>the left -- be they socialist or radical democratic or
>whatever -- who campaigned for a Gore victory on the
>basis of a strategic sense of how to intervene in
>elections. Now he is going to talk about how he
>resents this "language of betrayal." One can throw
>shit, but one shouldn't have to catch any shit
>on the rebound.
>
>What is especially interesting about all of this is
>that, with the brief exception of Jan Carowan, I
>haven't seen any commentary on this list which
>challenged the principled nature of Nader supporters.
>Indeed, one is inclined to smile at the sudden
>affection for Barbara Ehrenreich and Cornel West, all
>because they supported Nader, from some of the very
>same folks who savaged them in the past. I know both
>individuals, like both of them and consider them both
>intelligent and principled. I also think that they
>were wrong on this question, and have said so. But
>they remain comrades, and very good ones at that. I
>suspect that this is the view of virtually everyone,
>with the possible exception of Jan, who took a similar
>supportive position toward the Gore campaign here. If
>the LBO Nader supporters had been willing to
>acknowledge the principled nature of those who
>supported the Gore campaign in this fashion, then the
>cries of protestation about the "language of betrayal"
>
>could be taken a whole lot more seriously at this
>point. Instead, it has the ring of the schoolyard
>bully who cries after someone finally punches him in
>the nose.
>
>Leo Casey
>United Federation of Teachers
>260 Park Avenue South
>New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
>
>Power concedes nothing without a demand.
>It never has, and it never will.
>If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
>Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet
>deprecate agitation are men who want crops without
>plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and
>
>lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar
>of its waters.
>-- Frederick Douglass --
>
>
>
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