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----- Original Message ----- From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>; <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 10:35 PM Subject: [lbo-talk] Why Liberals Lose Elections
>[lbo-talk] Nader Trending Up, Jon Johanning jjohanning at igc.org,
>Wed Mar 31 21:33:07 PST 2004
<snip>
>I was interested in your use of the term "browbeating," i.e.,"'to
>bear down, discourage, or oppose with stern, arrogant or insolent
>looks or words, to snub, to bully," to quote the OED. Also, your
>insinuation that people who voted for Nader and then changed their
>mind were cowards who were intimidated by this alleged bullying.
On this listserv, Mike Larkin compared my criticism of Anybody But Bush pundits to Pearl Harbor ("A Day That Will Live in Infamy," <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20040315/006118. html> -- cf. <http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5166/>), knowing that I am Japanese, and one Harry Levine compared Ralph Nader to a suicide bomber, knowing that Nader is an Arab American:
***** WHY LIBERALS LOSE ELECTIONS
ONE RESULT of the Democrat's hate campaign against Nader and his supporters is a bit more sympathy for born-agains, hunters and others who have likewise been expunged from membership in humanity by hyper-righteous liberals. Here's one recent example from a sociologist at CUNY, Harry Levine: "In the year 2000, Ralph Nader strapped political dynamite onto himself and walked into one of the closest elections in American history hoping to blow it up. He wanted to punish the Clinton-Gore Democrats for having betrayed him and the causes he believes in. His primary campaign mission was defeating Al Gore, but Nader concealed this from his supporters, even as he went after votes in swing states like Florida. On the day after election day, when everyone else was grim, and many Democrats were furious at him, Ralph Nader was a happy man."
Isn't there anyone in the Democratic Party who understands that you don't win votes with that sort of nastiness?
The Democrats did not do one thing after the 2000 debacle to improve relations with Greens and other Nader supporters. Among the possibilities: adopting some Green programs, avoiding holy wars against Green local candidates such as carried out against Matt Gonzalez in San Francisco, easing ballot access laws, and allowing fusion voting. Instead, those who supported Nader were subjected to a steady stream of blame and insults based on grossly incorrect assumptions. . . .
If the two parties make such a mess that it is hard for any self-respecting citizen to support them, it is simply a further sign of their corrupt arrogance for them to blame someone else for being mad about it. What possible reason is there for someone deeply troubled by the Kerry-Bush choice to change their mind knowing that they will be joining those who hold them in such contempt? . . .
<http://prorev.com/> *****
With friends like Mike Larkin and Harry Levine, the Democratic Party needs no enemy. :-) -- Yoshie
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