[WS:] I do not quite understand you, Doug. You seem to be a level-headed realistic guy (unlike many others happy campers in this joint) - yet your realism seems to abandon you when it comes to the DP. What gives?
I am pretty sure you know darn well that the trick is knowing what to say when. You may have legitimate disagreements with your wife, but you do not drag them out in front of your parents who wished you married someone else. You may have legitimate beef with bankers of Jewish origins, but you do not talk about it with neo-Nazis - you get the drift. So I really do not understand what good is being served by blasting moderately liberal politicians in the times when right wing nuts have a virtual hegemony in the public discourse other than further playing into that hegemony.
I am all for standing for one's principles - but anyone who has zero power and uses principles as an excuse not to face the inconvenient reality is a grandstanding clown. Let's face it - mildly liberal politicians passing mildly liberal measures here and there is the best this country can hope for in the current political climate. And sometimes these mildly liberal measures, such as protecting rights of "illegal" immigrants, are quite bold and courageous, given the fascist anti-immigrant fervor of the majority of the populace (not just here but in the EU as well.) So again, what good is being served by blasting people who pursue these measures?
Realistically speaking, I do not think that much harm is being done by this grandstanding left babbling, because this babbling has zero appeal outside rarefied academic, lit-crit circles. The only real effect is deepening isolation of these "principled" lefties. Which is sad, because there are a lot of really smart people out there, who could be doing something more constructive toward swaying the pendulum away from the far right, where it now is.
Wojtek
^^^^^ CB: Well said, Wojtek, said well.