「ノー」と言える左翼
Wow. You usually don’t see these lefty types being quite this up-front:
Leslie Cagan, national coordinator for United for Peace and Justice, said the message revolves around the word “no.”
“We are saying ‘no’ to the Bush agenda, ‘no’ to the war in Iraq, ‘no’ to the regime change by our government, ‘no’ to pre-emptive war, ‘no’ to the economic policies,” Cagan said.
There are times when defining things by negatives is a good thing. If, for example, you think of rights as being based on non-interference by the government while you freely go about your business, that in effect affirms your ability to pursue your own ends your own way. But Cagan unintentionally summarizes why even a lot of us “social liberals” and registered Democrats feel such frank post-9/11 revulsion for these groups. All they do is bitch about what the Republicans are doing, which is as easy as falling off a log. About as useful, too.
But it goes deeper than that. Americans know the value of restraint and self-discipline. But we also think of life as full–full of possibility, full of color, and full of worthwhile business to get on with. A message that “revolves around ‘no'” in its entirety doesn’t jibe with reality as Americans perceive it. It just sounds cranky and out of touch, which is unfortunate. There are plenty of legitimate questions to raise about Bush administration policies; associating them in the minds of a nationwide television audience with naysaying petulance makes it less likely that ordinary voters will take them seriously.
I’ve noticed much of the vocabulary of my nieces and nephews consisted of “NO!”…until they got older than two.
But that’s the lefties for ya.
Actually, one of my favorite quotations in the article was this one:
I don’t know that I agree with the assessment that the Bush administration is corrupt in ways the Clinton administration wasn’t, the Gore administration wouldn’t have been, and the Kerry administration would not be…but if the guy’s from New Jersey, you can’t say he isn’t around enough corruption to know it when he sees it.
If the guy’s from New Jersey, he might just be projecting what he knows upon the Bush administration.
If you live in Hawaii long enough, you might think everyone’s a socialist.
You mean the stunning successes of collectivism have still failed to convince some people of its practicability and rectitude? Neanderthals.
Actually, I have CNN on now and just realized: If I were still living in Murray Hill, I’d have been in the perfect place from which to drop by and see what was cooking with the protesters. I can’t say I’m sorry I’m not and wasn’t.