Richard WarnickWe Don’t Get Fooled Again
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
No, no!
–Pete Townshend, 1971
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
–George W. Bush, 2002
Really good, encouraging news. From Greg Sargent at Talking Points Memo:
Some interesting numbers from the internals of the new NBC/WSJ poll illustrate as clearly as you could want that every one of McCain’s major attack lines has been a complete flop:
- Despite months of attacks on Obama’s allegedly sinister background and cultural identity, a solid majority of likely voters, 57%, say that Obama has a background and set of values they can identify with, versus only 39% who say he doesn’t. Those numbers are virtually identical to McCain’s, which are 57%-38%.
- Asked which would concern them more about an Obama presidency, his lack of experience or the possibility that he would raise taxes, 14% cite taxes and 20% cite inexperience. Forty-eight percent — more than those two combined — say that “neither is a concern.” This, despite weeks of attacks on Obama as a lightweight and empty suit who wants to hike taxes on ordinary plumbers and hockey moms everywhere.
- Despite all the attacks suggesting that Obama harbors a secret and shadowy agenda that he has yet to reveal, a huge majority of 67% say that they know what Obama and Biden would do if elected.
All those lies, all for naught.
No, no! Americans weren’t fooled again.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:19 am
So Americans turn out to be pretty savvy after all. It does my heart good!
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 am
I predict a giant wave of unlicensed plumbers on the verge of making $250.000 turning the election to McCain/Palin.
Seriously, I don’t know how the Republicans would spin a McCain win. I don’t think they will steal the presidency this time, however, the congressional races will be a different matter.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:26 am
Then there is the part of the song, meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Saavy? You just spent 8 years under illegitimate rule and did jack shit about it.
I would call it a case of extreme somnabulance, ending only when the bed was shat and pissed through and the discomfort woke our dumbasses up!
Hello America, wakey, wakey!
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
And I would call it a case of a long slow simmering anger and frustration ending up with the majority of the people becoming a lot smarter for it. I didn’t voluntarily spend eight years under illigitimate rule; I voted! And that’s about all the jack-shit options that were available to me personally. What did you do the last eight years, Alan? And who are you voting for now?
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
As for the Who song, I didn’t get the impression that the majority of posters here were in much of the habit of praying, let alone getting on your knees to do it.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:35 am
Hi Glenn (Alan),
You spent eight years telling us we were wasting our time. This blog is documentation of that.
Is this your new thing, accuse people of doing nothing?
What, my FRIEND have YOU done?
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 am
God, Alan/Glenn, you are so literal!
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 am
Becky, I did the only sensible thing, and got rich. What you call slow and simmering is all that, I stick with what I call it, abject stupidity on the part of the opposition.
At the point where the Democrats had the chance, they should have pressed Bush, but as we can see, they had nothing, and are still the same party of all those 8 years. Obama cannot fix that.
Who I voted for is a private issue, or would you eliminate that right of secret ballot, as Obama would do for union voting?
Well Becky if you voted then Bush’s rule was not illegitimate in your mind then, else why bother?
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:41 am
I don’t know who you are refering to people, I am not that person.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:43 am
Glenn,
No.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
Given the subject of this post, my irony meter is pegged. Won’t get fooled indeed.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 am
Really, I am not that person Becky.
Yet you support Obama supporting this in the context of union voting? Have you ever been in a union? I am in the pipefitters union, and this if allowed to pass, will put a chill on expressing real desires at the union hall.
The fact remains for whatever reason, that Democrats did effectively nothing with regard to perceived malfeascance by Bush and Co. Let’s describe the job that needed doing as piecework, for which rewards are only offered if something material is tendered. In that regard, Democrats really did absolutely nothing. They are still the same party.
I am not an Obama supporter, and have disapproved of Bush at every opportunity as concerns his abuses of the constitution.
As for literal Becky, I don’t pad what I write with words that don’t describe what I mean. I don’t think Pete does either, do you?
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I was amazed to hear Tom Brokaw with a round table of “journalists” discussing how even this late in the game they have no idea what Obama stands for or what his world view is. This is astounding to me how the liberal media has been sold a bill of goods site unseen. The problem is they are not alone. Obama is the great unknown which is why conspiracy theories have flourished. If America elects Obama we will have the most unvetted President in the history of the country.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Alan, let me explain what I meant by ‘literal’. Sometimes people say ‘I pray’ just as a figure of speech to make a point. Just like when they say goddammit! It doesn’t necessarily mean they are believers.
Alan, it’s not fun to chat with you when I have to explain everything.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Glenn:
Get over the union thing. First, it is doubtful that you even belong to a union. And second, where does it say that union members are even entitled to secret ballot (I am not advocating one way or the other; just asking)? You are making much of nothing and, per usual, advocating for the dismantling of society as we know it. Get a job!
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
…As for Obama being the ‘great unknown’, that is the perspective of a person who’s head is either up their hiney or under the sand.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Becky, it’s no fun to chat with you if you cannot recognize jest when you see it. Of course I will understand that blogs make that a bit more difficult.
Given the anti-religious nature of many here, it was an apt joke. Those that don’t have faith, have no reason to pray do they Becky? Unless of course deep down they do, and are in simple denial about where their beliefs may lie.
JF, the fact is you DO get a secret ballot in union elections to date. This Obama wishes to change to open ballot. This is primary fascism, no ifs, ands, or buts… you either are democratic with a secret ballot, or you aren’t.
This is a simple fact of Obama’s plans, one that unfortunately isn’t being much talked about. It bodes ill.
Brad, no one has a clue what Obama stands for, because he never tells much, and has no real history to speak of. Look at Jim, he appears a staunch supporter, but had no idea of Obama’s union plans.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
J; where does it say that union members are even entitled to secret ballot?
It’s in the Union bylaws depending on which one you are in. Of course you don’t know that, or you wouldn’t look so ignorant saying such things.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Okay, Alan, then let’s you and I quit chatting. I am weary of your sophomoric remarks (that was as kind as I could make it).
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Well coming from a aged freshman Becky, no offense taken. You are a newbie right?
Did you get held back somewhere?
Look, that Bush mopped the floor with Democrats for 8 years, is inarguable, if it is sophmoric to point out that it(Democrats) are still exactly the same party, well let’s just say, I just loved my sophmore years, especially when you get to whip up on the seniors.
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Ok, Alan, I get it, you still want to play (oh dear, please don’t make me define sophomoric; it’s the adjective not a metaphor). Now where were we? Oh yeah, we were talking about how thoroughly f**ked our country and the world has been by Bush, Cheney and all their cronies. Yeah, they have left things in pretty much a shambles. And that’s just talking about the war, we haven’t even started on the economy. There aren’t enough pixels on my screen for me to enumerate the disasters of this administration. And yes, the Democrats in congress have certainly been complicit a great deal of the time, primarily by inaction. But the fact is, the Republicans owned all three branches of government for six of the last eight years and they get to take most credit for the debacle. So I think, like many of my fellow Americans, that it’s time to give the Democrats a shot at it. And I am so thrilled that the man who will lead us is intelligent, wise, energetic, engaged, courageous, and imminently capable of filling the job.
*breathe*
And, A, I don’t get the personal reference you made to me. I’m so far from a newbie, I have officially taken on the moniker of Old Broad. I’m old enough to remember as a tiny child the need to recognize the difference between the fire alarm and the bomb alarm so as to know when to duck under my desk or march in a line out the door. Yes, our government does a lot of stupid things to us. It doesn’t necessarily stop by changing administrations. But we have to do something to try to offset the damage done by the previous bunch.
November 4th, 2008 at 9:20 am
We are doing that it would seem in this election. Now the danger lies in what you so aptly pointed out. Obama is elected and the Congress and executive is in the hands of one party. Bad for Americans, except in time of warfare.
I am pretty certain the republicans won’t lie down for Obama, like democrats did for Bush. Circumstances are different. I have to wonder all these years what the Bush administration had on democrat representatives to make them serve bush and the neo-cons so well.
The full expectation that Obama and the democrat congress will overreach should they win is obvious. It would good to remind the zealots for Obama, that this election surely isn’t about being thrilled with democrats as much as it is a protest against the republican party and its failures, which were so ably helped along, by the loyal opposition.
The Fannie/Freddy debacle rests squarely on both parties ridiculous notions of ever climbing real estate values, spurring on the most inane specualtion. Every vote to continue the debt funding of the Iraq war mires the democrats in the same responsibility as any republican.
In all of this it is important to note that what will “lead” us now, is the exact same democrat party that was tumbled by Bush. That party in retrospect had not the intelligence, backbone, or wherewithal to stand against the Bush agenda. Surely our enemies will take note, and see that for the weakness it is.
I expect a whipsaw 4 years at this rate.
November 4th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Wow Becky, I’m impressed. Alan (Glenn Hoefer) is reeling from your admonition. You can tell when he resorts back to doomsday rhetoric like,
November 4th, 2008 at 9:51 am
(hehe) I got a little carried away.
And, Glenn, about this:
It is indeed about being thrilled, UTTERLY THRILLED with the democratic candidates, and proud today to be a LIBERAL!
(and a little smug - but not celebrating just yet)
November 4th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Well Cliff, whoever you are refering to, I will take the bait. Reeling from what? The cheerleading of a true believer? It is hardly doomsday rhetoric, but if the democrats could not reign in an idiot like Bush, what chance do they have against someone with a little skill? You have never answered this, either of you. Cliff knows the democrats suck, he is just traveling with the parade.
What will our new leader do with a guy like Putin, who has done a superb job of checking western influence in the Russian sphere of influence? I guess we’ll leave him alone right? We have no one in our leadership that can compete with him in any party.
We’ll see in a year where we are. Right now though, there is hardly a front the democratic majority, or the republicans can claim as on an even keel.
Becky is your loudest cheerleader, but truly I have heard nothing of substance of what Obama or McCain will do to fix things. The whole election has been run so much like high school, the big game is now, finals just around the corner, and no one I have heard having any answers that make any sense considering the stakes.
Obama will be held in the constraints of his own party, and that of the opposition. He owns neither of these things. This is the honeymoon time, before Obama is held to account to those that bought him. For the record, it wasn’t We the People.
One great thing about an Obama victory will be the end of scapegoating Bush. Should he win, it is all on the democrats now. You will need to be thrilled.
Meanwhile, I bet very little changes, perhaps an expansion of the war in Afghanistan on our part, Canada is about done leading that charade. Maybe we’ll bomb Pakistan while Obama promised. More bailouts, but what does the President have to do with that?
November 4th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I’ve seen this on another blog as well, the argument that nothing is Bush’s fault once he gets out the door of the White House for the last time. Well, the Bush administration NEVER stopped blaming Bill Clinton– they even tried to pin the financial meltdown on Clinton.
I don’t care if Bush pardons himself and everyone else in his wrecking crew down to the people who listened in on our phone calls. I want a Truth Commission to investigate everything done by the government in the last eight years.
As for trying to repair America’s reputation in the world, our economy, our military forces, and our Constitution– it’s a daunting task, it will probably take more than four years. We can count on the Republicans to play partisan politics all the way, while Faux News gins up one false story after another. I’m cautiously optimistic at best.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Oh well, Alan/Glenn, I won’t take your bait as re myself. However, if you want something of substance as to what Obama will do, go here.
And I echo Richard’s sentiments — I think the Bush administration should be called to account for their actions.
I’ll take you up on that “We’ll see in a year where we are.” I’ll meet you for dinner a year from now and I’ll even buy. I’ll be eager to discuss the events of the year. Mark your calendar!