Lieberman, David Brooks and the DLC

Brian Zick

In his column at Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi voices a sorta funny but rather defeatist explanation of "Why … Republicans never lose." Spoiler alert: Matt's thesis is that since David Brooks has no penis and the DLC is a paid corporate shill, they both have a vested interest in serving the Republican status quo. He uses a lot of verbiage referring to the GOP/Brooks/DLC/Lieberman Axis of Self-Appointed Superior Minds, and despairs that Lieberman might defeat his challenger Ned Lamont. Taibbi's analysis is wrong on several counts. I have no idea whether Brooks does or does not have his full compliment of anatomical parts, but I'll just assume that Matt is metaphorically speaking. And in that sense, Brooks - like all Republicans, regardless of party faction - surely does have a penis, which is plainly evidenced by his (their) constant exercises of gratuitous masturbatory self-indulgence. However, just like all GOP penises, it is incredibly small to the point of microscopic, the result being that it is of no use whatsoever for serving the governing pleasure of a partnership with the general public. (Alternatively, Democrats all have enormous schlongs, but for the most part they are in general pathetically limp and flaccid, and too stupid to know how to use them in any event - think "Joe Biden.") And Taibbi is wrong in differentiating Republicans and forms of conservatism, as he distinguishes Brooks' "good-consumer pragmatic conservatism" from "bloodthirsty, gun-toting, go-back-to-Africa, welfare-bashing right-winger conservatism of the NRA and Sean Hannity and the Bible Belt." All Republicans, by definition of their affiliation with the party, display a default endorsement of the GOP agenda. They are a Borg operation. Some of their collective have the job of appearing to be "moderate" but these are the enablers. They are arguably worse, in terms of basic humanity, because they still support hideous abominations with which they allege to disagree. And to underscore this point, it ain't just the "nice" David Brooks who disparages the bloggers who support Lamont and oppose Lieberman. Pretty much every extreme Right Wing media personality in the universe has expressed the identical views, as this video posted by Kos clearly shows. And lastly, Taibbi is profoundly wrong to believe in eternal Democratic doom. It's more than factually inaccurate. Notwithstanding the great many electoral disappointments Democrats have experienced in recent times, liberalism is indefatigable. Being a liberal means never getting immediate gratification, to be sure. But Democrats - even Joe Biden - keep hope alive, if for no other reason than that they have chosen to remain an opposition party. One might wish for some bolder and more intensified opposing. Nevertheless, the Democratic Party has become the primary vehicle for genuinely serving the public interests since FDR. And even in this bleak era of GOP dominion, liberal Democratic voices have blossomed like wildflowers. It has been Democratic bloggers leading the charge against Lieberman. Win or lose, the party establishment has taken notice. And although fighting an entrenched establishment is exhausting and exasperating in the extreme, history has constantly rewarded challengers to the powers of dogmatic convention. Taibbi is understandably frustrated by the years of Democrats rolling over in futile efforts at compromise with a thug GOP mentality, which seeks to stomp on their collective throats and crush them. But in his wailing and gnashing of teeth he ends up displaying the very "loser" mentality he decries. -- via Tracy Van Slyke

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