In time of victory, why are Donks so angry?

[cwo_ghwebb]

These should be happy times for liberals and the Democratic party as a whole. They control the White House and both houses of Congress, while opposition Republicans are leaderless and lost. So why do some Democrats, particularly those farther to the left, appear so angry?

If you doubt it, just watch a few minutes of MSNBC, where the recent nationwide series of "tea parties" to protest federal spending and taxes set off an angry, almost manic response. The most telling came on Keith Olbermann's program, during which the actress Janeane Garofalo, who plays an FBI computer geek on “24,” denounced the tea parties as "racism straight up."

"Let's be very honest about what this is about," Garofalo said. "It's not about bashing Democrats. It's not about taxes…This is about hating a black man in the White House."

Garofalo linked the tea parties to what she described as a peculiar feature of the conservative brain. "The limbic brain inside a right-winger, or Republican, or conservative, or your average white power activist -- the limbic brain is much larger in their head space than in a reasonable person," she explained. "And it is pushing against the frontal lobe. So their synapses are misfiring." (The limbic brain is the deep portion of the brain that mediates, controls and expresses emotion.)

Now, it's possible Garofalo was joking; she used to do comedy. But she didn't seem to be joking, and her comments were consistent with a long and dishonorable history of attributing political conservatism to mental abnormality. And as she spoke about the alleged anger on the right, Garofalo herself seemed visibly angry. Why were she, and Olbermann, and many others on the left, so apparently troubled by a virtually powerless opposition?

I asked William Anderson, a friend who is a political conservative, a medical doctor, and a lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard. "They are angry, but I think they are also scared, and I think it's because they have a sense that their triumph is a precarious one," Anderson told me. Democrats won in 2008 in some part because of the cycles of American politics; Republicans were exhausted and it was the other party's turn. Now, having won, they are unsure of how long victory will last.

"They see that they have a very small window of opportunity to do all the things they want," Anderson continued. "They see the window of opportunity as small because they know in their deepest hearts that the vast majority of the American people wouldn't go for all of the things they want to do." So they are frantic to do as much as possible before the opposition coalesces. And the tea parties might be the beginning of that coalescence.

Then there is the question of self-image. Watching Garofalo and Olbermann discuss the tea parties, it was impossible to avoid the sense that they saw themselves as two good people talking about many bad people. "One of the things about narcissism is that it looks like people who are just proud of themselves and smug, but in fact narcissism is a very brittle and unstable state," Anderson told me. "People who are deeply invested in narcissism spend an awful lot of energy trying to maintain the illusion they have of themselves as being powerful and good, and they are exquisitely sensitive to anything that might prick that balloon."

www.washingtonexaminer.com >> Politics - In time of victory, why is the left so angry?

Explains why O'pology and comrades have such thin skins.

[This_person]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

www.washingtonexaminer.com >> Politics - In time of victory, why is the left so angry?

Explains why O'pology and comrades have such thin skins.

The last time they had this much authority/power control was the first few minutes of Clinton's watch - and look how that ended up for them. Previously, it was Carter's watch, and look at how that ended up for the country (what was the unemployment, inflation rate, etc., etc., when Reagan took over?).

[chernmax (Premo)]

Garofalo's dog had the best reply!!!

YouTube - Janeane Garofalo's dog pees on her

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by This_person

The last time they had this much authority/power control was the first few minutes of Clinton's watch - and look how that ended up for them. Previously, it was Carter's watch, and look at how that ended up for the country (what was the unemployment, inflation rate, etc., etc., when Reagan took over?).

That's how I put it, earlier. In the last forty years, they've held it all for a mere 6 years, and four of them were under Carter.

But basically, blaming Republicans and being angry is what they do. They do not solve problems, they do not create solutions, they do not innovate. They try to spend tons and tons of money on hair-brained ideas and buy votes - and when their stuff doesn't work, they blame the Republicans. They're still blaming them now.

Overall, I like this forum because even though it is overflowing with conservatives, by and large the discussion is not overwhelmingly about how awful liberals and Democrats are. I learn a lot from this place. I regularly visit more liberal forums, but the tone of it usually is how much they can't stand Republicans, neo-cons, conservatives, Bush, fundies and so on. Oddly enough, many of them are becoming a little more quiet lately - because there's no one in the White House or in charge of Congress to gripe about.

And I think that's why liberal talk radio fails without massive donations and support. People just get tired of it. Even a die-hard liberal will get bored of endless drivel about just how awful those guys are. Even they will eventually shout at the radio "ok, ok, I get it. We voted you in, for Pete's sake. Now dammit, DO something!". I've heard such disgusted liberal voters appearing on conservative radio. They're slowly beginning to feel hoodwinked. Obama and the Democratic Congress have to get off their duffs and actually do something.

[cwo_ghwebb]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

We voted you in, for Pete's sake. Now dammit, DO something!". I've heard such disgusted liberal voters appearing on conservative radio. They're slowly beginning to feel hoodwinked. Obama and the Democratic Congress have to get off their duffs and actually do something.

They ARE doing something. But not as fast as folks who feel 'entitled' want them to do.


Ask the average college kid on the street, they think you can't make it on your own. They think they don't have the brains. They think they are are combating the system. Only the 'lucky' ones, get the largest piece of the economic pie that is only so big (big fallacy on the size of the pie). Only government can save them.

Thank God for publik edumacation!

Since they were promised the moon and the sun, who blames them for wanting it all without 'earning' it? And darn it! We want it now!





Did you know that linguistically, only English has a word for "earn"?