1/ There is an entrenched history of false moral equivalences and gaslighting liberals in our politics. George McGovern is an instructive example. This dude flew 35 missions as a B-24 pilot in WWII and was married to one woman for 64 years. But... (Cont) #ResistanceRoots #ONEV1
2/ he also dared to promote peace and confront economic and social injustice. To be sure, McGovern was a flawed politician. Yet this patriot and family man from South Dakota was portrayed as a symbol of unpatriotic decadence. Indeed, Newt Gingrich often attacked Democrats (Cont)
3/ as "decadent George McGovern liberalals" to lead his far right political insurgency. Gingrich was a draft dodger who had cheated on his terminally ill first wife. We have seen this sort of gaslighting over and over again. George W Bush, a toxic mediocore man of little (Cont)
4/ ability or integrity who had gone AWOL while serving in the TX National Guard tarred Al Gore and "Swift Boated" John Kerry. Dan Rather, who broke the story of Bush going AWOL, was forced out of CBS as Republicans whined about the "liberal media." Corp media moguls (Cont)
5/ such as Rupert Murdoch and mentally unstable tycoons like Elon Musk have metastasized this phenomenon. Joe Biden is routinely attacked as a pedophile while actual pedophiles in the Republican Party define the center of political gravity. Democrats are called groomers by (Cont)
6/ gross men supportive of child marriage or with a documented history as sex predators. Lesson for all of us is that it's never going to be a fair fight, and waiting for a "savior" is useless. We couldn't have a more talented and honest advocate than Barack Obama and (Cont)
7/ this virulent and depraved noise machine still inflicted great damage. That's why WE THE PEOPLE have to be the ones that redefine the center of political gravity with activism and soft persuasion with neighbors, family and friends. Each of us doing our small part is how (Cont)
8/ we make change. Joe Biden doesn't have a corp media structure to amplify his accomplishments. But we can prevail in school boards, state legislatures, and national elections by doing our part in our communities. It truly is up to each of us to do our part. The younger (Cont)
9/ generation knows the stakes and how to win. It's our responsibility to defend freedom and join them in redefining our center of political gravity and secure a brighter future.
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1/ Life and career of longtime GOP Senate leader and 1996 POTUS nominee Bob Dole is instructive on the GOP's descent from respectability to depravity. Dole was someone I never liked but had at one time respected and even (Cont) #ResistanceRoots #ONEV1 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dole
2/ admired. Dole grew up in rural Kansas during the Depression. He enlisted in the army in 1942 and was wounded on the battlefield in Italy in 1945. As a result, he had limited mobility in his right arm and numbness in his left. Simply put, there's no denying Dole's valor. (Cont)
3/ And Dole overcame his injuries to lead an important and distinctive life. He joked that when he decided to run for office in 1950 for the KS House, he did so as a Republican because there were more of them in his district. Dole was elected to the U.S. House in 1960 and (Cont)
1/ Rise and fall of Joe McCarthy is instructive in understanding today's GOP. McCarthy epitomized the ascension of toxic mediocrity. He was an intel officer for a dive bomber squadron in WWII. Although his claims of heroism were exaggerated ... (Cont) #ResistanceRoots #ONEV1
2/ McCarthy was promoted to major. He was elected a WI senator during a GOP 1946 wave. Initially, McCarthy gained little traction or attention. Simply put, he wasn't very good at his job. But in February 1950, McCarthy's fame skyrocketed when he claimed to have a list of (Cont)
3/ communists in a spy ring working in the State Department. His claims were bullshit. But McCarthy got off on the attention, and his lies kept coming with claims of communist infiltration of the Truman administration. McCarthy also accused various politicians of communist (Cont)
1/ One catalyst to misogynistic toxic masculinity is men feeling left behind or alone. That's not an excuse for oppressing and abusing women. Not at all. Rather, we need to overcome the false MAGA narrative that progress for me and mine has to be (Cont) #ResistanceUnited #ONEV1
2/ a zero-sum game that requires revenge and retribution to win. The MAGA way is a recipe for calamity and catastrophe for all. Democrats are enacting policies to benefit all. Indeed, men without a college education are the primary beneficiaries of Joe Biden's (Cont)
3/ infrastructure and clean energy policies. Dignity of work and self-worth is a vital component to masculinity. GOP wants us men to feel left behind, victimized, and alienated as if only others who are angry accept us. Let us acknowledge that being a man poses (Cont)
1/ Fair or not, our center of political gravity is defined by the party or coalition on offense. I think I speak for many Democrats in saying we're fed up playing defense. Since 2017, we've outperformed the GOP at the ballot box, yet our democracy (Cont) #ResistanceUnited #ONEV1
2/ is being dismantled for millions in Red States. As a New Yorker, I can tell you Blue States are not safe either. Whining about "both sides" media bullshit or their corruption is not gonna save us. Unless a modern Fairness Doctrine is enacted, that's not gonna change. (Cont)
3/ Indeed, it's bitterly ironic that on a weekend, we honor those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, autonomy of women over their own bodies or a POC's right to even vote is under assault. And "only" 78 years after black Americans that defended us against Hitler (Cont)
1/ A decade ago, I debated tactics with a friend that worked for DC Democrats. She was a lovely person who died from Covid in 2020. Anyway, she liked to say that we needed to fight fire with water until the far right's fever broke. I fiercely retorted ... #ResistanceUnited #ONEV1
2/ that's what the Weimar Republic believed until it was too late. She claimed we could fix all with GOTV success. Folks, Dems have done remarkably well at the ballot box since 2017 despite gerrymandering. Yet our democracy is still being systematically dismantled at ...
3/ every level. Saving democracy means prevailing against a kind of asymmetrical warfare that's happening all over America. Yes, we must continue to organize and turn out voters. But we also need a strategy to mobilize and promote a non-violent but ferocious movement ...
1/7 To paraphrase Clausewitz, GOP views politics as war by other means. Hell, they view it as an opportunity for violent oppression. We need to be on offense and whining over how money making DC Dem consultants suck at messaging ain't gonna get it done. #ResistanceUnited #ONEV1
2/7 Simply put DNC's @harrisonjaime and national DC Dems like @SenSchumer are not having any epiphanies in 2022. So we're gonna have to organize and go offense for them within our own communities. From the ground up we MUST frame this as a fight between good and evil.
3/7 We represent America's decent patriotic MAJORITY that believes in freedom AND responsibility for ALL and from EVERYONE. We do NOT shoot or rape innocent children. We do NOT support child marriage that makes rape of girls permissible. We do NOT value wealth over humanity.