Blue Stockings | I like Michael Moore, and some of what he says in this piece in The Guardian is dead on, but the following annoys me. It's flat out hypocritical.
[Y]ou would think, with more than 200 million eligible voters, the Dems would be cleaning up, election after election. Obviously not. The Democrats appear to be professional losers. They are so pathetic in their ability to win elections, they even lose when they win! Al Gore won the 2000 election, but for some strange reason he didn't become the president of the United States. (Guardian)
Some of us think that Ralph Nader spoiled the election for Al Gore in 2000, bequeathing to us our present ills. And do you know who was standing right out there on a soapbox in the middle of the ring, banging his knee cymbals, and yelling through a megaphone about the uselessness of Al Gore and the importance of voting for Nader? Guess. Go on. Guess.
Um, Michael? Remember this?
Look, Al, you have screwed up -- big time. By now, you should have sent that smirking idiot back to Texas.... You should have wiped the floor with him during the three debates. But you didn't.... There is something I think you don't understand. You don't realize that it's YOU and the Democrats that are responsible for the possibility of Bush winning next Tuesday....
Instead of...owning up to your mistakes, you and your people are blaming some rumpled senior citizen lawyer who is only following his conscience....Ralph Nader has devoted his entire life to making the rest of our lives better. Because of him we have the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the EPA, OSHA, airbags and seatbelts, the Freedom of Information Act -- the list goes on and on. What have YOU done to save a few million lives?
...You and your "New Democrats" abandoned the poor, the working class, and the middle class....You and the Democrats have created the monster know as "W"...
I want Ralph Nader to get millions of votes on Tuesday. I have seen the response to Ralph at numerous huge rallies across the country. There is a progressive movement afoot in America and it needs to explode into a majority movement -- beginning now, not four years from now.... I will not feel one iota of guilt should you screw up and lose on Tuesday. The blame I do share is that I voted for you and Bill in 1992.... (MichaelMoore.com)(emphasis mine for the sake of the ironies)
Damozel wrote about this when "Sicko" came out. Her point was that Dems who still hold a grudge need to forgive Moore for what he's done to promote liberalism since.
But I'm not letting him get away with pointing fingers at Al Gore when he might well have been instrumental in denying him the win.
That said, a lot of his advice to Obama---particularly about the "gender issue" is pretty good. I wish I thought it would be heeded. He suggests that one of the worst mistakes Obama could make would be to "somehow forget that this was a historic year for women and that there is more work to do."
Millions of people, especially women, had high hopes for the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. Attention must be paid.
Sadly, he kind of left it there and got on to Michelle and how she doesn't need to be softened up etc., etc. But this is good:
Barack Obama, outnumbered in his household 3-1 by the female gender, has a lot at stake in making sure that women's rights and opportunities are on a par with men's. As one who knows what it's like to be in a class of people who traditionally have not held power, he's in an excellent position to speak to another group that has been left out - women - and assure them that he will be their advocate.
Plus, this is just good politics. Women vote by a larger margin than men. And if it remains true that Obama will not carry the white male vote (as most of the polls indicate he will not), then he simply cannot win without capturing a strong majority of the female vote. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton both lost the white male vote but won the White House. They did so by winning an overwhelming percentage of the black, Hispanic and female vote. That has to be Obama's strategy.(Guardian)
Lots of women I know want to see him give Hillary some significant role. It would make us feel a lot better about him. A lot. If he still thinks it doesn't matter, he needs to look at how close the polls are. Why is that, hmmm? Why?
Memeorandum has all that tasty bloggerishiousness here.
RECENT POSTINGS
A Right-Wing Christian Asks: If Obama is the Antichrist, Shouldn't We Vote for Him?
Jon Stewart: Who Banned Offshore Drilling? "His Presidency Seems So Cute Now"
Obama Not Hopeful Enough for the Jolly, Upbeat, Glass-Half-Full Lads of the Right
A Right Wing Man's Plea: Right Wing Women, Please Stop Blogging
[Republican] Women, Know Your Limits!
Jon Swift Schools The Blogosphere on Satire
A Right Wing Lady's Plea to the Media: Please, No More Dog "Whistles"
McCain: Bringin' The Tough Love to African-Americans and the Campaign
Comments