Then they Fight You, then You Win."
So sayeth Mahatma Gandhi, in describing the various stages of effective non-violent resistance to oppression. Using the strategy of moral persuasian Ghandi, like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who followed him, successfully freed India from the yoke of British rule. Similarly we hear on dailykos and other various sites have taken up the no less difficult task of redirecting our ship of state away from war-mongering, rampant corporatism and full-on totalitarianism.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Netroots as of this week we have just entered Stage 3 and so far our prospects of entering Stage 4 have all lights showing green.
It's not as if last November's elections weren't a serious hint that the way of things may just be shifting, today we will see a Congressmen openly call for the Impeachment of Alberto Gonzales following his horrific performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
This didn't happen because of the work of intrepid reporters of the major papers who continued to dig and dig until they finally reached down and pulled out the hidden nuggets of truth, it's happened largely in spite of the lapdog media.
It's happened because of the blogs.
And now the cultural overlords and power whores of the right-wing have finally realized and admitted just who and what the genuine threat to their continued regime is -- it's the people.
The first real hints that the Netroots had become a major target of the rightwing began not long ago when Bill Kristol claimed that Markos was "not respectable" just three years ago. (Which in turn conceeds that he is respectible and respected now - which ultimately is the point and exactly why they have attacked him and us.)
The Daily Kos, Think Progress, and a host of other lefty blogs seem to be shocked that someone might question the respectability of Markos Moulitsas... Is [this] the kind of thing respectable people say?
We can see it as several republicans blow-off their CNN Youtube debate. Y'see, these guys are just like President G.H.W. Bush 15 years ago who thought talking to MTV News was "beneath the status of his office" until he was finally and very grudgingly forced have a brief and terse interview with Tabitha Soren.
Novakula does a good job of summing it up.
Appearing on Bloomberg Television this weekend, Novak said of the YouTube debate, “I thought it was really disgusting. ... The reporters were terrible but this was ludicrous.” Novak argued, “You know when we did away with the monarchy and went through democracy, there was a lot of fear that this sort of thing would happen. It took 200 years but we got there.”
That's right, what they truly crave is a return to a Monarchy where our leaders are chosen, ordained and guided solely by GOD, unconcerned with justifying or even explaining their actions to the lowly serfs and commoners (or Congress), those who should feel proud and honored to serve the needs of the new corporate aristocracy, to implement the bidding of their masters and betters no matter how costly or deadly it might be to them personally. Authoritians such as these have little patience or faith in the ability of the unwashed masses to govern themselves via "democracy", hence they have invented the "Unitary Executive" theory to bring back the theocracy of their wet-dreams.
It doesn't matter if the Reich-wing likes or agree with us, right now the most important thing is that they have noticed us and have been forced to respond. They can't afford to ignore us anymore and they know it.
But now they've moved from snubs, this type of ridicule - to out and out attacks.
Now we have
This afternoon on MSNBC, Tucker Carlson expressed sympathy for Brookings analyst Kenneth Pollack, who has been “slammed by the left” all day. “It’s worth pointing out that you were not an apologist for the administration,” said Carlson. “You’ve been really tough on them.” Carlson said that the response to the New York Times op-ed by Pollack and Michael O’Hanlon has been “over the top” by the blogosphere, which is “a pretty hysterical place anyway.” He went on to criticize a post by Glenn Greenwald, whose name he repeatedly mispronounced.
Yeah, right - Glenn Greenwald whose second a book "A Tragic Legacy" debuted on the New York Times Best Sellers list in it's first week of release is just another "internet crackpot" Sure.
Carlson attempts to demean Greenwald by mispronouncing his name (a tactic I clearly am not above using myself - turnabout is fairplay), but his intent is obvious - "Who is this nobody who dares to challenge the anointed elites? I didn't see him at the correspondent dinner with Karl Rove last month..."
Over and over, the theme and intent is clear. Just as Rove himself told Sheryl Crow and Laurie David - "I work for the American People". Which clearly doesn't include those two "low-life tree-hugging environut skanks", does it?
Or when elite CNN Uber Doctor extraordinaire Sanjay Gupta petulantly berated that big fat oscar winner Micheal Moore for not having his "facts correct" while making two mistakes in his own report and failing to prove that any of Moore's data was mistaken.
Step by step, the "Little People" are making a difference - the powerful and the privileged are getting more and more scared, more and more paranoid and more and more "hysterical" themselves.
The best example of course is the self-styled Jihad by Bully O'Leilly against Dailykos.
It is true that Billo was able to get JetBlue to cower and have their logo removed from the YearlyKos site, although they are still involved with the event -- however in return he's taken more than just a cosmetic hit with the pullout of Lowe's from advertising on his program.
But as things continue it appears that O'Reilly may have just stepped on his own dick and woken a very ferocious and hungry tiger, which unlike Billo himself - isn't made of paper.
By attacking directly and openly, BillO has made a massive strategic blunder - rather than remaining in Stage 1 and ignoring us as he's been doing with Keith Olbermann for the past two years, he's skipped right past "Go" and gone right to Stage 3 with his attacks. Now the big orange eye of the Kos is fixed directly on Billy and it's not like he doesn't have a ton of bones lying around in his closet and elsewhere.
When it comes to accusing anyone else of "Hate-mongering" Bill O'Reilly is that last person with a leg to stand on as he clearly showed when he cut the mike of his own co-correspondent when she dared to "tell him the truth."
During the July 26 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly claimed to have "exposed" the Daily Kos blog "as a hate website" and went on to criticize the decision by some Democratic presidential candidates to attend the YearlyKos convention. In response, Fox News contributor Jane Hall said to him, "You had hateful comments on your website about [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY]."
O'Reilly then claimed: "No, I didn't. We took them off." He later added, "That's a lie, and I can't let you say a lie on this broadcast." After cutting Hall's microphone, O'Reilly again asserted, "I can't let Jane lie. We don't allow hateful comments on BillOReilly.com. When they come up and we find them, we take them off."
In fact, as of 5 p.m. ET on July 27, several comments about Clinton that were documented by Americablog (here, here, and here) remain on O'Reilly's website, including one that has led Huffington Post blogger Lane Hudson to ask for a Secret Service investigation:
No, they didn't take the comments off - nor did they take these comments off --
Rosie is indeed a pig, a liar, a total sham. She makes me sick. Nothing she says or does can be justified by any reasonable American. The best thing that could happen to Rosie.. well I will keep that to myself.. but it would have something to do with her not existing any longer... : ) - 05 Jul 2007 - 10:53 AM PT
-- but they did ban John Aravosis of America blog for having exposed those comments to the light of day.
Tonight O'Reilly continued his attack claiming that a comedic picture of Joe Lieberman and President Bush is reason for the Democratic candidates to shun Yearlykos.
O'Reilly: This is what the Kos traffic's in. The fact that these democratic candidates would support a website with a picture like that - is hard to believe.
Agree with him or not, Senator Lieberman is a Patriot and a man of conviction. Right now he's opposing the loons in the Senate who don't want to protect American citizens who report possible terrorist activity from lawsuits. Lieberman deserves respect, not hatred.
And just what do those "Loons in the Senate" (who happen to be actual Democrats) deserve? Sometimes Bill just can't help himself from throwing in an insult and ad hominem jab even while he's trying to argue for comity and reasonableness.
Incredible.
Just out of curiosity, since this user has not just one image in his directory - I took a look to see what other despicable and disgusting images he might have.
It was shocking - truly shocking. (Warning these pics are not for the squeamish, weak of stomach, light-headed or for that matter Reality Challenged Republicans)
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Now, which do you think was truly the most offensive picture - the non-photoshopped images from Abu Ghraib, the image of a White Phosphorous burned baby from Fallujah or the one that got O'Reilly's panties in a bunch?
Then you have the latest revelations that in additional to losing Lowe's as an advertiser and his impending problems with the Secret Service, according to court documents O'Reilly just may have just done for himself what that big bad dirty picture shows Leiberman doing to George Bush.
Let me just say "Ewwww!" while also wondering if this is why the Lieber-job picture fascinates and titilates him so much?
Admittedly some on Kos may indeed "traffic" in some rather crude and juvenile humor, but by comparison exactly what is it that the Bush Administration is their enablers like O'Reilly have been trafficking in these last six years?
In the end, this battle is far more likely to leave O'Reilly and his ilk alone and deserted by the willing serfs they depend upon to lift them unto their lofty positions when they ultimately push their bombast and hate speech just one notch too far - ala Imus - than it is likely to permanently damage Kos, other people powered media sites or his real targets - the Democratic Candidates who have agreed to attend Yearlykos.
As Gandhi also said.
We must always seek to ally ourselves with that part of the enemy that knows what is right.
Although they may have cut themselves off from it in their zest for power and control - somewhere deep down people like O'Reilly and his fans really do know the difference between right and wrong, truth and fantasy, even it may take some form of national intervention to finally get them to admit it.
Like Gandhi, like King and like Mandela, as long as we continue to fight for reality, truth and right we will ultimately prevail.
I have no doubt.
Vyan
Update The Battle just jumped up several notches today as Mike Stark of CallingAllWingNuts.com has put up pics from a surprise visit to O'Reilly's Home including a brief interview (emulating O'Reilly's own ambush of JetBlue's CEO) and the placing "Pervert" signs around his neighborhood.
I suspect this wake up call was the last thing Falafel boy was expecting since he "Killed" Dailykos yesterday. My they are pretty spry for ghosties.
How many people expect O'Lielly is going to have an absolutely Meltdown Tonight? Think he'll sick the dreaded forces of Fox Security on Mike once again?
Stay tuned.
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