Once upon a time, it appeared there was a peace movement in the United States. For many, it was nothing but a way to create a pool of Democratic Party voters.
Cindy Sheehan caught on sooner than most that the Democratic Party wasn't going to end the illegal war.
Either she was too kind or she didn't catch on soon enough that the peace movement in the US was as fraudulent as well.
Which isn't all segments of the movement. There's Cindy, for example. There's Iraq Veterans Against the War. There's the World Can't Wait. We would have said, "There's A.N.S.W.E.R."; however, we caught that testimonial to the 'goodness' of Barack and the unimportance of the Iraq War on NPR. You repudiate those statements and do so immediately or you invite suspicion.
And we should have been suspicious all along.
It didn't take much to notice that the We Really Care About The Iraq War CodeStink really didn't. "We care!!! But we're off to Israel! And Lebanon!" They didn't care, they grabbed it because it was a popular issue and they did damn little on it. But Jodi poured her money into Barack's campaign and Medea damn sure poured her energies into knocking Hillary out of the race. But remember to pretend that either woman gives a damn about ending the Iraq War.
Leslie Cagan of United for Pretending and Jiving is a confusion to some. Those in the know point out that Leslie is a member of the Communist Party. They then generally express bewilderment that Leslie would whore herself out to the Democratic Party.
That's because they're not students of poli sci.
Leslie's not doing anything original.
Closet Communists like herself have always done what she does. It's why so many members of the Communist Party can't stand her. Rather than build up the Communist Party, Leslie is one of those weak-sisters who think the thing to do is to find an organization already established and 'change it from within.'
What's in it for her in whoring out for Barack?
She gets to beg for a little more money and hopes some of Barack's big donors will throw some pennies her way. She gets to increase her own profile within the Democratic Party. A profile built for . . . well, her kind never does anything but build up themselves. Historically, that's always been the case for the Closeted Communists trying to take over the Democratic Party. It's the main reason they never were able to.
Leslie is one of the biggest reasons WBAI doesn't cover Greens as members of a real party. Doesn't cover any third party on the same level they do the Democratic Party. Why is that?
Leslie, like all the Closeted Communists who came before her, doesn't believe the US can build a new political party and believes instead that you latch onto the Democratic Party.
So the damage she's done is not just to the peace movement, it's also to alleged free speech radio. (And she and her crew are having a snit fit over recent developments that threaten to leave them further out in the cold at WBAI. Pay attention to which 'third party' and 'independent' voices back Leslie and her crew as they attempt to restore the corrupt Bernard White. You'll see a lot of people who have worked overtime to prevent the New York station from seriously covering the Green Party -- a third party which, in that state, could make an incredibly strong showing if they got even a small dose of press.)
Why did we never get a show covering the Iraq War on Pacifica? Because a regular show would regularly note the Democrats role in the Iraq War and that wasn't what some wanted to be pushing. Even a decade ago, those kind of worries would have been laughed at. In fact, a decade ago, a program (still airing) started just to cover the first Gulf War.
We've been robbed, we've been short changed and we've been lied to.
It's time to get really pissed about what happened.
And it's also a time when some of the biggest whores are trying to sneak back into power.
Some of us made the decision to use our presidential vote in November to support a candidate who would end the Iraq War. (Which is why we voted for Ralph Nader -- except Ava and C.I. who either voted for Nader or Cynthia McKinney -- they're still not saying which.) We knew Barack was a Corporatist War Hawk and we didn't just know it, we called it out.
We did so repeatedly.
And, in doing so, we got nasty e-mails, we lost links, and more. And we'd do it all over again.
There's no point in putting in the time each weekend, in pulling all nighters, just to lie. We've got other things to do. If we're publishing online, it's because we feel there's something to say -- and a lot that's not being said.
So excuse us as we laugh at Jeff Cohen who cheerleaded for Barack and attacked anyone -- right or left -- who questioned the Christ-child or suggested that voting a thin (and 'creative') biography does not a peace vote make. Jeff Cohen, as usual, set himself up as the left thug who went around blustering and threatening. And where there is bluster and threats, there is Norman Solomon on Jeff's heels. The two of them generally confine themselves to screeching at KPFA over the premiums the station offers during pledge drives. But in election years, they whore it out big time.
And 2008 isn't going away.
Pledged delegate for Barack Norman Solomon really needs to drop the ethics lectures because when you've gone on air repeatedly as an 'independent' 'analyst' during the primaries and the general election and you've 'forgotten' to disclose that you're a pledged delegate for Barack Obama, you're really not in place to lecture one damn person. Not Howie Kurtz, not any news outlet.
You whored yourself, Norman.
They're pathetic and they're part of the reason that we don't have a functioning left in this country. They really just need to pack it in because they're an embarrassment. Norman, if you haven't noticed, is dusting off his Iraq columns and plugging "Afghanistan" into them. Which is how his "Real media don't talk about Iraqi fatalities!" became his "Real media doesn't talk about Afghanistan fatalities!"
Does anyone fall for this crap?
Was the whole point of 2008 to reveal how trashy and unethical so many self-appointed leaders of the left were?
If we're smart, we learn from 2008.
If we're smart, we look at Naomi Klein, for example, and notice that the 'thinker' is serving up attacks on Sarah Palin and has nothing to say about the Iraq War. Over and over. Not one damn word for how many years now?
Child of a war resister and she can't speak out.
Child of a war resister and she can't do one damn thing.
But she's gearing up to give us that 2005 lecture again, about how the left must not become an arm of the Democratic Party.
But it wasn't the left that turned a book tour into cheap attacks on Sarah Palin and efforts to turn out the vote for Barack. No, that was Naomi Klein.
You get the feeling that Norman and Naomi, Jeff and Leslie, and all the rest wish the Iraq War was over if only so that their past actions wouldn't be so fresh. But with the illegal war continuing to drag on and with their efforts to seek the limelight, it's hard not to remember what they once did and what they don't do now.
And there's not any blanket forgiveness. Nor is there amnesia.
Before the next Barack Booster comes along and tries to lecture those of us on the left who had the Courage to Vote Our Convictions, he or she might first try taking accountability for all the whoring they did in 2008.