tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10853024.post3217167341171730737..comments2024-03-12T20:20:35.830-05:00Comments on Organizing Notes: DECEPTIVE PROGRESSIVES CALL FOR SUPPORT OF OBAMA'S WARBruce K. Gagnonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10845856861232395427noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10853024.post-54885688778369545472009-12-04T09:43:21.275-05:002009-12-04T09:43:21.275-05:00Well, blogger didn't take my sign in/log in im...Well, blogger didn't take my sign in/log in immediately, so five longish paragraphs I wrote are lost, aargh...but, I'll cut to the chase to use a cliche. "Fake progressives, " if it is a polemical term of abuse to deflect critics to the Left of Code Pink, is similar to a term used by the CPUSA, "fake Left, " to deride their Trotskyist, Maoist or democratic socialist critics to the Left of the reformist CPUSA. I'd be interested in the Code Pink members reply to this crit from an Iranian, http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/11/18625166.php http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/11/code-pink-in-iran/ Cf. on the Fellowship of Reconciliation , http://www.meforum.org/585/saddams-press-lackey-and-peace-activist-in-americaJulius Martovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15174462786563240543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10853024.post-75491611198165356102009-12-04T07:07:54.264-05:002009-12-04T07:07:54.264-05:00I am really sick of these fake progressives smeari...I am really sick of these fake progressives smearing CODEPINK by saying we are part of this covert support for the war machine. WE ARE NOT! PINKs have been vigorously opposing funding for war before, during, and since Obama's inauguration.<br /><br />The reverse is a lie that has been oft repeated of late. You can hear it right there in Bruce's report of the conference call.<br /><br />I guess CODEPINK could take it as a compliment to the threat our message poses to efforts to co-opt "liberals" to support the war machine...but it still pisses me off.Lisa Savagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06319699936783253064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10853024.post-37019401716827683052009-12-03T13:50:08.293-05:002009-12-03T13:50:08.293-05:00I'm a longtime fan of your work, Bruce. To bo...I'm a longtime fan of your work, Bruce. To boil down the relationships to a snapshot, <a href="http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/12/03/graphic-pro-war-astroturf-propaganda-operation-distilled/" rel="nofollow">here's a graphic representation</a> of the relationships between the five organizations putting together that conference call, the Democratic Party establishment, and elements of the military-foreign policy establishment. <br /><br />Your hunch at the beginning of the phone call was right on: this is not an effort of "progressives" by any of the definitions Julius offers.Jimhttp://irregulartimes.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10853024.post-75794284564378063342009-12-03T11:59:18.420-05:002009-12-03T11:59:18.420-05:00Great comments Julius, thanksGreat comments Julius, thanksBruce K. Gagnonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10845856861232395427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10853024.post-92103878689296089632009-12-03T11:26:40.636-05:002009-12-03T11:26:40.636-05:00Progressive Policy Institute is a DLC think tank. ...Progressive Policy Institute is a DLC think tank. The word progressive has multiple meanings, "progressive, " can be a word used by liberals afraid to say they are liberals, in the era of the hegemony of the CPUSA over the broad Left, it was a term used by Communists to designate their left-liberal allies who aligned with the CPUSA vs. cold war liberals, and progressive back in the Teddy Roosevelt era meant what New Leftists of the 60's called, "corporate liberals, " who sanded off the rougher edges of a rapacious, emerging corporate capitalism in order to blunt the then strong Socialist and Populist protest movements. remember, back then hundreds of Socialists held elective office and millions read their press. (See James Weinstein's book on the Socialist Party under Debs) The protests by leftist groups i've read and heard about since the Obama West Point speech have been very small, a couple dozen, even in cities with well established left demonstration infrastructure like San Francisco. Before it ever gets to the point where a figure of the heft of a Clark Clifford (who told LBJ in '68, the Vietnam war was lost) tells Obama the same about Afghanistan, and others from the same ruling class networks, leftists are going to have to get out of our comfy bubbles, create some ruckus where we can, in some cities, be less stereotypically radical in other places, and use whatever contacts we have in the mainstream (both ordinary folks and the powerful) to grind away at the escalation.Julius Martovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15174462786563240543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10853024.post-43247701877772461882009-12-03T09:48:28.593-05:002009-12-03T09:48:28.593-05:00Thanks for this Jim....well done.Thanks for this Jim....well done.Bruce K. Gagnonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10845856861232395427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10853024.post-3353111466905947332009-12-03T01:29:59.897-05:002009-12-03T01:29:59.897-05:00Thanks for catching this. I've done a little ...Thanks for catching this. I've <a href="http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2009/12/03/caught-dc-beltway-astroturfers-stuffing-war-down-progressive-americas-throat/" rel="nofollow">done a little further looking into these organizations</a>, which all turn out to be DC beltway groups located within a mile of each other and within a mile of the Oval Office. It turns out that each of these "progressive" groups is some combination of a PR front, a "New Democrat" group, a military-foreign policy establishment group, and/or a partisan arm of the Democratic Party. Yeesh.Jimhttp://irregulartimes.comnoreply@blogger.com