will plead ignorance re. lopov, saw name on poster, chuckled, thought to myself kinda funny, even thought 'group' might be joke, thought up by someone/small group with no serious intention of having legs for mass outreach, so my initial comments about 'rightous name' and 'growing group' were supposed to be irony (which often travels poorly in cyberspace)...
I don't think that the League of Pissed Off Voters, aka the League of Independent Voters, goes anywhere by itself, but seen as a part of a larger phenomenon, it's interesting.
On one hand, it's an indication of how embarrassing it has become to make a straightforward argument for John Kerry or the Democratic Party in general, among thinking young persons especially, so the Democratic operatives have to come up with a face-saving cover that lets them believe that they are still "independent," albeit they will be voting and working for John Kerry.
On the other hand, the League, MoveOn, and thousands of others like it (e.g., <http://www.punkvoter.com/>) have been very successful at re-creating the Democratic Party hegemony over not just liberals but also a sizable segment of leftists. The key tactic for them, whose faces are sunny and cheery, is to focus on opposing George W. Bush; not to mention John Kerry, because he is, well, unmentionable; and to say a kind word or two about some nice Green Party candidates in local elections. Nasty work is done by Democratic Party lawyers and politicians doing all they can to keep Nader and other Greens off the ballots and (if they still manage to get on the ballots) to make them win as few votes as possible.
At 9:57 AM -0400 7/18/04, Michael Hoover wrote:
fwiw: league rep at ann arbor forum yesterday argued for voting for anybody but kerry or bush, guess she's out of step with her comrades re. dem candidate... michael hoover
I believe so, but what's her name? Perhaps, she'll join something more interesting some day.
At 2:32 PM -0700 7/18/04, Craven, Jim wrote:
Response Jim C: "The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." (Josef Stalin)
In a nation like the USA, the saying may be, "The people who pay for politicians' golden parachutes decide everything." Shane Mage and Doug Henwood say that the ruling class appear to have dumped George W. Bush, and I agree with them. Democratic Party front groups want us to think that the November election will be a referendum on Bush, but the ruling class know that it will be a referendum on Kerry. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>
