American Politics Journal -- Take the Fight Public!

Guest Editorial
Take the Fight Public!
by Mike Hersh

It is time to fight back -- and Democrats are doing that. I take strong exception to claims that Democrats are dead, most aren't fighting, and so on.

That's the mass media lie that too many of us take to heart. IGNORE THAT.

Notice that the handful who are fighting are different in each allegation. Sometimes it's just the Black Congressional Caucus, because they have been the best of us. Robert Reich sniffed at new DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, but columnist Jerry Fees applauds McAuliffe's efforts. Each time one of us internalizes these attacks, much less repeats them, what happens? Bush's trainers and handlers, and people like Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and the rest of the lunatic right wing fringe, laugh at us.

Their only hope is to demoralize us, and some of us are helping them. Never forget that.

And keep this in mind: many of us are fighting back, and more will follow.

Let me illustrate.

Today, I was in line at the bank. A TV near the waiting line was showing W. Bush on CNN.

I said to my friend, "Hey Patty! They taught a chimpanzee how to talk!"

She laughed, along with a few others in line, and asked me what he was doing. I said, "The chimp is pretending to be the president!" More laughter.

Then it got interesting.

An older gentleman said, "He's the best president we've ever had!"

I asked, "You mean BUSH?" My words were dripping with scorn.

He said, "Yes! He's a breath of fresh air."

I said, "A breath of POLLUTED air out of Texas, you mean!" By this point, we had an audience. I lit into Bush, while this guy was on the defensive trying to say Bush deserved to hold office.

"This is not a democracy, this is a republic!" he opined.

I said Al Gore won the election, and Bush stole it by throwing thousands of votes in the trash.

The guy muttered something about, "Well, that's what they say...."

"Yes, 'they' do say that -- because it happens to be true!"

The older guy blurted out that Al Gore was "...a crook."

I replied, "Bush is an immoral, drunk-driving coke-head who went AWOL from the National Guard!" I saw smiles, nods, and heard "That's right" after every line.

Then I delivered the knock out: "After the Democrats take back the Congress, we're going to IMPEACH him and THROW HIM IN JAIL for what he did."

At this, my opponent muttered something, then slunk away, tail between his legs.

The other people in line were grinning. Then a manager came out of her office laughing and asked me what I was saying about "our President." She said it with irony, and she joined the rest laughing when I said, "He's not my President. You need to WIN the election to get that job!"

It only took a few minutes, but this is how it starts.

We are not about to sit back quietly and accept the outrage. It was easy and rather fun to mock Bush in front of a few dozen strangers and get laughs -- and it felt good to rip apart the bull from the Bush supporter.

I like to think some people might have told their friends about it. I hope I provided an example for others, and at least a few of them will openly, publicly mock the moron who pretends he's the president.

We can be assertive and stand up for our rights and what's right without being nasty to those we debate with. I never said anything bad about this other man. I did go over to him and shake his hand, saying although we didn't see eye to eye on politics, it wasn't personal.

I wished him a nice day, and smiled while he stammered something vague about he was right. Of course he had no answer to my facts that proved him wrong.

Too bad for him he couldn't face the facts.



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