[Peace-discuss] Liberal opinion

[Morton K. Brussel]

Sounds very fishy to me.  Needs looking into.  --mkb


On Aug 19, 2009, at 1:29 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:

> 	The netroots agenda: War? What war?
> 	By: Byron York
> 	08/15/09 11:22 AM EDT
>
> It's not getting much attention, but the Netroots Nation conference  
> (formerly known as YearlyKos, a spinoff from the left-wing website  
> DailyKos) is going on in Pittsburgh this weekend.  Democratic  
> pollster Stanley Greenberg has conducted a straw poll of the  
> participants and found that a majority of those surveyed, 53  
> percent, say they "cannot support a health care reform bill that  
> does not include a public option."  Other results include word that  
> most of the attendees are willing to compromise a bit on  
> environmental legislation, even though it gives a lot of benefits to  
> big corporations, and the finding that, amazingly enough, attendees  
> voice near-unanimous approval, 95 percent, of the job Barack Obama  
> is doing as president.
>
> What's truly striking in Greenberg's poll is the degree to which the  
> wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have fallen off the progressive radar.   
> I attended the first YearlyKos convention, in 2006, and have kept up  
> with later ones, and it's safe to say that while people who attended  
> those gatherings couldn't stand George W. Bush in general, their  
> feelings were particularly intense when it came to opposing the war  
> in Iraq.  It animated their activism; they hated the war, and they  
> hated Bush for starting it.  They weren't that fond of the fighting  
> in Afghanistan, either.
>
> Now, with Obama in the White House, all that has changed.  Greenberg  
> presented respondents with a list of policy priorities and asked,  
> "Please indicate which two you think progressive activists should be  
> focusing their attention and efforts on the most."  The winner was  
> passing comprehensive health care reform, with 60 percent, and  
> number two was passing "green energy policies that address  
> environmental concerns," with 22 percent.  Tied for eighth place,  
> named by just eight percent of respondents, was "working to end our  
> military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan."
>
> Then Greenberg asked which one of those issues "do you, personally,  
> spend the most time advancing currently?"  The winner was health  
> care reform, with 23 percent, and second place was "working to elect  
> progressive candidates in the 2010 elections," with 16 percent.  In  
> 11th place -- at the very bottom of the list -- was "working to end  
> our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan." Just one percent  
> of Netroots Nations attendees listed that as their most important  
> personal priority.
>
> Many observers have remarked that Obama's decision to escalate the  
> war in Afghanistan, and also to escalate the campaign of targeted  
> assassinations using drone aircraft, both in Afghanistan and  
> Pakistan, will cause him trouble on the political left.  Indeed,  
> some members of Congress have suggested that the president has just  
> a year to show significant results in Afghanistan before lawmakers  
> begin to pressure him to pull back.  But if the Netroots Nation  
> results are any indication, Obama may have more room than previously  
> thought on the war.  Not too long ago, with a different president in  
> the White House, the left was obsessed with America's wars.  Now,  
> they're not even watching.
>
> http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/The-netroots-agenda-War-What-war-53296592.html
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss