"That Woman Is WORTH Paying Attention To": Medea Benjamin Explains WHY She DISRUPTED Obama’s Speech

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25. My concern is - are they laying the groundwork for a republi-CON to get back into the White House?

It's a big concern.

So what does this do? Poke MORE holes in President Obama? Accentuate the negative? Yes, certainly, the points they make on many issues are spot-on, things that need to be said, but you have to do that with some care and long-term strategic thinking here. Do you heap criticism and objection upon the guy who's on your side most of the time, and sees the world pretty much the way you do, so it weakens him and his allies (probably losing him allies, is more like it)? Do you do things that will weaken him politically, helping his poll numbers go down, so then the media can pile on with narratives like "Obama's losing his mojo," "lame duck President," I mean - you get enough of those and pretty soon it starts to be self-fulfilling prophesy. You grow the perception (here we go with perception management again, but It. Is. TRUE!) that the President is weak, bad, not a leader, duplicitous, secretive, and then that's how people accept perceiving him. That plants suggestions in the back of their heads that this is true. And thus you give aid and comfort to the enemy (as in rand paul)? And all his little teabagger friends whose world view is ANYTHING BUT what Code Pink's is? And while you're helping their cause, you're also weakening the cause of the Democrats - a political party that, for all its faults, is still closer to the Code Pink worldview than the alternatives will EVER be.

As long as we have only two viable political parties, this is what we're stuck with. And while it's easy to say - "well, hey, let's just start a third party!" - we already have a lot of third parties. The teabaggers being one. They're mostly ineffective. Except for the teabaggers in local and regional races. But they're so damned extreme. Their views are just not that popular. A flat-out card-carrying teabagger probably won't ever get past primary season. BUT more of them can side with the next republi-CON, and give that person the edge enough to win.

I mean, rand paul?????????

For the Love of GOD!!!!!!!

Are they OUT OF THEIR FRICKIN MINDS???????????????????????

If Code Pink thinks for even a nanosecond that somebody like rand paul is on their side, or going to be open to their ideas and their idea of America (a lot of which, frankly, I support) then they're more deluded than the Pox Noise audience.

But I worry, seriously, that this kind of thing undermines any strength our side has. And YES, I look at it that simplistically a lot of the time - our side versus theirs. In this context, the "our side" being Dems, liberals, and progressives. The "theirs" being republi-CONS and teabaggers and wrong-wingers and the like.

I feel this sense of urgency that Democrats be able to keep the White House.

There's just too much at stake. And regardless how the population's turning more open-minded, accepting and tolerant, and in effect, liberal, or how young people reject the policies of the so-called "right," AND how Dems got one million more votes in 2012 than republi-CONS did, but that didn't help us get back the House of Reps. It didn't keep majorities of republi-CONS from taking over governors' mansions and at least one or both houses of the state legislatures - in a majority of states. We've seen how finagling and conniving and sneaking and cheating has STILL allowed them to maintain some dominance - REGARDLESS of social trends and demographic shifts. We can look forward to far more of that, since the GOP always seems to be better at tilting the playing field so they do better - than our side does. And when they get desperate, they truly will stop at nothing - not to mention all the koch brothers and other money they have on their side, advancing their interests.

So I grow VERY concerned when even "our side" is PERCEIVED as falling away from President Obama. You let that narrative take hold, and the next three years - AND BEYOND - are gonna be miserable.

If Code Pink thinks this is all terrible and Obama is horrible and the administration sucks, how would they like a rand paul Presidency? How'd THAT work out for 'em? Believe me, they'd find that FAR more unpalatable. The teabagger/republi-CON idea of America is hardly what Code Pink would be able to stomach. They'd truly be cutting off their noses to spite their faces.