The Atwater Plan

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

-- I just wanted to share with you a couple of profound quotes that I've found, in view of the McCain Campaign's (read Rick Davis') attempts to demonize and marginalize Barack Obama. Seems to me the Obama campaign folks really do need to call attention to the disease that this "Atwater/Rove/Davis" mode of politicking really is, and why this nation needs to reject it emphatically;


"Rove didn't invent ''wedge'' politics, but he was an adept practitioner of that sordid art. When campaigning in 2000, Bush proclaimed himself ''a uniter, not a divider.'' But the Bush-Rove theory of politics and governance has been divide, divide, divide -- either you're ''with us'' or ''against us,'' either you're right or you're wrong, either you should be embraced or attacked without quarter. Yes, politics is about winning -- they don't give style points for graceful failure. But the us-or-them brand of politics that Rove mastered and that Bush practiced have been a disaster for the nation and its standing in the world."

-- Gene Robinson, Washington Post, August 16, 2007


"My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The '80s were about acquiring -- acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn't I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime."

--- Lee Atwater


-- Rick Davis, by his actions this week, shows every sign of wanting to be another Lee Atwater. At some point this country needs to resoundingly reject that divisive, destructive mindset. If not now...when? This applies just as much to religion as to politics, and that's why these quotes were in my Unitarian forum. Events of the past week at one of my UU churches in Tennessee also point out what an infectious disease this divisive demonizing can become...and why Mr. Atwater finally got it right. Now, what about you, Mr. Davis?

Ron

[Coexist]

1. Rick Davis is our new Karl Rove.