Criticism of Democrats has always been common on DU.

[JackRiddler]

I've been here since almost the beginning. Some observations:

On these boards there has always been a lot of criticism of Democrats for taking weak positions, supporting Republican policies, voting for Bush Regime programs, etc.

Always. A great deal. On many days it's been the majority of material posted here.

The rule limits in all these years have been on endorsing non-Democratic candidates in elections. That has been enforced strictly during election season, when it is most relevant.

Before primaries are over, people have supported any candidate in the Democratic primaries that they liked. That's how it's always been.

It's very important not to rewrite that history, which the archives with their at this point millions of threads confirm.

Second paragraph in the "About" statement still reads:

We welcome Democrats of all stripes, along with other progressives who will work with us to achieve our shared goals. While the vast majority of our visitors are Democrats, this web site is not affiliated with the Democratic Party, nor do we claim to speak for the party as a whole.

[DesertFlower]

1. you're right. i lurked for a few years

before i started posting.

[jannyk]

2. Yes Indeed. I too remember when criticism was not called 'hate'. eom

[boston bean]

3. Me too. And I actually ended up learning a lot. I thank every person

here who didn't taught me things I would have never known, via their criticism, knowledge and forthrightness.

[jannyk]

10. oh bb. I knew nothing of Politics when I joined - zip...

Now I'm known as a 'political junkie' and am the 'go to girl' when family/friends want to understand anything political. The very spirited debates here, the insightful editorials and the likes of Kpete, deepmodemom, sabra, plaidadder - the list is endless - led me to discover everything I know about the system. I am so grateful to them all.
And boy, did we ever come down like a ton of bricks on Dems when they screwed up. I miss those freewheeling days.

[MrScorpio]

4. It's just today it's tinged with a lot of dog whistles

It's not like people can't hear them

[JackRiddler]

6. Actually, no, people can't hear dog whistles.

But metaphors aside:

This is the Internet, notorious for people not getting what you mean if you're too cryptic.

So why don't you just spell out what you mean.

[MrScorpio]

8. Another DUer explains it perfectly

I defer to this post:

http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=552393&mesg_id=552448

[BlueCheese]

12. Have there been recent posts...

... that you consider dog-whistling? I haven't noticed any such thing.

[MrScorpio]

13. As the poster explains, the racial context of words needs to be considered

I'm sure that there are plenty of examples on DU, if you bother to look for them.

[BlueCheese]

14. Humor me a little.

Show me some examples. Perhaps I don't hear dog whistles very well.

[Major Hogwash]

16. One of the other problems may be with that person's attitude.

Who continued, for no damn good reason, to defend her use of those terms.
If there was a black mod here, it wouldn't have went on that long.

[JackRiddler]

20. And do you think this speaks to a primary drive behind criticism of Obama at DU?

[bobbolink]

26. There are a number of WHITE democrats I consider "elitist" and have said so.

So, how, again, is that racist?

[pnorman]

19. This much should be indisputable;

This could not happen as dramatically were it not for embedded racial attitudes. “Elitist” is another word for “arrogant,” which is another word for “uppity,” that old calumny applied to blacks who stood up for themselves.

Black professionals know the double standard. They are often labeled negatively for traits deemed positive in whites: A white is assertive, a black is aggressive; a white is resolute, a black is pushy; a white is candid, a black is abrasive; a white is independent, a black is not a team player...."

[bobbolink]

25. That same double standard in the link you provide applies to women, and we have said that for decade

What's your point?

[jannyk]

7. ok, maybe it's because I'm a Brit, but I have no idea what Dog Whistle's are

please enlighten me?

[MrScorpio]

9. They are code words

Used mostly by people engage in racist speech.

Prima facia, those words may not seem to be racist, but the right audience knows what is being said.

[jannyk]

17. I haven't noticed any 'new' insults. Nothing that wasn't used against

prior disappointing Dem behavior, and definitely none that were not thrown at the last occupier of the WH. Let's face it, between us at DU we've thrown every insult in the book and when we ran out of book, we invented some.

So, in my naivety I'm asking, what insults are being thrown at Obama that haven't been thrown at countless other politicians in the past?

[tcaudilllg]

5. I don't think the Dems will stand up without coffee. :P

[JackRiddler]

27. Yup. Except please, not that name (too reactive).

[murielm99]

11. Yes.

I learned about pink tutus here and heard vilification of some people I thought were pretty good Democrats. I am not saying that all the criticism was wrong. A lot of it has contributed to my understanding of politics.

[laughingliberal]

15. K & R nt

[myrna minx]

18. This place was on FIRE after the 2002 election and the IWR, when most Duers were

furious that Daschle squandered the Senator Jeffords defection and subsequent brief Majority by 'keeping their powder dry' and caving into Bush's demands time and time again. I remember calls for changing the party name to Whig and party officials being referred to as Vichy Dems. Duers calling out our own is nothing new. The idea the the President should be immune from criticism here is surreal to me. In addition, the notion that those of us who advocate for Single Payer or at least the Public Option, marriage equality, progressive taxation and stand for our principles, you know, the things that make us who we are (which is now an apparent character flaw), are somehow radical far leftists (think Sandinistas) is also surreal. For a while I thought we were ready to fight back instead of keeping our powder dry, but now it seems like we're just giving our powder away.

[JackRiddler]

21. Excellent. Thank you. Only one thing...

I am a Sandinista. At least, I know I would have been had I been a Nicaraguan, along with the rest of that country's overwhelming majority who made the revolution of 1979. (As I was elsewhere, my tiny dose of support came in attending demonstrations and helping with activist meetings against the US support for the Contras and the Central American death-squad dictatorships.)

Nothing extreme about it.

[myrna minx]

22. Thank you for understanding the spirit of my post and that I didn't mean to offend.

While *we* both know this, those on this board who decry those of us would have settled for the public option as 'radical far leftists' have no idea what a leftist is. :hi:

[myrna minx]

23. Thank you for understanding the spirit of my post and that I didn't mean to offend.

While *we* both know this, those on this board who decry those of us would have settled for the public option as 'radical far leftists' have no idea what a leftist is. :hi:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

24. Holding public servants accountable is the resposibility of the citizenry.

No matter what party/faction they belong to.

[JackRiddler]

28. Yes.