Elites' Democratic Days Are Numbered

Elites' Democratic Days Are Numbered

Saturday 14 August 2010

by: David Sirota, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed



Call me an '80s junkie, but when I saw the results of this week's closely watched Colorado election, I immediately thought of "Spaceballs." In that Mel Brooks masterpiece, a Darth Vader spoof named Dark Helmet says "evil will always triumph because good is dumb." Make it "dumb and broke," and you have a powerful explanation for incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet's narrow victory over former state legislator Andrew Romanoff (D).

In just the 20 months since being appointed to fill the vacated Senate seat of now-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Bennet became one of Congress' top recipients of corporate cash. A wealthy businessman who had never held elected office before, he ultimately raised and spent almost $6 million on his campaign -- more than any primary candidate in the history of Colorado. He was additionally aided by the Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America's phone-banking, by President Obama's full-throated endorsement and by the built-in advantages that come with a taxpayer-financed Senate office.

Romanoff, by contrast, swore off special-interest money from the beginning. As a former state House Speaker with a deep grassroots network throughout Colorado, he constructed a scrappy campaign on less than $2 million of mostly small-dollar, in-state contributions. In the relatively few ads he was able to afford, he juxtaposed his own progressive economic platform with Bennet's odious Senate votes to protect the big banks, oil firms and health insurance companies that Americans despise and that financed Bennet's campaign.

Alas, it wasn't enough. The Bennet campaign's ads obscured the incumbent's true record, and because those ads were backed with so much money, Romanoff's spots were like a pin dropping at a Metallica concert, and the challenger lost.

So it's true -- this particular political contest, like so many others, can indeed be summed up by paraphrasing Dark Helmet and noting that malevolent forces triumph because good is dumb and broke. The simple fact is, in elections across the country, many well-intentioned voters remain ill informed and many principled candidates are still too underfinanced to mount a winning campaign.

However, the longer view tells a different story -- one that may foreshadow the end of this "Spaceballs" axiom in the future.

Considering Bennet's wealth, corporate fundraising, incumbency and presidential support, it is astounding that a whopping 46 percent of this bellwether state's Democratic voters cast their ballots against him, against their own party's establishment and against their own party's president.

For those who care about a progressive economic agenda and about injecting democracy into the Democratic Party, this is encouraging when put next to the similarly impressive results of White House-thwarting Democratic primary challengers in Pennsylvania and Arkansas. And that trend explains the increasingly fierce pushback from Washington.

Yes, this is why President Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, so vociferously berated the progressive movement on the eve of Colorado's primary, and why DNC powerbrokers moved so forcefully against Romanoff. He was the latest candidate to represent what those elites know to be an ascendant national progressive uprising inside the Democratic Party -- one that keenly understands money's corrosive effects on public policy and that, therefore, rejects the Beltway's corporatist model.

Seeing that this uprising threatens their power and their D.C. worldview, these elites are desperate to preserve Dark Helmet's principle -- so desperate, in fact, they have resorted to employing Obama's presidential campaign infrastructure to prop up more conservative candidates against progressive challengers in intra-party battles.

This unholy alliance managed to hold off the onslaught this time. But make no mistake -- Colorado is yet more evidence that the days of "Spaceballs" defining the Democratic Party are ending.

David Sirota is the author of the best-selling books "Hostile Takeover" and "The Uprising." He hosts the morning show on AM760 in Colorado and blogs at OpenLeft.com. E-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com or follow him on Twitter @davidsirota.

Copyright Creators.com

All republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by permission or license. http://www.truth-out.org/primaries-show-elites-democratic-days-are-...

Views: 35

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by CHUCK W. on August 15, 2010 at 1:25am
well reid may just pull it off@!
Comment by CHUCK W. on August 15, 2010 at 1:11am
byron, do they use electronic voting machines in nevada?
Comment by CHUCK W. on August 14, 2010 at 2:46pm
Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism as it is a merger of state and corporate power ~ Benito Mussolini

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega commented on Burbia's video
Thumbnail

InfoWars reporter Jamie White ‘brutally murdered’ near Austin residential area, outlet says

"We're supposed to be conditioned to accept this kind of shit! That the government will have…"
3 hours ago
Doc Vega posted blog posts
5 hours ago
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Disturbing Aspect of the Patterson Gimlin Film
"Thanks for your support Les Prone!"
6 hours ago
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post What Would Have Happened to the US Had Harris Been Elected?
"Les Prone-no shit Dude absolutely frightening! "
6 hours ago
Burbia commented on Burbia's video
Thumbnail

InfoWars reporter Jamie White ‘brutally murdered’ near Austin residential area, outlet says

"Yeah, when his company was being auctioned off, why wasn't the starting bid 100 million?"
8 hours ago
tjdavis's blog post was featured
9 hours ago
Doc Vega's 5 blog posts were featured
9 hours ago
cheeki kea's blog post was featured
9 hours ago
Less Prone commented on Doc Vega's blog post What Would Have Happened to the US Had Harris Been Elected?
"It's too terrible to even contemplate. Kamala the president of the USA."
9 hours ago
GeneralCarlosQ17's blog post was featured

Reuters was paid millions of dollars by the US government for “large scale social deception”

Reuters was paid millions of dollars by the US government for “large scale social deception”. That…See More
9 hours ago
Burbia's blog post was featured
9 hours ago
Less Prone commented on tjdavis's blog post The Strobe Method
"Sound like another CIA project."
9 hours ago
Less Prone favorited rlionhearted_3's photo
10 hours ago
Less Prone commented on rlionhearted_3's photo
Thumbnail

On the beach in Ireland!!!

"It kind of makes sense, on the beach. Maximizing the sun tan surface area. But is it worth it?"
10 hours ago
Less Prone favorited Doc Vega's blog post Disturbing Aspect of the Patterson Gimlin Film
10 hours ago
cheeki kea commented on tjdavis's video
Thumbnail

Route 91: Uncovering the Cover Up

"Video not always showing on you tube according to comment section. I can't see it anyways but…"
yesterday
tjdavis posted a blog post
yesterday
Doc Vega favorited Burbia's video
yesterday
Doc Vega commented on Burbia's video
Thumbnail

InfoWars reporter Jamie White ‘brutally murdered’ near Austin residential area, outlet says

"Gosh do you think the Deep State was sending Alex a message? These bastards!"
yesterday
Doc Vega commented on tjdavis's video
Thumbnail

Route 91: Uncovering the Cover Up

"The lying bastards never covered one aspect of the shooter who was in bad health and couldn't…"
yesterday

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted