However, at the moment I don’t feel conquered. A bit tired, but not conquered.
Speaking of wars — history tells us that at the end of the first day of the Battle of Shiloh, Confederate General Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard telegraphed Richmond that he had won “a complete victory.” History also tells us that Union General William Tecumseh Sherman also assumed the Confederates had won. He sought out his commanding officer, General Ulysses S. Grant, to receive his orders for retreat.
Sherman found Grant hunkered under a tree, in the rain, smoking a cigar. “Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?” Sherman said. And Grant, after another puff of the cigar, said, “Yes. Lick ’em tomorrow, though.” There would be no retreat.
The next day Union troops routed the Confederates and won the day, and the battle. Beauregard’s premature assumption of victory haunted the rest of his military career. Although, truth be told, his association with the Confederacy ended up being a worse career move.
I always think of General Beauregard whenever people declare victory a bit prematurely. At the Village Voice, Roy Edroso describes rightbloggers taking virtual victory laps and even performing psychological post-mortems on the conquered Left.
[Rosen’s] comments are a symptom of an underlying intolerance for values that exist outside pockets of liberal majority,” claimed Right Speak. That is, they represent (deep breath) “the mindset that traditional, conservative culture is bad as it exists outside the two coasts and other liberal centers of thought, such as higher education, it is dangerous, because the more it is allowed to be considered as mainstream, the more acceptable it will seem to all when legislation is passed one step at a time that eliminates and erodes many of the values the rest of the country holds.”
“I feel the left is riddled with insecurity,” explained AJ Strata. “They are intimidated by the rich, the powerful (see our military), the successful (another form of rich), and the happy. They thrive on sustaining the moment they revolted from parental oppression (be it religion, sexual orientation, taste in clothes, whatever). Why they even consider having or raising kids is beyond me. Maybe it is more of that lashing out and trying to prove they were right when they went full anarchist to leave the nest.” Whoever would imagine there were enough such people to elect a President? America must be in a very grave state.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Mittens is calling Hilary Rosen’s remarks an “early birthday present.” So far, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Mittens have told us why Mrs. Mittens has been deprived of the “Dignity of Work.”
It may be a few days before we know if the “mommy war” flap put any dent in the gender gap working against Mittens, or if the rightbloggers are pulling a General Beauregard. But if things work out the way I suspect they will, I have some advice for them:
Well, since Ann liked working at home so much, we can give her a LATE birthday present, and send her there permanently in November!
Don’t think victory will be easy.
They keep reminding us, “There’s no place like home…”
Now is the time to organize and work, and send Mitt, his wife, his 5 rich sons, and as many of the Congressional R’s at we can, home in November – and see how they like it then.
Wow, that pop psychology from AJ Strata is quite something… particularly for the amount of projection that seems contained within. The Left are the ones obsessed with ‘parental oppression’? Uh-hunh. Sure.
It seems like, having previously developed the ability to gin up controversies base on their own reality, they’ve now moved on to patting themselves on the back for coming out on the right side of controversies that took place entirely in their own realities, and doing victory dances on completely imaginary triumphs over completely imaginary controversies.
Maybe I’m in need of more coffee. I fail to see how “we honor mommy-hood” tactics– ham handedly concocted to divert attention from the Republican Party’s anti-women’s rights and anti-family planning legislation–will be a winner for them. Not when Dems (with a little tinkering) can tie this right back to the war on women.
Something along the lines of: Republicans love mothers so much, they want to eliminate family planning to ensure that all woman, regardless of whether they wish to or not, will experience the joys of giving birth to lots and lots of children.
Yeah, I know that wasn’t the best example. More coffee . . .
Biggerbox, methinks you nailed it.
GOP POV:
We want you mothers on welfare to work, so you can have dignity.
And we want you to have more than just simple dignity – you’ll probably need 2, 3, or 4 places to work, to make sure you don’t suffer from a “dignity” deficit. We don’t want to encourage sloth, you know – it’s one of the 7 Deadly Sins.
Why do I have the gut feeling that this is all a game to these Republicans? That the only group who takes these problems seriously is the Democrats? (Which is why I identify with the latter political party, no matter how lame their efforts seem.)
Lynne,
It IS all a game to them. And all they care about is winning – consequences, be damned!
In the words of the dead, but immortal, Al Davis: “Just WIN, baby!”
I know it might seem or even be lame, or appear as a desperate attempt to link something negative yet unrelated…But I see a similarity, or some spiritual connection to the expression Dignity of work and the expression Arbeit macht frei. I think it has something to do with finding the path of virtue through labor, but for whatever reason, I sense using the term ‘dignity of work” as Romney uses it as sinister and negative.
Maybe I’m just looking to find fault in Mitt’s flawless character?
The whole thing reminds me of the chicken and the chicken hawk in the cartoon. The chicken hawk bites the chicken’s feathers then declares victory over the chicken who shakes him off and says, “Get away, kid, you’re bothering me.”
Why do I have the gut feeling that this is all a game to these Republicans?
Lynne, because it is.
The dignity from work doesn’t come from the work itself.
Dignity comes from being sufficiently paid for a job done. And it means being able to feed and clothe yourself and your family, to have adequate and secure shelter, and some semblance of a social life.
That’s the bare minimum for dignity, related to working.
Dignity ain’t gonna come from some BS minimum-wage job, or two, or three.
Dignity, comes from adequate pay for the work performed.
And it’s not the workers that need lectures on dignity – it’s the owners and corporations who don’t pay dignified wages!
“I always think of General Beauregard whenever people declare victory a bit prematurely”
I always think of “Mission Accomplished” especially when it comes from the republicant party. The wing-nuts / chickenhawks are not interested in fighting wars be they shooting or just rhetorical. They much prefer starting war then declaring victory, the actual fighting well that’s for help!
Is it just me, or did Mitt say, in January, that his wife had/has no dignity…
More coffee for all!
I’m finding it hard to wrap my head around how they think this could score any points with women, especially in the year of the Komen scandal, the womens’ healthcare coverage scandal, and the ever popular transvagin4l ultrasound. Not to mention Walker’s (Wisconsin) deprecation of equal pay for equal work. Maybe poverty enhances dignity– again a big loss for Ann Romney (with a bow to Dan above).
The Republican war on women won’t be stopped until all those state bills regulating our uteruses are repealed. Words don’t end a war if the actions are still occurring. However, the left will be stupid if they let the right stop the war by stopping any more information getting out to the women. Arizona just passed a bill that a woman is considered pregnant from the day of her last period. That means a woman will be pregnant for three weeks of every month for the rest of the years she has a period. If this makes sense to anyone, please let me know how.
In terms of sports analogies, I think the wingnuts have gotten so desperate for anything that lets them feel good about themselves that they’ve come to confuse scoring with winning. I’m not even convinced that Rosen’s comments are the own goal the wingnuts think they are, but for the sake of argument let’s say they won a couple of points there. If the War on Women was a basketball game, what they’re doing no is equivalent to throwing yourself a parade because you sank a free throw even though you’re down by 38 points with two minutes left on the clock.
Bonnie..I can explain it to you..but first you have to put on a tin foil hat (the helmet of salvation) to filter out any distractions to my explanation because it’s a very complex concept and it needs your undivided attention.
Let’s face it: she misspoke. 40 years ago, that misspeaking was cause for clarifying conversation; today it is pure political flummery.
Thanks for the offer for an explanation, Swami; but, my tin foil hat is out being cleaned. I will let you know when or if I get it back.