At Long Last, Have You Left No Sense of Decency?

March 15, 2006 11:10 AM

When students fail, and citizens are not allowed, to protest, maybe only actors can say what needs to be said. [WMV link here].
posted by dash_slot- (31 comments total)

It's a little choppy at the moment, this video link, but they promise a better one soon.
posted by dash_slot- at 11:11 AM on March 15, 2006

Clooney-Spader 2008 then? Good luck.
posted by Witty at 11:15 AM on March 15, 2006

Why in the name of sweet hopping mad kangaroo jesus aren't Democrats getting up in Congress and the Senate and in news conferences and saying this? Each one in turn, one after another, daily, until finally the general public takes notice?

Why are Demortats collaborating by offering tacit approval with their silence?
posted by fleetmouse at 11:26 AM on March 15, 2006

*Democrats, though perhaps my subconscious was trying to write DemoRats
posted by fleetmouse at 11:27 AM on March 15, 2006

What I've been on about. The next step is us - the citizens - depriving the executive access to the treasury. As is our right.
posted by tkchrist at 11:36 AM on March 15, 2006

Because the majority of Demoncrats have safe seats and the prospect of cushy lobbying jobs when they finally do leave office.

The Democrat law-makers are members of the oligarchy, albeit junior members. As long as they continue to play the cynical game, they have every expectation of continuing to prosper persoanlly, regardless of what happens to the country.

The political class are the First-class passengers on the Titantic; they know that so long as they can stay in First Class, they'll be the first into the lifeboats when the ship sinks. Risking explusion into Third Class, even to save the whole ship, isn't a rational or self-interested move.

Rocking the boat would only result in their being Swift Boated and possibly voted out of office.
posted by orthogonality at 11:37 AM on March 15, 2006

For that to be witty, shouldn't it be 'Clooney-Spader 2008 then? Goodnight & Good luck.' ?
posted by dash_slot- at 11:41 AM on March 15, 2006

What the hell was up with that cut? Those weird zooms, the miscutting on the action - it's like it was an editor's rough cut that never made it to air. Though there is the little ABC icon in the corner.

Just to verify: did this actually air on television?
posted by billysumday at 11:45 AM on March 15, 2006

great rant and dead on...but clooney-spader? i have no idea what spader's politics are like. uhm clooney actually made his remarks, as opposed to, you know, a character on a t.v. show.
posted by chupacabra at 11:48 AM on March 15, 2006

Rocking the boat would only result in their being Swift Boated and possibly voted out of office.

Is that like being Rathered?

BTW, submitter has a leak in his comma tank. Should get that checked out.
posted by HTuttle at 11:51 AM on March 15, 2006

As if that really matters.
posted by Witty at 11:52 AM on March 15, 2006

Woah, Max Headroom flashback.
posted by schoolgirl report at 11:55 AM on March 15, 2006

Man, Spader's gettin' fat. Ducky would be pleased.
posted by NationalKato at 11:57 AM on March 15, 2006

Another slice of fiction speaking uop for the majority of Americans can be found on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, apparently.

The brutal beating murder of a female Secret Service agent in her home has Detectives Logan (Christopher Noth) and Barek (Annabella Sciorra) sniffing around the many clients of her husband Jay (guest star David Alan Bashche), a well-connected lobbyist who is working both for and against an unpopular tribal Indian gaming casino on Long Island. But the detectives want to know why the victim's husband hid their laptop and shredded files soon after discovering her body -- and his curious dealings with a slippery congressman widen the police investigation to include more hidden crimes.

9pm 2006-03-19, apparently.

Almost makes me want to start watching glossy expensive American imports on my telly, so it does.

HTuttle: I do believe my commas are all in order, sir. This ain't the place for me to cite any sources, though, so we may have to agree to differ.
posted by dash_slot- at 11:58 AM on March 15, 2006

Ah yes, that was a very well written episode last night. Spaders delivery was both rousing and sentimental at the same time. I actually was commenting to my sig-oth after watching it that I'm curious to know who the writers were for that particular episode. They certainly had the rhetoric and activist mentality down. Almost as good as a Jesse Jackson speech, or maybe even something Dean would get down to. Of course, the main problem was that it was television and not, you know, the floor of the Senate or something useful. Though the nice part was the way the whole trial turned out in the end. His client was found guilty but sentence to a $1000 fine and a suspended 6 month prison term. Pretty cool actually, since basically it means his grandstanding speach did a) nothing, b) was in the wrong venue to do anything, and c) was only interesting as entertainment.

I will admit, yes, the rhetoric and subject matter was great. Calling out the adminsitration on it's sins and wrong doing, talkng about protest and activism. In a criminal court. For tax evasion. In front of a judge, the prosecutor, and 12 jury members. No press. Basically, the judge kept yelling to stop with the jibber-jabber. And the judge was right.

I think the real message of that episode was much better. Choose your battles, kids. Screaming about things does about as much as, well, a well written fictional television program.
posted by daq at 12:00 PM on March 15, 2006

First Class - The only true political party
posted by Dareos at 12:07 PM on March 15, 2006

And I thought this was going to be a link to Team America: World Police.
posted by LarryC at 12:12 PM on March 15, 2006

Isn't it strange that a TV soap is more clear on the issues than the (US) mainstream media? Or not strange anymore, just sad.
posted by keijo at 12:21 PM on March 15, 2006

.
posted by Balisong at 12:29 PM on March 15, 2006

Meanwhile, Censure Resolution goes to Judiciary Committee; Democrats turn on Feingold.
posted by homunculus at 12:32 PM on March 15, 2006

Great speech - no doubt.

Like 'The West Wing' the democrats ideals and hope are only acted out in fiction - in reality the party has become a clone of the GOP. Call it GOP light.

This segment like so many liberal blogs are just words - there are no people, no dem politicians to back it up. There is no grass roots movement to backup the ideas on the street.

Political blogging is mostly mental masturbation, it won't change anything. No matter how stupid the things were the GOP / Bush did, no matter how angry the Blogs howled ... nothing chaged. The so called american public just didn't care enough to lift their fat asses.

The Dems are lost 60's peacenik - they still wait for the marches of the past to happen, they still wait for americas concious to wake up and speak. And they will be waiting forever ... the current generation is dumb and numb, they don't lift a finger.

Most of all: America is ruled by the think tanks, politcal pork, military needs and corporate wellfare. Eisenhowers warnings about the military industrial complex have long come true. And the culture of fear is so deeply rooted in american society since communism that is responds well to any triggers and events.

Even when the democrats win a few seats or even the presidency in the next elections - the system will stay in place. There will hardly any american bases be closed, the outsourcing will continue, the middle class will be further thinned out and the political discussions will still be limited to gay marriage or any other superficial 'value'

America isn't addicted to oil. It's addicted to fear and preventive imperialism in the name of security and corporations.

Amen!
posted by homodigitalis at 12:51 PM on March 15, 2006

Political blogging is mostly mental masturbation, it won't change anything.

Commenting on political blogs, though? Whoo! Way to make a difference!
posted by S.C. at 12:57 PM on March 15, 2006

Commenting on political blogs, though? Whoo! Way to make a difference!

Not my country. I am just commenting from a distance. I am a bloody foreigner to the US of A.

It's always a nice rhetorical device to criticize the critic, but also that won't change anything.

You are a good wanker Sir / Madam!!!
posted by homodigitalis at 1:01 PM on March 15, 2006

Better version [embedded QT]
Torrent search
posted by kika at 1:09 PM on March 15, 2006

Metafilter: WANKING
posted by delmoi at 1:09 PM on March 15, 2006

Wanking
posted by Balisong at 1:52 PM on March 15, 2006

Jeez, that's a speech worthy of the Senate floor.

That's a speech worthy of America.
posted by darkstar at 6:09 PM on March 15, 2006

So who are the politcal bloggers running for office? Why do we keep waiting for some rich guy to actually start giving a shit about us?
posted by betaray at 7:44 PM on March 15, 2006

A few Democrats, notably Howard Dean, have been speaking up. For the most part, Americans don't want to listen to bad news. The Democrats need to come up with a positive message about what they will do, not what they won't do.
posted by theora55 at 6:20 AM on March 16, 2006

First poll - Americans support Censure Resolution
posted by homunculus at 1:23 PM on March 16, 2006

Key figures from that poll:

* 46% of Americans favor censuring President Bush "for authorizing wiretaps of Americans within the United States without obtaining court orders," while 44% oppose the move

* 42% of Americans favor Bush's impeachment by the House of Representatives, while 49% oppose it

*Even 29% of Republicans favor censure, and 18% of Republicans favor impeachment
posted by darkstar at 1:40 PM on March 16, 2006