[Marxism] Albert in Kerryland

["Tony Abdo" <gojack10@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I love Michael Albert's standard whiney, petulant Left Lib tomes.  I love
how he typically tends to not even heed his own advice... example here below
of how he endorses Kerry in POINT ONE of his views, while speaking out
against such an act in POINT THREE, and saying he can´t understand his
endorsement in POINT FIVE!

Michael goes on to say that he just thinks that the campaigning is dividing
the Left divisively, and why can't we all just respect each other and go
about our business as if there were basically no such thing as an 'election'
under way?  But then in POINT TWO he plugs away for Cobb over Nader!  Could
it be that he really resents Nader for allowing Camejo on board?

Nah, Michael's not like that, for sure.  He's the why can't we all be nice
to other ABB anarcho jefe.  He gets my vote for the most pedantic and
devious ABB Kerry endorsement of them all.  But that´s the type of politics
he´s good at.  Here´s Michael in his own words....

''''''''''''''''''''
In reply to queries, my (Michael Albert's) own views are:

(1) For Bush to lose will be a whole lot better than for Bush to win.
Holding one?s nose and voting for Kerry in contested states is a good thing
to do, though I can certainly understand third party votes, even in
contested states.

(2) It makes sense to run radical campaigns to build movement
infrastructure, raise consciousness, and push mainstream candidates left. To
these ends, I prefer Cobb to Nader because Cobb is about movement building
and Nader has demonstrated since 2000 that he is a poor movement builder.
Still, I can understand someone feeling differently.

(3) With hundreds of millions of dollars going to the campaign, and with
every notable commentator left of Attila the Hun (stay tuned for imminent
outpourings from Hollywood and Rock and Roll) helping Kerry, the idea that
endorsements from serious leftists are going to somehow make a meaningful
difference on Kerry?s behalf, seems preposterous to me. In fact, the
benefits to Kerry of aggressive left support seem so minuscule (if they are
even positive) as to make it politically inefficient for people well left of
Kerry to move their attention away from long term priority activities toward
his campaign.

(4) Indeed, it may even be electoral suicidal to put aside long term work
since the deciding factor in the election will likely be elites? perceptions
of the probability that Bush can function without disastrous movement and
international response and derivative destabilization. Leftists setting
aside our antiwar and other activities will diminish rather than increase
elite fears. Instead of boosting Kerry we need to provide visible signs that
militant opposition is growing.

(5) In any event, a self-proclaimed leftist relating to the campaign in a
way that implies that Kerry  or Clinton or Gore were or are good guys, and
that considers any of these Democrats honest much less exemplary, and that
fails to reiterate the ills of the Democratic Party, of our system of
government, and of capitalism, is something I cannot understand.

http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=5949&sectionID=33

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