And here's what he had to say about liberals:
CLOONEY:...I'm a liberal, you know. I believe in it.
KING: Is that what you are?
CLOONEY: Exactly. Well, listen people whisper that. They whisper it like you'd whisper Nazi now, you know. You'll go, yes you know I'm a liberal. I'm confused when that became a bad word, you know. Liberals thought (INAUDIBLE)...
KING: Well why is it a bad word. Liberals basically there's Social Security, Medicare, most Americans kind of favor those things.
CLOONEY: No, I know. It's interesting. I think what happened over a period of time probably in the late '80s when it became sort of a political tool to say, I mean liberals say they're not liberals, you know. Liberal Democrats say they're not liberals. I am not a liberal. Of course you're a liberal meaning that a great many of these people, the liberal movement morally, you know, has stood on the right side of an awful lot of issues.We thought that black should be allowed to sit at the front of the bus and women should be able to vote, McCarthy was wrong, Vietnam was a mistake. You know we haven't been always wrong.
Bravo! Liberalism is not a disease. Let's stop acting like it's the new scourge of the planet and take back the true meaning of the word and the philosophy. Are you a liberal hiding under the "progressive" banner? If so, why? Have you just given up and decided to "pass" like those who are ashamed of their identities? Haven't some of you had enough of that?
I'm not afraid to say I'm a liberal.
ReplyDeleteActually, most people who meet me are surprised at just how liberal my views are because of how noncombative and accepting I am of their thoughts and opinions, even if I disagree with them.
And that, I tell them, is exactly what being liberal really means.
He gave a great interview, I thought he handled the Abramoff section well, he has that sarcastic humor about him that lets him make a strong point without being aggressive.
ReplyDeleteHey E, when am I gonna see you over at my blog? ;-)
Heh, why ManEe, I never knew you were such a blog-whore :)
ReplyDeleteActually, that's a lie. Ha!
I stop in at your blog to read every few days, but I have been neglectful in commenting. I apologize and will work to correct the situation.
I think that part of it has to do with an unwillingness and or discomfort with simply being labeled at all.. no matter what the label. That's the case for my own part anyway. I don't like to think of myself as a liberal, conservative, moderate, or whatever. I'm just a human being that makes decisions the best way she can.
ReplyDeleteI personally ALLY with cause . if the group of people known as liberals serve the interests I feel are the right interests, the good ones, then I ally with them. If thos epeople step off the road that are wrong or just plain extremist then i have the right to step off before I go over the cliff. That's why i dont call myself republican or democrat.
The problem we have lately is that one group is acting as if the labels do make the person. I can simply say "I'm pro-choice and I believe in social security" and someone can villify me by calling me a liberal (see page 40 in the Encyclopedia of UnHoly Demons) . No more time is wasted in finding out that I'm conservative is some ways (a belief in family, in traditional cultural values) and no more argument is frittered away by finding out just how malleable terms are. If your a liberal your damned.
Thanks to The Alberta Liberal Blog for linking to my George Clooney post. Now, go and visit them too! :)
ReplyDeletesyniel, I'm with you on the labels issue. I've made the list of labels applied to me and my life by society many times and I know that not one of them describes fully who I am or what I believe in completely. We're much more complicated than that.
ReplyDeleteWhat bothers me, after spending a lot of time on American left-wing blogs, is this surrender to the right when the term "liberal" is used. We can't allow anyone to define it for us - not a Republican, a Democrat or anyone else who may choose to disparage liberalism. Many who now call themselves "progressives" are simply liberals who have given up because it's easier that way.
I have a suspicion that Kos's upcoming book, "Crashing the Gates", will simply be full of liberal ideology relabeled as progressive to suit a new generation and a new breed of people of all ages who'd rather not fight for their true liberal identities. That's unfortunate.
Identifying myself as a Canadian, small "l" liberal, I'm saying that I embrace policies and ideas from all of our left-wing parties: the New Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals. I can choose what works for me and support different parties.
In the US, your choices are more limited and strategy in these closely divided times becomes paramount since the Democrats are basically your only hope. Fixing the machine, however, is a huge task. I don't know that the progressive label is going to get any further than Ralph Nader's efforts. The man has great ideas, but he can't grab power because of your structure. But, that's another discussion - the ability of the grassroots to effect big changes.
Maybe I should have written this as a post. :) I will be writing more about what it means to be a liberal though.
/end of rambling
I think KOS' definition of liberal is really what people used to call moderate. I guess that's really proving your point because the right has been so successful in villfiying the left.. so many peopel callign themselves areleft are really what used to be right.. just not so right.
ReplyDeleteKos is focused on one thing only - winning elections. That's fine, but what he doesn't seem to grasp is that you need all of those pesky blocks of voters ie. women, African-Americans, Latinos etc. to make that happen. He thinks money is everything. If he studied history, however, he'd clearly see that he with the most bucks does not always win. It's about issues and plans to deal with those issues.
ReplyDeleteAs has happened before in Canada, the Dems will be left partially impotent if they regain power because Bushco has so decimated the government coffers. What is it with these so-called fiscal conservatives that they keep relying on the liberals of the world to fix their enormous mistakes?
Maybe it's because we actually know how to set things right and they just don't get it.