I have two issues with Alterman's column. "Media cowed by its transparent tactics." I do not share this view. The mainstream media, when not promoting Republican disinformation, is engaged in self-censorship. One needs only look at the recent incident in the Straits of Hormuz. Only days later did they even attempt to tell the real story, though such an event could have started another war. The Main Stream Media is part and parcel of the Military Industrial Congessional Complex.

Eric's portrayal of Obama as a liberal I think is over the top. Obama's stand on issues such as the military, the economy and foreign policy are decidely Blue Dog, DLC. Barack wants to expand the military, is backed by the financial establishment, never qusetions the tenents of "free trade," and with Bresinkski as a foreign policy advisor, very imperialistic.

So as I agree with Eric that performing a little ju-jitsu with the terms conservative and liberal could work, I wouldn't expect the Main Stream Media to capitulate or Barack Obama to participate in the redemption of the word "liberal."

Michael McKinlay

Hercules, CA

Isn't a progressive the new liberal? After all, there is a strong, avid progressive movement right now.

Nicholas Rosen

Great Falls, VA

I concur with Mr. Alterman's essential points--America is more "liberal" than given credit for, and Americans too often allow "conservatives" to define not only the debate, but the mere reasons for "liberals' " existence in the first place.

Still, the whiny sentimentalism of Mr. Alterman--per norm with "liberals," oh, for the last twenty-five years at least--is of course immature, pedantic and wholly unnecessary. It is not conservatives' fault the post-WW II Democratic Party--and by extension "liberalism" in general--is the single biggest failure of a political opposition party not only in the history of this country but most likely in the history of politics anywhere at anytime. Their kowtowing to and bending over for the Republican establishment, the US National Security apparatus and the politics of American empire doesn't prove how mean, cruel and politically irresponsible "conservatives" are but what spineless bastards "liberals" have been all along. "Liberals," as Mr. Alterman well knows, deserve nothing but our contempt... if you are, for example, simply going to go by their track record.

Mr. Alterman wants us to believe this is a new day, a new era of "hope" and "change." I share in this dream and vision. I'm not stupid however, nor have I forgotten the past sixty-two years of American political history. I know where blame lies in this country, and simply--boo-hoo-hoo--laying it at the feet of those big, bad Republicans has always been a loser's game, at which, of course, the Democrats are experts. One would think an honest political commentator at this stage of the game could or would be clear on that.

Mr. Alterman and I share a love of that great "liberal" working-class (anti-)hero, Bruce Springsteen. As Mr. Alterman well knows, Bruce doesn't ask for freebies on the way to the bank, mealy-mouth his radical politics or cry & whimper for all to witness on the pages of The Nation. No, Bruce rocks the house no matter who the back-benchers are, takes no (political) prisoners of any stripe and doesn't ask for sentimental charity from do-gooders who feel injured by those mean ol' right wing fruitcakes. Mr. Alterman should go back and read the pages of his own book. Instead of moaning about these poor Badlands we all have to survive in, hunted down like so many Magic Rats deep into the American fascist night, we get to believe (and live!) in the Promised Land just like conservatives do. Who'd athunk. Yea, it's gonna be a long walk home but we already knew that. The Reason to Believe is not that the other guys are bad, but that your crew is... not only good, but the best. So it goes and hopefully shall be. Until then Mr. Alterman seems to need to be reminded that this is Radio Nowhere--life remains in the balance all across the land and indeed, the globe--and trying to whine one's way to the top really doesn't serve anybody's interests in the end--most of all for "liberals," or even more importantly, "the people." Whether "the Republicans" are calling you names or not is irrelevant. All that matters is The Rising, the freedom and promise of Candy's Room, and the fact that This Land is Your Land, just like it's Their Land. It's Our Land. We all get to live it every day.

I realize Mr. Alterman and agree on the basic premise: that liberals don't need to take grief from anyone. Hasn't that always been the point? In the meantime, by relentlessly defining the struggle against those dark forces out there, rather than simply in what we can do for this country as the forces of light, well... Spanish Johnny was once caught in-between as well. Puerto Rican Jane, in all her rock & roll female majesty, could only muster the following words when confronted with Johnny's dramatic emotional confusion, which seem to mimic my own towards Mr. Alterman in these, no doubt his halcyon days: "Johnny don't cry." Let's save the whimpering for some other apocalyptic bang I'm sure we're all trying to avoid--in fact, let's save it for all those sweet, well-meaning, earnest citizen-chickens. I myself believe they're all about to come home to roost. The price has been paid. Redemption isn't about beating the other guy but reclaiming your own dignity, your own honor, your own highest self. Really, there's no other way it could be and why, in the end, would we want it to be? We wouldn't, nor do we.

I realize Alterman means nothing but well. All the best. Peace.

S. Debs

San Diego, CA