I agree with everything you said Guest 1:45, up to this statement of yours: "The plus side is, Bush is so bad that the opposition has been mobilized."

I disagree very strongly with that statement. The Democratic party and the Kerry campaign very effectively marginalized the true progressive opposition movement to Bush/Cheney this year. They very effectively took all the wind out of the sails of the international peace movement. They demonized anyone involved in the progressive left movements in the US who refused to endorse Kerry, though there weren't very many of them even. The acquiesence and capitulation strategy among the progressive left won the day among all but a small, handful of leftists, most of whom didn't hold out just with Nader, but tried to hold out as Greens, though most were just utterly demoralized, so put their heads down, kept working, and withheld support from the Democratic party by not organizing for them and not voting at all.

There is a very small core vanguard movement on the progressive left that held out and didn't acquiesce and capitulate to the Democratic party lesser of two evils strategy, but the Democratic party establishment is in no mood to hear from them. Pulling the progressives back to their deep grass roots isn't going to be easy, or even necessarily quick. We are going to have to fight the Democratic party even harder than we are going to have to fight the Republicans.

The one bright, shining moment this morning for me was the realization that the American progressive left that DID stand strong and hold out against the Republicans AND Republicrats, pretty much have a majority backing among progressives around the world.

But we have quite the uphill battle in the US, because first we have to fight our way out of the state of capitulation funk the US progressive left has been in since Dean lost the primaries. Dean wasn't the best progressive leftist on the block, for sure. But he at least paid lip service to Wellstone's Democratic wing of the Democratic party line, and was clearly anti-war.

What we have now is just a horrific mess, and wounded, battle hardened old guard Democrats in their death thoes, who will go to any lengths to try and keep the progressive left from rising up and taking over the party now. It's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better, that's for sure.