Until a few minutes ago, the consensus advice to Democrats from the elite political class was this: Stick to the center. If you cater to your base in the primaries, it'll kill you in the general. If you run against torture, you will eat the Republicans' exhaust. If you're anti-Petraeus, you might as well be McGovern, and you'll be beaten just as badly. If you're soft on Iran, you might as well be Dukakis in a tank. If you want single-payer health insurance, you might as well be Mondale raising taxes. If you run against global warming, working people whose jobs depend on pollution will desert you in droves. Don't be shrill; Americans want to end the bickering. Change is good, but not radical change. Cautious boldness -- that's the ticket.
What a difference a poll makes. I just heard NBC News political director, Chuck Todd, read the tea leaves of the new Rupert Murdoch/General Electric -- oops, I mean Wall Street Journal/NBC -- poll. Turns out that so many Americans are so pissed off at the current crop of policies and politicians and parties that, sez Todd, there may be an opening in '08 for a third party candidate-- not a bipartisan prince of pabulum, but a non-whackball Ross Perot with a throw-the-bums out-message.
So say ta-ta to triangulation, Hillary. Scrap that pox-on-boomer-era-culture-wars, Barack. Candidates, if you want to connect with voters, take a page from the passion of Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul and John Edwards. Listen to the likes of Russ Feingold and Bernie Sanders and yes, Al Gore. All of a sudden, yesterday's suicide strategy is today's genius gambit. Who would've thunk it?
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elected them, wow what a novel idea!
The GOP tried to impeach Clinton 1, first with a real estate smear, failing that they found Monica. Now they are rushing to impeach Clinton 2, as a flip flopper, shrill, tied to special interests. They have gone after John Edwards as a guy with an expensive hypocritical haircut, and as a greedy trial lawyer. They will hit Obama with veiled racism and smear him with his inexperience. They are smearing Spitzer for wanting to issue driver's licenses to illegals, and after Corzine for private emails. Remember how they detroyed Kerry's heroism and made Howard Dean look foolish on television? And remember how they with partisan reflex went to the mats over the Betrayus ad?
They have a hit-list and a plan, and they do it with unanimity, no questions asked. They don't care if this week's swift-boat myth is true. If one thing doesn't work, they will find another. In short, they will stop at NOTHING to destroy the reputations, morale, and goals of any visible Democrat. They do not necessarily have a plan for the United States; They do have a plan to hold on to power.
If the Democrats continue to behave like naive children, we will be steamrolled into the ground. We need to come out of denial and start acting like the grownups and patriots that we are. The GOP have designed that we splinter and weaken. They will attack and attack. We need to unify and not cannibalize our ourselves.
If the Democratic leadership fails to factor this real set of real circumstances, we will be handed Presidential election results that will be unfathomable and brutal.
The only candidate the Democrats could run for President for whom I'd get out and work my butt off ... would be Al Gore. And that's precisely because the Democratic Party (read the white boys from the DLC) needs him so very much more than he needs the Democratic Party.
Pacs are killing this land of ours when china has more access to our congressmen and African lobbist get money for aids that should go to New York or Florida or any of the 50 states with poor who can't afford medicine. Call me nationilst but I want tax dollars for this part of the empire before we take care of our colonist...
Good luck to yall who are blind and still believe this is a Democracy ..Need money for access and unless you have that and I mean alot of it .. Republicans are owned by the insurance companys Democrats the Trial Lawyers and both are owned by international Business the real arguement is what color they want the drapes not anything of substance.
Power is an intresting thing and it is amazing to see how far great people will bend to maintain it ...
American politics has yet to produce a successful national third-party candidate and that may be a good thing, if one is opposed to radical change.
Since the time large, unified business interests began to dominate the financing of politics and politicians, non-traditional candidates haven't been able to attract the raw resources required for successful national campaigns.
There are probably more than a few reasons for this. One reason may be that business people tend to view as bad-for-business the sort of social upheaval often associated with non-traditional candidates that might accompany a sea-change in national politics.
Even though the gap between the public's desires and performance of their politicians is currently very wide and appears to be growing wider, it's probably not yet extreme enough to energize the kind of popular support a third-party alternative would require.
I could be wrong of course. I often am.
1) Verbally acknowledge that the public air ways are run by Republicans. The major stations came into existence owned by immigrant Democratic Liberals. Since the Reagan years the airways are owned by wealthy Business moguls, Republicans who make news slanted to favor Business. Why does it cost so much for candidates to get seen? Ask the Media who charge big bucks.
2) Opposing any religious teachings such as the murder of fetuses (abortion) or the New Testament biblical prohibition of homosexuality is suicide and should not be forwarded. I happen to believe that little appears in the Tanakh or O.T. about homosexuality. One reference is to the sons of Aaron or Priestly caste and a few statements by a shocked Paul. I believe it should not be a political issue at all. For the matter of Abortion, not only the Catholics and evangelicals oppose it, the Religious Jews oppose it. Only three things appear punishable by death in Torah: Incest, Murder and idolatry. Idolatry hasn't had someone killed since the 1st century, so scratch that one. The Democrats will never see the White House if they insist on defending freedom of choice for pregnant women. The only thing that may fly is the life of the mother issues.
3) Since President Johnson pushed Civil Rights in the South, the old conservative Southern Democrats have become Republicans. The industry and banking businesses that relocated to the South helped make that change less traumatic. I support Civil rights but not political preferences. Too many white working men have been passed over because of color or sex. Bad move. Push real equal opportunities and you may win some of those crusty segregationists back.
Remember the Democrats are color blind but not income blind. They want to level the playing field, not destroy the players. Democrats will always represent the majority of Americans when they stand up for the Middle class, whatever their color or sex, and stand up for religious values, including the ones not mentioned by a bias Media.
We must keep using our spam-ometers to recognize and call out the fakes & liars, even if it is a 3rd party.
Follow the money, and guage for truth as opposed to rhetoric, and truth by their record whomever is put forth, before you get behind the candidate.
The "triangulation" thing is just the process of putting something out there, seeing how the noise makers re-interpret it to their followers, then adjusting slightly to gain control over the message. Funny, when the dems are successful in making those adjustments, they are accused of being "calculating." They just can't catch a break.
This is why they should just take strong, principled action that cannot be distorted, instead of yak, yak, yakking and getting nothing done. Let's start by telling Bush to take-it-or-leave-it when facing the president’s impending veto on war funding. Now THAT would be meaningful!