Long Rant -- one problem with the Democratic party in Arizona
Maybe this doesn't belong here. Maybe it should go in the Arizona group because the problem may not exist elsewhere. Maybe this sort of thing only happens in Arizona, where the crazy is strong.
But even while we watch the other party mount a primary slate of wackadoodle loonies, are we doing any better ourselves?
Well, let me take that back. "Ourselves" implies that there's a "we" involved here, and "we" implies that "I" am part of the "we." I tried that this morning, and it didn't work.
I received an email invitation to an informal get-together of my local Democratic party. Since the time and location of the event and my erratic schedule actually coincided, I sent back an RSVP that I would be attending. I showed up at the appointed time, but had to figure out which group of people congregating at this public place were the Dems. They had no sign, no nothing, to distinguish themselves from any other group in the same place.
When I finally did locate the correct group, I introduced myself to the person who seemed to be in charge. He proved to be the same person to whom my RSVP had been addressed. He thanked me for coming and said it looked like they were going to have a good turn out.
For the next 95 or so minutes, various people talked about various issues and events. No one introduced themselves, with a couple of exceptions I'll get to in a minute. I was not asked to introduce myself. No one else spoke to me, other than the person who looked at the vacant chair next to me and asked, "Is anyone sitting here?" As people spoke on their particular topics -- ranging from monitoring the public speeches of our local wingnut sheriff to inviting people to attend a fundraiser featuring Bernie Sanders -- they did not mention their own names.
It became very clear that they all knew each other very well. I didn't know any of them, although eventually I figured out who one of them was (a local elected official). Whether any of them were party officials, I had no clue.
Two of the attendees were candidates for elective office; they were the only people who introduced themselves by name to the group. One, running for the state legislature, was collecting signatures on his nominating petitions. The Democratic Party, however, had failed to inform him that he could not collect any signatures from our group because we are not in the same county he is. The legislative district includes parts of two counties, but nominating petitions must be for one county only. He had printed all of his petitions with the other county name, and therefore they were invalid for our county.
The other was a candidate for county office. She had nominating petitions available, but never asked me to sign. She did not approach me to see if I lived her district and could vote for her. I might as well have been a bug on the sidewalk for all the notice she took of me.
Another woman spoke at length, again without identifying herself, and passionately begged people to visit her blog and write comments. She went on and on about the website where her blog is located, made a big point out of the fact that she was required to write as herself with a photo and bio and so on, BUT SHE NEVER MENTIONED HER OWN NAME. Again, apparently she just thought everyone knew her. I guess she didn't see the guest in the green jacket sitting directly across from her.
This woman also brought up the issue of early voting, and said she had brought the forms in case anyone wanted to sign up for permanent early voting. She gave details of the percentages of Democratic vs. puke early voters, and so I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to register for permanent early voting. After the meeting was over, I walked to the table where she was sitting and stood in front of her. But she had started talking to someone she apparently already knew, and even though both of them looked in my direction, she never paused in her conversation, never acknowledged my presence, nothing.
And so I left. I spoke to no one. No one spoke to me.
I came home and got online to see if I could find this woman's blog. Again, I had no idea what her name was, but if she had a picture of herself there, I felt confident I could pick her out. I did find her blog, and I noticed that her most recent post is two weeks old and even though she's a Democratic party official, her post is directed at Independents.
There I was, a good Democrat, hauling my warm body to a Democratic party event only to be snubbed by all the Democrats there, and when I go to a Democrat's blog, all she's interested in are fucking Independents?????
So --
1. I posted a brief and critical comment to their FB page.
2. I sent a longer and more critical email to the person who organized the meeting.
3. I posted a critical comment on the woman's blog.
ARE THEY ALL THIS LOONY, or is it just
Tansy Gold
= new reply since forum marked as read
I only ever hear from the Dem party every two years when they need a precient committeeperson, which I have been dutifully agreeing to for going on 15 years.
I guess they get more money from the National Party if they fill all the positions.
Otherwise, since I'm a single working mom and thier meetings are alway in the middle of the week in the middle of the day, I'm persona non grata.
Yup Yavapai County dems are old, rich and are not very welcoming to new comers, and since I've been a Yavapai County resident since 1993, I guess they still consider me a new comer
The husband and I were prct. committee folks, the husband was captain...for one year. The only thing they wanted us to do was to go door to door (I have health problems and work full-time, the husband is self-employed and busy). They didn't want to hear what we had to say, didn't want our ideas, when they would actually listen to an idea they'd come up with some stupid excuse why it wouldn't/couldn't work and then go back to planning their events at times when we weren't available.
If you actually live in Sedona, you're lucky. I live in your much redder, older, bigoted neighbor. Can you guess? 
He's co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
HE'S FROM ARIZONA.
sheesh.
I canvassed for Dean in Tucson in 2004. I was very impressed with those that fed us quite well and welcomed us Californians into their homes. Thank you Tucson awesome people! 
On the staleness of some of the local Democratic establishments; it's sad, and I've heard horror stories about even here in SoCal there is still some stuffiness.
The good thing is that Democracy for America is still active and kicking! 
The link in my signature will take you right to the DFA DU Group I've been putting together which covers a lot of what they've been doing for the last month and how to access resources.
Aloha
They seem to break whenever you modify your signature.
Works now.
Aloha.
I'm going to forward the link to one of the folks who writes for Blog for Arizona and I will also print out a copy and take it to Drinking Liberally Tucson tomorrow. We have GOT to do better than this!
A few months ago, Jim Hightower spoke at a kick off meeting in Tucson for Progressive Dems of America. One of his lines was about getting Dems to work together being like herding cats. His comment was that folks who say you can't herd cats have never heard of a can opener. Sounds like we need to start passing out can openers.
Sorry to hear about your experience. Glad you told the organizers about it and I will try to pass your experience along to a few of the right people. We simply HAVE to do better.
Seeing Jim Messina on a fundraising video outlining which swing state's they are going after makes me think it's being abandoned.
1. The 50 State Strategy is brilliant because it makes Republicans have to defend almost everywhere.
2. The 50 State Strategy doesn't just build a campaign for one election, but builds for the long-term across the entire ticket.
3. The 50 State Strategy doesn't tell broad swaths of the country that the Democratic Party isn't interested in their vote.
It's a perfect 
and greetings from Sedona
