In writing the platform, remember the words of Jim Hightower:

[Ken Burch]

"There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos".

[virtualobserver]

1. That should be the name for third wayers....yellow armadillo Democrats.

[JonLeibowitz]

2. We're going to need a new word anyway, since "Third Way" / "Corporate" are going to be verboten word

[Yurovsky]

32. Republicans?

Looks like they took a page out of the old CEO handbook - if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.

May FDR's party RIP.

[HumanityExperiment]

28. done!

Y.A.D.s...

well played!

[SheilaT]

3. Or, in the immortal words of James Boren

"When in doubt, mumble."

[Ken Burch]

5. I always wondered what Boren was saying.

Thanks for the clarification.

[SheilaT]

6. LOL!

I'm thinking he was the guy who handed out pencils with erasers at both ends.

[Fumesucker]

4. The Democratic party is being very diplomatic with Bernie

Diplomacy of course is the art of saying "nice doggy" while looking around for a big stick.

[msongs]

7. then again across the stripes in the left lane is yer headon colission nt

[Ken Burch]

9. Unless you're in the UK, of course. n/t.

[NBachers]

8. I think Jim Hightower should have a place in the next administration.

[pdsimdars]

20. Yes, put him up in that high tower.

[TexasBushwhacker]

43. He was Agriculture Commisioner

Make him the Secretary of Agriculture.

[ReRe]

10. Have you ever seen a dead armadillo...

... in the middle of the road, or at the side of the road? It's hilarious. They lay down on their backs and stick their feet straight up in the air.

[wyldwolf]

11. spectators are on the left and right of the field. The players are in the middle

[Autumn]

14. Only fools play sports or games in the middle of a road. nt

[wyldwolf]

24. good thing we're talking about fields

[Autumn]

25. You are. I'm talking about the middle of the road, yellow strips and dead armadillos, so is the OP.

[Chan790]

19. Clearly, you're not a hockey player.

What do you call a guy that tries to carry the puck through center ice in the neutral zone?

Concussion bait.

[wyldwolf]

23. Clearly not - a sport followed by 5% of the US population. LOL

Kind of like 'progressive' voters.

[DebDoo]

27. Hockey is a quickly growing sport in the US, Canadians embrace it enthusiastically, and moves too

Quickly for the conservative sports fan (football, with its two yards forward, five yards back style is more comfortable). Yeah, I could totally see why some would dismiss hockey.

[Armstead]

21. Tell that to the GOP

[pangaia]

26. No they are not in the middle.

One team is on the first base line and the other is on the third base line. They keep them apart on purpose.

[pampango]

12. FDR: These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America.

What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Governments can err. Presidents do make mistakes. But the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales.

PBS' The Roosevelt's Episode 5

International cooperation on which enduring peace must be based is not a one-way street. Nations like individuals do not always see alike or think alike, and international cooperation and progress are not helped by any Nation assuming that it has a monopoly of wisdom or of virtue.

Perfectionism, no less than isolationism or imperialism or power politics, may obstruct the paths to international peace. Let us not forget that the retreat to isolationism a quarter of a century ago was started not by a direct attack against international cooperation but against the alleged imperfections of the peace.

We Americans have always believed in freedom of opportunity, and equality of opportunity remains one of the principal objectives of our national life. What we believe in for individuals, we believe in also for Nations. We are opposed to restrictions, whether by public act or private arrangement, which distort and impair commerce, transit, and trade.

We have house-cleaning of our own to do in this regard. But it is our hope, not only in the interest of our own prosperity but in the interest of the prosperity of the world, that trade and commerce and access to materials and markets may be freer after this war than ever before in the history of the world.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=16595

[Scuba]

13. No, no. That's where the mythical "moderate Republicans" live. We can get their mythical votes!

Meanwhile, let's ignore the 60% of people who don't bother to vote because they see both parties as being too much the same for their vote to matter.

Wanna motivate a big chunk of that 60% to the polls? Then offer some very progressive legislation. You might lose a few mythical Republican votes, but can pick up lots of votes for enriching Social Security, Medicare for All, MJ legalization, Remuch more progressive taxation, etc.


Sadly, our party leaders think it's more important to bring Republican ideas into our party.

[TwilightZone]

15. Turnout in 2012 was 57%

Not sure where you're getting 40%, but it's a landslide off of reality.

[Scuba]

16. 2014 had 37% of voters turn out. Do you think 57% in a Presidential year is good? I don't.

That still means 43% of the potential votes are out there to be had.

[TwilightZone]

17. This is a presidential year. 2014 is irrelevant.

[Scuba]

18. Then go with the 43% number if it suits you. My point is still 100% valid.

[NCTraveler]

22. You mean the little stripes that help give people direction, stop anarchy on the roadways,

and save lives.

Those yellow stripes?

[HumanityExperiment]

29. yellow stripes...

those stripes DIVIDE.. create division

[NCTraveler]

31. Clearly for safety reasons. No one in their right mind would argue otherwise. nt.

[Ken Burch]

33. The point of the quote isn't to oppose the presence of yellow stripes in the middle of ACTUAL roads.

Hightower was talking about the political meaning of the term "middle of the road".

And, to carry the road metaphor, if you actually stand in the middle of the road(either literally or politically) you will likely be standing by yourself, you won't get anywhere, and there's a good chance you could get run down from either direction.

[NCTraveler]

35. Really? Thanks for the info. Nt

[Ken Burch]

41. And it has never served the greater cause of change

to nominate centrists instead of progressives.

[NWCorona]

36. You just proved the threads point.

Drive on the yellow line and see how many lives are saved.

[NCTraveler]

40. Clinton and I prefer the same side as the Eoropeans.

Cool thing about that, you do as well.

[Ken Burch]

42. HRC has been many things...but she has never been on the left.

And she was always the least progressive person we realistically could have nominated this year.

[floppyboo]

30. Yellow line road kill, and 'its stinkin to high heaven'

[eastwestdem]

34. You realize that your analogy is totally irrelevant, right? nt

[Octafish]

37. Those who always walk down the middle of the road have a yellow stripe down the middle of their back

Words of wisdom from Gen. President Eisenhower.

[NurseJackie]

38. #FeelTheUnity

[Adrahil]

39. Reminds me of a quote....

"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." - Barry Goldwater