Honestly, why do Democrats put up with this bullshit?

[democrank]

I`ve been a voting Democrat since before Dana Perino was born. My first march against a war, for civil rights and for women`s rights came long before you could pinpoint a meet-up location with the click of a mouse. As Connecticut-born Fortunate Son George Bush would say, "This ain`t my first rodeo." But, please. Could some Democrat kindly explain to me why we willingly put up with this bullshit? Have we morphed into some new-day cardboard cut out of ourselves?

I swear if I hear one more Democratic Party beltway operative yak about the danger of "moving left" my head will explode. Moving left? Did I miss the memo from corporate headquarters announcing that Jesus hates all those who feed the poor? When someone tells me their 59 year old father just got laid off, am I supposed to say...."Cool" and hand over a 1-800 retraining number? I get it! I should reach across the aisle, hook up with McCain and sing, "BOMB, BOMB, BOMB...BOMB IRAN."

Pardon the language, but what bullshit I`m hearing. Remember Iraq? Dead soldiers, maimed children? How are the bridges in your area? Paid off your portion of the national debt yet? Any polar bears left? Proud of our latest torture plane? Use AT&T? How about pork spending bennies? Your state get a study done on Japanese Beetles frightened by the color orange? Jesus H Christ. Now we get to chatter about the rift between Obama and former President Clinton instead of the emails Cheney is deleting or the people Bush`s policies are killing.

Get over myself? No. I have no plans to grin like a Cheshire cat next January unless real change is the victor. That means change the process. Change the direction. Change the consultants. Change the spin. Change the rhetoric. Change the bullshit and substitute it for real solutions instead of the widely-accepted quid pro quo. I`m ashamed of how little we expect of our leaders and how willing we are to accept the status quo....as long as we win. I`m beginning to wonder what happened to the soul of the Democratic Party. I wish Mario Cuomo was around to ask, or Al Gore or Bill Bradley. I`ll bet anything they`d know exactly what I`m feeling.

[BridgeTheGap]

1. The political spectrum in this country has become so skewed

that many Dems holding federal office are to the right of Dick Nixon. It's creeping fascism and people have to decide which side their on.

[fascisthunter]

2. Thank You

you are not alone.

[Dhalgren]

3. Fuckin' A. K&R!

:thumbsup:

[smaug]

7. Absolutely - I'm enraged at the "Bipartisanship" crapola

Democrank,

thanks - I've been fussing about this endlessly to the point that even my own family members (Democrats one and all, we are - since 1828!) are hopeful no one will make a political comment around me :D. 'course, one of my brothers is of the same opinion - if we wanted Luntz's date rape, we'd bend over.

Grrrrrrrrrr.

Partisanship is what makes politics vital. If we aren't partisan for our beliefs, then why bother?

[MADem]

4. Well, first you have to ask yourself WHO SAID IT?

If they work for GE/NBC/MSNBC, and they're touted as a leftie, they're actually center-right. Left on some social issues, right on economic issues--especially those economic issues of benefit to "GE, We Bring Good Wars To Life."

I honestly think that all D candidates are doing "the mirror" of what Porgie did in his campaigns. Porgie, as you recall, ran to the center, and then sashayed to the right. Our candidates are running a bit to the right, but with a Democratic Congress, they will likely trend more leftward in their governance.

And that goes for whoever gets the prize.

[democrank]

8. Speaking of sashaying....

Why don`t we forget this bullshit while we`re at it? Right...center... good grief! Why can`t our candidate simply (and proudly) walk up to a microphone and state where he/she stands? Is that such an outdated notion?

[MADem]

17. It's never been "IN" so it can't really be 'outdated'

If you think politics is bullshit and posturing now, you should look to history and see what sorts of smear jobs they were capable of way back when, before the 24 hour news cycle. All the way back to Washington, Jefferson, Jackson--vicious shit. Lotsa elbows thrown, lotsa promises made, plenty of 'triangulating' before the media fell in love with the word.

Politicians have always told people what they wanted to hear, and parsed. The good ones do it so subtly that you can't tell.

Some are better at it than others, is all.

[Triana]

5. .

[Bobbieo]

6. I'm with you democrank! My 1st vote was for FDR for president.

[gdaerin]

9. Yes!! Thank you, well said! nt

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. You are speaking for many

to my mind, this country hasn't gone far enough to the left. If we stay with the same old same old, we are likely to destroy ourselves.

[DesertFlower]

12. i agree. nt

[no name no slogan]

11. Spot on. The Dems of 2008 have become the Repubs of 1972

Sadly enough, we're sounding more and more like Nixonian Republicans than liberals.

[Demeter]

13. Look Out Below! The Economy Will Shake This All Out

Tomorrow you will see the great turn of the wheel, and all those holier-than-thou, richer-than-thou will find out they are pretty well doomed, and all the programs that they cut and cut would have saved their homes, their jobs, their health, their families. Then the shoe will be pinching the feet of those who have stomped on us all.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

14. I'm with you. The DLC is no good for the Democrats. And this shit of getting along with GOPers....

... has me nauseous. They've damaged this country savagely. Get along?

[MisterP]

15. the DLC then just plays a tape saying "Do you want the Repubs to win?!" over and over until any

dissent is beaten out of our heads as the prospective thrill of "winning" and fear of Repub misrule drowns it out.
Never mind that their policy is to asymptotically approximate the GOP party line as it careens through the valleys of Corporateland and Stickupthearse County

[kenfrequed]

24. Gods it is that horrible isn't it

They just never seem to get the point of honest populism. The DLC doesn't believe in Democratic stances or Democratic issues, I really wish they would just go get behind bloomberg and form their own damned party.

[solara]

16. I am totally with you!

Thanks for saying what needs to be said. :hi:


K & R

:kick:



INVESTIGATE IMPEACH INDICT IMPRECATE INCARCERATE :patriot:

[Raster]

18. Hush now, you'll be labled another DU "howling reactionary!"

I'm with you. I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING SING KUMBAYA! I want real solutions to real problems. I want change, real change. And I want it NOW!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. I know what you're saying, democrank

The level of discourse on this board can be pathetic at times. The majority of posters may pride themselves on being smart Democrats, but they've bought into the media spin, so they talk about the campaign as if they're voting for which candidate for high school class president said nasty things about the other one.

This country is in terrible shape, at least as bad as it was in the Reagan recession, and a lot of people are in touchingly naive denial about the real stakes and the inadequacy of our "socially acceptable" candidates to deal with them.

[Hydra]

20. "It's the issues, stupid!"

Most of us should be screaming this at the top of our lungs. The economy is unraveling, and I don't want to see what GWB wants to replace it with. The war in Iraq continues to be a war crime, we're torturing random people, we're spying on everyone and anyone looking for "terrorists," the laws are being ignored by everyone in power...

Need I go on?

I would very much like it if our party found their soul...cuz for my 27 years of living, I haven't seen it.

[wyldwolf]

21. your post is based on a definition of 'Democrat' many don't hold

Democrats existed long before the 'progressive' movement of the 60s and that era did not redefine what it is to be a Democrat.

And before you go down the personal road, it has nothing to do with MY feelings on the anti-war movement and civil rights marches. Simply put, the Democratic party has always been a big tent and relative 'johnny come latelys' aren't given a permit to define what it means to be a Democrat.

The Democrats of Wilson's time, and of Roosevelt's and Truman's time, might very well have been appalled at the anti-war marches of the 60s.

[NikolaC]

22. K&R

Well said. I am not for all of the bi-partisanship that has been going on. It has failed miserably and the American people (not to mention the Iraqi's among others around the world) have been paying for it for a long time now. The Dems are supposed to be the opposition :crazy:. What happened to that? Never mind, we have been given our choices, forget anyone who wants to act as a challenger to the status quo, they will be discounted immediately. So, Rome burns while "bi-partisanship" marches on.

[philly_bob]

23. Class warfare!

*SARCASM*

[Laelth]

25. Hear, hear.

I came to political sentience during the Carter administration, and it has been all downhill from there. The country has moved waaaay to the right in that time, such that Eisenhower republicans now look like flaming leftists. The Democratic Party must move left or else it might as well meld into the Republican Party. Besides which, poll after poll shows a majority of Americans support most liberal policy. I get suspicious when "Democrats" claim we must fear moving to the left when it's clear that a majority of Americans want to move left.

Why won't more than a few powerful Democrats (Kucinich, Edwards, and Kennedy, for example) vow to give Americans what they want?

... and it makes me wonder.

-Laelth


Edit:Laelth--usage.

[Usrename]

26. No lie!

And all this rhetoric about bi-partisanship just helps to scare the crap out of me a little more.

The ONLY bi-partisanship I know of is the Lieberman brand which consists of getting Democrats to join in whitewashing the Bush crimes.

We don't bi-partisanship, we need law enforcement!

[Yuugal]

27. The soul of the dem party

was bought with corporate money. Nothing will change until we the voters stop voting for people who take corporate bribes. I'm tired of so many Dem candidates acting like there has to be a law before they will stop taking the money. How about showing some backbone and principles?

[CelloPaddy]

28. Thank you, I agree nt

[water]

29. The soul of the Democratic party would rather win the election.

If far-left ideas were popular, we'd have Kucinich and Edwards as the front-runners. As it stands, the two most centrist candidates (Obama and Clinton) are the front-runners.

Obama, being the furthest from the left, almost certainly has the best chance in the general election.

No matter who wins the nomination, he/she will have to move towards the center during the general election if he/she stands a chance of kicking the Republicans out of the White House.

This country CANNOT handle another 4-8 years of Republican rule.