I'm not being a smartass...but

[senseandsensibility]

do we have even one elected Dem official with political skills? Do we have even one who isn't afraid of being called angry or weak on tare?


How about someone who could just answer "It's better than being incompetent" when accused of being angry? Or someone who could say, "damn right I'm angry. I'm angry that over 2000 of finest are dead because this administration lied. I'm angry because our treasury is blown for the next generation. I'm angry because we have no jobs and no future for our kids. Maybe you think that's funny. I don't."

Why do they ALL cower in fear of being called angry? What are they afraid of?

2006 elections are almost here. There is no sign that any strategy is being planned, and that's because none is. There's no "chess playing", secret meetings, last minute plans, nada. We'll coast along to the election, cowering all the way.

[geomon666]

1. Short answer: No.

Long answer: Hell no.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. mon, geo! your short answer was perfect. but your long answer, wow.

that really was even more accurate.

I have been thinking the very same thing for months now. And hearing our "pal" Rahm Emanual on the air, on why Hackett had to go, I started grinding my teeth. THE DLC has a lot to answer for, but then again, the entire Democratic establishment owes us an answer. Rahm has only two problems. he loves mirrors and he loves reading how bloody smart he is. Yeah, well Rahm, there are lots of smart people in the world. But a lot of them actually think things through, rather than rely on their press releases.

One thing we must realize is how the GOP got to where it was. It started on the ground level, training, pushing education, pushing writing, pushing youth into the party and giving them experience. Think tanks, jobs, articles - it has been a plan. Condi Rice is a perfect example of this. Too bad she is so imcompetent and stupid. No, the GOP has out planned and out-smarted us on training. Newt and others were brilliant in adopting the French plan for pols. grab 'em early, pick the best, train and brainwash them and support them as they grow.


NAME ONE DEMOCRAT who was willing to share power with ein junger or to promote a youth someplace, when it might cost him power or money. I can only think of Howard Dean, and he is left pissing into the windstorm because of our structural problems. Name one time that Democrats had tried to train students on issues of governance, administration, and politics. Name one time that we have created a working system of training, through research, writing, and exposure, smart people to run for office, or more importantly, to train them under fire and to place them in the myriad of federal offices which actually make things work.

[eridani]

23. Rice is neither incompetent nor stupid

She is doing an excellent job for her employers, the people to whom the rest of us are nothing but disposable human garbage.

[senseandsensibility]

15. Hell no!

You must be feeling like I am right now.}( It's like the Dems are allergic to strategy or political planning.

[MadMaddie]

2. You are being truthfull....

If our Dems are angry...they are angry on behalf of the American people.... and they should say it.

You are right they should not cower and they should not hide their feelings. They should be the opposite of the smug arrogant Repugs....

and that is honest raw un-bridled passion about our country, our citizens and the preservation of our constitution.

Country before Party!! The Dem rallying cry!

[serryjw]

9. Here! Here!

Now WHY is that so hard to say? Everyone including Kerry chokes on the word liberal. Heck I am damn proud to be the party of FDR. I don't see Republicans giving up their Social Security or Medicare benefits.

[senseandsensibility]

10. Yes, it's impossible to rally the people

if you won't show any passion or emotion of your own. I don't want to be cynical, but over the years, after witnessing all the wasted opportunities, I've had to come to the conclusion that the Dems don't want to rally the people. :-(

[Saturday]

3. And why can't they call someone....

who lies a liar? And when whoever says "are you calling him a liar?" they answer "yes, he is a liar!"

[mdmc]

4. Kucinich, Mo Hinchey, BCC, Progressive Caucus

AND BERNIE SAUNDERS! I can't wait to have him in the senate!:kick:

[MuseRider]

11. Yes, there are actually a bunch of them

but they never get heard outside of the blogs and DU. They are there and they are doing a great job, the fault lies elsewhere.

[mdmc]

22. at least we give em a shout out here at DU

if not us, who?:kick:

[INdemo]

5. I'm really worried

about the 2006 elections. You can bet if the Democrats had control of both the House and Senate the Republicans would be pasting their plan all over the place. There is no doubt.
Come on Democrats get off your duff......
With Bush's approval rating at 40%..The MSM would have us believe that 40% of Americans are right and the 60% are the minority and they are wrong in their judgement.

[msgadget]

18. They don't want to win

For a party not to have the tiny bit of imagination required to turn 'they're angry' into a "Hell yeah!!" war cry...what else can I think??

For the life of me I don't see what the hell they've got to lose!! Problem is, the dems are too busy campaigning to the white, middle class social conservative to behave as outrageously as the republicans and that's why they appear so friggin' weak and pale in comparison.

Edit for loose to lose! :)

[MADem]

6. I think we do, but I guess that opinion isn't as popular

Timing is everything. The key is how well they time the FUCK YOU, GOP in the run up to November.

Ya don't want to peak too soon. Certainly, opportunities have been missed in the past, but they haven't been helped with shady voting machines, either.

What they are doing is not letting the GOP frame the debate. It looks pretty fucking stupid when a bunch of rightwing assholes are spitting and screaming about how reasonable people are being angry--and it will become apparent when the selected candidates in the NOV contests pull out the stops. If they play it out right, they can flip the argument. It's the American people who need to be angry--not the candidates. And the pot has not quite boiled over, yet.

Just because we don't hear about it doesn't mean things aren't happening. It could also mean we aren't leaking like a sieve.

But like I said, there are some who will differ. Glass is half empty or half full, depending on your perspective.

[senseandsensibility]

8. Well, I certainly respect your opinion

and appreciate your ability to express it, and your willingness to do so in some detail. But... I just keep remembering how everyone kept saying that things were being planned under the radar during the 2004 elections, and NOTHING WAS. And that was for the big enchilada, the presidential election.

[MADem]

13. No one counted on the blatant vote tampering--they thought they'd

be cowed after 00, but Blackwell did their dirty work for them in Ohio, and FL was no clean slate either, thanks to JebCo. Remember, that election was "won" well within the margin of error--and that is how they cheat, inside the margins.

One day it will come out, I think. And God help the right when it does. The irony is that if that is the case, a successful (or more successful) third party impetus won't come from nimrods like Nader, but from the Constitutional Conservatives and isolationists along the lines of Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan. The last time a third party made a difference (Perot) it was from that same end of the spectrum, though with slightly different priorities.

[MadHound]

14. You're right, timing is everything,

And the Democrats have lacked such timing skills for years now, if not decades. Their "timing" was non-existant with the Patriot Act, the IWR, the bankruptcy bill, further funding of the war, nominations from Ashcroft to Alito, on and on ad nauseum their "timing" has been off, and thus they have allowed all of us to be sold down the river.

When is the right time goddmanit? Certainly not after this country has slid down into fascism, but judging for the actions of our so called leader, that seems to be the optimum time in their eyes. And don't give me this crap that "Just because we don't hear about it doesn't mean things aren't happening", puhleeze. The Democrats have been handed club after club with which to beat Bushco into the ground with, ever since December '00, and yet they've managed to throw every one of them away. Plamegate, Enron, secret meetings on energy, Fitzmas, Fuddgate, the litany is a long one, and a sad one because it is a legacy of abject failure on the part of the Democrats, who have refused to stand up for the people.


You're right, the Dems don't want to peak too soon. In fact judging from their actions, they don't want to peak at all.

[MADem]

16. I see you've abandoned all hope

I haven't. Guess we will have to agree to differ on this issue.

[MadHound]

17. Actually no, I haven't abandoned all hope

I've just abandoned all hope that any help is going to come from either side of the two party/same corporate master system of government. Republicans, Democrats and corporate America all walks hand in hand in hand.

Therefore I direct my hope, my energy, to forces other than conventional politics.

[MADem]

20. The anger has to come from the voting public

I personally think the tipping point is near. I've met far too many people who have been downsized, face rising property tax bills, are overextended, underpaid, nickled and dimed...and the fact of the matter is, people do tend to vote pocketbook issues. Many people could give a shit about Eye Rack, so long as it isn't THEIR kid, or their father, brother, mother, daughter, affected. But when they can't afford to have their steak dinner at the OUTBACK on Friday because gas costs too much, or they have to live in a cold house because the bills are killing them, they get a bit more attitudinal.

The battle won't be won on altruistic or societal issues, it will be won on ME, ME, ME issues. And the ones on the barricades will be the ones who have taken it up the wallet, and see no help coming. This bullshit "tax cut" game is a joke--the Monkey in High Heels gives you three hundred bucks, but you've got to pay out four times that with rising prices, unaccompanied by rising incomes. People are starting to see that. Let's hope they wake up by September, when the games begin in earnest for the NOV elections.

[wiggs]

12. Yep. We're in big trouble

Very little traction has really been gained during the last five years of the demonstrably worst administration in history. Would have been easy to do.

We are just now getting around to understanding who is on what side in this game. After that, we have to figure out what can be done about our poor position.

[Justice Is Comin]

19. That's what is driving me insane.

I would tell them angry is a mild word for what we are. We are livid.

I would ram that comment so far down their throats it would be coming out the back of their knees. They would go whimpering off into the smog like the little religious punks they are.

Instead of Generals leading our party, we have Goddamn peaceniks.

[senseandsensibility]

21. You put it well

and I just haven't seen that attitude from anyone (certainly not any "mainstream" Dem like Hillary, but not even from far left icons such as Boxer. We have NO flamethroweres on our side. Even if they're brave and willing to stand up, they do so in an overly dignified manner that is ignored by the media.

[radwriter0555]

24. Yes. Senator John Kerry and Senator Barbara Boxer.

The chess game hasn't been made clear yet. They're too busy being distracted by cheney shooting his best pal and by Arabs invading the USA.