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Stoic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 12:45 PM
Original message
First you're told to fight to put the Democrats back in power.
Because they're the good guys and will take the country in the right direction if we win. Then you're told to raise your voice and fight for what you believe in otherwise the President won't know what you want him to do. Then you're told to shut the fuck up and quit your bitching, you lousy DEFEATIST, you're undermining the President and the Leadership and the most important thing is that WE WIN and THEY LOSE.

Wash, rinse, repeat.
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Occulus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 12:47 PM
Response to Original message
1. Funny how that works, huh? n/t
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bjobotts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 01:14 AM
Response to Reply #1
73. Nonsense.Noone said shut up.Vote for the best that can be achieved not the worst that could happen
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bjobotts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 01:15 AM
Response to Reply #73
74. Dems are the best that can be achieved right now AND we keep pressuring them
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bjobotts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 01:16 AM
Response to Reply #74
75. But doing nothing brings in the worst that could happen, the alternative is complete disaster.
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bjobotts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 01:18 AM
Response to Reply #75
76. Not one progressive issue would even be addressed,Just tax cuts on welathy and deregulation and mono
monopolies. Your shallow thinking is limited by your frustration. Get a fucking grip. No one ever said shut up and don't complain.
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liberalmike27 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 10:56 AM
Response to Reply #76
103. Sadly Most People Don't Bother to vote in Primaries
And that is where you get your more progressive people into power.

I was set to vote for Edwards, but he dropped out before we were up to vote. My kingdom for a charismatic candidate with a populist view.
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Subdivisions Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 12:03 PM
Response to Reply #76
111. Dude, why did you make all those posts responding to yourself? Do you think
people can't continue reading your thoughts without them all being in the subject line?

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bvar22 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 01:48 PM
Response to Reply #74
115. I find this posting "technique" of yours very annoying.
Edited on Sat Aug-07-10 01:49 PM by bvar22
It could also be called "spamming".
Could you imagine the chaos if everybody did this?
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MsPithy Donating Member (325 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 11:28 AM
Response to Reply #73
109. Peter Noone said "Shut up." ?????
Why would he say that?
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socialist_n_TN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:14 PM
Response to Reply #73
121. Bullshit. Every post about about "wanting your pony"..........
"It takes time" and "At least we got SOMETHING" and "We've got to support the incumbent Democrats, no matter how bad they are", etc is either overt or tacit STFU.

The original poster had it right. We're told that Obama needs to hear from us, so he'll know what we want him to do. Then when we talk about what we want, it's "naive, idealistic, and impossible". Followed by "dDn't even ask, because it's impossible".
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cliffordu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 12:50 PM
Original message
People tell me he isn't a citizen, too, but that doesn't
pass the smell test either, so I don't waste the bandwidth and post it in DU.....

I feel sorry for you because you are so obviously crushed by your critics.
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The Magistrate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 12:50 PM
Response to Original message
2. Nonetheless, Sir: 'If You Don't Vote For The Right Lizard, The Wrong Lizard Might Get In!'
This remains the name of the game, and will continue to be the name of the game, for the foreseeable future.
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:02 PM
Response to Reply #2
6. Trouble is, the right lizard gets farther and farther to the right.
Because they know they can't lose us no matter what.
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The Magistrate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:13 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. And So Does the Wrong Lizard, Sir
"The five most dangerous words in English are 'It can't get any worse.'"
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:21 PM
Response to Reply #10
15. That means we wind up in the same place either way.
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Jax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:32 PM
Response to Reply #15
20. great point
probably lost on the poster you are responding to.
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tomp Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 10:01 AM
Response to Reply #20
98. i'd be very careful on underestimating The Magistrate.
we don't always agree, but he is among the sharper knives in the drawer.
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raouldukelives Donating Member (945 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:02 PM
Response to Reply #15
27. And it means we get the honor of being complicit
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JVS Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 05:13 AM
Response to Reply #15
88. Actually it means we continue drifting right over time
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Orsino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:17 PM
Response to Reply #15
122. Voting to slow the careening carriage headed for the cliff is an intelligent choice.
Even more intelligent, though, is getting the fuck out of the carriage.
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bvar22 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 05:32 PM
Response to Reply #10
52. That does NOT inspire me.
This short sighted Campaign Logic is forcing me to begin examining longer term solutions, especially when the Democratic Party Leadership was actively campaigning FOR Anti-LABOR, NO Public Option, Conservative Blue Dogs (Lincoln) and Republicans (Specter) in the Democratic Primaries, when perfectly good "Democrats" were also running.

(And, No....the usual "they always do that" is not a valid rationalization for the "Change" President.)

You stated:
"The five most dangerous words in English are 'It can't get any worse.'"

...and yet you support a campaign strategy that guarantees that things will certainly get worse, just not as fast.
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The Magistrate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 12:07 AM
Response to Reply #52
67. Inspiration, Sir? What the Hell Is That?
A man does what he has to....
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bvar22 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:58 AM
Response to Reply #67
95. Campaigning FOR Paul Wellstone was inspirational.
I am one of the privileged.

"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."

--- Paul Wellstone


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MsPithy Donating Member (325 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 11:25 AM
Response to Reply #95
108. Never, ever, ever stop reminding us about Paul Wellstone!
Thank you!
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flyarm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 11:17 PM
Response to Reply #10
63. It already has! eom
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treestar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 03:50 PM
Response to Reply #6
43. The Republicans would be in the same position
And end up farther and farther left for the same reason.
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #43
53. Not at all.
If you have not noticed that both parties always move to the right, then you are not paying attention.

The pukes are not chasing the 'centrist' voters by taking moderate positions. But the Dems are always trying to look like republican lite. And we are endorsing that.
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treestar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 07:09 PM
Response to Reply #53
54. Pukes don't get centrist voters, they can't win either
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U4ikLefty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 02:27 AM
Response to Reply #54
79. Tell that to Ronnie
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Tesha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 05:46 AM
Response to Reply #79
90. Ronnie really didn't get "centrist" voters; he got stupid, uninformed voters.
Edited on Sat Aug-07-10 05:47 AM by Tesha
They look like centrists because they can go
either way, depending on which way the media
wind(bag)s are blowing.

But they're not really centrists through any
active thought process, they're just stupid
and/or ignorant.

Tesha
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bvar22 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 01:55 PM
Response to Reply #90
116. "Centrists" have no "thought process".
They have no issues they will STAND on.
They have no lines they will not cross.
Whatever the TV tells them is "in the middle" is good enough for them!
They merely FOLLOW the mythical and ever-changing "middle".
:party:
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movonne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 12:58 PM
Response to Original message
3. I love Obama and have been disappointed that he was not what
I expected...but if you think things are bad now just get a majority of repugs in office and the horrors just begin...Obama has done many things that have been good...I think all rethugs have lost their mind and and about 1/4 of the country..
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asdjrocky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 12:59 PM
Response to Original message
4. Key word: Power. nt
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Vincardog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
5. Now we have to fight to throw out the DLC and the Centrist corporate democrats.
Let them move in with the other RTW hacks in the GOP
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glitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 09:34 PM
Response to Reply #5
56. Yup. no one said citizen government would be easy, or ever finished.
Something about vigilance.
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tridim Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:03 PM
Response to Original message
7. You're entirely free to "bitch" all you want.
But thoughtful, constructive criticism tends to be more effective.

And as a bonus people wont tell you to shut up any more.
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hughee99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:18 PM
Response to Reply #7
12. That's true, rather than telling you to shut up,
thoughtful, constructive criticism will get people to use the more polite "now is not the time".

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Donnachaidh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:24 PM
Response to Reply #12
17. or you're told *your concern is duly noted*
Edited on Fri Aug-06-10 01:25 PM by Donnachaidh
which is the supposed *polite* way of telling you to STFU and STFD.
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ThomasQED Donating Member (423 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 01:11 AM
Response to Reply #17
72. It's not polite
It's sarcastic, dismissive and sanctimonious.
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treestar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 03:49 PM
Response to Reply #12
42. Baloney
You are such a victim! So nothing works but violence?
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hughee99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #42
46. You completely lost me. Who said anything about violence?
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flyarm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 11:22 PM
Response to Reply #42
64. wow that is a jump..but from where is the real question! Where the F did you get that?
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laughingliberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 01:03 AM
Response to Reply #42
70. Violence? Must have missed the part where anyone advocated that.
:shrug:
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U4ikLefty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 02:38 AM
Response to Reply #42
81. Violence?
Edited on Sat Aug-07-10 02:39 AM by U4ikLefty
Wow, do those pom-poms get heavy 24/7?
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Ken Burch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 02:33 AM
Response to Reply #12
80. Which was exactly what this party's leaders said to the Civil Rights movement back in the day
The only reason Congress finally did the right thing in 1964 and 1965 was that the movement FORCED them to do it.

Had the movement listened to the party then, we'd still HAVE Jim Crow, because it would NEVER have been "the right time".

Real CHANGE only comes from below.
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Bullet1987 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 06:42 AM
Response to Reply #80
92. Yea it was the Civil Rights Movement...one of the largest grassroots movements in US history
Nothing has even come close to that since. Not to mention the fact that the media ignores REAL movements & instead build up false movements like the fake Tea Party.
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Kahuna Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 12:33 PM
Response to Reply #80
114. The movement forced them by fighting a "dignified" fight. I don't remember
them howling and tossing threats every five seconds. They shamed the politicians into acting.
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awoke_in_2003 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:03 PM
Response to Reply #80
119. don't forget...
a president that could lead
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Ken Burch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:49 PM
Response to Reply #119
123. That too.
n/t.
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frylock Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:32 PM
Response to Reply #7
19. thoughtful, constructive criticism gets you labeled as a pony pouter..
but you already knew that before you posted this pap.
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tridim Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:51 PM
Response to Reply #19
25. Demanding immediate miracles gets that label.
Constructive criticism is always appreciated on DU.

Can you provide an example of your rather unconstructive accusation?
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sendero Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:56 PM
Response to Reply #25
26. *miracle

* any discernable improvement (other than rhetoric) over a garden variety fuckwad republican.
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tridim Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:03 PM
Response to Reply #26
28. mir·a·cle
1. An effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/miracle
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tomp Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 10:07 AM
Response to Reply #28
99. so now that you've defined it, please give examples from du....
.....where posters are demanding them.
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frylock Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 03:42 PM
Response to Reply #25
39. it's just a one-minute prayer..
ffs.
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Capitalocracy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:35 AM
Response to Reply #19
85. I've said it before and I'll say it again
we didn't ask for a pony, we just asked for a donkey.
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Fiendish Thingy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 10:20 AM
Response to Reply #85
101. ...and we ended up with a donkephant...
or is he an elemule?
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stray cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:12 PM
Response to Original message
8. I really hope no one here voted for Gore in 2000 - it was better to stay home and complain
Edited on Fri Aug-06-10 01:14 PM by stray cat
then keep Bush out of office! I was a true patriot and did not vote for Gore because I didn't agree with him on some issues and wasn't crazy about him personally. What ever you do make sure you keep a Bush like republican in office rather than vote for an imperfect dem!
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flyarm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 11:24 PM
Response to Reply #8
65. I voted for Gore and Gore won! Only my vote was negated by the Supeme court.
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laughingliberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 01:06 AM
Response to Reply #65
71. +1000 nt
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kctim Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:12 PM
Response to Original message
9. You forgot
where you are told to understand that your voice is NOT the only voice within the Democratic Party and that they too are fighting for what they believe in. They are the majority of the party.
You aren't being told anything, you are being asked to face reality.
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LostinVA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:20 PM
Response to Reply #9
14. Other folks aren't being debarked n/t
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Donnachaidh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:26 PM
Response to Reply #9
18. *reality* is a keyword for *take the crumbs the corporatists throw*.
Got lots of those lemmings rolling through with that mantra lately.
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kctim Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 04:18 PM
Response to Reply #18
47. Got a lot of lemmings
blaming everything on all but the obvious problem, lockstep ideology, that is the problem also.

Reality is that 70+ percent of Democrats do NOT believe nor want, total progressive policy rule, and believing the reason why is because of some evil corporatist cabal running the world and not that policy, is nothing but a refusal to face reality.
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flyarm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 11:07 AM
Response to Reply #47
106. how do you know? Progressive ideas never get a seat at the fucking table and anymore
Edited on Sat Aug-07-10 11:11 AM by flyarm
liberals don't either!
So save the BS..that is more like right wing talking points!

My republican friends are more progressive than many so called dems I see here anymore!

We used to not be able to talk politics..now they come to me wanting Liberal/ progressive policy's and they are left wondering why we are not getting those policies with a Democratic president!
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laughingliberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 02:09 AM
Response to Reply #18
77. That nailed it! Bravo! nt
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hedgehog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:17 PM
Response to Original message
11. Can the Democrats really be said to be back in power if their
programs can be blocked by 40 Republicans and several DINOS in the Senate? Finish the job of putting the Democrats in charge, then come and complain.
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:28 PM
Response to Reply #11
30. The pukes got their way with far slimmer majorities
Waiting till we've got every seat is a losing strategy.

The ones who are there have to start fighting.

And before that, some of them have to decide which side they're really on.
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hedgehog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:37 PM
Response to Reply #30
34. The Pukes want only to stop new legislation, that's easy.
They only need to hold the Presidency to start a war. We, on the other hand, want to introduce new programs. That takes a larger majority under the current rules.
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:38 PM
Response to Reply #34
35. Rubbish
Patriot Act, just for starters.

They didn't just STOP legislation.
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U4ikLefty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 02:48 AM
Response to Reply #34
83. "current rules" not changed by a Senate with a Democratic majority.
why?
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Ignis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:38 PM
Response to Reply #30
36. +1
Asking our (D) politicians to vote in a way that shows they've at least read our party platform would be a good start.
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awoke_in_2003 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:08 PM
Response to Reply #30
120. as much as I hate the republicans...
they have backbone.
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county worker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:19 PM
Response to Original message
13. I saw Mellisa Harris-Lacewell on Countdown the other night. She said that what all first year
political science students learn is that the electorate forms a perfect bell curve. On the ends are the right wing and the left wing and in the center is where most voters are and if you want to get elected you have to get the center to vote for you.

Now if that is true, it seems to me that to cater to either end means you lose an election.

I agree with a lot of the criticism of Obama here but pragmatically thinking, the OP is what will get us another Repub government.
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frylock Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:34 PM
Response to Reply #13
21. did she talk about how far to the right that mythical chewy center has moved?
probably not.
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county worker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:45 PM
Response to Reply #21
23. The center is still the center no matter where it moves.
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:29 PM
Response to Reply #23
31. The center of Germany was once the Nazis
What's acceptable can't be defined by what's center.

(Oh yeah, Fuck Godwin and ALL HIS FOLLOWERS!)
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treestar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 03:52 PM
Response to Reply #31
44. But the ideal won't win just by being ideal
Or we'd live in a paradise. The Nazi government existed and had to be dealt with by whoever lived there at the time. We're lucky we don't have that. But Republicans are very bad.
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 04:00 PM
Response to Reply #44
45. I cannot see how that comment relates to mine
Just because we don't live in an ideal world is no reason to abandon any concept of what the world should be like.

Moving the center past where the extreme right used to be is a huge problem.
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glitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 09:39 PM
Response to Reply #31
57. :) and that goes for Occam too. nt
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frylock Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 03:41 PM
Response to Reply #23
38. that's deep..
Edited on Fri Aug-06-10 03:42 PM by frylock
real fucking deep. are you honestly going to deny that politics in america has taken a far-right turn?
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 05:22 PM
Response to Reply #23
50. Um, no. There's the center of the bell curve across the Nation, which actually skews
to the left. Then there's the DLC/ RNC DC "center", which is about where Reagan stood in 1981. The majority in this Nation have no representation in Washington.
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glitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 09:45 PM
Response to Reply #50
58. "The majority in this Nation have no representation in Washington."
:applause: for succinct accuracy.
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Sebastian Doyle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 11:02 AM
Response to Reply #23
104. The "center" is a useless mythical construct of the DLC
which they use as an excuse NOT to act like Democrats.
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Bluenorthwest Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:25 PM
Response to Reply #13
29. So all students of politics are taught this, and yet
half of them fail to win. Republicans get elected spewing venom, and that is not the center at all. If that is how to win, almost all candidates would sound almost exactly alike, and that is not the case.
If most of the voters really had something in common that made them 'the center' those aspects could be readily listed, and there would be millions of people calling for centrism and moderation. I just do not see that. I don't think it is useful to think that you have to 'go to the center' when no one knows what the center is. The truth is, everyone thinks they are the center, the balance to the world, the fulcrum between various wrongs. The center is relative, and our politics far too complex to draw out as a simple graph.
If all it takes is talking to the center, why do so many spend and work like fiends to win over people who are speaking to the extremes? If the center always wins, why is there a Palin or a Bachmann?
Harris-Lacewell is a favorite of mine, but her academic insular life shows at times.
And the word 'pragmatic' is not longer allowed because of the faith based nature of the President's civil rights policy. He bases his policy on unseen, unprovable beliefs and this is the antithesis of pragmatism, the two things can not coexist. Words mean things.
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Tesha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 05:53 AM
Response to Reply #13
91. That assumes there's actually a single monolithic "spectrum" of some kind.
That framing isn't necessarily true, as we see
every day with anti-abortion or pro-gun or anti-
women or anti-gay or fundamentalist DUers.

It's really an n-dimensional space, not a single
linear distribution. And while there's some
correlation between "conservative positions"
versus "liberal positions", there's obviously
less correlation than many assume.

Tesha

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leftstreet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:22 PM
Response to Original message
16. If we don't keep the Republicans out, we'll get an antiwar movement!
:hide:
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:31 PM
Response to Reply #16
32. Other way around.
Since everyone backs what their hero does, the only way we'll have much of an anti-war movement is if the pukes get back in charge.

Then the Dems will be free to oppose senseless killing again.

(You all fucking know it's the truth!)
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hfojvt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:41 PM
Response to Original message
22. congratulations on 1000 posts
after 8 years, you finally have become a more active poster. Posting threads about how much Democrats suck and how we should not bother voting for them in 2010.

But I am sure it will be much easier to pass single payer once the Republicans have 48 Senators plus the Nelsons and Tim Johnson and Landrieu and Lieberman ...
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Bluenorthwest Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 02:32 PM
Response to Reply #22
33. It will be easier to pass single payer when we have leadership
that will bother to so much as mention it. To get what you want, you have to ask for what you want. And accept no substitutes.
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hfojvt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 03:24 PM
Response to Reply #33
37. apparently you missed the recent vote in Missouri
but then again, perhaps Republicans just turn out to vote in much larger numbers in primaries. Seems to be true in Kansas. In my district there are 131,339 registered Democrats, 180,595 Republicans and 117,235 independents who can vote in Democratic primaries, but not Republican ones. And in the end 80,000 Republicans voted compared to 22,000 democrats.
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Stoic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 03:44 PM
Response to Reply #22
40. The irony of the criticism of my post is blinding
I guess I should just STFU and get with the program. Yay!

You can refer to an earlier post of mine below.

I AM NOT going to apologize for criticizing the President and the Dem Establishment.
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hfojvt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 05:12 AM
Response to Reply #40
87. it would be nice if we were on the same side, yes
You see, I don't like Republican politicians. I want to see them defeated. You, OTOH were very stoic when Bush was President. You did not post a thread every two days about how much you hated George W. Bush and the Republicans establishment. Now, though, suddenly you cannot stop talking. Every two days you need to post another rant about how useless it is to vote for Democrats, and for some reason many of these make the front page of the new Bash-Democrats Underground.

Apparently you do not think it is important that "they lose". Doubtless this is because you are a fiery progressive who is against war and against tax cuts for the rich and against mountaintop removal and clear cutting and arsenic in drinking water and uninsured children and poverty. And you think, that apparently all of those progressive causes will be advanced if Republicans win this fall, and in 2012, 2014, 2016.

Yet for some reason you never write about how bad all those Republican and corporate policies are. Instead, you prefer to write about how great you are for refusing to stop bashing Obama and the Democratic Party.

You used to be fiercely a Democrat. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2006337 Now you are just fiercely towards Democrats.
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mzmolly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 10:30 PM
Response to Reply #22
61. .
:toast:
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laughingliberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 02:22 AM
Response to Reply #22
78. Looks like it's impossible to pass SP OR a PO no matter who's in power. Only the people are for it.
And I don't see many of our reps who seem to give a damn what we want. There was a time a Congressman or Senator would have been afraid to vote against a policy 60% of the public supported.
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slay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 02:56 AM
Response to Reply #22
84. Better quality over quantity
you're i-love-dems-4-eva posts are as see through as the pay check of whoever's paying you to post them. anyone who reads posts here on a regular basis can see that.
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hfojvt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 04:36 AM
Response to Reply #84
86. again with the "you are getting paid" nonsense
If only it was true. In fact, it is I who do the paying. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=153x9552

and I am certainly not going to apologixe for wanting to defeat Republicans
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damntexdem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 01:48 PM
Response to Original message
24. No, it's a time-tested technique that goes differently:
1) First fight to put Dems in power; then
2) Fight the Dems in power to do the things they should.

Push, demonstrate, repeat.
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tavalon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 05:44 AM
Response to Reply #24
89. Don't forget to be accused regularly of wanting a pony
Your strategy is sound, the reaction to it is usually absurd. Putting up with absurd and pretending that is useful is the hard part.
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treestar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 03:46 PM
Response to Original message
41. The black and white thinking here is amazing
I usually hear it from right wingnuts.

It's a matter of balance. And you can fight for what you believe in without being negative. That possibility does not seem to even occur to you.
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Hawkowl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 04:18 PM
Response to Original message
48. Brilliant summation!
The President needs to be primaried. Preferably by a credible progressive. At the very least Obama will make the primary challenger the VP just to avoid further conflict. Obama is the greatest appeaser since Neville Chamberlain.
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area51 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 09:58 PM
Response to Reply #48
59. +1 (n/t)
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 05:18 PM
Response to Original message
49. What did we "win" again?
Oh yeah, we're supposed to be overjoyed that we didn't get batshit crazy corporate toady Right Wingers instead of just plain vanilla corporate toady right wingers. And our guy looks better in a suit and makes more soothing speeches. It's still fascism, it's just milder fascism with a better ad campaign.
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Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 05:32 PM
Response to Original message
51. The Corporatists' pro-DLC brainwashing is working, apparently.
:(
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 07:50 PM
Response to Original message
55. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
mzmolly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 10:20 PM
Response to Original message
60. Oh puleeze.
:eyes:
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midnight armadillo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 10:32 PM
Response to Original message
62. Hey, Rahm nailed it, didn't he?
Maybe Democrats and liberal activists really are just a bunch of "fucking retards" since we keep falling for this shit over and over again.
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flyarm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-06-10 11:30 PM
Response to Reply #62
66. + 10,000! eom
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RandomThoughts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 12:26 AM
Response to Original message
68. That is only the most important thing if you think you can control winning.
And know what it is.

Note that once factors outside a person can determine if they can win or lose, like other peoples decisions, then your winning becomes far less important, since it is not a reflection of your thoughts and actions. Although in that specific example I do hope those that care about many people have many wins.

It takes much restraint to not fall into the trap of 'doing anything to win' or 'ends justify means'.

Many times feeling like you are not winning is used to try and get you to move away from what you think is best. Feeling in the way you think is best can show that something is just trying to break your spirit from living how you choose.

Although within that is also living not as you material choose by influence from other factors, very little of how, in what I have, or am able to experience, is within how I want to live, due to the limits of material things I have. However everything I choose to feel and think, and methods to do things are my choices.

Also within the concepts of justice, I know I should have those material things, and to disregard that by changing my feelings to try to get them would be wrong, since they are already mine even if not here, nor currently able to be part of life doing things like travel and having fun out at places. It is very challenging not to think badly of some people that have both actively and passively avoided correcting those things.

Although it is not the best picture of existence, there are also many things that back your plays when they are for better reason for many people. In some way, the comment they don't care about you, is not true, it is just that the caring is for many people, so preferential treatment for one person, like me for instance having money to do many things I want to do, does not fit into many of the concepts of what is done and not done for many people.

Although it is really a struggle not to think in terrible ways about some people, although that is why things are sometimes more difficult to try and train a person to think in those ways. Since I already should have those material things, I am not going to think that I have to do harm, or think badly about other people to think I can 'get them again' when I already have them, even without them being here.
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Dr.Phool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 12:53 AM
Response to Original message
69. It's not about you, it's not about us, it's not about me.
It's all about who gets the lions share of K-Street goodies.
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UrbScotty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 02:40 AM
Response to Original message
82. Of course, you could always get off your you-know-what and DO SOMETHING
I, for instance, am a precinct delegate - just re-elected to my third term. Mom ran too, and she's a first-time precinct delegate!
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TBF Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 07:45 AM
Response to Original message
93. I learned in the "K&R if you love Obama" thread that if you
criticize the president you are racist.

It doesn't matter that I gave hundreds of dollars to the campaign, phone-banked, walked door to door in my area, and served as a precinct captain. Now if I so much as criticize a policy I am labeled "racist". Nice supporters we've got here...
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OwnedByFerrets Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:15 AM
Response to Original message
94. Our "side" wants us to be the very same puppets that the right uses
on a daily basis. Most of them are little different. I'm with Jon Stewart....I give up.
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Fire1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 09:49 AM
Response to Original message
96. Such is par for the course in "issue" voting. n/t
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Fearless Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 12:00 PM
Response to Reply #96
110. +1
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dadzilla Donating Member (77 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 09:56 AM
Response to Original message
97. Some would rather starve than accept half a sandwich

Democrats are not perfect, but if your choice is to vote for someone who is with you 50% of the time and someone who is with you 05% of the time, and you don't vote, shame on you. One of the reasons both the Pro-Life and the NRA groups are so strong is they vote, vote vote. The reason so many candidates with Liberal and or Progressive views do not win is we do not support them. The reason we see so few of these candidates with these views is we don't vote for them.

I get your point, I understand the frustration, but not voting is the 180 degree the wrong answer.
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Tesha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 03:18 PM
Response to Reply #97
118. The problem is that if you accept half a sandwich, next year the sandwich ration will be cut again.
The DLC will say: "See? We only gave them half a
sandwich and they *STILL* voted for us. So next
year we can collude further with the Republicans
and only offer them 40% of a sandwich. And the year
after that, we'll substitute shit for the mustard..."

And so it goes, as we accept (and expect) less and
less and less from "our" "Democrats".

Tesha
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BzaDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:51 PM
Response to Reply #118
124. The ACTUAL problem is that if you pick "no sandwich," there is nothing left next year either. n/t
Edited on Sat Aug-07-10 08:52 PM by BzaDem
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Tesha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-08-10 05:00 PM
Response to Reply #124
127. But after eight years of "No soup, err, sandwich for you!", people get fed up.
Edited on Sun Aug-08-10 05:02 PM by Tesha
They then put the Democrats back in power with a
*SUPERMAJORITY* in the Senate.

Unfortunately, the DLC then goes back to their
old tricks and still refuses to give people a
full sandwich, so the tragic cycle begins again.

Maybe some year, we Democrats will get smart and
*WHEN WE'RE GIVEN POWER WITH A SUPERMAJORITY*,
we'll actually do something with it instead of
pissing around trying to convince a few Republicans
to be our friends.

Tesha
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Raksha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 08:52 PM
Response to Reply #118
125. Exactly! And that's a great way of putting it...
"The problem is that if you accept half a sandwich, next year the sandwich ration will be cut again."

It's been going on for how many election cycles now? Personally, I'm fed up with it.
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dadzilla Donating Member (77 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-08-10 12:26 AM
Response to Reply #118
126. The problem is that if you accept half a sandwich
The DLC will say: "See? We only gave them half a
sandwich and they *STILL* voted for us.

Which is what primaries are for... or run yourself. But not voting gets you worse than nothing! I refuse to give the DLC cash and donate to candidates that inspire me, not the likes of a Ben Nelson.
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gulliver Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 10:14 AM
Response to Original message
100. I don't see the contradiction. You sure you're Stoic? n/t
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thelordofhell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 10:32 AM
Response to Original message
102. And wing-nuts were pissed that abortion was never banned
When they had the reigns for 6 years.

:shrug:
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ProgressOnTheMove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 11:05 AM
Response to Original message
105. I never said anyones lousy, but I did say defeatist as it seems a long way to go to turn around now.
Edited on Sat Aug-07-10 11:38 AM by ProgressOnTheMove
Me personally I didn't say anyone shouldn't complain it's their free right, but we do also have to win elections to make any significant difference. Just how it is. I haven't got any negative feelings towards anyone on here just I like Pres. Obama enough not to see him subpoenaed every 5 minutes after November. I mean for all the differences some had with Clinton if we had avoided that most of the disasters under the GOP would simply not of happened had the GOP not regained congress. WIth their impeachment leading to Gore's way too close election. Sure supreme court decision, but voting the right way in the 90s could of avoided all of that way ahead of time. Even then there was trade agreements to let go, but avoided bigger catastrophes at the same time. History is there to teach us. There were huge mistakes made in the 90s all I'm saying is, please, let's not go there again as the consequences are predictable with GOP running the show again. Let's learn be wiser, steer our path the right way this time, a brighter day is is on that horizon just ask the auto industry.
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FiveGoodMen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-10-10 12:53 PM
Response to Reply #105
128. "we do also have to win elections to make any significant difference. Just how it is"
We did win.

It didn't make a difference.

Just how it is.
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Hamlette Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 11:10 AM
Response to Original message
107. of course, you could come up with another solution instead of complaining about it
but no. Instead of doing the heavy lifting to organize a group to compete with the Tea Party, to force the dems further to the left by offering credible primary challengers from the left (which is why the republicans move to the right), disgruntled lefties post on the internet about how awful democracy is.

Wash, rinse, repeat.
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DailyGrind51 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 12:16 PM
Response to Original message
112. Sadly, that is our only viable option!
If we "sit this one out", we get "Reagan" or much worse!
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felinetta Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 12:24 PM
Response to Original message
113. Who thinks we would be better under Republican rule?
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Steely_Dan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-07-10 02:32 PM
Response to Original message
117. Does Anyone Realize...
Edited on Sat Aug-07-10 02:33 PM by Steely_Dan
that the Patriot Act is essentially telling the terrorists that they won?

Anytime freedoms are sacrificed for "security," the enemy has won.
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