Kerry left volunteers in a lurch

[robbedvoter]

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1107-24.htm  
 
Published on Sunday, November 7, 2004 by the Madison Capital Times (Wisconsin)
Kerry Left Volunteers in the Lurch
by Phyllis Hasbrouck
 
Hey, John Kerry! I want my $25 back!
I gave it to your campaign specifically for the fight around a contested election. Your e-mail said, "In the post-election period of 2002, the Republicans had four times as much money as we did. With your donation, we'll be ready this time, with an army of lawyers prepared for any contingency." You probably raised millions from that appeal, and we figured you really meant it.
svip
How can it be good for our nation to be subjected to four more years of Bush? If you think that a tidy beginning to a national nightmare is more important than a messy beginning to a fresh start for America, why did you bother to run?
snip
You can be sure that if the Republicans had been in your position they would have fought tooth and nail to pull a victory out of defeat. Why didn't you give investigative journalist Greg Palast a million of our donated dollars to run an investigation into black box vote fraud in Florida? Why didn't you send your army of lawyers to fight for every provisional ballot in Ohio? Why did you betray our hopes?
A real leader would have organized a coordinated strategy of legal challenges, popular demonstrations in the streets and a public relations blitz to let the actual votes of the American people be counted fairly. Sound familiar? It's what the Republicans did in 2002, and it worked. I'm not suggesting that we should cheat like they did, but we would have shown an avalanche of activism in defense of the people's right to vote, if you had only led the way.
You had on your side Air America, MoveON, ACT and many more groups who would have joined the fray to make it possible, for the first time ever, to stop and reverse, and possibly rerun, a fraudulent election. Think of how glorious it would have been, how energized your millions of dedicated volunteers would have been, had they actually beaten back another right-wing attempt to steal their democracy!
snip
So goodbye, John Kerry, and send me back my $25. You obviously don't need it anymore, and I'm looking for a group that can use it
Phyllis Hasbrouck is a Madison area activist who was a ward leader for the MoveONPAC voter drive for John Kerry.
© 2004 Capital Times

[rpannier]

1. Agreed 100%

I gave over 100.00 to various Kerry fundraising efforts and I'll I got was four more years of that twit.

[demgrrrll]

2. No kidding. I gave more money than I have ever given to any

campaign. I felt let down.

[ramapo]

5. Me too

I kept giving and giving and giving...

I feel like I stock speculator in '99. Keep buying until the bubble pops.

[rodeodance]

4. uu...mmmm Where did that money go?

[molly]

3. Did any of the primary candidates refund money?

[robbedvoter]

6. I am sure the refund part is symbolic. The important point to me is

that kerry had unprecedented support - not just financiar. It would have made a whale of a movement had he fought.
Gore had been attacked from left and right - I watched the whole theft perplexed and only at the end got involved. But Kerry had us and squandered us - and that's the sad point.

[htuttle]

7. During his concession speech,

I swear you could almost hear the air rushing out as so many hopes were deflated.

If he thinks he can run again in 2008 and get the same enthusiasm, he's going to be very disappointed. If he had truly been forward looking, he would have at least put up more of a fight to keep his base inspired, even if he knew he couldn't win.

[robbedvoter]

8. My problem is, people will stop voting. Myself - only locally as long

as we still have lever machines. After that, I won't bother , I am not insane.

[Sugarbleus]

9. A..a..men!!!!!

I also can't say how EMBARRASSED I am in front of those people I tried to convince to vote Kerry--because "he really knows how to lead"!!

It's one thing to be legally defeated, it's another to just "fall back" and roll over. 'Rodney King': Can't we all just get along? WTF?

'No rancor, no malice' blah blah blah....... SAY WHAT?! (indeed)

Like someone said in DU last week: I'm voting my conscience next time. I didn't vote for Kerry in primaries--even thought it was weird how he came from behind to win like that! I fell in line with all of you to support our candidate as a united force to oust GW Fascist, but I started to have my doubts by late spring and early fall already. I couldn't say anything, besides what good would it have done by that time.

During these last four years I've lost faith with my faith and now I've lost faith with my party..(not to mention lost buck$) It's been a serious mindfuck! I will be looking for some other party to speak for me since the Dems keep shooting themselves in the foot!

Alas, the Dem party has been watered down to meaninglessness. RIP

[Go_andbe]

10. I think I read on DU that he is going to UN concede

It is a legal manuever

[Omaha Steve]

11. We did too

We put more money into this election than all the others combined starting with Carter in 76.