I'm glad Daschle lost...

[March of Time]

Better the GOP control the Senate by one more seat than the Democrats having shit leadership.

As long as the Dems have enough to filibuster, the magnitude of the GOP majority is of far less importance than the quality of the Democratic leadership.

[ProudToBeLiberal]

1. actually I would have to agree with you. nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Sad, but true.

I think he would still be in power today if he wasn't minority leader.

[JI7]

fuck that

with all the gay hating crap, daschle coming from a right wing state stood up against that shitty constitutional amendment crap. he was good on judges also.

[eaprez]

2. there's logic for ya!

[John_H]

22. Maybe you can explain the following logic for us all.

IF the Senate is the only way the Dems could even hope to thwart the GOP agenda during the most closely divided, knife fighting, partisan period since the civil war.

THEN it is an excellent idea to have the senate dems led by a mild mannered guy who has to get elected in a rethug state during the most important presidential election year in history.

Am I glad Daschle lost his seat? Of course not. Do I think that his defeat may simplify process of choosing a leader who is both a)inclined to fight rather than deal and b)not tempted to hold his party's agenda hostage to his own electoral situation? Sure.

[Julien Sorel]

3. I not glad Daschle lost. I not glad people not use good

English.

[TwilightZone]

5. Yeah, that's brilliant.

Let's give up a couple of decades of tenure - great idea.

[napi21]

6. It depends on who the new minority leader will be!

I agree, Daschel was too meek and mild. But one of the jobs of a minority leader is supposed to be their ability to gain consensus. If all you wanted was strong, Ted Kennedy would have been leader a long time ago!

[mazzarro]

7. This is not a time to be happy about anything political with the big

cheese still eluding us. I am damn too angry about everything concerning this election. I ahve never been one for looking towards the independents for salvation if we are not using our base as a means of caliberating our messages. We need to be more forceful about what we stand for!

[theboss]

8. Sure, and where are we going to make up for these lost seats?

This is not over yet. There are still a lot of deeply red states that still send Dem senators to DC for whatever reason. And we are running out of places to make them up.

[goclark]

9. Go back to the Freeper Board!

[AP]

10. You're an idiot. Guess why Daschle's the way he is? Because people like

Republicans in South Dakota.

You'd rather Daschle were more like Al Shaprton or Peter Camejo so that he could loose 90:10?

[mtnsnake]

11. The only thing sadder than someone being glad Daschle lost is the

loss itself.

[Toucano]

17. Oh, that's well put.

[Bridget Burke]

12. Fine words from a Canadian who joined 2 days ago!

Daschle was not my favorite for minority leader, but we lost a Democratic senator.

[Midlodemocrat]

13. Not me. I am never happy when a dem loses. n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. Daschle Came From A Crimson Red State...

He was as progressive as a politician could be in that state and get elected.....

[w4rma]

15. I'm not. I just wish he wasn't our leader in the Senate. The geography

tied his hands.

[depakid]

16. So am I, actually

He was symbolic of everything wrong with the Democratic Party- Good riddance. Maybe now, we can fight back- for a change.

[cjbuchanan]

18. I am no big Daschle fan, but come on

He was still a democrat. We cannot start eating our own. He might not be as far to the left as you, but he still was better then the new senator from SD. I would prefer to have someone in the Senate that is open to my ideas, even if he ends up not going with them, then someone that I know I will have no influence on.

[deutsey]

21. I regret losing his seat to a Repub, not losing him

I would have preferred he won, however.

[Snellius]

19. Democrats just couldn't understand that compromise was death

Instead of forgetting about what he thought were the heartland values of folks back home, about pork-barrel farm subsidies and playing nice with the lying sacks of crap in the WH, Daschle should have just stood up for what he believed. If someone's sure of purpose, others will follow. But he decided to cave and compromise and give in. And what did he get for his willingness to work together. The axe. I hope his tragic downfall serves as a lesson to other Democrats.

[Julien Sorel]

20. I'll believe you

as soon as you show me all the other politicians who succeed by "standing up for what they believe in," despite the fact that that runs counter to what their constituents believe.

[John_H]

23. That's the point. Why on earth have the fight against the GOP

run by a guy who faces the daily temptations of having to get himself elected in a rethug state?

Anyone who says that Daschle did not, in multiple instances, hold the party's best interests hostage to his own electoral interests is as dumb as a dumbass can be.

[Julien Sorel]

25. That's between Daschle and the Dem senators

who made him leader.

What I'm interested in is the implication that politicians can win by adopting positions that aren't shared by their constituents. People here have been saying this can be done for years now, but I'm not aware of a single politician, from either party, who has done this. Yet people continue to repeat it and repeat it, as though it is a simple fact, one that the politicians themselves are too vacuous to comprehend.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

28. That's Why Chuck Schumer Represents New York

and Trent Lott represents Mississippi and not the other way around...

Some well intentioned folks are so lost when it comes to practical politics..

[Snellius]

30. You're taking too passive a view

Of course, Tom DeLay will not be elected to Charlie Rangel's seat, but the idea that citizens have all made up their minds and choose only those in their own likeness shirks the active role that leaders must play in setting an example, motivating change, and persuading voters that theirs is the right course. If a leader is not sure of his direction, no one will follow. Clinton knew this and so did Bush.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

32. Clinton Subdued His Liberalism To Govern

That's what triangulation was all about...


If you have a lot of political capital you can afford to take votes unpoular with your constituents...


However, the larger point is that the dustbin of political history is full of losing politicains who got too far ahead of their constituents...

[IrateCitizen]

24. I'm not, even though I thought Daschle was a weak leader...

Tom Daschle in that seat rather than John Thune is definitely to our advantage.

Now, Daschle as Minority Leader, that's another subject entirely.

[progressivebydesign]

26. I'm NOT glad that the Repukes used filthy tactics to take down..

.. yet ANOTHER democrat. Shame on you for saying that.

[saracat]

27. Wonderful. We are slapped in the face. We lose our leader and a Senate

seat and you find something to crow about. I suppose Thune will vote better? Quality won't mean anything without votes.

[dolstein]

29. So you'd rather have Thune than Daschle, eh?

I have news for you. The Dems don't have enough votes to filibuster. Thanks to the Daschle loss you celebrate so heartily, the Republicans had a net gain of four seats in the Senate. That gives them 55 seats. But that's not the full story. At least five of the Democratic senators come from states that Bush carried by huge margins (Kent Conrad, Byron Dorgan, Tim Johnson, Max Baucus and Mary Landreau). If they consistently filibuster, they'll lose their seats.

[Liberal Veteran]

31. Regardless....Daschle was an ineffective leader.

Pure and simple. The fact that he was one more vote is fine and dandy, but as a minority leader he sucked ass.

[Ducks In A Row]

33. That asshole is the reason the Dems didn;t have the guts to fight

diebold voting

[Doctor_J]

34. when DIck asked him to back off of the 9/11 inquiry,

he should've told checney, "go fuck yourself". it would have set a much better tone for the past three years.

[niceypoo]

35. I agree

I was happy when I heard he lost