ATTN: Moderate DEMS do we need our own DU?

[Perky]

I get a sense that we are seeing in this microsm the seeds of a need to split the exisiting coalition,

We need a new manifesto/credo/contract with America. and we as bloggers need a place where we can start cutting into moderates who tend republican because they are unexcited or scared about the leftward drift of the DEMS.

[Tweed]

1. Yes, if we split up, it will make us stronger

What a brillant idea :eyes:

[greenohio]

10. There is hostility to New Democrats here

and the country spit out us out because we were perceived to be too extreme. New Democrats and the DLC are constantly assailed on these boards. If we want to win, our next candidate needs to be out of the DLC.

[Edmond Dantes]

16. "We must now all hang together,...

or we shall most assuredly all hang separately."

---Ben Franklin

[greenohio]

22. We will be united against the repubs,

but anyone with any DLC ideas here is constantly assailed. You either have the Ted Kennedy perspective, or your a troll

[bossfish]

2. What "leftward shift"?

I just don't see it...

I think most Dems on this board have stayed fairly consistent over the last several years. We had a DLC prez in Clinton. Lieberman was the VP nominee last time. I'm a 41 year old married guy with a six figure income, I believe in civil rights, national health and good education (and I have no kids). I think these are American values.

The rest of the country has gotten mean and bloodthirsty.

[cheezus]

13. fuck left/right. we need to run on populism

and you're right. those are shared american values. we need to quit letting ideology get in the way of them

[MsTryska]

19. Well said and I whole-heartedly agree....

we have to make the shift to populism. it's the only way as the liberal party we will survive this red state / blue state divide.

[Martti]

3. That was quick

Someone just trashed you for your beliefs, and now you want to lessen the odds of democrats even more...

You fundies just dont get it..

[BurtWorm]

4. Good riddance!

:hi:

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. Yes, you do! Buh, bye!

:hi:

[Don Claybrook]

6. Maybe you do. Is weakwilleddems.com available?

Maybe we can help you to pay for the domain registration.

[seaglass]

7. What leftward drift are you talking about?

I consider myself a moderate but I don't see any leftward drift. There's room for all Dems at DU, you don't have to agree with everyone who posts here:eyes:

[bigtree]

8. See ya next election

do your stuff. I'll most likely oppose ya. Hope we can unify next time like we did this time.

:hi:

[Onlooker]

9. We need to go after the poor ...

There will be a leftward drift in the Democratic Party, but it will be some sort of new left. It might espouse big government, but that doesn't mean it will be the same as it was 40 years ago. It's time for new thinking, and that new thinking has to net us several million voters.

[killbotfactory]

11. We don't hate gays enough, that's all.

If the democrats want to bash gays and pretend to be moral to win elections like the repubs, more power to them. I won't join in.

[blondeatlast]

12. No. My belief is strong enough to see those who challenge me

as just that, a way to make me stronger.

Relax. If you can't take it, there are lots of spiritual boards that are interesting.

I'm here for my fellow Americans.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. Here's The Problem

I am a Democrat by birth and disposition because the Democrats unfailingly put up the most electable left of center candidate who has any hope of winning a plurality or majority of votes...


If I thought Dennis Kucinich or Ted Kennedy was that person I would support them or anybody like them...


But in a center right nation that is definitely not the case....


The thing that frosts me about ideologues is they fail to heed the cardinal lesson of politics. If you don't win you can't do shit...

Till we field tickets that can be competitive in the south and border states and I include the southwest we will never win another presidential election...

And all the dreams of a Kunich candidacy, a Harken candidacy, or a Kennedy candidacy* are a cruel joke...

*I love the Kennedys as you can see by my avatar but my fidelity is to facts not faith... We have had way too much of the latter...

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Go ahead and be a moderate party. Just fight for election reform

because I can tell you that smaller parties have a devil of a time getting elected. And ALL parties are smaller than the GOP now, with Diebold on their side.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
FIGHT for election reform at the municipal and state level!
Clean up the American government from the ground up!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm

[asthmaticeog]

17. Frankly,

The defeat of Kerry and Daschle looks to me like the death-knell of the DLC's so-called "third way," and that's fine with me. I'd like to see a genuine leftward drift, not the nonexistent one you make reference to. Demand-side stimulus (including federal universal health care), media breakup, globalization and labor unions -- all the things the Clintonistas couldn't be bothered with -- are the key issues we need to be addressing. You want to keep up this "Dems are rightists, too!" rubbish, feel free. It's a loser. Clinton's charisma and cult of personality kept his presidency alive, and the DLC is ineffectual rot without him in the game.

[greenohio]

23. Thats it run into the fire....

in fact it is the exact opposite. Gore lost because he ran away from Clinton. Kerry was NOTHING like Clinton. The third way is survival, all other paths lead to irrelevancy.

[Perky]

18. I think we are both better off that way.

We Democrats would probably do better without your 1960s baggage,...its killing us at the polls.

Go ahead and leave

Unless we make a pitch for Moderate Suburban Dads we lose anyway.And you hard lefties don't seem to care. I would rather win the middle. I think we can do itwithout you!

The greater reality is this:

We had an energized base and a lot of swing voters with us and we still lost by 3 million plus and the Senate was just plain ugly last night. There is palpable hatred for the preside and we lost by 3 Million; Rehnquist is sick and we lost by 3 Million.

The greater reality is that there are more conservative and moderate swing voters in the country then there are liberal to moderate swing voters. We will lose on a level playing field every time.

In order to win you have got to appeal to moderate voters both in our candidate selection process and in his/her VP choice.


So what;s the right mix?

I don't think we can nominate liberals with records that prove the case. It is not that liberals are wrong its that they begin with more people to convince they are the right person FOR THE COUNTRY.

I think we need to redesign the coalition. That means simple messages about:

Creating jobs at home and being pro business, but NOT ANTI-PERSONAL WEALTH and ANTI-TAX

YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO BE ANTI-CRIME,

YOU HAVE TO PUSH HARD FOR EDUCATION as the the "SILVER BULLET"

If you go for the Rockefeller republicans and the Soccer Dads, you leave the GOP with the NeoCons and the Fundies.

Flame Away! But we lose when we put up Liberals from the Northeast.

Give me EVAN BAYHs and Mark Warners and BIll Richardsons and we can win

[Lorien]

20. You mean the rightwing dems vs. the neo-con dems?

Go abroad. The US democratic party is to the right of the RW parties in nearly every country.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

21. THE LEFTWARD DRIFT OF THE DEMS?

Tell me you are fucking kidding me. The repukes have taken this country so fucking far to the right we are about to all have our heads wedged up the far right's ASSES.

There is no leftward drift. I am about as left as you can get and if you think there has been some huge leftward drift, might I suggest you aren't left at ALL?

[Moderator]

24. Locking

this is not necessary on DU