I feel like the DLC, DNC, and the media has pushed John Kerry on me.

[Zinfandel]

This goes way back, well over a year ago, well before Dean had a single INTERNET donation...and all the DLC & DNC literature I was religiously reading and keeping up on, was saying how Kerry WILL be the Democratic nominee. He's part of the big democratic machine, he's a Clinton moderate, and he's rich and part of many of the brotherhoods.

Did I really have a choice? Or was it made to just look like I did?

The media loved creating the match up they wanted, effectively getting rid of Dean and the rest...now they want a mini battle between Kerry & Edwards...with of course pushing for Kerry, to be the winner (because the republican owned corporate media and I also believe Rove and the repugs. wants a Kerry/Edwards ticket, (which will play well on TV.)

Yes, the newspapers keep drilling us "ONLY Kerry can beat Bush" and we suck it up.

The last thing the republican owned corporate media wants is a democrat maverick (Dean, Kuninich, etc.) to rock the boat and perhaps get the people fired up for real change that is so desperately needed.

No, Kerry will do fine, bring forth some moderate Democratic changes, but never ever really rocking the boat...watching him scream occasionally at Bush, makes for good television and ratings and keeps the people thinking...shit yes, were going to kick Bush's ass and there are going to be huge changes for the unions, the environment, education, military budget, etc, etc. Moderates don't make big changes.

I really thought I had a choice this time.

[otohara]

1. They Have

and we knew they would -

[private_ryan]

2. I don't think

"the republican owned corporate media" will have to worry about "a democrat maverick". Mavericks don't win...

In this case the "the republican owned corporate media" did us a favor. At least now we have a chance to take the WH back.

Any DK or Dean supporters who want to be begged for votes (seen it in several threads) should stay at home and not vote for "Repub Lite". Just don't forget to come back here and whine for the next 4 years about how bad Bush is like the Nader greens are doing right now.

[Zinfandel]

7. Spoken like a true moderate.

[wyldwolf]

47. Yet you offer no rebuttal?

[Freddie Stubbs]

58. It would appear that there are a lot of moderates in the party

Or at least a lot of Democrats that like to vote for moderates.

[w13rd0]

14. Ah, and rather than accept that "consensus candidates" are...

...losers that inspire neither passion nor change, you outline for us the DLC game plan. Lose 2004, and blame it on us. A perfect strategy to continue to expand influence while simultaneously losing election after election.

[diamondsoul]

18. "...did us a favor."

By destroying democracy thoroughly and with impugnity. Thanks media whores, thanks DNC and DLC, and thanks ever so much to YOU, private, for going along with the destruction and calling it a good thing.

[private_ryan]

34. how did they destroy democracy?

did they force people to vote for Kerry?
Whose fault was that he screamed like a WWE announcer?
This is the same media who announced Kerry as a loser and Dean as God just a few weeks ago. Remember those glowing reports and magazine covers? I bet you loved the media then.

[diamondsoul]

37. ROTFL

You obviously didn't notice my avatar or sigline! I am NOT a Dean supporter. I back Kucinich, the man with the plan. **and who the hell misses giant red letters saying "Dennis Kucinich" anyway?! LOL**

I hated the media then and I hate it now. I've hated it since not too long before the Clinton affair fiasco, thanks. No way in hell would I EVER suggest the media has done a damned thing good since the end of the Viet Nam conflict.(notice I didn't say war? That's an acknowledgement of the propaganda we've been fed for decades. It was a war, America lost, but try telling that to the government or the military.)

There are no "favors" done to democracy when the people are fed a line of BS that a candidate is "unstoppable" or the fucking winner in everything from the spitting across the morning headline contest to the primary races before even half the votes are tallied!

[Zardeenah]

42. I don't remember any glowing media coverage of Dean...

I remember covers (I forget which magazine) "Can Dean Be Stopped?" and other like titles...all focusing on how desperately this guy needed to be beaten. Dean got substantial percentages of negative coverage, (something like 70 negative for Dean, while Kerry and Edwards were 70 positive.) while other candidates were getting favorable characters established in the media story.

It was all "Dean is too angry" "Dean is too liberal" "Dean isn't Liberal enough"...The media finally settled on "Angry Liberal" for Dean, while Kerry got "Distinguished Veteran", Edwards got "Young Populist".

I totally feel like Kerry was forced on us, because the media focused a totally unreasonable amount of character coverage, ignoring platforms, records...and even whole candidates.

I'll vote for Kerry, but the whole time, I'll be working to replace him with a fiery truth-speaking progressive who will tell us what is true, not what we want to hear, and give the government back to the people in 2008.

Susan
(DK supporter & Delegate in WA)

[Voltaire99]

35. No, apparently not

Do you really wish to be so cavalier about potential votes? The first lesson in politics: don't piss on potential allies.

I rather suspect it won't be Greens or Deanies who grieve if a certain rich tepid moderate fails to replace Bush. We'll simply explain again what you were taught last time: you can't afford to lose the left. We're your last friends. But good luck with the NASCAR dads. ;-)

[in_cog_ni_to]

3. Me too, I agree.

We have lost total control of the election process in this country. It's pathetic.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. I felt like Howard Dean was being pushed on me

not too long ago so there.

[Zinfandel]

5. Well now you have nothing to worry about.

[library_max]

6. You thought you yourself were going to get to choose?

You thought you yourself were going to get to choose the Democratic nominee this year? Why on earth would you think that?

We (you, me, and the rest of us), the Democratic voters, do have a choice. We are making that choice even now, primary by primary. Do you personally disagree with the choice we are making? Gee, sorry, but there are millions of primary voters. It's not just about you.

[Zinfandel]

9. No friend...there are millions of "ME"!!!!!

The DLC, DNC, and the corporate media has spoken!!!

We are so very happy!

[library_max]

23. Really?

Millions of them, eh? Elected you to speak for them, did they? My my.

[duvinnie]

8. yup

didnt Jim Carrey (sp?) make a movie about this? I feel like Im in that movie.

btw... here's why I cant get excited about JK
(and why we need Dean)

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0217-06.htm

[mouse7]

10. Kerry isn't Lieberman.

I said I'd support any nominee but Lieberman. I still will.

[rucky]

11. We had the best crop of candidates EVER

seems like a waste of talent. A close race up to the convention would have been stronger than the show of "unity" that the party called for early on.

[Carolina]

27. A close race up to the convention would have been stronger ...

absolutely because we'd still have a chorus of voices against Bush as well as confusion among media talking heads who seem too eerily gleeful about Kerry's primary successes. Also, alleged conventional wisdom would be tossed on its rear end and Rove would really be quaking because it's a lot harder to spend $200 million against nine than it is one.

This way too early, pert-near forced show of unity could be our undoing. Sure Kerry is strong among Democratic voters in the primaries but then again so was Dukakis!

I don't trust these early Kerry v Bush polls any more than I trusted the ones in 1988 that showed the Duke with a 17 point lead. This race is going to get a lot uglier than that ugly one (which first exposed me to the depth of Bush dirt) and I really fear that Kerry, especially Kerry-speak, is NOT up to the task.

[54anickel]

52. Amen! n/t

[killbotfactory]

12. The dem convention in Boston is only a coincidence.

When you criticize John Kerry, the terrorists win.

[oasis]

13. "Moderates don't make big changes". Americans don't want big changes.

That's why politicians try to reach out to moderate voters.

[w13rd0]

17. So after 3 years of having the GOP push this country...

...5 miles to the right, Kerry is gonna propose to walk us back 10 yards to the left and call it a victory. Yeah, the DLC game plan is such a winner. Let's just keep letting the GOP and DLC define what the "middle" is, continually crawling rightward, and we'll dutifully play our part.

Screw that.

[Carolina]

29. You're absolutely right w13rd0

the DLC game plan is such a winner that we lost in 2002 despite all the anger still smoldering about 2000.

Kerry and the DLCers record of success against Bush thus far sure inspires confidence about November (sarcasm meter on fire).

[lyonn]

48. Right, the hot 2002 election

That was the sorriest performance by the democrats that I can remember. It was bush "lite" time. Dean starts people thinking we may be able to beat bush in 2204 and the rest of the crowd running learned how to campaign better. I sit here now listening to the talking heads on tv and I get furious. Nothing but bashing Dean. Guess he threatens them? Including the DLC and DNC! They know what's best for this country?

[library_max]

49. Everybody forgets that 2002 was a referendum on 9/11.

Jesus Christ couldn't have won as a Democrat in 2002.

[lyonn]

53. Exactly Max

Bush spoke and they all followed. Where was the debate on the war? 9-11 and the Iraq war are two different issues.

[lams712]

54. NOT TRUE....to say that is was "only a referendum on 9/11"..

...is very oversimplified. The few Democrats that won (or would have won like Paul Wellstone) voted against the war and stood up to Bush. Many candidates that were supported by the DLC did not do well, neither did any of the cndidates that Bill Clinton campaigned for directly.

[library_max]

55. That's because the DLC supported the candidates who were at risk.

Likewise Clinton. The "few Democrats that won" were running from nice safe Democratic seats. That's like saying that medicine kills people because people who are dying tend to take more medicine.

[Zinfandel]

20. And that's why we are in this corporate, massive military mess

and destuction of our environment, our civil rights, no health care, corporate attacks on our schools, etc...

Yes, moderates make mini changes forward and fascist make massive leaps backwards...that's why we are really and truly losing this country to a military, fearful, corporate state...

Nice little mini changes, easy to correct for the next republican fascist regime.

[oasis]

31. The prospect of continuing incremental change was too much for a few

voters to endure in 2000. No substantial difference between Bush and Gore, was their claim.

I blame those knuckleheads for setting us back.

[mgc1961]

33. I love this thread.

All these boatrockers warm my heart!

[Kahuna]

15. No. That would be the voters.

Unfortunately voters are like sheep. That is what you see happening. Kerry is perceived as a leader because he won IA and NH. He has gained momentum and the rest is history.

[onehandle]

16. Yeah. Who cares what all those primary voters wanted...

They're all pawns of Rove.

[bornskeptic]

19. Could you please point out some of this literature.

The DLC material I saw seemed to indicate that Lieberman was their preferred candidate, until they realized that his campaign was hopeless. I don't think they jumped on the Kerry bandwagon until the voting in Iowa and New Hampshire and his surge in the polls convinced them that he looked like a winner. If you argue that the DLC was strongly opposing Dean, I think that is obvious. Kerry has always been far more liberal than the model DLC candidate. As for the DNC, I'm not aware of their publicly pushing any candidate. I'm quite willing to consider any evidence to the contrary however. Anyway, if you think Kerry is a Clinton centrist, you need to do a little more homework.

[Zinfandel]

22. Your baiting...be happy, we have the wonderful John Kerry as our

candidate.

[gottaB]

30. please explain

That's a perfectly intelligent observation you're mocking.

You try to play "guilt by association" with what? Membership in the Democratic Party? That's not even funny. What is it then? Affiliation with the DLC? That's pretty meaningless in the context of the current situation. Howard Dean, for instance, had been happy to embrace the DLC as governor. And I don't see him spurning any endorsements.

If you mean to say there's a faction in the DLC that backs Kerry, you're probably right. But Kerry's victory represents something of a coup. The heavyweights were behind Lieberman. And surely Graham would have been more palatable to most of that crowd. Even Edwards, for all his newfound populism, arguably curried more favor than Kerry, and he continues to be more militaristic in outlook, which is something the DLC is big on.

The truth is Kerry is more liberal than most of the leaders of the DLC are comfortable with, to the point where Bill Clinton recently felt compelled to vouch for his moderate credentials.

[vi5]

21. See this is what I don't get.......you still get a vote...

...cast it however you want. If the final results aren't in line with that vote, then I'm sorry but that is democracy. Not the DLC, not the DNC or the DSSC or whatever other acronym you can come up with.

A lot of the same people who are saying they will vote third party or for Nader or just simply not for Kerry because their vote is sacred to them and they can use it however they want, are the ones complaining in a defeatist manner that their vote isn't "counting". It just doesn't jive with me and I don't get it. But nobody ever said the internet was a haven for common sense and consistency.

[Zinfandel]

25. Yes technically "you don't get it" I'm not talking about me...

fuck what I think...I'm talking about the machine that had this alredy in the works, years ago...and yes we all voted for Kerry with our own little minds...I'm so HAPPY!!!

[vi5]

26. Oh....the MACHINE.....sorry....I don't see how I missed that....

It's all so clear now. The machine. I forgot. And also the reverse vampires. They are to blame. And the cigarette smoking man with the black helicopters. Don't forget them. They are all to blame as well.

-sigh-
It's all just so hopeless.

[Zinfandel]

28. No, we have Kerry, Please don't say it's hopeless!!!!

[Debi]

24. You did have a choice

Just not the one you wanted...resistance is futile.

[Voltaire99]

32. Choice? See Kerry's essay on complete US support for Israel

http://www.counterpunch.com/kerry02172004.html

Did you know that "the cause of Israel is the cause of America"? Or that Kerry had this epiphany while being "allowed" to fly an Israeli jet?

The piece is a rather typical exhortation, with no surprises. Alas, it does not speak well for Kerry's regard for the suffering of the Palestinians or his grasp of the region's history or its present convulsions. Kerry's view is so nuance-free that he even uses a fatalistic military metaphor to declare that Americans are irrevocably "enlisted for the duration" in Israel's cause. Will he say as much to National Guardsmen, one wonders, when they are sent to invade Syria?

This is the neocon view, too, of course. Richard Perle could not have expressed it better.

[nolabels]

36. Living in California, mostly you never get a choice

Get over it already. I feel ashamed do say but California gave up the likes of Nixon and Raygun(that is rotten,isn't it?). So I guess we are even for that.

These special states who say they have to have their primary before anybody, are the ones to blame, talk bad about them already.

Honestly though, we knew this was going to happen, I don't know why anyone was suprised. Join the DLC or something, maybe you can make change that way.(more jokes, haha)

Anyway I do feel proud that we gave them DLCers a scare in the shorts with Howard.

Putting a shot over the bough! Next time, it won't so be sweet, you scally wags. So you DLC typers better hope this one works, or your done
<end rant>

[Freddie Stubbs]

38. You can also blame the caucus-goers in Iowa, the voters in NH,

Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, and caucus-goers in Washington, Nevada, DC, and Maine.

[West Coast Democrat]

39. A few months ago I sort of felt like the media was pushing Dean

on me.

[YNGW]

40. I had an R friend tell me this.

When I asked him what he thought would happen should Kerry beat Bush, he said this:

"I'm voting for Bush, but Kerry is a Democrat that Republicans can do business with and control."

Different puppet, same string.

[Snivi Yllom]

41. you are right...more of the same

drip drip drip....the difference between the parties becomes more negligble every day.

[SoCalDem]

43. Of course they have.. Dean was the unknown quantity

The media likes "cut and dried".. With Kerry, they have years worth of speeches, and votes to mine for snippets.. They probably had them all ready to throw at him .."What about THAT, Senator Kerry"?

With Dean it was different.. He did not suffer fools well, and as a doctor, he was trained to cut to the chase. His records are all concentrated in a small state that most of 'Murkans could not locate on a detailed map..

Dean was the candidate of the grassroots, and it's hard to gauge what they are thinking, because "they" are ordinary people and not easily identifiable.

Everyone loves a "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" story...but just for so long... and early in the campaign , when it really doesn't count..

When it gets right down to the nitty gritty, they had to destroy him..that was the logical conclusion to the story.. Kerry was always going to be the chosen one..

[DrFunkenstein]

44. Not To Mention Voters In Iowa, New Hampshire, Missouri, Arizona...

You pretend like the media invented the hellacious ass-whomping Dean recieved in the state where he poured all his resources and thousands of supporters from across the country. Dean went from huge front-runner to a huge loss before the media knew what hit them. The media was in reaction - they had dismissed Kerry's campaign pretty much from the time Jim Jordan was fired.

Ask yourself this: If Dean had posted those numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire, do you think the media might have just maybe/possibly "annointed" Dean the Democratic crown?

As for Kerry making "moderate" changes - Kerry is a bridge-builder able to pull Congress together for MAJOR health care reform. His plan is not complicated (same as Congress) and focuses on cutting costs. If anyone can get near-100% health care coverage through Congress, it's Kerry.

That's even before you start talking about the drastic shift in our energy consumption (not to mention environmental protection). This has been Kerry's life-long passion. Expect CAFE standards to shoot up and an enormous push towards clean, domestic renewables.

Then we can go into the attack dog SEC he is going to put into place - with real teeth. Let's just see where Eliot Spitzer ends up. Kerry is going to kick some corporate welfare ass and sink all those off-shore tax havens. The man is a driven investigator. He's not going to sit on his hands.



(This is the picture from his op-ed in Time's "Green Century" issue.)

[Exgeneral]

46. No pretense, that "ass whomping" was media generated, bought and paid for.

you're being disingenous to suggest otherwise.
Read it for yourself:

http://www.mediatenor.com/US-Election_040209_monthly.pdf

[Exgeneral]

45. Even General Clark couldn't fight the power structure

Once they clamped down on the outsiders like Clark and Dean, it was pretty obvious they want us to vote for DLC old school guy or DLC new guy.

After what I've seen go down just in Washington alone I'm pretty sure the outcome was preordained.

Makes you wonder about Kucinich doesn't it?

[jab105]

50. yep.....

n/t

[eileen_d]

51. I'm sorry that you didn't get your choice

But you have one vote to cast. It is not worth more or less than any of the votes that have already been cast. And in elections, majority rules, and winners get coverage in the media. I will make no claims that the media is fair, or that the DLC/DNC is doing everything right, but to attribute total control of the process to "them" is to wallow in powerlessness.

[kiahzero]

56. That's funny

I remember Kerry being deemed out of the race before Iowa.

No one, except maybe the voters, forced Kerry on you. Sorry... your candidate isn't the one most people support.

[John_H]

57. The DLC's first choice was Kerry? Please.

I know many of us are scaredy-waredy bof the big bad DLC bogeyman (which is one of the funniest things about DU), but I'd bet a thousand bucks that they'd prefer Edwards or Lieberman overKerry any day of the week.

[Tweed]

59. Edwards has been pushed hard too

Not sure why though either. He is a terrible candidate.