DU JK, Primary Wars, the Democratic Apocalypse & Kittens.

[TayTay]

The Democratic Party has never quite had a primary campaign for President like this one. Ever. The Democrats have a big, big chance to pick up the White House this year. People are voting Democratic so far in huge, huge numbers. This is our year. You can feel it.

This is for everything, all the big shiny marbles in politics. It's about power, money, the ability to reshape America's image in the world, retooling our economy and so forth. Everything is on the line. We have 3 competing visions for how to do that and each one tugs at a bit of the Democratic soul. Each candidate still left standing has die-hard supporters who truly feel that their candidate has the best vision and will to implement truly wonderful things for America.

How can this not turn into an no-holds barred, fight-to-the-death? Power is not given, power is taken. That was true back in the days before Alexander the Great stormed through southern Europe and North Africa and it is true today. Power is not given, power is taken. We choose up sides in a Democracy and wait to see who will seize power through the elections and implement their vision.

Democracy is a very cruel form of government, at least as practiced in America. We don't have a spot for the people who run but don't win elections. We don't. We consign them to a sort of political limbo where they get punishment time for not winning. This is all kinds of sad and all kinds of true. The folks sentenced to limbo have to break out of it by themselves. (Limbo sucks. Bad room service, spotty take-out, always raining. Trust me, it's just icky.)

Sen Kerry chose to insert himself into this race. He could have sat on the sidelines. He could have waited for a nominee to emerge and then done the kumbaya thing and endorsed them then. He chose not to do that. The very act of choosing will make him a target. He is not a newbie to the business of politics, he knew full well that he would get some cheers and a lot of brickbats. So be it.

This is, in some respects, the Democratic Apocalypse. Democrats are known for in-fighting as everyone posting in this group knows. We now have something incredible to fight about and people are going to do it. Everything is in play. Every word said by a candidate or a surrogate for that candidate is in play and open to scrutiny. The march to Super Tuesday is going to be absolutely brutal. (Super Tuesday is a truly bad idear. 20+ states all up at once? Deal Lord, what Circle of Hell intervened to get that idear credence?)

Will we ever be able to reconcile for the general election? Well, yes and no. Politics inspires intense feelings because, at it's best, it's about something. People still post in the DU JK forum because they still feel strongly about Sen. Kerry and the issues raised in his campaign. Sen. Kerry feels that Barack Obama best represents his views on those issues in the 2008 race. So, he endorsed him. The fall-out from that will be brutal. (As Kerry knew it would be.) Some people will feel hurt by this. We are human beings after all. Rejection, even in the cold hard world of politics, hurts.

We will be talking about the primary in here. It is impossible to ignore it. This is one of the most interesting and exciting and frustrating years I have ever seen. It has drama, money, sex, hard feelings, and the whole 'scorched earth' campaigning thing going for it. That is like a drug for some people. I couldn't ignore it if I tried. (I mean really, this is way, way better than any movie, play or TV show ever written.)

We are going to piss each other off from time to time. (Or even more frequently.) It cannot be otherwise. What we say and how we say it matters. In the end, we will be asked to come together as Democrats to vote for our nominee. I will, wholeheartedly, do so. It is my hope that I can also reconcile with those who chose a different candidate in the primaries. My ability to do so depends on how I talk about their candidates now. I see no reason to use the 'horserace' terms from MSM to describe our good Dems and antagonize people. That just makes the inevitable reconciliation harder to accomplish. And it's mean. It is the very thing I had hoped to avoid. The people running for President are all honorable people, I just disagree with them on the issues. I have no intention of debasing them by using slurs and insults. It is not how I want or choose to play the game.

Oh yeah, the kittens. Politics is about as rough and nasty a business as there can be. There are a fair number of people who believe in the scorched-earth, destroy everything in your path, approach to winning elections. This is just annoying. My antidote? Ah, kittens. It's hard to stay all boiled up with anger and disgust when looking at pictures of kittens. Try it. It works. (Maybe puppies too, depends on the day. Oh, and baby ducks. Cutest damn things ever.)

Love to all!

Tay

[whometense]

1. Great post, Tay!

And, yeah, sign up for Cute Overload emails, or at least visit at minimum once a day, where cute-ologists are working around the clock to keep your blood pressure down. http://cuteoverload.com/

Subscription link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/CuteOverload

[rox63]

2. Kitten & puppy photos here

The Daily Kitten: http://dailykitten.com/

The Daily Puppy: http://dailypuppy.com/


Great post, Tay!

[beachmom]

3. Thanks, Tay. Beautifully written and well said. I wanted to add to

that a story about the mini-eruption that occurred in Virginia in 2006, when John Kerry inexplicably endorsed Jim Webb. What???? Fedup and I nearly did have our heads explode with that one, and were confused for days. We had to puzzle through it, and in the end, we both ended up agreeing with his choice. I don't regret one iota for voting for Jim Webb in the primary, but that doesn't mean I didn't have some rocky days figuring out what John Kerry had done. Prior to his endorsement, I had pitched a major battle with the Webbies on DailyKos, with full out passion and vitriol, and was truly proud of my spirited defense of John Kerry and his protests of the Vietnam War. I was outraged by what Webb had said about John Kerry as late as 2004 (saying one should question Kerry's loyalty to his country). Then, suddenly John Kerry endorses Jim Webb, and I felt like a complete idiot, that all of that work was for naught. But in reality, I don't think it was. Who knows? Maybe word got back to the Webb campaign that there was a problem with the liberal flank, and he needed to swallow his pride and reconcile with John Kerry. We'll never know. But that was a painful time, too, even if it wasn't at the level of emotion a presidential race is. And I did ultimately come to understand why he did what he did, even if I didn't at first.

I want to share with you JK's comment that he left on The Dem Daily, which I think was quite poignant. The topic was an extremist judge who got through (Kavanaugh), and why we needed more Dems elected in '06 (incidentally, has everyone noticed how extremists ideologues no longer get through the Senate? 2006 has meant more than most have been able to acknowledge). Fedup had mentioned in a previous comment on the thread (that no doubt, JK read) that she was going to vote for Harris Miller, Webb's opponent. This was about two days before he endorsed Webb. Responding to numerous questions here was his comment which I'll show in full:

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=3127#comment-39535

Thanks for all the responses, positive and negative. I read them all — maybe not all at once, but I do like to go back and see the feedback.

A couple quick thoughts - so I don’t waste this beautiful Memorial Day weekend weather we’re having in Massachusetts.

Some of you asked whether we could have filibustered the nomination. The answer is there weren’t enough votes to even try it — both because of the compromise some Senators struck a while back on judicial nominees (this was the McCain deal — I think it’s bad news if it let’s judges like this through by the way) and because, quite simply, we don’t have enough Democrats. The votes we mustered came entirely from our side of the aisle. So if you want to defeat characters like this in the future, we need to defeat Republicans. Period. We need control of the Senate. Period.

So how do we do that?, many of you have asked. It’s the right question.

Me, I’m raising tons of money for candidates especially with the help of our grassroots team at johnkerry.com. I know some of you are already part of that effort, and I’m not here to make a fundraising pitch. I’m also traveling the country stumping for candidates, like I did in 2005 in the local races and governor’s races. We’re helping to build the biggest Democratic grassroots campaign in the history of mid term elections.

What can you do specifically? Other than get out your wallet and contribute whatever you can, volunteer on a race - now. Don’t wait. Things are happening now. Get involved in beating Rick Santorum and Lincoln Chafee - bottom line, they’re very different Republicans but they both stand in our way. And let me make a specific personal pitch for the vet candidates running for Congress. I’ve sat down with almost all these people. They mean everything to me. I know they can change the debate on Iraq, and I’m going to be out there for them in a big way helping them fight back when the inevitable Swift Boat style attacks surface. But help them. Some of them won tough primaries, and it doesn’t matter to me whether you backed them then or not — it’s ok if you had your own candidate then, these veterans need your support now. You will be able to follow the work we’re doing for them at johnkerry.com.

Ok — back to work. Keep questions and thoughts coming and I’ll check back in when I can. JK

Although he talked in a way that made it seem like it had already happened, I honestly think he was prepping us for his endorsement of Webb, who is a vet. Notice how respectful he is with those who backed someone else. He just is saying, once that process was over, he really needed us to support the ultimate candidate. I know that is how he'll be this time. That is one of his finest characteristics: real respect for his fellow citizens, and certainly that is doubly true with his supporters. If you back Edwards or Clinton, please don't think you have lost a friend. He's still John Kerry, and in a month or so, we'll all be united again.

[dwahzon]

4. Excellent, Terri.

A point well made and well said.

As for kittens,



Don't you feel better already?

[Dr Ron]

5. Re Kerry chose to insert himself into the race

Obviously Kerry chose to insert himself into the race as he could have sat out if he wanted. However, for those who claim Kerry is irrelevant and should not have endorsed anyone we should also point out that the candidates also have been after Kerry seeking his endorsement. There have been reports of both Obama and the Clinton camp seeking his support. (I'm not sure to what degree Edwards didn't because he knew it was futile, and to what degree because he prefers to be able to distance himself from Kerry and place all the blame on losing in 2004 on Kerry).

There has also been a lot of discussion on line as to whether Kerry's endorsement matters, with some arguing that Gore's endorsement is more important. We saw in 2003-4 that Gore's endorsement didn't help Dean at all. Gore is more popular now and his endorsement might help a candidate more than in 2004. Endorsements from people like both Gore and Kerry particularly help Obama because it helps counter the view that he is too young and experienced. It also hurts the Clinton inevitability campaign. Kerry's endorsement is probably worth the most of anyone's as he has the largest list of Democrats who have been active and contributed during a recent campaign. While many in DU and many bloggers have derided Kerry's endorsement as meaningless, Obama and Clinton certainly know otherwise. There are also a lot of people beyond the blogosphere who are more interested in Kerry. There's a reason that there are still cars out on the road with Kerry stickers on them.

[Noisy Democrat]

6. Thanks for posting this :)

I had all kinds of bizarre dreams about the top 3 candidates last night -- can't remember what exactly, but they all involved strange games like darts and cards and horseshoes, with people keeping score and arguing about who had more points, and getting angry about the numbers -- and when I woke up, I realized that the outpouring of vitriol yesterday (not so much in here, but elsewhere on the internet) had upset me more than I knew. Not enough to spoil the joy and excitement of seeing JK speak out for a candidate, but still. What you wrote about JK knowing that there would be brickbats makes me feel a great deal better -- if I can accept the outpouring of vitriol as a natural thing, it isn't as upsetting. So thanks.

[ProSense]

7. Awesome!

Politics is about as rough and nasty a business as there can be.

People would argue that it shouldn't be. Still, if anyone believes that only politics earns this distinction, that person is kidding him or herself.

We have the advantage of seeing it play out in public, unlike other businesses/competitions where the cutthroat happens behind the scenes.

[politicasista]

8. Thanks, I was wondering

if he decided to stay on the sidelines, would the reaction have been different? I think that's what the people that usually speak highly of him here are mad about, but as you said, he chose to get involved regardless of the consequences.

But as you said, politics is a nasty business. Sigh.

[benny05]

9. Pootie Pics

The tuxedo cat is a native of Massachusetts and still a Kerrycrat (she's a lot like Kerry). The other one is a Edwardian.

[TayTay]

10. Oh, cute pics.

They resemble the cats who lived with me for years. (Since passed on, after well-lived lives.)

Thanks for these pics.

And nice to hear from you again.

Peace!

[rox63]

13. Cats and their political preferences

One of my cats is a Hillary supporter (Miss Mary), and the other (Princess) is an Obama girl. They are also both Kerrycats. My roommate's cat (Kitten Girl) is an Edwards supporter.

Say Hi to Elmo and Benny from me and my kitties. :hi:

[MH1]

15. One of mine is a Ron Paul supporter.

He is a little troublemaker who doesn't like to have any rules imposed on him at all, and hates being told he should share his toys with the community. :P

My older female cat is still deciding. She wants to sleep on it some more.

[MH1]

14. Cute kitties!

Thanks for posting.

[Island Blue]

11. My Kerrycats

My two Kerrycats Mojo & Luke. They don't often sit together, but they still love each other and always know the other is there to hang out with when they need a friend. :)

Here's another one of Mo, just because it makes me laugh.



Thanks as always Tay for your wise words. :hug:

[beachmom]

12. Great pics, IB. I am a bit of a fan of your pic blog, and saw a lot

of good ones of your cats. :)

[JanusAscending]

20. My Kerrycat "Sammy" could be a twin to your Mojo!!

Their resemblance is uncanny..........but I'm sorry to say I don't have any pictures of him. I inherited him from my daughter whose husband is allergic to cats. He and my Bichon, Flurry, are bosom buddies. they give each other "ear baths"!!!:hi: :rofl:

[sandnsea]

16. And grandbabies

Any excuse to post my grandbaby. He was so proud of his first tree decorating extravaganza. Good post Tay, just what was needed.

[TayTay]

17. Os Sandy, what a doll

And that is a pretty tree. Was this is first or second Christmas?

[sandnsea]

19. Hmm, actually his third, I think

He'll be 3 in June, so that would make this year his third I guess. We didn't think he'd be able to do it, but he got so excited. He'd grab 3-4 ornaments and run over and put them on the tree, then run back. He was so excited, it was a riot. She's having a little girl in March. I'll be unbearable then!

[kerrygoddess]

21. They grow so fast!

Seems like he was born but I know better! He's adorable.

[sandnsea]

26. Thanks

She's having another one in March, a little girl. We're really excited. Hope you and Julie are doing well.

[kerrygoddess]

29. Another one!

Congratulations. Julie's back up at school (as of Monday) and I'm looking at my stack of stuff to do and not interested in doing it!

[politicasista]

18. After reading the comments from the Kerry blog. I agree with you

(thoughts are a little clearer than this morning), but this is a nice post.


Peace cats. :patriot:

[YvonneCa]

23. Peace cats...

...Kerrycrats...sounds good to me. :)

[kerrygoddess]

22. Well said.

Thank you. My antidote is looking at the ocean or if I can't to the ocean, a photo of the ocean! I spent 8 blissful days housesitting in Malibu over Christmas - came home stress free. That lasted about 5 days!

Kerry on friends... :)

[YvonneCa]

24. Thanks ...

...TayTay for this. It's exactly right. I posted this yesterday, after reading here:


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

DUJK Friends. You are all my friends here. I heard the announcement yesterday, but I've been away from my computer until this morning. It looks like it was a difficult night. If any of you missed Vektor's post, I highly recommend it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Sometimes we just need to laugh and remember the family we have here. Thank you, Vektor!



I may be a little late on this, but I have a few thoughts to offer. First, on the setting for the announcement...I agree with those here who said it was more a matter of the Obama campaign having to be in South Carolina next for the primary...nothing more. Second, to all of you here, I am reminded of this quote from Senator Kerry:


“ There is no more important word, in my judgment, in the American language...other than love...than CITIZEN. And we have a responsibility... all of us...to be good citizens.”



I wish all of you knew how wonderful...and rare...it is to be so informed and so determined to be good citizens and make the right choice in this 2008 Presidential election. You all care. You all research and educate yourselves (and others) and make your decisions...very rightfully personal decisions...based on knowledge. That makes all of you exemplary citizens, in my book.

Many of us have been taught by our families and others to be responsible citizens and to respect others who do so...even as they make different choices than we do. I respect all here, whichever candidate you ultimately support (hopefully a Democrat) because you are entitled as an informed citizen to do exactly that.

Third, when John Kerry spoke at Pepperdine, some time ago, everything about his message was about unity. It was clear from his words that a divided country concerned him. He was against impeachment for that reason...he said it would anger at least half of the country, and make it harder to unite us around important issues. I was not surprised by the Obama endorsement, because of their similarities on issues, and because of JK's expressed concerns about the need to bring the country together.

I've been a little 'iffy' on Obama's experience. But I've seen with my childrens' generation the excitement he generates about changing our country. These are Kerry's changes...becoming voting issues for my childrens' generation. I can get behind that. When I try to get my adult children to watch JK speak on an issue we care about....they don't focus...they tune it out (sorry Senator). When Obama is on TV talking about the exact same issue...they sit up and listen.

I don't have a favorite in the primary, but I value and trust John Kerry's judgment on so many levels. I don't think the decision not to run was easy for him...but he knew (more than we here) how to get things done for the country. What a sacrifice...I respect him a lot for that. 'Campaign for the Country.' Remember?

Finally, about what we say...or don't say...here. I just think one of the strengths of this group has been the level of respect we have and show to each other, and each other's point of view. (You don't need me to say that, because as I write this, everyone here has already worked out their differences out of respect.) I hope we keep that. It is what is missing in GD and GD-P. The negativity that comes from saying an endorsement is meant to slam others is untrue IMHO, and it covers up JK's unity message. There are likely to be more conflicts during the primary season, so maybe we have to be 'on our best game' a little more, but I hope we can discuss anything relating to our favorite senator and politician. He's doing good things !

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And you are so right about the kittens. I now have two personal kittens (all grown up now) and a puppy because I needed them during 'trying times'. They DO work. PEACE to all here.



:patriot:

[karynnj]

25. I thought of the Pepperdine comments as well when I read the endorsement

His even being there was for the purpose of unity, as much as speaking on religion. It was not a place he was likely to win votes.

On experience, The one thing I see more clearly than I did three years ago is how each candidate or political official has a huge circle of staffers and advisers. Even a candidate as experienced and as personally knowledgeable as Senator Kerry listens to others with expertise in the subjects and the decisions are based on their judgment, their own knowledge and experience and the willingness and ability to get information from others. Weaknesses in either of the last two can be compensated by strength in the other, if they are at least minimally adequate. Without basic personal knowledge, it's hard to assess what you believe correct from others. Obama is more than sufficiently knowledgeable. Refusing to listen to all but an inner circle could be a danger with HRC - it was in 1994. That's why we have been innundated with MSM fluff pieces on how she works well with everyone in the Senate.

In Kerry's case, I was impressed by all three. His judgment was shown over decades and there was both strength of character and consistency. We've all seen how his personal experience in Vietnam was a factor in him being one of first arguing that the US doing policing or search and destroy in Iraq was counterproductive and but the US military at unnecessary risk. I had found something written by one of his top Healthcare people that described how the idea of re-insurance for catastrophic illnesses was a Kerry idea, stemming from his knowledge that many small businesses had to drop insurance because someone insured through them had a high cost health event. Because Kerry is a gracious man, we have also heard him acknowledge the experts behind many things that he has done.

With Obama, we can assess his judgment by looking at the issues and committees he chose. No matter how HRC wants to diminish it, it was clear from articles at the time that the ethics rules that Obama got added to the ethics bill were beyond what anyone (especially a not happy about it Schumer) thought possible. He was, of course, not alone - Feingold was his main ally on the committee. Obama was one of the small number of Democrats (which did not include HRC) who voted against tabling the Demint amendment. That amendment mimicked the tougher Pelosi ethics rules. The Republicans, who as the party out of power, would be hurt less by stricter ethics rules (you bribe the party in power) wanted to regain the high ground on corruption. Killing that amendment would have been used to say the Democrats really did not care about ethics. This does show that in an area he put a lot of work in, he chose the clean government side. I really wish he would have trusted Kerry enough in 2006 to vote for Kerry/Feingold (which would have been the counter to Clinton's mischaracterization of his record.), but no 2008 candidate supported it.

His own experience as an advocate on the streets of the South side of Chicago give him more real experience seeing the problems faced by some of the poorest of the poor AND seeing what remedies and support the government and other entities have. (As the song said the south side of Chicago is the baddest part of town. I have walked in Harlem and Spanish Harlem in NYC, but I would not go there.) You can compare how Obama succeeded in getting health care passed in Illinois to how HRC failed. The main difference is that he was willing to work with everyone, including the insurance companies - Edwards may not approve - but the end result is that some people have adequate insurance who wouldn't. In HRC's case, she and Ira Magaziner developed a plan in secret, refused to evne say who contributed until it became an issue, and didn't work to win key Democratic Senators to support it. In both Clinton's autobiographies they discuss Bill Clinton's decision not to even take it to a vote - HRC was not happy with this. Per the Kerry speech in Iowa late last year dealing with healthcare, he mentioned how Bill Bradley and others including Kerry put together something that had a chance of passing but after the failure the Clintons weren't interested and it died. As we saw in the NH debate the improvement in health insurance she is taking credit for was the Kennedy/Hatch S-CHIP bill where her main contribution was lobbying her husband to include it in the budget. What I take away from this is Obama did better because of his willingness to bridge differences than HRC, who wanted to be IN CONTROL, even though She was the surrogate for a Democratic President working with a Democratic Congress and he was a relatively junior state senator. (Would the huge ad blitz have been as effective if she had laid the ground work for public approval, had brought in more people and had coopted others into feeling it was their plan too?)

On getting information from advisors, the first question is whether we trust the circle of advisors. We know that many good Kerry people went to Obama when he opted not to run. Beyond that we know now that Kerry is one. On national security, Richard Clarke has been advising him. (My husband spoke to Clarke at a wedding we attended and he spoke of how Obama was a very quick study and asked good questions.) He also has Brezinski and I think Gary Hart. I suspect that in the coming weeks, we will see how people line up between the Clinton wing and the Obama wing - or as Kerry devastatingly called it, the past vs the future. (In fact, even if HRC wins the nomination, this looks like a major realignment with in the Democratic party.) The second question is his decision making process. In 2004, an article described Kerry's, I hope a similar will be written on Obama. From the above example on healthcare, his process likely has more in common with Kerry's than HRC's. It sounds like it is inclusive, trying to understand all POVs and needs.

[wildflowergardener]

27. frustrating

This is so frustrating - unrelated to your post really but it makes me so mad when people have to drag Kerry into threads just to get a quick jab in at him and his supporters, when the thread has nothing whatsoever to do with him.

I wish there was a way you could ignore posts with certain words in them - such as Kerry counting all the votes, wimp - or whatever they decide to use so I didn't have to see them.

Are there any other democratic message boards around that aren't full of hatred of other democrats right now?

Err.

Meg

[ladym55]

28. Thanks for your thoughtful post

With all the hoo-ha about Kerry's endorsement on the web, it is pretty obvious that it is very valuable. And knowing Kerry, it was made carefully and thoughtfully. As someone who is still undecided (and since my primary isn't until March I still have some time), I know I'll take Kerry's endorsement under careful consideration because I respect him so much.

It is sad but true that in our recent past, we chuck the candidates who lose into some kind of limbo. Shame on us. That wasn't always the case in our history. (Sadly, two who lost a presidential election and then came back and WON a presidential election are Grover Cleveland and Richard Nixon. Those are two I wished HAD lost and stayed gone!)

And I enjoyed everybody's kerrycats! :hi: