KF this poll! Show Ed some Kerry support!

[ray of light]

wegoted.com

Ed Schultz!

[_dynamicdems]

1. Done! n/t

[ray of light]

2. cool! Can you post elsewhere? I have to go?

[_dynamicdems]

3. You mean in GD? Sure they won't vote him down? n/t

[ray of light]

6. i'm back now. no, i meant kos or others.

i had already posted in gd and they were rating him up, believe it or not.

[ProSense]

4. Done!

Kerry's plan has a 3 to 1 advantage over Levin's.

[globalvillage]

5. I did, but Ed has really pissed me off this week.

Of course, I had to write him.

Ed, I have been barely able to listen to you these past two days. The Dems are not dividing the Dems.
YOU ARE DIVIDING THE DEMS.
Two plans are better than no plan. This is not division, it's debate. It shows the country that Democrats have more ideas than the Repubs. It also reinforces the fact that we are not sheep, we are people, and although our ideas may differ somewhat, ALL of our plans are far better than anything the repubs have presented, which is NOTHING.
Obviously, the Kerry/Feingold amendment is the better plan. But that doesn't mean that ANY plan calling for redeployment doesn't have some merit.
What the hell is wrong with you? I dont' get it. You should be lauding the Democrats in the Senate for presenting alternatives to "stay the course". Instead, you're ranting about why they're not following each other off the cliff like the repubs.
Get a clue, Ed. You're not helping by promoting the RW talking points.

[Island Blue]

7. Great letter.

I had to stop listening to him on Wednesday when he was going off about the two plans and how they were harming the Democratic party. Geez Ed, we're not Republicans. We don't wear shinny jackboots and march in lockstep. I didn't even bother trying to listen to him today.

[ginnyinWI]

9. I tolerated him yesterday, but today was worse!

He was screaming. I lasted about an hour, half listening and doing other things but then thought, "that's it!" when he started in on JK personally! I could not believe my ears! Don't diss my favorite politician, Eddie!!!

[_dynamicdems]

8. I agree with you to a point.

There were three components to be considered: the amendment itself, the arguments and the actual vote.

Sure offering two amendments was a good idea. The division wasn't in the offering but in the way many Democrats stood up and used Repug talking points to distance themselves from Kerry and Feingold.

THAT really pissed me off, not only because it was a very publice backstab of Dems by Dems but also because it was poor strategy. Offering a choice was one thing: demeaning the other amendment was just plain stupid.

Kerry voted for the Levin Amendment even though Levin didn't vote for his. The same with Feingold and Boxer and the rest of the Noble 13. All 13 voted for both amendments. This was smart. It was loyal. It was how all the Democrats should have voted yesterday. But even if they didn't vote that way, they should never, ever have demeaned Kerry and Feingold the way they did. Basically I agree with having the two amendments and I can even agree with some who voted on what they really believe. What I can't get behind is the use of Repug talking points and the demeaning of the complimentary amendment. It wasn't an opposing amendment: it was a complimentary amendment, one that offered choice. It was a choice offered to bring Repugs on board, not a competition between Dems.

The Democrats who made a point to stand up and disclaim any idea of an "arbitrary date" for withdrawal played right into Repug hands.

First they showed a lack of unity by making the point to differentiate themselves from the K/F/B plan. Secondly, their use of "arbitrary date" is going to be thrown back in their faces when they do finally come to a decision that the time is right to withdraw.

Sadly, this is going to come back to haunt the entire party. I can see clip after clip after clip being played in succession of these Dems saying they aren't for setting a date, that setting a date is arbitrary, etc. It's going to make Kerry's 87 billion statement look positively tame in retrospect.

And where does this leave us in the present? Looking just slightly less stupid than Rick Santorum, sad to say.

Think how much better it would have looked if every Dem voted for both amendments. What a message that would have sent! Democrats would have looked like the heroes because they offered the Repugs not one, but two choices, and they rejected both! Instead, the Dems now look like the Ass Clowns. Terrible. Stupid and terrible. And I do NOT believe for a second that the motivation was pure on the part of most of the Dems dissing the Kerry Amendment: they were dissing Kerry.

[rox63]

10. Ed was pissing me off too.

I wanted to smack him upside the head these last couple of days. I think he's got this totally wrong. And yes, I also thought the Dems that were Kerry & Feingold (while promoting the Levin/Reid plan) were being obnoxious and disloyal.

This whole exercise is useful because it keeps the discussion of the war front and center. The repugs don't want us talking about the war, because it's going so badly, and it's unpopular with the voters. It also shows that, no matter which of the two plans they supported, the Dems are the party that wants to get us OUT of Iraq. They not only have a plan, they have 2 possible plans. Hell, I think it would be great if they had 5 plans, each of them another possible way to lead us out of this quagmire. It's good to have several options. It shows up the fact that the repugs have NO plan to get us out. They want us to stay there indefinitely, with our soldiers getting killed and maimed, and our treasury getting bled dry.

[globalvillage]

11. Exactly.

Call Ed. He doesn't get it.

Ideas for an exit strategy from Iraq:
Dems 2, Repugs 0

We could win this one if we don't shoot ourselves in the foot.
Ed's part of the problem this time. He's wrong, and he needs to hear it. It would be one thing if he had decided to argue the merits of one plan over the other, but to simply rant on about two plans being the problem is counter productive.
All of the Senate Dems should have voted for both plans, and they were wrong not to. That could have been Ed's argument, but it wasn't.

[wisteria]

12. I agree and I e-mailed him last night explaining why I thought he

had it wrong and how we should be presenting these new developments in the party.