"Democrats, in our pursuit of big dollars, have neglected the people we're there to serve. "

[madfloridian]

These words were written in 2004. I see the same things happening now that have happened the last few years in our party. It angers me and it saddens me. Those who spoke truth are seldom heard, and those who push a rather pandering sort of middle ground get all the attention.

In recent years the Democrats, in our pursuit of big dollars, have neglected the people we're there to serve. We let our connection to our base atrophy and have forgotten, as they say in politics, who brought us to the dance. In service to a falsely named "centrism," we've sidestepped every major request from labor unions, especially on including worker protections in our free-trade agreements.

The Democrats, by using appeasement as a political strategy, have solidified the Republican hold on power. Harry Truman once said: "When the voters are given the choice between voting for a Republican or a Democrat who acts like a Republican, they'll vote for the Republican every time."

Our party made this come true in the 2002 midterm elections with dismaying results as, defying all expectations, the Republicans took control of the Senate, maintained their majority of governorships, and gained seats in the House. It was the first time in history that the Republicans had gained strength in the House in a midterm election while their party also held the White House.

In 2002, the Democrats misjudged the mood of the electorate. They thought they could get elected by playing it safe, moving to the middle, even by bragging that they'd voted with President Bush on most of his major legislative initiatives.

..."Democratic voters in 2002 didn't want to election Republicans; they wanted Democrats with deep-seated principles. One Democratic observer quoted by Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne, Jr., put it well: "They seem to believe more in their ideas than we do in ours."

And one more paragragh:

America's politicians attack one another by day and slap one another on the back by evening. They can play this game because they know their fighting words have no real meaning. And the media play right along, reporting on the game as though it were a story of substance. Indeed the game becomes the story, and discussions of substance are relegated to the newspapers' inside pages if indeed they are covered at all."

From You Have the Power, copyright 2004.

Deja Vu all over again.

[blm]

1. I disagree with Dionne here - Dems didn't LOSE in 2002. McAuliffe let many races get stolen

like in Georgia and Alabama. Guys like Siegelman were left to fend for themselves as the DNC would NOT back them up or show any fight at all.

Even decent journos like Dionne got caught up with false explanations to label the electorate and its mood in 2002 and 2004. An electorate who actually HAD voted for Dems, but, couldn't get their votes allowed, cast and counted thanks to a collapsed Dem party infrastructure in too many states. Collapsed in years earlier by the Clinton wing of the party who didn't care about any other Dem race but Hillary2008.

[madfloridian]

6. I remember 2002 and the run up to the Iraq invasion.

There was that sense that the party let us down. There really was. We invaded a country based on lies.

Agreed McAuliffe did not fight the right battles, though.

[blm]

11. Many in the party then were following the advisement of the last Dem president. Well, if Bush lied

about WMDs and Iraq intel he said showed invasion was necessary, then what did Bill do in his role and with his privileged access to Iraq intel?

Even David Axelrod was a big supporter of the strategy that Dems leave national security to Bush - he attacked Kerry publicly in 2002 for criticizing Bush's strategy. Then, of course, it was Axelrod who was advising Edwards in preparation for HIS presidential run - and, no doubt, Axelrod advised him to take the lead on CRAFTING the IWR.

Then, of course, Axelrod AFTER 2004, sticks his finger in the wind and decides that siding with Bush wasn't so good after all.

[madfloridian]

14. Agreed on what you said.

All those fingers sticking in the air.

[redqueen]

2. Well then let's all just stop paying attention.

There's no point anyway, right?

[madfloridian]

3. ?

Not sure how you got that conclusion from what I wrote.

The way women and gays are having to fight and beg for rights, the way the corporations and Republicans are getting more voice in health care than we are...deja vu.

We can stop fighting, but what would that accomplish?

[redqueen]

4. This:

"America's politicians attack one another by day and slap one another on the back by evening. They can play this game because they know their fighting words have no real meaning."

If there's no meaning... it's all theater. If it's all theater, what's the point?

[madfloridian]

5. Well, then..

I guess we don't bother.

It is true, though, the way they act.

[redqueen]

7. Horse-trading is part of politics.

It's an ugly business, but it isn't going to change simply because we see the many problems involved. It will only change after *generations* of effort. I don't see any quick route to getting the kind of massive reform of the electoral system we need.

Stuff like this annoys me to no end because it only serves to reinforce Nader's "no difference" mantra.

[madfloridian]

8. If we use bipartisan stuff right now when tens of millions are hurting..

without medical care then there is a problem.

We won, we should use that majority for the good of the people.

Sorry to be so annoying...I am feeling that way myself today. I am tired of the conservadems running everything and getting all the air time.

[redqueen]

9. You're not being annoying... don't think that.

I don't even disagree with the facts... just the way they're presented. It's so defeatist.

We only have to use bipartisan stuff in as much as we are trying not only to ensure we have 8 years to fix things, but also that we don't lose congress... and we actually don't even have congress now, given how many conservadem blue dog &$#*(&$(s there are up there trying to &#*@ things up.

Have you seen the organization in my sig? The situation with Ben Nelson in particular? Maybe I'm a True Believer or naive or... whatever... but I do think the power to change things rests with us.

[madfloridian]

15. Yes we have donated to that group and signed the petition.

In fact the book is on back order.

I am discouraged today because the single payer advocates are now coming out in opposition to the public option. See editorial or the sp forum.

It is going to hurt us not to work together.

[redqueen]

17. "It is going to hurt us not to work together. "

PREACH IT!


The divide between single payer & public option advocates has worried me for months now.

This is what makes the left susceptible to being called just a collection of 'special interests'. Even some who share the same 'special interest' (health care) can't get together to get the best possible outcome.

[madfloridian]

21. Exactly, and our goals are the same.

:hi:

[redqueen]

23. Splitting the left is all too fucking easy...

same as it ever was.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

24. I would have worked hard for either option.

But I don't like being insulted and put down for saying we are going to have to fight just to get a public option at all.

I don't know how to handle it when the some on the left completely turn against those trying to help. I really don't know how to react.

[dflprincess]

10. They've gone way past horse trading - horse trading was back when there were actual compromises

now they just sell out to keep the coroprate donors happy. The only question is which party will do the better job of fooling the voters during the current election cycle.

I've been involved with the DFL since 1972 and there's less difference between the Democrats and Republicans every year (with a few exceptions like Feingold). The behaviour of the DNC/DSCC in the 2006 Minnesota Senate race when they shoved Amy Klobuchar down our throats made it pretty clear that the policy of the national party is to make sure that no more Wellstones get elected.

[redqueen]

12. "The only question is which party will do the better job of fooling the voters

during the current election cycle."

If you really believe that, why do you still bother?

I agree that the two-party system is part of the problem, but it seems to me that that will take a massive effort to change.

In the meantime, I still believe that in the vast majority of cases, it's better to have more Dems in office than Republicans. Yes, we still have lots of blue dogs gumming up the works, but I can't blame anyone but the electorate for that.

[dflprincess]

16. In all honesty, I'm giving serious thought about quitting

I left the State Central Committee after we were force fed Klobuchar in 2006 and much to my surprise, I haven't missed it like I thought I might. I'm having a lot of trouble dragging myself to the local meetings once a month.

Thirty-seven years of frustration is enough...The only thing that keeps me going is the memory of when we got Wellstone through (after hearing from all the moderates that he was "too liberal" and could "never" win) maybe we can do it again, but not as long as there are Democrats who think that winning is the only thing and letting moderate Republicans take over the party is a good idea.

We need to stop settling and start standing up for something & forcing "our" elected officials to start representing us - not their corporate donors - and if that means staying home or working with a 3rd party, maybe that's what we will have to do to get the message through to them.

[redqueen]

19. I couldn't blame you.

That's what got the Dem party to adopt its worker-friendly planks in the first place... defecting voters.

[dflprincess]

20. The longer I'm active

the more I regret that the Farmer Labor party ever merged with Democrats in 1944 - we could really use it now.

[madfloridian]

29. We have a hard time being active in our area anymore.

It's hard to fit in to the old ways now.

[mmonk]

13. Recommended.

Thanks for a little truth this Friday.

[madfloridian]

31. Thanks.

Expected a right turn when Dems took office, but not this much.

[leftstreet]

18. "They seem to believe more in their ideas than we do in ours."

What a revealing statement.

We/They

Us/Them

[madfloridian]

22. I am very upset with the way they are abandoning rights for women and gays.

It appears it is happening quickly, too.

[liberalhistorian]

25. Gee, ya think? File this under

"no shit, where the fuck have you been". Geez Louise, some people are SLOW. Too bad most Dems in power still don't realize this.

[madfloridian]

26. I have known. I am just saying it out loud again.

More to come as I transcribe.

[Senator]

27. K&R

[madfloridian]

28. "An America ruled by people pushing intolerant, discriminatory policies in the "name of God"

More from the 2004 book:

The Republicans maneuvering brilliantly under the guidance of their language czars, learned how to cloak their ideology---and ideology far more extreme than what most Americans would accept--in words that sounded mainstream."

..."After Gingrich became Speaker, Brock reports in the "Republican Noise Machine", Luntz tutored newly elected Republicans in Congress on how to sell their radical agenda to more socially progressive neocons through careful turns of phrase."

..."The biggest coup of all, bring a team of radical right wing idealogues to the White House under the cover of Compassionate Conservatism.

Democrats and moderate Republicans have woken up and found themselves in an America ruled by people pushing forward intolerant, discriminatory policies....anti-woman, anti-gay, and anti-civil liberties, all in the name of God. The truth is we allowed this to happen by mostly remaining silent about the things that give meaning to people's lives."

We are paying the price for those religious zealots that were enabled first by Bush's administration, and now by Democrats in many cases.

[madfloridian]

33. "anti-woman, anti-gay, and anti-civil liberties, all in the name of God."

Indeed.

[Sunnyshine]

30. K&R - that last paragraph says so very much.

Get up, Stand up!

[GeorgeGist]

32. Au contraire.

Successful pickpockets are always discrete, and never neglectful. That's how they make the BIG$.

[Mari333]

34. knr