Reason #472 why my wallet is closed

[DefenseLawyer]

The President just cut a commercial for Blanche Lincoln in her primary against a more progressive fellow Democrat. I'm not okay with that. I'm not going to be part of that team. My contribution to their efforts is zero.

[mikelgb]

1. isn't a blanched Lincoln just a watered down republican?

[bvar22]

15. So is the Democratic Party Leadership.

"Centrist" = almost hard core Republican



The DLC New Team
Progressives Need NOT Apply

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)


"By their works, you will know them."


"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Such a shame that we had to choose between him and gramps.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I don't blame you. It's crazy.

He needs to get this message.

Down with the Blue Dog Democrats...

[Ozymanithrax]

4. Yes, let the Republicans take over the congess and seats in the Senate...

That'll show 'um.

[DefenseLawyer]

6. Well that's obviously the mindset- fuck liberals, they have nowhere else to go

Just give us your money and keep your ideas to yourselves. Sorry. I'm not doing it. I'm not saying they need to act to my liking on every issue, I am admittedly further left than most people. But come on. There is no reason to wade into a Democratic primary. They obviously give zero consideration to the left in charting their path. That's fine, maybe it's the smart move. The fact remains I'm a former max donor who isn't going to help pay for an agenda that has nothing but contempt for me.

[Ozymanithrax]

11. It is not "fuck liberals." It is a fact that Republicans or Democrats will be in power...

Under Democrats, legislation will always be a little more liberal, a little more progressive than under even the most benign and centrist Republican administration. It is about making a judgment call on which one is better, not on what is the ideal.

In the same pattern, even the most far right Republican administration will not give Conservatives what ever they want. Under one party Republican rule, Conservatives did not repeal Roe V. Wade, they weakened it. They did not declare legislate the Ten Commandments as the law of the land, they initiated faith based funding.

Neither side is ever given what it wants.

So when it comes time to vote, we have to decide who will be marginally better for the left. That will never be Republicans. If we throw the Democrats to the wolves, it will be the Republicans.

I'm not saying you should open your wallet. There are candidates that I won't support with money. But at election time, I will support Democrats unless a party rises that can (a) win at the ballot box; and (b) is more liberal than Democrats. The side that governs does make a difference.

[FiveGoodMen]

13. "Neither side is ever given what it wants"

You must have spent the last ten years on some other planet.

[Ozymanithrax]

16. No, I saw people on the right that wanted to end abortion forever...

never happened.

They wanted to make the Ten commandments the basis of American law...

never happened.

Oh, Bush and his group threw them a few bones when they wanted them to come out and vote.

In this country, both sides bang the drums for what the base wants to get them out to vote. Then, they give them a tiny tease of something, to keep them hungry. The right often use anti-abortion, anti-gay laws, or some Christian rousing referendum on the ballot to get out the vote. It worked, they salivated like dogs, voted for Republicans, and then were tossed a bone.

The Republicans never delivered on the big social issues. They just ran the government in the ground. Hell, on one of their biggest promises, to shrink government, they failed, leaving a government larger than ever. In fact, from what I've seen, Bill Clinton was the only President in modern times to shrink the government, which makes him the best Conservative President since Eisenhower.

[AndyA]

12. +1.

I too am sick of the "it could have been worse" attitude.

That fact does not make it acceptable to shove sh!t in your open mouth.

Yes, it could have been worse, and they could not have won in 2006 and 2008 had it not been for the support of the liberals.

I guess having a Republican in a seat with a D after their name is the best we should hope for. :eyes:

[roody]

37. Could you get Mr. President to think about that?

[Oregone]

5. A dollar not given to the Democrats is a dollar given to Bush

:rofl:

Don't you know, our trusted liberals are entitled to your money and votes

[NaturalHigh]

8. Yes, that seems to be the attitude.

[tbyg52]

22. >>Don't you know, our trusted liberals are entitled to your money and votes

Don't you mean "liberals".....?

[sinkingfeeling]

7. While I've already voted in the Arkansas primary, I'm not certain if Bill Halter will win. It's

pretty close. The Chamber of Commerce has been running ads for Blanche and a corporate front group has been running a real sleazy one against Halter, claiming that he sent jobs to India (Americans for Job Security). Blanche may have gained some ground yesterday by condemning the Indian jobs ad.

Obama is obligated to campaign for the Chairwoman of the Agricultural Committee.

P.S. If you know that Bill Clinton and Obama aren't progressives, then you'll know neither is Bill Halter. He's a moderate too.

[DefenseLawyer]

9. Well it's Arkansas

No one is expecting Bernie Sanders. Halter is still more progressive than ultra conservative Lincoln. I don't think he is obligated to get involved in a primary. Obviously he can if he chooses. I'm just saying I am not going to help pay for it.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

26. May 18 is actual primary day although early voting going on now

here's the link

http://www.kspr.com/news/local/92755774.html

[Blue-Jay]

10. What are reasons 1-471?

[DefenseLawyer]

14. Guantanamo, military tribunals

dadt, drill baby drill, unfilled U.S. Attorney positions, public option, moderate/conservative judicial appointments, the Seigelman case, war crime amnesty, Joe Lieberman having a committee chair, actually now that I think of it there may be more than 471. I don't like to think about it. Disillusionment makes me sad.

[amborin]

28. Monsanto execs appointed to FDA positions.....

[Hissyspit]

38. giving up on Net Neutrality, hiding the additional torture photos...

drone killing of civilians, continuance of Bush administration overreach of Presidential authority...

[backscatter712]

17. Mine isn't - I gave to Bill Halter...

Just sayin'...

[DefenseLawyer]

19. I'm talking about the almost daily calls I get

from the various fundraising arms of the party, the DNC, OFA, DCCC, DSCC, etc etc

[CTLawGuy]

18. how about he needs her vote to pass any sort of legislation

over a Republican filibuster. The Ds in Arkansas with either vote for her or another equally conservative democrat.

[DefenseLawyer]

21. Actually they have a choice of someone who is not equally conservative

It was that kind of thinking that led to his support of Lieberman over Lamont. That worked out quite well too.

[CTLawGuy]

24. umm

Lieberman is an anomaly and CT is not AR. Lieb got elected because Rs abandoned their candidate (thereby handing control of the senate to the Dems).

And Bill Halter is apparently no "real progressive" himself from what I hear...

[DefenseLawyer]

25. It's all relative

He's progressive compared to Lincoln. He is running to her left. The whole reason she has a challenger is that she is among bluest of the blue dogs. Running ads for her in the primary is rewarding her for her total lack of loyalty on healthcare. What it tells me is that contrary to being boxed in my these blue dogs the White House was quite pleased that they put the breaks on reform. Again, that's fine, I'm just not going to pay for it.

[CTLawGuy]

34. well you have to remember that Obama needs EVERY

dem senator to get anything done, because of the Republican filibuster. I don't think Obama's support for Lincoln means he was happy with her killing the PO. If Lincoln sees Obama as not being supportive of her, what incentive does she have to cooperate with him in the future? He didn't even win her state. Obama knows that, while she is in office, he needs her for immigration reform, climate, financial reform, etc. or these things will fall to the filibuster.

If you want to reduce the power of the Blue Dogs, kick out more Republicans, simple as that. Hopefully the Dem leadership will reform the filibuster at the start of next congress.

[CTLawGuy]

39. self delete

NT

[hfojvt]

20. you have other options besides a shut down

For one, you can donate to those progressive candidates during primaries. For another, you can donate to Howard Dean's Democracy For America. But yeah, I generally stay away from the DCCC and the DNC.

[704wipes]

23. Yeah, I got a call recently too and replied to him:

I said I have been unemployed and under employed since 2005.
IF I still had a decent income I would give to the democrats.
I will always vote for a wimpy democrat over a douchebag republican, but
until the democrats grab their balls and give as good as they get
in the old style of FDR then I really don't feel bad about not having any money to give or not
giving just $10 this guy asked for.

If Obama is really a CHICAGO democrat let's grab our balls and go for some things like
a shade tree Hudson River wheel chair ridden FDR DID>

Any problems with that?

REAL democrats would investigate anything and everything. Every VP FDR had was picked because he was a muckraker somewhere first.
Holy Shit, Truman investigated WWII war profiteering in the Senate before he was VP. in 19 fucking 43-44.

jesus H Christ

[Missy Vixen]

40. Ooh, we got one of those calls when my husband was unemployed

The guy said, "Can't you even donate $10?"

I said, "Since it's a choice between staying in our house and funding yet more Democrats who refuse to listen on a variety of issues, I'm choosing us. I know you'll understand."

The guy kept badgering me over the $10, and I finally hung up on him. Any money we part with in this election is going to local progressive candidates.

I am hoping and praying that your situation rapidly improves. I am so sorry that this happened to you.

[liberal_at_heart]

27. Obama has made it perfectly clear that he does not need or want progressives' support

[DefenseLawyer]

29. I disagree, I think they fully expect our support

It's not that they don't want our support, it's that they take it for granted and don't think they have to do anything to keep it.

[Robeson]

31. That's pretty much it...

...they just expect the Left has no where else to go. As you said, it's taking a certain voting block for granted.

[progressoid]

30. Yep, that and a lot of other reasons too.

Not the least of which is that mine is empty.

[tranche]

32. Halter wasn't going to win. So what's so bad about hime cutting a commercial for a southern D?

I don't get it.

[Juche]

33. Obama also supported Lieberman over Lamont in 06 and Specter over Sestak in '10

He has a history of doing this (supporting a conservative democrat over a more progressive one). One of the things I strongly disagree with him on.

[ima_sinnic]

35. I'm with you on that.

I send fund appeals back to the DNC, DSCC, and DCCC (in their postpaid envelopes of course) with long messages scribbled on them about why they can go eff themselves. I also make a point of telling them who WILL be getting my money (Marcy Winograd, for one).
I also reregistered as an Independent a few months ago--apparently the Democratic Party hasn't figured that out yet.

[roody]

36. F**k him. What an insult to Arkansans.