The GOP Thanks you, DU!!

[Kosmos Mariner]

I posted these thoughts earlier on LBN, in a thread about Kerry running in 2008. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x971220 Since it is a deep thread, I want to share my thoughts about the 2004 campaign, Kerry, and the state of the Democratic Party directly with DU.

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Let me preface my comments by saying I am a hard core Clarkie.

STOP BEING THE FOOT SOLDIERS FOR THE REPUBLICAN ATTACK MACHINE! I am EXTREMELY disappointed in DU, with its circular firing squads and complete trashing of a very good man, John Kerry. Stop listening to the "moral values" drivel being pushed by the GOP through the corporate media. Evaluate your thoughts about Kerry right before the election! What were you feeling? I was pumped up because JK had proved himself to me, and I knew we had a great shot at winning.

We lost, it happens to the best politicians. What was the environment? Unfortunately, even though we know Bush will go down as one of the worst presidents ever, he is still personally popular with a good cross section of America. This campaign was never about the issues. It's 9/11 stupid! People are scared, and unfortunately George W. Bush is their security blanket.

We pushed a popular war president to the brink of embarrassing defeat! Remember W's face on election day! He was weary, worn, defeated. John Kerry fought an immense battle against one of the best funded, well oiled attack machines in political history. John Kerry made me proud to be a Democrat!

I suggest you all do some introspective soul searching, and not through the prism of GOP TV. We are right on the issues. We have the All-American platform. Do your homework, look at all the various polls about the issues. 55% of Americans believe Abortion should be legal, 60ish% believe that homosexuals should be able to marry or have civil unions. And those are our "divisive" issues! We have the right issues, and we had the right candidate. Stop the doubting, start believing again, organize, reach out in our language, mobilize, and FIGHT!

The last issue is Kerry's concession. There is a world of difference between Al Gore's situation and Kerry's. Gore had the popular vote and he was within a couple hundred votes in a state with widespread incompetence and fraud. Kerry had neither the popular vote nor the small margins. What did you want Kerry to do, take down the whole party for a generation so that he could dig up a few thousand votes. Don't get me wrong, I strongly believe that our currents voting methods are a threat to our democracy, but this was not the opportunity to address the situation. We need federal legislation, or aggressive activism in 50 states to enact a fair system.

So my fellow DU'ers, do you want to help the GOP and tear apart a very honorable and powerful candidate in 2008? Do you want to continue to swallow the moral values lies, become Republican lite, and run a bible thumper in '08? I say we should sit back and watch how Kerry performs in the Senate the next few years. Let's see if he wants it. Americans love comebacks, we love redemption. In the mean time let's get active, let's get our people in everywhere from dog catcher to the Senate. DON'T EVER GIVE UP!!!

Victory '06!
Victory '08!

:dem:

[IndianaGreen]

1. Soul search yourself, bud!

And if you are going to point fingers, you need to look no further than at those that drove dozens of Dean and Kucinich supporters off DU by their vicious and relentless personal attacks.

As to your "Never Give Up!," how do you reconcile that with Kerry's surrender before all of the ballots have been counted. When it came to throwing in the towel, Kerry beat Gore to the punch!

Soul search yourself, bud!

Here is a Commondreams article that better describes the Kerry campaign than the drivel that some of Kerry's apologists are trying to peddle:

Published on Sunday, November 7, 2004 by the Minneapolis Star Tribune
'A Little Bit Late And a Bit Short' Take This Democratic Party. Please
by Bill Hillsman

Well, they can't blame Ralph Nader this time.

On Tuesday the Democratic Party miserably failed its truest believers for the third consecutive election. It's the second consecutive Presidential election where the party had a gift-wrapped opportunity to defeat an inferior Republican candidate ... and couldn't do it.

Let's put the blame where it belongs. There's plenty to choose among: weathervane party Chairman Terry McAuliffe. The legions of soulless and grossly incompetent Democratic pollsters. The free-spending, formulaic and uninspired communications of wealthy media consultant (and perennial loser) Bob Shrum & Co.

The runup to last week's election reminded me of nothing so much as Paul Wellstone's 1990 upset victory in Minnesota. Not since then had I experienced so many citizens so absolutely determined to do whatever they could to effect change.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1107-23.htm

[Kosmos Mariner]

6. Pointing Fingers?!

This isn't about pointing fingers, or the god damn primary wars. It's about determining the Democratic Party's core issues, sticking to simple messages, connecting with people, organizing, pushing the DNC, and FIGHTING. If you want to whine and cry, go find another party.


:dem:

[Sugarbleus]

8. I'm pretty sure I will.

For 56 years as a dem. I've waited to see an enlightened era ushered in. I won't live to see it IF it IS on the horizon.

If the democrats move one more inch to the center--wonderful people though they may be--I'm outta here. The Dems have represented my views of government and society for a long time; then they "shifted". They still hold some of my values but let so many others fly away with the trends.. I can't abide that.

While everyone is deciding who the next chairman should be or who is going to run in 08, my family is suffering RIGHT NOW. We can't wait that long; trouble this deep shouldn't have been allowed to develop, slowly and steadily, ALL THESE MANY YEARS! They've lost their compassion, sense of society, and backbone!

I WILL NOT CONFORM...

[Swamp Rat]

2. Nice try but no dice.

[mandyky]

3. Kerry won't get my vote a 2nd time

The Swiftless Vets aren't going away, for one, and Kerry is not all that electable.

[auburngrad82]

4. I may be in the minority but I don't blame Kerry

The GOP did everything they could to discredit both Kerry and Edwards, to suppress voter turnout, to rig the vote by using a major supporter to calculate vote totals without a paper trail, and by lying their asses off.

The fault is not with our candidates. The same would have happened with any two people on our ticket. Remember how they trashed Dean for the "scream?" Or how they busted Clarke for saying he's Dem because the Dems asked him first? They painted Kucinich as being just left of communist. It doesn't matter who the candidate is, we are going to be running into this. Mosely-Braun wasn't just black, but a black woman. God forbid that the good honest white people in the red states allow a black woman to be president!

Kerry is a good man. He's relatively honest as far as politicians are concerned. We have a lot of good people in Washington. We need to quit blaming them and come up with a plan to help them win. We need to combat the constant below-the-belt attacks that the GOP likes to use. They are obviously lies (Kerry killed the Viet Cong because he had sexually abused him and had to get rid of the evidence???)

We need to work on changing people's opinions of the GOP and the Democratic party. We need to paint the GOP as evil, money-grubbing pigs at the trough, catering to special interests and using wedge issues like abortion and gay marriage simply to win votes.

We need to paint the Democratic party as the party that stands for equal rights for all of our citizens, the party of jobs, the party of fair tax laws, and the party that will take care of our elderly when they need help. Remember, retired people will soon be the largest group in our country. If we allow the GOP to bankrupt or country then the millions of retired people will go back to living in poverty as they did at the turn of the twentieth century.

Let's stop placing the blame on our candidates and start changing the way politicians are seen in America. Remember, GOP is bad, Democratic Party is good.

[July]

5. I'm in that minority with you.

Kerry articulated views I hold about the nation.

Until we expose the Republicans for what they are -- do with the truth what they did with their lies and smears, i.e., spread the word far and wide -- any candidate we run will face what Gore and Kerry faced.

We also HAVE to do something about Republican dirty tricks with voter registrations, felon lists, voter intimidation, and unauditable voting machines. It is, plainly, un-American to work to suppress votes, and we should be calling them on it LOUDLY AND CLEARLY.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Both parties are guilty of suppressing voter turnout

A truly democratic party does not go around using Gestapo tactics to keep other parties from the ballot.

The GOP may be Talibanish and crypto-fascist, but the actions of the DNC to force voters to only choose between the two major parties makes them enemies of democracy.

BTW, how come the GOP and the Democratic Party oppose getting rid of the Electoral College, or to let the states apportion their EVs based on the popular vote?

[auburngrad82]

10. Like it or not, the US is a two party government

That's not likely to change for the better. It is, however, moving towards a one party goverment. Would that be better? If I have the choice between a one party government or a two party government, I choose the two party government.

You can vote for whatever party you want. If you vote green on a national level, though, you won't win. That's just the facts of American politics. The Green Party can and does do well on a local level but unfortunately you are not going to win on a national level.

You have to decide for yourself. If I voted Green, I would vote Green in local races and vote Democratic on the national levels. I will never vote GOP, so the only way I can beat them is to vote for the candidate most likely to beat the GOP candidate. That's a Dem.

That's just the way it is.

[0007]

7. John Kerry made me proud to be a Democrat!

....until he bailed.

[yowzayowzayowza]

11. Rove successfully exploited the...

Coward Constituency, which Kerry validated by buying into the WoT.

[NoPasaran]

12. I grew to respect Kerry

But this had to have been the worst campaign in history.

We ran against the worst president in history. An inarticulate, dishonest fanatic with nothing but four years of failure on every front. We had the most unified Democratic Party that I can remember. We had plenty of money and an enormous grassroots effort. And we still lost!

You're right, we're right on all the issues. But did we articulate them? No! Everything was built up around John Kerry, Vietnam War Hero. Guess what? The only people who still give a fuck about Vietnam are the rightwing loonies who still have a stick up their ass because we lost. And THEY DESTROYED KERRY and the campaign sat back and let it happen.

I hope that John Kerry will be a forceful, eloquent voice for our side in the Senate, because god knows we're going to need that. But a second shot at the Presidency? No. We tried twice with Stevenson and three times with Bryan. One concession speech per customer, please.