Daily Democrat: A positive discussion of Dick Gephardt

[Skinner]

In an effort to provide for some enlightening discussion, rather than partisan flaming, the administrators have decided to post regular threads about the candidates for the Democratic nomination which are reserved for positive discussion only. These threads will be called the "Daily Democrat".

Currently, we intend to post two Daily Democrat discussion threads per day. If a particular thread becomes too long, then the moderators will open additional threads as necessary. These discussion threads will be allowed to stay open until the next two Daily Democrat threads are opened at some point the following day.

THE RULES

The rules for these Daily Democrat candidate threads are as follows. (For the purposes of these rules, the candidate who is the subject of the thread is referred to as the "Daily Democrat".)

1. You are welcome to post anything positive about the Daily Democrat. You can explain why you support that person. You can dispel myths about that candidate. You can discuss that person's positions on various issues. Whatever.

2. You are allowed to favorably compare the Daily Democrat to other candidates, provided that you are not unnecessarily inflammatory or antagonistic to the other candidates.

3. You may not post attacks of any kind against the Daily Democrat. Furthermore, you cannot post criticism and try to pass it off as a compliment ("I enthusiastically support candidate X because he ruined his state's economy!")

4. You may not discuss the supporters of any candidate (that goes for the the Daily Democrat, or any other candidate).

5. Undecided voters are encouraged to ask questions about the Daily Democrat in order to better inform their choice. Note that criticism disguised as a question will not be allowed.

6. You may not start another discussion thread for the purposes of responding to comments made in the "Daily Democrat" thread. Sorry -- you just have to suck it up and let the positive discussion continue uninterrupted.

7. I will not babysit the Daily Democrat thread, because I believe it will not be necessary. It is the responsibility of every member to know and follow the rules. Deliberate disruption of the Daily Democrat thread, or efforts by opponents to influence the Daily Democrat thread, will result in the banning of the individual(s) responsible.

8. I reserve the right to change the rules as necessary to make this work.

TIMING

We will discuss two Daily Democrats per day, and cycle through the list of presidential candidates in modified alphabetical order.

12/13 - Wesley Clark ...... and ... Dennis Kucinich
12/14 - NO DAILY DEMOCRAT THREAD
12/15 - Howard Dean ....... and ... Joe Lieberman
12/16 - John Edwards ...... and ... Carol Moseley Braun
12/17 - Dick Gephardt ..... and ... Al Sharpton
12/18 - John Kerry ........ and ... Wesley Clark
12/19 - Dennis Kucinich ... and ... Howard Dean
12/20 - Joe Lieberman ..... and ... John Edwards
12/21 - Carol Moseley Braun and ... Dick Gephardt
12/22 - Al Sharpton ....... and ... John Kerry
12/23 - Wesley Clark ...... and ... Dennis Kucinich
12/24 - Etc...

LET'S GET STARTED

Here's your chance for some positive discussion of Dick Gephardt! Who wants to start it off?

[salin]

1. Gephardt has not abandoned workers issues to the altar

of all things free-trade, even after it became politically expedient to do so.

[Jacobin]

2. He welcomes his gay daughter into his family and his life

rather than pushing her into the background and pretending she doesn't exist (like, um, let's see, Dickless Cheney?)

[Droopy]

3. Mom likes Gephardt!

Says he really speaks for her. She matches up with him on labor issues and what should be done in Iraq now that we're there. Thinks his plan for getting teachers into areas needing them is a good idea.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

9. Gephardt is very popular with the 50+ crowd

they vote, a lot.

[Sugarbleus]

21. 50+..That would be me =0)

I like his support of labour/unions and his anti-nafta stance. I come from working class roots.

Geez, am I the only granny on this board??? LOL :hi:

[UrbScotty]

4. He has an outstanding record on labor (nt)

[GOPBasher]

5. Labor Issues.

Gephardt has always excellent on labor issues. He's very populist on fiscal issues.

[PurityOfEssence]

6. Without unsung stalwarts like him, there would be no Democratic Party

The party has been under vigorous and brutal attack for all of my adult life, and the quieter and solid people of honor like Gephardt are largely responsible for holding it together. None can disparage a man like this as fringe or impractical, and he's worked like a dog for the common folk.

He came from the working class, and unlike a Republican, doesn't stress how he made it all himself; he credits the Church scholorships, student loans and essential benevolence of the society of his youth and young adulthood. Contrast this with a conservative, who would sneer at the inferiors and claim having come from nowhere with no help. Compare this with a Clarence Thomas, who wants to destroy affirmative action even though he would be in downtown nowheresville without it.

Solidity and resoluteness don't necessarily get the press that flamboyance does, but it's more valuable in the long run.

[slinkerwink]

7. I like Gephardt's quote "Miserable Failure"

[IndianaGreen]

10. A great quote! n/t

:+

[Sugarbleus]

22. I like when he said...

Bush doesn't "play" well with others.... (paraphrased by me)

:spank:

[JohnLocke]

8. Though I support Edwards, one has to credit Gephardt

He supports labor and cares about the unemployed, and he served in the Nat'l Guard.

[JohnKleeb]

11. one delightful word

labor
plus my grandfather likes him.

[ludwigb]

12. Likable guy....

....with responsible stances on the issues. Nice touch in the debates--clearly he has improved a lot since 88. He has a gutsy health care plan and he has generally run a positive campaign. I will be happy with him as the nominee or VP.

I find it encouraging to read that older people seem to like him. As a young person I am not aqainted with as many Gephardt supporters as I would like, and thus perhaps don't discuss him as a potential candidate as much as I should.

[lancemurdoch]

13. Bush most scared of him

From what I understand from White House leaks, initially Bush was most scared of Edwards, that has now shifted to Gephardt. They think Gephardt would be the hardest to beat next November.

Also, Gephardt has been fighting for labor since he entered Congress decades ago. He fought against NAFTA (unlike Clinton).

To me, labor is the backbone of the Democratic party. The Democrats controlled the House of Representatives from the 1950's to the 1990's, which is when labor was strong. Only as labor has dipped down to being less than 10% of the private workforce have the Republicans taken over the Supreme Court, both house of Congress and the presidency. The Democrats can never match Republicans on money (if they could, they would no longer have anything worthwhile about them). What they do have is labor, people going out from their local and knocking on doors, canvassing and so forth.

As labor's fortunes go, so go that of the Democratic party. Clinton signed NAFTA, Carter invoked Taft-Hartley to try to force miners back to work. We haven't seen a president that was strongly behind labor for a very long time.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

14. a true, traditional Democrat

a rarity today.

[BackDoorMan]

15. He's has nice freckles, that will make him a great president!

[IronLionZion]

16. He came from humble roots

and wants to assure that lower-income Americans have access to higher education.

He genuinely cares about the rights of workers in this country as well as other countries but his plans are... (ok no criticism)

he's better than Bush and we should be glad to have him in Congress.

[BackDoorMan]

17. So did my pot plants!

[JVS]

18. Gephardt is a good man and would make a fine president

[oasis]

19. Geppy is one of the few candidates that can beat Bush handily.

[diamondsoul]

20. Wierd but true-

one of the reasons I like having Gep in the debates is because he makes me laugh. I have no idea why but He, Sharpton and Kerry usually manage to have me chuckling out-right belly laughing.

For all that he's been denigrated, he's also a long-standing and solid voice for the Party, and as someone else pointed out, that's a rarity these days.