Things that irk me about the race and DU at the moment...

[bhunt70]

Insider/Outsider debate
ABB/NBD
Hatred of the DLC
North/South debate
Running to 3rd party

All four of these issues as presented here strike me as overwhelmingly exclusionary within our party.

We aren't the party of inclusion if we continue to debate this utter crap because ultimately it just boils down to an elitism "I'm better than you because I support (the south, 3rd party, outsiders etc)"

How can we win if we aren't even talking issues?

[AP]

1. I'm all for outsiders and running against DLC right now!

The North-South thing is a red herring, because if a southerner gets the nod, it's going to be because Northeasterners living in the DC-NYC-Boston power decided that's what it was going to be and not because southerners decided it.

[SeattleRob]

2. it's not a sudden trend

that we aren't talking about the issues. It's been like that for months. Everybody's been too busy trashing each other.

[leyton]

3. I am disgusted with the DLC talk.

Sorry, but no-one here has the right to say that the so-called DLC candidates aren't legitimate Democrats. Kerry and Edwards and the others have every right to be moderate, and we should be glad to have such intelligent men consider themselves Democrats.

And I am even more sick of the blaming the media. It is the media's job to report the news; if Dean yeaghs, then we need to know that he yeaghs, and any negative fallout is the result of him yeaghing. Now, Fox is a different thing, of course. But let's remember that if Dean hadn't yeaghed and if Kerry hadn't won the Iowa caucuses, there would be nothing for the media to talk about. What's more, blaming the media is a favorite GOP pastime. We shouldn't drop to their level.

[bhunt70]

5. I agree with you %100

Blaming the media is one thing, but the cadidates are not all exonerated from their actions.

If you take the heraldization of them when they say or do something good then you can't expect them to fly under the radar when they do something bad.

It just continually points to people saying "its the media's fault" which seems to mean "other people can't discern what the candidate is saying" which to me, points to elitism.

[IrateCitizen]

10. You're dead wrong on the media

And I am even more sick of the blaming the media. It is the media's job to report the news...

That's what one would think, right? But one would be mistaken. The media's job is to shape public opinion. They are the "first filter".

I'd suggest you take some time to read THIS PIECE for an in-depth look at the REAL role of the media in American society.

[leyton]

13. I'll take a look at it sometime.

But I read CNN and I read MSNBC and I read Newsweek. They don't seem particularly biased to me; they may amplify what goes on, but that works well. Plus, they may run stories like "Is Dean electable?" but you have to also remember the major stories they've run, especially in Newsweek, about how bad a job Bush and Cheney are doing.

[SeattleRob]

16. Reading those sources of news...

You are being badly misinformed about a variety of issues. For example, have these sources covered the trial or the British government official who leaked the information about the US government use of wiretapes and bugs of UN Delegates during the runup of the Security Council vote for the Iraq War Resolution? It's big news all over the world.

After last night's South Carolina Debate, Jeff Greenfield on CNN repeated the lie about Al Gore bringing up the Willie Horton issue against Michael Dukakis in 1998. see todays (1/30/04)
wwww.thedailyhowler.com


The key to understanding what is going on is finding out what the corporate propagandists MSNBC (General Electric) CNN(Time Warner) do not report.

As long as people blindly believe the corporate media, there will be no change of substance in this country.

[henslee]

18. What about obsessing on celebrity foibles and omitting real news?!!!

Jacko, Martha, Lacey, O.J., Tyson and the list goes on....

And then there's snow fall, lottery winners, hispeed chases and siamese twins getting seperated.......

We have been numbed into submission.

[displacedtexan]

4. Excellent point!

Bill Clinton was not my first choice, and he turned out to be incredible. I was actually surprised to learn how liberal JK was and how moderate Dean was.
However, I will support whoever gets the nomination. Period.

ABB/NBB- I'll vote for the nominee.
Hatred of the DLC-- I'll vote for the nominee.
North/South debate-- People need jobs, health care, and social security
3rd Party-- We lose again, and the world may end (as we know it).

[redqueen]

6. Sorry about that

I was apparently under the mistaken impression that our party had lurched unbelievably rightward over the past few decades.

Let me be the first to scooch over and allow some more right-wing democrats to come into the tent and distort / water down the party's values some more.

:eyes:

[reillynathan]

7. Right ...

it works much better when we ignore right-wing democrats (and all non-democrats) so that we can be assured of losing general elections and allowing the country to lurch further to the right. At some point, perhaps we as a party will realize the country isn't going to collectively wake up one day and think "hey, we should all be leftist!"

[redqueen]

9. It works better

When you actually represent the people that elect you, so they do not stay home or vote third party.

[newyawker99]

19. Hi reillynathan!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Cuban_Liberal]

15. The only people who think the party has lurched "unbelievably rightward "

Only those on the far left fringe of the party think that--- the FAR left fringe.

[Dhalgren]

17. No, anyone with eyes and the ability to acknowledge the truth

can see that the Party has moved markedly to the right over the past two decades. You don't have to be a "fringe" lefty to see the truth (even though sometimes it does seem that way).

[kentuck]

8. Emotion and despair...

when things start to look hopeless and people get discouraged.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rpf113]

12. I completely agree with you.

I welcome anybody from the most liberal to the most conservative Democrats as long as they pull the lever for the Democratic candidate in November.

In fact I'm counting on conservative Democrats in the South to vote for my man Clark.

Anybody who wants to kick anybody out of the party is a fool, and we should just pay them no attention.

[jsw_81]

14. It'll be over very soon

And then after the primaries are forgotten and we have a nominee, the vast, vast majority of us will focus on one goal: BEATING BUSH!