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Open Thread: What I Want to Know

by: Dean Barker

Thu Jul 29, 2010 at 08:19:38 AM EDT
"What I want to know, what I want to know, is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq?

What I want to know, is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting tax cuts which have bankrupted this country and given us the largest deficit in the history of the United States?"

The great thing about primaries is that they give people choices. Those choices then inform the future of the party and its principles. If that choice hadn't been around in 2003 after my getting kicked in the stomach, I probably would've just declared a pox on both houses and walked away, not having had much foreknowledge in what the parties stood for.

(Update by Mike: Adding Vid embed) The speech that motivated me to pay attention and get involved. Goosebumps start at the 30 second mark.

This is an Open Thread.
Dean Barker :: Open Thread: What I Want to Know
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Open Thread: What I Want to Know | 3 comments
Sad to say. Knowing, it turns out, is not enough. n/t (0.00 / 0)

Senate Race (4.00 / 4)
In all the excitement over Kelly Ayotte's drop in the senate polls this week, let's not lose sight of why we support Paul Hodes. He supports a ban on drilling off our shore. He supports a constitutional amendment to take the corporate money out of politics. He has a plan to help small business. He was instrumental in getting Michelle's Law passed at the federal level. If we get the word out about all the positive reasons to support him, Paul Hodes will win.




"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    
Somehow, the establishment (4.00 / 2)
always winds up on top.  Here's what I mean; Howard devises a 50 state strategy in '04 that is somewhat effective then and much more so in '06 when he refined it as party chair.  This strategy attracted great candidates and competitive races in places where D's were almost non-existent previously.  I'd also point out that Obama used a modified 50 state strategy to capture the D primary in '08.

But there was another fellow who had a different strategy in '06, and he ran the DCCC.  We saw first-hand his shenanigans in the CD 1 primary that year.  He is also a megalomaniac, wanted all the credit for an electoral turnaround, and did everything he could to discredit others, including Howard.

This guy has wound up on the president's team in the WH and the triangulation strategy continues.  Similar to '94, this leaves the D's open to apathetic support from activists who see wasted opportunity and are disheartened - and please don't tell me to clap louder to drown out the critics.  The problem is not the Republicans.

I'll leave this post with words from Governor Dean:


I have often said the biggest problem with the Democrats is that we are not tough enough. Now is the time to be tough. The fact is that the stimulus package has reduced unemployment from where it would have otherwise been in this Bush-induced recession (based on policies most of the Republicans now in Congress voted for). The fact is, as 60 members of the House and the CBO showed last week, the Public Option, or Medicare Buy-in, as it should more correctly be called, would have reduced the deficit over ten years by an additional $68 million dollars. The fact is that President Obama -- despite Republicans killing the climate change bill -- has done more in 18 months to change America's approach to the environment and green jobs than any president in memory.

The fact is that if we are going to tackle the deficit, it makes no sense to cut taxes for people with plenty of money while we tell people who depend on Social Security and Medicare that they have to do with less, or to play games with unemployment insurance for those who need it most.

The fact is that the Democrats won the election in 2008. The Republicans refuse to do anything for the country except say "no". That means we have to work hard and do what we believe is right. And we have to stop apologizing for it. We have to stand up for what we believe in and stop trying to make deals with people who cannot be trusted to make deals for the good of our country. It's not too late to win in 2010. Conviction politics works. Just ask the right wing!



"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." A. Einstein
Open Thread: What I Want to Know | 3 comments

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