Herbert: No Will to Win? (Talks about Democrats, the party, and Dean)

[La_Serpiente]

I really enjoyed this editorial and think it is a fairly accurate perspective of what has been going on in the Democratic party.

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No Will to Win?

By BOB HERBERT
Published: December 12, 2003

Ready, aim. . . .

The Democratic Party's circular firing squad has assembled. Everybody's angry with everybody else. Joe Lieberman is trying to extricate the knife that, in his view, Al Gore deposited in his back. Al Sharpton is accusing Mr. Gore of engaging in the kind of "bossism" that belongs "in the other party."

The Gore and Clinton families are morphing into the Hatfields and the McCoys. And the runaway Dean machine, which has shown an impressive ability to amass campaign cash and early primary support, is now generating prodigious amounts of fear and loathing as well.

Those cackles of glee you hear in the background are coming from the White House.

One very prominent Southern Democrat, who asked not to be identified, said of Howard Dean, "This guy will take us down like the Titanic. "

Representative Charles Rangel, who endorsed Gen. Wesley Clark at a press conference in Harlem yesterday (just 24 hours after Mr. Gore endorsed Dr. Dean in Harlem), said he didn't think Dr. Dean was a sure loser. But he was openly contemptuous of the Gore-Dean alliance.

more...

No Will to Win

[adadem]

1. On the button

Pretty much sums up how I've been feeling for a very long time...I see it in our local and national party. No plan. McAuliffe should have been gone after 2002 losses.

[La_Serpiente]

2. I would have thrown out the entire

Democratic leadership. We need leaders who come from safe districts, not Bush states like Nevada and South Dakota. And the 2002 elections were pathetic. The DLC groupies like Al From and Bayh just look at polls instead of trying to shift the electorate.

It is about time we see some results.

[shoopnyc123]

3. Garbage...

<big snip>

"Any Democrat will be a long shot next year. Without an infusion of new voters (young people, white working families, Hispanics and women) and another huge turnout by African-Americans, the Democrats are doomed."

<snip>

He seems to forget that Gore won the popular vote...this point is not mentioned in his entire article. And he's too damn LAZY to put forward an eletoral vote argument. So this is what we get.

Most of the spin on Gore is happening at the behest of our fine "liberal" media. Casting the widest critical net possible in order to NOT look like an idiot by next November. This is Puditocracy CYA (covering your ass) 101. Lay off the whiskey sours Herbert.

[bowens43]

5. Yes but......

Gore should have won the popular vote OVERWHELMINGLY. He had everything going for him. Florida should not have been the deciding factor.

[maha]

6. A mere plurality won't do.

If the 2004 vote is as close as the 2000 vote, the Repugs will steal it again.

See also this article in today's LA Times about how the Republicans hope Dean will be the nominee.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-bush12dec12,1,5014118.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Republicans eager for a Bush-Dean campaign point to polls showing the president faring better against Dean than against any other major Democratic candidate. For instance, in a recent Time/CNN poll, Bush beat Dean 52% to 40% among registered voters nationwide, while Bush's theoretical vote dropped to 49% to 42% against either Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts or retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark.

[mazzarro]

4. I think that it has been clear to many thinking progressives that the

leadership of the Democratic Party and sheepish following of the DLC policies of "making nice with shrub*" is bad. Yet we'll keep on hoping that somehow the rethugs* will get to play fair and allow Democrats to win elections again with our leadership doing nothing to assure sure an outcome! This article rightly places the blame where it belongs - on the leadership of the party.

[randr]

7. Ditto

I just posted the same editorial. Should have looked thru the postings first.
I must admit I agree with Herbert, especially when I look at many of the postings on this board. I even had a discussion, if you could call it that, with a young voter this week re: Nader. She actually was reiterating the same papp that there is no difference between the parties etc.
Is there an ideological virus loose that infects the most right or left of us with some sort of political fervor?