There are no more fighters within our party anymore

[n2mark]

the only fighter in our party now is Dean......

The death of Shirley Chislum reminded me of the real Dem party..... we had Martin Luther King, Shirley C, Bella A, the Kennedy's there was always someone to fight, but we don't have anyone now.

We have no only one except Dean and we should stand by him.. Yes, the screaming Dean, let's stand by him, we need him. We need to make his scream a positive.

[Floydian Slip]

1. screaming

It might help if he was DNC Chairman but if he intends to run for something again it might be better to get people to forget that little episode, just make fun of it until people stop caring.

[Deja Q]

2. Why not Kucinich?

:shrug:

[OrwellwasRight]

3. While it seems to be true, all is not lost

We do have fighters:

Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott, Pete Stark, Charlie Rangel...

I could go on, but more important than a few progressive politicians who stand out from the crowd are the real fighters (drum roll, please)...

US! As a group, DUer's are smart, creative, informed, and motovated. We must take it upon ourselves to be the next leadership of our party, whether on the local, state, or national levels. We can write letters to the editor, volunteer for our local Congressperson's campaign, give money to the NRDC, even apply for a job with the DNC to turn that mother around.

We can lead in myriad ways. The bottom line is that we cannot leave the future of this country to those who are selling us down the river. If not us, then who? If not now when?

And, as Gene Wilder said in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:

We are the dreamers of the dreams.

[senaca]

5. Robert Kennedy

Robert Kennedy on the environmental front is definately a fighter and I hope he continues to fight particularly on the West and it's clean water issues. With the West getting hit with years of drought, water issues will come into play. Robert Kennedy's on the forefront of looking into the possible environmental impact the increased drilling and hydrolic fracturing may have if the Clean Water Act is bypassed by companies in the Energy Bill. I think he could play an important role particularly in the West on the environment. We need more fighters like him.

[OrwellwasRight]

9. In the past I would have answered right on,

but I recently heard that Kennedy is fighting the construction of a windfarm near his family home in Hyannis Port/Martha's Vineyeard. Even though the farm would generate enough non-polluting, renewable energy to meet 75% of the energy needs of the surrounding area annually, he and other prominent locals are fighting it in a classic case of Nimby-ism.

Their criticism? Not protection of raptors (as you might expect and would be justifiable), but the maintenance of the "scenic beauty" of the area. They are afraid they might lose tourist traffic if the wind farm is too ugly.

I'm not disputing that RFK jr. is a fighter and an asset to our party. I'm just disappointed. He's fallen off his pedestal a bit, and I guess I expected too much.

Anyway, a half-hearted right on to you senaca from an idealist dem.

Welcome to DU!

[senaca]

14. A fighter with dented armour is still a fighter

Thanks for the welcome. It probably is NIMBY-ism, but a wind farm or any change to an area that deems itself historical would be a tough sell. Kind of like putting a wind farm in front of Mt. Vernon. I like history so I'm conflicted about it also. I wonder about wave energy and if it's feasibility on the east coast. Scotland was experimenting with it. At any rate, dents in the armour aside, I still like the work he's doing on the environmental front and will take a fighter with dented armour any day.

[Radical Activist]

17. I wish he would run for office

or at least get appointed to a powerful position when we get a Democrat in office. He's great.

[marcologico]

21. me too, the guy's smart as hell

Don't be surprised if that "windfarm" turns out to be bankrolled by one of Dumbya's corporate sponsors, who are so environmental, especially when they can discredit their enemies, RFK being Big Energy Enemy #1.

[midnight armadillo]

25. No conspiracy there

The Cape Wind project is funded and headed by a guy who made his fortune building clean-burning natural gas power plants around New England. He's an environmentalist.

Most of the opposition to Cape Wind is due to the very rich who don't want to barely glimpse the turbines on the horizon and from a few yachtsmen (a small fraction of those rich ones) who occasionally sail in that area. It's all about aesthetics. Personally, I think windfarms are more attractive than smog.

[marcologico]

27. A guy that made a fortune in energy is on Bush's side

It's not always easy to see who's behind what. Funny how those swifties coincidentally became very patriotic in the middle of a campaign for instance. All I'm saying is don't be surprised.

[OrwellwasRight]

29. "windfarms are more attractive than smog"

Hear, hear.

And healthier for children and other growing things, too.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi senaca!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Pithy Cherub]

4. John Conyers Jr., may not be the flashiest politician

around, but he is methodically fighting on multiple levels and encouraging others through influence and the righteousness of the cause to join him.

Yes, HD is a fighter. Like that very much. So is Wes Clark!

Many Blessings to Shirley Chisolm!

[n2mark]

6. So let's fight!

I'm not taking it anymore. I am putting on the hats of Bella, the heart of Shirley and I am ready! Let the fundies explain why they are better then us.

Yes fundies, I love the Dean sceam, can you scream louder? Bet not.!

[Pithy Cherub]

7. Bringin' my Rosa Parks flair for the dramatic and sincere gesture!

Your on! I bow gracefully to Dean on the scream! :toast:
More Dems needed to heed the call to fight!

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. I spent my afternoon at a local demonstration

the first demo had 25 people, today we had over 300... this in less than a month.

I am fighting... I am not complaining

[Miami Liberal]

13. Yes, Conyers is fighting for us

Wish more of the Dems were like him.

[Tinoire]

8. Don't forget Robert Byrd , Cynthia McKinney, Russ Feingold, Kucinich

And I know I'm overlooking a few- with the emphasis on few.

[Radical Activist]

16. Yes, and Dick Durbin, John Lewis, John Conyers and

many others who don't get a lot of media coverage like Dean.

[Lexingtonian]

10. It's been a long, long fight for the stalwarts

We've had 15 years or so, maybe a bit longer, of this kind of hostility-based politics and idiocy that is all about rearranging things the Cold War prevented us from getting right the first time. There's a lot of psychological attrition to it, emotional inability to go on. Activists last a few years and burn out. People who fall on the battlefields, or are too wounded to do anything other than be sent to back areas.

It's a Civil War that has to have its winter lulls for the troops to recuperate, and a war long enough that the real veterans are slow to be enthused and only willingly follow/obey the few efficacious and/or victorious generals. It took a long time to weed out the incompetent, failed, and obsolete ones; and only the fools follow them now.

The dead are what drives a civil war to end in one side's full political demise, even if the fighting is a net stalemate for many years. No one will rally and throw flowers during those last stages of the fighting, because the emotion of it all is grim fatalism and cold determination. No sentimentality is bearable because the assurance of survival is only statistical at that point, and the odds aren't that good. You can't look back at that point and not falter, not lose your ability to endure, or bear to fail. So, you don't look back. You stop asking 'what if'. You just Do and at some point, unimaginably but inevitably, It Ends.

I don't care about The Scream or any magical assertions one way or the other. Dean isn't fully redeemable, despite attempts to pretend so. And I for one just don't buy into all the revisionism and 'reform' and the tacit or blatant compromise with the 'conservatives' it represents, overall, by any side. (I wouldn't mind if the minimal goal- neutralizing the overt conservatives within the Party- is achieved, of course.) We have to beat back the McClellan Democrats of our times internally one more time, get our 13th Amendment through, and go out on the battlefield and fight done the Confederacy fully.

[OneBlueSky]

11. the reason we don't have fighters anymore is $$$$$$ . . .

traditionally, Democrats have fought for the people and against special interests . . . in today's world, Democrats rely as heavily on corporate contributions as do Republicans . . . and since fighting FOR the people necessarily means fighting AGAINST corporations, our supposed leaders do not fight lest they "bite the hand that feeds them" . . .

Democrats need to return to being the "Party of the People" . . . but to do so would mean severing (or at least greatly reducing) their ties to corporatations and the funding that comes with it . . . and in Washington, $$$$$$ talk louder than most anything . . . even democracy, ethics, and "doing the right thing" . . .

"Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
That is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
But one must take it because it is right."
The Reverand Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.

[OrwellwasRight]

12. You go, OneBlueSky! nt

[fujiyama]

15. There are a few fighters

but the problem is they recieve little or no mainstream coverage.

The mainstream media ignored Kerry's own policy speeches and he was the party's nominee. You think they'll broadcast a speech by some relatively obscure congressman or senator from a minority party? And even if they decided to broadcast it, do you think they'll do so without a snide, snearing tone, basically implying that the democrats questioning the administration is a traitor? Remember what happened to McDermot after he arrived back from Iraq?

If we don't change the way the media does things soon, the party will continue to face difficulties.

[barb162]

18. there's a few, Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank, Richard Byrd, etc.

who can still open their mouths and make sense. Also Dean, Kucinich, Conyers. The others are playing the GOP game, going along with the GOP. I think the Dems should filibuster everything the GOP does.

[ClearMessage]

19. I think Spitzer could become a major player

if he becomes NY gov.

[Radical Activist]

20. Don't let the corporate media choose your leaders

There are a lot of fighters out there. Dean just gets the most coverage in the media. This is why I tire of all the threads about how bad the Democratic Party is today as if the party were one monolithic being. There are a lot of unsung and less frequently sung heroes in the Democratic Party if you look for them.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. How about YOU ?

Yes YOU....

What have YOU done to lead people to the truth?

I get so tired of people just pissing and moaning, reality is... you will NOT know if your party leaders are doing squat since the MSM will not tell you.

Still you and I have a job to do, and surprise surprise, WE ARE those leaders you want.

[blm]

26. We have fighters. The media won't let them be heard. Unless they screw up

of course, then they focus on every pore in their face.

Sorry, but your post just helps the media portrayal of the Democrats as nonfighters and lets the media off the hook for their consistent dishonesty.

[radwriter0555]

28. How do you fight the new hitler? The new Reich? It took the WORLD 15 years

to take hitler down.

I anticipate easily that long to take out the bush regime.

[theboss]

30. Was King really a Democrat?

If I recall correctly, most of the governors he was fighting in the South were Democrats. Most of his apparatus was eventually brought into the Party, but I don't consider him a "Democratic" hero.