A CIVIL WAR IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY! Oklahoma!

[joni in ok]

Boo and Hiss...
As someone who Believes in the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party i
find Debbie Leftwich's comments to epitomize the "emulate the republican
strategies in hopes of growth" rather than recognize the true strengths the
Dem's already posess. Hope not Fear is behind Jay Parmley's endorsement of
Howard Dean. Division within the Democratic Party is sad but probably a
necessary tension to strengthen the party.
The grassroots and the vocal active Democrats know we have strength
character and conviction that will strengthen the party and in turn our
country.
I will contact Debbie and let her know that although i respect her decision
to counter Jay's endorsement i find her hiding under the red carpet
distancing counterproductive.
I as a registered Democrat since 1978 have found hope and vision as well as
renewed enthusiasm in Howard Dean's leadership not only in VT but nationally
through Democracy for America and Dean Dozen action network to promote
Democrats for office all across the Country.
Dean's values on health care, senior programs and Especially Education
emulate my and many other democrats vision for OK. I commend Jay Parmley's
endorsement and find it especially telling which Dem's get behind him and
which dem's desert this motion of integrity and conviction that We Can do
Better here in OK!
The action we as Progressive/Liberal Democrats can do Right now in OK will
be forthcoming shortly, this is a battle for the heart and soul or the
"status quo" of Our Party. Do not let this go unanswered.
Joni A. LeViness
American Patriot
Hope Not Fear!



Statement from Senator Debbe Leftwich

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 20, 2005

Oklahoma City, OK - In the last twenty-four hours it has been reported that
in my position as Vice-Chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, I endorsed
Governor Howard Dean (D-VT) in his bid to become the Chairman of the
Democratic National Committee.

I have not endorsed Gov. Dean. In fact, Gov. Dean called me last week
seeking my support. At that time, I indicated that I would not make any
endorsement in the race for DNC Chair. In fact, I will not even be in
attendance at the DNC meeting in February when the Chairman is selected
because of my duties here in the Oklahoma State Senate.

I believe that my name came to be associated with this endorsement by
offering my proxy some time ago to the Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairman,
Jay Parmley. Given Mr. Parmley's endorsement of Gov. Dean, he will no longer
hold my proxy. Like most Oklahoma Democrats, I do not believe Gov. Dean
shares our values or is the right person to lead our party at this time.
Additionally, I have asked Gov. Dean to remove my name from his list of
endorsements.

Not Paid for at State Expense

[MissMarple]

1. Welcome to DU, Joni.

:hi:

[joni in ok]

7. Thank you!

But here's a Question, how do you keep up here! This place is Grand Central Station!

[fob]

2. Should Dean get the job, Ms. Leftwich oughta be tops of the list

to replace. She doesn't have to endorse him if she doesn't want to, but that "I do not believe Gov. Dean shares our values" is pure bullshit.

I suppose the pro-cockfighting, lesbian-recruiting of girls in school bathrooms demagogery of Oklahoma politicians are the "values" we should be sharing?

[UdoKier]

4. That was a totally unnecessary and sleazy swipe.

As though Dean was Comrade Ché or something. Either this woman is very ignorant about what Dean is, or she is a sleazebag.

[PassingFair]

6. Exacty WHAT does she

stand for, then.

[joni in ok]

8. Absolutely! Along with "manly" pumps for judges!

This is turning into a Real ugly scenario here. But i'd much rather it be Visible rather than this current of status quo Dem's and prog/lib dems with the prog. coming up on the short end of the stick each and every time.
We have ENOUGH Repulocrats in our Govt. Thank You, Very Much!
Here's the action alert i'm going over to post at Demokie *the Source for much of the Dean is NOT the SORT of Democrat that WE OKLAHOMA Democrats Asssociate with!"
IMPORTANT
OK ACTION ITEM
----------------------

State party chair Jay Parmley has endorsed Governor Howard Dean to be the
next DNC chair, but apparently some in the party are now unhappy about that
(apparently Governor Henry put out a negative statement about Dean, though I can't
locate that online, so I wouldn't refer to it). They are focused on concerns
that Governor Dean doesn't represent the values of OK.

http://www.cushingdaily.com/articles/2005/01/20/news/local_news/news03.txt
State Dems support Dean for chairman
By Adam Bednar, CDC Managing Editor

*ACTION*

1. Call/email Democratic party chair Jay Parmley to thank him for endorsing
Howard Dean for DNC Chair. Share with him reasons why you, as a Democrat
also support him for chair (keep very short - 3 or 4 sentences will do.)

Jay Parmley, Chair
4100 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105
[phone]
[e-mail]

2. Call/email the following people to voice your encouragement for them to
also support Governor dean for chair. Tell them in a calm, warm, extra
polite manner (voicing NO personal criticism for them or anyone else, simply
underlining positive things about Dean) that Governor Dean will make a great chair
and that he will stand for the values of Oklahomans. Emphasize there are
certain qualities the Governor has that will help him in Oklahoma: fiscal
responsibility (consistently balancing budgets while in office, although it was
not constitutionally required in VT), his A+ rating as Governor of Vermont with
the NRA

Note: it is quite interesting that the OK Republican party is making
negative comments about Dean - if they really thought Dean would be so helpful to
the Republicans, wouldn't they NOT do anything to get in the way of that
happening? Perhaps, instead, they're worried that Governor Dean will become DNC
chair?


Debbe Leftwich, Vice Chair
2125 SW 85th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73159
[phone]
[e-mail]

Betty McElderry, National Committeewoman
1304 N 9th Ave, Purcell, OK 73080
[phone]


James E. Frasier, National Committeeman
P.O. Box 799, Tulsa, OK 74101
[phone]
[e-mail]

3. Contact Governor Brad Henry, as well:

page down to the bottom of this page for phone numbers:
http://www.governor.state.ok.us/contact.php

page down to the bottom of this page for "message to the Governor webform"
http://www.governor.state.ok.us/message.php


http://www.cushingdaily.com/articles/2005/01/20/news/local_news/news03.txt
State Dems support Dean for chairman
By Adam Bednar, CDC Managing Editor

Former Democratic presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean received the
endorsement of state Democratic Party chair Jay Parmley Wednesday to become the
Democrat's next national chairperson.

Dean is vying to replace outgoing chairman Terry McAuliffe. In addition to
the endorsement from Parmley, Dean announced endorsements from several other
state chairs from Mississippi, Florida and Utah.

"Gov. Dean would not be running if he didn't think it was the right thing to
do," Dean spokeswoman Laura Gross said.

Parmley said his decision to endorse Dean came after discussions he had with
Dean over organizational strategy and commitment to grassroots politics.

Gross said that Dean had been speaking with Parmley for a while about earning
his support.

Parmley and Dean have known each other for several years going back to Dean's
time as governor of Vermont and when Parmley served as president of the
College Democrats.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[MissMarple]

23. Ed Schultz has a good perspective for conservative dems and confused R's.

He is a talk radio host and can be linked from the forum page of DU. He is also on satellite radio. I get him on the computer and on Serius. He used to be a Republican, now he just seems pragmatic and isn't afraid to say he is a liberal. He is interesting and will put all callers on his show. He's feisty and is quickly encroaching on Limbaugh territory.

He also has a book out "Straight Talk from the Heartland". I'm reading it now. It's an easy read and it is just like hearing him talk.

I don't agree with everything he says, but he has a great way of putting things in perspective that Midwesterners can understand. IMHO. They will relate to him better than Al Franken. (not to disparage Al, it's just a different audience.) He could be a good source for talking points.

[Moderator]

24. joni in ok

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.


Thank you.

DU Moderator

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Welcome to DU :^)

---------------------------------------------------------
"We the people" have no voice in the USA!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm#why

[Wisc Badger]

5. I am a recovering Republican and

I share Dr. Dean's values.:bounce: :dem:

[joni in ok]

9. Great link!

okballotaccessnow has a Bill! We have two, possibly Three supporters and working to get more.
The first one to step up to the plate? A republican.
The bill asks for 5,000 signatures which is more than i was promoting which was 100 but compared to what we have now this would be "doable" Because the Prog. Dem. and the Dino's Dem's in name only are in a tug o' war for the party, and because i believe duopoly does NOT serve America i'm trying my best to grow the Green Country Greens And support the PDA And Support ballot access reform.
I'm working on electoral reform a little bit but my three major issues other than the anti war effort are these three.
It's amazing how they all overlap so nicely!

[fishwax]

10. Thanks, and welcome

:hi:

I'm in Oklahoma too (norman), and had heard about the Dean endorsement, but hadn't heard about the Leftwich response. Doesn't surprise me, though.

Welcome to DU :hi:

[joni in ok]

11. Thanks for the welcome~

I've been arguing on Demokie board and am Hopelessly outnumbered by the Dem. faction who feel that we HAVE to move Farther to the right.
As if BS is not our problem in elections but Not moving farther to the right is!

[fishwax]

12. I've had that argument with other okie dems too

the kind who agree with that stupid article Brad Carson wrote for the New Republic, about how we need to kneel down for the religious right in order to win in our state. :puke:

[earthboundmisfit]

14. Carson's turncoat commercials toward the end of his campaign

shocked me at first, then depressed me, then really just pissed me off. There was already a candidate espousing evangelical BS - Coburn!
I voted for Carson but he really, really disappointed me by losing backbone as he did. Rather than standing up for his core supporters' values, he sold out to the opponent's - hell, makes me wonder if HE didn't vote for Coburn himself!

[fishwax]

16. My husband has been called evil, a terrorist, and now a liberal!

And I don't know which is worse.

ads like that with his wife made me give up completely
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

[txaslftist]

13. Ms. Rightwitch is just stating her views...

as an Oklahoma centrist democrat. In Texas we call 'em Republicans.

[blm]

15. I think if you want Dean to succeed, his supporters have to stop attacking

other Democrats, their character and motivations. It makes Dean's job harder.

Dean was so identified with the far left during the primary that he became a caricature. By now, he has to rely on his natural instincts, SOME OF WHICH ARE CENTRIST AND MODERATE, and his supporters are going to have to give him the room to be himself, and stop making it about drawing lines in the sand.

He will have a great chance at winning this position, but please give him the room he needs to operate. He has considerable political skills...let him use them.

[fishwax]

17. It wasn't an accident that he was so left-ID'd that he became a caricature

that was the result of his opponents--the other dems--attacking him in that manner. Dean supporters definitely don't have a monopoly on attacking other candidates.

[blm]

18. No. It was the media pushing Dean as too liberal and it didn't help when

Dean and his supporters started calling the other candidates "Bushlite" back in Jan 2003.

It's well-noted when the attacks started, and who started claiming lefty ground from others so don't bother pointing fingers. That was campaign politics and a primary race.

What matters now is that if you want Dean to succeed at this position, you have to get off the knee-jerk reaction track that makes some of you want to run other Democrats into the ground.

Let Dean ATTAIN a position he deserves using the talent we know he has.

[fishwax]

19. A lot of people were calling some other candidates bush lite

no matter how well-noted you claim it to be that dean fired the first shot, that doesn't change the fact that some candidates and their supporters within and without of the beltway leapt at the chance to attack dean as too liberal, even though he clearly wasn't.

I was a Dean supporter through January, when his failure to come up with a second act to the war rhetoric left me greatly disappointed, and then his hasty and clumsy dash center-right left me a little distrustworthy (not because he was dashing center-right, but because he did it so clumsily). I think he'd be great in this position, and I think he will attain the position on his merits, despite continuing attacks from centrists on him and his supporters.

[blm]

20. Dean's a big boy. He and Kerry both exaggerated their differences

because they really weren't that different on many of the issues. Dean had also governed as a centrist, so he had to be more vocal about his more liberal positions, whereas Kerry had the most liberal lifetime voting record of all the candidates, so he relied on his moderate style of speaking.

My suggestion to move forward is drop the primary fighting tactics. That's all. Dean isn't employing divisive rhetoric, and his supporters need to give him real room to maneuver.

[fishwax]

25. I can agree with you on that

I just don't think Dean's supporters are the only people attacking, nor do I think Dean's opponents are the only ones being attacked.

We do need a healthy debate about this, and I can't blame anyone for expressing strong opinions, but I do take your point about primary tactics, and I think it's pretty good advice for everyone, whatever horse they're backing.

[txaslftist]

21. Uh.... He a governor, no?

That do seem to be position of some prominence, I been told.

[blm]

22. You read the post wrong.

Try: Let Dean ATTAIN the DNC chair position based on his considerable talent, instead of his supporters attacking every other Democrat as if they don't belong in the party.

That tactic just makes Dean's job harder.