Who are 5 of your most admired elected Democrats of all time, and why?

[mvd]

Keep it to President, mayor, governor, State House, State Senate, U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator positions. I'm sure even those who are angry with the party can come up with 5.

Mine:

Dennis Kucinich - passionate and very liberal

Barbara Boxer - also stands up to Bush

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - because the Repukes love to hate his reforms

John Conyers - another one who realizes how bad Bush is and has heavily contributed

Paul Wellstone - so sad that he died so young. Another proud liberal that I got passionate about.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Only 5? Can't be done! So I will add

Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters, Stephanie Tubb-Jones, Corrine Brown, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Carol Moseley-Braun, and Jimmy Carter.

[mvd]

6. I edited it while keeping the same premise

:hi:

[tnlefty]

7. I'll add to your list

Barbara Lee, Kendrick Meek, John Lewis. The why to these and to your list is that they speak truth to power and never seem to give up in fighting for truth and justice.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Yeah, my list is by no means complete. :^)

[mvd]

12. Your list is great

I could add more to both: Gore, Dean, Harkin, Ted Kennedy, John Fitzgerald Kennedy...

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. I would say this whole thread will pretty much amount to a Dream congress

Ah, if only.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. FDR, Paul Wellstone, George McGovern, Gene McCarthy, John Conyers.

[clydefrand]

3. Jimmy Carter, Harry Truman, Bill Clinton, Barbara Jordan, John

Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore.

I appreciate intelligent people who can empathize with others. Bill...because he came up the hard way and became a success. He has his faults, but his attributes far outway those.

Truman, plain man with principles. Carter, a genius, but apparently didn't appeal to a lot of people.

Jordan, spoke up for the rights of African Americans. Hillary, brilliant. Gore, likewise as is Kerry.

I've come to the conclusion that the republicans like to have dumb asses in office so they can tell them what they want and get it because they know they depend upon the rich ones to stay in office. The poor ones who vote must not be well informed themselves or they would see that the repugs in office are no friends of theirs.

[El Supremo]

4. Barbara Jordon n/t

[KingFlorez]

5. My list

Bill Clinton

FDR

Barbara Boxer

Maxine Waters

Jimmy Carter

[Rex]

9. Me

No wait, I'm just doing current ones, um

Kucinich - Dept. of Peace
Conyers - won't quit fighting the BFEE.
Waxman - won't quit fighting the BFEE.
Obama - future POTUS or VPOTUS.
Pelosi - future POTUS or VPOTUS.

[benny05]

10. To add to those lists

John Edwards
Shirley Chisholm
Ann Richards
Barney Frank

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Inhabitants of "Democratic heaven"--more than five

Senator Paul Wellstone
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan--The Voice of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate investigation
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm--Unbought and unbossed, as the film title says
Congressman Henry Gonzales--one of the most vocal critics of the Reagan administration
Senator Frank Church--chaired Senate hearings that exposed the black ops of the CIA
Senator Wayne Morse--one of two Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and a hero to peace activists in Oregon
Senator Robert Kennedy--If he had become president, we would be living in a very different country today
Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich--It's been all downhill since him

[mvd]

14. That's a good idea

All the lists will create a "Democratic Heaven" of sorts. :hi:

[PassingFair]

15. In Order:

Howard Dean: Inspires me. I want my country back!
FDR: Pushed sanity onto our country and brought us back from the brink.
Jimmy Carter: Most well-meaning president, ever.
Paul Wellstone: Loud and proud.
Jan Schakowsky: Makes me wish I lived in Illinois. She ROCKS!

[GrumpyGreg]

16. Harry Truman--feisty as hell and a common,good man.

[Nikki Stone 1]

17. B. KENNEDY, WELLSTONE, MCKINNEY, KUCINICH, Barbara JORDAN

,,,,,

[Davis_X_Machina]

18. Easy.

40's FDR. Saved America from the Depression, from its greedheads, from its worst impulses. The defeating-Fascism thing was lagniappe. Read Cass Sunstein's book on FDR's Second Bill of Rights sometime.

60's Bobby Kennedy, who would if spared kept the nation from splitting. The last rich white guy poor black folks took seriously, and whom poor whites didn't resent for it.

70's Henry Gonzales -- the perfect member of the People's House, the House of Representatives. Texas misses him still.

80's Tip O'Neil -- yeah, he was a pasty white ethnic dinosaur, etc, etc. But he was right, and early on Vietnam, right and early on Nicaragua, and gave Reagan fits as speaker.

90's Al Gore. Al Gore could have been president on the strength of a phone call. During the impeachement flap, all he had to do was pull a Lieberman, and Clinton would have been forced to resign. Gore would have run as an incumbent in 2000, and the Clinton boil having been lanced, would have won. But it's a phone call he was too classy to make. Anybody who thinks Gore is 'too calculating' needs to reflect on this...

[never_get_over_it]

35. I'm sorry I don't get it

who was Gore going to call - Bill Clinton didn't even come close to being removed from office. Clinton's popularity at the time of impeachment was in the 60s - the Senate needed two thirds to remove him - never would have happened. The impeachment was NEVER about removing Clinton it was about keeping him from moving his agenda forward in the Congress and on that "they" were very effective

The phone call Al Gore should have made was the one to Bill Clinton asking him to get out and campaign for him - but instead Gore chose to distance himself from Clinton and the successes of that administration. Maybe if Gore hadn't done that he could have picked up TN, AR, WV or some other state and then FL would have been moot.

[TahitiNut]

19. FDR, Barbara Jordan, RFK, Mario Cuomo, Paul Wellstone

:shrug:

On different days I might substitute Soapy Williams, Phil Hart, or Jimmy Carter.

[BeyondGeography]

20. In semi-chronological order

FDR: No red state/blue state BS for him. His time in Georgia and his many trips through rural NY prior to being elected President gave him a sense of the whole country and an unmatched ability to connect with just about everyone. His disability also gave him a profound understanding of human hardship.

JFK: Masterful handling of the missile crisis, grace, style and smarts.

Jimmy Carter, for his post-Presidency behavior: I never felt prouder to be a Democrat than when Carter launched Habitat for Humanity, put hammer to nail, and built affordable housing in the 1980's just as the Greed is Good decade was taking off into the gutter.

Mario Cuomo: An incredible mind, feisty and unapologetically liberal.

Bill Clinton: As infuriating as he can be, he's the most masterful politician I think I'll ever see in my lifetime (for better or worse). Loves the game, plays it better than the rest.

[rpannier]

21. My 5 are

Gary Locke former Governor of Washington State a great governor;
Franklin Roosevelt his accomplishments eclipse every President after him;
John Edwards because I really think he cares about people and he articulated what I believe "It's a crime in this country that so many people go without."
Lee Metcalf, former congressman from Montana (1950's), a liberal voice in congress;
and Edward R. Murrow CBS Newsman (I don't know for sure if he was a Democrat and I don't care. Today, he'd be a Democrat) he was what newsmen today are not, probing, insightful, brave and he stood up for what was right.

[Botany]

22. Well how about?

Zell Miller
Ken Blackwell (used to be a democrat)
Ed Koch
Strom Thurman
Joe Leiberman
Lester Maddox
and
Denny White (head of the Ohio GOP I mean democratic party)

[Davis_X_Machina]

23. With all due respect...

...Lieberman and Koch don't belong on that list....

[Botany]

25. i hope you are right .....

but i just see them as repug shills.

But then again I might be wrong ..... Peace.

[rpannier]

32. You don't think Ed "Chairman of Democrats for Bush" Koch

belongs on that list????

[gumby]

24. Henry Gonzales

Wish there were more like him now.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. Yes, he's on my "Democratic heaven" list

:-)

He was a real fighter, and not appreciated enough while he was alive.

[JohnLocke]

26. Stevenson; Bryan; Wilson; Roosevelt; Kennedy.

Adlai E. Stevenson
William Jennings Bryan
Woodrow Wilson
Franklin D. Roosevelt
John F. Kennedy

So hard to pick only five. ;)

[Armstead]

27. Okay

Paul Wellstone -- Heart, brains AND guts, all in one small progressive package.

The Kennedys (JFK/RFJ/Teddy the K)-- They overcame a bad background and their own demons to provide an idealistic vision of public service. Not always angels, but who is?

FDR -- He implemented real action to accomplish liberal goals. Had vision and followed through on it.

John Conyers -- He's telling it like it is and walking the talk. While being a gentleman about it.

Barbara Boxer -- She's doing what all Democratic Senators should be doing to call out this administration.


Many otehrs I could mention, including Congresspeople Dennis Kucinich, Barbara Lee, Jan Schiakovski, etc. But those above are my top five (with the Kennedys as three for the price of one).

[Blue_Roses]

28. Ann Richards, for starters

FDR, Huey Long, Ron Kirk (former mayor of Dallas) and of course Bill Clinton.

[SaveElmer]

29. Hubert Humphrey, FDR, Bobby Kennedy, John Glenn, Jimmy Carter

In that order!!!

HHH - No one cared about people more then he

FDR - Greatest President after Lincoln - and he's one of ours which drives the righties crazy

Bobby Kennedy - Civil Rights

John Glenn - Honest upstanding guy, I'm a big supporter of the space program and he is one of the reasons why

Jimmy Carter - Self explanatory, reminds us every day who the truly great man was in that 1980 election!!!

[Greylyn58]

30. John Edwards, Barbara Boxer, FDR, Bobby Kennedy,

Jimmy Carter, Barbara Jordon, Shirley Chissom, Conyers, Wellstone.

[Brother Buzz]

31. One stop shopping in California

California is named after a fabled island of California ruled by the Amazonian Queen, Califia, so it's no wonder my most admired elected Democrats are all female, and they all hail from California.

Barbara Boxer...She has a set!

Barbara Lee...She stands on principle

Maxine Waters...A progressive Democrat that ain't DLC

Jackie Speier (State Senate)...She really cares about us and will be the first female governor of California

Sheila Kuehl (State Senate)...reforming healthcare in California is a passion, along with chasing Dobie Gillis.

[NVMojo]

33. JFK, MLK, Wellstone, Edwards, Boxer

[never_get_over_it]

34. My utmost respect go to those politicians

who speak up even if the "politcal" wisdom says they shouldn't - in other words those who put the country before their next election.....

Senate

Barbara Boxer
Ted Kennedy
Frank Lautenberg
Robert Byrd - because of his many moving floor statements
Dick Durbin

House

Maxine Waters
John Conyers
Cynthia McKinney
Dennis Kucinich
Robert Wexler - except he voted for IWR and almost killed me with that vote

All time favorite I believe is Mario Cuomo