The Democratic Party must change before 2004!

[Cascadian]

I still continue to be mystified by the indifference by the Democratic leadership.

The election of 2002 should have been time for the centrist, koombayah, let's love one another types to step aside. And now with the Republicans capturing the executive branch of California should be the last straw. Howard Dean is right. Terry McAuliffe should step down.

My biggest fear is that the next election in 2004 is going to go beyond mud-slinging. The Republicans will go full-throttle to destroy the Democratic Party, particularly if the Demos nominate Howard Dean. And California is only the beginning.

Alarm bells are ringing, Democrats. Time to wake up, take the gloves off, and start swinging, but you won't be able to if you have the leadership you have now.


John

[wryter2000]

1. For one thing

Institute recalls in Repug states. Get Pataki out of NY. Perry out of Texas.

[janekat]

5. Don't forget: "Get Jeb out of Florida"

BEFORE 2004.

[zoidberg]

10. Texas doesn't have a recall provision

And if he were to be recalled, chances are somebody more conservative would take his place.

[library_max]

15. Texas doesn't have a mechanism for recalling the governor

I'll bet New York doesn't either. California is kind of funny that way.

[loudnclear]

22. I no longer think the country deserves Democrats...we're too good for

them. Let the oligarchies rule...we can't stop them anyway. Let them keep misinforming the poor white bloaks who really thing that anything related to government is bad...even if it is to benefit them. They actually think that Rush identifies with the dittoheads when in fact, he laughs all the way to bank and drug dealer. Laura Ingraj is quoted as saying that she doesn't believe half of what she says on the air; Rush thinks his listeners are stupid and has told them so a number of times; Matthews makes fun of the sheeple all the time; and FOX continues to feed them all kinds of misinformation that they know they won't confirm and can't figure out for themselves. In short, sit back and do all the things that bring you and your loved ones joy and peace. Stay away from the news---you already know and understand more than is healthy--read your favorite books, take a cruise, go fishing, go golfing, eat wisely and be at peace.

[La_Serpiente]

2. That's actually been on my mind for awhile

I say enough is enough...it's time for the young people to run for office...enough of these cankers who've lost their spine.

I say young people run for office and replace THE ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP HEGEMONY in this party

[dolstein]

3. If you think replacing Terry McAuliffe will solve all these problems

you're even more delusional than those people who are claiming Davis was booted because he was too centrist.

The fact is, 98% of the population doesn't even know who the hell Terry McAuliffe is. What's more, the head of the DNC simply doesn't have the power to revive the Democratic Party. It takes attractive candidates, an appealing message, and a media that's willing to give plenty of time to both.

Until we have a presidential nominee, the Democratic Party is going to continue to flounder.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Yuo have a point

and yuo don't at the same time.

Terry has been very innefectual, and it is time to let
the junkyard dogs out to play. The GOP has years of experience.

Politics has always been dirty, but this is very dirty.

So when is teh DNC going to fight?

Oh and as to the recalls the bug is spreading

[SharonAnn]

11. But they know who the Democratic Party is, it's milquetoast.

And so that's who Terry McAuliffe is.

[dolstein]

17. What Democratic Party?

Who exactly do people think of when they think of the Democratic Party (and very few people outside of DU think much at all of the Democratic Party)? Perhaps Clinton. Maybe Gore. Possibly Hillary.

But no one person really stands for the Democratic Party -- and that's always a problem for the party out of power. And it's even worse when the party is also a minority in Congress. And it's still more of a problem when you have a media that's packed to the gills with conservative mouthpieces.

The Democratic Party won't have an identity until it nominates a presidential candidate. Terry McAuliffe certainly isn't the face of the Democratic Party -- 99% of Americans couldn't pick him out of a lineup if he tried.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Do somethng about it

Contact the party and DEMAND that change and get involved at
the local area

[Padraig18]

6. Taking the gloves off WORKS!

We did in IL last November, and started calling 'a spade a spade', and guess what? We WON! If we would just quit being pink tutu-wearing WIMPS, we might win NEXT November, too!

[poskonig]

8. Exactly! Durbin and Blago do what Braun and Poshard didn't in 1998.

Poshard was very conservative for a Democrat and lost the governors race badly to Ryan, I might add.

[Jim Sagle]

12. Actually it was quite close - 52-48%.

See http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/IL/G/.

Poushard was a VERY hard-nosed negative campaigner, but his socially conservative stands antagonized women, blacks, gays, and gun control supporters.

Note the parallel to Gray Davis, who was a VERY hard-nosed negative campaigner, but whose economic conservativism demoralized Democrats in general.

And the moral of the story is: If you're a Democrat, run as a Democrat. Duh!

[Padraig18]

16. He was outspent 5:1

And lost by 4% of the vote. His allegations about Ryan's corruption as SOS were proven true, as well.

[Southsideirish]

9. Until we match their anger and rage we will never defeat them.

I don't know why or how they became so filled with the white hot burning hatred which fuels their angry phone calls, letters, posts, petitions et al but until we can match them and hate even more we will continue to be beaten. I know many Dems and liberals will say "but I refuse to stoop to their level" - that is our problem and why we are losing the battles - look at 2002 and now Ca. - we don't believe in our party or our causes with 1/10000th of the fervor that they do.

[TheDonkey]

13. We need to refind our lost focus and define what liberal and "the left" is

...which is not Green, Socialist, whatever but a party built by FDR, JFK, etc and other leaders that showed ordinary Americans we cared about them and wanted them to achieve great goals.

[library_max]

14. You've got a little case of selective memory going about 2002

Perhaps you've forgotten 9/11 and the resulting paranoia. Most people in most parts of the country considered any criticism of the President to be treason. Journalists caught hell just for asking Bush questions he didn't like, and not just from right-wingers. The atmosphere was as close to McCarthyism as anything we've seen since 1960.

Since 2002, Bush has bobbled Afghanistan, bungled Iraq, and dumped the economy in the toilet. People are starting to wake up and ask the right questions. But during the 2002 election, the Democrats were in a no-win situation. If they had been critical of the administration, they'd have been crucified for being unpatriotic. If they toned it down (which for the most part they did), they risked being passed over as me-tooers.

If we'd been loudly and proudly Democratic and principled in 2002, we probably would have lost more seats than we did. We might be better positioned for 2004 even so if we'd done that, but hindsight is 20-20.

We need to be careful not to blame centrism for overcautious rhetoric. One can be quite critical of the Bush administration without straying very far from centrist positions. And centrism is always the way to go in a presidential campaign. Every time either party has run to its base, it has not just lost but been crushed (Stevenson, Goldwater, McGovern, Mondale).

Now Padraig (for example) is a campaign pro and he knows what goes in Illinois. For local or state races, I defer to the people who know their regions. I can tell you that my state (Texas) is a political toxic waste dump from which nothing good ever comes, so no help there. But for the national race, we have to be strong, assertive, critical of the Bush administration, and centrist, no matter who our nominee turns out to be.

[hannah]

18. Change

I truly believe that the republican party has the media wrapped up.
Be it newspaper, radio or television. They are now in the business of voting machines. This has nothing to do with our candidates or left,center ect. It is a concerted effort for years (i imagine) to control the message by the republican party and the corporations that think they have the right to run our lives.

[Zynx]

19. I agree

This is three strikes and you're out for the Democratic establishment. The only way we are going to win the general election next year is by overthrowing the establishment that led us to the painful losses last year and this loss this year. I could say the same for 2000 because it was much closer than it should have been. The leadership has failed us. Anyone who trusts the establishment to lead us to victory is asking for defeat.

[hannah]

20. over throw the party?

Better we should overwhelm the media, either with complaints, boycotts of products, I mean, why should i buy your product if you insist on silencing my voice. Yes we need people with fire in there bellies, yes we are not an organized party, but if i recall Peace and Prosperity was sooo much better than recession and violence, war and the looting of the us treasury...

[Zynx]

21. The fact is...

the establishment has let us down big time. In 2002, I thought they were doing a terrible job, but I kept telling myself "Oh they have some master plan that I don't know about." There was no such plan. They were idiots. As far as I'm concerned to hell with all of them. It is time for new leadership.