RE: democratic party infighting

[CTLawGuy]

hey all,
I personally am not too worried about Democratic Party infighting. In fact I think it can be healthy.

The reason we have 9 different candidates is that the Democratic Party lacks an identity and vision. Its not a slam against us, but its a product of being out of power anywhere for a period of time. The primary process is about determining that identity and vision, and each candidate represents a different one.

Moseley-Braun: the Democratic party should champion women and women's issues.
Clark: Democrats should stand for a strong and wise foreign policy.
Dean: Democrats should engage the people and be unafraid to stand up for what we believe in.
Edwards: Democrats should stand up for the little guy.
Gephardt: Democrats should champion working people and their issues.
Kerry: Democrats should be the party of governing experience.
Kucinich: Democrats should be true to liberal principles
Lieberman: Democrats should appeal to social conservatives and independents
Sharpton: The Democrats should wake up and fight for the interests of minorities and poor.

its not that all these visions are mutually exclusive, but they are important to various degrees to different people.

When we fight, we are fighting not over people, but for our own vision.

Clarkies ciritcize Dean not because they hate him, but because they want Democrats to adopt Clark's foreign policy vision.

Deanies attack Kerry because we believe the party shouldnt be afraid to take on Bush. We see kerry's war vote as caving, while Kerry may believe he is compromising in the spirit of an experienced and mature style of governing.

OTOH, Kerry attacks Dean for having no foreign policy experience, not becuase he hates Dean, but because he believes the Democratic party should have Washington experience in the White House.

Gephardt attacks Dean because he believes Dean does not understand labor issues as much as Gephardt does.

I think when we fight, it's like when a big family fights. they may complain about each other, but in the end they all love each other.

Another reason fighting could be healthy is because it vets the candidates through the smear machine. If there was something REALLY bad about Dean, it is better that it come out in the primary, when the dems can put out someone else, than in the general. Im not advocating nasty, unwarranted, ad hominem attacks, but posting anything negative about another candidate is not the end of the world.

Remember, Reagan and Bush I were primary rivals. Bush called Reagan's economic policy "voodoo economics" and they ended up being running mates. Bradley campaigned for Gore in 2000. There's no reason we would not unite after the primary behind any of the candidates.

Even a trained monkey is better than Bush