Forget every negative feeling you have for every candidate RIGHT NOW!

[Walt Starr]

This is a post about the Walt Starr method of positive candidate choosing. It's a damn difficult process and may drive you crazy for a while, but the benefits will be long lasting both to your mental health and to your feelings about the candidates.

Step one is to do what the title of this thread instructs you to do. Yes, this seems to be the most difficult part of the process, but it's an absolute must in order to proceed. My hardest time in doing this was to dismiss my negative feelings about Lieberman. I can tell anybody with a straight face that I would absolutely 100% support Lieberman should he get the nod from the party. It's the truth and you will understand why in step three.

Step two is to make each and every candidate your second choice in your mind. This is much easier. For me, this was pretty much accomplished once I dumped the negatives. Let's face it, there is no candidate out there who won't have negatives, and the negatives will be made all that more urgent by the other candidates, not to mention the Repukes. Basically, you must develop a sense of apathy towards the entire field. It helps in this stage to start looking at the ultimate goal here, getting rid of the unelected fraudulent moron currently occupying the white house via illegal means used by his supporters to steal an election in Florida. If you forget about the candidates and remember that point, making all of the candidates your second choice is easy because they are second only to getting Bush out of our white House.

Step three, concentrate only on the positives from each candidate. This was the most difficult stage for me, even moreso than stage one. I would flip through number one candidates like flipping through cards in the deck. At one stage four within a couple of hours of each other. This is the "decidedly undecided" stage of this game, but by concentrating on the positives, I found myself liking Lieberman and at several points, having him as my number one pick!

Step four, well at some point you'll have to make up your mind. I think I've made up my mind on Dean, but you know what? I probably could still be convinced to go for another candidate because we have nine excellent candidates and I honestly believe any of the nine are electable and any of the nine would be good for America.

Good luck, and think positive!

[AlinPA]

1. Thanks, still "struggling with Liebernan". We have great candidates.

As Al Sharpton says, "any one of us would be better than Bush."

[bain_sidhe]

2. I heartily endorse this!

Of course, I'm just one person ;-)

Seriously, just about the only thing that gives me pause about Dean is some of his supporters! He has strengths and weaknesses just like any other candidate His strengths don't mean he's "unbeatable" and his weaknesses don't mean he's unelectable. They just require a different campaign strategy than my candidate does. Period. I support Clark for my reasons, you support Dean for your reasons. And hey (news flash to all the bashers)... that's OK!!!!

[Walt Starr]

5. Right on, and if Clark wins, I'll be out there pounding the streets

for him just like I will regardless.

And I'm not ready to say there's no way I'd vote for anybody other than Dean in the primary, either! We have an EXCELLENT field of candidates!

[bain_sidhe]

11. And ditto for Dean...

If he wins, I'll be out there too. I'm not as enamoured of his strengths as I am of my candidate's strengths, but I'll be dammed (as will we all) if I'll let the Rove machine use his weaknesses defeat us in the general election.

[calimary]

12. Another Deanie seconding that. ANY of ours is better than bush.

A baloney sandwich is better than bush.

[pippin]

16. Pull together Dems!!

At this point with the disasters incurred by the Bushites I am ready to vote for ANY of the current candidates. Sharpton is right, anyone of them is better than the moron we've got now.

All the repugs would love is to see us splintered and in- fighting

[wtmusic]

3. It's a credit to Democrats that Lieberman's numbers are in the toilet

Maybe it took a miserable failure like Bush to get Democrats off their asses and look at issues.

[bearfartinthewoods]

4. Walt, i like the stuff you write but please

we are not picking a beauty queen. we are picking a champion and if you don't evaluate each of the candidate's negatives and weaknesses you ain't picking right.

[Walt Starr]

7. My contention is you will never be able to adequately evaluate the

negatives. The reason being is there is a lot of stuff that hasn't come out on each and every one of them. And no matter how benign a negative seems now, it will be pounded on by the Right Wing Media machine and Karl Rove. The negatives no longer matter in today's America because of the RWMM and Rove.

So forget about the negatives, they're not going away, they're not going to change, and the negatives of any of the candidates will add up to about the same amount of pounding from the right.

[salin]

9. I think that the point

is that the negatives have become so amplified, and so almost dogmatic, that to once again get a balanced view - to look at the strengths (and then the relative strengths when compared to one another.)

Consider this, instead of a negative... a lack of a strength/positive that is found in another candidate. In the end in the comparison it is the same - but it moves out from that "FEAR" factor echoed here so often (and heck - the thought of more bush is enough to move any of us there) and instead to a point of strength... that is by considering the characteristic as an assett of candidate x rather than dwelling on a "negative" of candidate y.

[Walt Starr]

17. Thank you !

That is precisely the point.

The lack of a positive is FAR more telling than the presence of a negative.

Look to the positives to select a positive candidate, but remember, all of the other candidates have positives too!

Don't post negatives about other candidates, only positives about your candidate! The threads that go negative on a candidate can be ignored. They are worthless, I don't care which DUer started it! Fuck the negative threads, they will do nothing for making a positive choice of the candidates.

The Democrats should be running on the plus side. There are enough negative things going on and the American people are well aware of them.

When Rove goes negative on whatever candidate wins the nomination (and you know he will), the Democrat should come back stating emphatically, "I will NOT sink to this level. I will NOT dignify this negative attack with an answer. I am <insert candidate's name here>, the Democratic Candidate for President of the United States, and I have a positive vision for the future of our nation in this world!"

If Joe Lieberman came out tomorrow talking like this about the other candidates and focused on his positive vision for the future, I'd switch from Dean immediately and become a supporter of Lieberman.

I mean that with all sincerity. The American people crave a different direction in politics. The positive campaign that refuses to go negative will resonate! We can start that positive campaign right here right now!

[salin]

6. I have been impressed

with the change of tone - and thoughtfulness with which you have treated threads while going through this process.

I have not decided on a candidate - but do gravitate to a few. When I have a block of time - I think I will take your approach and work through it. It is often so hard to see through fans and detractors biases and so tiresome that at times I am just sick of them all. Time to adopt a different attitude and approach! Thanks Walt.

[Walt Starr]

8. Thank you! n/t

[armadafalls]

10. I could not agree more

I keep telling my wife this point. She hates Dean but would support any other candidate. I prefer Kucinich but would support anybody else including Dean if they win the primary. I keep telling everybody that we cant beat up any of these candidates, because eventually we need to support one of them, if we really want to get that miserable failure out of the White House.

[newyawker99]

13. Hi armadafalls!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[wtmusic]

14. Peace! Love! Harmony!

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:
:loveya: :puke: :loveya:
:loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[Vadem]

15. Thanks, Walt! I've just about come to the same decision as...

you. I could happily vote for any one of our candidates. I think they all did a wonderful job on last night's debate. I know that Joe Lieberman has a somewhat liberal voting record, but he irked me no end when he told us all to get over it after election 2000 and then bashed Gore several times since then and is now acting hurt that he heard about Al's endorsement of Dean from the media before Al was able to reach him on Tuesday morning before the announcement. He seems to have no clue that maybe Al is hurt from HIS comments since the election, that Al "lost" the election because of his campaign of the "people against the powerful." IMHO that is the reason Al got 500,000 more votes than Shrub.

[Walt Starr]

18. Shamless Bump, I wish Will Pitt would read this.

:kick:

[WilliamPitt]

19. Step Five: Change candidates at least once a week.

:)

Kidding. Good post.