Amy Goodman's Democracy Now: Manning Marable vs. Donna Brazile

[proud patriot]

Today's show was great , listen to this exchange .
I think excellent points were made on both sides.

you can watch or listen at the link below .

Friday, December 17th, 2004
Manning Marable vs. Donna Brazile on the Future of the Democratic Party

As controversy continues to rage over the 2004 presidential elections and challenges to the legitimacy of the vote in the crucial state of Ohio continue to move forward, another battle is heating up. This one over the future of the Democratic Party.
Last week, Moveon.org sparked a controversy when it sent an email out to its massive list-serve saying it had a message for what it called the "professional election losers" who run the Democratic Party. Pointing to the $300 million raised by MoveOn and other individual contributors, the group's founder Eli Pariser said of the Democratic party, "We bought it, we own it, we're going to take it back." The email targeted outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe as a tool of corporate donors who alienated both traditional and progressive Democrats. The email charged that, for years, the party has been led by elite Washington insiders who are closer to corporate lobbyists than they are to the Democratic base

Meanwhile, Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean has sparked an impassioned debate by announcing his intention to run for chair of the powerful Democratic National Committee. This weekend Dean and other prospective candidates vying for the position will speak at a Democratic Party event in Orlando, Florida.

Among the names being tossed around are: US Representative Martin Frost of Texas; former Michigan governor James Blanchard; former Denver mayor Wellington Webb;former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk; former White House deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes; businessman Leo Hindery Jr.and Donnie Fowler, a Democratic strategist and Silicon Valley veteran. Democrats will vote at their February meeting in Washington on a successor to Terry McAuliffe. Many see that election as one of the strongest indicators of the direction the Democratic party will take over the next 4 years.


Manning Marable, one of America's most influential and widely read scholars. He is Professor of History and Political Science and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and founding Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. His latest books include "The Great Wells of Democracy: The Meaning of Race in American Life and "Freedom on My Mind: The Columbia Documentary History of the African American Experience."
Donna Brazile, Al Gore's campaign manager in the 2000 election and a longtime Democratic Party activist. She is author of the book "Cooking With Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/17/1447237

[htuttle]

1. Manning Marable is extremely good

But I'd bet that Marable and Brazile will be debating on entirely different levels. Will be very interesting to watch tonight (it runs on our public access tv channel -- it's the main reason I keep cable).

[proud patriot]

2. Manning got more words in edgewise

he's extremely Smart

[IrateCitizen]

3. Very good exchange!

Although I am a white middle to upper-middle class male, I completely agree with the idea of a "neo-rainbow" approach designed to bring inner city minority voters to the table early and throughout the process. Many of these people don't vote primarily because the party sweeps in every couple of years right before election time and expects them to get out just based on a few literature handouts. Meanwhile, they haven't even made an effort to involve them in the process from the get-go.

For those that argue that these people won't get involved, I think it's important to note a program of NOW with Bill Moyers leading up to the election. A woman working for minimum wage in NV who had never been interested in politics got involved after she saw LTTE against raising the state's minimum wage. She got involved because it was an issue that affected her, and she felt strongly about it.

I also have to admit that I was impressed with Donna Brazille, and was pleasantly surprised by her repudiation of the DLC's calls for further marginalizing the left wing of the party.

[Gloria]

4. I heard Brazile a few days ago on Air America's "Democratic

Conference)during the Majority Report when lots of people were on with ideas (inc. Van den Heuvel, EJ Dionne, etc)
And Brazile said that it was a matter of really STOPPING POLLING and sticking to a few core values....and that if the party tried to keep going after Republicans, they would lose their base. I completely agreed with what she said, much to my surprise....and Van den Heuvel echoed a lot of the same message, regarding Democratic core values...

[IrateCitizen]

5. Well, anything Katrina says I'm bound to listen to...

She's incredibly smart and tough-as-nails. She never misses an opportunity to take on the other side on any of the cable news networks.

Brazille is dead-on about the need to stop "polling". Instead, Democratic leaders and consultants would do much better to get out of the Beltway and to go around the country actually LISTENING to what people have to say. That way, they might find out what their real concerns are, and come up with ways to address them that are effective in garnering votes.

[proud patriot]

6. I agree

I like the idea of starting a movement where all sides
colors, regions , sexual orientation and gender are at
the table ...

"neo-rainbow" we need a sticker or T-shirt
to spead the word