As much as I like Conyers and Boxer.....

[Darkhawk32]

The people in this country (still unabashedly prejudiced) are not ready for either a black or female President.

Sad but true, I feel. Your thoughts?

[mdmc]

1. were not even ready for a Democrat..

sadder

[candy331]

5. The people are ready for what is imposed on them, was the Iraqi people

ready for what has been hoisted on them? People can get past being ready but as long as it can be claimed the people are not ready they will not be.

[ooglymoogly]

12. paperless voting machines are not ready for

a black, a woman, and certainly not a democrat unless the gop can recruit gop clones calling themselves democrats to keep up the illusion that we live in a democracy.

[katinmn]

2. Speaking for myself -- I'm ready!

[mark414]

3. i agree

it's sad but true

we're not as far along as we'd like to think, and i think either is a long way off

[Darkhawk32]

4. I mean look at the veracity that even the Dems had against...

gay people marrying. Nearly half of the Dems in my state voted to ban gay marriage.

Putting up a female or African-American candidate (at this time) would only fracture our party even further.

[candy331]

8. Well then let the fracture begin since Dems can't win anyway, off

to a new start and fractures do heal. Seems the Dems don't want to learn the high road, I am willing to say with out a doubt that if a Black was on the ticket for VP in 2000/2004 Blacks would be standing in line voting till now. I wonder who it benefits to keep pushing this lying mantra, Democrats/Republicans?

[Darkhawk32]

10. It's not a lying mantra, it's a realistic one...

There'd be no way in hell we'd win in the Jim Crow southern states with either a female or black candidate.

Believe me, personally, I'M ready for it and millions are ready for it, but not enough are ready for it for either one to win. Not yet. People need to mature more in their thought processes.

Like I said, look at the nastiness toward gays and lesbians marrying. It's from BOTH sides of the aisle. Sad but true.

[candy331]

14. Seems Colin and Condi have been used rather well on the ticket

to bolster the repubs claim of inclusiveness, seems the Dems should have been out in front rather than not even coming from behind in putting Black and women to the fore.. Why could a Jew (Lieberman be on the ticket for VP)and yet no Blacks/female? So Southerners love Jews eh? Reality is that this is a most racially divided nation and it is so expedient to put everything on Southerns that Democrats don't want to do/or are too cowardly to do. Watch a Black/female be President/Vice President from the REPUBLICAN PARTY before the Democratic party gets it's head out of the sand. Reality is sometimes what we allow/make it out to be.

[autorank]

6. This is about issues not personalities. Focus on the issues.

Sorry to be a shit head about it but who cares what you're ready for? We have strong positions that need to be advocated: free and fair elections at home and the end of American aggression abroad. Who cares about particular personalities as they might be suited for the presidency. That's four years off. If we're still in this quagmire and have no fair voting system, we are up against a lot more than whether you think people are ready for this or that person.

Boxer and Conyers are great Democrats and great Americans for fighting the good fight now and being effective. I'm stunned, quite frankly, that the right wing media machine hasn't eviscerated both of them. It's a testimony to Boxer and Conyers' ability to resonate with the large sections of the public.

[Darkhawk32]

9. I'm not talking about what I'M ready for, just the voting public in ...

general and as a whole. It's a reality we need to examine before going full-boar to supporting them for President. This even applies to Hillary Clinton as well.

[autorank]

11. Defeatist Logic 101

It's four years off. How about the causes that are important? That should be the focus. By the time 2008 rolls around, if we can get a fair election, our candidate, whomever that may be, will win unless, as that great Democrat Edwin Edwards, D, LA said, "they find him in bed with either a live boy or a dead girl."

Think of Boxer and Conyers as early adopters. Others will follow and one or several of those others will catch wind with the public. It won't be a panzy like Edwards or Kerry, jerks who watch international war crimes go on and take the middle ground. It will be someone who says, this is all f'ing INSANE! When that happens with a strong voice, it can be a drag queen for all anybody will care. People are on the verge of desperation now.

Saying Conyers and Boxer are not presidential material detracts from supporting them on their causes. Are people in your neighborhood talking about how evil those two are? Are they marching with torches and pitchforks to get rid of them? They don't even know because we're (the Democrats) a bunch of timid defeatists.

I say stop paralysis by analysis and move forward with a real agenda.

[HideAndS]

7. You're absolutely right

I agree. Especially in the south.

[Rose Siding]

13. I think that backing the most "electable" candidate doesn't always work

either.

Leaders emerge.

[Zhade]

15. I think you meant to say "Diebold isn't ready".

NT!