Rep. Jan Schankowsky: Progressives, Stand Up!

[quiet.american]

Yea! -- A Democrat unashamedly from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party! :)

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The Bush Administration and Republican Congressional leaders have plenty of reason to be worried. Large majorities of Americans believe the country is going in the wrong direction, that Bush doesn't share their priorities, that the war in Iraq wasn't worth it, and that the President can't be trusted. Most people can't think of anything Congress has done except for intruding in the Terri Schiavo case, and almost everyone disapproved of that. Democrats in Congress, while still not earning high ratings, are ahead of the Republicans by the largest margin in recent times. And I haven't heard anyone raving about what a genius Karl Rove is lately.

The turf is favorable, but we've been there before--in 2000 and 2004. What should progressives do as we approach the 2006 elections to capitalize on Americans' sense of unease and discontent?

I suggest two "Don'ts" and three "Dos." First, progressives and Democrats don't need an extreme makeover. Far from it. We do not need to rethink our values and principles, rewrite our agenda or move to the "center." Polls taken the day before the 2004 election as well as the day after tell us clearly that the Democrats are already where most Americans are on the issues and also on values. The post-election Zogby poll asked respondents to name the moral values most important to them. Two to one, they named "greed and materialism" and "poverty and economic justice" over "abortion" and "same sex marriage." They share our values. We do, in fact, represent the aspirations of the majority of Americans.

"Don't" number two is our tendency to talk about our beliefs in terms of programs and policies. I have a ten-point health care plan. I have a housing policy. The right-wingers talk in terms of "right and wrong." Right and wrong trumps programs and policies every time.

More:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article_rss/democratic_dos_and_donts/

[mike_c]

1. kick and a nomination....

Thanks for posting this! :kick:

[yurbud]

3. your nomination didn't go through

I saw your post after my nomination, and noticed there's was only one nom, so I cliked it again, but it said I had already nom'ed. Yours must not have made it.


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[mike_c]

7. yep-- I did it again and now it's registering....

:shrug: Thanks for the heads up!

[yurbud]

2. nominated--best news of the day so far! Send to dickless dems like Joes

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[WhiteTara]

4. Jan is a woman with "ovarios"!

This is what a democrat looks like. I wish she would run for president instead of Hillary.
:woohoo:

[quiet.american]

6. Love your use of the word "ovarios." :)

[WhiteTara]

11. feel free to use it!

:hi:

[yurbud]

9. who decided to make Hillary "inevitable" it wasn't us.

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[WhiteTara]

10. I agree. Maybe we can convince a qualified

woman to run. Run Jan Run. Run Sheila Run. Run Barbara Lee Run. Run Cynthia Run. Hillary go bake some cookies while you stand by your man.

[yurbud]

14. Can you imagine Cynthia McKinney? She should run just to give the rest

of the field spine


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[WhiteTara]

22. I love the thought of President McKinney

She has so much courage and wisdom that she could heal our nation.

[yurbud]

27. it took a lot of courage to put that naked pic of yourself as avatar

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[WhiteTara]

30. I could only hope to be the Great Goddess

who birthed the world.

[mopinko]

19. her seat is so safe. she does help other women, and dems

she is my congressman, and she is the bravest. she is happy and proud to be so safe that she can speak her mind.

[yurbud]

21. I love you "hate us for our empire" did you make that up?

I'll post it to my blog.


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[mopinko]

26. hard to say where these ideas come from

sometimes they sneak into your consciousness when you are not looking. but that is my button design. i'd appreciate a link with that image, if you would. find it here.- http://pinkobuttons.com/buttons.html?Hypocrisy+3

[yurbud]

29. I put the link to your website on my blog too

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[mopinko]

31. thanks

i'll gear up for the flood of orders.

[FredStembottom]

32. Yes! Please! Hillary is a NOBODY and a NO-TALENT.

A Tom Daschle. A jello-mold. A groveler.

She's just famous for being famous and that's not even close to enough!

I am not just being a creep. There is no "there' there.:hide:

[quiet.american]

5. Thanks for reading and nominating --

I'm forwarding this to every local Dem candidate I can think of.

[yurbud]

8. We should find her re-election site and kick $5 her way

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[oscar111]

13. RACISM defeats us always-- 2 cures for it

polls dont ask about it, since they found they couldnt get straight answers .
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so now us who read polls a lot, have forgotten about racism
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but it is the biggest vote=getting issue for the GOP.

AND WE ARE IGNORING IT.

recipe for eternal defeat.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
wake up, ignore the poll categories, think about reality, think about racism
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

look at the overlap of red states and the racist Confederacy.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Cures:

snag the racist vote by

1. offering Jobs for All {see sig}...
this ends fear by racists that ethnics are getting his job {due to integration etc.}

2. offer a gov guarantee of house value {via HUD? FANNYMAE?}
-- this ends racist's fear of blockbusting. After all, the racist has 40K of his total 6O K life savings in the housevalue. It is not entirely a groundless fear.
{sixty K figure from AARP ten yrs ago, the wealth of avg family at retirement age. Anyone got later figure?}

these would grab back enough blue collar votes to tip the scales.

Sure, polls find most agree with Progressives on many issues. But most DISagree with us on racism. Racism wins on election day.

RACISM.

We have to focus on that to win.
Consider my 2 cures for racism.

[yurbud]

15. people want to behave racist but think of themselves as not

That's why all the adulation for Obama and Colin Powell.

A problem with affirmative action is it actually rubs salt in the wounds of racists and even those with little tendency to be racist can be pushed that way if they are part of the 1% of whites affected by it.

I got beat for a job by a black woman at a school where we were both part time instructors and there was a full time opening. I have the highest evaluations in the department. I wasn't mad at her, but at the administrators, then it occurred to me that if schools were treating instructors fairly, using 90% full time faculty instead of 40%, she and I would both have jobs. The problem is, it's easier, and more gratifying, to put a face on the person who screwed you than to be mad at a faceless system.



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[UrbScotty]

24. Hear you go!

www.janschakowsky.org

[KharmaTrain]

12. Jan Needs To Be Heard More...

This lady is from my old stomping grounds (North Shore of Chicago area) and has been one of the finest Progressives in the House today.

This lady has some great ideas...along with Rahm Emanuel, that should be heard.

[yurbud]

16. what is that gif? a mortician pumping embalming fluid into a corpse?

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[KharmaTrain]

17. Monkey Washing A Cat - Tribute To Jon Stewart & Dave Letterman

...also kinda views how the right wing is trying to brainwash this country...and doing it from the wrong end.

Cheers...

[yurbud]

20. thanks, Steve.

For the Bushies, it would be skinning a cat, except they'd convince the cat to skin himself.




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[yurbud]

18. MY TALKING POINTS (long term not tactical)

Short term, we need to worry about things like having elections that aren't rigged, getting corporate money out of the system, and getting out of Iraq, but in terms of core values, these should do it:

Every American deserves access to:

a good education

affordable health care

a job that pays enough to support their family

fair taxes, so they know the rich and corporations are paying their fair share.

renewable energy that we don't pay for with the blood of our children or pays a dividend of the hatred of other countries.

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[quiet.american]

23. Like your points and the way you express them. n/t

[yurbud]

25. How can I figure something out in 3 minutes that dems can't for decades?

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[Edgewater_Joe]

28. That's My Congressperson!

I'm lucky to live in her district!