Vanity candidates, establishment candidates, and the paradigm...

[BigBigBear]

Gebhardt, Lieberman and Kerry were the establishment boys. Dean and Clark were fired up outsiders. Edwards is positioning for '08 (he's NOT going to be the nominee), and Kucinich and CMB were there for the pure of heart. Sharpton was there to represent his constituents.

The party had 3 choices: roll the dice on forging a new dynamic, settle for an established guy, or feel good about itself.

I think it settled on the worst of the three - it can neither claim it's running a candidate that represents uncompromised values (20 years in the Senate is ALL ABOUT compromise), nor can it claim it's breaking the mold and reaching out for disaffected Republicans or moderate independents with a newly cast Democratic party.

It's running a Liberal Democrat from Massachussetts. Who voted for IWR.

It's not just CLark dropping out that bothers me - it's how he was ignored in the press, set up in the debates, dissed by omission by the brass and the news media. Same with Dean - first chance they had to throw him overboard....

I hope I hear something from John Kerry that sounds like fire, inspiration, the desire to reshape a party sliding every two years further out of power. I want him to stop speaking talking like he's addressing his subjects at the Roman Coliseum. I want him to use Vietnam sparingly. I want him to get out in front of his voting record, instead letting Rove and Limbaugh leak it little by little.

This election has to be about Bush, and about a new party - if it's about Kerry and two decades of votes in the Senate, we are all doomed.

No offense to anyone...I just feel like this party blew an opportunity. Big time.

*climbing into my asbestos suit now

[Nashyra]

1. I haven't felt this bad since the

supreme court stopped the counting in 2000. I don't feel good about Kerry. I think that we might have a chance if Clark is the VP.

[BurtWorm]

2. I think I know exactly how you feel

considering I recently started a couple of threads expressing very similar feelings of disquiet about the direction the Dems have suddenly chosen to take, which is not where I would have chosen to take the party if I could have chosen alone. I strongly believe that motivated supporters like those for Dean, Clark and Kucinich--meaning people who were inspired to support a Dem because of motives more energy-inspiring than "electability"--should keep their fires burning and use them to change the party so that we can nominate and elect someone like a Dean, Clark or Kucinich somewhere not too far down the road.