Fair weather Democrats ?

[kentuck]

I've noticed numerous threads about how somebody is tired of one Democrat or another - as if we have more friends than we need. If they're not tired of Howard Dean, they are tired of John Kerry. If they're not tired of Al Gore, they are tired of Bill Clinton. If they're not tired of Hillary, they are tired of Robert Byrd. If they're not tired of Debbie Stabenow, they are tired of Barbara Boxer. Etc...etc.

I say that beggars cannot be choosey. We should accept kind words wherever they may come from. Even if they come from Tweety Matthews or Norah O'Donnell or Lawrence O'Donnell or Air America Radio. That doesn't mean we have to marry them. The enemy that has taken control of this country does not give us the luxury to throw away our friends everytime they might say something we disagree with.

They don't even have to be our "friends". If they say something that supports what we know to be true, we should not dismiss their statements because they are "whores" and cannot be trusted. We should encourage more truth. They should be commended when they are right and criticized when they are wrong. They should not be criticized when they are both right and wrong.

This is a trend I am not comfortable with - especially when it is a Democrat that we agree with most of the time. They should not be thrown overboard. For example, Al Franken is not an enemy of ours. He is consistently a progressive voice and I do not think the degree of criticism is warranted against him and many other good Democrats. I have no problem criticizing Hillary, Franken, Bill Clinton, or whomever when they deserve it, but I am not ready to throw any of them overboard.

[Oceansaway]

1. TOUCHE !!..n/t

[merwin]

4. To quote "The Princess Bride"

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

:)

[TheWraith]

5. Inconceivable! NT

[Bluzmann57]

2. Bravo! Bravo!

Very true words there. The Democratic Party has always been the "big tent" party and has welcomed many views, some moderate, some liberal, some centrist. But (almost) all are welcome in the party of ideas. Neocons have none and therefore have no tolerance for differences of opinion. We do. Or at least we should.

[MODemocrat]

3. AMEN ! You took the words right from my mouth

I am deathly afraid that Rove-Cheney-Bush will become the absolute powers of our once wonderful and free America. We should be working very hard to keep them from accomplishing this. They are truly war-mongers, they care nothing about human life, They are war mongering thieves,and nothing will ever change them. I would rather just disagree without being disagreeable; as long as our side is heading in the right direction. We just can't afford to keep hating this one, and dis-liking that one, and giving the republicans the edge. The "worst" Democrat is so far and above the radicals of the republican party. They're just waiting to take over and we shouldn't be aiding them by beating up on our own.

:scared: :shrug: :dilemma:

[TheWraith]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Alas, while insightful and true, your message probably won't get the recognition it deserves because it's neither bashing a Democrat nor issuing a new paranoid conspiracy theory that attributes the Earth's axial tilt to Karl Rove.

[Mr_Spock]

7. It is, in fact, the lack of unity of opposition that has enabled Fascism

Honest debate is fine - I criticize Dems when they go overboard. But the extreme "all or nothing" attitude of some is bad for all Democrats IMO since NO candidate can please all of the people all the time.

Good post - don't expect the "he's a Dino and I'll never vote for him again!!!!!!111!!!" posts to stop anytime soon. I wish people would count to 10 before they hit the "Post Message" button. I have abandoned (wisely IMO) dozens of posts that way.

[kster]

8. If they remain silent on the

secret VOTE COUNTING MACHINES, they are no friend of mine!!!!

[rucky]

9. I'm just tired. n/t

[stevedeshazer]

10. Agreed

If you are a Democrat, you're my friend.

Let's win some elections first and sort out the differences later.

[many a good man]

11. No sense of history on our part

Do people here realize that the "Solid South" was solidly ... Democratic for all those years we were dominant. Up until the 70s and 80s the biggest bigots in politics were Democrats. There were LOTS of Dems who were MORE conservative than some Republicans (and always LOTS of Republicans who more liberal than some Democrats).

How in the world did we coexist? You hold your nose and make deals. That's politics. The reality is you always have to compromise and seek incremental change. Don't expect a liberal paradise overnight.

Nixon's Southern Strategy and Reagan's Revolution realigned politics into what we've seen the past 30 years. We have a chance to see another generational shift. We can't blow it. We must get the majority first and then we can wrestle for the agenda. The winner gets squat in our winner-take-all system.

Lieberman and Zell Miller deserve the boot because they prop up the opposition and destroyed our cohesion. Howard Dean needs to enforce some discipline in the party. Hopefully his influence will soar after we take both the House and the Senate in the midterms this year.

[Justice Is Comin]

12. Yes but when the team is messing up royally, you don't cheer them.

The top generals in our party are acting like narcopleptics on auto pilot. They're just coasting along like a tumbleweed blowing past the Dead Gulch Saloon in the old west. No fire, no passion, no attempts to point out the absurdities of the retardicans lame attempts to rehabilitate themselves as the party of the people--nothing.

They're like Meerkats frolicking in the warm desert air. This is a ruthless, corrupt, vindictive, lying, prosletizing, moral-less, desperate, and despicable bunch of sub humans that are going to do anything they have to, to hang onto their Capitol Hill cafeteria passes come November. There is nothing--and I mean NOTHING they won't do.

The entire month of August Reid and Pelosi should have publicly and overtly been plowing them further into the dirt, excoriating them and pushing them into oblivion in the polls. They couldn't have had more opportunities to do it.

They are too complacent and not on offense. This is liks a championship fighter that has his opponent hurt, then helps him to his corner, splashes water on his face, gives him a three course meal, a few tablets of PCP and then tries to continue where he left off.

I do not like what I'm seeing and it's a pattern with this group. Kerry would be president right now if he had rolled over Bush like Patton. And that's is just exactly what this group is NOT doing either. Except for Dean.

Fortunately the wind is blowing that tumbleweed toward the end zone and I hope that wind direction doesn't change. Because we have some third string players carrying the ball.

And I'm going to say what I feel. I hope I don't have to refer back to this post on November 8th.

[kentuck]

13. I have no problem with your criticisms.

But I am not ready to throw Reid and Pelosi overboard. Or Kerry. Or any of the other Democrats that we might disagree with. I hope to bring them around to our way of thinking. Also, I do agree that Dean is doing a good job.

[European Socialist]

14. I'll vote for Repuke Lite, but I sure don't have to be happy about it.

[CollegeDUer]

15. Democracy isn't about settling for "lesser of evils"

It's about people uniting and demanding what they want from their government, of bringing citizens from their own ranks into the government.

Anything less is an insult to all who have died for this nation.