Unless there are independents in the race who are more liberal than the Blue Dogs and actually have a strong chance of winning, we need to vote to keep them in office.--- DUer Chemisse
Your point is
well taken, Chemisse.
It is important to recognize the
long term consequences of voting for a party label first and the good of the country last. We are witnessing firsthand the consequences of this, both at the state and federal levels.
A classic example occurred in Florida, in the 2010 U. S. Senate race, where
party politics were responsible for yet another failure to anticipate the ugly outcome.
It was a case of a
well-known Independent candidate with strong standing against a hard right Republican, as compared with the anemic chances of the
little-known Democrat in the race, who had
some troubling history.
Buried under all of the furor and party angst over this three-way U. S. Senate race among Democrat Kendrick Meek, Independent Governor Charlie Crist and right winger Marco Rubio, there was a
major polling finding that was
completely drowned out:
Days before the 2010 election, polls showed that in a two-way race between Rubio and Crist,
it was tied at 46%. At that juncture, the Rubio camp and its allies threw the figurative
smoke bomb into the room, to blind the people.
Hey fellas: it wasn't Crist and Meek who were "in a dead heat". It was Crist and Rubio.People were
beginning to see through the Republican deceit.
Crist faces Rubio and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek in the race for Florida's open Senate seat. A new Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday found Rubio leading the field with 44%, Crist at 33% and Meek at 21%.
When the matchup is limited to Rubio and Crist, however, the two are knotted at 46% each. Some Democrats reportedly have discussed urging Meek to drop out of the race, something the four-term Democrat says will not happen. ---
LA Times, October 13, 2010
Florida was forced down a
dangerous path on that election day, because of the inability of many people
to see clearly what was happening in that U. S. Senate race.
Anyone who has lived in Florida for the Jeb Bush/Marco Rubio era and has paid careful attention, knew how this was going to turn out, and it was clear as day.
With
Governor Crist, we had
teacher's rights and and women's reproductive rights protected. We had a governor who was clearly on the side of patients' private decisions, unlike
Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, as Terri Schiavo became a household name. We had a governor who welcomed the stimulus money that came Florida's way, instead of mocking it in contempt. We had ex-felons' voting rights restored. We had our voting hours extended. We had someone who stepped in the way of big utilities as they tried to jack up rates that people had to pay. And, in Charlie Crist, we had a governor who wanted to allow voters to decide whether we wanted to allow offshore oil drilling off our coasts.
With
Governor Crist's record, we had the
rare opportunity to send Rubio and his band of
jackals,
fixers and
sugar daddies, packing.
Ultimately, the unfortunate outcome of this crucial election was that short-sighted party politics took over critical reasoning.
Now, tragically, we are saddled with Rubio on the national stage for 6 years, unless he self-destructs in the interim.
That
may yet come to pass.
Never forget, tomorrow is another day.
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