3 posts tagged “democrats”
I too supported Hillary once, but she lost the nomination, it is time to move on. Barack Omaba is the democratic candidate now, deal with it. The choice now is between John McCain and Barack Obama. Hillary is out of the picture. If you really believed in what Hillary stands for can you seriously consider not voting or even worse voting for McCain? What kind of Democrat would rather see McCain become president? Is it worth it causing more irreparable damage to our country in order to punish the Democratic party?
I became a Hillary supporter after John Edwards dropped out of the race. I voted for Hillary in the Florida primary. I remember the Clinton years with great fondness. I watched in disgust as Hillary fell apart during the campaign. As the campaign moved forward and Obama kept gathering more votes Hillary became more and more desperate making questionable move after questionable move. She got to a point where she betrayed what she stood for. By the time Hillary withdrew from the race, was a pale reflection of the candidate she could have been.
Hillary probably didn’t get fair treatment from the media, but that is hardly Omaba’s fault. Blame the media, boycott the news outlets if you like but withholding your vote is a dumb way to protest. Besides, do you really think Obama is getting a free pass? McCain stumbles every day sounding more senile and confused. The man can’t even remember how many homes he owns. A rich man, with multiple homes who has been a senator for decades calls Obama an elitist and the media just passes that on without comment. Can you really sit at home on Election Day and let McCain become president out of spite?
Don’t get me wrong, the Democratic party infuriates me. It is impossible to be a Democrat and not tear out clumps of your hair on a regular basis. The party seems bent on screwing up an election that is ours to lose. The response to Michigan and Florida moving up their primaries was asinine. In a classic jackass move the party punished its voters for the actions of the state legislatures. Then instead of fixing this problem right away, the DNC let this problem fester and become a painfully divisive issue. After eight years of George W. Bush this election should have been in the bag. Unfortunately with a couple of months to go, the candidates are tied. It is possible that John McCain could be our next president. Those Hillary supporters who are planning to sit on their hands come November 4th could make McCain our next president.
I would have loved to have Hillary become president, unfortunately that isn’t an option anymore, not this go round. We have to vote for the candidates we have not the candidates we wish we had. The choice is simple, voting for Obama so we can put this country back on track again or letting McCain win and serve a third term for George W. Bush. We cannot afford four more years of the disastrous policies that have so badly hurt our country. All those Hillary supporters who still have doubts need to get over it, swallow hard and vote for Obama.
I new it couldn’t last, the Democrats would find a way to screw up a free lunch. This election year all they needed to do to win the White House is to show up. The country is so tired of this disastrous administration that a worn out cardboard cutout of Walter Mondale could win the election. So the Democrats did what they do best, find a way to piss off and alienate voters in two key states, Michigan and Florida.
These two states committed the cardinal sin of moving up their primaries. Actually it wasn’t the entire state that made this blasphemous decision, at least in the case of Florida it was the state legislature that made the change, The Republican led state legislature. So the Democratic National Committee (DNC), in its dubious wisdom decided to punish the Republican led state legislature by taking away all the state’s delegates for the Democratic convention. They figured that the best way to punish the Republican led state legislature was to disenfranchise all the Democratic voters of Florida. If this isn’t the definition of “cutting you nose to spite your face,” I don’t know what is.
That decision was a bad idea in 2007 when it was first conceived, but now after Super-Duper-Tsunami Tuesday is over and the two remaining candidates are virtually tied in the race to be the Democratic nominee, this decision has been revealed to be one of the dumbest moves for a party accustomed to colossally moronic moves. Because of this move, the party now faces the real possibility of a brokered convention. While the Republican Party has practically all but nominated John McCain as the Republican candidate, the Democrats face weeks of struggle and indecision leading to a convention where party bigwigs instead of the voters and their delegates could select the candidate. Way to go DNC!
Now the party is scrambling for a way to restore the delegates to Michigan and Florida and save face. The DNC floated the idea of setting up caucuses or even new elections. Here in Florida the state election officials laughed in the DNC’s face. To paraphrase their response: We had our election, count the damn votes! But even counting the votes already cast in Florida may not solve the problem.
The DNC prohibited candidates from campaigning in the two states in question. Barak Obama demands a new election because he didn’t campaign in either state. He conveniently omits that he ran ads in Florida as part of a “national TV buy.” Hillary Clinton on the other hand, points out that she won the primary despite not having campaigned and without any TV ads. The DNC is now faced with a dilemma; it finds itself caught between a rock, a hard place and with its back to the cliffs of insanity.
The Rock
The DNC doesn’t back down and ignores the votes cast in Michigan and Florida, disenfranchising the voters in those states, making it likely that the eventual candidate will be Barack Obama. These disenfranchised voters may not feel very charitable towards the Obama come November. They may stay home and give McCain a win in both states.
The Hard Place
The DNC counts the votes in Michigan and Florida, practically guaranteeing a win by Clinton. Obama voters feel cheated and stay home. McCain wins Michigan and Florida.
The Cliffs of Insanity
Obama and Clinton get to the convention in a virtual tie leaving the selection of the party’s candidate to the super delegates. Whoever they pick the voters for the loser are likely to feel disenfranchised, never mind that this isn’t a very “democratic” way to choose the candidate for the Democratic Party. The democratic vote is depressed nationwide and McCain wins the presidency.
Knowing the track record of the Democratic Party, the same folks who brought us “winners” like Walter Mondale, Mike Dukakis and John Kerry, what do you think the DNC will choose to do? Will they go with the lesser evil or will they find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? I am afraid I know the DNC only too well. We might as well get ready to inaugurate John McCain as president in January 2009.
by kos
Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 12:40:26 PM PDT
While all of this was talked about last week and through the weekend, here's another reminder of those Democrats too cowardly to stand up to the unitary executive.
In the House:
- Jason Altmire (4th Pennsylvania)
- John Barrow (12th Georgia)
- Melissa Bean (8th Illinois)
- Dan Boren (2nd Oklahoma)
- Leonard Boswell (3rd Iowa)
- Allen Boyd (2nd Florida)
- Christopher Carney (10th Pennsylvania)
- Ben Chandler (6th Kentucky)
- Rep. Jim Cooper (5th Tennessee)
- Jim Costa (20th California)
- Bud Cramer (5th Alabama)
- Henry Cuellar (28th Texas)
- Artur Davis (7th Alabama
- Lincoln Davis (4th Tennessee)
- Joe Donnelly (2nd Indiana)
- Chet Edwards (17th Texas)
- Brad Ellsworth (8th Indiana)
- Bob Etheridge (North Carolina)
- Bart Gordon (6th Tennessee)
- Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (South Dakota)
- Brian Higgins (27th New York)
- Baron Hill (9th Indiana)
- Nick Lampson (23rd Texas)
- Daniel Lipinski (3rd Illinois)
- Jim Marshall (8th Georgia)
- Jim Matheson (2nd Utah)
- Mike McIntyre (7th North Carolina)
- Charlie Melancon (3rd Louisiana)
- Harry Mitchell (5th Arizona)
- Colin Peterson (7th Minnesota)
- Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota)
- Ciro Rodriguez (23rd Texas)
- Mike Ross (4th Arkansas)
- John Salazar (3rd Colorado)
- Heath Shuler (11th North Carolina)
- Vic Snyder (2nd Arkansas)
- Zachary Space (18th Ohio)
- John Tanner (8th Tennessee)
- Gene Taylor (4th Mississippi)
- Timothy Walz (1st Minnesota)
- Charles A. Wilson (6th Ohio)
In the Senate:
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Evan Bayh (Indiana)
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Tom Carper (Delaware)
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Bob Casey (Pennsylvania)
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Kent Conrad (North Dakota)
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Dianne Feinstein (California)
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Daniel Inouye (Hawai'i)
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Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)
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Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)
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Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas)
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Claire McCaskill (Missouri)
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Barbara Mikulski (Maryland)
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Bill Nelson (Florida)
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Ben Nelson (Nebraska)
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Mark Pryor (Arkansas)
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Ken Salazar (Colorado)
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Jim Webb (Virginia)
For a bunch of people who want to strut around acting "tough", this crowd sure ran around like a whipped puppy once Big Bad Mr. 25% said "boo!" Scary!
Of course this is shameful and ridiculous, but it's also a helpful reminder that our efforts to transform our Democratic Party continue to be a long-term project.
Don't let 2006 fool you. We made progress, but we didn't win the war. That'll take far more time. Decades, perhaps. But we'll eventually teach this crowd that capitulation isn't strength, that caving in to fear-mongering to eliminate our civil liberties isn't strength, that giving more powers to executive branches run amok isn't strength, that effectively endorsing the notion of a unitary executive isn't strength.
They just proved, without a doubt, that for all the talk of a "strong" Democratic Party, we've still got a long ways to go.
(Of course, only two Republicans in all of Congress opposed this new administration power grab, but then again, we don't expect better out of them…)
I don't have much to add to Kos' comments, only that I am ashamed that these traitors dare call themselves Democrats. They should be kicked out of the party. How could they fail to protect our rights? Didn't they understand what the 2006 elections were about? They grant greater surveillance powers to this president and to this attorney general? The same people who have been tearing up our constitution piece by piece for the last six and a half years? They granted these powers to the most secretive administration in the last fifty years, to the most dishonest administration in recent history. I don't care to hear their excuses, their rationalizations or their lies, I have had enough. They have failed us in a way that cannot be forgotten or forgiven. They are the problem as much as George W. Bush and his minions. We need people in Washington who have the testicular fortitude to stand up for our rights when it counts. I want Democrats who will come out ready to fight, taking no prisoners and giving no mercy. Our constitution requires the most vigorous defense by people with the courage to do what is right. I have run out of patience, I want the Democrats to act now. If they fail to act, we will have to look for leaders who will. Leaders that won't betray us.
