Molly Ivins Says "Stop Being So Goosey"

[DemBones DemBones]

"The first thing we need to do is stay at Republican throats rather than one another's. Stop being so goosey. As soon as Kerry fell behind--by up to 13 points, according to some highly questionable polls--Democrats began turning on one another and bitching about what idiots the people running the campaign are and what a dog our candidate is.

Always happens.


Minute your candidate falls behind, the finger-pointing begins and the blame-game erupts.


Recall that Rove always tries to buffalo the media into buying the "We've got this thing sewed up" line.


There are couple of rules about being behind: The first is, Work Harder. Second, Don't Bitch About the Candidate. This is especially true for those inside the campaign, who tend to break these rules more than supporters on the outside."


:loveya: Molly

http://www.progressive.org/nov04/ivin1104.html

[Steelangel]

1. very good article

:thumbsup:

[Bark Bark Bark]

2. Molly For President!

Molly Ivins is the Kim Possible of politics.

[kokomo]

3. Molly , Ann Richards, Willie Nelson proof that there are some fine Texans

Don't forget Jim Hightower and many other progressive Texans. Too bad a Connecticut Yankee moved to Texas and spawned a criminal family in that great state. The Dixie Chicks are right!

[TaleWgnDg]

7. Hey, and don't forget the other sibling . . . J.E.B. in Florida!

Texas and Florida.

Two of the most wide-open states in the Union. I kid you not. For both of them have laws (or lack thereof) on their books to allow yeehaawww behavior. You recall Bush v. Gore, correct?

Pardon me to those "blue staters" who are trapped eeeerrrrr live in either of those States. But a mere look at their overall body of State laws and one knows how true it really is. And now you know why the Bushs' went to each of those States.

Hey, come on up to Massachusetts where Republican vote enrollment is on the DECLINE. Yup. You heard me. "ON THE DECLINE!"

see: DU thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=158&topic_id=1253 . . . and . . . http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1079140

One last thought. Massachusetts can no longer be considered "Taxachusetts" because it's now 40th (or less) on the State taxes list.
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=43409

[cornermouse]

4. With all due respect, I've read enough of Molly

to understand that she doesn't expect and probably doesn't even want Democrats to walk in lock-step with each other like the Republicans continually do.

And quite frankly, I don't think that anything said by the posters at DU could possibly begin to compare to the propaganda film that Sinclair plans to air.

Sincerely

Cornermouse.

[Julien Sorel]

6. An either/or world.

There seems to be a lot of people who live there, so at least you're not alone.

[cornermouse]

9. What's either/or about my post?

I'm just saying that, as a fan of Molly Ivins, in all the time that I have read Molly she has always appreciated the fact that democrats are allowed to have differences of opinion and point of view from other democrats without attempts to relegate them to the fringes which, I would remind you, is basically what the neo-cons have done to the few remaining sane republicans.

Addition:

Case in point is the DemBones reply below which IS intolerant of any point of view which is not identical to their own (the trademark of neo-conism, I would remind you) and will eventually split the democratic party.

[Julien Sorel]

16. No one demands "lockstep" obedience.

You brought that up. What people would like to see is constructive contribution.

When Kerry was down in the polls, people were falling apart, attacking him and his campaign viciously. "Candidate X would have been better," "Kerry is just like Dukakis!" and on and on. And everyone was smarter than Kerry, and especially smarter than his advisers. It was a foolish and petulant overreaction to what was a predictable dip in the polls. Above all, it was excessive, and didn't contribute a thing. The debates came along, and suddenly everyone shut up. Same campaign, same candidate, the polls just moved in his favor -- and there was silence from the carpers.

When you talk about "lockstep obedience" or whatever phrase you used, it's constructing two extremes: either the insanity of August, when a bunch of chicken littles ran around screaming all day every day, or some kind of "lockstep obedience." It doesn't have to be that way. But people do need to examine the impact their hysterical venting can have on others, and ask themselves if there isn't something constructive they can do instead. That isn't "lockstep," it's just trying to win.

[DemBones DemBones]

8. With all due respect, then go back to your Corner, Mouse,

and we'll manage without you.

[cornermouse]

14. BTW, another quote.

http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=miv

"I am sick of the right wing claiming patriotism as its exclusive purview. No one serves this country well who blindly supports misbegotten wars in the name of patriotism. The right to dissent is one of the founding principles of this country and is in itself a high form of patriotism. What you owe your country is your best evaluation of whether we are or are not going in the right direction."

I believe this applies to democrats as well...

[Dudley_DUright]

5. Thanks for the Molly fix

Sage advice as usual.

[DemBones DemBones]

10. Yep. Molly and "The Progressive" deliver. Again.

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[Guaranteed]

11. I'm sorry...is she saying that we're losing? nt

[depakid]

12. With all due respect to Molly

I saw her on CSPAN some months back, and she let Republicans walk all over her, with hardly a response. Not much of a fighter, I'm afraid- and so not one to be giving advice to campaigns like the dismal one Kerry was running in August.

[cornermouse]

13. Molly is ascerbic, salty, down-to-earth, honest, forthright,

fesity, and has a wicked sense of humor. She has her own style and can also be found with a much too short archive at www.creators.com. She publishes a column twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday). She's not what the person that you seem to think she is. Not what DemBones thinks she is either.

[incapsulated]

15. Well, this is helpful... NOT

Gee, now that everyone is feeling good, and we are all unified, and Kerry is doing great...

Let's go back a few months and open up old wounds when Kerry was down in the polls and we were fighting over the campaign!

Nobody is "Goosey" much right now in Dem Land. But thanks for the concern, Molly. :eyes: