My re-emphasis on the importance of party unity once a nominee is chosen

[bluestateguy]

This fight will probably go on for more than a month. I know that some supporters of some of the losing candidates may be disappointed with tonight's results from Iowa. The race may get a little more nasty too, but once a nominee is selected animosities from primary season must end, and it will be time to re-direct the vitriol toward the Great Satan, George W. Bush.

[Walt Starr]

1. Nope, I have too many hard feelings after the past year on DU

My sig says it all.

[Disandra]

2. Applauds.

I just got ripped in another thread because I refuse to blindly support yet another Democrat who really isn't a Liberal. I'm voting Green if Dean is not on the ticket, and I am getting a little sick and tired of the "you are the ones that allowed Bush to be elected" line.

[bhunt70]

3. But Dean isnt liberal.

I dont know why people assert he is. He's not, and he'd tell you that.

edit- Vote Kucinich or even Kerry if you want someone with strong liberal leanings.

[Disandra]

7. Not liberal?

-Against the war
-Pro-choice
-For Campaign Finance Reform
-For a minimum wage increase
-Does not support "corporate welfare" at the expense of the people
-Supports affirmative action
-Against racial profiling
-Supports equal rights for gays (not second class citizenship)

Also supports a lot of other things that I won't list here (but his web site is a good start to look).

Not a liberal? Please.

[DjTj]

28. That's everyone's platform...

...except the "Against the War" part.

And in general, other candidates are further left on issues like health care or trade or gun control.

[Disandra]

32. The key being "Against the War"

as for the other candidates, as another person already stated on this thread, they bow down to the Republicans over issues of homeland security and violating the constitution.

Also, you asserted that Dean wasn't a Liberal, and I simply stated that your observation was incorrect.

[Guaranteed]

4. Hey...I hated Nader because of 2000

But, if Dean isn't the candidate...if we nominate someone who's done nothing but support Bush's policies for the past two years....hell, I'll vote for Nader! Tell him he oughta run!

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[Disandra]

8. Thank you so much for the personal insult....

...but wasn't you all who "wined and were sore losers" when Gore lost the election because of us Greens? At least, that is why I keep hearing.

Pot, meet kettle.

[Tinoire]

21. The grown-ups? What grown-ups?

The ones telling us to join forces with disgruntled Republicans to get the Republicans out of office?

[jonnyblitz]

30. you guys totally insult a whole group of people then demand

loyalty. Aint that the richest load of bullshit i ever heard. give me a break. :puke:

[Disandra]

33. Well put...

..it seems the lessons from 2000 were not learned at all.

[ldoolin]

9. I promised myself I wasn't wading back in here, but...

Agree 100% with replies #1 and 2.

There will be no ABB, if one of the candidates who voted for the Patriot Act, the Homeland Security Act, and the Iraq War Resolution gets the Democratic nomination. Instead I'll be doing everything I can to encourage Ralph Nader to run again, or else I'll support another left-wing third party if Nader doesn't run.

It seems that too many Democrats still haven't learned the lesson that Nader taught Gore in 2000. That lesson is, don't betray liberals time and time again and then expect to be "entitled" to liberal votes come election time, because you aren't going to get them.

There are only three legitimate Democratic candidates in the race, namely Dean, Sharpton, and Kucinich, and of those three only Dean is a serious player for the nomination.

Democrats had better keep this in mind when they vote in the primaries and caucuses: Either nominate a candidate who is not tainted by votes in favor of the Patriot Act, Homeland Security Act, and IWR, or we will bolt again.

[Memekiller]

12. Enjoy four more years of Bush...

I, for one, would give ANYTHING for a Gore Presidency right now.

[bluestateguy]

16. I'm sure he's enjoying his Bush taxcut

Those of us who have to live with the consequences of a Bush presidency know better. There is a reason why Ralph Nader polled poorly with non-white, working class voters.

[Memekiller]

18. Gore would give up his tax cut in a second...

...to undo the damage Bush has done to this country. And so would I. And so would a lot of those people Nader polled well with.

I'm sorry you don't see Bush as more of a threat to this nation than Gore. I really am. It just means I have to work twice as hard for the candidate to make up for your vote because I DO see a difference.

[bluestateguy]

19. Uh, I agree with you

I think you meant to direct your post to ldooin.

[ldoolin]

20. And unlike some people...

I want every one of the Bush taxcuts repealed, which is why I'm supporting the only candidate who is proposing to repeal all of them.

Which makes your accusation above beyond ludicrous. Please redirect it to somebody who is supporting another candidate besides Dean.

[Blue_Roses]

23. Why do you want the entire

tax cut repealed? It makes no sense. I was behind Dean in beginning, but this is one among MANY issues that I disagree with him.

You are going to tell the middle class income workers that they will have to pay MORE in income. Well then you need to sit yourself in the "show" box 'cause it sure won't be the "win" box.

[bluestateguy]

25. Oh, I appreciate that

I want every one of the Bush taxcuts repealed, which is why I'm supporting the only candidate who is proposing to repeal all of them.

That message will resonate real well in suburban St. Louis, and if you actually believe that then you need to spend more time in the Red counties.

[Memekiller]

29. Oh... You meant Nader?

I thought you were saying Gore wanted his tax cut.

[Disandra]

31. *Raises eyebrow*

I, as a non-white, working class voter, am insulted whenever the "race card" is pulled out. Polls are not all they are cracked up to be, and certainly do not fairly represent the views of all the people in a particular group.

Just because my skin is a bit darker than most "white" people doesn't mean Democrats should automatically expect my vote.

Oh, and as a working class voter with no children, I didn't get a tax break. My sister, a working class, single mother, voter also didn't get a tax break.

[Memekiller]

37. Here, here...

I'm a Clark supporter, but what everyone wants (with the exception, it appears, of a few Dean supporters) is to not have another four years of Bush. I think Clark is the best, and I'll work for him with all my heart and soul, but I'll support any of the leading candidates . There's four or five I'd feel totally comfortable with at the top of the ticket. Anyone who remembers all the people who refused to support Gore because he was "the same" as Bush knows there's a HUGE difference between Bush and any one of these candidates.

[Disandra]

34. Glad to see another person of a like minded view here.

I was feeling kind of lonely. :-)

Very well written, and thanks.

[Blue_Roses]

24. well then

what do you really want from the Democratic party? If your're going to do a "turn-coat" when you guy doesn't win, why do you support the cause of what the Democratic party stands for?

[Disandra]

35. For them to start acting like Democrats, for starters. n/t

[RandomKoolzip]

27. This is coming from a Dean supporter, so please listen:

You are behaving poorly. Your attitude sucks and is counter-productive.


And if you do follow on your plans, I thank you ahead of time for helping Bush get another four years. It's been a wonderful three years, hasn't it? Well, bend over, here comes another term......

[Walt Starr]

41. You're welcome

My only words to those who have pissed on Dean would be to quote the Outlaw Josey Wales:

"Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining."

[mmonk]

5. Nice try bluestateguy

I'm with you.

[dreissig]

10. Great Satan

There's no doubt that Bush ought to be defeated, but there's more than one Great Satan running. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who supported Bush's unprovoked invasion of a sovereign country has declared personal values that I find repugnant. There's no way to justify things like slavery, child prostitution, or waging colonial wars.

I don't know if I'd call John Kerry a "Great Satan", but if he's the nominee of the Democratic party, he'll have to pull votes from the Republicans to make up for the ones he won't get from Democrats offended by his war vote. As a matter of strategy I don't think he can do it. For that reason, John Kerry is a poor choice to be the nominee of our party.

[Name removed]

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[LoneStarLiberal]

13. My Vote IS Transferable

Disclaimer: I back Clark. Have and will until he wins or drops out.

My vote is transferable to whomever wins the nomination. I'm going to fight like hell for my guy right up to the moment he wins or he concedes and either he'll have my vote for President or whomever wins the nomination will have it.

Why?

Because I happen to feel that voting your conscious is unconscionably selfish if it allows George W. Bush and his administration another four years with what will probably be an increased Senate representation and House representation.

Our only hope of not becoming bought-and-paid-for corporate inputs is going to be getting a Democrat into the White House because otherwise I fear we're looking at a straight Republican pipeline from the Oval Office all the way through both parts of Congress.

I say this to any supporter of any candidate in this race: If your vote is not transferable, how do you manage to make it through life calling yourself a liberal and/or a Democrat and behaving like a garden-variety Republican? They are the party of selfishness. We're not supposed to be the same. If my own candidate said he wouldn't support the nominee I'd brand him with the same iron and move on.

I hope that anyone who feels that their vote is non-transferable now due to whatever reasons they have to feel set upon here on DU, at the national level, state level, or local level will reconsider when the time comes and step up in this time of political peril and vote for whomever our nominee is, because that person will be the best chance for all liberals, be they Democrats or Greens or independents, to get back on a path where we can express our true interests once we've been saved from George W. Bush.

I'm with you, bluestateguy.

[Hoppin_Mad]

14. Sure - just as long as it's not Clark -nt-

[mitchum]

15. Well said, and those who disagree are just petty piss ants and...

fairweather Democrats. They can fuck off as they walk off. A pox on them

[Disandra]

36. Wow...

....and you wonder why disillusioned Democrats are a bit pissed off at the DNC, with this kind of attitude? Way to win us back.

[mitchum]

38. The cold hard truth is Democrats or Bush

I'm not trying to fuck you or sell you soup, so I'm not obligated to flatter or cajole you.

[Walt Starr]

39. Let's see, straight Democratic tickets for more than two decades

and all I have to show for it is a completely right wing government and a party that keeps moving to the right.

I guess the strategy of voting for whatever fuckhead had the (D) after his name didn't work now, did it?

[mitchum]

40. You tell me...

if it was such an evidently stupid counterproductive activity, why in the hell would someone continue "for more than two decades"?

[Walt Starr]

42. Because I bought into the fear of what would happen if the Repukes win

crap.

I'm not buyin it any more. Give me a reason to vote FOR the Democrat or I will find somebody else who DOES give me a reason.

[mitchum]

44. Walt, I understand your anger and despair...

but most people vote "against" not "for" It may not be noble, but it has been the state of American politics for the past 40 years ("The Politics of Exclusion")

If you start building/supporting an alternative party now, MAYBE your children's children's children will thank their long gone ancestor.

[Walt Starr]

46. If that's what it takes

so be it.

[dansolo]

17. Then people should tone down the gloating

ABB will probably be enough to get my vote, but I won't give anything else.

[Tinoire]

22. The Great Satan, George W. Bush is just one head of the Hydra

Nope... Locking shut the gates of Troy. Too many soldiers at the gate.

[IndianaGreen]

26. We should download and save all of vicious threads in which our...

candidates and his supporters were bashed mercilessly. Sometime after Labor Day, we should re-read all those threads and see how motivated we feel to vote.

[mitchum]

43. Isn't that a hollow threat coming from someone in...

a solidly republican state (as you have pointed out before)?

[LWolf]

45. Good thought.

My candidate came in 5th. He got 1.2 (or 3?) % of the delegates. And I'm happy with that. No animosity.