Who are the Top 10 Courageous Democrats?

[LiberalEsto]

We've got almost 50 gutsy Democratic leaders on the list of nominees.

Nominate your Top 10 for the Hall of Fame!

Once I receive a significant number of your Top 10 lists, I'm going to tabulate them and post a poll on DU, with the 10 receiving the most support. This way you can vote for the best of the best.

My purpose in doing this is to bring attention, support and publicity to those Democrats willing to take risks and challenge the current regime in the White House. They need all the support and encouragement we can give them.

Here's the list. Feel free to nominate new names.

Note on edit: I just added nine more names from the "Who are the toughest Democrat politicos" thread posted by Husb2parkly.

Joe Biden
Barbara Boxer
Sherrod Brown
Robert Byrd
Jimmy Carter
Wes Clark
Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton
John Conyers
Howard Dean
Chris Dodd
Byron Dorgan
Richard Durbin
John Edwards
Russ Feingold
Barney Frank
Al Franken
Janeane Garofalo
Al Gore
Marcy Kaptur
Ted Kennedy
John Kerry
Dennis Kucinich
Frank Lautenberg
Patrick Leahy
Barbara Lee
Carl Levin
Jim McDermott
George McGovern
Cynthia McKinney
Barbara Mikulski
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Mike O'Malley
Charles Rangel
Jack Reed
Harry Reid
Bernie Sanders (I)
Janice Schakowsky
Brian Schweitzer
Al Sharpton
Louise Slaughter
Elliot Spitzer
Pete Stark
Jon Stewart
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Henry Waxman
Maxine Waters
Paul Wellstone (posthumous)

[Mass]

1. Kerry missing to the list

Also missing are Meehan and Markey from MA.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Added to list.

Thanks!

[spooky3]

3. Al Franken and Jon Stewart

saying & doing things the media refuses to do.

[LiberalEsto]

5. Got 'em

thanks for the reminder that not all courageous Democrats are politicians!

[CarolNYC]

13. How about Jeananne Garafolo?

She took a lot of shit for speaking out against the war and yet she kept going on whatever shows would have her, always came prepared and willing to back up her end of the argument. She doesn't back down either...

[ET Awful]

4. What? No Zell Miller . . . . I mean you said courageous

and it takes a lot of goddamn gall for him to call himself a democrat :) :) :)

[LiberalEsto]

7. He belongs on the other list

the one that got blocked.

(Sorry about that one, Mods. I just got carried away, didn't mean to cause problems.)

[ET Awful]

17. Hehehe, oh, so this list is for people with good courage :)

Not folks like Zell whose only courage is the courage to be complete ass :)

[ClintonTyree]

6. Howard Dean...#1

2. Barbara Boxer
3. John Conyers
4. Ted Kennedy
5. Henry Waxman
6. Dennis Kucinich
7. Al Gore
8. John Edwards
9. Robert Byrd
10. Russ Feingold

I'm surprised you didn't include John Kerry, but he wouldn't be in my Top Ten anyway after the way he ran his campaign in '04.

[magnolia]

8. Some may disagree...

Bill Clinton - He gave us peace and prosperity. The neo-cons tried to break him but they didn't, he's still standing.

John Kerry - You have to have courage to go against the Bush attack machine. They emptied the barrel on him and we all know it.

Jimmy Carter - Always out there doing whatever he can in the world. Speaking out against the war in Iraq.

[LiberalEsto]

9. I added them -- thanks

I want to know who DUers consider to be the top 10 Democrats willing to speak out and take risks by challenging the B*sh cabal.
So I'm willing to add any serious entries to the list.

[Mass]

10. Hard exercise because there are more than 10 people I'd like to quote.

1- Paul Wellstone (posthumous)
2 - John Conyers
3 -Byron Dorgan (because he usually votes for us though he is from a very Republican state).
4 - Russ Feingold
5 - Wes Clark
6 - Howard Dean
7 - Barney Frank
8 - Barbara Boxer (8 the ex-aequo because it is more easy for them to be on the right side coming from CA or MA than it would be coming from ND or WI)
8 - Ted Kennedy
8 - John Kerry

[mod mom]

11. How about Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Sherrod Brown? nt

[LiberalEsto]

12. Done! n/t

[Nightwing]

14. Add Charlie Rangle and George McGovern

Both fight * policies and highlight his disasters time and time again.

[LiberalEsto]

16. Added both - thanks!

Now send me your top !0 list!

[Nightwing]

18. My Top 10

1 John Conyers
2 Howard Dean
3 Ted Kennedy
4 Bill Clinton
5 Dennis Kucinich
6 Henry Waxman
7 Barbara Boxer
8 Jimmy Carter
9 Robert Byrd
10 Paul Wellstone (God do we miss him!!)

[sellitman]

15. My list:

1) Barbara Boxer
2) John Conyers
3)Stephanie Tubbs Jones
4)Henry Waxman
5)Howard Dean
6)Dennis Kucinich
7)Russ Feingold
8)Jimmy Carter
9)Ted Kennedy
10)Sherrod Brown

[Ian David]

19. Joe Biden should not be on that list

Joe Biden's MOUTH should be on that list.

If Biden voted as Biden spoke, that would be different.

[LiberalEsto]

20. Send us your Top 10 list

I'm trying to keep this thread positive by including every serious name submitted.

Not everyone on the list is someone I personally agree with, either.

I'm looking for the 10 Democrats with the most support so that we at DU can give them some well-earned attention and approval.

[Ian David]

21. OK, here's my list

Barbara Boxer
Robert Byrd
Jimmy Carter
Wes Clark
John Conyers
Howard Dean
Barney Frank
Ted Kennedy
Jon Stewart
Paul Wellstone (posthumous)

[benny05]

22. My List

1. John Edwards (btw, his b-day is today)& Elizabeth Edwards (tied)
:party:
3. Barbara Boxer :loveya:
4. Ann Richards
5. Barney Frank
6. John Conyers
7. Carl Levin
8. Stephanie Tubbs Jones
9. Molly Ivins (closely followed by Jon Stewart)
10. Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton

[Liberal Dose]

23. Corrine Brown would be one of my top ten n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

24. For Paul Wellstone, I'd suggest a special place

If he gets enough votes (why wouldn't he?) give him an honorary slot at the top of the list and still allow for 10 others.

I sure do miss his clear, honest, principled voice.

[LiberalEsto]

28. You're right, I will

and we all miss him terribly....

[Boo Boo]

25. Top 10? Feh. Not enough slots!

I got ruthless, struck Franken, Garofalo, and Stewart from the list for being media/celebs, even struck Wellstone for being an ex-parrot, and I still couldn't get my list down to 10.

:shrug:

Barbara Boxer
Robert Byrd
Wes Clark
John Conyers
Howard Dean
Ted Kennedy
Barbara Lee
Cynthia McKinney
Charles Rangel
Harry Reid
Louise Slaughter
Elliot Spitzer
Pete Stark
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Henry Waxman
Maxine Waters

[LiberalEsto]

29. That's only because there are 10 slots in a DU poll format

Otherwise I'd add them all...

[Boo Boo]

37. OK, now I'm gettin' it.

I can be a little slow on the uptake from time to time. Looking forward to the poll.

[Stinky The Clown]

26. I have two top tens ....... as explained below.

But first, a special category for someone who was tough, but who can't be with us anymore except as inspiration .... Paul Wellstone.

Now, two lists. The first being one for the 'old timers' ... the ones who have been fighting the good fight for years but who have likely reached the top of their game. I'll call them the Hall of Famers. The next list is the Rising Stars. These are the people who can still move on to bigger and better things. Both lists are in alphabetical order. Since you'll be compiling the lists and weighing the data, it seems to me our order of ranking doesn't matter. Next, if you can only choose ten from my list of 21, then choose the Rising Stars. They're our future.

Hall of Famers

1-Barbara Boxer
2-Robert Byrd
3-Bill Clinton
4-John Conyers
5-Al Gore
6-Ted Kennedy
7-Frank Lautenberg
8-George McGovern
9-Harry Reid
10-Maxine Waters

Rising Stars

1-Wes Clark
2-Howard Dean
3-Barney Frank
4-Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
5-Barbara Lee
6-Jim McDermott
7-Cynthia McKinney
8-Marty Meehan
9-Martin O'Malley
10-Elliott Spitzer

I am painfully aware that so many are not on my list. Jimmy Carter is first. Hillary Clinton is another. So are Dick Durbin and Russ Feingold. Babs Mikulski (I love her!). Charlie Rangel, another very special guy for me. And Henry Waxman, who is not my favorite man, but who is a perennial thorn in the side of the right; a real tough guy.

**This** was hard work.

[pkspiegel]

27. My top 4

Wesley Clark--Courage. Speaks his mind. Brilliant.
Jon Stewart--the power of humor (and his is brilliant)
Barbara Boxer--of course! Tells it like it is.
Charles Rangle--also courage and a straight-shooter

[derby378]

30. Here's my list (in no particular order)

John Conyers
Charles Rangel
Howard Dean
Harry Reid
Dennis Kucinich
Barbara Boxer
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Lon Burnam
Randi Rhodes
Marc Maron

[meow2u3]

31. DU should feature the Top 10 Courageous Progressives

of the week with the same format of the Top 10 Conservative Idiots, only on a different day, such as Tuesday or the weekend edition.

[LiberalEsto]

32. Great idea!

Mods?

what do you think?

[LiberalEsto]

33. UPDATED LIST!

This one includes new nominees that came in during the past few hours.

Just look how many great Dem leaders we have! Too bad the MSM ignores most of them. My intention is to see that we at DU don't ignore their courage.

Post your top 10 list for the upcoming poll!

1. Joe Biden
2. Barbara Boxer
3. Corrine Brown
4. Sherrod Brown
5. Lon Burnam
6. Robert Byrd
7. Jimmy Carter
8. Wes Clark
9. Bill Clinton
10. Hillary Clinton
11. John Conyers
12. Howard Dean
13. Chris Dodd
14. Byron Dorgan
15. Richard Durbin
16. Elizabeth Edwards
17. John Edwards
18. Russ Feingold
19. Barney Frank
20. Al Franken
21. Janeane Garofalo
22. Al Gore
23. Molly Ivins
24. Marcy Kaptur
25. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
26. Ted Kennedy
27. John Kerry
28. Dennis Kucinich
29. Frank Lautenberg
30. Patrick Leahy
31. Barbara Lee
32. Carl Levin
33. Marc Maron
34. Jim McDermott
35. George McGovern
36. Cynthia McKinney
37. Marty Meehan
38. Barbara Mikulski
39. Eleanor Holmes Norton
40. Martin O'Malley
41. Charles Rangel
42. Jack Reed
43. Harry Reid
44. Ann Richards
45. Randi Rhodes
46. Bernie Sanders (I)
47. Janice Schakowsky
48. Brian Schweitzer
49. Al Sharpton
50. Louise Slaughter
51. Elliott Spitzer
52. Pete Stark
53. Jon Stewart
54. Mike Thompson
55. Stephanie Tubbs Jones
56. Henry Waxman
57. Maxine Waters
58. Paul Wellstone (posthumous)
59. Lynn Woolsey

[benny05]

35. About the posthumous

Could we have a separate list for them?

Otherwise, the list will get longer with some of the following:

Eleanor Roosevelt
FDR
Harry Truman
Barbara Jordan
JFK
RFK
Governor Carnahan
Tip O'Neill
Sam Erwin

etc


I also second the idea of the weekly Top 10 Courageous Dems (and independents, such as Jeffords) each week to put a more positive spin at the DU.

[Tommymac]

51. My Nominees and some not on the list

Quick list - most are names not on the master list..a few that are for emphasis.

Old Timers(1970 cut off):

Shirley Chisolm
Sam Irvin
Paul Wellstone
Richard Lamm
Ann Richards
Tip O'Neill

Media Cheerleaders

*Mike Malloy
Randi Rhodes
Gore Vidal
Micheal Moore
Jon Stewert
Walter Chronkite
**Lynne Cullen

Active Roster

Al Sharpton
John Conyers
Howard Dean
Charlie Rangel
Richard Byrd
Ann Richards
Barney Frank
*Bernie Sanders


* Self professed independents but still tough voices for our cause.

** Vanity vote for my local liberal radio gal. ;)

[Tom Rinaldo]

34. I'll take a different approach

I'll name less than ten, not because there are less than ten worthy, but because there are far more than ten worthy and I do not know enough about many of the people on this list, as well as some I am sure who are not on it, to feel confident that I am honoring the best ten people. Empty slots will stand for all the others who are deserving. I will list Seven (though I am verging on filling in Reid as 8th - given his caucus leadership role he has shown courage). I count on all these people not to mince words:

Alphabetically.

Barbara Boxer
Wesley Clark
John Conyers
Howard Dean
Dennis Kucinich
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Elliot Spitzer

These folk have differing strengths, but they always show courage in speaking truth to power.

[XemaSab]

36. Boxer, Carter

Dean, Gore, Barbara Lee...

and a shoutout to Lynn Woolsey and Mike Thompson!

[Stinky The Clown]

38. Another nominee for the master list ......

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

[FrenchieCat]

39. my 10....

Barbara Boxer - Cause she's a dynamo leading the fight in the Senate
Wesley Clark - Cause he's used his life's earned gravitas to consistently speak truth to power. a military genius with heart... who knows exactly when and where to use "the big stick"
John Conyers - Cause he's doing what's required, not what's popular
Howard Dean - Cause he's calling names and taking numbers
Elliot Spitzer - Cause he's doing all that he can, in the position that he has
Russ Feingold - Cause he's a maverick and has convictions that supercedes the polls.
Barbara Lee - Cause nobody tells her what to do
Charles Rangel - Cause he laughs in the Republicans face everytime
Henry Waxman - Cause he's keeps tabs on the GOP and doesn't ever stop

and a special place for Paul Wellstone (posthumous)- Cause that's what a real Democrat looked like

[Douglas Carpenter]

40. I'm glad you Remembered George McGovern

I suppose I would be giving a way hint of may age if I described him as my first real political hero.

But please indulge yourself in reading this from his most eloquent 1972 acceptance speech. Such vision...when will ever hear such noble ideals again from the Party's nominee? When?
______________________________



We have had our fury and our frustrations in these past months and at this Convention, but frankly, I welcome the contrast with the smug and dull and empty event which will doubtless take place here in Miami next month.

We chose this struggle, we reformed our Party, and we let the people in. So we stand today not as a collection of backroom strategies, not as a tool of ITT or any other special interest. So let our opponents stand on the status quo while we seek to refresh the American spirit.

...


Yet I believe that every man and woman in this Convention Hall knows that for 30 years we have been so absorbed with fear and danger from abroad that we have permitted our own house to fall into disarray.

I have no secret plan for peace. I have a public plan. And as one whose heart has ached for the past ten years over the agony of Vietnam, I will halt the senseless bombing of Indochina on Inauguration Day.

There will be no more Asian children running ablaze from bombed-out schools. There will be no more talk of bombing the dikes or the cities of the North.

And within 90 days of my inauguration, every American soldier and every American prisoner will be out of the jungle and out of their cells and back home in America where they belong.

And then let us resolve that never again will we send the precious young blood of this country to die trying to prop up a corrupt military dictatorship abroad.


We must now show that peace and prosperity can exist side by side. Indeed, each now depends on the existence of the other. National strength includes the credibility of our system in the eyes of our own people as well as the credibility of our deterrent in the eyes of others abroad.

National security includes schools for our children as well as silos for our missiles.

It includes the health of our families as much as the size of our bombs, the safety of our streets, and the condition of our cities, and not just the engines of war.

If we some day choke on the pollution of our own air, there will be little consolation in leaving behind a dying continent ringed with steel.

So while protecting ourselves abroad, let us form a more perfect union here at home. And this is the time for that task.

We must also make this a time of justice and jobs for all our people. For more than three and half years we have tolerated stagnation and a rising level of joblessness, with more than five million of our best workers unemployed at this very moment. Surely, this is the most false and wasteful economics of all.

Our deep need is not for idleness but for new housing and hospitals, for facilities to combat pollution and take us home from work, for better products able to compete on vigorous world markets.


Whatever it takes, this country is going back to work. America cannot exist with most of our people working and paying taxes to support too many others mired in a demeaning and hopeless welfare mess.

Therefore, we intend to begin by putting millions back to work and after that is done, we will assure to those unable to work an income fully adequate to a decent life.

Now beyond this, a program to put America back to work demands that work be properly rewarded. That means the end of a system of economic controls in which labor is depressed, but prices and corporate profit run sky-high.

It means a system of national health insurance so that a worker can afford decent health care for himself and his family.

It means real enforcement of the laws so that the drug racketeers are put behind bars and our streets are once again safe for our families.

And above all, above all, honest work must be rewarded by a fair and just tax system.

The tax system today does not reward hard work: it’s penalizes it. Inherited or invested wealth frequently multiplies itself while paying no taxes at all. But wages on the assembly line or in farming the land, these hard – earned dollars are taxed to the very last penny.

There is a depletion allowance for oil wells, but no depletion for the farmer who feeds us, or the worker who serves as all.

The administration tells us that we should not discuss tax reform and the election year. They would prefer to keep all discussion of the tax laws in closed rooms where the administration, its powerful friends, and their paid lobbyists, can turn every effort at reform into a new loophole for the rich and powerful.

But an election year is the people’s year to speak, and this year, the people are going to ensure that the tax system is changed so that work is rewarded and so that those who derive the highest benefits will pay their fair share rather than slipping through the loopholes at the expense of the rest of us.

So let us stand for justice and jobs and against special privilege.

And this is the time to stand for those things that are close to the American spirit. We are not content with things as they are. We reject the view of those who say, “America -- love it or leave it. “ We reply, ”Let us change it so we may love it the more.”

And this is the time. It is the time for this land to become again a witness to the world for what is just and noble in human affairs. It is time to live more with faith and less with fear, with an abiding confidence that can sweep away the strongest barriers between us and teach us that we are truly brothers and sisters.

So join with me in this campaign. Lend me your strength and your support, and together we will call America home to the ideals that nourished us from the beginning.

From secrecy and deception in high places; come home, America

From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; come home, America.

From the entrenchment of special privileges in tax favoritism; from the waste of idle lands to the joy of useful labor; from the prejudice based on race and sex; from the loneliness of the aging poor and the despair of the neglected sick -- come home, America.

Come home to the affirmation that we have a dream. Come home to the conviction that we can move our country forward.

Come home to the belief that we can seek a newer world, and let us be joyful in that homecoming, for this “is your land, this land is my land -- from California to New York island, from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters -- this land was made for you and me.”

So let us close on this note: May God grant each one of us the wisdom to cherish this good land and to meet the great challenge that beckons us home.

This is the time.

[T Town Jake]

41. Yep. Quite a speech...

...it won us all of ONE state in 1972, BTW.

[Douglas Carpenter]

42. Barry Goldwater also loss by a comparable landslide

And it was the birth of a movement.
Conservative didn't think they had to abandon their ideals.

[wyldwolf]

43. John Lewis

[leftofthedial]

44. well,

Dennis Kucinich
John Conyers
Ted Kennedy
Jimmy Carter
Barbara Boxer
Cynthia McKinney
Barney Franks
Charles Rangel
Henry Waxman
Russ Feingold

[loybay]

45. mine

10 - Elliot Spitzer
9 - Franken, Rhodes, Garofalo/ Seder (in fact all of AAR) and J. Stewart
8 - John Edwards
7 - Al Gore
6 - Ted Kennedy
5 - John Kerry
4 - John Conyers
3- Barbara Boxer
2 - Bill Clinton
1 - Howard Dean

[Adelante]

46. As an adjunct to this thread

One on how to do it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1847346

[ArtVandaley]

47. No Obama?

odd

[ElsewheresDaughter]

48. Wellstone, Kuncinich, Sanders, Boxer, Kennedy,Gore, Conyers,Dean,McKinne y

Kerry, Waxman, McDermott, Rangel, and Waters

[iwantmycountryback]

49. Tough choices

I won't do this in any particular order because that's just too hard for me to do.

Barbara Boxer
John Conyers
Howard Dean
Russell Feingold
Eliot Spitzer
Harry Reid
John Kerry
Ted Kennedy
Barney Frank
Brian Schweitzer

It's tough to leave some of those people off.

[otohara]

50. Here's Mine

Dean, Boxer, Gore, Clark, Spitzer, Kennedy, Franken, Carter, Waxman

[Captain Hilts]

52. Tony Kornheiser

He gets on the air and regularly admits to being a Democrat and did a wonderful rant about separation of church and state a few weeks ago.

On his nationwide ESPN talk show, he devoted an entire day during Super Bowl week to the impeachment proceedings. He was horrified by what was happening. And Dan Davis, the Duke also chimed in against the impeachment.

[FourStarDemocrat]

53. My list begins with Paul Wellstone (post humous)

I cannot thank Paul Wellstone enough for his years of service to this county... I miss him dearly.

After that my would go like this:

Bill Clinton
John Conyers
Wesley Clark
Barbara Boxer
Harry Reid
Howard Dean
Henry Waxman
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Jimmy Carter
Ted Kennedy

[Donna Zen]

54. My Go

Basing my answers on "political courage" meaning the willingness to speak truth to power even though you know you'll will be spending political capital and risk personal attacks. The color of their state, the security of their position, the weightiness of the matter, the frequency of their display of courage, and the credentials they put on the line are all factors:

Wes Clark

Barbara Boxer

Paul Wellstone

Russ Feingold

Jimmy Carter

Barbara Lee

Dennis Kucinich

Elliot Spitzer

Cynthia McKinney

Jim McDermott

[Clark2008]

55. 1.) Wes Clark

For consistantly calling the Bush Administration out for their Iraqi misadventure - and for saying what needs to be said, risking being called a "kook" and "crazy" by the corporate media.

Whoops... should do the rest of the list.

2.) John Conyers
3.) Barbara Boxer
4.) Cynthia McKinney
5.) Henry Waxman
6.) Charlie Rangel
7.) Max Clelland
8.) Paul Wellstone
9.) Jimmy Carter
10.) John Kerry

[SoCalifer]

56. My choice is:

1. Barbara Boxer
   
2. John Conyers
   
3. Howard Dean
   
4. Maxine Waters
   
5. Cynthia McKinney
   
6. Robert Byrd
   
7. Ted Kennedy
   
8. Charles Rangel
   
   
9. Shirley Chisholm
   
10. James Carville

[_testify_]

57. here's mine

Charles Rangel
Barbara Boxer
Dennis Kucinich
Bill Clinton
John Conyers
Cynthia McKinney
Howard Dean
Debbie Wasserman-Schulz (not on list)
Jimmy Carter
Al Franken

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dansolo]

59. It's no contest - Patrick Leahy

He still stands up to Bush, even though he is one of the few who have actually been threatened directly (anthrax). It's one thing to stand up to someone who threatens you politically. It is another thing to stand up when you are physically threatened.

In terms of political courage, my picks would be Howard Dean and Barbara Boxer.