Is this WP assessment of DU sentiment true or false?

[Dover]

My recollection is that Warner (a DLC member) was popular with Virginians who liked him as governor, but that others here were disturbed with his attendance at this year's Bilderberg meeting. He was one of the few Dems at that meeting while there were several neocons in attendance.



Speculation Grows On Presidential Bid For Warner in 2008

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 14, 2004; Page C01

Web surfers at a site called the Democratic Underground think Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner should be their party's next presidential candidate. So does a guy named Steve, who has started a "Warner in 2008" Internet journal. And among political pundits and the soul-searching leadership of the Democratic Party, Warner's name keeps popping up.

Three years ago, Warner persuaded voters in an overwhelmingly red state to put him in office with a NASCAR-loving, pro-death penalty, pro-gun rights, fiscally conservative campaign. Since then, he has backed some restrictions on abortion, signed more than a dozen gun rights bills, balanced the state's books and persuaded a Republican legislature to help him pass a $1.5 billion tax increase.

..snip..

But Warner, who graced the cover of Governing magazine this month as a public official of the year, has not been shy about describing how he thinks the Democratic Party must change. And those assessments fuel speculation about his role in the party's future.

"The Democratic Party can't write off two-thirds of the country," he said. "There were a number of voters in parts of rural Virginia and across the country who never got to a real review of John Kerry's plans on health care or education or job growth because . . . a Massachusetts senator. They never got past the label."

Some Democrats warn that a centrist candidate like Warner could be seen as "Republican light," standing for little.

..cont'd


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48211-2004Nov13.html

[hedda_foil]

1. There was a very strange thread here a week or so ago

There was a very strange thread here a week or so ago in which almost every poster backed Warner in a big way. I thought it peculiar at the time because Warner is DLC all the way, and doesn't seem all that popular or beloved in VA, much less across the country. It read much like the odd threads that tout Evan Bayh, but there was little in the way of the normal DU rebuttal.

WaPo is obviously referring to that thread, which is doubly, triply, quadruply strange.

[Dover]

5. The WP article was from last November. But that thread does sound

very odd. I think there are groups whose soul purpose is to create false "buzz"...just like they do for marketing.

So I would be very careful about forming opinions based on what seems like 'popular sentiment' in any public forum or medium. Marketing candidates has become like covert warfare.

[blm]

9. You're right. I found them odd because new names appeared to gush over

them. Wouldn't be the first time DU was used to set up a storyline.

Heck, even Frank Luntz and David Horowitz seemed to troll these waters.

[madfloridian]

10. See my post below, blm.

I think we are being used.

[Dover]

12. Do you think you can find that thread to post here? I'd be really

interested in having a closer look. Thanks!

[burythehatchet]

17. here it is

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=120925#121853

when one reads it in context of THIS thread, one can see through the sheen of bullshit.

[tx_dem41]

13. Actually, according to SurveyUSA polling, Warner is the 13th most..

popular Governor in the country.

[burythehatchet]

18. good catch, here's the thread

walks like a duck

[Hissyspit]

2. Well, first off, I don't know anyone here who calls it THE Democratic

Underground.

And second, I wouldn't vote for Warner if my asshole was on fire and he was the only one around for miles with a fire extinguisher.

But, maybe I'm wrong...

[Totally Committed]

3. False, at least for me, and here's why:

"Still, Warner's wide acclaim is based on compromising with Republicans, not defying them. As he assesses his chances for his party's 2008 presidential nomination, Warner has toured the nation urging Democrats to reclaim 'the sensible center' and become competitive again in the South."

http://tinyurl.com/9b9od

There is no compromising with Republicans. There is only pandering to them, colluding with them, and aiding and abetting their cause. And, no one who does that or stands for that will ever get my vote.

Warner is a no-go for that reason.

[Dover]

6. Yes, there was an article just today about Hillary Clinton (another DLCer)

which mentioned her ability to compromise with her Republican colleagues too.

It seems the DLC has stacked the deck as regards presidential candidates.

[Cocoa]

4. false

very little discussion of Warner here.

[Dover]

8. There was a short flurry of discussion about him back in the Fall of

last year which this article (dated Nov.2004) may have been referencing. I saw some of that discussion, but did not see anything resembling a consensus. Most hadn't heard of him, and those that had seemed to be mainly from Virginia.

[madfloridian]

7. Ah, this is where it gets all confusing about bloggers, etc.

"He clearly did something that Democrats have had trouble doing, that is, relating to rural voters," said Joe Trippi, who managed Howard Dean's primary campaign for president. "Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton -- the standard names -- would do a lot worse than study Mark Warner."

THIS is where we need to be careful. Trippi is working with Rosenberg's new NPI media network. He and a group of bloggers, I understand, met this week-end.

Rosenberg's NDN is mentioned in an article at the Third Way site about building a news network. Also mentioned have been The New Republic and Slate who have held Third Way conferences.

I posted several things about this, but I guess they are archived now. I notice Jerome at MyDD had a disclosure on this recently, that he is working for Warner, and will have it disclosed on his site when he posts...that is a good thing.

[Dover]

11. Very interesting! Thanks for that important info. If you come across

your old posts about this, I'd appreciate a chance to read more.

[madfloridian]

15. Here are a couple of them.

New Republic teaming with Third Way Democrats
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2010996


WP: 2004 Third Way New Group to tout Democrat's Centrist Values
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2007203

[Dover]

16. Thanks a bunch! n/t

[blm]

21. Heh...you know me, mf...I have a mistrust of Trippi. I think he made

some bad moves with Dean, and I think Dean grew to mistrust him, too.

Trippi doesn't come off honest and he drags good people down with him.

[madfloridian]

26. I want you to go here and read a little in the past posts.

I used to post at this site,haven't in ages, but know a lot of people there. There were some interchanges a day or so ago that were reveaing.

www.mydd.com

I have always liked it there, but this kind of thing with Trippi goes on a lot now.

[seabeyond]

14. all of du, that is presumptuous. to say the least n/t

[comsymp]

23. That struck me as amusing...

Hell, in the 4+ years I've been here, I've yet to see anything that all of DU agrees on.

Any professional journalist who writes a statement like that should be fired on the spot.

[madfloridian]

19. Doesn't anyone find it odd that Trippi is doing this?

I do. It makes me wonder if this is the way the new NPI media will work. Articles like this that make our heads rotate and twist.

And the Democracy Alliance. How did we think it would work? Sneaky is the best way, I guess. But it is all to get the centrists is there.

I guess we do need "liberal" media...

Looks like the post was previously posted here, and then used by the reporter to spout his nonsense.

[madfloridian]

20. Perhaps we should ask the reporter to prove it. His contact info.

He says DU supports Warner, then he needs to prove it. One thread does not prove support, and the Warner forum here only had 82 posts this morning as best as I can see.

Prove it. I challenge us to stand up when they make false statements.
Michael Shear: [e-mail]
Metro staff writer/Richmond bureau

[e-mail]

I notice he is at the Richmond bureau.

[kevsand]

22. Why are we obsessing over an article

that's almost a year old?

[madfloridian]

24. That's all the more reason to ask why Trippi is involved.

Just curiosity.

[madfloridian]

25. And even less interest in Warner last November.

This site has been misquoted. I don't consider it obsessing. I consider it important to question.

[kevsand]

28. If the article had come out this past week,

I'd probably agree. As it is, I seriously doubt that the reporter will consider printing a correction nine months after the fact. It's not like he said they'd found WMD, or that someone was lying. He probably doesn't consider it all that important a statement. And I really doubt that millions of people will ever see that article again, or ever use it against DU in any practical or significant way. We only saw it because a DUer was poking around.

It's worth noting, to be sure. Let's make the note, and add it to the file for future reference, and move on. There's bigger fish to fry. I feel like I've already spent too much time on it, but maybe that's just me...

[Orangepeel]

27. the media has said worse things about DU

:shrug:

The article makes it sound like we had a straw poll and he won, but big deal.

It is factually accurate (there are posters at DU who think that Warner will be the next candidate. I'm actually one of them. Although he's most likely not who I will support in the primaries, if I had to place a bet now on who'll win the nomination, I'd put my money on him), and it least it got DU a mention for something that wasn't a tin foil hat post.

[wli]

29. DLC? Dump him. He can run as a Republican. n/t