The Hill found some"dems" to trash the band of brothers

[Rose Siding]

The band of brothers that Democrats are banking on to win back the Congress this year may inspire voters with tales of wartime valor, but many in their own party doubt they are prepared for the battlefield of professional politics.
....
....many of the 40 or so Democratic veterans running for the House who turned up on the National Mall yesterday to promote their candidacies often flout the unwritten rules of modern politicking: They mention their opponents by name, have a hard time delivering catchy stump speeches and, as one Democratic aide noted, lack a veteran politician’s “polish.”
....
Democratic campaign aides called Hackett and Rowley, like retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who ran a 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, loose cannons who could not be counted on to say the right thing at the right time.
....
Jim Dornan, a Republican consultant who most recently worked on Rep. Katherine Harris’s Senate campaign, said the Democrats’ rush to recruit veterans reflected the party’s deep-seated problems with voters.

“The Democrats have such a huge image problem that they are eager to recruit candidates like this without looking at the long-term problems these candidates can create,” Dornan said. The Democrats, he added, “are looked at with such disdain by the electorate right now, for their liberal views, their lack of agenda and their anger, quite frankly, that they are desperate to take any candidate who, at least on paper, dispels that image.”

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Campaign/020906.html

Funny, I don't remember The Hill's positive coverage of yesterday's event on the Mall.

A couple of glaring stand-outs: The trashing is generally anonymous, and, um....Dorgan is a REPUBLICAN.

[abluelady]

1. It Seems To Me This Is What We Need

I don't know if any Dems are really against these candidates, but I do know that many dems are more worried about how things look rather than what people stand for. How i wish there was a third party out there that represented me.

[Mythsaje]

2. Oh, yeah, that's what they need...

A "political veteran's polish." :sarcasm:

C'mon, people...Americans are SICK TO DEATH of the Beltway Bandits and their ilk. Having people coming from the war zone with tales to tell and knowledge of something other than whose butt to kiss in Washington is a GOOD thing for the party, and America.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Dornan is spewing a massive pack of foma

Jeeze, Dude, get an enema and chill...

[laugle]

51. Get an enema and chill......that's funny.....

my laugh for the night, thanks!

But what does foma mean?

[mod mom]

4. OH Dem Party is sabotaging Hackett. Not surprised to hear "loose cannon"

DLC wants to CONTROL their candidates.

"Democratic campaign aides called Hackett and Rowley, like retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who ran a 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, loose cannons who could not be counted on to say the right thing at the right time."

This is going to backfire in the DLC's face. Voters want to hear the truth from a real person, not some pre-packaged garble from a poll savvy script writer.

[Stinky The Clown]

23. And here I thought Clark was DLC ..... my reality is shattered.

:sarcasm:

[Clark2008]

44. Yeah - loose cannons apparently are the only people in DC

capable of telling the truth.

Good God.

:eyes:

[wyldwolf]

52. where is the DLC in this, mod mom? Oh yes, Max Cleland...

Former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who headlined the Band of Brothers event yesterday and lost three limbs while serving in Vietnam, views his fellow Democratic veterans as defenders of the American faith.

Noting that the Democrats assembled had more than 400 years of military experience together, Cleland, reading from a three-ring binder, told the veterans behind him: “The time has come for people like yourselves to put our country right again.”

Oh, that nefarious DLC!

[mod mom]

54. Funny you would speculate the DLC was behind this:

Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party is Chris Redfern who won at a contentious election:

Redfern backs corrupted Noes; Wins ODP Chair seat
by Rady Ananda
December 20, 2005

Christopher Redfern (Ohio Rep.-D), who defended both fired Bernadette Noe and indicted Tom Noe (both GOP operatives), just won the highest seat in the Ohio Democratic Party. After much procedural wrangling between candidate Dennis Lieberman supporters and Redfern supporters, the Ohio Democratic Party held the election of ODP Chair tonight, immediately prior to the annual holiday party.

Procedural controversy erupted at the ODP election because Lieberman supporters wanted a paper ballot (and, thus, a secret vote). US Rep Stephanie Tubbs Jones supported this procedure, and former US Rep Mary Rose Oakar commented, "There's a lot of intimidation in this room." Other Central Committee members stood and reported having received office calls from gubernatorial candidate,Ted Strickland, who endorsed Redfern.

The majority, including Franklin County Commissioner and Congressional candidate Mary Jo Kilroy, overturned the paper ballots idea and required voting members to physically stand for their candidate. The majority also decided to hold the election quickly, without grassroots input.

Last month, the Ohio Honest Elections Campaign called for five forums to be held around the State so that candidates for ODP Chair could be interviewed before the May primaries. Apparently not big on democracy, Redfern supporters behaved as if a longer election process and a secret vote might yield a different winner.


http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/18/2005/1650

And low and behold:


DLC Names Redfern New Democrat of the Week

Thursday, May 26, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) has named Ohio State Representative Chris Redfern the DLC New Democrat of the Week for the week of May 23, 2005. Redfern’s leadership in listening to and fighting for Ohio's families is recognized on the DLC's website.

http://www.ohiodems.org/ht/display/ReleaseDetails/i/535245

[wyldwolf]

55. I'm not speculating the DLC is behind it. Whatever gave you that idea?

And, by the way, when the DLC bestows "New Democrat of The Week" on someone, that doesn't mean they are a member of the DLC.

[mod mom]

56. maybe not, but I don't think you would be chosen to kick off their

convention if you were not a member:

Mayor Coleman and House Minority Leader Chris Redfern kick off the DLC National Convention at a Statehouse press briefing

http://www.colemanforohio2006.com/index.php?option=com_dcsgallery&task=gallery&catid=49

[wyldwolf]

57. ok, but what give you the idea I think the DLC is behind this?

[FrenchieCat]

5. I guess we should recruit old Action Movie actors

Like they do! :eyes:

So much bullshit, so little time!

[colorado thinker]

6. Thank God they're not polished!

That polish comes from rubbing up to lobbyists, sliding away from ethics and morality, and drowning in snake oil . . . give me unpolished, direct talking truth and honesty any day.

[IndyOp]

7. OMG: Lieberman's staffers are on the loose again!

Lock up the decent Dems to keep them from being contaminated! :scared:

Seriously: It seems like people 'without polish' - Howard Dean, Al Gore, Paul Hackett - are doing pretty damned well right now. I could stand for a whole lot less polish and whole lot more courage.

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[karynnj]

15. Al Gore and Howard Dean

had polish. Dean ran several times as Governor of VT, he grew up on PARK AVENUE (upper east side of NYC). Al Gore was the son of a Senator and was groomed all his life to be President. He went to a very elite boarding school (much later Evan Bayh, son of Senator Birch Bayh) went there. They were upper class sons living in an upper class world and they can fit in easily.

In the last several years, they have struck out against that background.

[IndyOp]

17. Thanks - I did not know that about Dean - I knew about Al.

My point in listing them as 'lacking polish' was to point out that I admire their raw courage these days.

I live in Indiana and am proud that Evan voted as he did re: Alito. IMO, however, Evan has spent *way* too much time fantasizing and posturing for a run for Prez - perhaps a result of that damned boarding school? Wasn't Choate was it? *'s prep school? Gack.

[karynnj]

20. I think it was St Albans

He then went to Indiana University.

[SnoopDog]

8. As long as they vote Democratic on Bills...

That is by far the mot important task of a Congress Person...

[colorado thinker]

9. Maybe we should bombard the DNC

with emails, telling them to shut the "Democratic campaign aides" up and listen to the constituents who are sick of politics as usual?

[FrenchieCat]

12. Agreed--They AND the writer are about to get an "unpolished"

piece of my mind.

Loose cannon indeed. They ain't seen nothing yet!

[mr.sparkle]

10. yeah, who are these Dems

and why are they trashing these candidates? Dem staffers? Probably working for the dems who voted for cloture on Alito's nomination.....damn turncoats....I don't know though. I agree, that at best, five of these vetern Dems really have a good chance at winning a seat, and thats being pretty liberal.....

[mdmc]

16. Welcome to DU! Bring honor to us!

peace and low stress!

[sandnsea]

29. That's what we need to know

Instead of putting out another slew of presumptive attacks, liberal blogs with DC contacts could start naming names every time ANY Democrat lets loose with this kind of garbage. It doesn't matter what any Democrat thinks of a given candidate, it's divisive and just stupid to continue portraying the party in a bad light. Seems like this started with Gore and has been non-stop ever since.

[Lost-in-FL]

11. Sounds like mere righ wing propaganda to me...

The sad part is that many people get all worked up about shit (for lack of a better word) like this. The GOP has nowhere to go and is trying to portray liberals as "spineless" and we are helping them too.

[FrenchieCat]

14. Well I for one am going to write to this fool.......and that paper.

Here's the contact sheet link for those who are sick and tired of this shit and refuses to continue taking the bullcrap!

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/opencms/TheHill/app/Forms/LettersToEditor.html

Let them wiretap my ass..... :mad:

[FreedomAngel82]

47. Sounds like it

They don't say who's campaigns or anything like that. "Just some democrats" or whatever. No specifics except that one republican guy. Go figure! It's pure BS.

[Tinksrival]

13. Shrill repub rag

They sound pathetic. What a bunch of garbage. So veterans can die for the country but their not fit to be a candidate?
Give me a real American to vote for! A real thinking, feeling, breathing human being instead of the crooked lying pieces of shit they offer!

[Donna Zen]

18. Swiftboating Dem

Now let me see, what congress person would send out a staffer to swiftboat Dem candidates? DLC--check, no military experience themselves--check, trying to line up millionaires for offices--check.

Take yer pick. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. Furthermore, has that asshole-turncoat taken a look at these people's resumes?

After reading this earlier, I got so completely pissed off that I went downstairs and watched Ballroom Dancing competition. Stewing here. Just fucking stewing.

The DNC needs to find out who in our party is doing the swiftboating and fire their ass.

[sendero]

19. So telling..

... "are looked at with such disdain by the electorate right now, for their liberal views, their lack of agenda and their anger"

A Democrat said this? What a fucking idiot. He should be tarred and feathered and rode out of town on a freaking rail.

This is nothing less than a pathetic Right Wing Stereotype of what Dems are about. Shame.

[colorado thinker]

21. So send your post to the DNC. . .

[Rose Siding]

24. No, Dornan said that. He's a repub.

[ebayfool]

26. No, Dornan said it ... a repub asshole in the extreme!

He's mixing his 'opinion' in w/what he claims dems are supposedly saying, just hoping that it sticks.

He is a prick.

A little bitty one!

[sendero]

31. Sorry I ..

.. misread that. Thank god it wasn't a Dem but then again the fact I'd believe it could have been tells you something.

[ebayfool]

45. Easy to misread when the writing/editing is intended to mislead like that!

You're right, looks like it was written to lead people to make that assumption ... I only caught it because I'm familiar w/Dornan - so I looked a bit harder than I might have. The guy is so low rent, I swear he sidelines announcing at wrestling events & roller rinks!

:rofl:

[FreedomAngel82]

48. I think this is just pure nonsense

It's probably made up since they didn't quote who said it. If any democrat said this don't you think they would quote them to make us fight among ourselves? If we're not fighting among ourselves we're fighting against the rightwingers and neocons. So this article is nothing more to just make us fight against ourselves. Even the DCCC is on board even if it's just the one girl they're helping at least they're helping. The DNC had them featured on their blog. So I'm not buying it.

[NCarolinawoman]

22. They're probably the same "Dems" who told Kerry

to be nice and not to fight the swiftboat attacks. Shrum?? Who are these creeps that are doing this?

It is true that these vets are not politicians, but most of them are very well-educated, honorable, and are FIGHTERS!!!! This is new blood coming in and we DESPERATELY need them!

Clark was so important as a spokesman for Kerry in 04' that John Kerry rented out a plane for Clark to use. He would not have done that for a "Loose Cannon". According to these nameless jerks, if you're not a professional politician and you were in the military, you are a loose-cannon and UNWORTHY!!! Give me a F@#%#N BREAK!!!!

Most of these candidates are campaigning in Republican districts. We need them!!!

[cindyw]

39. Also, there was a time when Kerry was a loose cannon vet in his greens.

He ran shortly after his involvement in the massive Vet demonstrations in DC. Think of how many Congress persons have been Vets. Are they seriously suggesting that serving your country makes you less appealing. This is merely a Repub trick. They will attack from any position. If they were no Vets they would wrap themselves in the flag and call us elitists out of touch with the country. Don't fall for the desperation.

[FreedomAngel82]

49. Exactly

And Clark and Kerry spoke at their Band of Brothers event earlier this week (I believe either Thursday or Wednesday night?). It's just pure nonsense. I didn't know Kerry did that with Clark. Nice. I'm not a Clark for president fan but I do like him and I think he brings a lot of military experience to the table which is nice to have now in these times.

[Stinky The Clown]

25. hahahaha hahahahaha hahahahahahaha

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Adelante]

27. Bring on the loose cannons

Yeah.

[Vidar]

28. Loose cannons are ok, if pointed in the right direction. Use grapeshot.

[FrenchieCat]

30. My letter to asshole "journalistic" prick.....

Dear Peter Savodnik,

I read your article “Warrior candidates not yet battle hardened, Dems worry”, and felt compelled enough to write this letter. I was particularly fascinated with your approach in sharing what appears to be your personal opinion on the issue of Democratic Veterans running for various congressional offices. You weave quite the semblance of a news article, but in the final analysis, what you presented was purely editorial in nature, chock full of inaccuracies; and in fact, not news at all.

To begin with, Paul Hackett lost his Ohio race by 3,500 votes, which was the closest race in that district since 1974, so your conclusion that he “alienated” conservatives is mathematically incorrect (1). The truth is that Mr. Hackett received more votes from Republicans than any Democratic candidates had in a long, long time. Furthermore, Paul Hackett was NOT the one who delayed his announcement to run for Senate, but rather it was Sherrod Brown, his primary opponent who stalled and started (2). Bottom line is that the Hackett Campaign results do not back up your subjective analysis that he “stumbled”.

That said, many candidates will stumble in their first race (and some stumble over and over again), whether they are a millionaire action movie actors, sons of former Presidents, Football coaches, or wrestling pros. For any “Democrat” to express being afraid of who might “stumble” is somewhat silly, unreasonable, and certainly not worth reporting.

In addition, just about any candidate in their first run, regardless of past job experiences, climbs a learning curve. Please know that many of these Veterans weren’t always soldiers. Many have superior education and have worked in the private sector, just like other American citizens who decide to enter into politics.(3)

In Mr. Rodriguez stating that Veterans have a tough time raising money, he was not making a derogatory remarks against the veterans’ qualifications, as much as stating a known fact that many of these public servants do not have personal fortunes. Politics is a money game, and one has to have money to play. That is why there are PACs assisting these courageous individuals in doing just that.

These Iraq veterans, (and there are only nine Democrats who are just that, not the 40 gathered you are reflecting on–which were there representing a total of 60 Democratic Veterans from all wars (4)) may NOT be one issue candidates “railing” against the Iraq War, anymore than attorneys running will rail against the illegalities of wiretapping private American citizens as their single issue. I suggest that this statement represented your opinion cloaked as “voiced concerns of many Democrats all around the country”. Based on the inaccuracies I found just in the first four paragraphs of your editorial, it became more and more difficult to trust you as I read further. I kept wondering what your agenda might be?

I also take issue with your attributions of quotes used to flesh out your narrative. You termed your sources as “some Democrats”, “many in their own party”, unnamed “Democratic Campaign aides”, “other Democratic Officials and Activists all across the country”, three named Democrats with harmless quotes (inserted into the right spot for maximum “effect”) and one Republican Consultant (why what he thinks is relevant to this story and why he was given the longest paragraph is a mystery to me based on the headline and initial body of your text.)

General Wesley Clark a loose cannon? That’s an inflammatory subjective statement attributed to unknown voices. I have spoken to many Democrats activists, Democratic Campaign aides and Democratic politicians, and they seem to think that Wes Clark, of all people, has been an effective truth teller of virtuous prescience. Plus it should be noted that Loose cannons aimed at a large moving target is a very powerful weapon.

I personally believe that these Veterans, all running as Democrats, are a sign that the Republicans should not ignore, like you didn’t. Since the Vietnam War, Republicans have consistently maintained that they had the “edge” when it came to receiving the support from our men and women in uniform. This appears to be a fast fading myth. Maybe your next story could be on how support for the Republicans and their policies have slipped so dramatically that they could only find one Iraq Veteran to run on their side of the aisle. Then you could interview all of the Loose Cannons, and see what they have to say about this phenomenon.

I will close this letter by asking in earnest if you believe that the soldiers who are willing to die for this country, should be able to serve it in places other than the battlefield? If you do, why did you write your piece with such a slanted hand? If you support our troops, why write an article in where it is evident that the desired result was to plant doubt that this is a good idea? But more than that, why did you include so many inaccuracies (which took only a few minutes to fact check), un-attributed quotes and selectively inserted statements to bolster your case?

As a Born-Again Christian and a life long Democrat who has closely followed political going ons every since my cousin was sent to Iraq, I pity those who are in charge of telling us the truth, but choose not to. Therefore, I shall only pity you and pray that the next time you decide to write a “hit” piece, you are diligent enough, if nothing else, to test the powers of Google (which is your friend, I can assure you).

Respectfully,
XXXX XXXXX

PS: PLEASE CHECK MY FOOTNOTES BELOW, PROVIDED TO YOU BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN ACCURACY IN JOURNALISM, EVEN IF I AM NOT A JOURNALIST.

(1)http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4784365
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050803/NEWS01/508030356

(2)Brown’s decision to enter the race after first saying he wouldn’t prompted paroxysms of recrimination and anger in the blogosphere. “Brown’s indecision created an ugly and totally unnecessary scene,” wrote blogger Lindsay Beyerstein, one of Hackett’s most prominent online supporters. “If he’d declared in the first place, Hackett probably wouldn’t have challenged him for the nomination. Now, there’s probably going to be a nasty little primary and lasting bad blood amongst Ohio Democrats. These are very real costs that Brown chose to inflict on his party.”
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2406/
Brown originally said he would not run for the Senate because of various unexpected family concerns. But last week he reversed himself at almost exactly the same time Hackett was planning to announce he would run in Brown's place. It was a true case of bad timing.
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10393

(3)http://www.bandofbrothers2006.org/candidates/
(4) http://www.boston.com/news/politics/us_house/articles/2005/11/27/veterans_take_on_new_battle_run_for_office?mode=PF

Edited to provide Prick's email address: [e-mail]

[Rose Siding]

32. Wow! Nice work.

*Please* post if there is any response. That's a great letter.

[FrenchieCat]

37. Thanks, and will post response IF one is received....

A friend of mine wrote a letter and did receive a response.....so we will see.

:hi:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

33. What?

They mention their opponents by name, have a hard time delivering catchy stump speeches and, as one Democratic aide noted, lack a veteran politician’s “polish.”
....
Democratic campaign aides called Hackett and Rowley, like retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who ran a 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, loose cannons who could not be counted on to say the right thing at the right time.

The people who are saying this - have they SEEN the scary monkey man babbling listlessly on the teevee?

[erpowers]

34. When they Win

What will these people be saying when these candidates win in the elections?

[second edition]

35. And the Rebublican party sees nothing wrong with promoting

football and movie stars? Gee, they have all the necessary qualifications necessary to do the job correctly. What vetrans may lack in experience on the Hill, they make up for in patriotism and first hand knowledge of war.

[blm]

36. This sounds like more of Carville influence - he LOVES the glib and smooth

guys while real bravery, honesty and integrity make him cringe.

Now we know why he was attracted to Matalin.

[cindyw]

38. "democratic aides" are always the ones willing to trash Dems in print.

It's just crap. Some nobody 22 year old college grad looking to gossip. Someone who went to DC for the prestige and not the leadership. Read any article saying that Dems privately hate Kerry and it will be backed up by a Democratic "aide".

[FrenchieCat]

40. Personally, I think that the writer must have been a

Democratic Aide...considering that I think that the criticism about vets running were really his own!

Nothing short of a RW hit piece with un-attributed quotes and inaccuracies throughout. The Republican Operative who got the most print was not a Democrat....so why was he even included in the piece? Just to "pile" it on?

[FrenchieCat]

41. A better article on the Band of Brother event yesterday.....

But I still don't understand why they always have to ask why the Republican operatives think! :shrug:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/02/09/band_of_democrats_touts_military_values/?page=1

[paineinthearse]

42. Shades of April Boyd

"Democratic campaign aides called Hackett and Rowley, like retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who ran a 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, loose cannons who could not be counted on to say the right thing at the right time."

Remember not so long ago how long it took Kerry's handlers to put out a statement he had "mis-spoken"?

[FreedomAngel82]

50. Just wondering

what are you talking about with Kerry?

[paineinthearse]

53. Several weeks ago...

Kerry made a statement (about impeachment, I believe) that with 24 hours his office had retracted, saying it was a mis-statement.

[cyberpj]

43. ALL NEW DEMS HAVE TO DO IS SPEAK THE TRUTH. And get coverage. nt

[FreedomAngel82]

46. Don't you mean Dornan?

With an "n" instead of a "g"? And funny how they don't claim who is talking excpet the one republican. :eyes: