Democrat's Dream Team ..(IMO)

[Parisle]

--- Just free-associating on a Thursday morning,...... nothing to go into overdrive about. I could also see Clark as the presidential nominee or Spitzer as Attorney General. Tried to avoid pulling anyone out of a legislative spot they already occupied.

President .......... A. Gore

V. President ....... J. Edwards

Attorney General ... P. Fitzgerald

Sec. of Defense .... W. Clark

Sec. of State ...... W J Clinton

CIA/Intel .......... Larry Johnson

SEC Chairman ....... E. Spitzer

---- What about the other "stars?" Well,... Obama needs to finish at least one term of the job he was elected to. Mark Warner would be good at FCC, but he needs to run for VA Senator next. Hillary can't win the presidency. Kerry could fit in somewhere, if he was willing. Vilsack sure seems like a cool guy, and I'd like to have him in an administration.

---- And since this is free-association, anyway,... Keith Olberman as White House press spokesman? Heh heh,.......

[Strawman]

1. Bill Clinton as Secretary of State, that's a brilliant idea

I like that alot. He should be drafted into that job. We need someone of his stature in that job to restore our respect around the world.

Has there been any buzz about that suggestion? Any articles by well-known columnists raising that possibility? If not, there should be and someone in the media ought to ask him point blank if he'd even consider taking the job. It would be tough to imagine any President checking his/her ego to let it happen, but it would be great. I could see maybe Hillary or John Edwards doing that.

[caledesi]

17. I love that choice too. nt

[jayctravis]

62. I would like UN Ambassador better.

[Double T]

2. Agreed. Can 'WE' vote early NOW?????

[Eurobabe]

3. Clark can't be SECDEF until 2010 (?)

Need to be out of the military for 10 years to hold this position. But he's highly qualified for other positions. :)

[Parisle]

5. Dang,......

---- How long has Powell been out of the military? Webb would work, too,... but I'd prefer to keep him as a VA Senator.

[FrenchieCat]

31. Why put Clark as Sec of Def.?

and Edwards as Veep?

Put Edwards as Sec. of Def. and Clark as Veep. Clark will kick ass for Gore. Edwards....not so much!

[venable]

33. sigh

John Edwards has birthmarks that follow him around less than does Frenchie.

[FrenchieCat]

38. I have a birthmark that respects my right to speak more than venable without

being so afraid and defensive that it might in some way hurt John Edwards to hear opinions that aren't rubber stamps from what the Edwards campaign would like to read!

I understand why I'm posting at DU; cause I'm interested in politics including the candidacy of John Edwards as President of my country.

But my question is why are you stalking my posts? I'm not a political figure, and therefore don't need to be the only subject of your post. :eyes:

[venable]

40. OK by me

I'm just saying that it is a very rare mention of Edwards that doesn't get a slap from one or more of about 4 or 5 posters. It's like clockwork.

Every Edwards mention ends up being about Clark, or turns Clark-ward for a bit, as a result of this handful of posters. see your post that began this subthread. clockwork.

fine, if that's the deal, that's the deal. I can live with it. not a big deal, really, in the grand scheme and all.

good luck to your man.

[Dinger]

43. This Probably Goes Back To 2004 (shelton) . . .

being involved in the Edwards campaign. I don't think Clark & Edwards like each other all that much, but they just keep it to themselves.

[JNelson6563]

50. No Frenchie, it's true

There are two kinds of threads that are good bets to find you on, Clark threads and Edwards threads. You are hyper-defensive on Clark threads and hyper-offensive on Edwards threads.

With so many undecided and it being so early on and all, you may want to take a more.....diplomatic approach.

Just sayin'.

Julie

[FrenchieCat]

52. Actually Julie, I believe that you will find venable where you find me......

posting comments about me instead of the political figures that we are certainly allowed to discuss here at Democratic underground.

So my question to you would be why can't I post where I want about what I want without comment as long as I am not attempting to "dis" other Members of this forum and as long as I am not making shit up? Why make me the subject of one's post because I dare hold an opinions about political figures that don't sit well with some?

I find you in specific threads as well saying what you want, and I guess the difference between me and you is I don't find it my place to comment on how you operate in reference to where you post or what posture you determine is right for you. Too bad you are not willing to give me the same respect, while agreeing with someone who would call me names and deride me for posting my opinions.

Plus, hyper is subjective and can only be interpreted through the eyes of the beholder. In addition, you will not find me in every Edwards thread, and even if you did, why is that not my right without being personally hounded to be criticized for it? It would be one thing if I posted lies, but unfortunately for Edwardians, I post the truth....which may be why I'm so annoying to those who aren't interested in facts but would rather we just accept John Edwards for all of his good points and forget about the rest.

So why are you "sayin'" this to me again? What was your purpose in deciding to add your 2 cents to who I am and what I do?

[JNelson6563]

53. No one trying to stop you

but if you're looking to win supporters for Clark you may want to rethink your approach. Shit, we're a year out from the primaries and already the routine of a handful in this Edwards/Clarkie war is really tiresome. You play a leading role in it all (hardly a badge of honor but what do I know) and perhaps you if would knock off the silly sniping at every opportunity it may help the dialogue.

That's why I'm just sayin'...

Do what you will with it.

Julie

[FrenchieCat]

55. Well thank you for bestowing such liberty on me......

coming from someone like you who is obviously quite reluctant in reading posts which criticizes the actions of our political figures in reference to War and Peace, but evidently is quite ready to criticize DU posters for opinions they may hold and espouse on those political figures, it is quite an honor.

So I will continue to make sure that those who call themselves Democrats don't forget what John Edwards really stood for at crunchtime, when it was time for those who call themselves political leaders to take a stand with actions as opposed to with platitudes and words!

If Voters are gonna decide whether to or not to support Wes Clark based on my words and actions here at DU, then our problem here in America is even bigger than I calculated. But then, considering why many do support particular candidates, I wouldn't be entirely surprised.

You have a great new year, and I'm sure that I will continue to be red herring subject matter of many posts to come at DU since I seem to be as important to some as our political candidates who are supposed to be questioned and tested by its citizens on political forums. Thank you for that compliment as well.

[JNelson6563]

60. Alienate at will!

And you keep kicking it up a notch so you can smoothly transition from zealot to hysteric. Good luck with the fast track program you seem to be on.

How disappointing to see you so anxious to go on the attack and turn the primaries back into the much pit that was 04.

Gosh this takes me back to an enlightened commentary I read here not long ago....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2995062#2996617

Julie

[FrenchieCat]

63. Well actually Julie, what is sorta funny is that it was your zeal that you couldn't control

and was amply demonstrated by your being compelled to post in agreement with venable's hysterics as he is the one who attacked me because I'm not in full agreement with his/her unconditional love for John Edwards.

You see Julie, you are much more obvious than you might believe yourself to be and so don't think that anyone is being fooled in reference to whom is attacking whom. Jumping in to further attack a DUer was your idea of enlightment and part of the problem we had during the last primaries; too many self righteous ones who didn't really believe that other members of this political forum had the right to hold an opinion about a political figure different from theirs.......

And in reference to your point on the Clark Cult thingie, if I recall correctly you were once a member in good standing of another primary Cult here at DU. So be careful when calling names and pointing fingers...or at least look in the mirror now and then.

[beaconess]

45. wow - that's pretty petty

[venable]

46. I didn't mean it to be petty

sorry if it came off that way. it's just a saying, common in the south about someone always being near someone else.

Just saying that Edwards can't be mentioned without a slap. I'm probably being thin-skinned.

apologies for the semblance of pettiness.

[beaconess]

47. Very gracious . . .

Thanks.

[bowens43]

4. Any ticket with Gore will lose.

[TexasProgresive]

14. Why?

He won the last time he ran!

[TankLV]

27. Not at all proven by the record or results.

Gore won it all last time around...

[talk hard]

67. that's funny

guess you don't get the news in that bubble you live in

[wryter2000]

6. Keith O as spokesman?

Only if he's allowed to crack jokes and ridicule BillO from the podium. :rofl:

[k_jerome]

7. Gore cannot win, nor will he run. nt.

[Parisle]

9. Ok,...Maybe he wouldn't run,.....

--- ....but I bet there are millions of people who wish they had voted for him in 2000.

[k_jerome]

10. i agree. nt.

[joeprogressive]

20. That is the funniest thing I have ever read.

You think Gore can't win. He's been there and done that as far as winning. If anything his popularity has increased tremendously. Also people want to know how things might have been. He's a lock. If you think Hillary can win and Gore can't, you are delusional.

[Jai4WKC08]

54. Why do you think that Gore's popularity has increased?

I'm asking that honestly. I like Gore. I supported him wholeheartedly in 2000.

That said, I have never heard a single person who didn't vote for him before say they would now. I have heard a few people who didn't vote for him in 2000 say they wish they had, but only because Bush is so much worse than they thought he would be. Doesn't mean they'd vote for Gore this time. The only people I've heard get really enthusiastic about his running again are those who voted for him before.

Personally Clark is and will always be my first choice, but I don't know that he's gonna run. I could support Gore -- I think experience, leadership, and proven competence are important. I don't see many people with those attributes. But I also want someone I think can beat the Republicans. I know, I know... Gore won in 2000. I'll grant that. But he didn't get as many votes as Kerry did in 2004, and Flordia is a harder battle now than it was before. And even more important than before, because of population shift. In other words, the bar for what it takes to win keeps getting higher and I remain unconvinced Gore is a different man than he was in 2000. Or 1988 for that matter.

It probably doesn't matter anyway, because it doesn't look like Gore plans to run. But I want to understand why some people seem so convinced he could win if he did. I just don't see it.

[KingFlorez]

23. Cannot win?

How do you figure that?

[blm]

24. Gore already won - the DNC was too weak to get his votes secured and counted

at the crucial level where the votes are actually cast and counted.

[TankLV]

28. Not only can Gore win, he has demonstrated that he CAN win as evidenced by his record...

[JNelson6563]

51. He *has* won, he may run

He hasn't "ruled it out".

But I can understand why you would hope he won't. All supporters of someone else feels that way.

Julie

[Leilani]

57. I disagree with your statement

I support Wes Clark, but there are others I admire, & could support.

I don't know if Clark will even run, & if he does, what his chances are.

I like Gore & I hope he gets in the race; I feel the same about Obama. The more quality candidates, the better.

I want a choice, not a coronation.

[talk hard]

68. right on!

and you picked people that didnt' support the war -- they deserve to be president

[KKKarl is an idiot]

8. Sounds good to me

But I will go for Obama as VP if Edwards is not considered.

[BonnieJW]

11. Obama can't win anything more than senator

The RW has already been plugging that his middle name is Hussein and that Obama rhymes with Osama. It's the Willie Horton methodology all over again.

[KingFlorez]

15. Please

The only people dumb enough to buy the nonsense about his name are right-wingers who wouldn't vote for him even if his name was something else.

[Parisle]

16. Irrelevant,....

--- Even if everyone in the country was prepared to vote for Obama, it wouldn't make him qualified for the VP job,.... which, by the way, requires the same qualifications as the office of president. Two years in the Senate? Please. Charisma is nice,... but experience is what gets you through the tough situations.

[KingFlorez]

22. I wasn't talking about his qualifications

I was talking about the nonsense about his name. I don't buy into that nonsense about him not being experienced just because he hasn't held office for years.

[beaconess]

36. How is Edwards any more qualified for VP than Obama - because he ran a campaign?

And, fyi - by January of 2009,Obama will have been in the Senate for four years, not two, and will have an additional seven years of political office under his belt.

I love Edwards, but anyone arguing that Obama doesn't have enough experience will have to explain why this doesn't apply to Edwards, as well.

[Jai4WKC08]

56. You give rank & file Democrats and indies too much credit

I assure you, not every idiot, bigot, or ignorant voter resides on the right wing of the spectrum. The sad fact is that no one can win without appealing to the masses who make decisions based on gut instincts and too often in the absense of any relevant information.

[Uncle Joe]

18. It's their mass corporate media enablers such as the Washington Post

and we should call them on their blatant racism. Hussein is the equivalent of the name John in the U.S. are all Johns willing to shoot a President because they have an infatuation with Jody Foster?

My point is, the mass corporate media will trash whomever the perceived Democratic front runner is, with the possible exception of Zell Miller. I believe instead of kowtowing to their memes or frames, we should call them on their greed inspired, cowardly, ignorant racism.

Just for the record, I am supporting Al Gore for President, however I believe our mass corporate media is contagiously sick and if bitter medicine is not administered, we as a nation will become deathly ill.

[Eurobabe]

19. So sad that you are buying into that RW crap

I'd like to think that most Americans are onto the bullshit perped by the RW media and the CONS.

[niceypoo]

29. I hate defeatists that let the GOP decide things for them

[beaconess]

35. So he's banned from politics? Or do WE get to decide?

Every potential candidate has SOMETHING the other side will try to use against them. The only way it works is if we cave in in advance.

The Obama/Osama bullshit hasn't stopped Obama from kicking ass all over Illinois. The only people who seem to care about it are people who wouldn't vote Democratic anyway - and scared of their shadow Democrats who seem so beaten-down by their belief in the invincibility of the Republican machine that they'll concede the race before it even starts.

[sandnsea]

64. They'll swiftboat anybody

And they'll keep doing it as long as WE are too timid to demand they stop. The candidate cannot do it on his or her own, WE are going to have to rise up and make them suffer every time they start one of these character assassinations.

[TexasProgresive]

12. I like it- Colbert for press secretary-

It is a good team and no senators having to resign.
on edit: Jim Hightower for Agriculture.
Thom Hartman for Commerce.
(Holding my nose) Ralph Nader for Interior or EPA.

[TayTay]

13. Fitzgerald as AG?

Based on what?

[BluegrassDem]

21. All white males...how Republican looking

:eyes:

[Parisle]

25. I only filled seven slots,....

--- ....and I don't employ quotas. The House Speaker isn't a white male. What changes would you propose to my list?

[BluegrassDem]

26. Deval Patrick could just as easily be Attorney General

just one example of a highly qualified person of color.

[Parisle]

32. Okay,.... That's true

--- Patrick could be Attorney General, and I like him, too. That would mean leaving the governorship of Massachusetts where he just supplanted a republican, and made Massachusetts a "pure" democratic state. I happen to feel that his current job is as important or more important than the AG position, and I was trying not to yank people out of important spots already occupied. Sorry if we have different priorities. Don't worry, though,.... In spite of my reservations, Obama will end up in there somewhere.

[beaconess]

39. The same applies to Spitzer, as well, doesn't it?

He would have to leave the governship of New York where he just supplanted a Republican and made New York a "pure" Democratic state.

[beaconess]

37. Who said anything about applying a quota?

Suggesting that minorities should be included does not mean anyone is insisting on a quota - unless you believe that only white men are the most qualified and the inclusion of anyone else means they've been added based upon some irregularity.

Here are some suggestions (that I included in another post)

President .......... A. Gore

V. President ....... B. Obama

Attorney General ... D. Days

Sec. of Defense .... W. Clark

Sec. of State ...... S. Rice

CIA/Intel .......... Larry Johnson

SEC Chairman ....... E. Spitzer

Commerce ........... M. Morial

Education .......... J. Cole

HUD ................ S. Franklin

Homeland Security .. C. Ramsay

Veterans Affairs.... T. West

[BluegrassDem]

42. I like your list Beaconess!

Of course, I highly doubt we'd see such a cabinet, but you surely showed the high number of qualified women and people of color that we have that could easily run any of the big cabinets.

And frankly, I'm sick of people calling qualified black appointees quotas. I expect to hear that stuff in freeperland, but not here.

[MGD]

30. I'm pushing Hillary for Pres if it nmakes you feel better.

[beaconess]

34. How about some coffee in the cream?

This may be your "dream team," but it looks like an all-white men's club.

President .......... A. Gore

V. President ....... B. Obama

Attorney General ... D. Days

Sec. of Defense .... W. Clark

Sec. of State ...... S. Rice

CIA/Intel .......... Larry Johnson

SEC Chairman ....... E. Spitzer

Commerce ........... M. Morial

Education .......... J. Cole

HUD ................ S. Franklin

Homeland Security .. C. Ramsay

Veterans Affairs.... T. West

[Parisle]

49. A response to your several posts,.....

--- Beaconess, I hope this will address some of the points you've raised about my so-called "dream team" in your several posts in the thread.

--- You are correct about Spitzer being in the same position as Deval Patrick when it comes to not yanking someone out of an important position already held. I wasn't thinking when I got to the SEC job,... but I had indicated Patrick Fitzgerald as 1st choice for AG. Fitzgerald a republican? I think he is an apolitical straight-shooter.

--- Another poster pointed out that Clark could not serve as DefSec, and I believe them. So he would become my 1st choice as VP. Therefore, my next choice for Defense Secretary would be Colin Powell, who is black and a republican. And since this boots Edwards out of the VP slot, I think he would be a good candidate for AG, also. I like his agressive position in favor of the poor,.. and his courtroom potential for taking on the corporations.

--- Shirley Franklin would be fantastic at HUD,... a spot I did not include in my own list. And in your own list, you left out of consideration a man whom I consider to be among the nation's preeminent minority politicians and all-around great human beings (and a personal friend of mine, I might add) former VA governor Doug Wilder. Doug would be wonderful at Commerce; Marc Morial has less stature and more baggage, eh?

--- When I said I wasn't employing "quotas," perhaps I should have said that I have no agenda where minorities or women are concerned. I myself am an American Indian of Chipewa lineage. I didn't propose any of us, either. I know plenty of women who want Hillary as the presidential nominee,.. purely because she is a woman. That is an agenda in my book. But I'll stick with Bill as Sec of State over Rice. I mean,... c'mon, eh?

--- Thanks for your comments.

[Cocoa]

59. don't stop there, how about...

Reverend Ike, Secretary of the Treasure
Richard Pryor, Minister of Education
Stevie Wonder, Secretary of FINE arts
And Miss Aretha Franklin, the First Lady

[cali]

41. So Obama needs to finish at least one term

but hey, Spitzer who was just elected Gov of one of the largest and most important blue states, pull him right out of there and give him a far less important job? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, and it's so consistent too.

[beaconess]

44. diffrent strokes for diffrent folks - and so on and so on and

scooby dooby doo bee

[PBass]

48. Gore can win. Clinton can win. Obama can win. Clark can win.

Edwards can win.

I'm thinking the only person who can't win this time around would be Kerry (too much like a "do over" this soon) and Kucinich (just not compelling enough, IMO, on the superficial level. I do like his ideas).

My ideal ticket is Clark with anybody else as VP, or Gore with anybody else as VP.

Hillary Clinton could certainly win, although she's not my preference.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

58. Ok, I'll agree, although I would like Obama as VP.

I'm assuming that the rest of the cabinet will be filled with women though...right?:)

[question everything]

61. Forward to the past: all WASP (nt)

[MODemocrat]

65. That would be a dream team all right

I don't really know much about Fitzgerald or Johnson, but the others are perfect matches for the positions.

[talk hard]

66. I'd be happy with anyone that didn't vote for the war

anybody

[hollowdweller]

69. Dean Surgeon General,