Dems lost me today.

[BobRossi]

I have been voting straight Dem tickets all my life. I have supported the Dem cause anyway that I could. My wife and I cast votes last November that helped swing the pendulum in the Dem's favor.
I enlisted in our nation's military during the Vietnam war, never being one to shirk duty to my country.
Now I am spent, betrayed by the carpet-baggers masquerading as Democrats.
I will sit out the next election as quite likely will my wife.
No Democrat will ever freely get my vote again. At least the 'pukes are unified.

[Peregrine Took]

1. Don't start a fight unless you have the balls to finish it. n/t

[BobRossi]

2. They didn't get past the first round.

Took a dive.

[rucky]

26. Good advice for the Senate, as well. n/t

[enough already]

64. Bush started the fight

But we don't have the guts to hit him back.

[polichick]

3. It's been a disturbing day for me too.

I'll still vote for Dems ~ as the lesser of two evils ~ until there's a viable third party.

[ikojo]

15. Exactly what they count on....

they figure those of us who are anti war have no place else to go, so they'll throw a bone of rhetoric at us..However, when push comes to shove they will pat one another on the back and give Bush his blank check.

They did it in authorizing force against the sovereign nation of Iraq and they did it today.

Why isn't moveon.org calling for protests outside the offices of the turncoats who voted to give Bush the money with no timeline?

[roody]

32. A third party will be viable when you get involved in one.

I am going to my first State Green Party Plenary having left the Dems when Kerry conceded. I am very excited.

[truth2power]

53. Third party. I agree. But first..

we need to have instant runoff voting in place. I don't think a third party has a chance until that happens. The present system is rigged against alternative parties getting a foothold.

[Loge23]

4. Let's find another party

Don't give up your right to vote!
You fought for it!
Thanks for your service - let's find another party.
The pukes may say that the dems are weak. We're not.

[polichick]

6. What we need now...

Is Gore to run on a new progressive ticket.

[cosmicdot]

34. ding

that's what I've been thinking for awhile; and, actually mailed Gore the thought


Gore-RFK,Jr. as a sample ticket - a 2 for 1 redemption (2000, 1968)

leave the corporatists-DINOs-DLCers to triangulate themselves - we have a country and environment (a planet!) to save ... and, Gore doesn't need any of them 'at his back' nor 'a heartbeat away' ... he's already catapulted the corporate media ...

Gore just might have the momentum to make 3rd party history. If successful, he would, then, have the bully pulpit to go directy to the people for their influence on representatives/Senators

In 1912, the 3rd party came in 2nd. The GOP came in 3rd.

[tavalon]

37. Even he wouldn't be viable if he did that

I want him to run as a Democrat and I want us to clean up this mess of a party. We are not the fringe of this party. We are their ignored spine.

[malikstein]

49. Gore is made of the same crap as the rest of them.

Corporate America owns both the Dems and the Reps. I'll only look at Gore if he runs as an independent with no corporate money in his coffers.

[Carolina]

63. exactly

Gore wimped out in the end. Recall his and all other Senate Dems failing to stand with the Congressional Black Caucus against theft 2000.

Politically Gore either had a tin ear, bad instincts, bad advisors (Daley, Brazille :grr:) or all of the above. Big mistakes: wrong choice of running mate (and some of us knew that then), wrong decision about Florida recount (should have requested total state recount from the get go), wrong decision in calling off protestors (to counter repuke 'rioters')...

I can't stomach 2000 redux and Gore is better in his Jimmy Carter-like role of activist, prominent citizen.

[malikstein]

65. Hasn't anybody noticed that

the Gore family fortune comes from Occidental Petroleum? The man is way up in the Establishment that owns the country and manages it to its own benefit, not ours, through the one-party/two-face system.

[az chela]

5. From all the posts I have read on here today

I think MANY of us on here are fed up with the dems bullshit and all talk no action!!!!

[rwheeler31]

7. Good luck finding a new place.

nt

[AlCzervik]

8. the gop is hoping we all stay home, not gonna do that.

[LBJDemocrat]

9. Vote

If you don't participate, the party will be more heavily influenced by people like the CEO of MorganStanley.

But I agree that Congress is being pathetic. Pelosi's already emulating Bill Clinton and Junior on trade (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070604/editors).

When O when will the Democratic Party again be the party of the working man? Because currently, it's socially liberal and economically globalist. Or so it seems. I call that neoliberalism/free market globalism/globalist libertarianism.

[Sukie1941]

10. I agree with originator

I already wrote my disgust post yesterday. I don't think anyone responded.

Such a big deal in November and when Pelosi took office as Speaker. Every vote that has come up is weaker than the previous one. Bush must be basking.

And NO explanation to the Democratic supporters. Hardly a word. I doubt anyone in the Congress even reads our opinions.

[tavalon]

40. They will not explain because there is no explanation that will pass the smell test

[Artful Dodger]

50. I'm sorry, but it's just the way I feel right now.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

[dflprincess]

11. Of course, it may depend on who the nominee for president is

and the remote possibility that the Democrats in Congress will grow spines but, as of today, I'm predicting a surprisingly low voter turn out for a presidential year and that the Democrats will have a very hard time holding on to their majorities.

Tonight I'm thankful I have dial up because I'm sick of phone calls from friends who aren't active but always vote Democratic calling me to complain about the wimps not to mention the people at work who know I'm active who accosted me about what the Democrats have done.

I can't wait for the next fundraising calls I get from the DSCC and DCCC. For the first time in 35 years I'm beginning to believe the people who say they don't vote because it doesn't make any difference who's in office.

[primative1]

47. Famous words ...

"because it doesn't make any difference who's in office".

LoL
Now who made those words famous :)

[opihimoimoi]

12. The Dems are not perfect...they be doing the best they can...I cannot vote Red...So, I guess I'm

stuck on BLUE

[Cronopio]

19. It's not a question of perfection, it's a question of "good enough".

And the Democrats weren't today. Bush gained a lot of undeserved political clout because of the deal they made.

The Dems just made their job far more difficult. I can't imagine any Republican who might have been thinking of jumping ship on a future vote considering that option now.

[opihimoimoi]

20. Then we should consider joining them Pubs and vote Red? Not me...

Look the Big Picture...the Pubs are Despicable...they enabled Bush to do the Horrors he does....just cause the Dems faltered doesn't mean the war is lost.

Hell NO...

The fight has just begun...

The Dems are for the COMMON GOOD and the COMMON INTEREST....Bush GOP are self interest and ARROGANT

Our time will come...and if not...Fuck it all, Humanity will suffer big time...

[calimary]

23. I'd actually like to be part of a party that pays attention to its base.

About the only positive thing I can say about the republi-CONS is that they damned near WORSHIP their fucking base. WE are the Democrats' base and they blow us off again and again and again and again.

[AJ9000]

28. The main base of both parties are big monied special interests. That's

how they get the money to get re-elected.

[opihimoimoi]

35. Those Pubs you mention...worship their base??? I don't think so...the Pubs brainwash their

base....con them, fool them...mis guide them...

Our DEMs are the only ones who can do sumpthin...syre they fuck up from time to time...but for the most part, I would like to think they have US in mind.

I refuse to vote RED....my only option is to stay with the Blue Party....the BIG PICTURE shows they got more PROMISE...MUCH MORE....

Them Pubs have given us shit over these past 6 years....pure crap....Nada, zero, nai, puka, zip, zilch, etc.

Stick with the BLUEs...way better odds than going for the REDs...and forget Indys...thats what lurkers want us to do...divide and conquer

[calimary]

36. I will be cold and dead LONG before I EVER vote red.

I'm just deeply disappointed. And disgusted. And enraged. And feeling utterly betrayed. And I ABSOLUTELY feel like a member of the Democratic base - IGNORED.

I DO want it NOW, NOT in September. NOT when another fucking deal can be brokered. I want it NOW. I said this earlier. Sometimes it just reduces down like a fine sauce or gravy with the excess moisture cooking off - to one fact, for me at least. At a certain point, it comes down to my being not an activist, not a liberal, not a Dem, not a progressive, not a partisan, but simply a MOM. And all I can see is a never-ending collage of sobbing mothers at gravesites with nothing to cradle in their arms but a fucking folded flag. And for NOTHING. NOTHING BUT LIES AND GREED AND SOME OILY FATCAT'S HARD-ON FOR POWER.

And I CANNOT, for ONE SECOND MORE, sit by and try to be patient and try to be okay with it until we get the fucking votes, while more mothers sob.

[tavalon]

41. There isn't one - the thugs do not pay attention to their base, they pretend to

but they are using them. The Democrats are doing the same to us. We will force them to be better and they will kick and scream the whole way. It's too bad but we are their conscience and their base. This is the hardest work of being the Jiminy Crickets of the Democratic party - we have to get these recalcitrant children to stand up and do the right thing when they just want to play in the sandbox. We will win eventually because we are far stronger than they are.

[tavalon]

42. They are not doing the best that they can

but they will eventually because we will force them to.

[YOY]

48. My conclusion as well

Still very disappointed. There is so much that needs to be done to repair the legacy of Reagan.

[BikeWriter]

13. .

[Stuckinthebush]

14. You are just angry and rightly so

You will vote Dem again as will your wife, but I understand the frustration.

The reality is that divided we fall.....keep the pressure on the Dems.

[partylessinOhio]

16. Bravo. Today they showed us they are no better than Bush.

The Democrats believe they can do anything they want whether Americans like it or not. They are just as bad as Bush.

Throw them all out. Finito!

[elocs]

17. Good luck in finding someplace else to go.

Didn't the Stones say you can't always get what you want, or when you want. Evidently the Democratic leadership did not take you into their counsel Like it or not it is a two party system here. You have a choice: Republican or Democrat. Sure if you had been a Democrat you could go with a third party, but how many years are you willing to cede control of our government over to the Republicans and neocons and how much damage would they do to the country. You may consider many Democrats now to be Republican lite, but that is still better than full blown Republican. So you can either stick with your party and try and persuade them as to what to do or you can take your ball and go home. Your choice. For me, I don't like things any better than others, but the Democratic Party has been my choice since I first voted in 1972 and I'll stick with them.

[Cronopio]

18. One possible solution - vote for candidates, not party affiliations.

Playing the numbers game doesn't cut it anymore. The fear of being outnumbered is what made the Dems betray the country, the world, and the soldiers in Iraq today.

I couldn't care less about the Democratic Party, or any other party. Groupthink and group politics can go fuck itself - I will fight with *individuals* that understand the necessity of fighting, and won't waste time rationalizing their cowardice.

[brentspeak]

21. Thanks for your "concern"

Who are your representatives, your senators? I want to know who it is specifically you won't vote for, and what they haven't done for you. Names, please.

[TheWatcher]

22. Shouldn't you be self-kicking and self-cheerleading your own threads somewhere?

As for the "concern" swipe, that's rich coming from one of DU's oldest and most established of the word that comes after that.

[wicket]

51. "Concern", yeah, that's the ticket

;)

[AJ9000]

24. Anyone who thought Dems would really represent us is a fool

Even Kerry in 04 didn't give us an anti-war candidate. Dems backed down on original authorization, Alito, the Military commisions act etc. They're just not gonna really fight for us, and I didn't expect that they would.

I vote Dem though anyway b/c they are the only practical alternative to a truely despotic party.

And I've said here many times that the real answer for us is the development of a populist media, and serious political reforms such as instant runoff elections etc. Then there could be other viable parties. But no one seems to get it.

[bobbie]

29. I agree with every word you said AJ9000

Instant runoff elections need a better name though.
Something descriptive.

[AJ9000]

58. Good idea, and I left out public financing of campaigns and proportional representation.

[flaminbats]

25. it sounds like you didn't have a good reason to vote..

for me universal healthcare has been a top issue. Democrats may have let me down on some of the other issues, but they are on my side of this issue.

the longer Republicans cling on to power, the more universal healthcare seems to be an unachievable dream. but Republicans will never make it happen, and our troops will not leave Iraq until Bush is no longer in office.

I understand your frustration, but Congress alone will not end the war in Iraq. IMO the most we can hope for while Bush is President is for the taxcuts to be phased out and any increase of our troops in Iraq to be denied. IMO the war in Iraq will not end until Bush finally leaves office.

I haven't given up, and if others like me did..the neocons would have two political parties, not just 1 and 1/2!

[bvar22]

52. The Democrats are NOT supporting Universal HealthCare.

Only ONE Democratic Candidate supports Universal Single Payer HealthCare...Dennis Kucinich.

Edwards has a sort of slow transision to Universal healthCare (maybe).

ALL of the others support a Mandatory Health Insurance scam that will funnel BILLIONS of your dollars into the pockets of the RICHEST Insurance Corps and HMOs the World has ever known....THIS is what the CorpoDems call "Universal HealthCare"! It isn't. It IS a SCAM.
Read the fine print.

[flaminbats]

56. I've read the find print..

as long as everyone is required to buy health insurance, and as long as everyone can buy the same amount of coverage for the same price..then it makes me happy.

I think singlepayer healthcare would be great, it would give us universal healthcare and keep Medicare solvent for the babyboomers. but singlepayer healthcare isn't the only way to cover everyone. That is the argument Ted Kennedy made against Carter in 1980, but Kennedy wisely changed his mind when Clinton was elected President.

I want universal healthcare. Medicare was a step, Kennedy-Kassabaum was another, and I think the Edwards or Richardson plans would provide another step toward our final goal. but demanding all or nothing, usually results in less.

[Carolina]

66. no darlin, flaminbats

don't be deluded. Dems talk the talk about universal health care, but don't hold your breath waiting for them to walk the walk should a Dem become president and have a Dem congress for backup.
Clinton was in that position in 1993 and barely got his omnibus budget bill passed. After that, he had to triangulate because repukes with unity of message and action swept Congress and ever since we've been going right and rolling over.

Dems keep letting us down with their words v actions because their true masters are corporations including healthcare giants. Sadly, we, the people, no longer matter.

[UrbScotty]

27. Dear Bob, Thank You. Sincerely, Bush&Co. (nt)

[CTLawGuy]

30. we need you

we can use pimraries to force the Dems to listen to us. Remember what we did with Ned Lamont (beat Lieberman in the primary) and almost did (win the election).

Primary challengers could use your help.

[Carolina]

67. yeah and a lotta good

that did. CT is still stuck with LIEBUSHMAN.

[onenote]

31. "at least the pukes are unified"

So you'll abandon the party and country to them by 'disuniting" with the Democrats. hokee-dokee..

[Jack Sprat]

33. I don't blame you, really. I wish you wouldn't leave

us Dem Vets, but I am not going to excuse what went down today. Do what you need to do, bro. Fair winds.

[tavalon]

38. While I understand the sentiment

I suspect your face is going to look awfully funny without its nose.

The pukes may be unified but they are fascists. That's like saying that because the opposition in Germany didn't stand up to Hitler, your going to support his team from here on out. You're angry and rightly so. Go take a lap or two, read a good, nonpolitical book, garden some and then come back and help us whip those stupid Democrats back into line. The other side doesn't need you nor do you need them. The Democrats need to feel our rage but taking your marbles and going home is not a helpful response.

[tavalon]

39. Pick up a copy of Paul Loeb's

The Impossible Will Take a Little While. You need to read it. It is exhausting to keep up this fight but taking the long view really helps. Yes they fucked up today as badly as they ever have and still we will prevail.

[eridani]

43. Also pick up a copy of Blue Grit by Laura Flanders

Grassroots Dems are making some headway in taking the party back, at least in some areas.

[mahina]

60. I loved Loeb's 'Soul of a Citizen: how to live with conviction in a cynical time'.

Thanks for the reccomendation, I will read it. Gave away how many copies of his other , am looking forward to this. Mahalo.

[leftofthedial]

44. you and me both

sounds like we've been loyal Democrats for about the same number of years. But I am now done with them. There are a small handful of actual Democrats left in DC. The rest are fifth columnists and certainly don't represent me anymore.

[LittleClarkie]

45. Then vote for the pukes if you like their unity so much

As for me, I *AM* one of those Democrats.

I'll be going to my first State Convention this years, and as a delegate too.

I just gave 50 bucks to the John Kerry Senate campaign.

I ain't goin' noplace.

[riona]

46. I want term limits,

which in effect will rule out bloated retirement plans. We could get more easily get rid of officials who have "gone their own way" and forgotten their constituency. There should be public financing of campaigns (no loopholes) so that candidates don't have to rely on being wealthy, and/or sucking up to big money. At least other qualified and dedicated people would have a fair chance. I want lobbyists to become irrelevant through strict ethics rules. I other words, let's get rid of those who have become drunk on money and power and elect some people who do not lose their way when they arrive on the Hill.

[uppityperson]

54. Bwahahahahahahahaha

Giving power over everything to someone else will surely teach those Democrats, won't it? OMG, I almost took this as serious. "I am so disappointed that I will not work to make things better" indeed. Too funny. Yeah, quit trying to change things for the better, quit acting in your own interest, that'll sure help. Thanks for the laugh.

[TheModernTerrorist]

55. or...

we could work hard to get REAL leaders elected, not just people that talk tough shit. Take Kucinich for example. I'm looking real hard into putting my heart and soul into his campaign. and if everyone that feels the same way as we do (and there's a lot of us) we could take the party back from all this shit that we've been fed.
Work to get real progressives elected, not just in the election, but in the primaries, cuz that's where it's important.

[markiegreg]

57. I have to disagree about

the pukes being unified. The repubs are totally melting down over the proposed immigration bill including news reports of repubs tearing up their registration cards at local GOP offices vowing to never again support another GOP candidate. It seems a growing group of people on both sides of the political spectrum is realizing neither political party is representing their parties constituentsts yet corporate influence always gets it's way.

[pnwmom]

59. How do you feel about minimum wage increase that was part of the price

Bush had to pay in order to get the benchmarks dropped?

$2.10 -- first increase in 10 years, and almost certainly would have been vetoed if it hadn't been put into some bill that Bush viewed as critical.

This was just one of the trade-offs that Bush had to make -- the Iraq funding bill will also contain the minimum wage increase.

I was sick about the Iraq bill, too. But having learned more about the details, I feel less of an urge to condemn Pelosi and Reid.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070523/us-iraq

[Freddie Stubbs]

61. Who specifically are the "carpet-baggers?"

car·pet·bag·ger (kär'pĭt-băg'ər)

n.

1. A Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War for political or financial advantage.

2. An outsider, especially a politician, who presumptuously seeks a position or success in a new locality.

[Carolina]

62. since 1960

I have been a Democrat. And I have watched the party get weaker and weaker. I thought IWR was the straw ... when many Dems shirked their Constitutional obligation and helped give Bush, of all people, such awesome authority. I am still not over that bit of acquiescence but today takes the prize. I will no longer call myself a Democrat nor will I support the party of wimps and liars who talk big, who say one thing, and then go back on their words.

Some leadership we won in November. With 'leaders' like these ...

[Doctor_J]

68. I don't see what they're going to campaign on next year

"It might have been worse"

"We tried to stop it"

"Endless war AND a minimum wage hike"

"Our powder is dry"

[ieoeja]

69. So, 98% of the Democrats vote the way you want.

And you decided to vote for 0% of Democrats because of the 2% who went against your wishes?

Kind of weird logic there.