Kucinich Supporters: Don't Throw Away Your Conscience! Watch this ad!!

[democrat2thecore]

I mentioned this in a post in another thread, but felt Kucinich supporters needed to see this and think about it. Disclosure: I haven't made any decision yet on 2008 - but I feel strongly about this. Some people are telling you (Kucinich supporters) not to throw away your vote. This is wrong. Just plain wrong. There's a campaign ad from **1984!** that really says it all....

Most of you will know that George McGovern was the '72 Democratic nominee. Many of you probably didn't know he also ran in 1984! There is even a book about this race: "Vote Your Conscience: The Last Campaign of George McGovern." Many people were saying that their hearts were with McGovern on the issues, but it would be throwing away their vote. WELL, McGovern responded to this thought at a debate and they turned it into a very successful campaign ad in Iowa. He was predicted to come in 6th and he finished 3rd! It would have been big news had Gary Hart not come in a strong 2nd behind Mondale. A lot of people didn't buy that "throw your vote away" business and instead decided NOT to throw away their conscience. This ad worked well even in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, where McGovern did better than expected. This ad is given the credit. To all Kucinich supporters: WATCH THIS AD and just replace "McGovern" with "Kucinich." Don't throw away your conscience and - good luck! (The :60 campaign ad is well worth your time):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxUccNGJfZY

[smalll]

1. I well remember McGovern's '84 run -

too young for his first attempt. He did well, and moved up in the polls and the votes quite unexpectedly early on. He threatened to move from the second tier into the first for a while. Of course, in the end, he didn't.

Has ANY second tier candidate ever made it up to the first-tier dais? If anyone, maybe Carter counts as such, but even him, I'm not so sure.

Also, back in '72, though McGovern was slightly goofy-looking, he was presidentially tall, not particularly Keebleresque, had been an air force pilot, and hadn't gone and married a non-citizen 31 years younger than himself with a tongue stud. :shrug:

[Douglas Carpenter]

6. Jimmy Carter was at 4% in late Jan 76 -- Hart was at 3% in September of 1983

Granted Sen. Hart did not win the nomination or the Presidency but he sure shook up the races and came extremely close. My realism about the Kucinich race is to see Congressman Kucinich's campaign shake up the race and broaden the range of discussion. Since Mr. Kucinich is addressing issues other candidates do not want to touch.

If one looks at where candidates were at in the September or October of the year before election or even late January of election year over many election cycles, things quite often developed very differently. For that matter George McGovern was at 4% in January 1972 -- down from the 5% he held in the polls when entered the race one year ealier in January 1971.

"As late as January 26, 1976, Carter was the first choice of only 4% of Democratic voters, according to the Gallup Poll."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter
______________

September 1983 Poll

"The poll, whose margin for error was plus or minus five percentage points, reported that 37 percent of the Democrats questioned favored Mr. Mondale, 26 percent were for Senator Glenn, 9 percent were for Mr. McGovern, 5 percent were for Senator Alan Cranston of California, 3 percent were for former Gov. Reubin Askew of Florida, 3 percent were for Senator Gary Hart of Colorado and 1 percent were for Senator Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina.

The poll was taken Sept. 9-12. The results were based on interviews with 673 Democrats."

link: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE4D6173BF93AA35753C1A965948260


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[democrat2thecore]

15. That's right. Carter was also in single digits before Iowa. -nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. In the primaries, NO vote is wasted

It is your ONE CHANCE to tell the party what you really want.

How are they going to know otherwise?

Vote for the one YOU want, not for the one you think other people might want.


Who knows? If everyone voted for whom they REALLY WANTED (as opposed to trying to predict other people's likes and dislikes), they might end up with a Democratic candidate they could get really enthusiastic about.

[antigop]

3. What you said. n/t

[burrowowl]

4. He was the first one I was able for

in my day you had to be 21 to vote, so I had to wait. I still have a '72 McGoven bumper sticker in good condition since I didn't have a car then.

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. A great add with a great realist and pragmatic message for who to support in the primaries

Also a great book with an inside look at Democratic Party political history in 1984. And both about a great man and the living conscience of the Democratic Party. If there is any commons sense and common decency left in American politics it owes a lot of it to the man Bobby Kennedy once described as, "the most decent man in the United States Senate, in fact - come to think of it -- probably the only one."

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/41N5QM0CMVL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

Vote Your Conscience: The Last Campaign of George McGovern (Hardcover)
by Richard Michael Marano

http://www.amazon.com/Vote-Your-Conscience-Campaign-McGovern/dp/0275971899/ref=sr_1_1/103-2802997-3968618?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188450675&sr=1-1


again the link from the 1984 add "Vote Your Conscience" taken from the Democratic candidates Iowa debate. A simple message that calls on people who agree with him on the issues but may not think he can win the nomination to vote for him anyway because it is the ONLY way that the one who does win the nomination will get the message and move in that direction. I remember watching it live and the power of his message: "Don't throw away your conscience!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxUccNGJfZY

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[democrat2thecore]

7. I agree

What a different world we might live in had we had a President McGovern.
And still lookin' good at - 85!!

[Greyhound]

8. Brilliant! I remember this and it is even more valid today than it was then.

Americans didn't listen then and this is where it got us...
:kick: & R

[democrat2thecore]

9. You have a very good point!

"...it is even more valid today than it was then."
No question it's a great ad and you are right - at least equally valid today.

[OneBlueSky]

10. I will be voting for Dennis Kucinich in the primary for just the reason . . .

articulated so well by George McGovern -- whom I also voted for, btw . . .

p.s. . . in the past several weeks, I've seen several "Kucinich for President" bumper stickers on cars (and even one pickup) in my VERY conservative town . . . some are listening . . . and thinking for themselves . . .

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. Kucinich definitely has the potential of following in McGovern's footsteps of 1984 by

going on to lose every single primary, just like he did last time.

[democrat2thecore]

14. And if you watched the ad - that's not the point. -nt

[Totally Committed]

12. I remember the McGovern run like it was yesterday.

I never saw my vote as being thrown away on him -- then, or now. As a matter of fact we worked so hard for him here in Mass., he took the state.

I see throwing my vote away, now, as voting for someone who...

(1) Will not/does not represent my and my best interests and those of the American people.

(2) Vote with or just like the other side, but has a (D) after their name on the ballot.

(3) Is my only choice against a Republican presidential candidate, but is a member of the DLC, The Blue Dogs, a "New Democrat", or who votes or believes as they do.

(4) Is a "moderate" or a "conservative" when it comes to social and economic issues that are extending poverty in the U.S. and extending tax breaks and corporate personhood for the wealthy.

THAT IS THROWING A VOTE AWAY. And, THAT I'll never do again. Never ever, ever.

TC

[LWolf]

13. My conscience is always my guide in the voting booth.

I won't be tossing it away this time. Kucinich has my vote again.

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. kick

[Douglas Carpenter]

17. /