Question about LaRouche

[genius]

I understand LaRouche is pretty old and, unless he has some new medical discovery, he will likely die someday. His supporters are FDR liberal Democrats and currently their second favorite candidate (behind LaRouche) is DK.

My question is, if and when LaRouche goes, will they join the liberal Democrats and back liberal candidates or will they crown another leader for their movement?

[MrBenchley]

1. Say what?

"His supporters are FDR liberal Democrats "
Not even close to true...LaRouche supporters are by and large screwlooses who have their own weird little cult.

[genius]

6. I've tried to talk them into voting for DK and they're actually very

reasonable. They seem to know what Bush is up to and will generally say very good things about DK. But they seem loyal to their leader and this seems to be their major failing. They liked Clinton but they did not like Gore. They also like nuclear power, which is weird. They show up at the Democratic conventions with literature and music and some of the are very nice. Rather than just distancing them, we ought to keep trying to pull them in and talking them into voting for our candidates. Maybe it will work at some point.

[digno dave]

32. LaRouche experience

I used to work directly with a Laruoche fanatic. Man, let me tell you, he had some "out there" therories on the way the world is run. They believe the British monarchy(they, of course, plotted to kill Diana) is essentially the anti-christ and they are on a perpetual mission to recolonize the world under British rule. Of course these days it would be via fiancial institutions, mainly. They believe different organizations/charities are agents for this cause...like the WWF(World Wildlife Fund), IMF, etc.

They truly do despise the Bushs', for they are in cahootz with the monarchy. LaRouche ssupporters are in line with the Vatican and are against population control(and abortion). They worship DaVinci and other Rennaisance artists. They are pro-west and anti-post-modern. They have a profound appreciation for the sciences.

We were in the video production business togetehr and one time we went to videotape a LaRouche speaking engagement. Others who were there were very suspicious of me because I wasn't in their loop.

This guy was one of the smartest people i have ever met, but he had some definite character flaws that made his association with such a group understandable.

[PatGund]

37. Doesn't mean anything

They also like nuclear power, which is weird.

Not really. A lot of Dems I know, (myself included) are pro-nuclear. Several of my friends even work in the industry. Not all Dems are anti-nuclear.

That being said, LaRouche is a nutjob. I heard a radio ad on LA AM station KNX for him, and he really struck me as being a few french fries short of a happy meal.

[not systems]

2. His supporters are FDR liberal Democrats?

Are you sure about that?

I thought they were mostly displaced SLA members.

[Exgeneral]

3. It depends if we recieve communication from the exalted alien king

of Jupiter. My money is on the LaRouchies going for him.

[starroute]

4. LaRouche's followers are more of a cult than a political party

I don't have any insider scoop on their thinking, but I'd say it was pretty unlikely that they'd all suddenly turn into liberal Democrats.

[mot78]

5. Liberal Democrat?

LaRouche is a Neo-Nazi facsist who believes the British Monarchy sectretly runs the world through Jewish influence. I don't think his supporters are transferable...unless they get off of whatever they're smoking.

[genius]

8. We've got to get past the paranoia. They represent votes and liberal ones

There's got to be a way we can rope in these people. When we went to talk Boxer into voting against Ashcroft, they were also there to try to talk her into doing likewise. They seem to be on the right side of most issues. I believe that, in the general election, they vote for the Democratic nominee since their guy only runs in the primaries.

[goodhue]

7. they are not liberal FDR democrats

rather anti-zionist conspiracy nuts (emphasis on nuts!).
Their message of loony fear is far from Kucinich's message of hope.
IMHO (& the opinion of the democratic party I believe) larouche is no democrat and neither are his followers.

[morgan2]

13. republicans reach out to the bible belt

nuts, who believe that the bible is real. I doubt Karl Rove and Dick Cheney give a rats ass about the bible. Its votes, try just not insulting them and it'll go a long way.

[genius]

15. Thank you. That's what I was trying to get at.

I can't believe we are pushing away people who will vote our way.

[MilDem]

25. I doubt they would vote our way

I strongly suspect if LaRouche died, LaRouche supporters would latch on to a second bizarre third party candidate.

[HuskerDem]

27. I will be HAPPY to push them away. THRILLED even

Keep those fucin nutjobs away from us.

[goodhue]

35. I'm all for outreach!

Just don't think they are really FDR liberals despite their claims. Certainly they have adopted a whole slate of issues consistent with the progressive vision. But the subtext is something entirely different than working towards positive progressive hopeful change. Talk about running on anger.

LaRouche's writings speak for themselves. They certainly incorporate many social justice concepts but the language is a whole different real. Check it out.
http://larouchein2004.net/

One of my favorites is LaRouche righly taking on the Moonies with some amazing rhetoric in
"Is Your Clergyman or Congressman a Moonie Sex-Cultist"
http://larouchein2004.net/pages/pressreleases/2002/021112moonie.htm

"The Unification Church of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, otherwise known as the Moonies, is the biggest single source of corruption and perversion in the United States today. The Moonies, through scores of front groups, are spreading literally billions of dollars a year in offshore laundered money--some of it almost certainly derived from the sales of illegal drugs and weapons--to buy-off American politicians, religious leaders, former civil rights activists, and other constituency leaders. The dirty money is frequently followed by sexual favors from a literal army of young women--all brainwashed into Moon's bizarre sexual rituals."

[bluestateguy]

9. They are like a cult

Many will leave politics all together, but I imagine that LaRouche has a chosen successor who will rally the faithful.

[genius]

11. Cult is a term used by right-wing christian extremists to classify other

churches. According the the right-wing christians, the term includes, JWs, Religious Scientists, Christian Scientists,Unitarians, etc. If you don't believe in the Trinity, you belong to a cult. It is really an offensive term that correctly means little culture but through misuese has become an insult. I would love to know why it is impossible to have an objective rational discussion about the LaRouche people. They obviously have numbers and represent votes. Why are we distancing them rather than bringing them in?

[Rich Hunt]

12. because

their real views are not similar to those of Democratic party members.

[genius]

14. Read their literature. Aside from LaRouche's support for nuclear power,

their views are really liberal. They hate Bush and Ashcroft. They loved Clinton. They like DK and Kerry.

[Exgeneral]

17. That's a ringing endorsement for Kerry

Look these people are out there, if we need the wack jobs to win we might as well be republicans; there's plenty to go around over there.

[Rich Hunt]

19. I agree, the logic is bizarre

...it's not as if there are that many of them.

[genius]

20. It takes a minimum number of signatures to get on the ballot.

They're on our side. Why throw them away?

[MilDem]

23. They are not on our side

Just because LaRouche calls himself a Democrat, doesn't make him so.

Also, LaRouche supporters are not a large enough group of voters to make it worth the radical alteration the Democrats would need to do to win them (if it would even be possible to do so.

[Phelan]

38. or around $5,000...that can replace the signatures

[Rich Hunt]

18. liberal?? I think not

http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/nclc4.html

Judaism

"Judaism is the religion of a caste of subjects of Christianity, entirely molded by ingenious rabbis to fit into the ideological and secular life of Christianity. In short, a selfsustaining Judaism never existed and never could exist. As for Jewish culture otherwise, it is merely the residue left to the Jewish home after everything saleable has been marketed to the Goyim."

"The Case of Ludwig Feuerbach", Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., (under pen name L. Marcus), The Campaigner, December 1973

"America must be cleansed for its righteous war by the immediate elimination of the Nazi Jewish Lobby and other British agents from the councils of government, industry, and labor."

"A War-winning Strategy", Editorial, New Solidarity, March 1978

Jazz

"Jazz was foisted on black Americans by the same oligarchy which had run the U.S. slave trade, with the help of the classically trained but immoral George Gershwin and the Paris-New York circuit of drug-taking avant-garde artists."

"The Racist Roots of Jazz", Back Cover, The Campaigner, September-October 1980

Zionism

"Zionism is the state of collective psychosis through which London manipulates most of international Jewry."

"Zionism Is Not Judaism" Editorial, The Campaigner, December 1978

Harold Washington

"Washington was elected with a strong homosexual vote, backed by the pro-drug, pro-pornography Playboy Foundation."


The Beatles

"The Beatles had no genuine musical talent, but were a product shaped according to British Psychological Warfare Division (Tavistock) specifications, and promoted in Britain by agencies which are controlled by British intelligence."

"Why Your Child Became A Drug Addict" Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., Campaigner Special Report, Copyright 1978

(etc.)

[salin]

36. right ... La Rouches crusade in the eighties to quarantine

AIDS/HIV+ victims to a desert island... that is real liberal :eyes:

[genius]

16. Except for nuclear energy, in what way?

They also support the idea of a Department of Peace. They also oppose the war in Iraq. They are anti-corporate. They think Bush and Cheney and Ashcroft are really bad guys and should be impeached. I don't know all of their positions. But the ones I know about look pretty good with one exception. AT the Democratic convention, the best anti-Bush conversation I had was with a LaRouche supporter I was trying to get to vote for DK.

[Rich Hunt]

10. once again...

http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/nclcmain.html

see also:

http://www.rickross.com/groups/larouche.html

[MilDem]

21. I have no idea

And frankly, I know it seems anti-democratic of me, I hope LaRouche supporters fade away when their neo-fascist leader dies.

[eileen_d]

22. I think you are being quite generous, and I admire that to a point

But do you think they'll REALLY stop supporting LaRouche when he dies? :tinfoilhat:

[ButterflyBlood]

24. FDR liberal Democrats?

more like people who escaped from the asylum.

[Albert Einstein]

39. The ones in the Democratic Party are all liberal Democrats.

Yes there are a lot of LaRouche people within the actual party and they are among the most reasonable people in the party. Their loyalty to one person seems a little absurd but they're pretty nice people. They backed the Democratic candidates in the 2002 election and they will probably back the nominee in 2004. What is amazing is that they keep voting Democrats when some members of our party, who are afraid of ghosts and believe rumors over truth, go after them with such blind hatred. I don't know much about their leader personally but his followers are mostly really nice, intelligent people. I guess, in this place, backing Clinton or opposing war or opposing the death penalty are viewed as cult things.

I'm not sure there is room for those of us who don't pre-judge others because of false rumors here. It's good that this place hasn't affected voters, who seem to be doing a pretty good job of proving how stupid a lot of people here are.

[JVS]

26. They have a clone waiting

[HuskerDem]

28. in an uderwater laboratory 6 miles due west of

Atlantis.

[genius]

29. With this kind of outreach, I guess we're depending on miracles to win

elections. People here are attacking Kerry, Edwards, Kucinich, Sharpton, Dean, the dropped-out candidates, rape victims, children, registered Democrats about whom they are paranioid, etc. If we attack everyone, who will vote Democrat in November?

[MilDem]

30. Outreach to LaRouche Supporters isn't worth it

I'm all about outreach, and none of the people you listed are members of a downright bizarre cult following. Please take a look at some of the research on LaRouche and his organization and tell me if those folks are going to embrace any mainstream candidate. It is not worth our time and effort to recruit LaRouche supporters, because if LaRouche died, those folks would simply latch onto some other bizarre third party candidate.

[genius]

33. They all vote. Their numbers are large enough to qualify for ballots

Most Americans don't vote. We should go after those who do and who vote Democrat. Besides, I like them better than the pro-war, pro-Bush idiots. They are registered Democrats. LaRouche will probably not last forever.

[MilDem]

34. Fair enough

But having seen LaRouche supporters in action (At the 2003 California Democratic convention, in Sacramento, CA) and done a bit of research on them, I feel confident that people who support LaRouche will never vote for a mainstream candidate in a general election.

Also, it generally doesn't take much to get one ballots, just a few signatures and a bit of money. (And LaRouche has plenty of that, because his devoted followers give him all of theirs.)

And we're not talking about a lot of votes here, his pre-Wisconsin total is 1602 votes. And I have a feeling quite a few of those are simply from people casting a ill-informed protest vote against all of the other Democratic candidates.

[Rich Hunt]

31. oh my g*d

You mean people are, like, debating and stuff?

Because, of course, the whole world is reading DU.

[ldoolin]

40. Not FDR liberal Democrats

LaRouche, I'd guess, has around 200 actual members of his little political cult. The votes he gets in Democratic primary elections are mostly protest votes; the number of his actual followers is very small.

When he dies, I'm sure there will either be a next-in-line to take over the cult (probably Nancy Spannaus), or else a power struggle between two or more would-be successors to the LaRouche throne. One of them might lead half of the group off to Salt Lake City to become the National Caucus of Labor Committees, while the other half will stay in Virginia and become the Reorganized National Caucus of Labor Committees. Just don't expect them to suddenly become mainstream Democrats. They're too brainwashed to do that. You might see them selling petunias in the airport though.

They are not FDR Democrats. That's how LaRouche is currently trying to position the LaRouche brand name in the marketplace. Before this he tried to position himself as a Reaganite, and before that a Marxist - but his ideology has been the same since the 1960s: Plato good, Aristotle evil, British very evil, no limits to growth, nuclear power good, abortion evil, environmentalists very evil, Queen of England controls the international drug trade, Greenpeace and the Queen of England are the forces behind international Satanism, Henry Kissinger is the Antichrist, either enact the entire LaRouche program now or the world economy will collapse and millions will starve, etc. I would say that he is a nut, but that would be insulting to the squirrels.