Kucinich. Dean. Clark. Gephardt. Kerry. Lieberman. Sharpton. Edwards. M-B

[Hawkeye-X]

They are all good candidates.

Why did I take off my signature and my avatar? This is to remind you that like you, I am an ordinary voter. Divisive or not, the primary season will be extremely nasty, but more importantly, we seem to be forgetting our goal, which is to remove Chimpy McCokespoon and send him along his way back to his pig farm in Crawford, TX.

I ask today to stand by me to remember to pledge ABB like I did on 12/12/00, regardless of who the winning candidate is. We are but a mere 11 months away from the general elections and the Democratic infighting will not endear us to our true goal. Yes, I have my candidate, but my vote, my money and my efforts will go to any D that emerges out victorious in the primaries.

I ask all of you to join me in this pledge. "Regardless of who my candidate is, I will work hard, donate money, and vote for the winning candidate out of the primaries, and remember that it is the fraud in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington that is illegally occupying the White House, and finally restore the integrity back to our country".

That's all I ask.

Thanks!

Hawkeye-X

[slinkerwink]

1. I pledge.....

Regardless of who my candidate is, I will work hard, donate money, and vote on the winning candidates out of the primaries, and remember it is the fraud in 1600 pennsylvania avenue in DC that is illegally occupying the White House, and finally restore the integrity back to our country..........


there's my pledge.ABLB

[Turkw]

2. Right there with you, it's the overwhelming feeling in all the campaigns

I am absolutely convinced of this.

[corporatewhore]

3. Please dont send him back to texas

his ass is from conneticut hes just so dumb karl tried to pass off his dumbness as aww shucks down home ranch wisdom hes a cowboy poseur

[WillyBrandt]

5. Send him to Trenton, not Connecticut

Connecticut is a lovely little state. We don't want 'em.

[Hawkeye-X]

6. Most likely...

Chimpy will be in the most toxic state of the Union.... or in prison.

Either way works for me.

Hawkeye-X

[aldian159]

4. I pledge

I don't wanna graduate with Junior as the president.

[Melodybe]

7. I pledge to campaign for the Democratic nominee, whoever it is

With that pledge comes whatever money we can afford to give and my ass in gear registering people to vote and my feet on the pavement going door to door talking to people about why voting democrat is so important.

[Mairead]

8. I'm sorry, I can't bring myself to support a status-quo candidate

We need real change. We deserve (most of us, anyway) real change.

I refuse to give my vote to anyone who doesn't offer real change. I won't sell out.

And I urge other people not to sell out. There's no need to sell out, so we shouldn't do it. We have at least 2 candidates who represent real change, real Democratic values. We should all support one of them.

Let's not settle for Bush Lite!

[Paulie]

10. Amen!

We need a clear dividing line between * and our Canidate. That was one of the problems I saw with Gore, he kept agreeing with Bush "BUT". No more But's! No more pink tu-tu's. No more compromise by putting a toe in the other sides pool.

* is the worst, we can put a ham sandwich against him (aka Unnamed Democrat) and win, why not go all the way and vote our hearts for a change? Instead of the lesser of two evils, or even right leaning centrists. :)

[JohnKleeb]

11. I'll support the nominee Mairead

but I do understand where you are coming from.

[Mairead]

15. I can't blame you, John, since you're doing it out of good-heartedness

but have you noticed that most of those anxiously demanding that we commit to ABB are themselves supporting a status-quo candidate? To me that reads 'I basically support Bush's policies and the corporate hegemony, and I want you to commit to supporting them too so that I don't look like such a sellout!'

[JohnKleeb]

16. Thanks

Believe me its hard. I am not truly ABB myself. Anyhow, its ok, I can understand why people wouldnt vote for some of the candiates.

[cally]

18. I will support the Democratic nominee

I completely disagree with you Mairead. Too much is at stake to allow Bush and his cronies have four more years. I actually support my candidate, respect him, find him very liberal, and trust him. I don't call that a sellout just because I don't like or support your candidate.

[Mairead]

20. I'm sure you will, Cally

But when you claim (as you implicitly do, here) that only by supporting a candidate like Bush can Bush be defeated, you are selling out. You are compromising yourself. In your particular case (a Clark supporter) you're willing to sell out the South American farmers who will be killed by death squads trained at the SotA that Clark supports. (There are many other problems with Clark, too; the SotA was just the first thing that popped into mind)

And if your reaction to this is anger rather than thoughtful reflection, then you can be sure that deep down you know I'm right, because anger is one of the ways we fend things off that we don't want to deal with.

[cally]

21. We see politics very differently

I support a candidate who I believe will be best for this country. I did extensive research and reflection before choosing a candidate. I see what the Bush administration has done to this country. I am terrified at what he would do if he actually won the Presidency.

[Mairead]

22. I'm not sure we do see *politics* differently (or maybe we do)

Where I think we see things differently, if we do, is in how willing we each are to take less than we need. Of course, I might think you're more like me than you really are. For example, I strongly despise SotA and would close it forever in a New York second. But its role in American-hemisphere terrorism might not bother you at all, or not bother you enough. And I also feel strongly that we desperately NEED real change in how our national budget is spent. You might not. If you're young, healthy, and/or well-off, issues like healthcare might not be as troublesome to you as they are to someone who's in her sixties like me, or struggling with fragile health, like Kanary and other DUers.

It'd only be correlation, of course, but I bet it would still be very interesting to map age, 'race', occupation, and economic status --i.e., the constellation that represents 'privilege'-- onto candidate support.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hoppin_Mad]

31. Buzz ! Honk ! Aaaa-uu-gah ! Buzz ! Honk ! Aaaa-uu-gah !

ALERT !

[Clark4Prez]

34. Far from it

Geeze, I have seen some scathing criticisms of Dean here, but this has to be troll bait. There is not one Democrat that will not be far superior to Bush.

If you vote for him fine, but don't come crying to us after he has finished destroying our country and ridden off into a Texas sunset.

[cally]

24. We do see politics differently

I want similar things for my country and the people of the world. I hate the SOA and have protested against it. I want healthcare for all. I want more progressive taxation. I want less corporate power. I know we will get NONE of this under Bush!

What we see differently in politics, is I don't think badly of other candidates or their supporters. I don't call them names or infer that their opinions are not well thought out. We come to our support from different perspectives and I believe most here have thought this through and made a valid and thoughtful decision. I don't like Kucinich for many reasons but I respect those who do. I also think we will not see radical change with any of the Democratic candidates. There are too many institutional barriers to radical change of the type I want in one term. I also don't think we can get both houses of Congress.

I do think Clark has the best chance to reform the military/industrial complex. He has credibility on the issue and has stated that's one of his main goals. It's one of the main reasons I support him.

[Gretchen]

27. when in a party . . .

We need a real change. While there are certain candidates I would hope to win the primary, I will hold my nose with a smile and vote for my less favorite of the nine candidates if they should win the nomination. It is too imperative to rid the US of Bush.

I believe in standing up for democratic values. That is why I'm supporting Kucinich. I'm not wimping out and saying, "see, well , I really like Dennis, but he'll never win, so I'm supporting ______."

When the primary is said and done we will need to unite behind the winning candidate. What is the point of participating in a party if we cannot even come together to defeat Bush?

but for now, GO DENNIS!

[GabysPoppy]

9. Excellent post

I find it incredible what part of "Anyone but Bush" is hard to understand sometimes.

If your not for so and so you are not a good Democrat, or not progressive enough or so and so is "*lite"

We have perfected the art of sly, obnoxious innuendo regardless of who we support. We have perfected the art of nit-picking even when there are no nits to pick.

Better than a spell check feature, we need a preview whereby we can see what are posts look like when our own personal choice's name is inserted instead of who we are ripping apart. Just maybe it would make us think.

Gee, thinking before posting, what a novel concept.

[Walt Starr]

12. I pledge to consider the Democratic Candidate

If Dean is not nominated.

That's as far as I can pledge at this point.

[Tom Rinaldo]

14. That's fair enough given your stated beliefs.

There is nothing inherently unpatriotic about someone thinking of supporting a 3rd Party candidate, for example. It is everyone's right to support whom they chose. I trust that your consideration will be sincere even if someone other than your choice gets the Democratic nomination. A lot is riding on the outcome of the 2004 Election.

[drfemoe]

25. I'll take that one too

n.t.

[Jerseycoa]

36. Fair enough

:)

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. I'm absolutely with you on this one.

We all have strong feelings about who should win, but we have even stronger feelings about who should lose!

[Hep]

17. Sorry.

It's like avidly rooting for the panthers after the steelers failed to make the playoffs. I'll root and I'll hope, but I can't honestly say that I will participate to the same degree that I do for Dean.

I don't think anyone has the right to ask me to do that. I support Dean because he represents a set of policies and a political philosophy that I agree with and the others don't. There's a 90% chance that I'll vote D in November, and in my daily conversations and interactions, I will urge others to vote D. But to say that I have the capacity to FEEL the same way, to be as motivated, to be as excited, would be a lie.

I'm sorry I can't take the pledge. I don't have it in me.

[Hep]

19. Correction/Addendum

I'm don't mean to say that the others don't represent policies and philosophies that I agree with. I mean that Dean has inspired me through these and other things to be more active, to believe in what we can do. The others have not.

[bowens43]

26. I could happily support most of the candidates

BUt if it's Clark, I vote third party or not at all. We have to draw the line somewhere.

[Clark4Prez]

32. Are you willing to draw the line at four more years? n/t

[MODemocrat]

28. You have my pledge

All along, I've made it clear that I won't let it be my non-vote that puts George W. Bush back in the white house.

[Kathleen04]

29. Kudos to you Hawkeye...

Does this mean no more Clark flame-bait threads? ;)

ABB.

[Clark4Prez]

30. Right on, Hawkeye!

No matter who wins the nomination, they have my full support. If not my candidate, then I check my ego at the door and roll up my sleeves and get to work.

It's Dem or Them in 2004!

:dem:

[Hoppin_Mad]

33. ABB - but IMHO you insult them all by including Joe as 'good'

Yes, he would be better than Bush, but that ain't saying much.

Like Howard Dean pledged :

DEAN: I have repeatedly said, because we've got to beat George Bush, that I will vigorously support the nominee of the Democratic Party. And I will vigorously encourage all my supporters to do the same. I will campaign for the Democratic nominee of this party, should it not be me.

And I'd like to find out who on this stage agrees that they will pledge to vigorously support the Democratic nominee.

All raised their hands.

[Bill of Rights]

35. I will take the pledge

"Regardless of who my candidate is, I will work hard, donate money, and vote for the winning candidate out of the primaries, and remember that it is the fraud in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington that is illegally occupying the White House, and finally restore the integrity back to our country".