DUers in no way represent the views of the majority of the Democratic party

[Lex]

as harsh as that is to realize.

[QC]

1. And that is a very fortunate thing indeed! n/t

[xultar]

13. Seconded.

[Midlodemocrat]

44. Thirded.

[obiwan]

46. Yep. Being a sheep sucks.

[EstimatedProphet]

49. Agreed, thank God!

[Skwmom]

2. I bet the posters at DU know plenty of people off the boards,

even of different political backgrounds, that feel the same way about Clinton as SOS.

[Stand and Fight]

37. Sitting in an office with 8 Democrats right now.

Moderates -- like myself -- and liberals. No one here is against Clinton as SoS. The reality is that DU is VERY MUCH OUT OF THE MAINSTREAM.

[ben_meyers]

3. The hell you say!

[lapfog_1]

4. I think if you put it to all registered Democrats.

Lieberman would not be in the party.

Hillary would not be SecState (though that vote would be very close).

So, maybe we don't represent the party... but on these two issues, we aren't that far off either.

[Lex]

5. I'm not so sure about that myself. I doubt they even care that much

about Lieberman, and may support clinton as sos.

[RiverStone]

6. Have you seen any polls in the MSM on the Lieberman question?

I bet we would not be far off on that one.

Overall, yea - we at DU are left of center. No doubt there.

[Lex]

7. we are more plugged in and thus more pissed off

-- most Democrats don't give a whit one way or the other about Lieberman, I'd bet.

[truedelphi]

43. Also on the issue of Universal Single Payer Health Care

Every single person I know that saw Michael Moore's film SICKO, whether they were Repugs dragged to the film by more liberal friends or Dems and progressives who went willingly - all those people agree that our health system is a mess.

they also think that we must not reward the tycoons/CEO's from the health care management firms that created this mess.

Get them out of the loop and save us all 30% a year per person on our health care costs.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. in some ways that is unfortunute, in others one can only thank god

[John Q. Citizen]

9. This is true. Most Dens vote Republican a lot more, than people on this board do.

That's why we are underground. We are hiding from the Repos the other Dems keep electing.

So why are you here? Same reason?

[Lex]

10. I'm here because I'm a liberal Democrat and my views

fit with DU'ers more than moderate Democrats' views.

I do recognize that the vast middle of the party isn't represented as fully here as it is out in the non-DU world.

[John Q. Citizen]

34. It all depends on who you talk to and how you talk. canvassed for money for three years on

universal health care in 7 states 5 days a week and I can tell you I raised at least 120 dollars a night at the doors. That was my job.

so when you ask people about issue, (as Pew Reasearch points out) a majority hold very liberal views. Yet if you ask them to describe themselves they say they are moderate or conservative.

there is no vast middle of the party. have you ever been to party fuctions? They were all but calcified a few years back with of the same old people always doing everything.

What would be a view point that you believe this 'middle Democrat" would believe. What issue would be important and what solution would they agree with?

[EFerrari]

11. I agree. Most people here are better informed and have more complicated views

when we're not screaming at each other. :silly:

[Lex]

12. I agree.

nt

[Stand and Fight]

39. I can agree on that.

However, I tend to NOT take part in the screaming matches. Seems a bit of a waste of time to me -- so I do it in the real world, minus the screaming.

[Hawkowl]

14. We are the base

The difference between the Republican base and the democratic base is they get golden parachutes and we get golden showers.

[Lex]

16. actually they seem to stay more angry over at free republic than we do here

and I guess FR considers themselves the repub base

[Hawkowl]

20. Maybe that's why they are rewarded

And we are shit upon by the party elders.

[No Elephants]

47. Yes, but our party elders reward freepers as much or more than

do their own party elders. The Republican Party does not take care of the Freepers. It takes care of the wealthy. The wealth are the real base of the Pub party, not Freepers.

“This is an impressive crowd — the haves and the have mores. Some people call you the elite — I call you my base.” George W. Bush, 2000 Al Smith Dinner.

Basically, both parties are more like each other than they are like their base. Contributions from the wealthy and from corporations are what get the candidates of both parties elected. That, and the votes of those who are truly moderate.

So, we have Clinton "establishing" the policy of "Don't ask, don't tell," in the military. (Please. Someone tell me how the military policy on GLBT's was any different during the Revolutionary War?)

We have Clinton signing DOMA instead of vetoing it. We have Clinton signing the Glass Steagall Act instead of vetoing it. We have Clinton spearheading welfare reform. And Democrats voting for the Iraq War Resolution, not stopping torture, etc.

It's really only on appointment of judges that Republicans can be counted on to cater to the Freepers, though they may have no money; and it's only on appointment of judges that Democrats can be counted on to cater to DU'ers. This is especially so if we are dealing with Republicans from pink, purple or blue states or with Democrats from pale blue, purple or red states.

I have not entertained these thoughts before typing them out here. And now I have depressed myself.

[MyNameGoesHere]

15. wow profound and true.

But that won't deter the "believers" here. They think they "own" President Obama so they will keep defecating from their mouths.

[Lex]

18. that's far too harsh.

all I'm saying is we have to step back and have some perspective on the entire landscape, and it's not all going to go our way all the time post-November 4th

[mmonk]

17. The majority of the Democratic party doesn't know what the hell is going on.

That being said, have you interviewed all of them?

[Lex]

19. well

of course I have, what a silly question

[mmonk]

22. That settles it then.

;-)

[noiretextatique]

21. of course we do

we are a sample, albeit a small one, of the democratic party.

[bowens43]

24. we are on the fringe nt

[noiretextatique]

26. there are all types here

even recently converted republicans. we have some conseratives and moderates too. i don't but the "america is conservative" meme. the people are far more progressive than the parties, but hopefully some of that will start to change.

[bowens43]

23. agreed. we are to the left, what the freepers are to the right.

[camera obscura]

48. As much as I agree with the OP I wouldn't put it *that* far

From what I've seen we don't as a whole spread nasty rumors as they do. Nor are we as convinced that McCain/Palin are honest-to-God fascists the way that Freepers think that Obama is a socialist who was educated by Marxists.

[yardwork]

25. Got a link?

:smoke:

[Lex]

29. here are a couple of links actually

:P

[girl gone mad]

27. I don't see how you can say that.

I think DU is pretty representative, on the whole.

ETA: I'm interested to know why you would want to marginalize a group that you're a part of. What's your agenda here?

[mrbarber]

28. And you know how every DU'er thinks?

[Lex]

30. yes, all people in fact

this is of course my point

[The Doctor.]

31. That's the problem with being too well informed.

Being so far ahead of the curve sucks sometimes.

[Lex]

33. I agree.

That is true of most of the folks here. :hi:

[Two Americas]

32. true

Reading the threads here, the most dominant voices, on true political matters of power and economics, are far to the right of the party leadership, which is far to the right of the grass roots activist community, which is far to the right of the people.

The tail most definitely wags the dog.

[Stand and Fight]

35. Thank God for small favors! n/t

[AlCzervik]

36. yup.

[Dr Fate]

38. I'll bite- who are the non DU DEM voters who are clamoring for Joe to keep his position?

Can you show me the polls where the majority of Democratic voters insist that Joe be able to keep his chairmanship?

[jillan]

40. So true. I know people that were totally against Hillary as POTUS that think she would be a great

SoS.

People that understand that Obama will choose cabinet members and staff that he is comfortable with, that he feels will help him accomplish his goals.

[BootinUp]

41. {double take}

WHAT!?!!?!?!???

Says who!??????

[Solon]

42. Well no shit, most of the time we are right...

and most of the Democratic party is wrong.

[Lex]

51. I agree.

nt

[JJ]

45. Yeah, we're a "CENTER-RIGHT" country.

I know, because Hannity, and George Will, and Greta, and O'Reilly, and Brit, and Joe the DeadIntern, etc. tell me so every day on the talkin' picture box. They'd never mislead me, now would they?

[Lex]

50. No we aren't a "center right" country. That's BS.

nt

[Fovea]

52. DU represents

the progressive wing of the party, predominately. It is also the fastest growing segment of the big tent.

Obamacans may enter the tent over the next four years, but we are in economic free fall, as I have said it would since 2003 if we did not reduce milintel by 80% or so.

But

The global free market has entered a period of the big fail.
The US government will be the largest employer until 2016 or so.
We are about to bail out the auto industry to prop up a dying paradigm that is too energy intensive.
The US healthcare system will collapse at a rate proportioned to employers dumping health insurance or employees, for that matter.

So we will have a massive contraction of all essential services. Obama will have to deal with Bush's depression. Before President Obama's second term, DU will host serious discussions of which industries must be nationalized. In the face of this national emergency, the term 'free market' will carry a totally different connotation. It will become a pejorative. At that point, DU will be far more mainstream. 2010 maybe. At that point, DU will need the center right more than ever, because the center left will be ascendant. The left itself will have a real seat at the table.

We will see a progressive social democrat America with a rather mixed economy because the old "FreekMarket"(tm) will be doing the concrete swandive.
By the time something like current the consumer market comes back, the age of the corporation will have past its zenith. On the other side of this crash is an America actually entering the 21st Century.
The big consumer transit item might end up the third generation segway(tm).

As the world economy rebounds, the price of oil will return to, and exceed 2008 levels very quickly. The old paradigm of long haul truck transport of goods will die right then.

[No Elephants]

53. I post here; I believe I think independently. I consider myself a moderate Democrat, not far

left, except on the Constitution, which includes equal rights for EVERYone, and the environment.

I cannot forgive LIEberman, but I can see not being punitive to him, if being punitive disadvantages Dems in the Senate. What I think is the worst case is what happened. He was not handled in a way to maximize his desire to do whatever he feels he can for Democrats, nor was he punished. For that, I blame Reid, whom I consider a lousy leader.

For Secretary of State, I would like to see someone other than Richardson, Clinton OR Kerry. However, if it has to be one of those three, Kerry would be my first choice, Hillary my second and Richardson my third. Above all, I am willing to trust that Obama has good reasons for what he does.

However, I am somewhat disappointed in Obama to the extent that it is said to be unlikely that anyone who authorized "interrogation" will be investigated. Maybe they feel that will only be a distraction, when all forces of government now have to be tuned into the economy and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the so called WOT.