I've been a Democrat all of my life

[bigtree]

I've NEVER voted for a republican or supported their party in ANY way. I registered independent when I became eligible to vote because Carter was ambivalent about legalization and Anderson was for it.

But, I am a life-long Democrat. I cried in nursery school when Johnson announced he wouldn't run, and I wore a Humphrey button that was larger than my face. I fought every day for every one of our nominees. I fought with pride for our party, and with a great love for my country.

It's a goddamn shame that after the years I've spent posting here that I should feel a need to post this. I have nothing but contempt for ANYONE who has questioned my loyalty because of some opinion or another I've expressed here.

I've been here long enough to know that it's par for the course to get slammed like that, but I've been drawn into more than one fistfight (with people I actually know) because of my loyalty to the party and I'm damn sure not going to take the ignorant comments from here suggesting I'm anything other than a faithful, dedicated Democrat lying down.

(better now)

[AngryAmish]

1. okaly-dokaly...

[bigtree]

2. godamn right, okaly-dokaly

[roguevalley]

48. FDR dem here, far left of center. Know what you mean, bigtree.

[dailykoff]

3. There's a reason the MIC keeps growing.

Let's just say they've made a science out of managing public perception.

[elocs]

4. Most who read this are probably thinking to themselves:

:shrug:

[bigtree]

you've never been called a freeper here?

Or, have had your loyalty to the party questioned because of something you've posted? Lucky.

[elocs]

15. I would be guessing that you have recently experienced something that provoked this thread.

Yes, I have experienced that, especially when you don't jump through all of the proper hoops or pass the perceived Democratic litmus test. Evidently our tent is not as big as some believe. Sometimes the attitude is that you either toe the line or get out. In many respects we are not too far different than our freeper counterparts in some things.

[jhrobbins]

25. Actually, I think it is just the opposite that we have these problems-

I don't think that our tent is not as big as we thought, but that it is VERY large and embraces a much wider variance of opinion than does the Republican party. We are panavision and they are myopic. It's frustrating that we cannot be more in lock step as the Repubs often seem to be, but our weakness in this area is actually our strength

[elocs]

28. Yes, I believe it is and should be big, but too many want to pigeonhole people

into their limited little boxes using some kind of litmus test if you can really be a Democrat. We have recently seen here at DU something which could be used as a litmus test as to whether you could post here or not and apparently Obama would not pass that one. Too many people do expect all of those who want to be Democrats to march in lockstep and to think with one mind on every pet "Democratic" issue, otherwise they are branded a DINO. They are the ones who want to keep our tent as small and limited as possible and in their own eyes they appear to be noble and righteous, self righteous that is.

[yardwork]

33. Being against gay marriage is against DU rulesl, per Skinner.

Read the rules and stop with the passive aggressive b.s.

[elocs]

40. I never said a word about it did I?

No matter how much you make dislike it, I am entitled to my opinion, so I am certain you know where you can stick your post.

[yardwork]

44. Oh please. Your post is clearly making a reference to that issue.

You are being passive-aggressive. Nobody cares.

[elocs]

47. You are the perfect example of the "let's put Democrats in our narrowly defined box".

"If you don't believe in or agree with us on X, Y, and Z, then we will not allow you to belong to our club". The "let's see how small and narrow we can make our tent bunch".

If "nobody cares" about my post, why did you see fit to respond to it, twice? Fortunately, for me, I won't have to be reading any more of your "I speak for everyone" posts. People get to be Democrats whether you agree with them or not. Too bad, so sad for the narrow-minded party members who want to require others to jump through their hoops in order to not be called DINOs.

[aquart]

5. You realize we're not clairvoyant?

And most of us are not members of federal security agencies with access to every detail of your life?

That said, every group has its idiots. I'm Jewish. I have Lieberman.

[EFerrari]

9. LOL! Freddie Fender is my cross.

:rofl:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

13. My deepest sympathies.

That is something a bowl of matzah ball soup can't fix. And that stuff cures almost everything.

[mirror wall]

6. Try not to take it personally.

I don't. There are lots of people out there who go through life on a series of soundbytes. There are fewer of them on our side, but they do exist (and seem to exist on this particular site in higher concentrations than in general life). I'm in your position, too, having always supported Dems but still retaining a mind of my own. I'm younger than you, but I spent my college years criticizing Clinton's bad policies (of which there were many: welfare reform, NAFTA, the ongoing messed up interference in Somalia, etc.). While I didn't disagree with everything he did, and INFINITELY preferred him to the alternative Republicans (Bush I and Dole) I did get a lot of blowback for holding any negative sentiment towards him.

I will continue to hold Obama's administration to the highest standard possible. I know that it'll be way way way better than the alternitive, but hold no delusions that it'll be perfect. When he does stuff I don't agree with, I will criticize him. Sometime I'll do it here, which will get me screamed at. I will let the screaming roll off my back.

[crispini]

7. I think, if you are referring to the space shuttle thread,

you should have posted this there, 'cause not that many people are going to get it. :shrug:

And I think you'd have more luck with people if you specifically pointed to things that are military-related in the shuttle missions, 'cause most people around here are pro-science and don't see a blanket call to ditch the shuttle as connected with the military. IMO.

Edited to add-- ok, revisiting the thread, I see where ya did that (I'd just read the OP).

[EFerrari]

8. Don't take them at all, bigtree. These are the intertubes. You know who you are

and most of us know who you are, too.

It's not worth your attention.

[Joe the Liberal]

10. .......

Ok what happened? :shrug:

[hfojvt]

11. Why?

Obviously, you were raised that way, but why did you stick with it. I cannot remember Johnson, my memory only going back to the election of 1972. Presumably I was raised Republican, but my parents, or father, did take me to see Robert Kennedy when he came to our town. I cannot remember any political discussions from my younger days even though I watched the Presidential debates in 1976 and stayed up kinda late watching election returns.

[bigtree]

18. It may have had to do with my parents, and to the civil rights movement

Mom and Dad were both employed in civil service positions, Dad at EEOC. For some reason, I grew up with a handful of iconic, political references in mind and view. I despised Nixon, but it may have been because he beat Humphrey. But the rest of my public role models were black Americans who played some part in the civil rights movement or were cited as important in the advancement of 'Negros' in America. It was impossible for me to not associate my own uniqueness with their similar characteristics. Every influence that I identified with was engaged in what would come to mean to me as a validation of my own worth as a black American. We moved from D.C. right after MLK Jr.'s killing into an all white neighborhood. I kept these black (Democratic) influences close to heart as models for my own life. I predictably regarded their rivals (political and social) as enemies and antagonists who threatened my own credibility as they threatened my icons'. So, I only paid mind to Democratic politics. I never bothered to regard ANYTHING about the republican agenda as acceptable or something I could possibly identify with. The rest has just been a matter of academics as I've put flesh to my advocacy.


bed now . . . nite work

[TahitiNut]

12. I wore my "I Like Ike" button proudly in the 4th grade.

I'm a lifetime independent liberal and have never 'joined' any political party. Then again, I lived in George Wallace's Alabama in the early 60s. Given a choice between George Wallace (D), Lester Maddox (D), Orville Faubus (D), Dwight Eisenhower (R), and Bill Milliken (R) ... there's no question I'd still prefer the latter two. The liberal-conservative divide has not always been partisan. Indeed, it's still no 'guarantee.'

:shrug:

Folks should note that Eisenhower's descendants supported John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008.

[Hoosier]

27. Ike would have been labeled a liberal, pacifist and/or socialist

these days....that's how far to the right we are.


Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

Don't join the book burners. Do not think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed.



How far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without?


If men can develop weapons that are so terrifying as to make the thought of global war include almost a sentence for suicide, you would think that man's intelligence and his comprehension... would include also his ability to find a peaceful solution.


If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing a world order.

If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.


In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims?


In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.


It is far more important to be able to hit the target than it is to haggle over who makes a weapon or who pulls a trigger.


May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.


No one should ever sit in this office over 70 years old, and that I know.


Only Americans can hurt America.


Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.


Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.

The people of the world genuinely want peace. Some day the leaders of the world are going to have to give in and give, it to them.


The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.


The purpose is clear. It is safety with solvency. The country is entitled to both.


The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth.


The United States strongly seeks a lasting agreement for the discontinuance of nuclear weapons tests. We believe that this would be an important step toward reduction of international tensions and would open the way to further agreement on substantial measures of disarmament.


There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.


There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens cannot cure.


This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.


Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.


Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.


War settles nothing.

We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.


We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom.


We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.


What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.


When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war.


'Worry' is a word that I don't allow myself to use.

You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.

[Texasgal]

14. Being called a freeper on DU

is a badge of honor!

Wear it proudly! :)

[crimsonblue]

16. why do you hate America?

:P

[Lex]

17. No matter what anyone says, their opinions can never change a fact.

nt

[MADem]

19. I stopped posting because I tired of the accusations as well.

I still read occasionally, but my enthusiam for the forum has abated. A shame, really, that the big tent has gotten so small.

[madokie]

20. And you'll always be one of my favs to read

and thats a fact. :fistbump:

[JohnnyLib2]

21. Didn't take me long to find the "fistfight" in GD.

You make a good point in this OP, Bigtree. Once again, discussion of a particular point of view was clouded by name-calling and insinuation about loyalties. :banghead:

[cali]

22. why should anyone care?

Seriously, why do people post this kind of thread?

[SidDithers]

24. Exactly...nt

Sid

[JohnnyLib2]

26. Freeper!

:evilgrin:

[bigtree]

30. I've wondered the same about the insulting, insensitive posts you make

. . . like this one of yours.

You're not even asking me, you're just showing off your pettiness and looking for a high five.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. As a lifelong DINO who has crossed swords with you over party loyalty..

I can assure your detractors that your loyalty is unquestionable.

"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." --Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789.

"Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office,...to take a part with either would be unworthy of a reasonable or moral man." --Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1795.

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." --John Quincy Adams

[rvablue]

29. You;'re outing yourself as a "Democrat In Name Only".....don't get it? n/t

[bigtree]

31. what the fuck?

incredible.

[rvablue]

37. Please tell me why my comment was "incredible"

If DINO doesn't stand for what I thought it stands for can you please fill me in?

And I'm not being sarcastic. That's what I thought it stood for. If I'm wrong I won't mind if you update my acronym vocab.

Thanks in advance!

[yardwork]

35. You're a lifelong DINO and you admit it here? Do you know what DINO means?

[rvablue]

36. Not sure if you're responding to me or the post I was responding to

but I thought DINO stood for Democrat In Name Only.

Please school if I'm wrong.

[yardwork]

38. Sorry. Yes, I was responding to the same poster as you. DINO means Democrat in Name Only.

Why would someone brag about that on DU?

Sorry I responded to the wrong post. I agree with you.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

42. What don't you get?

I've been a registered Democrat since I became eligible to vote in 1965. Which doesn't mean that I owe any particular allegiance to the Democratic Party or any other party. It simply means that I consider the Democratic Party as the lesser of two evils when compared to the Republicans. But, fortunately, there are other parties that I do, on occasion vote for.

[yardwork]

45. That's not the generally understood definition of DINO.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[yardwork]

34. You cried in nursery school when Johnson announced he wouldn't run?

Really?

Really????

[bigtree]

41. yep, I remember the day. The news came on the radio that was playing

I had somehow gotten myself caught up in Johnson winning. It must have come from my parents, or from the Agronsky and Co. program that we watched back then.

But, the lady in charge actually had to stand me in the corner to shut me up. I just started bawling and I guess I thought SOMEONE should be upset. No one else was. I really didn't like Nixon, not the name, not the face. The news just sent me for a loop. I don't think I ever got over it. Dad later got me this HUGE Humphrey button (to console me?). It's weird, but entirely true. Go figure.

It was more of a before and afterschool day care place than a nursery school, even though it was called a nursery school . . . and I was nearly six.

[yardwork]

43. I was eight, and I remember all the tension surrounding that election.

I remember feeling puzzled about why the adults were arguing about all these men - they all looked the same to me. Of course I loathed Nixon. Everyone I knew loathed Nixon, although some acknowledged that Wallace was even worse.

1968.

P.S. I still have no idea what this thread is about.

[H2O Man]

39. Look at the people

who were posting the nonsense, and then consider some of the other nonsense that they have been posting. It's not worth getting upset about, in the sense of taking it personal. A few seem to have an agenda. Ignore them.

[yardwork]

46. I still have no idea what this thread is about. Is it about the SoS?

I don't care who Obama picks to be Secretary of State. I trust his judgment.

[leftofthedial]

49. commie.

;-)

[Horse with no Name]

50. You and I have had some hearty disagreements

Never have I thought you were anything less than I am, my friend and I agree with your sentiment.
I've been called everything but what I really am.
Keep fighting Big.:hug: