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| A Response To Howard Dean. |
| 12.09.04 (10:23 am) |
[i]Thank you for that introduction. It's a pleasure to be here.
Let me tell you what my plan for this Party is:
We're going to win in Mississippi ...and Alabama ...and Idaho ...and South Carolina.
Four years ago, the President won 49 percent of the vote. The Republican Party treated it like it was a mandate, and we let them get away with it. [/i]
Really? You managed to stonewall judicial appointees fairly well I'd say.
[i]Fifty one percent is not a mandate either. And this time we're not going to let them get away with it. [/i]
Curious.. so what constitutes a mandate? If getting a few million more votes or winning by the largest margin in popular vote in recent history doesn't, then what does?
[i]Our challenge today is not to re-hash what has happened, but to look forward, to make the Democratic Party a 50-state party again, and, most importantly, to win. [/i]
Thank God. I don't know if I could take 4 more years of kooky conspiracy theories and stolen election myths. You are sending out the memo on this one to everyone, right Howie?
[i]To win the White House and a majority in Congress, yes. But also to do the real work that will make these victories possible -- to put Democratic ideas and Democratic candidates in every office -- whether it be Secretary of State, supervisor of elections, county commissioner or school board member.
Here in Washington, it seems that after every losing election, there's a consensus reached among decision-makers in the Democratic Party is that the way to win is to be more like Republicans.
I suppose you could call that philosophy: if you didn't beat 'em, join them.
I'm not one for making predictions -- but if we accept that philosophy this time around, another Democrat will be standing here in four years giving this same speech. we cannot win by being "Republican-lite." We've tried it; it doesn't work. [/i]
Well, not to pick nits here Howie but it might help if you guys put up a candidate that wasn't a total self serving weasel. Your also going to have to take control of your party back from the radical left, because that is what hurts you more than anything come election time. Just look at the mainstream media for a bit. Notice how whenever you guys put up a candidate they try so hard to generate all that phony excitement and to downplay any idiotic thing he says? If you have that much of an advantage going for you their are only two reasons why you'd be loosing elections as badly as you are, either your candidates are really bad or your ideas are really bad. In this case it's both.
You can't win a Presidential Election without the South or at least part of Middle America. You've lost both. The Democratic party has become so mired in the mantra of unrestricted abortions, super-elite minority status for homosexuals and of course your usual race baiting class and class warfare nonsense that you have completely lost sight of most of America.
So who have you had that made it into the Presidency lately? Clinton squeaked by on razor thin margins in both elections, but would he have one if Perot hadn't split the conservative vote both times? Unlikely. Who else have you had lately.. well lets see, we have to go all the way back to Carter, don't we?
Carter slid past in part thanks to the Nixon scandals and in part due to the fact that he was running against a real anomaly, an incumbent who was in essence a total unknown. Gerald Ford has the distinction of being the only President of the United States who was never elected either President or Vice President.
So in reality you have had only two Presidents since 1970 that were Democrats. Only two in almost 35 years. That is a really, really bad track record no matter how you look at it. Then when you add in the fact that neither was elected under what might be considered "normal" circumstances, and you've got some really big problems.
Now compound that fact with the fact that despite all of the massive effort put forth by the mainstream media and extremely well financed hit squads like Moveon.org that the Republicans not only took the Presidency but managed to make gains in both the House and the Senate that should tell you something.
All you need to do is look at a map Howie, a map of the counties that went for Bush in this last election.
The map shows a very clear picture, that you have completely lost touch with both rural America and the south. About all you have left is a few urban population centers, and most of those are populated with people who are by and large on your payroll, such as people on some manner of government assistance.
Your not going to be winning too many national elections like this, and your never going to sell rural or southern America on this drive thru abortion for 10 year olds, don't mention your religion or you go to jail, only minorities should have rights version of America you've been trying to sell for some time now. Thus far your tactics have been to continue to support these unwanted and unpopular social policies, then when you loose the election you rant and rave about how it was thanks to the unsophisticated, unwashed bible thumping rednecks in Middle America or down South that cost you the election. Sorry guys, but it is us unsophisticated knuckle draggers who are America. If you can't connect with us and convince us you'll do a good job you aren't going to be winning too many more elections. And your never going to connect with us if every time you loose your first refuge is to blame us for being so uncool, unhip and stupid for not voting for you in the first place. Bad strategy, no matter how you slice it.
[i]The question is not whether we move left or right. It's not about our direction. What we need to start focusing on... is the destination.
There are some practical elements to the destination.
The destination of the Democratic Party requires that it be financially viable, able to raise money not only from big donors but small contributors, not only through dinners and telephone solicitations and direct mail, but also through the Internet and person-to-person outreach.
The destination of the Democratic Party means making it a party that can communicate with its supporters and with all Americans. Politics is at its best when we create and inspire a sense of community. The tools that were pioneered in my campaign -- like blogs, and meetups, and streaming video -- are just a start. We must use all of the power and potential of technology as part of an aggressive outreach to meet and include voters, to work with the state parties, and to influence media coverage.
The most practical destination is winning elective office. And we must do that at every level of government. The way we will rebuild the Democratic Party is not from consultants down, but from the ground up.
We have some successes to build on. We raised more money than the RNC, and we did so by attracting thousands of new small donors. This is the first time in my memory that the DNC is not coming out of a national campaign in debt. We trained tens of thousands of new activists. We put together the most sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation our Party has ever had. We registered millions of new voters, including a record number of minority and young voters. And we saw those new voters overwhelmingly vote Democrat.
[/i]
Yup, you need to start from the ground up alright. But personally I think step one would be to rid yourselves of the rhetoric and B.S., at least when trying to identify the problems you face. I expect you to lie to others, your politicians. But if you can't even be honest with yourselves you'll never be able to fix the multitude of problems that beset your party. Most of the money in the Democratic coffers doesn't come from poor working stiffs like me, it comes from spoiled snotty billionaires like Soros. You lost touch with working America a long time ago, and the distance between us is just getting bigger and bigger every day. The more you ignore that, or belittle us, the worse that problem becomes. As to your contention that most new voters went Democrat, not hardly. All of the huge effort made to "get out the vote" by your rock stars, your celebs and the rest of your gangsta rappers did almost no good at all. There was no appreciable change in the participation of young voters, and certainly no huge gains in Democratic voters nation wide.
[i]Now we need to build on our successes while transforming the Democratic Party into a grassroots organization that can win in 50 states. [/i]
Lol.. good luck. You'll need to win back over 31 out of those 50 states, and if this last election is any indication you have a huge uphill battle considering you lost ground even in states that normally go Democrat.
[i]I have seen all the doomsday predictions that the Democratic Party could shrink to become a regional Party. A Party of the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest. [/i]
That's not a doomsday prediction, you that's just a simple glance at the map.
[i]We cannot be a Party that seeks the presidency by running an 18-state campaign. We cannot be a party that cedes a single state, a single District, a single precinct, nor should we cede a single voter.
As many of the candidates supported by my organization Democracy for America showed -- people in places that we've too long ignored are hungry for an alternative; they're hungry for new ideas and new candidates, and they're willing to elect Democrats. [/i]
Oh were hungry for new ideas and new candidates, no doubt about it, but obviously were not all that willing to elect democrats. If we had been you guys wouldn't in such dire straights at the moment. The biggest problem here Howie is that the Democrats haven't put forth a new idea or even a new candidate in a long, long time. Almost all of your presidential candidates are by and large liberal to ultra liberal, and all of their ideas boil down to "evil republicans", "right wing conspiracy", and "we have a plan". No specifics, mind you. No actual details. Just more or less, "trust us". We don't. That's why you lost.
[i]Since we started Dean for America last March, we raised over $5 million, mostly from small donors. That money was given to 748 candidates in 46 states and at every level of government. [/i]
Assuming that's true, and sadly I can't given your track record of badly distorting facts, at least you can be proud of the fact that your not as stingy as John Kerry. He still has 15 million left over and won't even cut checks for the people who were supposed to be getting paid to work on his campaign.
[i]We helped a Democratic governor get elected in Montana and a Democratic mayor get elected in Salt Lake County, Utah.
We helped Lori Saldana in San Diego. Lori, a Latina grassroots environmental organizer was outspent in both the primary and the general, won a seat on the state assembly.
Yup.. and you helped Tom Daschle and John Edwards, just to name a few, into early retirement.
We also helped Anita Kelly become the first African-American woman elected to her circuit court in Montgomery Alabama.
Funny how this is supposedly some sort of milestone achievement and yet supposedly the first African American woman ever to hold the post of Secretary of State is some sort of.. lets see, what was the term used by some of our friends on the left, oh yes, that's right, "Aunt Jemiamah." Why? Because she was nominated by the wrong party.
[i]Fifteen of the candidates who we helped win last month never ran for elective office before.
And in Texas, a little known candidate who had been written off completely ran the first competitive race against Tom Delay in over a decade.
There are no red states or blue states, just American states. And if we can compete at all levels and in the most conservative parts of the country, we can win ... at any level and anywhere.
People will vote for Democratic candidates in Texas, and Alabama, and Utah if we knock on their door, introduce ourselves, and tell them what we believe. [/i]
Lol.. Howie, you go knocking on doors in Alabama and telling them that you are there to confiscate all their guns, make sure their daughters all can get abortions even at the age of 12 without their consent, that gays should be married and that you want to take away about half of what they make at their 9-5 job so that someone that doesn't work can live in a nicer house and just see how many votes you get. Lol.. you'll be lucky to get out of the front yard, much less get a vote.
[i]There is another destination beyond strong finances, outreach, and campaigns.
That destination is a better, stronger, smarter, safer, healthier America. [/i]
A stronger America? Oh, you mean by slashing the military budget every chance you get?
[i]An America where we don't turn our back on our own people. [/i]
How about an America where we count on each other to do the right thing, without being forced to give over half of our income at gun point to the charity of your choice?
[i]That's the America we can only build with conviction. [/i]
Conviction? Nope.. more like commitment. If you think you can build a stronger America with those types of policies you need to be committed, for at least an evaluation if not extended mental care.
[i]When some people say we should change direction, in essence they are arguing that our basic or guiding principles can be altered or modified. [/i]
Can't see why not, Kerry modified his from day to day. Heck, he'd modify them in the middle of the same sentence.. lol...
[i]They can't.[/i]
Then plan on loosing a lot more elections.
[i]On issue after issue, we are where the majority of the American people are. [/i]
Lol.. ok, have you checked the polls, ever? On issue after issue you have lost mainstream America, and your getting further and further away daily.
[i]What I want to know is at what point did it become a radical notion to stand up for what we believe? [/i]
The moment what you believed became radical in and of itself.
[i]Over fifty years ago, Harry Truman said, "We are not going to get anywhere by trimming or appeasing. And we don't need to try it."
Yet here we are still making the same mistakes.
Let me tell you something: there's only one thing Republican power brokers want more than for us to lurch to the left -- and that's for us to lurch to the right. [/i]
Why? you keep going further and further left, the Republicans keep winning more and more elections. Why would the fear that?
[i]What they fear most is that we may really begin fighting for what we believe -- the fiscally responsible, socially progressive values for which Democrats have always stood and fought. [/i]
Lol.. Fiscal Responsibility? Lol.. ok, Howie, who are you kidding here?
[i]I'll give this to Republicans. They know the America they want. They want a government so small that, in the words of one prominent Republican, it can be drowned in a bathtub.
They want a government that runs big deficits, but is small enough to fit into your bedroom. They want a government that is of, by, and for their special interest friends. [/i]
Oh please.
[i]They want a government that preaches compassion but practices division. [/i]
After the nasty, over the top personal attacks and conspiracy theories you personally put forth in the campaign you have no right to preach to anyone about practicing division. You should be ashamed of yourself.
[i]They want wealth rewarded over work. [/i]
No, they want work rewarded with wealth.
[i]And they are willing to use any means to get there. [/i]
Boo hoo.. boo hoo.. evil republicans.. lol.. Ok, Howie, this nasty evil republican rhetoric hasn't worked in 30 years, you guys loose more and more ground with each election. Time to wake up and smell the coffee buddy.
[i]In going from record surpluses to record deficits, the Republican Party has relinquished the mantle of fiscal responsibility.
And now they're talking about borrowing another $2 trillion to take benefits away from our Senior Citizens. [/i]
Aha! The social security card, can't play old maid without it.. lol. Egads.
[i]In going from record job creation to record job loss, they have abandoned the mantle of economic responsibility.
In cutting health care, education, and community policing programs... and in failing to invest in America's inner cities, or distressed rural communities... they certainly have no desire to even claim the mantle of social responsibility.
In their refusal to embrace real electoral reform or conduct the business in government in the light of day, they are hardly the model of civic responsibility.
In their willingness to change the rules so that their indicted leaders can stay in power, they have even given up any claim on personal responsibility.
And in starting an international conflict based on misleading information, I believe they have abdicated America's moral responsibility, as well.
There is a Party of fiscal responsibility... economic responsibility.... social responsibility... civic responsibility... personal responsibility... and moral responsibility.
It's the Democratic Party. [/i]
Ok, so to paraphrase, blah blah blah, whine whine whine, bad evil republican's hate you all never vote for them, blah blah blah. Ok, any wonder why your getting your butts kicked in election after election? Just a few paragraphs ago your talking about how people want new ideas and new candidates, then you fall into a mind numbing tirade with all the same old rhetoric and crap, and you don't advance a single new idea. All you do is criticize your opposition, mostly unfairly I might add.
Look at your rhetoric here for a second. You squawk about the evil republicans "cutting" funding for things like education, but that just isn't true Howie and you know it. Lets say your boss decides to give you a pay raise at the end of the year. You are expecting or hoping for a raise of 10%, but you only get an 8% raise. Did your boss "cut" your pay? No. That is just total nonsense. You got a pay raise, it just wasn't as much as you wanted or perhaps hoped for. But it's still a raise, not a cut, no matter how you look at it.
Same thing happened in Congress on spending for all these programs you mentioned. The spending went up, but it didn't go up as much as you wanted or hoped for, and you try and call that a cut. It's nonsense Howie, and unfortunately for you and your party people are starting to catch on. Your just not making much headway with the scaring people with the big bad wolf republican stories anymore.
[i]We need to be able to say strongly, firmly, and proudly what we believe. [/i]
That would be a nice change of pace.
[i]Because we are what we believe. [/i]
Not since JFK, I'm afraid.
[i]And we believe every person in America should have access to affordable health care. It is wrong that we remain the only industrialized nation in the world that does not assure health care for all of its citizens. [/i]
Maybe you should come up with some ideas on how to pay for that, or how to make it a workable system see as how every other example of socialized medicine in the entire world is a terrible mess. Maybe then this is an idea you could sell. As it is you are doing what you always do, promising the moon and the stars without ever making mention of the fact that it is the people who are voting for you that will ultimately pay the check for a poorly run government program fraught with waste and abuse. You whine about how "irresponsible" private companies are, but at least with a private company if I get service I don't like I can always choose to go elsewhere.
But once you put government in charge you take all the power out of my hands and put it into yours, and that of your cronies. If your program offers terrible service with no options and doesn't respond well to my needs so what, I have no choice, no other options. I can't take my business elsewhere, because you are the only game in town. That's what your really talking about here Howie, taking the power away from me and people like me and putting it all in your hands. Thanks, I'll pass.
[i]We believe the path to a better future goes directly through our public schools. I have nothing against private schools, parochial schools and home schooling. Parents with the means and inclination should choose whatever they believe is best for their children. But those choices must never come at the expense of what has been -- and must always be -- the great equalizer in our society -- public education. [/i]
Lol.. sadly though it is your failed, liberal policies that have turned our public schools into the terrible places that they are today.
[i]We believe that if you put in a lifetime of work, you have earned a retirement of dignity -- not one that is put at risk by your government or unethical business practices.
The first time our nation balanced its budget, it was Andrew Jackson, father of the Democratic Party, who did it. The last time our nation balanced its budget, it was Bill Clinton who did it. I did it every year as Governor. Democrats believe in fiscal responsibility and we're the only ones who have delivered it. [/i]
Whoop Whoop Whoop.. BS Alert, BS Alert.. warning, the lies you are about to hear are to secure Clinton a legacy. Had these been actually true you would have been notified as to where to get further information... lol..
Clinton had nothing to do with balancing the budget, that was the Republican Congress and their contract with America. You want to thank somebody Howie, thank Gingrich for that one.
[i]We believe that every single American has a voice and that it should be heard in the halls of power everyday. And it most certainly must be heard on Election Day. Democracies around the world look to us as a model. How can we be worthy of their aspirations when we have done enough to guarantee accurate elections for our own citizens. [/i]
Well, every American that isn't a backward uneducated Redneck, right Howie?
[i]We believe in a strong and secure America... And we believe we will be stronger by having a moral foreign policy. [/i]
Moral? Ok, explain to me how it is moral to allow millions of people to suffer under the hands of a brutal dictatorship and do nothing.
[i]We need to embrace real political reform -- because only real reform will pry government from the grasp of the special interests who have made a mockery of reform and progress for far too long. [/i]
Special interests like NOW, or the AFL/CIO, or maybe the ACLU? Lol..
[i]The pundits have said that this election was decided on the issue of moral values. I don't believe that. It is a moral value to provide health care. It is a moral value to educate our young people. The sense of community that comes from full participation in our Democracy is a moral value. Honesty is a moral value. [/i]
Yup, and if you guys had a good plan to make any of that happen rather than just paying it the same lip service you always pay it maybe you might make some headway.
[i]If this election had been decided on moral values, Democrats would have won.
It is time for the Democratic Party to start framing the debate.
Nope.. time for you guys to start walking the walk, instead of just talking the talk.
[i]We have to learn to punch our way off the ropes. [/i]
Well you did a fairly good job of hitting below the belt in the last election.
We have to set the agenda.
We should not hesitate to call for reform -- reform in elections, reform in health care and education, reforms that promote ethical business practices. And, yes, we need to talk about some internal reform in the Democratic Party as well, and I'll be discussing that more specifically in the days ahead.
Yup.. good luck.
Reform is the hallmark of a strong Democratic Party.
Those who stand in the way of reform cannot be the focus of our attention for only four months out of every four years.
Reform is a daily battle.
And we must pursue those reforms with conviction -- every day, at all levels, in 50 states.
A little while back, at a fundraiser, a woman came up to me. She identified herself as an evangelical Christian from Texas. I asked her what you are all wondering -- why was she supporting me. She said there were two reasons. The first was that she had a child who had poly-cystic kidney disease, and what that illness made it impossible for their family to get health care.
The second thing she said was, "The other reason we're with you is because evangelical Christians are people of deep conviction, and you're a person of deep conviction. I may not agree with you on everything, but what we want more than anything else from our government is that when something happens to our family or something happens to our country -- it's that the people in office have deep conviction."
To each there own I guess. I know a lot of crazy people with great conviction, but I certainly wouldn't elect them to office.
[i]We are what we believe. And the American people know it.
And I believe that over the next two... four... ten years... Election by election... State by state... Precinct by precinct... Door by door... Vote by vote... We're going to lift our Party up...
And we're going to take this country back for the people who built it.[/i]
Personally I think I'll stick with history on this one. Thus far you've been in a rapidly expanding tail spin from whence it appears there is no escape. Your spiraling out of control and the ground is approaching fast. If you keep tossing out nothing but this sort of rhetoric your going to crash, and hard.
As to giving this people back to the people who built it, I would note that these are not the people collecting government checks. These are the people your taxing to the point where over half of there income is no longer there own. You take there money and give it to a bunch of people who are supposedly "victims" of our "unfair" society. Then you want to expand the power of the government in our lives, take over our healthcare, our retirement accounts, everything. Take our power away to decide for ourselves what is best for us and put all that power in your hands.
Pass.
Seriously Howie, is it any wonder why you keep loosing?
[i]Submitted by: Stepdad[/i]
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