Liberals Who Want the Democratic Party Back - See Inside

Great Debates
1

(This post is directed at liberals who are not already on the Moveon.org mailing list, because if you are then you already know.)

There’s something very simply you can do RIGHT NOW.

Call the DNC and the California Democratic Party and tell them you do NOT want anymore Fake Republicans, you want REAL Democrats, and that means electing Nancy Pelosi House Minority Leader. She was the one who broke with Gephardt and persuaded other Dems to vote against the Iraqi resolution.

Her biggest challenger is Martin Frost, who told the New York Times that the Democrats * need to move further to the right! * :eek: :eek: :eek:

Tell them where your support lies:

California Democratic Party: 916-442-5707 and Fax 916-442-5715
Also call the DNC: 202-863-8000

Furthermore, take the time to call your local Democratic representives in Congress (assuming you have any) and * tell them what you care about. *

It is a truism that for every call or letter they receive, they understand that it represents a hundred or a thousand other people who didn’t call or write. ADD TO THE THOUSANDS…make the call! Stop being so apathetic!

2

PS: ** The vote is next week. ** The calls will cost you a quarter and take 60 seconds out of your life.

3

Wrong forum. Also the wrong candidate. Support Harold Ford.

4

What else do we actually know about him, minty? I find his candidacy extremely interesting, especially since I dislike both Frost and Pelosi.

5

Maybe you could bring back Jimmy Carter.

6

I guess I should say that since I favored the Iraqi resolution, I urge people to urge their Congressional Reps to vote Frost.

But I’m not sure either the OP or my statement constitute a debate.

  • Rick
7

Which forum, minty? I figured that this was politcal AND it was witnessing. Where better?

And does Ford have a chance? I’m all about supporting people who actually have a chance.

8

I actually don’t know very much about Ford, although I gather he’s a rising star in the House, and a moderate (which does NOT translate into “Republican,” Stoid). But I like his guts in jumping into the fray, and he clearly understands the need for a clean break. Plus, how cool would it be to have a 33-year-old Derek Jeter lookalike as minority leader?

Frost just dropped out, by the way.

9

Witnessing is specifically religious, Stoid. The OP did not invite a debate, it merely endorsed a candidate and listed a couple phone numbers. That’s MPSIMS material if ever there was such a thing.

Whether Ford has a chance, I have no idea. But naming an old-fashioned San Francisco liberal as party leader in the House is political suicide.

10

But he announced his candidacy on friggin’ Aymus. :wink:

Maybe I’ll be making a call to the DNC after all.

11

Frost bailed, will support Pelosi

JDM

12

Moot. Moot moot moot moot moot.

I’m not trying to be insulting, and I apologize if I come off as such. I just really like to be able to say that word.

Moot moot moot.

Anyways, the Washington Post reports that Frost has withdrawn from the race, that Ford has delayed his announcement of joining, and everyone loves Pelosi.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28462-2002Nov8.html

13

Damn it. JDM beat me, and now my ability to say “moot” is muted.

14

To get a sense of the three vying for leadership in the House:

Pelosi

Ford

Frost
minty, I agree absolutely that Frost isn’t the right guy, but I can’t see the distinct disadvantage in Pelosi. Could you elaborate on your objections to the “old fashioned San Francisco liberal”? Specifically, what are you afraid she’ll bring to the role that will further alienate voters?

15

Damn. I really should keep up.

16

From Merriam-Webster online:

“Usually.”

Heh. :smiley:

But I agree there’s no debate here. Unless we wanna debate whether this necklace was the best choice. I dunno, it doesn’t really work for me…

17

I live in Memphis, the TN 9th District. Harold Ford Jr. is my Congressman, and I have met and spoken to him on many occasions. In addition to being good-looking (he was one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People or some such a couple of years back), he is intelligent, articulate (at just 33, already a master of the Southern Preacher school of public speaking), and has his eyes on the big prize one day. I believe the reason he’s jumped into this fight is because he was talked out of running for Fred Thompson’s Tennessee Senate seat by the state Democratic party in favor of one Bob Clemet. IMHO, Jr. (as he’s known around here) could have given former Governor and now Senator Lamar Alexander a run for his money by carrying West Tennessee in a landslide and making respectable showings in Middle and East Tennessee. As it was, the Senate race looked more like a live fire exercise for Lamar’s Bush-backed campaign apparatus than a real contest.

Jr. is the son of Harold Ford, Sr., a funeral home owner who held the 9th district seat for years and years by building an old fashioned political machine in the low-income black sections of Memphis (which is to say most of it). As you might expect, this caused great resentment among the predominantly-Republican high income whites who time and again saw their candidates defeated by the Ford machine. The Ford name is spoken in the same tone as a curse in many white Shelby County households even today, and the name is usually followed by a string of accusations of corruption. To be fair, the Fords have had their moments of questionable ethical and moral dealings. Harold Sr. is retired now, but his business practices have been said to border on the predatory. His brother (and Jr.'s uncle) State Sentaor John Ford is an out and out loon with a penchant for waving firearms at motorists on I-40 and is hip deep in some bizzare daycare accredidation scandals. John was AWOL during the recent Tennessee income tax brawl, refusing to work over what he apparently considered to be his God-given July 4th holiday.

But the one thing the Ford bashers have always overlooked is that they took care of business back in the district. The Fords always looked out for their constituent’s interests in the House and have never lost touch with the people who put them in power. Jr. has managed to escape the taint of his family (I even heard a hardcore bigot* Shelby County Republican marvel that he must have been adopted.) and earn everyone’s respect around here. He’s got the district so sewn up that the Repubs didn’t even contest it this year. I’ve called the Fords the Black Kennedys, and Jr., with his good looks, intellegence, fabulous rhetorical skills, and excellent reputation, looks more and more like John with each passing day.

Jr.'s voting record in the House is very good. He was given a score of 88 on his environmental record by the League of Conservation Voters (Tennesee Senator Frist, on the other hand, recieved a 0), and he is invariably on my personal side on most issues, with one glaring and perhaps very relevant exception–he voted for the resolution which authorized Bush’s use of force in Iraq. I know he got a lot of hate mail on that one from his constituents, including me. I wrote the most scathing letter to him that I have ever written to an elected official the day of the vote. I believe that he was talked into it by Gephart who gave him a be-a-good-soldier speech, and I believe that’s the reason he was one of the first to call for Gephart’s ouster after Tueday’s debacle. Not that that excuses the vote, however–I witheld my vote from Jr. on Tuesday because I couldn’t bring myself to give my seal of approval to anyone who supported an attack on Iraq while the people who attacked us on Sept. 11 are still at large. (But if he had meaningful opposition I would still have voted for him!)

All of this huge post is meant to give a warts and all overview of Harold Ford Jr. The truth is he doesn’t have many warts, since one cannot pick one’s family, after all! I like Pelsoi’s moxie in opposing the war, but Ford’s the future. I believe either one of them would make an effective Minority Leader, and hope that this race is settled quickly and cleanly with as little damage to an already-bleeding party as possible. I will be satisfied with either one, but for now, my support must go with Jr. After all, he comes into my girlfriend’s restaurant all the time, knows the entire staff by first name, and tips like a motherfucker. As everyone knows, that is the true mark of outstanding character.

*which is not to say that all Shelby County Republicans are bigots, just this particular one.

18

My post was so long that the situation changed while I was writing. Oh well, I hope I have been of some service and fought some ignorance! Harold Ford Jr. is an outstanding politico, if such a thing can be said to exist. Keep your eyes on him.

19

Wow, thanks for the summary. I’ll be keeping my eyes on this guy.

20

Well, we could always debate whether Gephardt dropping out of the leadership and being replaced by Pelosi is enough, or whether McAuliffe and Daschle need to be removed as well. (Daschle indicates his desire to be Minority Leader in the Senate in the above WP article.)
Or, well, actually, you folks can debate that. As a Republican, my true motivations on any point I made would always be questionable.

But I’ll make the predication that while the Democrats talk about needing a centrist voice, they get a very liberal voice, and go down to 1984-sized defeat in 2004.