Community | August 04, 2011 | 95 comments

CA Dem Party progressives explore primary challenge to Obama

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KB723
There have long been rumblings that the liberal base is ticked off at President Obama, but the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party just put that frustration into writing: They've passed a resolution exploring calling for a primary challenge to Obama.

Now, this is largely symbolic, but it's heavy nonetheless. They're ticked that Obama hasn't ditched the Bush tax cuts, has continued drone attacks overseas, and hasn't ended the foreclosure crisis, among other sins listed below. The straw that broke their collective caucus backs, Caucus chair Karen Bernal told us Wednesday, was Obama's -- as the resolution put it -- "unilateral closed-door budget offer to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which endangers the New Deal and War on Poverty safety nets."

"Our silence," Bernal told us, "is a price that's too high to pay."

So last weekend -- July 30 -- at a meeting in Anaheim, the Prog Caucus broke their silence.

But doesn't Bernal remember when Teddy Kennedy challenged incumbent Prez Jimmy Carter in 1980...who lost to President Reagan later that year? Isn't she afraid that, as a Democrat, a primary challenge could weaken Obama and possibly lead to a Republican president?

"We already have one in so many of his policies," Bernal said.

Ouch.

Actually, the resolution itself is a bit more restrained -- or nuanced, if you prefer -- than that. Passed last weekend, it says that the Caucus....

"...will begin the process of contacting other Democratic organizations, Democratic Party members and public organizations that share our views on the issues and which seek to alter the course of history by exploring other steps to effect a necessary change, including a possible primary challenge to President Obama."

Bernal doesn't plan to ask the full California Democratic Party to approve the resolution. It was meant more as a statement of conscience than a desire to back a rival to Obama, she said. "Is there a sense of desperation in this?" Bernal said. "I would have to say yes."

The caucus, according to a spokesman, hopes that "Obama would rework his priorities to respond to the needs of working class Americans in order to get progressive support in 2012."

California Democratic Party chair John Burton --- who supported Kennedy versus Carter in 1980 -- told us that he doesn't agree with this resolution.

Caressing the Queen's English in a way that only the Chairman can, Burton told us that he doesn't think that a primary challenge to Obama will help the president's re-election chances.

"F---- no, what is that going to do?" Burton told us.

So a little competition won't help Obama advocate more strongly for core Democratic Party principles?

"Yeah, I'm sure. If the debt limit (debate) showed something, it showed what an absolute f------ disaster it would have been if there had been a Republican president," Burton said. "The people who sat on their hands or voted Republican in 2010, most of them are going through buyer's remorse right now."

What about the frustration the liberal base -- and the Caucus -- feels about the war and...

"A lot of people are frustrated about the war. People talk about cutting Social Security and they're not talking about paying for the war. People are frustrated about a ton of stuff," he said.

"It's how they feel. There's discontent," Burton said. "There's a frustration in the country. Look at the f------ polls. So f---, that's news to somebody?"

But couldn't this be damaging to Obama, coming from his safe blue haven in California?

(The resolution) "is a reflection on the part of liberals in the California (Democratic) Party to the point that they talk about or fantasize about a primary challenge with the hope that it will end the war, have a single-payer health plan, do away with the Bush tax cuts, take Social Security tax cuts off the table," Burton said.

Here's the full resolution:

WHEREAS, the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party recognizes the challenge presented by President Obama's negotiating away Democratic Party principles to extremist Republicans, we are challenged by President Obama in the following ways:

His unilateral closed-door budget offer to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which endangers the New Deal and War on Poverty safety nets.

His determination to escalate U.S. militarism through illegal secret CIA drone attacks and unauthorized wars.

His willingness to extend the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and bail out big banks without ending the foreclosure crisis that displaces American working families
.

His insistence on pushing a health insurance bill which enriches private insurance companies while ignoring growing support for single-payer health care or robust public options.

His continuance of President Bush’s assault on civil liberties with an extension of the repressive Patriot Act.

His failure to restore due process, including the protection of whistleblowers and habeas corpus.

His numerous failures to adhere to international law.

The continuing practice of nationwide FBI raids of anti-war progressive protestors.

His decision to increase the arrests and deportations of undocumented workers.

His facilitation of the privatizing of the public sphere, which includes education and housing, among others.

His disregard of his promises to the Labor movement.

His failure to adequately protect the environment and adequately address climate change.

WHEREAS, the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party recognizes the historical significance of the Eugene McCarthy/Robert F. Kennedy anti-war challenge to President Lyndon Johnson. The challenge followed President Johnson's decision to escalate U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, betraying his campaign promise to end a war that polarized America. Similarly, we recognize the danger and betrayal that the current "Grand Bargain" represents to the legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's signature gift to all Americans, Social Security and the New Deal, a point of pride for all Democrats.

WHEREAS, the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party is committed to the understanding that an interest in a 2012 Democratic presidential primary challenge will not interfere with President Obama's ability to govern and not limit his ability to do so in ways that include invoking Constitutional options, we recognize that this will, in fact, raise debate on important issues without risking the ability to mobilize and energize the base of the Democratic Party to elect a triumphant leader to counter the far-right agenda.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, to make our views heard, the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party will begin the process of contacting other Democratic organizations, Democratic Party members and public organizations that share our views on the issues and which seek to alter the course of history by exploring other steps to effect a necessary change, including a possible primary challenge to President Obama.

Posted By: Joe Garofoli (Email, Twitter, Facebook) | August 03 2011 at 05:58 PM

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=94646#ixzz1U5b...
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95 comments // CA Dem Party progressives explore primary challenge to Obama

  • wynnmeg61
    • +1
      wynnmeg61  

    • Oh goody now we can look forward to the 1980's triple down. All the destruction that Saint Ronny didn't accomplish in that decade will be accomplished in the 2010's. This should be really exciting, it will make the Great Depression look like the glory days of the United States. Sad thing is it will all be delivered by Progressives/Liberals just like it was in 1980.

    • 10 months ago
  • hurleyburly
    • +1
      hurleyburly  

    • I lost a lot of trust with Obama during the debt ceiling kerfuffle. He consistently ignored his supporters in order to lure ind. and repub. support. It's not gonna happen..dance with the one that brung ya. I am torn between a primary for Obama. I am giving the President the benefit of the doubt..and actively fight tuning him out when I hear him speak. Here's his do-over with me. I give him a clean slate from here on out. If his actions don't match his rhetoric..like has been the case..then let there be primaries.

    • 10 months ago
  • SFirman
  • Skyebeka
    • +3
      Skyebeka  

    • One of the most important lines in this article is "The people who sat on their hands...". I think a lot of people forgot or don't realize that a lot of the Democratic base did not show up for mid-term elections which is why we lost a whopping 63 seats in the House. You gotta go back to Roosevelt in 1938 to find more seats lost in the House. Yet people think Obama has all the power he needs to get things done. Nope. The finger of blame cannot point only to Obama. All of us has to find a way to get passive voters, those who only vote during presidential elections, to also vote during midterms. If you know someone who didn't vote at midterms you need to give them just as much grief as you're giving Obama. I keep hearing the Dems need to stand strong. WE ARE THE FRIGGEN DEMS!

    • 10 months ago
  • SFirman
  • rustyred
    • +3
      rustyred  

    • I must admit that I am disappointed with Obama in many areas, even though I still really like him as a person. I'm very close to becoming a progressive independent.

    • 10 months ago
  • supermanrico
    • +3
      supermanrico  

    • Well, it is more like a call for obama to realize that he's losing his base. I agree with the resolution but anyone else WILL lose in a national election. Let's be realistic. The stupid half of the country is really retard like the tea baggers and any stupid republican. The democrats should stand firm in blocking any attempts to cuts in medicaid , medicare and social security. If the democrats cave in in this issues, welcome to the middle ages again in this country, the masters ( the rich 1%) and the slaves (99% of us). If we allow this to happen, I'm going to Canada.

    • 10 months ago
  • 2hellnwait
  • supermanrico
  • BullDogg
    • +1
      BullDogg  

    • Why do they call it a "challenge"? They must be assuming that some people would actually fall for his rhetoric and vote for Obama again.

    • 10 months ago
  • dmagi15
    • +3
      dmagi15  

    • Obama has proven himself weak and the Dems in congress are impotent. We need a strong progressive President to lead us out of this right-wing created quagmire. I am sooooo for a primary challenge.

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • KB723
  • ThirdSection
  • KB723
  • supermanrico
    • +1
      supermanrico  
    • ThirdSection:

      I'm part of the base too but the special interests and even some traitor democrats (Ben Nelson), are making his progressive agenda more difficult. Unfortunately, the independents decide the elections!!. He has to play centrist otherwise the "independents" will consider him too liberal and won't vote for him in 2012. He's smart and can see the whole picture. He just want the centrist to vote for him to win in 2012.Then he does not have to worry about another election and come from behind and with nothing to lose support all the liberal agenda. But even then, if the republicans in 2012 control congress and house, then what?. He's not an emperor, I wish, but if that happens say bye, bye to the liberals. It's up to the independents to realize that the republicans are poison for this country. If this people are stupid enough to vote republican then not even God can save us. Too many stupid people in this country,republicans, tea baggers and some independents. That's the problem.

    • 10 months ago
  • wolfess
    • -1
      wolfess  
    • supermanrico:

      I'm an Independent and I am anything BUT a reptard; I don't know how the majority of Independents feel, but if I am any example, then most of them feel the way I do. I have always voted for the man instead of the party, and the reason I became a registered Independent was because all the candidates I liked in the first few elections I was old enough to vote in never made it to the primary so I decided to wait until the candidates got weeded out and then vote for the one that I thought was the best. I always thought the reason people become Independents was because neither party really typified what was right for them -- and that means the majority do NOT vote reptard.

    • 10 months ago
  • supermanrico
    • +1
      supermanrico  
    • wolfess:

      Well, just one thing, looking at the options between the republican agenda and democratic agenda, there's no brainer. The independents that at the end vote for the republicans, ARE republicans at least for that election, those are the retards because there was no independent candidate for President, so at the end they were NOT independents. There are no independents until there's an INDEPENDENT candidate. AT this time is just republicans and democrats. The independents that vote republican, those are the retards. The independents that vote democrat are the smart people in this coming elections. If you like that piece of shit Cantor instead of Bernie Sanders, the INDEPENDENT for vermont who votes democrat, it says a lot about you. Who do you agree with? Sanders or Cantor.?. You're answer will decide who you are. not me.

    • 10 months ago
  • wolfess
    • +1
      wolfess  
    • supermanrico:

      I have a poppet for Cantor that has a noose around its neck b/c as part of my spell for him states; 'he will hang by his words or by his deeds.'
      When I read not too long ago that he had 15k in stock that would go up if the US defaulted on the debt ceiling I knew for damned sure that this reptard deserved to hang by the neck until DEAD!
      Pwr 2 the peons, vote PPP!

    • 10 months ago
  • JohnA
  • KB723
  • wtthfkovr
  • KB723
  • PoliticalAmazon
    • +1
      PoliticalAmazon  
    • Image

    • I always love this fear tactic, usually used by the DNC and RNC, to keep their respective voters in line with the party line:

      "But doesn't Bernal remember when Teddy Kennedy challenged incumbent Prez Jimmy Carter in 1980...who lost to President Reagan later that year? Isn't she afraid that, as a Democrat, a primary challenge could weaken Obama and possibly lead to a Republican president?"

      This version of it, above, is easily batted back this year.

      Obama has already out-Bushed and out-Cheneyed the Bush-Cheney administrations, and is now desperately trying to be like Reagan.

      We would be better off now if we had kept Bush-Cheney for a 3rd term than the asshole we have now in the WH.

      The sad thing is that the GOP has degenerated to the point that they don't even have anybody who can reach the level of Bush/Cheney/Reagan. They have squawking, poorly educated (worse than GWBush, can you believe it!?) parrots like Palin and Bachman that appeal to the baggers.

      And, as we all know, the baggers are dictating what the GOP does these days.

      Since the GOP is dictating what the Democrats in Congress and the WH are doing these days, we may end up with either of those loonie birds in the Oval Office.

    • 10 months ago
  • Milieu
    • +3
      Milieu  

    • Put these two quotes together and you've got the real problem nailed down.

      "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."

      Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

      I belong to no organized political party -- I am a Democrat.
      -- Will Rogers

    • 10 months ago
  • GRC54
  • PoliticalAmazon
    • 0
      PoliticalAmazon  
    • GRC54:

      I think gullible people would want anything but a political party where all views are welcome, and where arguing over government policy is considered normal, and part of maintaining diversity and reaching a consensus that best serves all people, not just the elites.

    • 10 months ago
  • wolfess
    • -2
      wolfess  
    • PoliticalAmazon:

      You're right -- far too many reptards that I know just want to be told who to vote for. They don't look at the man or his record, they just blindly vote for whoever is running on the reptard ticket. Typical two-standard-deviation[s]-below-the-mean thinking.
      Pwr 2 the peons! Guillotine the koch[roaches]!

    • 10 months ago
  • GRC54
    • +3
      GRC54  

    • Alan Grayson is running for Congress to recapture his seat that he lost in 2010.
      Wouldn't it be nice to have 250 Grayson type Democrats in congress. Also to have 65 Grayson type Democrats in the Senate. It wouldn't matter who was president in my estimation. What we need is to find then convince Progressive Democrats to run, be supported, and win. This would be the only way to take the party back from those who want to destroy our country.
      A third party is a grand idea that I wanted to see for 20 years but the only problem with it is that how would you get the 3rd party started and who would be willing to support it.
      The tea baggers did it right and we as Progressive Democrats even Independents who lean Democrat in elections need to get the politician who has the conviction to start the revolution inside the Democratic party and then all switch to a new party a party that will follow the Constitution as it was written and take it back from those who say they do and then change it for their own gains.

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
  • wolfess
    • +3
      wolfess  
    • GRC54:

      Thank you! I've been saying exactly this for awhile now -- I won't EVER vote reptard, but it's getting harder by the day to even consider voting for Obama again so I will probably do a write-in vote (I know, that's a reptard giveaway) and then vote straight dem in EVERY other race next year b/c maybe that way even if Obama is re-elected the dem majority will force him to do what is right for the country.
      Pwr 2 the peons!

    • 10 months ago
  • SFirman
  • KB723
  • figgdimension
  • KB723
  • hombre76
  • KB723
  • PoliticalAmazon
  • JohnA
  • Saladin
    • +2
      Saladin  
    • JohnA:

      Dude, Truman initiated the G.I. Bill of rights and the Marshall Plan, the greatest unwarranted opening of government floodgates of money in this nation's entire history, other than the war itself.

      I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. Truman was hugely New Deal. None of FDR's programs were repealed, they were all expanded.

    • 10 months ago
  • SoCalFramer
    • +1
      SoCalFramer  

    • I just got a letter from Obama wanting money. I sent it back with a note and no money, I also returned thier bumper sticker. I told them that I do not contribute to republicans or thier supporters. I did check the volunteer box and then told them I would be volunteering for the green party.

      I know that Obama is the only canidate that is not a complete asshole but I do want him to hear how pissed off his base is and I imagine others will do the same. His behavior is no longer excusable.

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
  • Richard_Wyatt
  • KB723
  • zoomy1
    • +4
      zoomy1  

    • I,m as PO,d as anybody right now, and my knee jerk reaction was to primary Obama for the double agent that he is.
      Haveing said that, I have to add that Progressives need to step back away from their justified anger and look at the larger picture.
      Obama is not the only one at fault here, and angry or not, we have to accept that he really is our only choice in 2012. The only real alternative will be a Republican winner, and personally I find that too repulsive to contemplate.
      For your consideration,let me suggest a third choice.
      We need to work to elect a solid block of real Progressives in congress. make the blue dogs get on board or get off the train.
      Work to get Obama reelected, but with a unified Progressive house and senate to keep him on the path.
      We can learn something from the Teabaggers. They didn't start a third party, they took over the existing Rethug party. So if the Democratic party has lost all their nerve, or just sold out, then It's time to turn them into Progressives again.
      If you want to see how it's done, just look to Wisconsin.

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
  • ReMarker
  • SFirman
    • 0
      SFirman  
    • zoomy1:

      I agree. We are angry but it is not fair to put all the blame on Obama .He is a better choice in 2012 then any Republican. Your right we need to give him a real progressive congress. The teaparty is running our congress. Thanks for your comment.

    • 10 months ago
  • SFirman
  • wtthfkovr
  • noxidereus
  • zoomy1
    • +1
      zoomy1  
    • wtthfkovr:

      His loyalties should be obvious by this time. He's loyal to the same thing as all of his predessors for the last 50 years! THE NEW WORLD ORDER.
      Each party has their role to play. The Republicans play the bad cop and the Democrats play the good cop, or if you prefer, the token opposition. Why do you think they are so good at snatching defeat from the the jaws of victory. But they're all working toward the same goal.
      I don't trust any of them ,with a few exceptions, and even them I wouldn't leave alone in my house.
      Don't get me wrong. I believe there can stll be a return to real representative government, but the Republicrats are not going to do it. WE have to do it.
      The Teabaggers have shown that it is possible to take control of our own party again. We have to get more involved with the candidate selection proccess, not leave it to the the people at the top who are only concerned with the NWO agenda.

    • 10 months ago
  • Saladin
    • +3
      Saladin  

    • The bottom line is that the Democratic party has become totally ineffective, to say the least.

      The real mistake is to think that this next election is *SO* important that we can't possibly ask for reform, we have to just hold our nose and vote anyway to prevent Republican madness!

      Let me tell you, that excuse has literally been used for decades now, and it only has two possible endings. One, that you receive a Diet-Republican Administration like Clinton or Obama, one that only barely differs from the opposing party. Two, you *still* lose the election and are all the worse off for it because your party is filled with center-right retards and sycophant cowards who won't stand up for what you believe in.

      If nothing else, the Republican party is damn good at winning, and despite all its shady moneyed connections, people do actually fucking vote for them.

      Point in case, these current morons are being kept in power by a small minority of Tea Party assholes in the Republican party.

      Let me repeat that in more relevant language.

      A small group of loudmouths have deadlocked their party into their own agenda by *refusing* to let them win if they aren't as extreme as they are.

      Did you just notice something interesting? You should have.

      A primary challenge may or may not be an effective challenge to Obama, but what we really need is a left-wing style Tea Party revolt against the Democratic party.

      We need to look them in the eye and say "you will lose this fucking election if you don't start supporting our values, because we won't vote for you."

      Even the dirtiest blue dog Dem will turn progressive if their seat is threatened, and that's the whole point!

      WE run this party, NOT THEM.

      If we lose, so be it, because Pyrrhic victories are not victories at all.

    • 10 months ago
  • Vic_Romano
  • KB723
  • JohnA
    • -1
      JohnA  
    • Saladin:

      You equate Obama with Bill Clinton? Were you alive at all in the nineties? You have to be kidding me. Cousin Bubba was on the best Presidents this country has ever had. Barack is easily one of the worst. There is no comparison. Apples to oranges, if Bubba was in office we wouldn't be in this mess, no doubt. Clinton was a pragmatist, Barack is an ideolouge. A huge difference there, my friend.

    • 10 months ago
  • Saladin
    • +2
      Saladin  
    • JohnA:

      If Obama's an ideologue than Clinton did not have sexual relations with that woman.

      I'm well aware that you think Clinton was the best President ever, but he wasn't. He oversaw the dismantling of Glass-Steagal, didn't stop privatization, opened up this free trade can of worms and was otherwise a center-right kind of guy who really fucked up a lot of things. In many ways, he was not that different than the Republicans of that era.

      Was he a bad President? No, I think he was great. Much better than Obama.

      But you're clueless if you don't see that they're cut from the same cloth. Clinton was ten times better as a political leader, but on policy issues they're startlingly similar.

      I know that's too hard a fact for you to accept, but it's the damn truth.

    • 10 months ago
  • zoomy1
  • stupidamericanz
  • KB723
  • amo42
    • +5
      amo42  

    • The challenge might be better handled by getting progressive concepts into the party platform for the next election. Obama is the figurehead of the problem. The issue extends into the Dem. party. It may be more important to elect House and Senate candidates (Federal and State) who will support a progressive platform. This model doesn't require a lot of money. It does mean that you have to get involved with the party on a local level and get elected to be a delegate to the State conventions. Until recently, there have always been primary challenges even to incumbent Presidents. The challenges stopped when it became the Corporate Democrats.

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
  • ReMarker
    • +1
      ReMarker  

    • Democrats are no where close to being as bad as the Republicans. Anyone that thinks that is falling into a Republican trap.

      Third parties are not a solution. Even the Tea Party and the Republican Party know that.

      Splitting the Democratic Party with a third party or primarying Obama gives the Repubs. the win in 2012. It's that simple.

      It's best to hold your nose and vote non-Republican. We can't let the patients get control of the asylum. If they do, the 'crazy' we will see will make 'now' look like the good old days.

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
  • SFirman
    • +2
      SFirman  
    • ReMarker:

      The Democrats are in no way, as bad as Republicans. The teaparty would love a Republican in the White House. They haven't come up with any ideas to creat jobs and kiss entitilments good bye. We need to get rid of Boner and his house.

    • 10 months ago
  • PoliticalAmazon
    • 0
      PoliticalAmazon  
    • KB723:

      Really? Why is it that BO and the Democrats in Congress, even when we had both-house majorities, ended up serving the GOP and the neocons more than they did the voters who put them into office?

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
  • lazloman
    • +2
      lazloman  

    • I'm very ambivalent about a primary challenge. On the one had, if it happens, Obama will lose the general election, no doubt. He might lose anyway after his latest crap. But if we're getting from him what we'll get from the rethuglicans, maybe we do need to sacrifice 2012 and look forward to a true progressive in 2016. The 'thuglicans will do more than enough harm to this country and its institutions in the intervening years that we should be able to get someone else in there by then.

      Oh well, you folks just know how p**sed I am to even think along these lines.

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
    • +1
      KB723  
    • lazloman:

      Oh well, you folks just know how p**sed I am to even think along these lines.

      I can't speak for everyone, but I am not all that entertained by the Bad Acting I have seen... =(

    • 10 months ago
  • Buckeye_Bill
    • +2
      Buckeye_Bill  
    • lazloman:

      But by that time, do you think there will be anything left of SS and MediCare to "save"? I fear the worst if they were to gain access to the White House since all one needs to do is look around as to what the Rethuglican Governors are doing to their respective states. And if a Rethug IS elected, odds are people do vote an entire ticket which could sweep in even more Repub Reps and Senators!

      There may not be an America left.

      What if the next Repub Prez makes GWB seem like a Liberal?

      (Shoulders Shuddering in abject fear!)

    • 10 months ago
  • SoCalFramer
    • 0
      SoCalFramer  
    • lazloman:

      Wrong, we need to start holding thier feet to the fire and when Obama sells out he needs to hear it. I mean WTF Obama's ears are so tender we can't tell him he's a piece of shit and we know it. If we don't speak up, then who is; the tea party.

    • 10 months ago
  • SFirman
  • wolfess
  • Buckeye_Bill
    • +1
      Buckeye_Bill  
    • Image
    • wolfess:

      Thanx! I am on the search for a picture that depicts stocks and pillory, but what I have found so far doesn't fit into the little 200X200 space Current provides. But I'm not giving up!

    • 10 months ago
  • Buckeye_Bill
    • +6
      Buckeye_Bill  

    • (Edited 8/3/11 @ 16:46:00 ET)

      OK, I get it. Nobody is happy with Obama. But this could be an opportunity to build the Party from the ground up. Grassroots thingy. All over the country. It's an easier task to acomplish if you break a big job down to sizes that can be handled properly. And it won't fracture our Party as much as trying to change the top. We need to work from the bottom up. Each voting district can choose, WISELY, new "blood" from the ranks of the common man/woman. Someone who will adhere to our principles we want in Washington to represent OUR immediate needs. To oust every last incumbent, no matter who they are. That will leave a lasting message for the others that will follow afterwards. "Don't mess with the working class!", could be our motto.

      And if we can suceed in, say, 30% of all the Representatives' and Senators' districts, well, we'll be that much closer the next time to change things for the better for us all. If there's one thing that I've learned from the Tea Hadists, is you don't have to change the whole Party. Just enough to turn things around, one vote at a time. Well, let's hope it's a lot more than that!

      Like the stone that's broken down to pieces and that's placed in a box, one at a time. It's less of lift to pick up a pebble and the box with a manageable number of pebbles than trying to hoist the biggest stone all.at once. Which it woul be if we try to change the whole Party by uniting under one candidate for the presidency!

      We can create and run our own campaign offices before we decide who we want to represent us. Get the ball rolling, so to speak. With money pouring in to get an idea what it will take to win. We could have people in their districts to appoint who they want from a list of prospective individuals that can pass the smell test for the majority within their groups.

      I suggest people who have not been "born" with the dream of becoming a career politican. Someone who might have to be dragged into Office kicking and bitching how they never thought of holding Office. They make the best kind of politican. They don't have the visions of grandeur from their earliest childhood or a person who's family has been in the "business" for decades!

      Narcissists need not apply. Sycophants had better not either! We have enough of those already. Brown-nosers have contributed to this fiasco we have now.

      Qualities to look for in a candidate that WE choose? Honesty, integrity, common sense, open-mindedness, sincere respect and understanding of other's needs and last but not the smallest requirement? They will follow a manifesto we create after we send them to Washington, or they will step down since we will have in OUR hands, a contract that will bind them to this promise!

      I hand the "floor" over to someone else, now.

      P.S. For all you fustilugs who have been following me from site to site ridculing my posts and suggesting that I should suck Obama's dick, since I'm in love with THAT black man, piss off! Do me a another favor, ok? Don't tell me how I'm an idiot or an ahole for contributing to this discourse. I was INVITED here by who I consider a friend who is not filled with the hatred that you, and you know who you are, possess in copious amounts! Shoo...Scat...Begone.... from my posts!

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
    • +2
      KB723  
    • Buckeye_Bill:

      Do me a favor, ok? Don't tell me how I'm an idiot or an ahole for contributing to this discourse.

      No one has as far as I know... I have always welcomed your comments.... =)

    • 10 months ago
  • teacherdave
    • +3
      teacherdave  
    • Buckeye_Bill:

      We already have the"manifesto",the Constittution.Other than that, Speak loud and speak often. Bill you sound like you areready for some good old fasioned civil disobedience.Here you go Bill, E mail all your lefty friends and ask them to do the same, and so on an on. Ask them all to go to their cars and honk their horns at the same time. Set a day and time and we will be able to hear the voice of the American people. I will honk .Looking for the email.

    • 10 months ago
  • Buckeye_Bill
    • +1
      Buckeye_Bill  
    • Image
    • teacherdave:

      I "served" my time, USN '69-'73, and am now too old to fight and too old to run.

      But I can write letters, emails, tweets, comments, songs, placards, posters, prose and poetry!

      I can phone, yell, lecture, whisper, tap Morse Code, wave signal flags and send up smoke signals!

      I can march (at a slow pace), slow dance, rain dance, unrain dance, stand for short periods and walk to my nearest polling location to cast my vote!

      I can donate to charities, campaigns, food banks and pantries.

      As you can plainly see, I ain't worth much anymore.

      But I do what I can!

    • 10 months ago
  • Buckeye_Bill
    • +2
      Buckeye_Bill  
    • KB723:

      "Do me a favor, ok? Don't tell me how I'm an idiot or an ahole for contributing to this discourse" - Buckeye_Bill

      No one has as far as I know... I have always welcomed your comments.... =)
      (KB's encouraging words to my comment)

      My reply: I get it now! Dang, I'm set on "slow" today! LOL....but give it time. My "fan club" will be arriving shortly and leaving some very nice posts attached to my comments.

      (Snark machine turned up to it's highest setting.)

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
  • warman1138
  • KB723
  • Frosty46
    • +5
      Frosty46  

    • A new party would be the correct path for Liberals. Soundly based and organised around true grassroots concepts. The Democratic Party is just as corrupt as the Republicans. The inbred corruption of both political parties is insurmountable. Everything about our elections is totally bogus!

      Personally I think revolt is the only answer to today's politics!

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
  • Vic_Romano
  • KB723
  • Vic_Romano
  • KB723
  • Buckeye_Bill
    • +3
      Buckeye_Bill  
    • Frosty46:

      And how do you propose to accomplish this "revolt"? By storming Washington and physically tossing out the politicans?

      You do know they have an army with tanks, helicopters and jetfighters, right? And don't forget about all those mercenaries that they have on payroll.

      And did you know that all those Republican supporters have some gawd-awful weapons of their own and all they are waitng for is some misguided DemocRATS to make a move towards THEIR country that they have been itching to take their country back from? To use as target practice? To give them a reason to scratch that itch of their trigger-fingers?

      I suggest that when you try this, cry out, Geronimo!". In honor of those that tried your idea in the not too distant past. And say over and over again, "Today is a good day to die".

      Want a "sneak peek" at what you would be facing?

      Watch this video. http://youtu.be/Qd0ppORwBog

      It's chock full of those Tea Baggers than believe in their Second Amendment Rights and aren't afraid to use their "Dumocritter ridders"!

    • 10 months ago
  • Frosty46
    • +1
      Frosty46  
    • Buckeye_Bill:

      Revolt does not imply violence in all cases. I am old and wise enough to know that violent opposition to our government would be dealt with as it always has. Guess our founding fathers would argue with you on that stand of yours---------we would be
      true Tea Baggers had those folks listened to the Tories and not their minds. My violent revolt would entail discreet revenge and corrections not stupid storming of the gates.

      Guess it's a matter of how much one disagree's with today treason to the nation and it's people.

    • 10 months ago
  • Frosty46
  • Buckeye_Bill
    • +2
      Buckeye_Bill  
    • Image
    • Frosty46:

      PRECISELY what I mean!

      Here's a picture of a family during the Depression that is labeled, Facing Life Head On, The Jack Whitney Family, Pie Town, New Mexico. (Circa 1937)

      If you were to "copy" this picture so you could to zoom in closer, you will see that the walls of their "home" is made of cardboard.

      I have quite a few of these rare color pictures from that period of time downloaded.

    • 10 months ago
  • Buckeye_Bill
    • +2
      Buckeye_Bill  
    • Frosty46:

      My bad! I seemed to have jumped to the conclusion that what you meant was "armed civil disobedience", as have many posts indicated that recourse to remedy the situation at hand with our government leaving us in the lurch pertaining to the reductions of SS benefits and the neverending hatred the Re[ublicans have for all of the social programs we have been paying into for, like me, decades.

      And try reading posts on the rightwing sites, which I do regularly - gotta keep apprised of the troop movements of the "enemy" - and one can get swept up with their fervor and read into other posts their hatred for others and what they intend to do about it! It can color one's perceptions.

      It's beyond pale!

    • 10 months ago
  • KB723
    • +2
      KB723  

    • CA Dem Party progressives explore primary challenge to Obama

      "I think someone needs to challenge BO, I kinda like what this Cat has to say, but will do more research this evening... You folks have any other suggestions??? Maybe a Garofoli/Sanders 2012???"

    • 10 months ago
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