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Democrats
should unite behind a Dean/Edwards ticket
May
24, 2003
By Len Nasman
Editor's
Note: Democratic Underground welcomes articles promoting
individual Democratic candidates for political office. Publication
of these articles does not imply endorsement of any candidate
by the editors of Democratic Underground.
It's time for Democrats to unite.
I have not contributed money or time to any of the Democratic
Presidential candidates, and I have no personal stake in the
success of any one of them. However, I agree with the idea
that any current Democratic candidate would be a big improvement
over George Junior and his machine.
I watched the South Carolina "debate" that unfortunately
showed all of the Democratic candidates in the worst possible
light. This "Jerry Springer-style" confrontation might have
been fun for the media, and impossible for the Democratic
candidates to avoid, but it did some serious damage to the
Democratic chances in 2004.
After considering the terrible and dangerous state of the
USA under the Bush Regime, I am more convinced than ever of
the need for the Democrats to regain the White House in 2004.
This can only happen if both the party leaders and the voters
get together behind the best possible slate of candidates
as early as possible. Therefore, I am appealing to Democrats
everywhere to encourage most of the candidates and their supporters
to get out of the race as soon as possible and throw their
support behind a united ticket.
Let's forget the current polls that only reflect misconceptions
of an uninformed public and concentrate on what would constitute
the strongest Democratic ticket. Gephardt, Lieberman, and
Kerry have too much association with the current Washington
political scene to gain the proper respect and attention of
the voters. They are considered by most voters to be too much
a part of the problem. Braun, Graham, Sharpton and Kucinich
are not really serious contenders, and although each of them
contributes important ideas to the discussion, they are mostly
a distraction to average voters. It is my opinion that Lieberman,
Graham, Gephardt, Sharpton, Kucinich, Braun, and Kerry should
gracefully bow out of the race and all get strongly behind
a Dean/Edwards ticket. The focus needs to be on everything
that is wrong with what George Junior and his friends have
been doing. The longer that there is competition and fighting
between Democrats, the longer Rove and the spin-masters will
continue to keep the truth about what they are doing from
the public. The longer the Democrats remain divided, the better
the chances that friends of George Junior will gain absolute
control of the United States.
All of the candidates should use their campaign war chests
to continue their current planned campaign schedules, but
should switch their efforts from dividing Democrats to constantly
exposing the lies, hypocrisies, and terrible policies of George
Junior and his friends. Whenever the candidates meet, they
should discuss how to best balance their viewpoints and ideas
for the good of the nation, and to move toward consensus on
how to attack the serious issues facing the country.
When George Junior spends taxpayer money to ride a jet plane
on to a carrier, they should call a news conference and remind
the voters of Junior's personal National Guard record (that
included being AWOL for at least a year). Every time someone
talks about George Junior's MBA, they should shout about his
record as a failed businessman who engaged in illegal insider
trading. Every time terrorists are mentioned, they should
remind voters of the Bush family financial connections to
those who fund terrorists, and to their historic support of
Norrriga, Sadam Hussain, and the Taliban. Every time Junior
commits another act of hypocrisy, Democrats must publicly
scream to high heaven. Every time Junior lies, the Democrats
must expose the lie to the voters. Every time a Republican
attacks the Dean/Edwards ticket, all should respond fast and
loud about the abuses of the Bush Regime.
We know that during the 2000 campaign the Bush machine saturated
the media with lies and distortions about Gore. It is clear
that Gore tried to follow the high road, maintain a positive
approach, and attempted to ignore the mud he was smeared with.
We also know that in general the Democratic Party failed to
come to his aid and counter attack. We are now suffering from
the result of that failure to unite against a very dangerous
enemy of freedom and liberty. The current candidates can help
lead the country without leading the presidential ticket.
Show the country that the Democrats are united in their efforts
to save the country from the coalition of psudo-Christians
and neo-fascist that have taken control of the Republican
Party and most branches of government.
The rank-and-file Democrats should beg the candidates to
search deep in their hearts, and then do what is clearly the
best for the country by taking the unprecedented step of uniting
behind a Dean/Edwards ticket. Dean and Edwards must open their
doors to the other candidates and work seriously with all
of them so that each of their dreams for the future of the
country will be fulfilled. They should provide a place in
their administration for a team of united democrats. Each
of the candidates has different strengths and ideas that can
help lead the country to a better future. Dean and Edwards
can give voters an early demonstration of how true statesmen
can join together to find consensus among different voices
and then move forward. Dean and Edwards should assure the
other candidates that the issues and concerns that drive each
of them will be best met by approaching problems as a team
rather than as a feuding family on a low-class talk show.
If you agree that the country would be best served by the
Democratic Party uniting as early as possible behind the strongest
possible ticket for 2004, then you must exert every means
at your disposal to push the current candidates to unite now
to defeat the monsters that stole the country in 2000. We
have seen that regular folks can use the power of Internet
communications to bypass the traditional back-room political
hacks and force new agendas to the front.
Let's all join an effort to push the Democratic Party leaders
to quit playing the traditional counter-productive and wasteful
game of having candidates beat up on each other so much that
their strength for the important fight against the true enemy
is reduced. Let's demand that the party leaders listen to
the voters instead of simply begging for their money. Let's
demand that the Democratic Party unite now in an all-out effort
to show the American public the truth about George Junior
and to throw him and his friends out of office in 2004.
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