Reply #321: litmus tests and judgment and respect , oh my ...

[welshTerrier2]

first, for your consideration, i posted the following (see below) in another thread that referenced Mr. Rosenberg's apparent statement that the "war in Iraq was good" ...

but i've also been doing some thinking about "litmus tests" ... litmus tests often get a bad rap (do people still say rap?) ... the bottom line for me is Iraq ... i went along with ABB just this once ... but looking at the horrors over there, i cannot continue to wear my Democratic Party t-shirt any longer if the party won't call for withdrawal in the very near future ... i have to draw the line somewhere on something and 100,000 dead Iraqis with no hope in sight seems like a more than reasonble place to do so ... if Mr. Rosenberg continues to advocate for the insanity in Iraq, he need not waste his time asking me to help the Party either financially or any other way ... whether policy is or isn't a central component of the Chairman's job, I can't in good conscience work for those who are fighting for more atrocities ... so there's my number one litmus test ... and don't get me started on Dr. Dean's views on Iraq ... i'm not totally comfortable there either but i think there's hope for the evolution of his position ...

your reference to picking 2 Chairs with slightly different roles reminds me of an old Firesign theatre routine ... i won't elaborate unless you're very familiar with them ... anyway, it seems very clear to me that this is the Party's hidden agenda and i don't like it one bit ... and why is that? because anything that smells of "the old guard" smells rotten to me ... i think the politics have been way too conservative and very poorly executed ... the bottom line is that i don't trust the Party's insiders ... i don't believe they will really open up the process ... fwiw, I did not support Dr. Dean in the primaries ... i respect his grassroots efforts but i'm not so comfortable with him that i'm confident shared power will give me a voice ... i think we need reform from top to bottom ... and i think that this is not the time to compromise with some type of Dean-Rosenberg ballet ... you need to throw out the moldy cheese before you put the new cheese in the same container ...

anyway, here was the other post i referred to ... it's basically a response to those who argued that Mr. Rosenberg's pro war statement doesn't matter because policy in the Chair position is inconsequential ...


Title: judgment and respect

the Democratic Party needs some healing ... it needs it badly and it needs it now ...

some have argued that Mr. Rosenberg's "the war in Iraq is good" statement is irrelevant because the DNC Chair is not a policy position ... i strongly disagree but for the sake of argument, let's accept that point ... so, we look past ideology as a requirment for the job ... OK so far ??

but then we look at the message this hawkish statement sends to those who already feel alienated from the Party's platform and many of the issues Kerry ran on ... is it unreasonable to expect the new Chair to reflect a deep understanding of the divide in the Party and be very cautious of statements likely to deepen the rift ??? what is the message to those who feel disenfranchised? is the message and the timing of Mr. Rosenberg's statement reflective of the judgment he plans to demonstrate as Chair and the respect and sensitivity he plans to show for those who don't agree with him?

even if you look past the ideology embodied in Mr. Rosenberg's statement, and I don't, Mr. Rosenberg exercised poor judgment and poor timing in saying what he said ... if these are the strategic skills he brings to the table, ideology aside, i hope we choose someone else ...