An observation...

[renie408]

I am new here, I just joined today. I happily and unashamedly support John Edwards, but I am also interested in other candidates. Logically, Edwards will either need a VP or could possibly be asked to be the VP running mate. Of course, the VP could come from outside the pool of current candidates, but I still have been looking at each one with interest to this regard.

So, I have been wandering around this site and have discovered something. The Kerry and Dean supporters here are cancelling each other out and leaving other candidates looking better to me. I think it is a mistake to aim your guns so hard on each other. It seems to me that it is wiser to promote your own candidate and not allow yourself to be sucked into the kind of ridiculous back and forth arguments that I am seeing. All it does is make me think that neither candidate has the right stuff to be President. We already have an administration that attacks anything that moves near it. I don't want to vote for that again. And, honestly, your candidates don't help by taking shots at each other. I guess maybe that's why you guys do it.

We are doing the Republican Party's work for them. I keep hearing supporters of individual candidates referring to the supporters of other candidates as 'the opponents' and 'you people'. We are all Democrats and all looking for a better solution than the one we currently have for the problems that our country faces. I am not saying that people should not offer information that helped them make their choice for candidate, but is there a way to do it that is not accusatory and divisive?

[gWbush is Mabus]

1. .

I am a Dean supporter and have not bashed Kerry.
It seems to me that Dean has not only criticized Bush effectively, but has also outlined what he stands for in a positive light.
He has also energized the base like no other candidate.
People are passionate about what is happening to this country and it is evident in some people's remarks.

I do however think that Kerry should be questioned on his support for the Patriot Act and Iraq war, especially after criticizing it later on.

[dsc]

2. You have some valid points

but I am a former Gore supporter who will go to his grave convinced that liars on the left and liars on the right are why he didn't win. We let them go unchallenged. I am here to say loudly and clearly never again. I got fooled once not this time. Liars of the left will get no free pass from me.

[GumboYaYa]

3. Welcome to DU renie408.

There are fervrent supporters of several candidates here. Most DUers who survive have fairly strong opinions and the facts to back them up. Because we have several strong candidates in the Democratic field, there are several camps of supporters with plenty of good reasons to support their chosen candidate.

Sometimes amongst the zealous, support translates into tearing down other candidates. I agree that this is not productive and we are all better off saying what is good about our candidate and leaving the negativism to the other side.

Nevertheless, I am confident that the vast majority of DUers recognize that the ultimate goal is to unseat George Bush. I can guaranty that after we select a nominee, the same people you see fighting now will join together and help whatever nominee we chose win.

The infighting is a natural phenomenon amongst die-hard politicos. That doesn't mean it is correct, but do not confuse infighting amongst supporters with the positions espoused by their candidates.

Howard Dean and John Kerry have both said the ultimate goal is to defeat Bush. They will fight on the same team at the end of the day and we all will too.

[genius]

4. It's worse than that

Outside of the DU, supporters of one candidate are literally threatening supporters of other candidates. This dirty campaigning is going to bring down the party and give the Republicans just what they want.

[genius]

5. Don't let the anti--Edwards people on the site get to you.

I'm not planning to vote for him. But I think he has a lot of integrity and knowledge and that he is a good man.

[renie408]

6. No worries...

I luckily don't think that my candidate is foolproof. What I think is that he is the best combination package we have to offer. He doesn't have to be perfect, he has to be electable.