Who should the minority leader support?

[genius]

Poll question: Who should the minority leader support?

[applegrove]

1. You would think he would - but again ... Democrats are a big tent

and unless we think it would be advisable to have a small tent...I would learn to live with things not voted your way 100% of the time. It has always been like that actually. Only now it seems more important because things are so awful under Bush. But members still have to do the same job they did before and in Washington that means some pretty pretzellike compromises. Unfortunately.

Work on campaign finance reform and equal free time given out on TVs or something. That really goes to a certain percentage of the 'off votes'. The others are just Reid or Libermann voting with the people who elected them or with their own hearts. And we are not going to change that by targeting them with anger.

Frustrating. But we need "Give Em Hell Harry".

[genius]

3. Voting our way 50% of the time would be nice. Reid doesn't come close.

[applegrove]

7. And Reid won the job because Daschle was targeted. These are

tough times. If you want to change how things are done you have to work and build on what you got. It is obvious that many Dems are fiscal conservatives and support the War now as they did in the beginning. Many are also supportive of deregulation. But they do not want to see the SS dismantled or the USA to become a place where the poor are desperate. They are still on your team.

If you dump anyone who is not perfect.. you will have nobody left. If you find you having fewer of your needs met - perhaps you should understand that the wealth North America lived under in the 1945 to 1998 was based on no competition from less developed nations cause they were colonies, then no competition from old Europe as they recovered from WWII, then no competition from Soviet Block because they had shitty economies, etc. Our wealth was indeed a bubble.

We were very lucky. Now things have changed. We have to accept that we will never be that well off again and that we have to make changes. Then you can fight properly (and back your Democratic Leaders properly) for what choices are the ones to make.

Otherwise... the Elites in the form of Bush or the next patsiewill make all the choices.

[TwentyFive]

2. Minority leader's #1 goal should be to become MAJORITY leader.

Newt Gingrich never became majority leader by 'moving to the center' or supporting Bill Clinton. I hated Newt's politics and lack of any ethical soul....but he did a masterful job of getting conservatives organized and voting.

The Democrats need to take a page from his rulebook.

[bvar22]

5. ABSOLUTELY!

Minority Leader should lead the OPPOSITION!

[TwentyFive]

6. Yes - Newt was a RADICAL Conservative

He never hedged on his conservative principles. He only supported others who envsioned conservative principles being made into law. Every minute he was in front of cameras, he was selling the conservative agendy.

Focus groups were only used to decide the best language to describe conservative policies. The conservative agenda was never watered down or diluted....but much attention was paid to how it was presented.

We need a liberal who can follow this blueprint.

[adwon]

11. I don't know about Newt

Newt happened to be riding a tide of global anti-ruling party sentiment as well. The early-mid 90s saw the ouster of EVERY ruling party in the developed world. Correction, the Tories in Britain got an extension that ended in 97. Nevertheless, I'm of the opinion that Newt and his crew won in spite of their methods, as wartime opposition parties usually do after the war ends.

[XemaSab]

4. Now who voted bush????

(Sarcasm should be a poll choice too.)

[genius]

8. Five people here voted for Bush.

I guess Bush is pretty popular among some people here.

[Padraig18]

9. Push poll much?

:eyes:

[ulysses]

10. seems like a fair question to me. n/t