I Will Not Vote for A Candidate Who Voted for War in Iraq & Patriot Act

David Zephyr

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Thu Jan-22-04 05:50 PM
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I Will Not Vote for A Candidate Who Voted for War in Iraq & Patriot Act

Edited on Thu Jan-22-04 05:52 PM by David Zephyr

To the Democratic Party�s peril, it appears that there is still an open question as to whether or not the great lesson from the 2002 mid-term elections --- when the Democrats were trounced after supporting George W. Bush with his War, his Patriot Act, his airline bailouts and tax cuts for billionaires because millions of Party activists and the Left sat out the election in disgust with Democrats in Congress for not standing up to White House and its agenda --- that you need your base to win elections.

Even Howard Dean's greatest detractors are frank about one thing: he moved John Kerry to the left. And if Dean were to be out of the race, Kerry would immediately move back to his post 9/11 and pre-Dean conservatism which permitted him to vote without shame for The Patriot Act, the Airline Bailout and the War in Iraq.

With the Corporate Media going after Dean (as they did Kucinich, the other significant anti-war candidate), Kerry seems emboldened now to distance himself from the temporary anti-war language he adopted and used in the Iowa race during the very last week. Haven't heard much of that this week, have we? Don't expect to either.

In fact, just this morning, one of Kerry's key supporters in the South, Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. was already on television touting the fact that John Kerry had indeed voted for the War in Iraq and had stood with Bush against Saddam Hussein!

What a difference a day makes, huh?

When Howard Dean entered the race, he struck a chord with millions of activists in this country who were fed up with a great many of the leaders within the Democratic Party. Dean directly appealed to and inspired activists who had sat out 2002 midterms in disgust with their Party�s facilitating the Bush agenda. The result: The Republicans were rewarded control over the Senate, but as I have pointed out here that more rightwing legislation was passed during Tom Daschle�s brief stewardship of the Senate than under Bill Frist�s.

Dean's success in signing up over 500,000 volunteers in nearly 1,000 cities around the country and raising tens of millions of dollars in small contributions in less than 10 months was and still is unparalleled in American political history. He gave the millions of us who have felt betrayed by our Party a glimmer of hope that the Party of the People might be just that again. Dean was not afraid to challenge George Bush and to stand with those of us who were dismissed time and time again as �the fringe�.

To his campaign staff�s great credit, Kerry finally recognized this, and most adroitly moved leftward the last week before the Iowa caucus, co-opting much of Dean�s message and even became "anti-war" in spite of the glaring fact that he had voted to permit Bush's war for oil. A slick political move by Kerry, no doubt.

But here's the rub for me. Kerry's vote for the War in Iraq and, perhaps worse, the Patriot Act simply make it impossible for me to vote for him...even if he becomes the nominee of our Party. I know also, that there are millions who feel exactly as I do, so getting "angry" with me for stating how I feel will only blind those who want to defeat George Bush in November to the great depth of antipathy that a great many of us feel about the filth of the Patriot Act and the vile nature of the War in Iraq. John Kerry has had ample opportunity in my eyes to address these issues with those of us on the Left who have waited and waited. With the Primaries moving into Dixie, it seems apparent to me that Kerry now plans to actually tout his voting for the War and the Patriot Act as Congressman Ford signaled to all Americans this morning...and so there is no point in my waiting for a renunciation or apology form the Junior Senator from Massachusetts anymore. I am finished with John Kerry.

There have been and are many threads here at the DU where individuals claim that they will never vote for Dean should he be the nominee or that they will never vote for Lieberman should he be the nominee. In fact, there is a poll currently of this genre about Howard Dean racking up the votes of those who will not vote for Howard Dean should he be the nominee. I have never, in nearly three years, ever written that I would not support any candidate should he be my Party�s nominee. I have probably written more posts criticizing Joe Lieberman than any of the other candidates, but I have to give Senator Lieberman respect for the fact that he didn�t wait until Howard Dean was wounded politically to proudly stand by his votes for the War in Iraq and the Patriot Act. Lieberman has never once hedged on his conviction that he was right to vote as he did. When Lieberman accuses Kerry of �waffling� on his votes, he is only speaking the truth.

Governor Dean, in spite of the Corporate sponsored pundits and in spite of the wishes of the DLC, is not going away. Unlike the other candidates, he has tens of millions of dollars, viable organizations in all 50 states, nearly 500,000 volunteers�and more delegates accumulated towards the nomination. Dean will participate in every Primary picking up delegates along the way to the Convention in Boston. And whether he has 50% for a first roll call victory or not, I caution all of his opponents and detractors within the Party not to take lightly a candidate who comes into a closed convention hall with minimum of 35% of the delegates. I am speaking about Activist delegates, not the buttoned-down and winged tipped city council type delegates who come for the corporate-sponsored festivities and ballroom activities, but hard-core, issue related individuals who always spar with the more conservative and moneyed interests. Those delegates are never to be toyed with and they don�t just disappear.

Howard Dean isn�t angry, but millions of his supporters and admirers sure are. We are not just angry with George Bush and Dick Cheney, but we are also angry with the compromisers within our Party that coddled to Bush and did his bidding at beck and call. You see, we know what they did last summer. And they know we know.

The mega-wattage disdain shown against Howard Dean by the Party Establishment and the Corporate Media is truly reflective of its disdain for the activist Left within the Party. That cavalier disdain and dismissal of the activist base has steadily led to the growth of the Green Party to the great detriment of the Democratic Party. The recent San Francisco mayoral election was most revealing where Republicans actually joined with Democrats arm-in-arm to squeak out a fragile victory of Matt Gonzales, the Green Candidate.

Howard Dean was not the �loser� in Iowa. It was Dick Gephardt, the �I�m proud of my vote for the War in Iraq� candidate who was the �loser�. And since when is a candidate who picks up delegates in a state contest required to give a �concession speech� as the Corporate Media and the Democratic Party Establishment would want one to believe? Correct me if I am wrong, but I heard no one suggesting that John Edwards should have had a �concession speech�.

Howard Dean�s cheerful pep rally to his supporters was exactly what it should have been for a campaign that intends to compete in every state contest. �How arrogant� of Dean, the corporate class bellowed. �Where�s his contrition? Why won�t this man and his supporters who are a pain in our collective asses just go away?�

Well, they may get what they wish for. For as activists sat out the midterms in rage in 2002, don�t be surprised if the same thing happen in November should the Party nominate an individual who now proudly stands by his vote for War in Iraq and the Patriot Act.