Hope the Kaine SOTU rebuttal supporters are happy; Murtha on Hardball....

[HardWorkingDem]

just kicked some serious ass.

What is it about the democrats that allows them to keep fumbling the ball? His speech was just the one that was needed last night. He took it right to Bush's doorstep.

[flordehinojos]

1. and i just heard chris matthews say to murtha, "yes, but your party last

night..." and i couldn't hear the rest. i automatically muted the t.v. and changed the channel.

"Yeah but your party last night" --well murtha's party is not tweety's party.

Murtha's war against bush and his power grab is not tweety's war.

Murthas war to get the truth out is not tweety's war.

tweety uncovered more about himself in that one statement than he may have wanted to.

anyone who doubts it only has to play those six words.

[HootieMcBoob]

2. in what way did Murtha kick ass?

What did he say? A little detail would be nice.

[HardWorkingDem]

5. he explained a lot of things like...

that we are stuck right in the middle of a civil war between two factions that hate us; that 80 percent of the Iraqis want us out; that 47 percent say it is okay to kill American soldiers; that Bush is cutting huge portions out of the military; that when this is over the military is going to be hurting and it will take years to rebuild; that Iran is three times as large in population and size and what that means to a possible war; that he's tired of our young men and women being attacked and they should be re-deployed.

When Matthews mentioned "his party" that referred to his reported stat that 4 out 5 Dems are against this war, but that the most well known Dems - the Clinton's, Schummer and others - will still not come off their support of this war and he asked Murtha why that was and Murtha's reply was that they are coming around.

He was really passionate and eloquent. Matthews also had him on for two segments and hardly interrupted him at all.

Also, Matthews asked him why he didn't give the SOTU and I thought I could see some exasperation in Murtha who replied that he likes to do things behind the scenes (I really got the feeling that he wanted to say that the Dem Leadership decided they wanted to go another way instead of the right way).

If anyone can, catch it on a re-run. Murtha did a great job.

[cali]

3. Kaine did a good job

last night. Murtha's a great spokesman, but for the SOTU response, Kaine hit the right note, and he's gotten lots of good reviews. In a world where perception is important, it's good to have the press NOT bashing the dem giving the SOTU response.

[TomInTib]

4. Oh, he was just great. And has the dynamic personality of...

a pool of stagnant water.

[DancingBear]

6. As a pool of stagnant water, I resent that!

glub, glub

:hi:

[TomInTib]

7. Oh, just go back to your Lionel Ritchie collection.

Hey, no offence to all the Lionel Ritchie fans on DU (and from most of the music threads I have seen, I know y'all are out there)- I just happen to know one of Dancing Bear's dark little secrets.

[moggie12]

8. Hey

As a Lionel Ritchie fan and a frequent stander in pools of water I resent that

[TomInTib]

13. This may be a little personal, but......

do you ever listen to Lionel while standing in pools of water?

I am trying to collect info for my thesis.

[moggie12]

16. But of course

Lionel sounds best in water. Your thesis reminds me of mine: "Correlation of Grape Jelly Usage and Voting Preferences Among Middle Aged Voters in Rural Kentucky". Ain't a Poli Sci degree grand? So darn useful.

[TomInTib]

22. I love that theme.

You made me laugh right out loud.

I mean it. I am sitting in my quiet perch over San Francisco Bay laughing about Grape Jelly/Aged Rural Voters (I am originally an East Texas Hick so I REALLY get it) and the dog is looking at me like he needs to go get help.

Poli Sci Degree and $4.....

[DancingBear]

10. Oh, so we're going down THAT path, are we?

"See the tree how big it's grown..."

I've seen you weep openly at that line...

[TomInTib]

11. Hey man, that's a low blow.

I mean, that's a little close to home.

Can't we all just get along?

Sheesh

[DancingBear]

18. And you said you didn't like Kaine's speech...

OK, we've officially made nice.


"Fuel consumption way too fast,
Let's get on home before we run out of gas..."

[sallyseven]

9. You are right I watched it three times today.

Kaine did a great job, in only a few minutes.

[AtomicKitten]

14. Kaine was chosen because he had just won an election.

The Dems were just showcasing their most recently elected Democrat.

He wasn't terrible and he dropped the campaign slogan for 2006 "WE CAN DO BETTER."

[AndyA]

15. I agree

I think the Democratic response last night was done very well.

Several people I know in the target segment of the population (TRUE conservative Republicans) said the new Governor was very impressive, presented himself very well, and seems like a real straight forward guy.

THIS IS WHAT WE WANT THEM TO SEE!

Everyone has a preconceived idea of what a Democrat is. We need to surprise them. That will keep their attention, and change their minds. Bush & Gestapo are our best promotional tools right now - we need to make the best of them!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

20. No shit. I had to turn it off

He sounded like an infomercial for Sominex. Do they just want to lose? I could write a thousand hard hitting ads against the lying traitors without getting out of bed. I would use their own words against them, and we get some drively governor who has been in office for about two weeks. I joined the Green party because the Dems have had the house, the senate and the presidency handed to them several times over with the scandles, the secrecy and the corruption and still, they give us some guy from Mayberry. They are as stupid as Bush! Fuck em if they can't run a campaign.

[zulchzulu]

12. Kaine didn't "fumble the ball"

He appealed more to the moderates on both parties...that's a much bigger piece of the pie than the Democratic base. He made great points without the red meat red-faced speech that some may have wanted. So be it.

Yes, we are all outraged. But to get many, and I mean many Republicans to see the light and jump off the Bush Ship of Lies, going the more moderate approach is a better solution.

Kaine mentioned how bad the war was going, how much we need healthcare reform, how there is a severe level of corruption with the Republicans, how women should be able to have choice...and other issues...all done with the bumpersticker phrase "There Is A Better Way" sprinkled throughout the speech.

Add the fact that he's in the South, yet didn't have a heavy accent and he was very good. The eyebrows were odd, but hey...

[Jacobin]

17. Dinos are bought off corporatists

who are useful only to perpetuate the facade of 'democracy' in this country. There's not a dime's worth of difference between them and bushbots

[11 Bravo]

19. Precisely the thinking that has, to date, given us Roberts and Alito.

Ralph would be so proud.

[DancingBear]

21. No, what gave us Roberts and Alito was this:

On cloture,


Ms. Landrieu - "aye"

Mr. Lieberman - "aye'

Mr. Nelson - "aye'

(repeat 16 more times)

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NCarolinawoman]

24. "Competence" could have been a ONE TWO punch using Kaine & Clark.

When I was growing up the response was often two people. I remember Gerald Ford and somebody else (Bob Dole?). The press would make fun of them because they were boring.

Kaine could have talked about the lack of competence on the domestic front, and then Clark could have continued the theme on the foreign front; and even worked in the theme that Katrina was a security issue as well.

General Clark could have put it like this, "I agree with you, Tim, it IS about competence. Under President Clinton, we got rid of a tyrant using all of NATO, without the loss of any American lives, and we had an exit strategy. Then he could have talked about all the billions of dollars the Republicans have wasted on a war that should NEVER have been fought in the first place and made us less safe. All that money could have been put to good use here at home."

(Of course, I have heard Wes Clark actually say that stuff. He's always talking about competence.)