Democrat Esch declares intention to unseat Terry

[Omaha Steve]

Anti abortion and death penalty.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1673&u_sid=1488293

[TheFarseer]

1. Does he have a chance? n/t

[craychek]

2. I don't know

he could pull it off if he rode this hurricane katrina thing...

Maybe...

[acmavm]

3. I don't see any reason to vote for this guy. He's just a republican in

democratic clothing. We've got enough of the already. And as much as I detest Lee Terry Jr., this is not much of an improvement. We still have to do better.

<snip>

Esch said he initially opposed the war in Iraq, but would not support the immediate withdrawal of troops. He said he does not think that America's military should leave until that country is stabilized.

"I don't think we should have gone in there in the first place, but we can't leave it worse than when we found it," Esch said.
<snip>

[TheFarseer]

4. I think we make a mistake judging candidates by that

just like republicans make a mistake judging candidates based on who is most anti-abortion. I don't know a thing about Esch. I hope the MSM will allow us to learn about him if he is indeed our candidate. There are a whole array of issues we should be concerned about and besides, not even everyone on here wants immediate withdrawl.

[acmavm]

5. And by 'not everybody here' do you mean yourself? Do you suggest

that we have the resources (troops and money) to keep this farce up? Do you think that by hanging in there the Iraqis will eventually accept the occupation?

By the very same token I think that I've seen more calls here for immediate withdrawal than I've seen for the continuation of a losing situation. Eventually all good and BAD things have to come to an end. And if the situation is lose/lose, the intelligent thing to do is get the hell out sooner rather than later.

I think we need a progressive dem to run for office. By that I mean someone 180 degrees from Ben Nelson. We don't need another DINO to run for office in Nebraska. The little bit I've seen about this guy suggests that's all he is. Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

[Dave Sund]

6. Okay....

Then find yourself a liberal in the state. I think there's maybe a couple dozen of us, and we're all broke.

[the observationist]

18. LOL AMEN DAVE.

[TheFarseer]

7. I can see merit to both positions

Haven't you seen the polls on DU where "gradual withdrawal" gets almost as many votes as "immediate withdrawal"? I don't know why we can't get those Iraqi troops trained faster. I think that is the real answer to get us out of there - let our puppet government do the heavy lifting. Bribe the holy shit out of them to join up if need be. I think we both know we are there til at least 2008 to steal as much oil as possible no maater who we elect to our 2nd district.

I'm pretty disgusted by Ben Nelson too. Dems don't like him because of - well, isn't it obvious? and repubs don't like him because of the low level nuclear waste site disaster. He would have a bitch of a time getting re-elected if the repubs ran someone sane. They have the best of both worlds right now, someone that votes their way 90% of the time and a someone they can throw rocks at all in the same guy. I'm not sure I will bother voting for him.

[acmavm]

8. Ben Nelson has been a disaster to both the democratic party in this

state and to Nebraska in general. I can't even think of one time where he even seemed to be in full control of all his faculties. He seems to forget completely what party he is supposed to represent, and his reasons for any vote (when someone calls him on it) are so lame he might as well just come out and say 'it's because I only ran as a dem so I could screw this state up more than it already is'.

As for voting for him, I have but grudgingly up to this point. But not again. I'll write my dog's name in. It'll do just as much good.

[Nebraska_Liberal]

9. Sounds like another Nelson...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/02/alito.ap/index.html

Is this what we really want? This guy is young and would potentially stay there for years to come...

[sfg94]

10. Why not?

At this point in the game, I'd be thrilled with any democrat to hold elected office.

[AX10]

19. Will he support the leadership, i.e, Pelosi as Speaker?

[the observationist]

11. Re: Nelson

I haven't done a lot of research on Nelson other than hearing he votes for Repug's 40% of the time. In a sense it seems like he's a moderate. Why the disgust?

[Nebraska_Liberal]

12. Nelson

Im not happy with Nelson because he is a social conservative. Im not much for pro-war, anti-choice, so called Democrats...

[Nebraska_Liberal]

13. Nelson...

He also screws Nebraskans out of needed social programs...

[spoko]

14. Take an actual look

Well, no offense, but maybe you should do some research. When you do, you'll see that Ben Nelson stands out over and over again as the only "Democrat" voting with Republicans when everyone else voted along party lines. Now, I'm not one who supports voting along party lines. But typically, with this congress, what a party-line vote means is that the Republican leadership is trying to put through some really obnoxious legislation--something that even their own party wouldn't vote for. So they pressure their own people to pass it, whereas all the Democrats--even the moderates--are left alone to vote against it, as any sane person would. But you always have old Benny-boy in there trying to get the Republicans to like him. He's a horrible Democrat, and a horrible congressman. I'm absolutely ashamed that he comes from this state.

[spoko]

15. What do you suggest, really?

I'm another one who doesn't support immediate withdrawal. The reason is that I have yet to see anyone propose an actual PLAN that involves immediate withdrawal. I don't think anyone who's taken even a passing look at the situation on the ground thinks that it would improve if we instantly had no presence there. Bush's policies have created a gigantic mess, and if we don't help at least a little bit to start cleaning it up, it's going to get much much worse.

There's nothing progressive about just diametrically opposing anything a Republican might support, as a knee-jerk reaction. So let's be reasonable. Let's do something to get the place stabilized, quickly and efficiently, and then let's get out and let them do their own thing. There are reasonable, progressive plans to do this--take a look at The Center for American Progress' proposal, for example. (They call for complete withdrawal by the end of 2007.) Of course, you're welcome to claim that they're not real progressives because they aren't "180 degrees from" the Republicans, but I think you'd lose quite a bit of credibility in doing so.

[Nebraska_Liberal]

16. I get there email on a daily basis.

You don't have to be 180 degrees from the Repulicans, you just can't try and out Republican them and expect to win elections...

[ChipperbackDemocrat]

17. problem is Liberal.

Who can you get in Nebraska who can stand up on the left and make a run at it?

I can only think of four people in the state who could be a real Democratic alternative and the state party wouldn't go for it, and many Nebraskans wouldn't either.

You have to be moderate to win as a Democrat is this state, but I agree that you don't have to roll over on every issue as Nelson is prone to do.

I'm not too worried about Ben Nelson. He's too good politician to get beaten by a lot of people who are talking about going against him.

I'm more concerned about who will be the Governor's mansion after 2006.

Where is Virginia Walsh when you need her?

[TheFarseer]

20. Don't worry about the governor's race

You might as well worry that someday it might rain. Of course Tom is going to win and he won't be that bad. I think he at least cares about this state which is more than I can say for most of them.