You CAN be conservative and still a Democrat.

[NaturalHigh]

Brad Ellsworth opposes abortion and same-sex marriage and is an Indiana sheriff who very much believes in the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

And he's coming to Congress as a Democrat.

"We're a pretty conservative bunch, and I think that I fit right in with those values of the people here," said Rep.-elect Ellsworth.

President Bush isn't the only conservative that Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California will have to deal with when she becomes House speaker in January. Ellsworth is one of a crop of conservative and moderate Democrats who helped the party seize Congress in what has been viewed as a referendum on Bush, the Iraq war and corruption.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/10/new.dems/index.html

[Boston Critic]

1. So let's avoid the wedge issues for a while

They ran as Democrats to support things like raising the miminum wage, fixing the Medicare prescription plan, NOT "fixing" Social Security, etc.

Let the "gays, guns and God" issues to the Republicans. They won't be coming up in Congress because it will be the Democrats controlling the agenda.

[Iris]

3. bingo. If someone is opposed to abortion, he shouldn't have one.

Let's move on.

[iamjoy]

14. Same With Guns

if you don't like 'em, don't have them.

I hate guns.

[Pithlet]

22. Except that other people's guns can affect me.

I don't support a ban on guns, but I don't think it's the same issue as abortion at all. Control over ones own body is quite a different issue from criminals having easy access to guns.

[NaturalHigh]

30. Criminals shouldn't have access to guns.

Law-abiding citizens, however, should.

[Iris]

28. we had 2 children killed by guns they found in their homes in the past week

here in metro Atlanta. (2 separate incidents)

I don't understand how anyone thinks they are not a problem.

[zanne]

5. I'm not forgetting six long years of camouflaged fascism.

This is no time to let our guard down. The sleeping bears are hibernating right now. They'll wake up with a vengeance. I'll even quote the Dixie Chicks; "I'm not ready to make nice".

[donco6]

6. What's "a while"?

Just curious.

[Boston Critic]

12. No time frame

Let's get some solid legislative victories under our belts. Not just little things Bush will agree to, but big things -- like focusing on economic issues, civil liberties issues (no warrantless wiretaps), constitutional issues (signing statements have no legal effect), etc.

Of the wedge issues, some are jokes and should never come up (like the "flag burning amendment"), some should be left to the states (like gay marriage), and some we'll have to deal with eventually whether we want to or not (like abortion and gun control). But there's no need to *lead* with things that are going to divide us and give comfort to the GOPhers.

[donco6]

15. That's what I figured. Thanks. eom

[Lars39]

21. Equal rights for all should not be left up to the states.

That is the same argument that was used for slavery.

[Boston Critic]

33. Not quite the same thing

Marriage is something that is specifically left up to the states, and the "right" to get married does, indeed, vary from state to state.

At the Federal level we should support anti-discrimination laws and oppose the offensive and needless "Defense of Marriage" amendment, but deciding who gets to marry is a state matter. Where I would federalize it is enforcing the "full faith and credit" clause, which requires states to recognize as valid the legal actions of other states. Thus states accept each other's driver's licenses, and if I've got a valid marriage in Arkansas then Oregon can't refucse to accept it.

Right now civil unions and gay marriages from Massachusetts are not being accepted in other states, but it's only a matter of time that the federal law permitting this is struck down as unconstitutional.

[AlinPA]

7. That's it.

[Lars39]

2. When he doesn't push for women's rights to choose

and he doesn't push for equal rights for everyone? Nope.

[acmejack]

9. He ran as a democrat because the Republican incumbent couldn't be beaten

In the Republican Primary. There was a lot of political opportunism going on with this batch of "Conservative Democrats". If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, guess what? More than likely it is a DUCK!!!

[NaturalHigh]

16. He's a Democrat.

He will caucus with the Democrats and give us a larger majority. A lot of his views mirror the views of a lot of Democrats.

[acmejack]

23. Certainly

Those are all those "New" Democrats. The one s that arte fop all the things the Republicans are for, we'll see where they vote on the contentious issues.

[NaturalHigh]

29. Hopefully, they'll vote their conscience.

There is a reason these issues are contentious. Not everyone agrees on them. I don't see a lot to be gained by expecting everyone to vote in lockstep.

[Iris]

10. oops! I focused on the abortion issue and didn't see the

I revise my intial response to say I agree with you Lars39.

[Lars39]

20. What we'll wind up with at some point in the future is a "Democratic

Party" that is anti-choice and anti-gay rights, if the party keeps being hollowed out this way.

[Iris]

27. yep. But, hopefully, there will emerge some other choice.

The older I get, the more I hope for a multi-party system to break up what we've got now.

[mdmc]

4. So true

so very true:kick:

[Iris]

8. self-delete

responded to wrong post.

[TomClash]

11. Oh here we go

Can we stop this nonsense? It's not very constructive.

Let's work on issues that we do agree on - there are many. There's a lot of work to be done before we eat our own over hot button social issues.

[NaturalHigh]

13. Issues we agree on...

If we stick with raising the minimum wage, a middle-class tax cut, and getting out of Iraq, we've got a lot of common ground.

[VeggieTart]

17. Fair 'nough.

But I'm going to scream if I hear one more guy describe himself as pro-life and pro-gun (although our local paper terms it "opposes abortions rights and gun control"). You CANNOT say you are pro-life when it comes to fetuses and pro-methods that kill people after they are born. Guns KILL. The death penalty KILLS. War KILLS.

And as for gun control, should we not favor making sure violent criminals cannot get a hold of guns? Should we not all favor making sure gun dealers keep records if the guns they sell are used in a crime? Should we not make sure citizens cannot obtain assault weapons? Wesley Clarke himself said that if you like assault weapons, you should join the Army because "we've got 'em"?

[NaturalHigh]

19. I agree in part.

However (a discussion for another day), we would have to agree on a definition of "assault weapons" before I would be for a ban.

[Jed Dilligan]

32. I want citizens to have whatever LEOs have,

or else I want LEOs to be silenced politically like the military.

I would prefer to go back to everyone just having single-shot weapons--I think the existence of SWAT teams is one reason we now have assault-weapon-wielding criminals. But no one really knows how to stop escalation once it starts.

I don't trust every mayor of every city to use his police department democratically, so I don't want them better armed than the citizens if it comes down to it.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. “In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.” Gandhi

[JudyM]

26. Whew. That quote nails it. Thank you. nt

[Selatius]

24. I call them anti-gay, anti-women Democrats

It's getting to the point where the only meaningful definition of a Democrat is the person's party registration.

[joe_sixpack]

25. You are right on the mark there.

"It's getting to the point where the only meaningful definition of a Democrat is the person's party registration"

It just hit me how true your statement is.

[NaturalHigh]

31. Would you rather all the conservative Democrats...

move across the aisle and give the Republicans the majority again? Isn't that kind of a cut off the nose to spite the face situation?

[stepnw1f]

34. It's Just What He/She Thinks

I agree.... any Democrat who minimalizes others' civil rights for politics hurts the Party's prestige as civil rights advocates. Once the Dems do that they concede their stance on protecting the little guy, the one's who have no representation due to their race, sex or creed. Wavering on that principle is leaving you open to attack from the right wing. It is why some Republicans claim conservative Democrats are no "different" from the Republicans we see in office today. It's hard for me to disagree with that and on a number of occasions, this nasty fact has been used the Democratic Party in debates with righties.

On the other hand we have to work together....