I wasn't here at DU for the 2004 elections, so can I ask...

[Bicoastal]

...was the anti-Kerry rhetoric as vitriolic as the anti-Hillary rhetoric is right now?

[TwilightZone]

1. Pretty similar.

I think it's starting earlier this cycle, but it was pretty wild here in the '04 race. It pretty much hit meltdown about the time that Iowa rolled around.

[book_worm]

2. Anti-Dean and Anti-Kerry

[Devlzown]

3. It was horrible.

The Dean people were particularly vicious toward him. Then there was this guy who kept bringing up Kerry's membership in Skull and Bones -- basically called him an Illuminatti lizard person. It was quite a ride.

[blondeatlast]

12. Ah, yes--SeventhSon. I kinna miss the guy.

:wtf: am I saying?! :rofl:

[Cha]

18. seventhson was

crazed and now we know why.

[Cha]

17. Vicious as in bringing up his

IWR vote?

[kdmorris]

4. Well, no, not at this point in the cycle

See, at this point in the 2004 cycle, Kerry was not even close to having a chance at the nomination. It was all anti-Dean and anti-Gephart before Iowa.

Now, after Iowa... the anti-Kerry stuff got started.

And of course, everyone seemed to hate all the Dems that were not THEIR candidate. It was pretty gruesome.

After the election, we all got a chance to change our user names. Skinner said it was because of people having names like Clark04, etc. But I think, in some small way, it also allowed us to forget about who we all hated the most. Everyone started on a level playing field and you had no way of knowing that LillyoftheValley was the bastard that kept bashing your candidate every time you said "Hi".

[alittlelark]

5. It was pretty ugly, but primary candidates issues

were restricted to GD-politics (or was it GD 2004...?). It was still crazy, but a more organized kinda crazy.

[Frances]

6. I don't remember it being nearly as bad as this time

Maybe because it was restricted to a particular forum. Could it be done that way again?

[Rick Myers]

7. Oh, there was plenty of bile to go around!!!

It will calm down as the campaigns progress. I try my best to stay out of all of it!

[NoPasaran]

8. I think the Deaniac-Clarkie wars were the bloodiest of all

No quarter asked, nor given.

[blondeatlast]

13. That was my recollection, too. IIRC, Kerry wasn't the subject of much discussion

until after Iowa.

[LSdemocrat]

9. All the top candidates received fairly significant amounts of crazy, hate-filled rhetoric

[madrchsod]

10. ya it was pretty bad

there was a girl here that was a rabid dean fan ..she joined just before it started heating up and just after the election she was over 20,000 posts- then she was gone...

[Cha]

20. Wasn't me then..

:)

[madrchsod]

23. i think it was slinkerwink --hey i`m old anf forget things

[Cha]

26. Oh yes..

she was pretty diligent.

[jpgray]

11. At this point I think it was mostly Dean and Clark fans throwing feces at each other

Using the same talking points over and over to attack and defend, neither listening to the other and neither willing to give an inch of ground. People tied themselves in completely embarrassing knots to both degrade and uplift one or the other. It was very similar to this. :D

[Cha]

21. Oh

shite.

[jpgray]

22. The irony was that neither -candidate- was really hated, but some supporters hated each other

As witness I remember some polls about Dean's work at the DNC, and everybody here fucking loves it. As they should. His 50 state strategy and reliance on individual over corporate funding is gangbusters stuff. But when a Clark supporter insulted Dean to win advantage, then a Dean supporter in time insulted Clark to retaliate, and then things went to hell, and it became less about the actual candidates than a personality war between DUers. "Proving" your candidate is better became a social game.

(edited to add I don't know who started the Dean/Clark war, but it did happen!)

[Cha]

25. I was just refering to the

"feces" throwing observation.

I don't remember the vitrol with Clark and Dean..I do remember lots of DUers who thought Dean wasn't progressive enough..Dean's stance on not going into Iraq made me like him and I never stopped.

After Kerry won..I got on that bandwagon real quick and even went to a Kerry rally on Nov 2, 2004 in Manchester, New Hampshire with 15,000 other screaming, freezing, fans.

[Mike03]

14. Psychogenic Amnesia

Strangely, I don't remember it being this contentious, although I do remember a lot of antagonistic discussion regarding Dean, which puzzled me because I thought he was doing a fantastic job.

The one thing I starkly remember--regretfully--is the godawful election day and how damned certain I was that Kerry would win. By noon there was not a shred of doubt in my mind he would win. All the preliminary polling data suggested he would win by a landslide.

And then we all know what happened.

And that horrific next day...

And those horrific years that followed.

Maybe I just am not recalling all the conflict, but it seems to me that things are far more aggressive right now, but I understand it and I believe things will sort themselves out over time.

[jpgray]

15. I think few candidates really pissed people off, but candidate -supporters- pissed each other off

[Cha]

16. Yeah, Kerry got it..and

Dean got it from the left and the right.

[WilliamPitt]

19. Amazingly enough, the anti-Clinton rhetoric is worse

And wow...that's saying something.

[ozone_man]

24. Those were the days.

We had a more impressive field as I recall. Kerry didn't really come on to the scene until he had won Iowa, with help from a murder/suicide by Gephardt, and their Osama attack ad on Dean. Things were much more intense then. And Clark/Dean discussions were intense.

2008 has a lackluster field of candidates by comparison. With the exception of Kucinich, Gravel and Biden. And Ron Paul keeps things real and lively. Otherwise it would be purely a discussion between tweedle dee and tweedle dum. Which corporate candidate do we have to choose from?

[H2O Man]

27. I thought it was

great then, and I think it's great now. It might seem a bit harsher now, because there are more moderate and conservative democrats advocating for Senator Clinton, and some outspoken progressive democrats who think DU should reflect the thinking of the democratic left. It makes it fun.

[Rhythm and Blue]

28. IIRC, Kerry didn't get much flak at all.

I mean, we had plenty of "OMG CORPORATE CHOICE CANDIDATE" once he started winning states, but before that it was Deanie Babies and Clarkites bashing each other. There certainly wasn't the Mass Fear and Loathing like there is with Hillary, unless I'm just repressing those memories.