Micheal Moore for President....no I am serious

[zeemike]

And his campaign slogan would be "Just say NO"
And he could tell the American people that this is a way they can poke the establishment right in the eye. Vote for this fat guy with the baseball cap, that looks like he just walked out of a factory somewhere.
Dare them to criticize his looks and bad manners.
and what we could see is the Jessie Ventura effect where people were so fed up that they just pushed the none of the above button that he represented.

But I am not really serious about Micheal Moore running for president, just the idea that we should run independent candidates that would be a poke in the eye to the establishment, and I think people would push that button.

[Ken Burch]

1. You'd sound more serious if you spelled his first name correctly

It's "Michael", not "Micheal".

[zeemike]

3. No actually it can be spelled both ways

And I spelled it the way I spell my own...
But I need to add to this that I am talking about senate and state candidates for office not the president.

For instance, Robert Redford to run against Max Bacaus...I don't know how to spell that ether.

[Ken Burch]

7. Doesn't Redford live in Utah?

n/t.

[zeemike]

8. I only know that he has a big ranch in Montana

But where is legal residence is I am not sure.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. Kind of like that independent who ran for President in 2000

That really poked the establishment in the eye, didn't it?

[zeemike]

4. And things are a bit different today are they not?

Are you better off today than you were then?
Even the tea baggers would say no.

[Ken Burch]

9. The OP clarificed that he meant a Senatorial or Congressional campaign

And at some point, you're going to have to admit that the growth of the Green Party in the 90's was the DLC's fault. You can't make people unwelcome in your party and then attack them when they take the hint and go somewhere else. The Democrats were simply asking too much of progressives in those years, going out of the way to leave them out of the cold and then insisting that progressives still OWED the party their votes.

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. So, it's ok to split our votes on the Senatorial or Congressional levels and elect Republicans?

Speaker Boehner? Majority Leader McConnell? Hoe do you like the sound of that?

[ima_sinnic]

17. who's "our" votes? you think democrats are somehow "entitled" to votes? (nt)

[Ken Burch]

19. It could be done as a primary challenge

I assume even YOU wouldn't object to that.

If we let people in the party vote against it on most major issues, and then allow them renomination without a fight, we send the message that our principles don't matter.

And the truth is, Freddie, most of the American people are well to YOUR left on the healthcare issue.

What you're doing here is illustrating the attitude that built the Green Party: this insistence that progressives be kept out in the cold, yet still be expected to provide their votes for the party on demand.

[WeDidIt]

5. Moore is an idiot

he's a Sarah Palin of the Left.

He didn't even know US Senators can't be recalled.

[zeemike]

6. And so was Bush and Reagan.

That much is clear but the right knows what works.

[krawhitham]

35. 70% of the people did hate them

and Reagan was not an idiot just a dirty rethug. Toward the end he was just a shell of his former self due to alzheimer

[zeemike]

38. No you are right he was a man of common intelligence.

And so was bush. Neither of them were particularly bright but they were not dumb ether.
Reagan tho was an actor and he had smart people around him to wright his lines and all he had to do was hit the mark and remember his lines, which he was good at and had a lot of practice doing.

[brentspeak]

20. You are Exhibit #2392 of why DU is getting dumber every day

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[zeemike]

26. Was that link an example of getting dumber?

If so you seem to be saying that it is hopeless to fight the Borg.

[Forkboy]

21. Nice post, Jiacinto.

[Raine]

25. He wouldn't be the first president to be an idiot

or the last.

[Enthusiast]

30. Funny, you are the only

one that feels Michael is an idiot. The rest of us love him.

I only hear Republicans call Michael Moore names. Are you a stealth Republican? Your slip is showing.

[karynnj]

10. Such a candidate would lose in a landslide

Oddly enough, only a REPUBLICAN saying "no" could win. Why? As a group the Democrats want government to do things. You can't get there by attacking every vested interest.

The left and right blogospere are both too enchanted by anger and outrage which most people might ok in talking heads, but not their leaders.

[zeemike]

12. Yes of course we must pay tribute to vested interests.

And that is what our congressmen are doing right now.
But only some democrats think that government is doing something for us....and feel the truth is that they are doing for the special interist...and the party counts on party loyalty to keep the status quo....which a flow of tax payer money to the special interest that pay them...

But to some winning is far more important than actually doing something good for us all.
They have been caught up in the game.

[karynnj]

13. You miss my point

My point is that Democrats believe that the government can and should be a positive active force *if they do the right thing* the Republicans don't.

[zeemike]

15. point taken n/t

[Ken Burch]

22. To be a positive force, though, you also have to fight against all those

Who oppose positive change, and you have to call them out for what they are.

You can't cut deals with corporate power. It doesn't give up anything unless forced to do so. This month should have reminded you of that.

[Ikonoklast]

14. No.

He makes films.

He has as much of an idea as to how this run this country as I do, and that is, very little.

[zeemike]

16. I was not seriously suggesting Moore for president in 2012

It was more of an example of what can be done to ditch the entrenched democrats and republicans who sell us all out.

My hope would be that enough concerned would be raised by a few losses to non professional politicians that the party's would change....but perhaps that is too much to ask for.

[ima_sinnic]

18. I'd vote for him or a few others in a heartbeat

even if it was a "joke" campaign. I like your idea, but my opinion is too "radical" and "cynical" for most around here.

[zeemike]

29. Yep me too.

And some will never get it.

[brooklynite]

23. With the exception of one-term Jesse Ventura...

...can you point out an independent who was a "poke in the eye" that actually won?

[zeemike]

27. Well there was Arnold

And Al Frankin....a comedian that is now senator.
And some lesser known representatives.
In my own state a representative that ran who was completely unknown against a well known Sheriff who used the same ads of "palling around with radicals" that McCain used on Obama that went unanswered.....the unknown won the election hands down.
And that was a conservative seat held by Heather Wilson.

[scheming daemons]

24. Isn't "Just say NO" the platform of the current Republican party?

...

[Enthusiast]

28. I love Michael but

we are more likely to get Sarah Palin instead.

[zeemike]

31. Well Micheal Moore is not stupid enough to do that.

And I would not be stupid enough to say it seriously.
The point I was making is that the GOP knows that tapping into rage works. Palin for example.

[Enthusiast]

33. True. nt

[Ter]

32. Would he lose all 50 states?

Or would he win one?

[zeemike]

36. Good question

I think it depends on 2 things....just how pissed off people and how bad the unemployment is....He could well win one or two as things stand now.
But don't worry it will not happen.i It is really the strategy behind this that I am talking about.

[Cali_Democrat]

34. You aren't serious

Sorry.

[zeemike]

37. Only about the strategy behind it.

And as it applies to the next election in 2010