Look, in my opinion, there's only one way for us to regain our standing...

[MojoXN]

as a viable political party. We need to rally behind some Democratic leader. I'm not one to be a follower, but I see how successful this strategy has been for the Right. They fucking worship Bush. Talk to your Rightist neighbors, and you'll almost always find that they think that every thing that Bush does is, well, just AWESOME!! <begin gushing homely woman style sarcasm> I mean, can you believe that we finally have a President who, y'know, cares about babies and life and stuff? He's keepin' us safe from them queers too! And I just love how he's keeping us safe by keeping the war over there instead of here!" <end sarcasm>

We need a comparable charismatic figurehead. Right now, the only person that I can think of that would be qualified is Governor Dean. I didn't support him in the primaries, I'm not a "Deaniac". I just foresee that until we have a clearly defined leader, we will get NOWHERE.

Thoughts?

MojoXN

[Nimble_Idea]

1. The one person to stand behind....and you chose Dean?

That's why we don't have a Leader we can all follow.

We have way too many different camps in this tent.
Everyone isn't some fundie that will follow our "Great leader".

That's for the Goose Stepping Pukes.

[NightOwwl]

4. Just curious...what's your problem with Dean? n/t

[MojoXN]

6. I didn't say blind obedience...

I said someone that we can rally behind, and if I didn't, I'm saying it now. Blind obedience is for non-thinking people, like Rightists. I think that what we need is someone to call them on their shit, and let America decide if it's over the line, not other politicians who have re-election on their minds. We need to unify, as simple as that. Otherwise, we will be relegat6ed to permanent minority party status.

MojoXN

[silverweb]

2. Dean's the one.

He consistent, honest, and a real scrapper. He doesn't dodge questions or truth, he is charismatic, and he is consistently outspoken on the real issues.

I agree with you. We need a visible leader and Dean's the one for me.

[salinen]

3. Charismatic figurehead?

No thanks. Give me a straight shooting no nonesense semi likable guy over Mr. Popular everytime. That's why I loved Wellstone.

[MojoXN]

12. Too bad those bastards arranged an "accident"...

[Trajan]

5. We need more than one leader ...

We need to DEFINE who we are and what we stand for ... There are no mouthpieces for us shouting out our program ...

We need a DEFENDER of the liberal cause ... NOT a mealy mouthed apologist or sycophant to the RW ....

I am PROUD to Be a Democrat ...

I am PROUD to be a liberal ...

I am PROUD of the liberal agenda as has been carried out over the last 75 years ....

We need to STAND UP for ourselves .....and FIGHT .....

FIGHT .. goddamnit .. FIGHT .....

Every damned one of us ....

Every Democrat in government today: if THEY arent defending a part of the liberal, progressive agenda, OR criticising the RW agenda ... then THEY ARENT DOING THEIR JOB .... They are doing US a disservice ...

FIGHT damnit .....

[MojoXN]

7. Our superiority lies in the fact that...

We are independent. But that is also a liability. We will never be able to successfully challenge the opposition until we are unified. EVER. A rod is easily broken, but a bundle is not. I'm open to suggestions other than Dean. But I stand by my original statement. We must rally behind someone. Rallying behind a cause isn't nearly as effective.

MojoXN

[Psephos]

8. I like Dean, but objectively speaking, he's divisive

The big difference I see between us and the repugs is that they learned how to put aside their differences and focus on their commonalities better than we did.

Dean invoked distancing comments from Frank, Edwards, and Biden recently. Hardly a uniter. Biden's a blowhard, but Edwards? Frank????

I think we tend to splinter and beat each other up more because we are by nature a bit more emotional and passionate about our causes than those at the other end of the political spectrum. If harnessed and used properly, that emotional energy could be a big advantage. We haven't quite figured out how to do that yet. Too many circular firing squads.

A leader we could all unite behind is a time-tested way to find political unity. Think about JFK.

Peace.

[MojoXN]

9. This is exactly what I'm talking about...

I say Dean because he sparks passion like nobody else. But regardless, we need SOMEONE. We need a new JFK. We need to get the millions of Democrats to become a united political force, like the Right has done. As long as we're fragmented, we are nothing. Flames anyone?

MojoXN

[NightOwwl]

13. He didn't invoke anything.

He spoke honestly, something pub-lites like Biden and Edwards are so scared to do. Even after the Kerry debacle they still think we should play nicey-nice, except when it comes to attacking their fellow Democrats.

[Psephos]

15. I said invoke, not provoke

Check your dictionary. It means to arouse or summon.

You actually are proving my point. Of course Dean spoke honestly. (That's why I like him, but I'm already on board.) It would also be honest of me to tell an unattractive woman she's not very good looking. But that doesn't mean I should do it. The test of Dean as a political figure is not whether he speaks honestly but whether he understands how to unite the party and beat the opposition.

Politics is not about continuous brutal honesty, it's about finding common cause and uniting people. Not with lies, certainly not by trying to avoid offending anyone, but mainly and most forcefully by finding something that can rally and inspire a sense of unity of purpose. We need all Democrats on board if we want to win, from the hardcore deep left all the way to the centrists. Anything less means no majority at the polls.

Peace.

[housewolf]

10. I don't think we have to do this until the summer of 2008

when the party picks its representative. Dean is the chair of the DNC, not the representative of the Democratic Party. He speaks for the fund-raising and organizational arm of the party.

In the meantime, there are going to be lots of people running for positions, all of them good Dems. We should celebrate our diversity, strength of our ideas and ideals and be happy we have a plethora of articulate voices.

[MojoXN]

11. Diversity has always been our strength...

Now we need to showcase our unity. I'm not saying that we should exclude anyone, but we do need to find a Democratic PR man. Someone needs to be the primary individual to make our case to the populace. We all can help, of course, But someone needs to spearhead the effort.

MojoXN

[Mr.Green93]

14. She's waiting

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Maybe we need to learn to just shut the hell up from time to time .......

(Not using the following as anything more than an **example**)

When Dean said what he said, why was it necessary for Biden and Edwards to say **anything**?

Just let it go. ALL it did was provide fodder for those who want to paint us as being divided and in disarray.

Unity can be demonstrated by words and actions ... but it can also be demonstrated by silence and inaction.

A little more discretion would probably be a good thing. This is NOT intended to stifle anything. No one need feel fettered against speaking their mind. But we **should** show enough mutual respect not to tear our friends apart when our enemies are working hard to portray us as doing exactly that.

How fucking dumb ARE we?