Why do I get the impression some here were happy we lost elections this week?

[Taverner]

It seems some here have been gloating and cheering the fact that we lost elections recently. These kinds of purity police tactics lead to the circumstances to one of our wins this week - NY23. The Conservatives are deep into their purity inquisition, and I fear we Dems are headed for such a purge. Maybe not nationally, but right here on DU.

[imdjh]

1. If we hadn't lost those two elections, it would prop up the pom poms who think everything is fine.

Everything is not fine.

[Taverner]

6. So you want to see us lose?

[jgraz]

14. Whaddya mean "us", kimosabe?

You think people like Corzine-Sachs and Opt-Out Deeds are "us"? You think Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson are "us"?

I want to see corporatists and cowards lose. And if the Democratic party continues to run corporatists and cowards, I have zero use for them.

[Taverner]

17. Sometimes you just have to vote for the lesser crook

I don't consider Deeds a crook btw - he's probably our only chance to make inroads into the capital of the confederacy

[salguine]

27. My whole life has ben spent voting for the lesser crook. At the end of the day, you're

still stuck with a crook. And I for one am fucking sick of it.

[Taverner]

28. Unfortunately, that's life

And it doesn't change, no matter the circumstances

[Toasterlad]

33. It Doesn't Change Because People Like You Say It Can't.

Stay content to run in place on your little corporate wire wheel in your little corporate cage. Some of us are choosing to refuse to compromise ourselves any longer.

[Taverner]

36. Come up with a good plan to change it

One that doesn't involve killing, disenfranchisement or starvation and I'll join you

[Toasterlad]

39. I Have. It's Called Stop Listening to Everyone Else and Vote Your Conscience.

If all the people who wanted to vote for Dennis Kucinich VOTED for Dennis Kucinich, instead of being told he was "unelectable", he would win in a landslide.

Stop letting your corporate masters pick your candidates for you, and vote for what you want.

[Taverner]

40. That doesn't work - they've tried doing that for years

Think Teddy R's Bull Moose Run, Henry A Wallace, Ralph Nader, and yes, Kucinich

[Toasterlad]

41. It Doesn't Work Because They Get People to Fall For the Republican Boogeyman Every Time

"If you throw away your vote, the scary Republicans will get back into office and kill us all!"

So people "hold their nose" and vote.

No more.

I lived under eight years of Bush and nearly a year of Obama, and so far? Not much difference. I'm willing to gamble on REAL change.

[SammyWinstonJack]

38. +1

:applause:

[imdjh]

18. I think Obama and the DemoCongress needed a wake-up call. They HAVEN'T DONE SHIT

[Taverner]

19. Obama has done quite a bit. Congress, however, I agree

Except for the "wake up call" because we just had one of those - in 2000. Dubya for president. Do you want that to happen again? Because I guarantee it will.

[imdjh]

22. What has Obama done? What has Congress done? I'll make sure I'm sitting down for the answer.

They haven't done shit.

A half assed credit bill passed.

A fucked up energy bill which hopefully will not pass because it would cost the most cashless Americans dearly.

A fucked of health care bill in the works, which may or may not pass and is USELESS either way.

A defense appropriations bill, with a hate crimes rider. Whoop t fucking do.

A cash for clunkers program which is an environmental joke and an economic stupidity.

Greasing the wallets of Wall Street and the asses of the people.

Did I miss something?

[Taverner]

24. Read this and get back to me

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/9/791700/-Why-Barack-Obama-Deserves-The-Nobel-Peace-Prize

[imdjh]

26. Sorry, that was only worth a skim. Yeah, we like Obama. Now, what has he done?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. Corzine still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Goldman Sachs and all of its cronies deserve jail time, not governorships.

[Sebastian Doyle]

4. +100,000

[Taverner]

12. Its called "Clothespin Voting"

You put a clothespin on your nose and pull the lever...

[RaleighNCDUer]

And you get what you vote for.

Better to be able to honestly oppose who is in office, than have to support someone whose policies you WOULD oppose if only they were of the other party.

Corporate crooks don't HAVE a party - they only have their owners.

There is NO reason for us to support politicians who refuse to support us in turn.

[Taverner]

29. I can't agree with that at all

Check out the history of the Weimar Republic in Germany. Many sat out, feeling that at least they could fully oppose Hitler and the NAZIs

We all saw how that turned out

And no Godwining here!

[RaleighNCDUer]

31. Very poor analogy.

What we are talking about is people in our party who are COOPERATING with "Hitler and the Nazis". They are the people who weaken our ability to effectively oppose the radical right. If you are making absurd comparisons, the Republicans are the Catholic Center party, the teabaggers are the National Socialists, and Blue Dogs are the remnants of the former Royalists who throw in with the Catholic Center because they're scared of the 'socialists' of the Social Democrats.

WTF is 'sitting out'?

For most of the Weimar period the National Socialists were a very minor radical fringe party, weaker than the communists. The corporatists who supported them thought THEY were using the Nazis, not the other way around. Just as the corporatists today suck up to the radical right, because they are a hard core group that they think they can manipulate.

Maybe YOU need to re-read Shirer.

[Neecy]

13. Exactly

"We" didn't lose anything this week. A wingnutty conservaDem and a Goldman Sachs millionaire trying to buy another term as governor lost. These two had almost nothing to do with "us".

[Mz Pip]

3. All I can hope for

is that this will be a wake up call to Democrats that they need to get out and vote. Off year elections are historically low turnout and it looks like the Republicans were just more motivated.

We can't let up. Ever. Complacency will lose elections and it sure was a factor in the Governor's races.

[opihimoimoi]

10. + 987890.09....Vote Smart...Get Smart.... Vote Dufus,,,,get W Bush

[Raineyb]

43. Well if candidates gave people something worth voting for then they'd go out to vote for them.

A Democratic gubernatorial candidate that says he'll opt out of a public option should one be implemented and people are supposed to get excited enough to vote for that?

I don't think so and apparently neither did the voters of VA. The Democratic party will have to give us something to vote for if they expect us to go out to vote for them.

[Raineyb]

44. Delete

Weird server issues.

[derby378]

5. I think it depends on what's being "purified"

Teabaggers are trying to push the Republicans farther to the right or at least gain enough momentum for third-party candidates. Democratic activists, on the other hand, are trying to push their party a little further to the left - and shake off a little corporate influence in the process.

I'm not celebrating the loss of Corzine and Deeds, either, but I think our internal arguments are based on trying to get as far away from the eight-year Bush nightmare as possible, which means moving further to the left.

[T Wolf]

7. Bull. Real Democrats are sad that the politicians in "our" party have turned so reichward. And

sad that there is increasingly less reason to support them with our votes or dollars.

And sad that they will not learn the lesson that they have to give us a reason to vote for them.

Personally, I think Corzine is a bright guy - but taking intelligent approaches to political problems is a sure path to defeat in "idiot Amerika." So, it was expected that the fools elected that fat dirtbag instead.

Virginia is a rethug state and will always be until another couple of generations of racist GOPers die off. '08 was an aberation.

[Taverner]

9. Corzine notwithstanding, many of the elections did not have Republican Lites running as D's

Yes I know VA is mainly rethug, but it is changing. And the more we Get Out the Vote, the better chance we have of thwarting them in their bid to "take back the capital of the Confederacy"

[jgraz]

8. The real problem here is a bogus false equivalency

Their side is purging members who aren't sufficiently hateful. Our side is desperately trying to find leaders who will represent the needs of their constituents. Treating both of these movements as the same sort of "purity inquisition" plays right into the hands of the corporatists.

[Taverner]

11. So when we have a Spanish Inquisition, its OK

Hmmm I fail to see your logic here

[robinlynne]

then read it again. It is perfectly clear.

[jgraz]

15. When we start disemboweling people and burning them at the stake, I'll protest.

Until then, maybe we can dial down the hysterical straw men.

[Taverner]

20. Kudos to everyone in this thread!

This has been really civil, and at the risk of sounding like a school marm, I'm very impressed :)

[Bluenorthwest]

21. If you are anticipating it, it can not be the Spanish Inquisition

Because nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Everybody knows that.

[JVS]

16. Democrats fearing a purity inquisition are like anorexics thinking they'll get fat

They worry about something that is so far from being a problem that it would be funny if it weren't so sad

[Mari333]

23. the dems have got to stop behaving like republicans

and until they do, we will lose.

[Kansas Wyatt]

42. +1

[Warpy]

25. I don't think anyone is happy about it

We just knew we'd most likely lose the two governor's races. Corzine had simply pissed too many people off in his two terms and Deeds was a Blue Dog with all the charm of a cold, greasy pork chop.

You're mistaking confirmed resignation for glee.

[AllentownJake]

30. I'm fucking furious

but I knew it was going to happen. When democrats act like Republicans Democrats stay home on election day.

[saracat]

32. I ammfurious that the "new" dems didn't get up off their assess and vote. I am still angry about

those that informed me the governorships weren't "meaningful" enough races for them to vote in or that the candidate wasn't "cool" enough and that no one would vote for a "rural white male". These were obviouly the same voters who didn't bother to vote in a primary either. This absolutely sucks.

[Warpy]

35. Voting for business as usual is an unattractive proposition

when that business is killing you.

Democratic candidates need to learn this fact or they're going to keep losing.

[saracat]

37. I would tend to agree with you but the same folks who demand unconditional loyalty form others

didn't even get up off their asses to vote in a primary or the vote in a general as they deemed local races "uimportant".
My point is elections happen more than olnce every four years.

Democrats have got to start nominating and supporting Democrats that are Democrats.

[NavyDavy]

34. because some here have bought into the hype that these

losses show people are turning against the President, and that is BS.....we overwelmly took ny 23 they can have some of the governships its the congressional seats I care about and the Dems have a higher approval rating than the repukes have had in the last 10 years....I believe I saw or heard that somewhere....we will see in 2010, IMHO