It's gut-check time . Time to win or lose. Dem leadership where are you?

[John_H]

Rove has gone beyond politics as America has ever seen it. The rethugs have decided they're going to win at any cost. They're using rank fear and abject panic with exaggerated, perfectly timed alerts. They're pressuring other countries to time their military and economic operations to more efficiently get votes over here. They've planned their convention to exploit America's nightmarish memory of September 11 . They're putting out bogus polls.They're spending the GDP of several small countries to continuously run provably misleading attack ads. They're announcing a second term agenda that they know will never happen--that they will make sure will never happen. They're trying to rig the election in a swing state like some third world dictatorship with voting roll purges and paperless machines. They've recruited a couple of visible Dems to carry their water, most likely with promises of powerful positions in the second term. Any Duer could add to this list.

And the media, from FOX to the "librul" NY Times has crossed the line between looking the other way and taking an active supporting role.

This is not conspiracy theory. This is fact: Predicted, reported, sourced, and proved right here on DU, by the foreign press, and and by the few remaining journalists left in America.

The loyal opposition is faced with a choice: stand up and fight or let themselves--and their country--get steamrolled. So far the signs are not good. Aside from a few isolated, unorganized voices the Democratic party is silent about every item listed above. Case in point: The Senate Minority Leader has been a non-entity in this election, and will be until election day. And you can go down the list from there.

I'd castrate myself with a plastic fork to be wrong, folks, but the way things have been going, the Dem leadership, strategists, and press operatives are going to have to undergo a sea change to save America. Do they have it in them?

We rank and file dems are going to have to do their work for them, like parents of helpless children. We have to double our efforts.
That way, if we lose, at least we'll be able to say we stood up and fought.

[Q]

1. My 'gut' tells me that it's already too late...

...that both parties have made a 'deal with the devil' and the truth has become their enemy.

- If you think this is over-the-top rhetoric...just watch as we get closer to November. The Bushies have only started their dirty tricks and fascist tactics. Democrats...on the advice of the DLC...will 'play nice' and back off once again.

- Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

[mike_c]

2. two words, my friend....

Green Party.

xoxo
Mike (lifelong dem who's had enough) C.

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

3. Can the Green Party get Dubya out?

I'd vote for the pink with purple polka dots Party if they could guarantee victory over Dubya.

Until then, I'll remain bamboozled, hoodwinked, beguiled, shanooked...

screwed.

[PhuLoi]

4. The deal that was struck is the same one that prevented

even one democrat senator from signing the challenge to the election results from the 2000 election. After watching that scene in F911 I was numb with disbelief then enraged and finally nauseated by the cowardice of our democratic 'leadership'.

[shraby]

10. It would have done no good to

sign it. It would have gone to the house and lost anyway.

[DaveFL99]

5. Pussies. Definitely pussies.

We need the win at any cost mentality. Burn your Birkenstocks, forget the lyrics to Kumbya it's time to go to war.

[John_H]

6. Well said. Any Duer who does not call or write Dem leadership and

the media demanding that they stop rolling over is shirking their duties as an american.

[Individualist]

8. Consider the popularity of reality TV,

and you get a good idea of the mindset of Joe Sixpack. Reality shows such as Survivor emphasize lying, backstabbing, and exploiting opponents' weaknesses in any way possible and, as evidenced by TV ratings, Joe Sixpack loves it. When they see the Kerry campaign playing nice while Chimp and Rove are in attack mode, it's pretty obvious how these strategies will be perceived by the reality show loving public.

[DaveFL99]

9. Yes

I have thought exactly that. It's "Survivor" nation now. American values have changed and we'd better keep up or be prepared to be Karl Rove's bitches

[salonghorn70]

7. Undecided Voters

Are not party activists. In fact they are not real political at all. They don't want to hear the two parties screaming at each other. They just dismiss that as politics. They just want to sit at their kitchen table and hear a candidate who has some positive solutions for making their lives better. This is why the tactic of turning the GOP convention into a huge anti-Kerry rally including personal ridicule may in fact back fire like 1992 did.

[shraby]

11. I think it will too.

Negative just turns people off. The first time I voted for Sen. Russ Feingold it was because he didn't go negative and his opponents did, and he's been in office ever since.