Herding Cats...

[kentuck]

DUers are perfect reflection of Democrats in general. Many here are going in every direction imaginable over the remarks of their candidate in response to a set-up question by the Republicans. Did he say, "Yes, he would have voted to go to war" or did he say, "Yes, he would have voted to give the president the "authority" to go to war"?? The nuance of it all! What's the difference??

In reality, the Repubs are not talking about this "issue". To them, it is too close to Bush's position to make any hay. It is the Democrats, mostly the more leftist, that are so worked up about it. Meanwhile, Kerry continues to do very well in all the polling. The bottom line is that it has no bearing at all on the outcome of the election - unless the left gives up on Kerry? If he were to lose his base over such a response, that would be unfortunate. However, there are a lot of things on the plate that are very unpalatable, even to the candidate I am sure, but we must ocntinue to eat the vegetables that are in front of us. Otherwise, we may have no vegetables at all.

[klook]

1. We'll still have ketchup, won't we? n/t

[unfrigginreal]

2. Well, this is your 2nd post about it in the past 2 days

does that make you more of a leftist? Stirring up of this "issue" doesn't appear to be onesided.

[kentuck]

5. I'm a cat....

A leftist cat...and I'm struggling like everyone else to put this in a perspective that helps us beat George W Bush in November... But I do think it is more of an issue to "us" than the Repubs...It's an internal issue, not one the Repubs can use to their advantage.

[Larkspur]

3. Harry Truman said being President was like wrestling with a tiger

that wanted to eat you.



I'm voting for Kerry because the alternative is a disaster, but that doesn't mean I have to like him or actively support him. I oppose his foreign policy because it smacks of Bush-lite. I think that Kerry will end up with a reputation similar to LBJ's, should Kerry follow the foreign policy platform he has now.

[Xipe Totec]

12. A MADDENINGLY CALIBRATED CANDIDATE

I think Reves summed it all up after the convention. You know he's fudging, I know he's fudging, but to flat out say "Yea, we're boned, we're pulling out" would be to hand the White House the the Repugs for another four.


Sat Jul 31, 9:03 PM ET
By Richard Reeves

<snip>

The 43rd president, George W. Bush, is turning out to be one of the worst in American history. He had his opportunity to be a great one after Sept. 11, 2001, and he blew it. In three years, he has, almost willfully, marched us into disaster. The nation was united behind him; most of the world was united behind us. Now the nation is divided, poorer in many ways, and much of the world hates us.

Democrats were smart enough to nominate the best they had. Whatever his oratorical limits, Kerry is an admirable man who has succeeded at almost everything he has done in life and will almost certainly succeed as president. But he is a calibrated man, ever calculating his approach to the world and people around him. And his speech was calibrated carefully and maddeningly for these times.


Part of that actually is Bush's doing. The man in the White House so screwed up the war on terrorism by invading Iraq that few Americans, certainly not John Kerry, have the courage to speak truth to power: We are going to have to cut and run without appearing to cut and run. We have to execute the most difficult of military maneuvers, retreating under fire, without admitting it, as Richard Nixon did in Vietnam. Certainly Kerry could not admit that last Thursday night; few of us can. The almost criminal incompetence of the occupation cripples us all. But Kerry has to fudge that. For now, on Iraq, he has to mimic Bush. We all do. The final futility is just Vietnamization all over again, turn the country back to the locals, keeping Americans out of harm's way and getting out of there as fast as we can -- or repairing to bases where bullet-proof-vested soldiers, watching videos and eating ice cream, will occasionally venture forth like Romans on punitive missions. But Kerry would be dead politically if he admitted that. So would Bush.

<snip>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=123&e=3&u=/ucrr/20040801/cm_ucrr/amaddeninglycalibratedcandidate

[istruthfull]

4. Political suicide

I agree. I remember at the time it was made perfectly clear that if someone did not vote to go to war they were unpatriotic, thank you conservative media . I'm still trying to figure out how an investigation about "falsified information" turned into an investigation about "mistaken information" that lead us to war.

[oasis]

8. Correct. The lies that brought about the Iraq invasion are minimized by

our press but are the main reason our traditional allies abandoned us.

The "liberal media" helps the Bushista regime spread the lie that France, Germany and Russia were reluctant to help because they profited from illegal trade with Iraq.

[bacchant]

6. Quit trying to herd us

I'm voting for Kerry despite my objection to his IWR vote. For some that's just not good enough, some won't be happy until all of us accept that Kerry walks on water.

[yardwork]

7. What's frustrating about Democrats is always what makes us strong

Democrats are like cats. Republicans are more like dogs. Don't get me wrong - I love all animals, especially cats and dogs. But there are definite personality differences.

Democrats, like cats, are independent, persnickety, and moody. We are very comfortable being loners. Republicans, on the other hand, tend to be loyal and enthusiastic to their causes. They feel comfortable being part of the group.

Trying to make Democrats act like Republicans is hopeless.

[Larkspur]

9. Neo-con Republicans are more like "bulls in the china shop"

Their policies certainly fit the bullish model.

[sandnsea]

10. Well, the noisy left could help...

If they'd take that quote about Bush saying there was no plan to go to war (October 2002), and that he just needed the authorization so America would speak with one voice, and ask whether he was lying when he said that; or if he really was intending to go to war in Oct 2002; or if he's lying now. Nobody makes noise like the left, it could really help us out right now. Would ya? Could ya?

[Cheswick2.0]

13. Why, is the morally bankrupt center voiceless?

Clueless and voiceless, man that must suck. How do you suppose those people got that way?

[Armstead]

11. MEOW!

I don't know why but the image of an army of Bill the Cats from Bloom County comes to mind.

[CatWoman]

14. ....

[madfloridian]

15. Funny and sad.....

at the same time.

[kentuck]

16. Conventional wisdom tossed on its head...

What caused so many Democrats to be so ...so...so...subservient?