Progressives, Preparing To Advance in One Direction

The progressives are in town, incredibly well behaved. They're focused and on message. They clap and cheer at appropriate moments during the speeches. There are no hecklers, no splinter groups, no eruptions of dissent over doctrinal impurities.

Progressives are suddenly as disciplined as Republicans. They realize all too keenly that there's a presidential election this fall between one man who is George W. Bush and one man who isn't.

(snip)

This progressive jamboree is at the Marriott in Woodley Park, and is titled "Take Back America." The theme is repeated often, and when a speaker says it's time to take back America, everyone in the audience knows what that means. Most of the details of what will happen once America has been taken back can be worked out in January.

"We're going to take this country back and it's going to be election after election after election!" bellowed Howard Dean, recapturing some of the energy of his primary-season heyday as he addressed the crowd yesterday afternoon. "Now and November, we're going to take it back!"

(snip)

Dean reminded the crowd of the famous joke by Will Rogers: "I'm not a member of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat."

People chuckled, but Dean quickly added, "It's not funny now that we see what the consequences are."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A14031-2004Jun3?language=printer

Focused to logic as compared to a member of the "Free Republic"????

As disiplined as "Republicans"???????

I think the FCC needs a major overhaul in the "fair-and-balanced" department.

:)

as recapturing the energy of his primary-season heyday. As if to imply he's over-hill-now. :eyes:

Liberal media my ass!

When they ask me, I do not lie, Kerry was not my first choice, but I believe he is better for America than the bush team

But I will say this: Hillary "Let's Invade!" Clinton is pretty damn far from being a progressive. She's a right-leaning centrist, as are most of the people behind this soiree.

Check the polls. Check the pulse. Note the tepid response at the conference to the mention of Kerry. The center may be going meekly, as described (with evident relish) by the Post, but the left sure ain't.

And as we tell the center again and again: you're going to come to us, baby, when you're tired of losing. :-)

Hillary is practically Joe Lieberman.

Kerry has a more liberal ADA lifetime rating than Ted Kennedy, and has been on our side most of the time.

Kerry has taken a hard right. Most of the people at the conference were not happy with Kerry. But everyone nows how important it is to get rid of bush. So there was a lot of talk about how we would be on Kerry's case right after the election.

Sorry but people understand who Kerry is, not matter how you all keep quoting his liberal voting record. He is going to have to answer to the left and win their votes. Right now Nader has a huge following because people are NOT confused about Kerry and his CURRENT aggenda.

I don't see much liberal talk or walk out of Kerry at this time either.

Hillary is a centrist leaning lefty. She was brilliant BTW and I was at the conference. Hillary was the most centrist person there. It was a hotel full of progressives and liberals and most of the groups were very progressive.

I'll give Kerry until election day, maybe even the transition period. But come January, it's gonna be Dems Gone Wild! :bounce:

That is the way I feel about him. Over and over at the conference people were saying the same thing.

He gave good reasons to support Kerry, but people were cleary there to see him. The media trippled in the few hours before his appearance and 2/3rds left after he did. The crowd stood and cheered for him like he was a rock star and I have never seen anyone better at getting a crowd energized.

Dean explicitly endorsed Kerry several times, each time to warm applause, but he incited a bigger jolt of emotion when he criticized Democrats for not standing up to the president.


Jesse Jackson was the last speaker yesterday and he had me in tears. He was wonderful, as was Julian Bond and Rev Forbes. I am sick of the right and their character assasination tactics. I am also sick of the people on the center/left who do not stand up for, but rather run from people who speak for us.

Thanks for posting about it. Wish I had been there.