Furor over war, Bush splitting Democrats

Furor over war, Bush splitting Democrats

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE

June 5, 2006

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Anti-war and anti-Bush fervor is growing among rank-and-file Democrats, threatening to pull the party to the left and creating a rift between increasingly belligerent activists and the party's leaders in Washington.

Many outside-the-Beltway Democrats want the party to turn forcefully against the war in Iraq and to investigate, censure or even impeach President Bush should the party win control of Congress this fall. Yet party leaders such as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York have maintained support for the war while criticizing the way Bush handled it, and have shied away from talk of using power to go after him.

The fault line is evident as Democrats gather for spring and summer sessions filled with demands for bolder action by the congressional wing of their party, especially if they win control of the House or Senate in November.

In New Hampshire, the state that will kick off the party's 2008 presidential primary voting, activists gave thunderous ovations this weekend to Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., when he pressed his anti-war agenda, boasted that he alone among potential 2008 presidential candidates opposed the war from the start, and pushed for a censure of Bush. In Maine on Saturday, state Democrats passed a resolution urging impeachment.

In Ohio, the state that decided the last presidential election and is a pivotal battleground for this year's congressional elections, the state party chairman notes that the two top statewide candidates voted against the war and says 2008 candidates who did support it have some explaining to do. Nationally, one poll shows that more than eight out of 10 Democrats now believe the United States should have stayed out of Iraq. The same poll for CBS News this spring showed that more than three out of five Democrats want U.S. troops out of Iraq as soon as possible, even if the country is not stable.

(snip)


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060605/news_1n5demswar.html

the party's leaders are what those who are politically active -- who do the donkey's work -- make them.

they are NOT my leaders except that I make them so.

bush is the american sadaam/osama rolled into one and his followers are the new taliban.

will the democratic party inc ever stand up to him? or will it continue to make nice, and talk politely while they are systematically stripped of their rights?

or will the handful of lonely dems with a conscience continue to wander in the wilderness until they are marched off to the camps?

Msongs
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"rank-and-file Democrats" = "increasingly belligerent activists".

They're branding us again, and framing the language to make us appear to be strident whackos just because we oppose the war and the administration waging it.

I resent this.

TC

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Recognizing when we Dems are demonized in the media is important...

is not doing anything to stop it. The war was the key that allowed the neocons to take control of the Country. The internet is the only bastion of freedom we have left and the bastards are working overtime to shut that down. NSA will soon quiet all dissent.

I didn't see any division at our convention.

Same thing with the censure resolution.

THe media is dividing us... at least, attempting to.

Don't drink the kool-aid.

Edited to add...good grief, this is my 10,000th post! :)

Maine Dems rock, as do you! Long may you rant.

Due to the overwhelming excesses of an out-of-control Republican administration, this country is in worse shape than many of us can ever remember. We rank and file, or activists, have been ground down by opposing Bush, and by what many of us see as betrayal by our leadership. We feel betrayed by the MSM, which dozes through hundreds of important issues, and instead rouses itself to cover missing blonds.

Because we have been ignored by both parties, and have grown disgusted at the "keep the powder dry" and "save the filibuster for something else", we've watched as perfectly terrible people have been confirmed by the Senate. The only time we're recognized by our party's leadership is when they solicit money from us. I think that all of this betrayal has hit us hard, as we've watched the country we love turn into a fascist dictatorship.

Most of us feel that we have little or nothing to lose by fighting back, bare knuckled and no punches pulled. We've grown tired of the caution, which is really timidity, and the tip-toeing around the issues which we've grown sick of. So yes, we are increasingly angered, and hope that our leaders begin to understand that in spite of the political games being played, we still have our votes. We also know that due to a lack of leadership, and media reporting, the sole thing we had to exercise our power as citizens, our votes, is in jeopardy now.

We need a hundred more Russ Feingolds, willing to fight for us, and ready to step to the head of the long, long line we've formed. I just hope someone does, and that it's not someone who weighs their position based on what's good for their own political career, rather than serving the interests of we, the people.

instead of people dying! :grr: