How does Kerry hold down the base?

w* plays the gay card, the abortion card, etc to keep his base satisfied.

Is is feasible for Kerry to play the same game? Would it be a betrayal of the democratic ideals that we, on this board, cherish?

Let's say he undertakes an initiative that says to afr. Americans that if your children get into college, we will pay 80% of their tuition. Anyone who object to that can be easily debated. i.e., lets say it a form of reparations. Perhaps that resonates with the black community.

Is this something I should expect in September?

not. He should continue to appeal to all America and not divide us into "groups". We are not groups, we are Americans, one and all. If he starts to appeal to select "groups" no matter which ones, he will tend to attract animosity from the others. Bad move.

maybe an initiative to Afr. Americans for extra help for college such as 80 per cent of college costs, another group such as Hispanic Americans would yell foul, and rightfully so. If such an initiative should come up, it should be 80 per cent of college costs across the board for all students. What is good and proper for some, should be good and proper for all. Personally, since higher education is so important to the growth and success of this country, I think college should be free for all who would like to attend.

with the fact that college should be free but we know that probability is 0 so lets do whats doable. The black community has suffered for 200 years. Reparations are something that are moral and just but probably wont happen. As a measure to compensate in some way, while helping elevate the children of those who suffered, you pay for college. Is that so hard to sell?

let me just say that would be, perhaps, the most divisive thing kerry could do at this point. with the country being so polarized, this would be like opening the gates of hell right now. let's get him elected first. after that, we can lay out all our pet issues.

trying to out bush bush. He is still under the money spell of the DLC can see no reason to play to his "base" he feels we have no choice. However he could be wrong again as they were in 2000, if he plays his right wing too strong many will just stay home.

And you still think he's "trying to out bush bush?"

Seriously?

I think it'd be better for us to ask not how Kerry can hold down the base, but how we can hold UP John Kerry -- and defeat the Chimp.

Kerry is miles from the Chimp on education, civil rights, affirmative action, etc...

I'm trying to turn out groups that have normally been UNDER-voting

:)

and thank you for working to get out the vote!!

I think there's already such a huge difference between Kerry and the Chimp, the stakes couldn't be any higher.

(And thanks for noticing my dudetteness.) :)

I clikd on your profile

;)

He must clearly articulate a strategy to get us out of Iraq, and give us some hope that our troops will come home in the near future.

That's what Mark Schields basically said today on The News Hour, and I agree with him.

My view is that Kerry should have Bush should follow him everywhere he goes. For those that are uninspired by Kerry, Bush will provide the inspiration necessary for the base to vote for Kerry.

Kerry meets 90% of their needs, they just aren't paying attention. Posted in another thread, but will post again. Just saw Kucinich.

He wants to get off of oil and move towards wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energies. Gasp. So does Kerry.

He wants to sign on to the land mine treaty, biological and chemical weapons treaties, nuclear treaties, ICCC, etc. Gasp. So does Kerry.

He wants trade agreements with environmental, labor and human rights written into them. Gasp. So does Kerry. (And has actually written legislation and attempted to get them into treaties in the past)

He wants public funding of campaigns. Gasp. So does Kerry and actually introduced public funding in the Kerry/Wellstone Clean Money Campaign Reform.

Dennis introduced legislation repealing certain portions of the Patriot Act. Gasp. So did Kerry! Including limitation on roving wire tapes, authority to dealy search warrants, privacy protection for library, bookseller, and other personal records, oversight of requests for production of records, extension of the Sunset Provision and more.

The problem isn't that the left doesn't have plenty of things to vote for with John Kerry.