A recurring theme in what McCain and Palin have said is the need to ensure victory in Iraq and taking jibes at labelling Democrats the “defeatist party.” For the latter this seems to have certainly become a central theme. For me personally, every time I hear the words victory and Iraq in the same sentence I can’t help but cringe.   Read More »

ANOTHER LESSON IN THE FALLIBILITY OF POLLS

Below is a great old cartoon from the 1948 Democratic election:

Few people believed that President Harry S. Truman had a chance of winning the 1948 presidential election. New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican was the predicted winner according to the three polling groups of the time. And I can see how even to an enthusiastic Democrat that things looked grim. The Democrats had split. Strom Thurmand was running as a Dixiecrat and former Vice President Henry Wallace was running as the canndidate of the newly formed Progressive Party.

NOT ONLY DID THE DEMOCRATS HAVE THE REPUBLICANS TO CONTEND WITH, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WAS SPLIT THREE WAYS

In his acceptance speech, Truman roused the convention.  He declared that he and Barkley, his running mate, would win and “make the Republicans like it.” LOL He also had a lot to say about the do-nothing Republican Congress that had gained control in 1946. The pollsters with their predictions crucified Truman.

   Read More »

Thats right, its time to win. Enough of this 'vacation' we're giving John McCain. Whether you support Barack or Hillary, the idea to stay focused on is to END THE REPUBLICAN DECADE!! No more of the Bush/Cheney misery of the last 8 years.
We all know that McCain represents more of the same, Bush policies continued, more war, less diplomacy.
But the problem is, we are beating ourselves!

In their intense desire to win, both Barack and Hillary are tearing at each other when every word, every response they give should be about the Republican failures of the last 8 years.
No matter what the question, the answer should be some factoid of why Bush and co. have failed this country.

Thats right, every answer. Just every time there is a microphone in front of them they should be talking about GOP failures: Katrina, Iraq, Iran, Trade deficit, Chinese espionage against the USA, spending hundreds of millions on Homeland security while leaving the border wide open to any terrorist that cares to enter, loss of respect for the US all around the world, the 6000 dead.Yes 6000.

NOT 4000+ like the MSM tells us. The reason why the true death toll is 6000+ is because they don't count the injured that die of wounds once they leave the war zone. If they die in a German or American hospital, they are still carried as 'Wounded'. So the real death toll is over 6000.

What I'm saying is after Bush, any Dem with two legs and a heartbeat should be able to win.Hands down. yet now, there is actually some doubt. Why?? The answer is :Thanks to the Dems tearing at each other so pettily and continously, the undecideds and independents may actually vote McCain.
Why not? Even die hard Clinton and Obama supporters say if their candidate doesn't win, they will vote Repub this year.
How stupid and childish is that?? After all these lies and erosions of rights and war and recession, a Democrat would vote to keep the GOP team in place?? RIDICULOUS!!
The Dems need to pick on the GOP and not each other.

Borrow Reagans great line, say: " My friends, ask yourself, are you better off now than 8 years ago??"

That line could clinch the Presidency. A McCain victory means thousands of GOP functionaries stay in place, doing the 'Great' job they have been doing these last 7 years. Would a Dem really want that?? Come On People!!

Bush and Cheney and McCain are the enemy, not fellow Dems.
Wake UP!! And repeat what I've said here.
Its the formula for Victory

I just wanted to congratulate Barack Obama on a great victory in Iowa, and to wish him luck tomorrow in New Hampshire. Mr. Obama's success demonstrates that even in the face of overwhelming odds someone with a great message and conviction for change can succeed. This idea needs to also be applied on the local level and our upcoming County Board race...out with the broken old system and in with a new one full of hope and prosperity.

From JP Fenyo:

The Answer Is Obvious

by Jean-Pierre Ady Fenyo, Philosopher.

My friends and others have been asking me lately; why didn't Dodd and Biden stick around a little longer, why did they suddenly pull out of the race??

The answer to this question is obvious!

Think about it!

We Democrats need to insure a victory in this year's Presidential Elections and win back The White House, at any reasonable costs!

Otherwise America, and thus the whole wide world, will be at risk of self-destruction!

And, given a certain Senator's well-deserved but almost totally unnexpected victory, why would the two most responsible, experienced and wise elders of The Democratic Party, Dodd and Biden, risk having to turn ugly on such a nice person?? And thereby risk discouraging both swing voters and relatively committed Democrats by inadvertently being dragged into a nasty and ugly confrontation, that can be ignited and manipulated by a greedy corporate-sector-biased American mass news media monster???

Any of us who are wise enough would do the same!

But, one may then ask, what of Senator Clinton and Edwards? Are they unwise and too greedy to care for the country's and world's best interests??

In the case of Senator Clinton the answer is obvious: at the very least, as a potential first female President, she can avoid being perceived as too nasty and avoid being manipulated to that extent by the commercial mass news media monstrosity, at least to the extent that would seriously harm the image of the party itself, and she is, like it or not, a good second option, should somehow things not work for the current front-runner! One might even conclude that this whole Shebang is just a well-orchestrated Kabuki Play, and that it is meant to give either a Non-'White' person a chance, a woman a chance and a Hispanic a voice, but ultimately hopes for the first option!

In a sense the current front-runner would not be perceived as the good guy and great candidate he is were it not for at least some contrast candidates, like Senator Clinton and Edwards!

The appearance of two 'white' elder Democrats, who were not able to end up in second or even third place, seeming to attack and harm the front-runner would actually have done great harm to The Democratic Party, would certainly have put winning The White House at risk, and would thus have risked leaving the door open to those who would then totally devastate America and world civilization!

Fine, but what about Edwards?

The answer is simple: Edwards is a good contrast piece in what will now, for the most part, be a three-way competition, in that he does not have the air appearance of someone from the Old Club, he definitely would make a very good running mate to the front-runner, be that either of the two Senators!

And, last but not least, I was always right about Senator Clinton; she has the unfortunate appearance of being part of the SAMO! (SAMO? If you had been, as I was fortunate enough to be, a relatively friendly acquaintance of Jean-Michel Basquiat then you too would know what that means!).
Now, don't get me wrong; I personally think that that image problem is unfair towards Senator Clinton, even though on issues of mannerisms, style and even on some issues of substance, she certainly could use some good free advice, which I would gladly offer her, were it not for the fact that I have joined with George Soros in backing the NOT-SAMO candidate: Senator Barack "Lincoln-Roosevelt" Obama!

So, there it is!

As for my support for Biden: I still think he, with Obama as his VP, would have been the most Presidential President in a long time, as Senator Biden is truly "the most Presidential candidate of them all...by far" (Quoted as saying this to Senator Biden in person at the 2007 DNC Winter Meeting).

But he did the right thing in this situation!

Had he come first, second or even third place in Iowa; then the dynamics would have been quite different.

At this point logic dictates that it will be an Obama-Edwards-2008 success ticket! With Biden, Richardson, Clinton, Dodd, Kucinich, Gravel and others being considered for significant Cabinet positions!

I also foresee a significant role for the great, one and only, Robert Bernard Reich, maybe as a repeat Labor Secretary! A very wise and important decision on the part of President Obama!

As for the so-called Republicans running: please..! A really bad joke and definitely SAMO!

Senator Obama's victory speech was uplifting. Behind him were young people, and a big sign, CHANGE. You can see the video here:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/iowavictoryspeech/

My analysis of Iowa results.

http://www.democrats.org/page/community/post/JBCallahan/CrWL


Text of Speech is in Extended post...
Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL   Read More »

Now....that would be the turning of the tide and a definitive moment in U.S. History. The roses in the garden would bloom and return from their wilted states and every American citizen and those across the globe wouls sigh in relief and tremendous, supportive awe for hope and validated, poetic justice. The right time for a return to reason.

Link

well we could dream, but I'd like a front row ticket to Bush congratulating Gore for his success with the UN committee.

Regards, PC Polar Capsule   Read More »

Hey, friends. This was in the NY Times and I thought that I'd share it with you. It's things like this that make me such an optimist about America's future. I may be a wide-eyed college student, but I won't be jaded EVER!




Young Americans Are Leaning Left, New Poll Finds




By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MEGAN THEE
Published: June 27, 2007
Young Americans are more likely than the general public to favor a government-run universal health care insurance system, an open-door policy on immigration and the legalization of gay marriage, according to a New York Times/CBS News/MTV poll. The poll also found that they are more likely to say the war in Iraq is heading to a successful conclusion.

The State of the Youth Nation (mtv.com)The poll offers a snapshot of a group whose energy and idealism have always been as alluring to politicians as its scattered focus and shifting interests have been frustrating. It found that substantially more Americans ages 17 to 29 than four years ago are paying attention to the presidential race. But they appeared to be really familiar with only two of the candidates, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both Democrats.

They have continued a long-term drift away from the Republican Party. And although they are just as worried as the general population about the outlook for the country and think their generation is likely to be worse off than that of their parents, they retain a belief that their votes can make a difference, the poll found.

More than half of Americans ages 17 to 29 …quot; 54 percent …quot; say they intend to vote for a Democrat for president in 2008. They share with the public at large a negative view of President Bush, who has a 28 percent approval rating with this group, and of the Republican Party. They hold a markedly more positive view of Democrats than they do of Republicans.

Among this age group, Mr. Bush’s job approval rating after the attacks of Sept. 11 was more than 80 percent. Over the course of the next three years, it drifted downward leading into the presidential election of 2004, when 4 of 10 young Americans said they approved how Mr. Bush was handling his job.

At a time when Democrats have made gains after years in which Republicans have dominated Washington, young Americans appear to lean slightly more to the left than the general population: 28 percent described themselves as liberal, compared with 20 percent of the nation at large. And 27 percent called themselves conservative, compared with 32 percent of the general public.

Forty-four percent said they believed that same-sex couples should be permitted to get married, compared with 28 percent of the public at large. They are more likely than their elders to support the legalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The findings on gay marriage were reminiscent of an exit poll on Election Day 2004: 41 percent of 18-to-29-year-old voters said gay couples should be permitted to legally marry, according to the exit poll.

In the current poll, 62 percent said they would support a universal, government-sponsored national health care insurance program; 47 percent of the general public holds that view. And 30 percent said that “Americans should always welcome new immigrants,” while 24 percent of the general public holds that view.

Their views on abortion mirror those of the public at large: 24 percent said it should not be permitted at all, while 38 percent said it should be made available but with greater restrictions. Thirty-seven percent said it should be generally available.

In one potential sign of shifting attitudes, respondents, by overwhelming margins, said they believed that the nation was prepared to elect as president a woman, a black person or someone who admitted to having used marijuana. But they said that they did not believe Americans would elect someone who had used cocaine or someone who was a Mormon.

Mr. Obama has suggested that he used cocaine as a young man. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a candidate for the Republican nomination, is a Mormon.

By a 52 to 36 majority, young Americans say that Democrats, rather than Republicans, come closer to sharing their moral values, while 58 percent said they had a favorable view of the Democratic Party, and 38 percent said they had a favorable view of Republicans.

Asked if they were enthusiastic about any of the candidates running for president, 18 percent named Mr. Obama, of Illinois, and 17 percent named Mrs. Clinton, of New York. Those two were followed by Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican, who was named by just 4 percent of the respondents.

The survey also found that 42 percent of young Americans thought it was likely or very likely that the nation would reinstate a military draft over the next few years …quot; and two-thirds said they thought the Republican Party was more likely to do so. And 87 percent of respondents said they opposed a draft.

But when it came to the war, young Americans were more optimistic about the outcome than was the population as whole. Fifty-one percent said the United States was very or somewhat likely to succeed in Iraq, compared with 45 percent among all adults. Contrary to conventional wisdom, younger Americans have historically been more likely than the population as a whole to be supportive of what a president is doing in a time of war, as they were in Korea and Vietnam, polls have shown.

The nationwide telephone poll …quot; a joint effort by The New York Times, CBS News and MTV …quot; was conducted from June 15 to June 23. It involved 659 adults ages 17 to 29. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points for all respondents.

The State of the Youth Nation (mtv.com)The Times/CBS News/MTV Poll suggests that younger Americans are conflicted in their view of the country. Many have a bleak view about their own future and the direction the country is heading: 70 percent said the country was on the wrong track, while 48 percent said they feared that their generation would be worse off than their parents’. But the survey also found that this generation of Americans is not cynical: 77 percent said they thought the votes of their generation would have a great bearing on who became the next president.

By any measure, the poll suggests that young Americans are anything but apathetic about the presidential election. Fifty-eight percent said they were paying attention to the campaign. By contrast, at this point in the 2004 presidential campaign, 35 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds said they were paying a lot or some attention to the campaign.

Over the last half century, the youth vote has more often than not gone with the Democratic candidate for president, though with some notable exceptions. In 1984, Ronald Reagan won his second term as president by capturing 59 percent of the youth vote, according to exit polls, and the first President George Bush won in 1988 with 52 percent of that vote. This age group, however, has supported Democratic presidential candidates in every election since.

The percentage of young voters who identified themselves as Republican grew steadily during the Reagan administration, and reached a high of 37 percent in 1989. That number has declined ever since, and is now at 25 percent.

“I think the Democratic Party is now realizing how big an impact my generation has, and they’re trying to cater to that in some way,” Ashley Robinson, 21, a Democrat from Minnesota, said in an interview after she participated in the poll. “But the traditional Republican Party is still trying to get older votes, which doesn’t make sense because there are so many more voters my age. It would be sensible to cater to us.”

That a significant number of respondents said they were enthusiastic about just two of the candidates …quot; Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton …quot; to a certain extent reflects that both candidates have been the subject of a huge amount of national attention and have presented the country with historic candidacies. Mr. Obama would be the first black president and Mrs. Clinton the first woman. Other candidates could begin drawing attention from this group as the campaign takes a higher platform.

More important, though, at least for Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama is the impression this group has of them. In the poll, 43 percent of respondents said they held an unfavorable view of Mrs. Clinton, a number that reflects the tide of resistance she faces nationwide. By contrast, only 19 percent said they had an unfavorable view of Mr. Obama.   Read More »

It is very simple ,
just end the war in Iraq in a quick way.
Take the troops away from the "hell on earth".
This might are sounding like some ´Robin Hood thing...
But if he wanted a victory, then he never would have started this war!
Because he started it with no reason to do it and now,
he just are wasting lives in Iraq, when he are waiting on his victory.
But the victory won`t come not in Iraq ,

The victory will come when the soldiers are home with their happy families!

It's been too long; too long since Democrats have really put their emotions on the line and too long since we were certain of victory. Until our most recent and dominating electoral performance, we've only hoped to catch up to the Republican Party.

Well, we've passed them up. But what are we prepared to do, now? Let's not answer with complacency. You can bet at this moment the most influential and die-hard Republican strategists are planning their comeback. Don't doubt it will be a push harder than anything you've seen over the last decade.

They've tasted total control, and now they can't have enough of it. They took us to war, chipped at our rights, they tried to demoralize any belief we believed in.

But now we stand at the top of the Hill, and for the first time in a long time we've got the control we could have only wished for just last year. So what will we do as Democrats to ensure that the future of this country is safely within our reach? To be sure that the future of American politics is never in the hands of yesterday's (Republican) party again?

Action. Commitment. Belief. Planning. Giving.

This country is only as great as the people who run it. Put power in the wrong hands for too long, then greatness is only a memory. But if its (power) it in the hands of true patriots, those who truly believe in the ideals of a great nation, then the future is everything we'd hoped it would be.