Kerry: "Don't Go Changing to Try and Please the Voters"

hoosier · #1 08-23-2005, 04:32 PM

Don't Go Changing to Try and Please the Voters
"Sen. John F. Kerry[*] told state legislators Friday the Democratic Party doesn't need to undergo an extreme makeover," the Associated Press reports from Seattle:

"We have to go out and fight for the real issues that make a difference in the lives of the American people and we don't need some great lurch to the right or lurch to the left or redefinition of the Democratic Party," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "The last thing America needs is a second Republican Party."

There's just one problem: The un-made-over Democrats have been losing elections for almost 40 years. In the 90th Congress, just after the 1966 election, the Democrats held 68 seats in the Senate and 246 in the House. Since then they have lost a net 23 Senate and 43 House seats (counting both bodies' current Vermont independents as Democrats), and they have lost seven out of 10 presidential elections.

Yet Kerry may be right that the alternatives are worse than standing pat. A Democratic shift to the right risks inflaming the party's Angry Left base, while a shift to the left would surely cost the party whatever support it has left from normal people. The least bad approach for the Democrats may indeed be to go into a defensive crouch in the hope of cutting the party's losses and riding out the current period of Republican dominance.

* The haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam.

- Opinion Journal

Tom Earp · #2 08-23-2005, 04:44 PM

Why doesnt He just give up?

Polls in Mass. says He cannot even Beat Hill whats Her name!

Do EGO SOUND GOOD?

Lindz928 · #3 08-25-2005, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hoosier

while a shift to the left would surely cost the party whatever support it has left from normal people.

Hehehe. This part made me laugh.

cashmoney · #4 08-25-2005, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hoosier
A Democratic shift to the right risks inflaming the party's Angry Left base, while a shift to the left would surely cost the party whatever support it has left from normal people.

That sounds like somthing Rush Limbaugh would say.

AlphaFrog · #5 08-26-2005, 09:20 AM

I thought congress was about REPRESENTING the people's interests and beliefs. If what you stand for is not what the voters want, then, yes, you better change or you don't deserve to be elected.

AGDee · #6 08-26-2005, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AlphaFrog
I thought congress was about REPRESENTING the people's interests and beliefs. If what you stand for is not what the voters want, then, yes, you better change or you don't deserve to be elected.

I always felt this way, but I know people who say "I voted for them because they think like I do and I trust them to make the right decision".

These days, if you vote a different way than what you believe, they say you're waffling or accuse you of flip-flopping, etc. I think our reps (including our Pres) should be doing what the constituents want. Then again, you can't exactly have a poll or election for every issue that comes up, so you have to make your own decisions sometimes.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this anymore!

Dee

Lindz928 · #7 08-26-2005, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AGDee

I honestly don't know how I feel about this anymore!

Co-sign!!!!! I don't know what to think either. I am neither far left, nor far right. I am right in the middle, which means that basically neither party will have someone that I agree with completely. And I think that is true for most people. We just have to choose who we agree with the most and go with it. That is what I have had to do and as a result I am torn by Bush doing somethings that I agree with very strongly and some things that I feel are completely wrong. It is confusing.

I just wish all of the bickering and mud-slinging on all sides would stop. This cannont possibly be what our founding fathers had in mind.

AKA_Monet · #8 08-26-2005, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lindz928
Co-sign!!!!! I don't know what to think either. I am neither far left, nor far right. I am right in the middle, which means that basically neither party will have someone that I agree with completely. And I think that is true for most people. We just have to choose who we agree with the most and go with it. That is what I have had to do and as a result I am torn by Bush doing somethings that I agree with very strongly and some things that I feel are completely wrong. It is confusing.

I just wish all of the bickering and mud-slinging on all sides would stop. This cannont possibly be what our founding fathers had in mind.

Good luck with that wish...

You have to remember one thing about politicians, they ebb and flow. And it usually has to do with large sums of money...

No one in their right or left mind plays clean politics. You just don't get heard. And everybody wants to get into the picture. You do have to practically be a movie star, or a pop star or a MVP of something. Even then, elected officials have decisions to make that are tough and it is not an exact science--it's a soft one.

And, just like Alexander Hamilton said, "the masses are asses"... Well, it all depends on the sound bites it will take and which side you want to draw the line...

Either way, you can pick a side and can crap out.

So, I guess most wisest of folks pick their OWN side and that is truly a lonely road...