The other day I had a depressing conversation about why
working class voters don't vote for Democratic candidates. The answer, of course, is
because they don't think dems have done anything for them lately, and
for the most part they are right.
But it's also because far too many dems act like repug-lite, so why vote for the motherfuckers?
Then I watched Jennifer Granholm interview Alvin Brown, the
mayor of Jacksonville, FL. If I tell you he's a favorite of DLC founder
and repug lite capo di tutti capo Bill Clinton, can you guess the rest?
Yep, Jennifer let him tout no restrictions on gun purchases but massive cuts in social spending. Then she failed to pin him down on whether he would campaign with President Obama - this from a black Democratic mayor! He even refused to say which presidential candidate would win. Look out, Harold Ford and Artur Davis - there's a new race/party traitor in town.
No wonder the video isn't posted on her website - the interview is shameful.
Working people aren't going to vote for Democratic candidates until the Democratic Party stops running repugs like Ben Chandler and starts running real Democratic candidates.
Gallup reported this week that voting enthusiasm among Democrats is down sharply from 2004 and 2008, while GOP voter enthusiasm is up. Gallup suggests that "Democrats' depressed enthusiasm may be influenced by the comparatively tough re-election battle the president is facing, likely due to the state of the economy and Americans' generally sour mood."
I want to propose two other possibilities. First, the GOP super-serves their base while the Democratic Party spits on theirs. Since 2010, House Republicans were willing-- even eager-- to make themselves look like clowns and imbeciles for the sake of their core constituents, and they were willing to do that irrespective of the damage they did to the country. It's not so much that Democratic congressmembers put country first-- though many of them certainly do-- as much as Democrats being confused and splintered... and conflicted. They like calling themselves a Big Tent party. But what is that mean? That they welcome all kinds of opportunists whose values (and voting records) are antithetical to core Democratic principles. And that brings us to the second problem.
In 2010 Democratic voters and left-leaning independents sent the Democratic Party a clear message at the polls. By staying away in unprecedented numbers-- and allowing the worst Tea Party monstrosities to win seats, take over states and take over Congress, even to the point of crippling the country-- grassroots Democrats made it clear they would NOT vote for Blue Dogs, New Dems and conservative disguised as Democrats. 63 seats changed hands, all but two from Democratic to Republican.
SNIP
Want to increase Democratic enthusiasm? Support real Democrats running for office-- like these.
And you don't even have to wait until November - there are crucial Democratic primaries three Tuesdays in August. Here are the real Democrats running against repug-lite, DINO Blue Dog corporate shills:
Darcy Burner (WA-1)- August 7
Syed Taj (MI-11)- August 7
Trevor Thomas (MI-3)- August 7
Chris Donovan (CT-5)- August 14
Nick Ruiz (FL-7)- August 14
Matt Heinz (AZ-2)- August 28
Raúl Grijalva (AZ-3)- August 28
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