Florida Progressive Radio, with Kenneth and Alison, focused their show today on the Draft Joe Garcia movement. Joe Garcia, Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair, joined in on the show, as well as Michael Calderin, candidate for the 119th district Florida House seat. I was also on the show, it was my first time ever doing any kind of radio or tv interview, so I was a bit nervous, but got through it.
You can listen to the show here.
In the radio show Joe talks about the new grassroots movement taking place in America. Here’s some of what he said to say, with a bit of paraphrasing:
"Democrats talk in a much more horizontal matter [than the Republicans]...we’re talking about an open format, where the debate amongst us is going to get us to a better place.
More from Joe below the fold and also the El Nuevo Herald reports on the Draft efforts.
Joe continues:
The impact that it has is fabulous. A lot of Hispanics read this kind of thing...the effect this is having is phenomenal. It’s also having an impact in Washington in the supposed geniuses in Washington who for ten years have tried taking back Congress.
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The very fact that people are expressing their will is impacting politics....the Republicans are talk-down with no bubble effect [from the bottom-up]...Republicans are always going to have more money, but they’re not able to control the medium.
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Part of what has to happen, the netroots has to be play a bigger role so the Democrats find their courage again. We’ve lost courage in the biggest issues of the day. We tend to be scared off by Iraq, rather than truely supporting our troops by bringing them home. We talk about campaign finance reform and are scared about the costs, rather than fixing the political system that is paid for by special interests, fixed for special intersts and run by special interests.
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I want to thank everyone for doing this, what you’re doing is important...Thank you very much."
I think Joe Garcia is going to be one of those "More and better Democrats" that we like to talk about getting elected. He understands the netroots movement and isn't afraid to say what needs to be said. Take for example, his support for publicly financed elections. Joe understands we need to take the money out of politics, so special interests in Washington no longer have the power in our political system, but rather that we have the power.
There was also coverage from the El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language newspaper based in South Florida.
To give a brief translation of that article:
Raul Martinez and Joe Garcia both appreciate the efforts of this movement and are considering the races. Joe, for his part, is discussing the possibility of running with his family. The Miami-Dade Democratic Party DEC, meanwhile, has been receiving many phone calls with excitement for the potential candidacies of Raul and Joe.
Oh yeah and the Diaz-Balarts: No comment
If you would like to check out what's being done, you can go to the Draft Website.
You can also help out by signing the petition and/or making a $5.00 contribution. If we want better Democrats, then we have to speak out for them and help get them elected. We're trying to reach 100 total contributors. At the moment we're at 12, do you think you could help get us to 15 tonight? Just $5.00 is all it takes, we don't need a money machine when we have grassroots strength.
For sure, the Republicans and the Diaz-Balarts are wishing they had something like this on their side. This is the strength we now hold, so we need to bring it to them.