If the Democrats allow Albert Gonzales to be confirmed as Attorney General, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats dare discuss abortion in any context that displeases me, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats compromise with Bush on Social Security, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats don't filibuster Bush's judicial nominees in the face of the Nuclear Option threat, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats go along with the Gang of 14 compromise, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats don't filibuster John Roberts' nomination, I am leaving the party.
If a single Democrat in the Senate votes for John Roberts' confirmation, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats don't filibuster Sam Alito's nomination, I am leaving the party.
If a single Democrat in the Senate votes for Sam Alito's confirmation, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats do not stop the Patriot Act from being authorized, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats allow John Bolton to be confirmed as UN Ambassador, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats don't make impeachment of George W. Bush their primary goal, I am leaving the party.
If the Democrats do not filibuster the Torture Bill....
You know the ending.
There are many straws, and our backs are not broken yet.
When you look at this list of straws, what is your first reaction? Is it, "My God, the Democrats are pathetic! You call this an opposition party?" Or is it, "Hey kid, do you cry wolf much?"
I would like to echo Markos' comments from earlier today.
I wish that conservatives in 1964 were this quick to throw in the towel.
Even as Nixon was creating the EPA and OSHA, they fought, and built, and took over their party. Even when Ford beat their man Reagan in 1976, they simply redoubled their efforts.
But that's why they win. Because they never stopped fighting for their cause, no matter how many setbacks they suffered. Our side, apparently, is made of something lesser.
Stop whining. Stop bitching. And keep working to build a Democratic Party with backbone. The guys currently in DC don't have it? Yeah, we know that. That's why we're supporting a new breed of Democrat that isn't afraid of Rove's shadow. That will fight when the DC Dems would rather cower in fear.
Damn straight. We are in a long term movement. And our movement has achieved a great many things, and we have only really existed as a force for a couple of years. And our movement is not only confronted with a Republican majority government (majority in that they control all three branches of government), but an established ruling class within our own party that was raised on politics in fear of fighting back or taking a stances. Faced with those insurmountable odds, it is amazing we have any success ever.
But we have. We beat Lieberman. We got Dean elected as DNC Chair and got our movement seeded in every single one of our 50 states. We will be a national party again, wherein every single election is contested. That was not so before our intervention.
We forced debate on voting irregularities in Ohio. We forced debate on all of those straws I mentioned above.
And we lost on most of them. We saved Social Security, and prevented Bolton's permanent nomination, but lost on the Patriot Act and the Roberts/Alito confirmations.
Still, we forced the debate. We, as a movement, are only a couple of years old, and we have influence. After Goldwater's loss in 1964, did the firebrand Reagan conservative have as much influence in 1968 as we have today?
No.
Faced with even more defeats than we, faced with a President from their own Party that was hostile to them, they endured, and eventually were victorious in their goals. They had balls. They had courage. I may detest everything about them, but their perservierance is admirable, and their success is unquestionable.
It occurs to me, that those of us who often demand that our Democratic leaders show a spine often lack one of their own.
And I say that only because, if we all had a spine, there would be no need for the constant empty threats of abandoning the party.
Those with a spine would never issue such a threat. Those with a brain know it is pointless.
Those with courage in our movement will continue undaunted, no matter what the setback, no matter the disappointment, no matter the failure. We will continue to pursue the means of changing the party, from the inside out.
We must always call our Democratic leaders, across this land, to voice our opinion and desire.
We must continue to do the things we have been doing over the past years to grow our movement, so that we will realize progressive government again.
And if our current leaders fail us, we don't leave them.
We replace them.
We Lieberman-ize them.
The Democratic Party is ours, not theirs.
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