{"id":142,"date":"2003-07-22T20:12:55","date_gmt":"2003-07-22T20:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"0"},"modified":"2006-09-28T12:08:16","modified_gmt":"2006-09-28T12:08:16","slug":"i_want_my_party_back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/?p=142","title":{"rendered":"I Want My Party Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s tough.<\/p>\n

Porphyrogenitus is challenging<\/a> me with high inside fastballs – his question really can’t be avoided any more.<\/p>\n

…given the direction you’d like to see the Democrats go in, which would be more catastrophic to you: that the Democrats follow the path they’re on and lose?<\/p>\n

Or that they follow that path and win<\/b>?<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He knows how unhappy I am with the current state of the Democratic Party, and challenges me both to take a stand on this election and to do something about it. Other people are taking<\/a> the same position. Max Jacobs:<\/p>\n

Yes, Bush’s approval rating is falling but in order to be voted out of office the Democrats would actually have to find someone that people would be willing to vote for and I don’t think they have come close at all to doing so.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Michael Totten wraps it all up<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Suicide Watch<\/b> <\/p>\n

…Huh? Wha?<\/b> says the Democratic Party as it\u2019s found by its friend sprawled on the men\u2019s room floor with a hypodermic needle sticking out of its arm. I don\u2019t have a problem. Whatcha talkin’ about?<\/b><\/p>\n

Get a grip, Dems.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note that I’ve dismissed Trent’s claims<\/a> that the Dems are about to self-destruct offhand, and have even put up some cash on the subject.<\/p>\n

Michael was writing at 1 a.m., and so maybe he has a touch of the late-night blues. But I’m writing this at noon, and I’m feeling pretty blue as well.<\/p>\n

I know that the Bush administration is immensely vulnerable on substantive issues. I think that they have several components of the answer right, and several more profoundly wrong.<\/p>\n

On their strongest card, the war on terrorism, I think that they are just flat blowing the defense side of the equation, and moving the country a step or two toward abandoning our civil liberties. I think they have missed what should have been their best chance – to sit down with their Saudi friends and speak bluntly – as only friends can do – about what needs to happen.<\/p>\n

I think that they are hollowing out the military that they claim to value so highly.<\/p>\n

I think that the GOP fiscal and tax policies are outrageous. I don’t think they have a clue as to what to do to try and offer Americans who are middle-class and below a tighter grip on the ladder.<\/p>\n

But all I hear about from the Democrats is yellowcake and “what did he know and when did he know it.”<\/p>\n

And as I look at the field of plausible Democratic candidates, all I see are guys I would trouble supporting for Governor of California, much less President. My hand doesn’t reach for my checkbook to donate or my phonebook to call up friends and support.<\/p>\n

And Porphy’s right, we need to do something. In my case I’ve been of some minor help to a friend who I hope will run for Lt. Governor or Treasurer of CA in the next cycle. <\/p>\n

But that’s not enough.<\/p>\n

I’m going to see if I can come up with a plan to give all of us – the “Disaffected Democrats” – some traction. I’m thinking about something that blends EMILY’s List and MoveOn.org; one provides seed funding to selected candidates and the other a trumpet that effectively uses the Internet to get attention for issues. I’d like to solicit input from others who feel the way I do, and let’s see if we can deliver a plan and a constituency to someone who can do something with it. I’m pretty good at thinking things up, and with some help, maybe we can find someone with the stature to execute it.<\/p>\n

(corrected edit on Porphy’s question)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armed Liberal is seriously UNhappy with the Democratic Party these days. He wants his party back… and as his round up of quotes from life-long Democrats demonstrates, he’s not alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}