I want Karl Rove to have nightmares equal to the ones he has given so many Americans..don't you?

This race for the Democratic nomination must come down to a Howard Dean/Wesley Clark team.
It's never been clearer to this volunteer democratic advisor. ;)

"Clark is the one that Karl Rove has nightmares about."
-VOICE OF THE PEOPLE / Chicago Tribune

~~ ~~

Wesley Clark should be very careful when raising/conjuring up doubts re:the electability of Dean

Watching Clark on Russert this past Sunday, I had some concerns. Now, I am not naive and I know politics is not a pretty game.What bothered me was the deliberate distancing..the moving away from any association with Howard Dean by Clark. I wouldn't say this if I didn't have a world of respect for General Clark, which can be evidenced by my letter to Clark urging him to become a candidate early last summer when he was in the decision phase. I think he's making a crucial mistake for the future of Democratic party. Ostracizing or politically isolating Dean simply isn't going to succeed. Far too many are already committed and devoted to newfound grassroots strength thanks to Governor Dean. If the DLC is betting those Dean supporters will cut and run, they're in for a rude awakening, I'm afraid.

I am not privvy to the inside doings at the DLC, nor do I have inside information about any of the Democratic campaigns. I have sensed, however, intentional snubbing and animosity toward Howard Dean by the DLC for a long time now. I've talked about it here on Iddybud-blog and the Free Thinker's Page.
Whatever the DLC beef is with Dean, it's time for them to realize he is, in all reality, the frontrunner with the public.
It's time to allow him far more room for respect instead of resorting to tawdry tactics to smear him in the all-too pliable press. Here's a fact for the DLC: Howard Dean has been sent to the head of the line by a heck of a lot of "little people" with "little pocketbooks and little wallets". Everytime the DLC tries to nail Dean, they put a nail in their own coffin.

Dean supporters aren't the only ones who recognize what
the DLC is doing. I heard more about it by (accidentally, trust me) tuning in to Rush Limbaugh today. He was talking about this Harley Sorenson article. (Quote from Sorenson: "To win in November, it appears, the Democrats will have to defeat not only the Republican candidate but also the saboteurs in their own party, the Democratic Leadership Council...")

Rush Limbaugh makes me want to puke my guts out most of the time, but ...damn.. if I didn't nearly see his point today about the DLC making a sabotaged spectacle of the Democratic race ...

This is bad, DLC. Bad news.

If Wesley Clark is associating himself with the DLC, I would remind him that there is currently a frontrunner who has been bought and paid for by the largest number of the smallest individual political contributors ever. That fact should be guiding General Clark....along with his heart.

The team of Howard Dean and Wesley Clark will be like the fable about the sticks that are fragile when held individually, but unbreakable together.

Dean and Clark will be virtually non-stoppable...unbeatable.

Any other combination will be a loser in 2004.

If the DLC's Al From (and any of his associates) f---s this up for us Democrats, he could never be forgiven. Bush is the worst President in history..the biggest liar of all time...and by all that is reasonable, it should be a cakewalk to deny him another four years. (Then again, some naive fool said Iraq would be a cakewalk, too).
What Al From and the DLC are doing when they urge their candidates to frame Dean as "the unelectable" is blatantly disloyal to the Democratic party itself...all for the sake of faction. Al From knows VERY WELL that Howard Dean is no more left than any of the DLC candidates.
Norman Solomon wrote this about the DLC last June:

A recent memo by a pair of DLC honchos, Al From and Bruce Reed, linked the party's progressive-leaning activists with "elitist, interest-group liberalism." The salvo is laughable. It would be difficult to find any organization of Democrats more deserving of the "elitist, interest-group" tag than the DLC, which has long been funded by oil, chemical, insurance and military-contracting corporations -- and has served their interests.

At least Howard Dean is honest. He came in out of the blue and enchanted many a disenchanted Democrat. The DLC might point their finger at Bush and blame him for the disenchantment, but they'd best begin to realize we are disenchanted with many a Democrat as well. The anti-Dean candidates scream about how STRONG they'll be, yet they've proven themselves as 98-lb weaklings for the past 3 years..succumbing to Bush policies at every turn. So..guess what? When DLC-darlin' Joe Lieberman says he'll be tough next year, we ask: "Where were you when you could have PROVEN THAT TO US?"
Anyone out here...from righty Rush all the way to progressive me can see the forest for the trees.

Al From and the DLC should understand that sabotage of Election 2004 will not be taken lightly by grassroots Democrats

*By the way, I think Clark did a wonderful job today laying out his tax-ideas.

GOP Crisis: Illinois GOP isn't conservative enough for Grover Norquist

A group of conservative stalwarts has made it a top priority to "reform" the state Republican Party..The Illinois Center Right Coalition is leading the effort with the help of prominent Washington insider Grover Norquist...[Norquist] said the party has traditionally shunned conservative values.
"One of the reasons why Illinois has been weakening for Republicans is that the Republican Party there is still pre-Reagan," Norquist said. "It's not an anti-tax party, it's not a small government party. It's a we-were-born-north-of-the-Mason-Dixon-line-so-we're-Republicans party. It is a party without ideological foundation from the establishment's perspective. It never had the Goldwater revolution that other states had."

Their solution is simple: dump state party chairman Judy Baar Topinka (a moderate Republican with socially liberal views)
and Republican National Committeeman Bob Kjellander (he was in charge of five Midwest states in 2000, all of which Bush lost). Bob Kjellander prefers to call his critics "rapid extremists" rather than conservatives.
Kjellander said, "We've got this small band of naysayers who would just rather tear down than work positively. But I'm not even worried about that because they're such a small incestuous group."

This Norquist-style extremism will wind up severely damaging the GOP nationwide... especially in the North.

"They seem to have established this litmus test of what it means to be Republican, and if you don't adhere to that test, they don't make room for you," Illinois Republican Party spokesman Jason Gerwig said of the conservative critics. "If that's how they feel, that's more at their end than our end. We want Republicans to win at the White House and the courthouse. We want everyone to be involved."

To the disenfranchised Republicans...may I suggest Howard Dean as a great alternative? You are more than welcome at the table.

William Buckley the hopeless, the jaded

Buckley rips away at Howard Dean in his own unique fashion:

"...To share time in national forums with the thaumaturgist from Vermont, who with a bright and engaging smile waves his hand eastward and proclaims an end to the problem there by simply shipping our boys home, does two things to the other contenders. They want to say: Stop! stop! stop! The world doesn’t work that way! There are terrible, ridiculous complications! etc. etc...."

Frankly, we could use a bit of a thaumaturgist. A majority of this country believes they've been used and manipulated by the Bush administration. Knowing you've been used and manipulated does not generate a trustful, secure, or hopeful feeling. A hell of a lot of people are not satisfied with the level of participation offered by Bush and/or the Washington business-as-usual. Our voices are not being heard..our wishes are not being adequately translated through our representatives. A lot of people realize that it is, in part, due to an oppressive GOP majority. I am not talking about this mythical far-left Bush-hating 20% of the electorate the mainstream media is tossing around ad nauseum...I wonder where this myth began? Who's tossing out these talking points? Our journalists, it seems, have become either incredibly reliant/lazy...or have lost proper perspective. Pehaps it's a combination of both.

William Buckley's been around a long time. I suspect he's a jaded old conservative. At least he doesn't hammer the tired "angry Dean" schtick. To the contrary, Buckley accuses Dean supporters of being fantasy-struck starry-eyed optimists. Hell, Bill Buckley. I'll take hope over all the other dreadfully minority-ignoring (stick-it-in-your-face/screw you) politics that have been thrown at us by the Bush administration any day.
Why on earth do you think Dean is on TOP?

Notice William Buckley portrays Howard Dean as smiling/bright....Dean surely doesn't sound like an angry fellow to me...how about you?

I think Buckley, like many other pundits, journalists, and even our Washington representatives need to start thinking with the mind of the upcoming generation rather than mocking them for entering the political process.
It seems that, once the younger citizens get on a roll with democratic spirit, they became a bit of an enemy. The jaded old politicos become fearful that things might change. Change is overdue. I, for one, am damn proud of the younger generation interested and empowered by Howard Dean. Even if Dean never secures the nomination (which I believe he will), look at the good he's done for our democratic future.

Calling Howard Dean's ideas "baby-talk political solutions" in light of the comparisons that could be made to any of the Presidential candidates' ideas (including Bush) is nothing more than a blatant attack on one for the benefit of the others.

"...Howard Dean’s exhilarating nostrums have got the headier members of the young Democratic population absolutely carried away with enthusiasm. Is there any sound on earth more pleasing than END WAR? Or, ELIMINATE POVERTY? And the First Amendment guarantees free speech even if it is hypnotic..."

Dear heavens...had our founding fathers felt as bored and hopeless as Bill Buckley, we'd still be Limeys.
We see through you, oh jaded, fearful and tired old Bill.
We even feel a bit sorry for you.