While I personally believe that our main Democratic voices (Pelosi, Reid, Conyers, Slaughter, Feinstein, Shumer, Kennedy, Byrd) are smart to keep quiet over much of what's going on right now, they're simply missing the boat when it comes to using the Great Republican Bitch Fest/Prison Avoidance Scramble of 2005 as a time to speak out
positively and
loudly about our platform.
Friends and fellow Kossacks, now is The Moment.
Why now, and not 2006, you ask?
Well, for starters, the Republicans are so busy caterwauling and crying in their beers over Plamegate, The Trouble with Harry and the Katrina debacle that they've precious energy for countering our collective message. But there's something else amiss in Conservative Corruptionland. . .a non-silent majority is waking from its slumber. And it doesn't like what it sees.
Better still, it's a veritable LIBERAL giant.
Check out these polls, below the fold:
Gallup Poll. N=1,385 adults nationwide (MoE ± 3), including, with oversamples, 821 non-Hispanic whites (MoE ± 4), 241 blacks (MoE ± 7), and 266 Hispanics (MoE ± 7). Interviewing was June 12-15, 2003, for non-Hispanic whites, and June 12-18, 2003, for blacks and Hispanics.
"Do you generally favor or oppose affirmative action programs for racial minorities?"
Favor: 49%
Oppose: 43%
Unsure: 8%
What's that I see? The American public agrees with affirmative action programs, and another potential eight percent of Americans might also believe, if our leaders took the time to speak about it?
CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll. Aug. 28-30, 2005. N=1,007 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
"With respect to the abortion issue, would you consider yourself to be pro-choice or pro-life?"
Pro-Choice: 54%
Pro-Life: 38%
At a time when Meirs is being telegraphed by Dear Leader as the silver bullet of death for Roe v. Wade, the majority still believe in a woman's right to choose? C'mon, heroes of the Democratic party. This one's a no-brainer.
The Gallup Poll. March 7-10, 2005. N=1,004 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
"Do you think George W. Bush is doing a good job or a poor job in handling each of the following issues as president? How about protecting the nation's environment?"
Good Job 39%
Poor Job 50%
Wait just a minute. . .does this mean 50 percent of the nation is comprised of a bunch of tree huggers? Pretending for a minute that 'tree hugger' smear is actually a real-world notion, then
Yes!! Half the people on your street really
do believe in sound ecological practice, good stewardship of the earth, and our children's rights to clean air and water. Sure, you couldn't beat-down the greedy Reps and their strong-arm tactics last week. But that doesn't mean you should stop chanting, "Shame! Shame!"
Because half the country is chanting it along with you.
ABC News/Washington Post Poll. Oct. 9-13, 2003. N=1,000 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3 (total sample). Fieldwork by TNS Intersearch.
"Canada has a universal health care system run by the government that covers all people. Compared to Canada, do you think the overall health care system in the United States is better, worse or about the same?"
Better: 29%
Worse: 37%
"Which of these do you think is more important: providing health care coverage for all Americans, even if it means raising taxes, OR, holding down taxes, even if it means some Americans do not have health care coverage?"
Coverage For All: 79%
Holding down taxes: 17%
www.pollingreport.com
Whoa. Look at those last numbers. Sounds like a Hillary Clinton style national health care proposal would suit a whole bunch of people, right about now. So, why the silence?
These are our wishes, Democrats. They sound a great deal like the platforms that create Presidential heroes; and Mister (or Miss) we could use a (wo)man like Kennedy or FDR today...
They're not the so-called "scribblings of teenagers," the fevered-dreams of a small group of dangerous "leftists." They're the beliefs of a majority of Americans left out in the cold by the Republican Treasury Ripoff and feeling at sea without the traditional Democratic platform proponents out there spreading around some real HOPE.
The blogs, the poll results, the continued conversations of neighbor to neighbor aren't just screaming that Americans are begging for a sane, socially conscious unified new direction; they're practically running naked in the streets demanding a change. And who better to bring that change than the party who has always stood for the majority view in these polls?
Bush's 2000 RNC speech was his first theft: he stole, promised and then reneged on what's historically and currently known as the Democratic Party platform: education, health care, homes for all, economic equality and a hand-up to the poor.
But his second, and equally egregious theft came when his band of thugs seemingly successfully marginalized the Democratic voices, and painted you - our leaders - into a corner.
There was never -- I repeat, NEVER - a time when the American public did not buy your message. We -and you- simply allowed that snake-oil salesman to glibly repackage OUR platform and then give us all back shiny colored empty boxes.
Well, we don't want his presents, or his undelivered promises, anymore. We want the genuine article. We want those polling numbers reflected by the actions of the government WE hire. And the only time in history we've gotten even some of what we wanted is when Democrats run Washington. Period. So get on that. Right now. And don't ever stop talking about our ideas: the same solid, sturdy American open-mindedness and basic goodness that defines American success not only by what our families have, but what our neighbors achieve, too.
Time to come out of that corner swinging, Democrats. The majority is with you.