I appeal to my fellow long-term Democrats to put out the welcome mat for the new, excited and energized citizens who have joined our ranks recently. 

The historic primary season we just finished brought many new members to our party, who will prove to be a critical part of our victory in November.  And a crucial part of our party for decades to come.  These new voters who joined to support Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in that primary process deserve not only our gratitude, but the sort of respect that, too often, the old-time rank and file Democrats have neglected to extend to "new blood."

I've seen this now, very personally, in six states, in my staff and volunteer work for candidates in California, Iowa, Missouri, Texas, New York and Kansas, situations where the established party folks were either negligent or downright exclusive with their local and county party organizations.  Too often, the new members who join expecting to be welcomed and included and invited and involved, are ignored, shut-out, resented and disrespected by the entrenched rank-and-file.

There are many reasons for this chummy club  phenomenon, but typically, as with all organizations, it comes down to the protective, territorial egos of the status quo, and nothing to do with the party itself.  In the same way Republicans do not want to relinquish power in the White House, these local Democrats can't cut lose of their little bits of local power.

In terms of inclusiveness and exclusion, I've seen both good and bad over the years.

Our people here in Kansas' "Big First" Congressional district, for instance, are very accommodating and make an effort to provide an experience of kinship and membership to the new voters who come aboard.  But I have also seen the opposite elsewhere, where the existing local, county, district and state officers and operatives jealously guard their positions, their authority and their territory, often to the detriment of the party. Too often, these groups have diminished over the years to include only a die-hard few, who tend to convert their party meetings into personal bridge clubs that revel in exclusivity and discourage new people from participating in order to assure their own continued personal ownership.

The Democratic Party can not afford to be a private club, if we intend to erect that big tent we all say we believe in.  People need to feel welcome and involved, they need to know their ideas and enthusiasm are appreciated. And they need to know their votes will be counted, both in the local party process and in the actual elections. These new people need to be co-opted by the party old-timers, and those with the time and interest should be given working titles and tasks, to make them even more a part of the ever-growing Democratic Party.

It's time for long term Democrats to put out the welcome mat, no, roll out the red carpet, sound the trumpets, bang a gong, strike up the band, stand together at the doorway and cheer them on as they enter our fold. Anything less would be unacceptable.

We should do everything in our power to make these new Democrats feel like they are a valuable and appreciated part of our party, if we hope to enter the next decade as the party of change, the party of  hope, the party of the future, ... and the party of The People.

Lets welcome these new members with open arms, unbridled enthusiasm and unquestionable inclusion, and then lets join together to change the future from one we fear into one we will all be proud to pass on to the next generation.  We have never had a better opportunity than the one we see today.

...the definition of what will happen when McCain finally loses it on camera!

(had to bring that little chuckle up from raider99's "is McCain going senile" thread...)

So why is the threat of such a war being amped up in Israel AND here in the US by our complicit media?

I realize the Iranian Shiites aren't exactly bubbas with the Arab Sunnis, and their holy lands are in some ways in different places But considering the earth's rotaton, prevailing winds and likely fallout scenarios, surely the Iranians realize that any nuclear attack on Israel would not only poison their own holy land, (which they seem willing to die to protect) it would make them the ultimate middle-eastern pariah, none of their neighbors would be spared the radiation and other repurcussions of an attack on Israel.

The zealots, both here and there, will swear that the Shiites are ready to martyr the whole region, but I would guess the Ayatolah and his mullas aren't as eager to join the dead as we are being told, and they really pull all the strings, not Mini-Jab.

Which leads me to believe that the war posturing we are watching Cheney promote in the waning days of Republican rule, really hides a profit motive and a blackmail threat; they are in some sort of "leave us alone   (i.e. impeachment and prosecution for lying about the WMD in the first place) or we will attack Iran" mode.

The last time the heat was on to draw down troops, they invented the surge.

When Congress threatened to force troop removal and a timeline, instead we got more young soldiers sent there, stretching our military resources to the breakng point.

Every time we call their bloody bluff, they double down, betting the lives of our precious children as their poker chips, going all in, in a deadly game of Texas holdem.

My point is, it is not a case of there being a real threat that Iran will nuke Israel.  They would cause untold and long-term destruction to the entire region, and themselves, by doing so. So I just don;t see it on the table.

This is really just high stakes blackmail, and Cheney's team of lever pullers and button pushers is raising the stakes again, to keep the hounds of justice at bay and guarantee thier no-bid bubbas even more of that warbucks gravytrain.

His entire impeachment speech sounds like one of Josh's weekly updates at Muckraker!

and making a great case for impeachment.

Considering McLellan's book and the Phase Too Late senate report, there is so much more evidence of The Big Lie, maybe Dennis has that jugular-throat instinct.

Wexler's hot on their hineys' too, maybe we will see thye seeds of justice sown sooner than later? 

America's vets and active duty military personel need to take a hard look at the absolutely insane "diplomacy" that John McCain has already blurted out. All his talk about being a vet, and having oodles of diplomatic experience looks a bit contrived, when you consider some of his very careless comments and contradictions.

Does anyone with serious diplomatic experience think "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" is a statement a real EXPERIENCED  and QUALIFIED statesman would ever make? 

If that is what Mccain's "experience" has taught him, to
flippantly taunt world leaders and threaten them with destruction, even while our troops are in harm's way, then he doesn't deserve the vote of anyone, let alone our veterans.
 
Reminds me of Bush's "bring em' on" stupidity, how can you possibly attribute leadership, especially world diplomacy,  to big little boys who act like schoolyard bullies, and get our troops killed in the process.
 
These guys make our whole military image look like a big,  stupid, clumsy  blind cyclops, swinging at fleas with billion dollar baseball bats and breaking our own bones in the process.
 
McCain's no statesman, and no diplomat and he's no world leader.  He's just another blind, obsessively ambitious  pawn of the no-bid, easy-money profiteers who build those billion-dollar bludgeons.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Paper_Bush_intends_to_attack_Iran_0520.html

Let me invite my fellow Obama supporters to make a pledge that ON THE DAY AFTER HILLARY CONCEDES we WILL give another $25.08 to the Obama campaign, and just for good luck and to encourage party unity, $25.08 to the DCCC.

$50,000,000 in pledges on the day after Hillary concedes ought to impress even the DLCers.

And I am sure Van Hollen could find a way to use that other $50,000,000 for those down-ticket races.

Here's what we can do about it. Just click this link and send Van Hollen a pledge/promise that you will contribute $25.08 to the DCCC on the day after Hillary concedes, and another $25.08 to the Obama campaign.

Don't send any emails to the campaign itself, just make sure you include in your letter to Van Hollen that $25.08 is going to the campaign and $25.08 is going to the DCCC, then let the DCCC tell the campaign about it. But don't make the contribution ubntil Hillary concedes. Plain and simple... your .08 will always identify you as one of the pledge signers.

If you want, copy and paste this letter in your email;

"Congressman Van Hollen: I am at this time making a pledge that the day after Hillary Clinton concedes this race, I will contribute $25.08 to the DCCC and $25.08 to the Obama campaign."

Sincerely,_____________________


Mass bribery, you say?

Not hardly. This is public financing at its most powerful.  Don't let this discourage you from giving even more to the Obama campaign, but by showing the DCCC just how much benefit they will derive from an Obama candidacy, we might help encourage ore than one SuperD to make a decision sooner thanlater.

And the sooner the better.

Anyone else want to join the pledge list?

On Saturday, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius joined dedicated Obama volunters at Kansas University in Lawrence to kick off the spring "Vote for Change" voter registraton drive.  A few of my family members joined me for the drive to Lawrence, and ventured out on the streets of this liberal blue enclave in a purple state. 

It is an interesting coincidence that the KU colors are Red and Blue, and the K-State color is purple...

Hoping Obama will help us all fix "what's the matter with Kansas..."  and his family roots here are not going unnoticed, maybe will help us turn this red state blue.

Here's a short photo-blog of the event...

A campiagn videographer asked to tag along with us as we started our route, so there may be some video of the event up next week...

JEP

Showdown: Tar Heels v. Hoosiers!

"The Democrats limp into another round of primaries "

Notice that little bit of spin  at Memo, found it quite offensive.
Not sure who writes the ledes for these little spots, but this was very iregular for this site.  Instead of rewriting it again, I'll just post the email I shot back at them when I read that tripe...
"The Democrats limp into another round of primaries."
Three cajones apiece, and they're limp?
Kind of offensive headlining here, guys, I think "surge" would be more appropo, even "head" would have worked, but "limp" betrays a Kucinich/Naderite in your midst.

Certainly couldn't be a Republican...
 
One of the most dynamic and historic elections in American history, with voter turnout at record levels, not to mention this is one of the defining moments of that process, and you think we're "limping?"
 
Using a quarter-billon dollar crutch?
 
A lot of very intelligent, inspired people will take offense at that callous headline that trivializes, emasculates and,  "cripples" what should be respected as an historic moment in our great American story.

...here's a proposal. For all the REAL Dems amongst us...

Lets take a generic figurehead approach to this, and start talking strategy instead of candidates, with the thought in mind that we will get our candidate elected in November.

What have you folks seen, thus far in this election cycle, that you think we need to emulate in the final stretch, between now and November?

And what have you seen that we need to get rid of?

I, for one, believe we need to look outside existing voters, and concentrate on NEW voters.

Not to ignore the already-active base, I think all of us who consider ourselves in that group need to start reaching out to the non-voters around us. Every day, we need to get out of bed and ponder, "who can I get registered today?"

We all know people who aren't involved in the process, who aren't registered, and there are so many of them they outnumber us, what, 70% to 30%?

If there is any place we can find the power to have a 50-state landslide, it is in these new voters.

And one last thing... all of you need to remember we call ourselves a PARTY! Lets make it one.

Nothing can do more for our chances to bring in those new voters than to make it FUN! If you think that isn't taking things seriously, you are mistaken.

I am desperately serious.

If we can find a way to make this a lot more fun for new people to join (Kerry's Bruce Sporingstien event is the best example I can conjur up, on a national level) we will not only gather in many more members, but make our own jobs easier because we get to enjoy the social networking that it will provide us all.

We need to turn this into a summer-long festival of voter registraton.

Everyone needs to start thinking about what sorts of fun, inviting and inclusive events you might be able to organize, to help bring these new voters into the fold.

And I don't mean inviting a bunch of Democrats over for a cocktail party, I mean those very Democrats organizing a BIG event with lots of entertainment and very few speeches, and inviting everyone they know to come to THE PARTY.

Where they can register to vote, along with the fun stuff. Then maybe they will relate politics to something other than a bunch of stuffy old bosses.

while the Wright issue gets prime time...

Our media is a wh*re.

Hopefully, our blogs don't follow suit.

Night, folks, and I hope tomorrow brings a Democratic victory in Louisiana, and some serious, soul-searching truthiness.

Johnny's New Bus!