Add this one as well. Sorta hits the nail on the head if you ask me.
http://progressive.org/mag_ivins0306 Enough of the D.C. Dems
By Molly Ivins
March 2006 Issue
Mah fellow progressives, now is the time for all good men and women to
come to the aid of the party. I don't know about you, but I have had
it with the D.C. Democrats, had it with the DLC Democrats, had it with
every calculating, equivocating, triangulating, straddling,
hair-splitting son of a ***** up there, and that includes Hillary
Rodham Clinton.
I will not be supporting Senator Clinton because: a) she has no clear
stand on the war and b) Terri Schiavo and flag-burning are not issues
where you reach out to the other side and try to split the difference.
You want to talk about lowering abortion rates through cooperation on
sex education and contraception, fine, but don't jack with stuff that
is pure rightwing firewater.
I can't see a damn soul in D.C. except Russ Feingold who is even worth
considering for President. The rest of them seem to me so poisonously
in hock to this system of legalized bribery they can't even see straight.
Look at their reaction to this Abramoff scandal. They're talking about
"a lobby reform package." We don't need a lobby reform package, you
dimwits, we need full public financing of campaigns, and every single
one of you who spends half your time whoring after special interest
contributions knows it. The Abramoff scandal is a once in a lifetime
gift—a perfect lesson on what's wrong with the system being laid out
for people to see. Run with it, don't mess around with little patches,
and fix the system.
As usual, the Democrats have forty good issues on their side and want
to run on thirty-nine of them. Here are three they should stick to:
1) Iraq is making terrorism worse; it's a breeding ground. We need to
extricate ourselves as soon as possible. We are not helping the Iraqis
by staying.
2) Full public financing of campaigns so as to drive the moneylenders
from the halls of Washington.
3) Single-payer health insurance.
Every Democrat I talk to is appalled at the sheer gutlessness and
spinelessness of the Democratic performance. The party is still
cringing at the thought of being called, ooh-ooh, "unpatriotic" by a
bunch of rightwingers.
Take "unpatriotic" and shove it. How dare they do this to our country?
"Unpatriotic"? These people have ruined the American military! Not to
mention the economy, the middle class, and our reputation in the
world. Everything they touch turns to dirt, including Medicare
prescription drugs and hurricane relief.
This is not a time for a candidate who will offend no one; it is time
for a candidate who takes clear stands and kicks ass.
Who are these idiots talking about Warner of Virginia? Being anodyne
is not sufficient qualification for being President. And if there's
nobody in Washington and we can't find a Democratic governor, let's
run Bill Moyers, or Oprah, or some university president with ethics
and charisma.
What happens now is not up to the has-beens in Washington who run this
party. It is up to us. So let's get off our butts and start building a
progressive movement that can block the nomination of Hillary Clinton
or any other candidate who supposedly has "all the money sewed up."
I am tired of having the party nomination decided before the first
primary vote is cast, tired of having the party beholden to the same
old Establishment money.
We can raise our own money on the Internet, and we know it. Howard
Dean raised $42 million, largely on the web, with a late start when he
was running for President, and that ain't chicken feed. If we double
it, it gives us the lock on the nomination. So let's go find a good
candidate early and organize the **** out of our side.
Molly Ivins writes in this space every month. Her latest book is "Who
Let the Dogs In?"