The Deep Democratic Divide

[Andra_Jenny]

Friday, Nov. 8, 2002
Pelosi to Ford: 'The Race Is Over'
[From the reactionary running dog of the Free Press, Newsmax.com]

Democrats fretted after their rout in the midterm elections that the black voters they always take for granted didn't show up at the plantation Tuesday. Now San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi is treating Rep. Harold Ford Jr. in a way that gives new meaning to the term "house slave."

"This race is over," Rep. Pelosi, D-Calif., sneered today after lodging a few potshots at the 32-year-old Ford about his youth.

Ford, D-Tenn., wants to replace Dick Gephardt as House minority leader because Pelosi is too "liberal." Far left is more like it.

...

"The American people were sending us a message on Election Day," said Ford. "Our message has not been coherent and cogent enough.''

Moderate Democrat Rep. Martin Frost dropped out of the race today and backed Pelosi - we'd love to hear the details of that little deal. But just the day before, he noted:

"There are an awful lot of Democrats who are very uneasy about the party moving sharply to the left and who want a party that's in the middle that speaks strongly and confronts the Republicans. I think that her politics are to the left, and I think that the party, to be successful, must speak to the broad center of the country.

...

Newsday columnist and Fox News contributor Jim Pinkerton observed, "The situation is a lot like what Democrats went through in 1968 to '72." Anti-war Democrats took over the party and ran South Dakota leftist George McGovern for president in 1972. McGovern was crushed.

...

Lame-duck Rep. Cynthia McKinney, of all people, had a sensible comment in an article Thursday in the Washington Times about why blacks didn't rush to the polls this year.

"While the national pundits postulate on the reasons why minority voters didn't turn out, minority voters themselves know the truth," she said. "For generations, the Democratic Party has taken the minority vote for granted."





EOC&P




The Democratic Party, as I have postulated many times is about to fracture. It will probably stay very Liberal and under the Clinton Control if Mr. Ford is not backed in his fight by more "Traditional," working-class Democrats. They will have to fight or leave. If the leave, they will join the faction of the Republican Party that likes Big Government, just as long as it is responsible th their concerns. This will further drive more limited government Republicans into the Libertarian Camp.

Or, Ford could get backing and send the Libs to the Green camp, but I don't think so. Moral, for Democrats, must be at a new low as the lapping waves from the right keep eroding the beach-head of Liberalism established in the 70's and 80's...

Unless of course, REDWAVE leads the new Revolution first.

 

[TWB]

You are silly if you think Clinton was a liberal.

 

[Byron In Exile]

You are silly if you think Clinton was a liberal.

Clinton was a used-car salesman.

 

[Andra_Jenny]

I don't think Clinton had an ideaology.

Now SHE'S a flaming Liberal...




Saturday Nov. 9, 2002; 10:47 a.m. EST
Sharpton Blames Clinton for Dem Debacle, Consults with Ford

Rev. Al Sharpton charged this week that Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe insulted African-Americans by relying exclusively on ex-President Clinton to persuade them to go to the polls, a move he said resulted in lowering black turnout on Election Day to levels far below 2000.

"It's insulting that their strategy was Bill Clinton, a coke and a smile," complained the firebrand civil rights leader Wednesday on MSNBC's "Hardball."

In comments that promised to send shockwaves throughout the Democratic Party, Sharpton even attacked Clinton's reputation as America's "first black president."

"I think Bill Clinton is a great asset, but he really wasn't a black president," he told "Hardball" host Chris Matthews, before ticking off the losing candidates for whom Clinton campaigned.

"We lost the mayor's race last year. We lost the governor's race this year in New York.... We lost Mondale. We lost McBride. We lost Hawaii," he noted.

"So, I mean, are we supposed to sit around in nostalgia?" the radical reverend mused. "(Or) are we supposed to move on and say, wait a minute, we need to really analyze how we exercise and energize" the party faithful. Sharpton said that while the ex-president should continue to play a role in politics, "I don't think we need exclusive Clinton, the exclusive strategy."

"The strategies did not work," he observed. "There was no voter registration. There was no voter mobilization. I remember I was in five or six states, and their strategy for labor wasn't there."

Of Mr. McAuliffe, who was handpicked by Clinton to run the Democratic Party over former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, Sharpton said, "I think he's a nice guy, but I think we need a new coach."

While Sharpton's harsh critique is sure to fuel the growing rift between party leaders and a key Democrat constituency, reporters who usually hang on his every word have so far declined to cover his comments about Clinton.

The National Action Network chief's disappointment may have been exacerbated Friday by Democratic House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who attempted to elbow rising African-American political star Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., out of the race to replace Dick Gephardt as top Democrat House leader.

"This race is over," Pelosi declared to reporters just hours after Ford, age 32, announced his candidacy.

The San Francisco Democrat, who was described by the New York Daily News as "clearly miffed" by Ford's challenge, proceeded to ridicule her Tennessee colleague's youth, adding sarcastically, "I've been in office (as whip) eight months, so I don't know - I guess when you're very young, eight months seems like a long time."