it just keeps going,it never stops, check back tomorrow its still going.
It is ,in effect, the other side of the split screen of everything the president says or does.

there has never been anything like it before, and it changes everything.
It has changed me, my reaction to it has changed over the past few weeks too.
It is devastating reality injected into the posturing of daily politics.

Drove home on the highway for couple hours the other day.
I got on the road and noticed there was a bee in the car with me.
I hate bee's even though I haven't been stung in years.
He is safely slamming himself into the back window, over and over.
I am in no danger, I'll just keep going.
What if he decides to attack?
I could crash,
I should get off the highway and
find a safe place to pull over, then kill the bee.

I weighed my options for two solid hours until I was home.
The drive went by so quickly.
Thank you Mr. Bee

because I am stunned.(sarcasm alert!)

when did he ever NOT say something stupid?

how can anyone defend health insurance reform when not ten people in the entire country know what exactly it will end up meaning.

I try and support the president ,but his inexperience has been writ large on this initiative.

Did anyone expect congress to arrive at a cohesive argument? Apparently the president did, I didn't.

Have we turned caution into a republican position?

this much is certain: We as party cannot undergo another 6 months of talking about healthcare .


More and more democrats will come to the conclusion that opposing the president on healthcare will do them more good at home than supporting him.
W and even Reagan had a democratic congress to point to and blame.
We have nobody to blame but ourselves
We can't get our shit together, with the whole country watching,we look like the gang who couldn't shoot straight.

I get no pleasure from any of this, but we as a party have to face facts, we have screwed this up badly,perhaps irreparably.


I think it was Gore Vidal who said "no talent is not enough".

there is so much hand-wringing over what might have been, its gotten silly.

I agree this is all within the democratic party
all the more reason to just get on with it
all the more reason to end up with nothing will make us all look foolish.

are you a dem? I assume so, this is your team like it or not,
these members are all we have,there is no better group waiting just off stage
wisdom and self preservation demands we accept what they agree on
Regardless of how badly this has turned out.

this is our team
this is what they can get.
what could have been is for dreamers.

what good does wringing your hands do?

I am not thrilled with the shitstorm that healtcare reform has become.
But I accept the we must GET WHAT WE CAN from this group of democrats, these very members of congress, RIGHT NOW.
What some other, better group might have done differently is just hot air.
I have no interest in what might have been.
I will accept support from anybody, form any alliance, horse trade on any point, in order to proceed.
The utter failure to deliver anything(veto) on healthcare would be disaster for the party that would resonate for years.
It would result in us being rightly seen as the gang that couldn't shoot straight, a disorganized gang of fools.
The resultant election disasters would be much worse for us as a party than a weakened healthcare bill
There are other fights to fight ahead, take the hit and live to fight another day

I am not happy about it, but
I am enough of a realist to know that even the tinest miniscule step
in the right direction is better than no step at all.

This is our team... warts and all.
accept it, get what we can, what ever it turns out to be, don't turn on each other for not being pure enough,
and move on to other fights, other... friendlier climes I hope.

For these points,
I have been called right-winger, a corporatist, and too many others to recount here.
I did not arrive at this party yesterday, My views have been honed across decades of political fights.

I am a real democrat and this is what I think.
You dance with what brung ya.

I am clearly dangerous and must be stopped.


Show me the huge groundswell of support you pretend exists, and I'll be less dismissive of these oft-repeated anti-moderate screeds.


How many states did Dennis Kucinich win in the democratic primaries again?... Oh yeah... NONE ... Twice!

yes, great idea throw the sensible dems overboard and hand the party over to the extremists.

Actually wining elections is way overrated.


Honest progressives know they need moderates to put the brakes on the extreme lefts more wacky impulses.

according to those that know Men stop buying underwear in recession.
we just keep on wearing the ones we got.
Last month mens underwear sales went up 5%.
after 16 months of decline.
I bought a 5 pack to celebrate.
So buy some new ones for your country today.

extending coverage to 40 million people will come at considerable cost.

I do think if its explained better the public at large will get behind it with more enthusiasm than they have thus far.


We still don't have anything to unify behind
That is currently the biggest obstacle.
Its a huge problem and its not going away.

we view the opposition differently.
I don't view my fellow democrats as bought or stupid
just not yet fully convinced.

for me thats a call to do a better job of convincing them.

for you its makes them(and me I'm sad to say) crooked or freeperish or some other nasty description.


for me "your just a freeper" is very similar to "you just hate america" republicans threw at me a short time ago.

its too easy to blame "them"
its too easy to blame "the media"
its too easy to think everyone who's unconvinced is bought or stupid.


we haven't even fully convinced us.
thats why you are seeing what you are seeing.

your attitude is a big part of why that is.

"Us" tends to shrink.
"them" tends to expand.
everybody wants to be "us"
nobody wants to be "them"

if you(us) want more,
you(us)simply must convince a majority of them to see it your way.
then you(us)will get more,and
They(them) will get less.

Politics is confusing.

I feel as if the north star has fallen out of the sky.
He was a point in the cosmos I set my compass by.


My father worked on JFK's house campaign in '48
My father( a navy man) spent the rest of his life supporting the Kennedy's
He taught me to, and why I should, and I have

years later when we were discussing the Kennedy's I said
you&dad were with him cause Jack was navy guy right?
she said no
you&dad were with him cause he was an democrat from our district?
she said no
Irish?
no
Catholic?
no.

they were with him cause Jack was an FDR democrat.
I guess I am too
Ted sure was.

somehow through him I felt connected to my father,
even though both my parents have been dead for decades.
dad was always there with me in the voting booth
sounds crazy huh?

I'll miss you Ted
God bless you