Reply #29: Interesting [View All]

well, let's talk about some of these little fringe groups ... what percentage of registered Democrats think we should withdraw from Iraq in the "near-term" ??? if you have current polls, i'd like to see them

That isn't a fringe issue in the Dem party. I haven't seen polls on this with registered Dems, but among the public, the last poll I saw on it had a full 55% feel US troops need to stay in Iraq until the country is stabilized. 42% say to bring the troops home. (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Feb. 16-21, 2005. N=1,502 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.) I would guess that more rank-and-file dems are in the 55% range.

and that brings me to the other "fringe" group ... tens of millions of Americans no longer vote

Actually, more people vote now than ever before.

The Committee for the Study of the American Electorate reported in January that more than 122 million people voted in the November election, a number that translates into the highest turnout -- 60.7 percent -- since 1968.

Turnout was 6.4 percent higher than in 2000, the largest uptick in voter participation since the 1952 election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10492-2005Jan14.html

A record number of people for a nonpresidential election, 128 million, registered to vote in the 2002 congressional elections. Another record number, 89 million, reported they voted in the elections, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. About 123 million people were registered to vote in 1998, the previous all-time high. The previous record turnout was 86 million in 1994. Reported turnout by registered voters was 69 percent in 2002, higher than the 68 percent who cast ballots in 1998.

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/voting/002278.html

Curtis Gans, director of the independent Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, estimated Tuesday's turnout at 77 million, more than 39 percent of voting-age citizens.

In the 1998 elections, the figure was 37.6 percent — the lowest midterm turnout since 1942

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/06/politics/main528373.shtml

It is a myth that less people vote now. The evidence shows that voting is trending upward.

i'm also not convinced with your argument that the Party should ignore "fringe" groups

I didn't say that. I said I'd rather my leaders not meet with every little fringe group with ideologically driven fringe beefs. That would take up so much time because there are so many of them.

nevertheless, perhaps you and those who see those who criticize the Party as fringe groups have convinced me ... perhaps those of us who are not happy with the direction of the Party have no right to call for unity

Those who spend the better part of their energy tearing down Dems, calling for purges, suggesting litmus tests, and throwing around labels like "DINO" should certainly ask themselves why they would call for unity and under what circumstances they would accept it.

I might also add that if the further left spent half as much energy raising money and fielding candidates in elections instead of bitching about the Dems that ARE running and winning, you just might get somewhere.

... perhaps in our frustration and alienation from our elected leaders we should not ask to meet with them to discuss the issues

As has already been demonstrated in this thread, our leaders meet with their constituency often.

... perhaps we should seek all out war against the power establishment in the Party even if it causes the Party to lose ground ...

At this point, you don't have the numbers to do that. You succeeded in 2000, but after 8 years of Bush, your numbers are even less.

no more money; no more campaign work; no more ABB ... it seems like that's what you're arguing for ... i'll give it some thought ...

I've argued no such thing. But to paraphrase a Will Pitt article:

the single most unreliable voter group in America. Unless you are simon-pure, you are unworthy of support from that group. As no politician in 21st Century America (with a snowball's chance of winning a national election) is simon-pure, they are not likely to bust their asses to get anti-war left-wing support.