I'm glad this article references Tony Earl. I remember that awful election. Tony Earl was a good liberal, a fine head of the DNR. Somebody, no doubt a Beltway consultant, convinced him that he had to be Demican, to betray his own principles. Of course, I'm presuming he had principles to begin with. I was, of course, so much older then, I'm younger than that now The article discusses Doyle's signing of the school voucher expansion. It's a huge mistake. When will they ever learn? Sorry for the lyrics, but they seemed right, actually left. I think the writer is correct to use the word "demobilize" - that is exactly what's going to happen with this election. Since Kathleen Falk is not running for Gov., I'll probably vote for Doyle, but with absolutely no enthusiasm, with absolutely no financial donations, with absolutely no inclination to help or encourage others to vote for him. It will be a small, quiet vote. This is not what the Dems need, but it is what they will get. Gary Sherman, my local assemblyman, said at the Dem fundraising picnic last year that the number one job was to reelect Doyle. Well, Gary also said that Ted Kennedy ought to have been purged from the party in 1980 for challenging Jimmy Carter. I think Jimmy Carter is a fine person & has been a great help to all progressives in this, & other countries. However, in 1980, Ted Kennedy would probably have beaten the loony Reagan. The country has suffered since then. The Dems both national & local need to understand that the last thing we need is strategy. What the people need is strong, principled, progressive leadership. That's what people value. So go read the article & let me know what you think, or what you think I should think.
"So why is this bad politics? Doyle has not seemed to learn the lesson of the last election or why Tony Earl lost to Tommy Thompson in 1986. If you want to win, stay principled and don’t sell out your base. The idea that Democratic voters have no one else to turn to (since Green or Walker would be much worse) simply does not work. How will the teachers unions organize the base and turn people out?
"On the political level, Doyle has managed to demobilize another group of traditional Democratic Party voters, the 12,000 MPS employees. MPS employees and parents now will just less likely vote.
"Perhaps the most amazing thing about it is that Doyle did this to the very group that put him through the primary: WEAC. No way would Doyle have survived the primary if WEAC had gone neutral in the 2002 against Barrett and Falk. As it is, he only beat Barrett by 8 percent."
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Send these comments to Doyle. He's the one who needs to be told how he should be thinking. In fact, send this message load and clear to all our leaders and those running for office in the Democratic party and tell them how they should be thinking.
Watched a good documentary on the International History channel last night about Cesar Chavez. Took him many years and a lot of suffering to get things changed around. But he kept fighting, non-violently, for change.
We Democrats that feel the party has lost any type of connection with us, the party faithful, need to be telling our Democratic leaders over and over that politics "as usual" won't get the job done. Change in the form of leadership and a bold stance against the wrongs we are experiencing now are needed to draw the power of the people back so their voices can be heard.
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