Elections 2008: January 2008 Archives
The Musicians' Village in the Ninth Ward is a project of Habitat for Humanity
The profile of the most visible voice supporting New Orleans was lowered yesterday when John Edwards suspended his campaign. While Sen. Edwards will of course continue to speak out for social justice in New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, the folks who live down here wonder if anyone else will. If the track record and recent behavior of the two leading candidates for the Democratic nomination is any indication, nobody will until after the party convention.
There's a good reason they'll blow us off: New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are just not essential.
Let's face it, there's no political capital that can be had here for either candidate. Louisiana's preference primary is on 9-Feb, four days after Super Tuesday. Every consultant working for either campaign is wrestling with the tactical moves needed to maximize their candidate's turnout on 5-Feb, while we New Orleanians take a break from rebuilding the mess we're in for a long-standing annual event. Mississippi's not even on the radar yet; by the time those folks vote on 11-Mar, the whole thing might be over.
There's not too much fear in either camp of reprisals for their neglect of New Orleans. After all, where are we going to go? A vote for McCain is a vote for another hundred years of war, so it'll be sometime next century before there will be money to help the region. A vote for Romney is only helpful if you want to see an all-white, all-wealthy New Orleans that hosts large sports events on the bulldozed land formerly owned by black people.
(on a side note, that's one of the reasons that all of you who hate the other candidate so much you're staying things like you'll vote for McCain can kiss my fat white butt. Before you go into the booth and vote Republican, I want you to visualize yourself telling the owner of a house that was washed away by the Federal Flood that the Democrat running is somehow worse than McCain.)
Now, once Labor Day comes and both sides have their nominees, things change a bit. It's no longer about comparing a candidate to another Democrat, it's contrasting them with Hundred Year Johnny or Mittens. This is when we'll see the nominee, no doubt, trotting out Ninth Ward residents like they're part of a minstrel show, to show how evil the Republicans are. The pundits and consultants will say the smart play is to focus on the things that get your candidate to Labor Day now.
That's not what leadership is about. Leadership is about getting out in front of an issue that is important to this country. It's about doing the right thing. Labor Day is right at the midway point in this year's Atlantic hurricane season. New Orleans and the Gulf Coast don't have time to wait for after the conventions, much less 20-Jan-2009 for either of these two sitting Senators to get work on our problems. We need that help now. People need housing, kids need schools, and we need assurances from the dishonorable pieces of crap who run the Army Corps of Engineers that their lies have stopped. But the "experienced" people will say there are other things more important right now, like locking up delegates.
That's a wasted use of experience. Experience in Washington is something that's in short supply when it comes to Louisiana. We have one Senator who divides his time between working against the interests of black people and whore-chasing, and another Senator who thinks it's more important to pander to Teleco companies and wingnuts than to do the job she was elected to do. One of our Congresscritters is under indictment and stripped of much of his influence, and the other resigned so he could more effectively screw us from the governer's mansion in Baton Rouge. (We're trying to change that last part by electing a true progressive to replace this last individual, but that's not going to help us in the short-term.) An experienced leader is needed to step up and do things that even John Edwards couldn't do, such as help break Vitty-cent's hold on the Landrieu housing bill. Alas, the wise, experienced types don't see it this way.
Some look at New Orleans as a "wedge" issue. They'll argue that helping New Orleans will only alienate folks in other parts of the country. "Katrina fatigue," they'll say. New Orleans is only good to be the occasional symbol of hope.
That's not what hope is. Hope is created by people who do the things that make this country better. Hope isn't about playing it safe. Senator Kennedy didn't pass on the keys to the Camelot-mobile for it to sit in the garage until the skies are clear and the weather is better. There is work to be done now, and that car needs to be taken out for a spin. It's a car that, when people see it driving through town, creates clear skies and hope. Unfortunately, it's not even idling in the driveway right now. There's a bumper sticker on it that's telling people the current owner is the only one who can drive it, and there's no guarantee that candidate's supporters will unify behind anyone else.
That's not how unity works. Unity is about bringing everyone together for a common cause. Right now, that cause includes helping people who have given up a lot for this country. Louisiana and Mississippi have lost more than homes and schools in recent years. Entirely too many men and women from the Gulf Coast have lost their lives in wars promulgated by the disrespectful and dishonorable piece of crap who lives in the White House. A candidate who wants Unity among Americans should speak for those fallen men and women and the families they've left behind in FEMA trailers.
I know that either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will be a better President than John McCain or Mitt Romney. I know they'll be lightyears better than the current occupant of the White House.
What I don't know is whether or not they're good people. They can show us what they're made of by taking ownership of New Orleans NOW and working to right the wrongs of the Federal Flood. Doing this now will make it all the more easier to jam New Orleans down the throat of the Republican nominee in the fall.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Newspaper reports from Baton Rouge claim newly elected Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal – who ran on a platform touting ethics reform and tougher ethics laws in state government – is being investigated for a possible ethical breach.
Hopefully we can exploit this for Gilda.
(h/t Karen)
Of course, there will be those who find it humorous:
This is why Republicans must be crushed.
That's a roast beef po-boy from Parkway Bakery in Mid City.
I adamantly refuse to get involved in the on-going "my candidate is better than yours" crap that's taking place on the Democratic side of the presidential race. I have my opinions on who did well last night, but I am so not interested in being invaded by "truth squads" and trolls from other camps if I express those opinions.
So, have a po-boy. Sit back and listen to the people around you at lunch or in the coffee shop in the next couple of weeks. Find out what the average Republican sitting down the counter or at the next table is saying. That's what really matters, convincing them.
And enjoy your po-boy.
Tangipahoa, Washington, and St. Tammany Parishes make up the north shore component of LA-01. They are called the "Florida" parishes because they were part of Spanish West Florida. If you look at a map of the US and follow the northern boundary of Florida west to the Mississippi, you'll see the connection.
Tangipahoa Parish's largest city is Hammond. Prior to the storm, Hammond carved out its own identity between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Its population increased dramatically post-storm, as companies relocated to Baton Rouge. Southeastern Louisiana University, located in Hammond, has seen an upswing in enrollment since the storm, due in part to this population increase. Hammond is located at the intersections of I-12 and I-55, so you have to go through it when driving east from Baton Rouge or north from New Orleans. It's not a true ex-urban city that you'd find in metro Atlanta or in DFW, because Hammond had an established identity and the sprawl is reaching out to it. Outside of the creeping suburban sprawl, Tangipahoa is primarily rural.
Washington Parish is a mixture of rural and industrial. Lumber is the main industry, and the trees feed the paper mill in Bogalusa. The lumber and paper mills are the parish's largest employers.
The combined populations of Washington and Tangipahoa are around 144K, but that's census data, so factor in a 20% increase as a post-storm guesstimate. That puts the current number at approximately 172K. Both parishes have a significant minority population, about one-third in each.
Outside of Hammond, the residents of these parishes are country folks. They're overwhelmingly evangelical Christians in terms of religion. There is a strong Catholic influence in Hammond that does not really extend out into the rural areas. Racial attitudes in most of these parishes would be considered as far from progressive.
St. Tammany Parish was primarily a quiet, rural area until the 1950s. Before the Interstate highway system, the primary ways out of New Orleans were US90, west to Houma, Lafayette, etc., or east to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, US61 north-west to Baton Rouge, and US11, going North from eastern New Orleans, crossing the lake on the eastern side in St. Tammany, then progressing north to Jackson, MS. The Maestri Bridge was the only bridge across the lake until 1956, when the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was opened. The Causeway links Jefferson Parish with the western part of St. Tammany, particularly the cities of Mandeville and Covington. Many believe the reason the Causeway was built in this location was because then-Gov. Earl K. Long so disliked the city of New Orleans and its mayor, Chep Morrison (who ran against Long for guv), that he would not agree to a more logical project that would have joined Orleans and St. Tammany together. When the bridge opened, wealthy New Orleanians began to acquire property on the north shore for weekend homes. As white flight built up Jefferson Parish in the 1960s, St. Tammany grew also. In the 1970s, the area became increasingly popular, as folks from other parts of the country moved to the area to work in the oil/gas industry. Many of them were already used to one-hour commutes and wanted to live in a less-densely populated area.
The 1980s saw an interesting phenomenon take place in the metro area. Instead of population shifting from the city to St. Tammany, many people from Jefferson Parish migrated north. In some cases, the attraction was to subdivisions with 1-2 acre lots. Others moved to St. Tammany because--get this--there were too many blacks in Jefferson Parish. Not that Jefferson was being overrun with the Eebil Coloreds, mind you, but there were a lot of folks who were so racist that they didn't even want to shop at the mall or the grocery with black folks. As a result of this second wave of white flight, St. Tammany became overwhelmingly white (90%) and overwhelmingly Republican.
In terms of government, St. Tammany is Everything That Is Wrong With Conservative Government. There's a story from the late 1980s, of a subdivision in Mandeville where a hog got loose and was hit by a car. The carcass remained in the street for several days, because the parish had no animal control department. There really wasn't a need for one in rural St. Tammany, since farmers and ranchers took care of their own situations. These followers of Grover Norquist created a suburban nightmare prior to the storm that has only gotten worse in its wake. Many of the major roads in the parish, such as US190, LA21 and LA22 are two-lane for long stretches. Traffic snarls are common, and drunk teens in SUVs often kill themselves and others at night. Schools are often overcrowded; in the 1990s, Mandeville High had to operate in "platoon" shifts, where essentially two separate student bodies and faculties used the same physical plant, one operating from early morning to the afternoon, the other from the afternoon into the night.
None of the anti-government attitude of St. Tammany stops these folks from wanting their share of federal pork, however. Like many conservatives, they feel they pay sufficient income taxes tht they want it back directly in terms of local programs and funding.
"Family values" is the tie that binds Catholics and Evangelicals together in St. Tammany (well, that and hatred of blacks). The Christian Coalition made serious inroads into parish government in the late 1980s/early 1990s, to the point where the parish school board voted to ban the book Voodoo and Hoodoo, by James Haskins, from public school libraries in 1992. The ACLU sued, and the Fifth Circuit tossed the appeal (backed by the Louisiana Christian Coalition) in 1997. The case gave national exposure to a segment of the metro area population already locally considered to be unhinged. Video poker gaming, legalized statewide in the 1980s, is outlawed in St. Tammany.
The racial makeup of St. Tammany is 90% white, and that's most likely higher post-storm. Unable to get traction for his message any longer in Metairie, David Duke moved to St. Tammany, which is now his base of operations.
In terms of Congressional races, St. Tammany has always had to take a back seat to East Jefferson, but several candidates from across the lake are considering the race, including former Governor Dave Treen (who now lives in St. Tammany), State Rep. Tim Burns, and Slidell Mayor Ben Morris. The best way for any of these candidates to GOTV will be to attack the Jefferson Parish candidates, such as State Sen. Steve Scalise and Parish Councilman John Young. There's a lot of bad blood between St. Tammany and Jefferson residents, mainly over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. A significant portion of St. Tammany residents work on the south shore, particularly in New Orleans. To get there, they have to cross the Causeway, drive down N. Causeway Blvd. to I-10, then take I-10E into town. The drive on the bridge is 30 minutes long, and the run on I-10E into town can be anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on traffic. It's the in-between part that creates the bad blood, however. N. Causeway Blvd. is a very busy local street, and Jefferson residents regularly oppose any changes to it that would favor the north-south traffic flow at the expense of the neighborhood. In the 1990s, the St. Tammany Parish Council offered to fully fund (in conjunction with state and federal financing) a project to make N. Causeway an elevated, limited-access highway between the bridge and the interstate. The opposition from Jeff parish residents was so fierce that there is still an overall lack of cooperation between the two parishes to this day.
A St. Tammany candidate looking to mobilize his base would do well to capitalize on the anti-Jefferson sentiment among voters. The logical blowback from this tactic will no doubt anger Jefferson voters and make them more inclined to come out for candidates from their side of the lake. If the Republican primary boils down to St. Tammany versus Jefferson, there will be a significant portion of the electorate who will be angry on March 4th, angry enough to stay home on May 8th. The evangelical/wingnut voters may also find some of the sordid details of the private lives of several candidates a turn-off. Unhappy wingnuts have a history of sitting elections out, and this may be one of them.
It's this north-versus-south dynamic that gives Gilda Reed such a great shot at this seat. The Republican primary is going to get ugly and bloody. Hopefully it will get ugly enough to drive would-be Republican voters to the other side.
Jefferson and St. Charles Parishes are the western suburbs of New Orleans. The eastern boundary of Jefferson Parish is the city line, at the now-infamous 17th Street Canal, sprawling west to the Louis Armstrong International Airport. The bulk of St. Charles Parish is clustered along the Mississippi River, as a large portion of the northern section of the parish is the location of the Bonnet Carre' Spillway, a flood-control system designed to keep the river from flooding New Orleans.
Jefferson Parish has been gerrymandered to separate black neighborhoods from white. Shrewsbury and South Kenner on the east bank as well as Waggaman, Avondale, Westwego, Harvey/Marrero on the west bank are part of LA-02. That leaves the the northern portion of Kenner, the city of Harahan, and unincorporated Metairie on the East Bank, and the city of Gretna on the west bank as part of LA-01. Of all these areas, Metairie/Kenner is the key.
If Metairie was an incorporated municipality, it would be the largest city in the state. There was never a move for "home rule," because parish government and the parish sheriff's office run Metairie as if it was a city anyway. Metairie was the main white-flight suburb of the 1960s, for one very simple reason: nobody lived there, so there were no black folks at all. With the exception of two mostly-black neighborhoods (Shrewsbury and Bunch Village, both part of LA-02), this was true right up to the storm. Something's changed since the storm, however--black folks have invaded Metairie. Since so many rental units in the city became unavailable after the storm, many residents of the city came out to Metairie to live.
The older portions of Metairie, "Old Metairie," and "Bucktown" are the two of the staunchest Republican areas in the metro area, for two of the most Republican of reasons. Old Metairie is the old money; the folks who live here are indeed "country club" Republicans, since the neighborhood backs up to two of the city's most exclusive country clubs. Other subdivisions in the neighborhood have been extensively gentrified, to the point where home builders would buy a 1800sqft house on a 50x100 lot, tear it down, and build a 3-story, 3000sqft home in its place. Old Metairie and Bucktown make up the 89th state representative district, which has the dubious distinction of being the district that sent KKK leader David Duke to the state legislature. Where Old Metairie was the money neighborhood, bucktown was a working-class area. Originally a fishing village, the neighborhood grew as middle class white-flighters left the city. By far, these are two of the most racist neighborhoods I've ever encountered in my life.
West of Bucktown and Old Metairie is the bulk of Metairie's population. The parish grew out from Metairie Road (which follows the path of old Bayou Metairie), and expanded north as land near the lake was drained and reclaimed. The areas around Metairie Road and close to the lake contain high-value properties, and the vast middle consists of smaller homes and lots of apartment complexes. Prior to the storm, even most of these apartments had majority-white tenants, since the homeowners in the vicinity were hostile to non-whites. Since the storm, however, that's changed. When businesses closed or left the metro area post-storm, that opened up rental units. When you've got a job and your old place was wiped out, you go where you have to. The amount of construction, rebuilding, and remodeling work available in the area has attracted a large Hispanic population, not all of which consists of undocumented workers. Many latinos coming into the area are Texans looking for new opportunities here.
West of Metairie is the city of Kenner. Kenner was originally a rural community with farms growing local produce for the New Orleans markets. The city hit a huge post-WWII boom, when the airport was expanded. Metairie residents looking to flip first homes and build something bigger, as well as out-of-towners who moved to the city during the oil boom of the 1970s fueled growth in the northern part of Kenner. Kenner also has a large hispanic community as well. The southern part of the city, south of Airline Highway (US61), is mostly-black, and part of LA-02.
The portions of St. Charles Parish that are in LA-01 are the communities of Destrehan and St. Rose. The map is deceptive, because the bulk of the land shown is the spillway. Destrehan and St. Rose are river road communities just west of Kenner. These are more established neighborhoods whose residents work primarily at the many petrochemical plants along the river. They are classic "Regan Democrats," conservative/moderate, blue-collar, pro-union. There has been some expansion from the city and East Jefferson to these communities post-storm as well.
The religious makeup of East Jefferson is primarily Catholic, but there are several large evangelical congregations here as well. There are a few mainstream Protestant congregations (Lutheran and Episcopalian). Evangelical congregations here have capitalized with dissatisfaction some have with the Catholic Church. There are also a couple of big Jewish in Metairie near the lake, Congregation Shir Chadash (Orthodox/Conservative) and Congregation Gates of Prayer (Reform).
Most of Catholic parishes in East Jefferson operate elementary schools. In spite of this, the public school system in the area is nowhere near as dysfunctional as in the city. Public schools are experiencing serious growth issues in the post-storm era, given the huge population surge. There are a number of private schools in East Jefferson as well., but the huge racial rift that existed in the city's schools doesn't exist here (since there were so few blacks in the area in the first place).
In terms of voter registration, East Jefferson is one of the most Republican areas of the state. The GOP always had a strong presence in the country-club subdivisions. The party pressed their advantage in the early 1980s by encouraging many local pols to switch. For many, the combination of a Republican president and the statewide change to open primaries enabled many to come out of the closet, as it were. It's now at the point where there are very few Democrats left holding office in the area.
The official Democratic party structure in the parish has been a disaster for the last twenty years. Purity trolls on the parish executive committee would regularly attack Democrats who tried to work with Republicans or endorsed Republican candidates, driving even more office-seekers to the GOP. What's left of a party infrastructure is no longer in a position to help a Dem candidate who's running parishwide, much less for Congress.
Still, it's unclear just how strong support for the GOP is in East Jefferson, mainly because there are no alternatives to Republicans. In the recent gubernatorial election, the area overwhelmingly went Republican, because two of the candidates in the open primary were local boys. The negativity of that campaign makes it clear that these Republicans don't respect the "11th Commandment" of St. Ronald of California. If that trend continues, their candidates won't hesitate to take the gloves off early. Some skeletons are likely to start jumping out of closets as well, which will also fuel voter dissatisfaction with these guys. It's quite possible that the combination of Bush/war fatigue, FEMA anger, and the uglieness of a closed Republican primary will disgust a sufficient number of people that a Democratic alternative such as Gilda Reed will be attractive.
This is why We Need Reed, and it's why you need to show her some financial love. The DCCC isn't going to notice her until she can prove she's got a chance, and she needs money to increase visibility. When people get to know Gilda, they like her. They see she's an alternative to upwardly-mobile professional politicians who use their constituents to feather their own nests. They see someone who will vote to end the war and help rebuild New Orleans. They see a candidate committed to their future.
Tomorrow: The North Shore.
With today's inauguration of Piyush "Bobby" Jindal as Governor of Louisiana, LA-01 no longer has a Congresscritter. A progressive Democrat, Gilda Reed, is running for in a special election (closed primary, 8-Mar, general election, 3-May). This is the first of a three-part series offering some background on the district. Today's installment focuses on the Orleans parish segment of the district, tomorrow we'll look at the "Suburban South Shore," and on Thursday we'll review the portion of the district that is north of Lake Pontchartrain.
Go here for a map of the district.
LA-01 was, for the longest time, the "New Orleans" congressional district. LA-02 covered suburban New Orleans, and LA-03 the bayou country south of the city. LA-01 and LA-02 essentially switched dynamics because of racial gerrymandering. The Democratic-controlled state legislature re-tooled both districts to give one of them a black-majority. Since LA-02 was safely in the hands of a popular Democratic incumbent (Lindy Boggs, wife of the late T. Hale Boggs, who held the seat from 1947 to 1972), the lines were drawn so that LA-02 covers most of Orleans Parish. The strong-majority-white sections of Orleans Parish were joined to the white areas of Jefferson Parish, along with St. Charles, St. Tammany, and Washington Parishes to make LA-01. LA-01 switched party control to Republican in 1977, when disgraced almost-speaker Bob Livingston won a special election to replace Chalmatian Rick Tonry, who resigned the seat after being indicted. Livingston's sexual hypocrisy proved to be his downfall as he resigned the seat in the midst of the Clinton impeachment drama. It turned out that Livingston was an even bigger freak than the Big Dog, and that didn't quite fit with the program. Livingston was replaced by David Vitter, who won a special election in 1999. Vitter did not seek re-election, choosing instead to run for US Senate in 2004, an election he won. Fresh off a loss to now-former Governor Catherine Babineaux Blanco in 2003, Bobby Jindal changed his residency from Baton Rouge to Kenner to run for Vitter's seat.
In terms of Congressional district construction, LA-01 is the "white" district and LA-02 is the area's "black" district. Many local politicians switched parties in the early 80s, jumping on the Reagan bandwagon, giving the party a strong presence in Jefferson Parish as well as the more white-bread portions of Orleans. The segment of Orleans Parish that is part of LA-01 is roughly analogous to City Council District "A." The city council's districts were also drawn along racial lines. District "A" consists of the neighborhoods of Carrollton, the University District, and Lakeview. All of Lakeview and selected Uptown precincts cross over into LA-01.
I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop in Lakeview to write this. Across the street is an empty strip mall that used to house a supermarket. Down the street is a 6-acre lot that used to be the location of Edward Hynes Elementary School, the neighborhood's public school, and one of the few bright stars in the fiasco that was public education in the city. Lakeview got hit by the storm as hard as the Ninth Ward. This is the neighborhood of the 17th Street Canal and expensive homes which were drowned in 11' of water. Unlike other neighborhoods, the people of Lakeview are more well-off, so the area is coming back faster.
Prior to the storm, this was a Republican comfort zone. The combination of older "Reagan Democrats" with upwardly mobile, younger Republicans helped propel white, Republican, candidates into city, state, and federal offices. The storm changed that dramatically, however. While the older, wealthy, residents of Lakeshore (the subdivision right along Lake Pontchartrain) received minimal storm damage, the upwardly-mobile residents of Lakeview south of Robert E. Lee Blvd. got hit hard. That's changed the perspective of many here. Flood insurance is either underwritten directly by FEMA, or guaranteed by them when written/administered by private companies. Like many homeowners in New Orleans, many Lakeview residents purchased their homes long before the flood insurance program existed, so they were not required by their lenders to carry it. Flood insurance only covers the first $250K of damage to a home. Since everyone here believed the lies of the Army Corps of Engineers, that level of coverage was acceptable to a lender of even homes ranging from $750K-$1million. Nobody ever thought a flood would force these residents to demolish their houses. Even the staunchest Republicans are unhappy with a government that's left them holding the bag for mortgages they simply cannot repay.
It's an understatement to say that these folks are angry. Initially their anger had a partisan face, as they blamed Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin for their problems. As they began the rebuilding process, many realized that ineptitude crosses party lines. They threw out District A Councilman Jay Batt (R), in favor of a Democrat, Shelly Midura. Still, in last fall's legislative elections, Lakeview passed over progressive Democrat Deborah Langhoff to put two Republicans in a runoff for State Representative (District 94). I
n terms of religion (and religion is always a huge factor in New Orleans), Lakeview is heavily Catholic. St. Dominic Parish and St. Paul's Episcopal (across the street from St. Dominic) define the neighborhood. There's a large Jewish community here as well, even though Congregation Beth Israel's synagogue on Canal Blvd. was heavily damaged and they've been forced out to Metairie to worship. This isn't fundigelical wingnut country; the Catholics and Episcopalians are anti-abortion, but they're also skeptical of Christian Dominionists. David Vitter's whoremongering is an embarassment to these folks, as was Livingston's before him. A candidate who can tap that sentiment can succeed here.
Lakeview is very white, but not exclusively so. A number of middle-class black who grew up in Gentilly moved into the neighborhood as they grew up and moved out of their homes on the other side of City Park. Still, the black population here is not significant in terms of identifying a "black vote." Lakeview is up for grabs in the special election. The post-storm residents of the neighborhood are willing to elect Democrats, so Gilda should pull votes here a Democrat would not have dreamt of getting prior to the storm.
Tomorrow: Jefferson and St. Charles Parishes.
Kos has been advocating that Michigan Democrats cross party lines in the state's upcoming primary and vote for Mitt Romney. The condensed version of the strategy is that Romney staying in the race is good for Dems. As part of his thought process on this, he offers a good contextual clarification between two groups that often oppose Republicans:
There are some concerned that this is "dirty tricks" and that we shouldn't "stoop to their level". This is perhaps the key difference between traditional liberals and movement progressives. The former believe that politics is a high-minded debate about ideas, the latter have seen movement conservatives use every tool at their disposal to steal power and cling to it. The problem is, politics matter, and so does the winner of elections. You can't bring a spork to a gun fight, because like Florida 2000, we lose every time. And while some may feel proud their personal ethics weren't compromised and that we "took the high road" through the recount battle, how many thousands of soldiers and Iraqis wish that Democrats had fought a little harder for Gore's victory?
There is one major difference between movement progressives and conservatives -- we won't cross the line into illegal behavior. But as long as we operate within legal boundaries, all's fair in politics. The stakes matter too much to unilaterally disarm.
On LiveJournal, there's a community, ljdemocrats, that is filled with "traditional liberals." The wailing and gnashing of teeth in there is an awful sound. But suggest going after the scum, and suddenly you're the bigger enemy. No, thanks, the last seven years have been enough.
