The Democratic Party has learned two vitally important lessons since 2000.
1. Stand up for what you believe in. If you’re going to be Republican Lite, people will just vote Republican.
2. Show up. You concede to the other side when you don’t even try.
After 148 years, a Democratic candidate is showing up in Harrisonburg, VA. His name is Barack Obama.
‘I just discovered that the last presidential candidate to be here was Stephen Douglas,’ Obama told thousands of supporters in a boisterous field house. ‘That’s the guy who ran against Abraham Lincoln, if you haven’t been following your history.’
It’s a bit unclear how many candidates have come to the city, but it appears Douglas, in the election of 1860, was at least the last Democratic candidate to visit during a general election. According to the local newspaper, the Daily News-Record, Lincoln was not even on the ballot in the slave-owning state.
‘It is a testimony to the path our country has traveled, that the last time a Democrat was here was Stephen Douglas and now the next presidential candidate is Barack Obama,’ Obama said. ‘That’s a long distance to travel. That’s a testimony to Virginia and a testimony to this country.’
Obama played to packed houses in Harrisonburg and here, where more than 20,000 waited for a chilly, evening rally in Harbor Park, the city’s minor-league ballpark. In both places, enthusiastic supporters stood throughout his roughly half-hour stump speech.
Thought you might appreciate this rather awesome painted on Supergirl costume, Oliver. http://kezins.com/2008/06/video-game-babes-and-body-painting-babes/1379/bodypaint_supergirl
Oh frickin’ yeah!
Woops, this one’s even better.
http://kezins.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/supergirl___body_paint_031.jpg
We’re main street. They’re wall street
Boy I wish it was that simple.
1. He clearly outspent McCain. That usually makes you a winner in most American elections. It was a gutsy move not to make public financing. ON the other hand, 150 million really? There’s a chance that that money could be coming from illegal sources. Too late to do anything about that though. Cry me a river. After the election, though, we’ll be back to Law and Order, especially for a black guy. That will be fun.
2. He actually has run as GOP lite. There’s nothing radically progressive that he’s supported as far as I can see. Then again, maybe that’s a winner. Hasn’t hurt his poll numbers.
3. I hope that he fights for recounts if he needs them. Don’t pull a Kerry and take a dive. Fight fight and fight. That’s what McCain probably plans to do post election with all those imaginary never were ACORN fraudsters. Don’t take a dive. Fight for my vote, please. (I voted early already and I voted for “that one”.)
Philip Shropshire
http://www.threeriversonline.com
PS: One thing we learned from the election integrity movement and Jeffrey Toobin’s supreme court book: he had the votes to win and Sandra Day O conner would have flipped her 2000 vote. He would have won 5 to 4. But he had to fight. I hope Obama fights for my vote.
I graduated from JMU. I never, ever thought I’d see a Democratic POTUS candidate in Harrisonburg. This was nothing short of awesome.
Powerful!
Why do I get the feeling this is gonna resonate with some Virginia voters?
“He came to see us. No one has ever done that before.”
Hope.
“1. Stand up for what you believe in. If you’re going to be Republican Lite, people will just vote Republican.
2. Show up. You concede to the other side when you don’t even try.”
In other words, Howard Dean was right. It’s nice to see him vindicated.
In spite of all the race card throwing, hatred and intolerance that has surfaced in the last few weeks surrounding this historical campaign…there is little doubt that we still have come a long way….especially after reading that the 109 year old daughter of a former slave cast her vote for Barack Obama….Yes We CAN!
“1. Stand up for what you believe in. If you’re going to be Republican Lite, people will just vote Republican.
I’m not convinced they’ve learned this yet. Obama might know it. But the Dems in Congress have still been far too willing to cave.
That they’ll stand up for what they believe in? I’ll believe in that when I see it.
That building is awesome. Old-school look to it.
The picture of the woman brought me to tears.
That building is awesome.
Yeah. Just hope it doesn’t fall down when O stops holding up the roof.
That picture of the woman crying is yet another reason to vote for Obama. Seriously — any pix of McCain supporters weeping with hope and admiration?
I’m not convinced they’ve learned this yet. Obama might know it. But the Dems in Congress have still been far too willing to cave.
Ain’t it funny, though? Obama has been running a pretty much centrist campaign and he still gets painted as “teh mostest librul Senator EVA!!”
Can you just imagine if his policies were actually, you know, liberal? I mean waaay to the left the way Hannity thinks they are now.
Ain’t it funny, though? Obama has been running a pretty much centrist campaign and he still gets painted as “teh mostest librul Senator EVA!!”
Not funny at all. Completely expected. It’s the exact, exact, same thing said about Kerry. It’s been said about Biden. It’s part of the basic right-wing playbook.
“It’s the exact, exact, same thing said about Kerry. It’s been said about Biden. It’s part of the basic right-wing playbook.”
I completely agree. As I’ve said before, Joe Lieberman could have been the Dem nominee and McCain would be calling him a socialist, “defeatocrat” who would lead to Israel’s destruction.
I would also tend to agree that Obama has run as a centrist without really touting a lot of really progressive ideas, if any.