Antiwar Groups & Democrats

[Dr. Shane]

Antiwar Groups Use New Clout to Influence Democrats on Iraq

Every morning, representatives from a cluster of antiwar groups gather for a conference call with Democratic leadership staff members in the House and the Senate...

Behind the scenes, an elaborate political operation, organized by a coalition of antiwar groups and fine-tuned to wrestle members of Congress into place one by one...

The antiwar coalition combines the online mobilization capabilities of MoveOn with the old-school political muscle of organized labor. They have been working in tandem with Democratic leadership in both the House and the Senate on a systematic strategy to unify Democrats, divide Republicans and isolate the president...

Seems pretty clear who is pulling the Democrats strings. Political interest groups have always had a certain amount of influence over political parties. The NRA has historically had a lot of influence over the Republican party. However this has gotten to the point where it appears these anti-war groups are actually participating in the political decisions of the Democratic party.

This explains why the Democrats seem to be placing all their political eggs in one basket in hopes of gaining more power. It will be interesting to watch as they have so much to lose and yet the White House to gain would be a big prize. It is kind of like watching a football game go for that long hail mary at the end of the game. The Democrats are riding the anti-war train and going for broke - all or nothing. 2008 is bound to be a very interesting election year.

[bevin]

As opposed to the coalition of pro-war and pro-big-business influences on the Republicans

I suspect there are a lot more groups than this that chat every morning to Democratic Leadership staff members

Mind you, staff members can be anything from a janitor to an unpaid intern to an inner circle member

/Bevin

[Dr. Shane]

As I stated, "Political interest groups have always had a certain amount of influence over political parties."

However daily conference calls every morning is a lot of influence. And this is being reported in the New York Times, a paper that is quite friendly to liberal causes, not one that would distort something to reflect badly on anti-war Democrats.

[bevin]

Here is hoping the coalition succeeds and gets us out of Iraq before we have killed another 100,000 Iraqis and permanently injured another 20,000 US troops and wasted another $500B

Around my lunch table at work, here in NH, there is not one person who is in favor of this war, or who thinks Bush's stay-the-course obstinancy has a chance

I don't think Bush realises how unpopular this war has become - or has any idea at all of how to reach any kind of successful conclusion

/Bevin

[Dr. Shane]

Bush has demonstrated time and time again he cares more about doing the right thing than being popular. If we just pull out it is quite likely more than 100,000 Iraqis will die in the genocide that will follow.

Quote:

here in NH, there is not one person who is in favor of this war

I live in Texas and do not know one person in favor of the war. Who would possibly be in favor of the war?

[bevin]

No

He has demonstrated that he cares about doing what he thinks is the right thing - not the same thing at all, when you refuse to consider the possibility that you might be wrong

/Bevin

Who would possibly be in favor of the war? Ask GWB - he is.