Posted on 06/27/2006 12:18:22 PM PDT by dukeman
Politics: Leftists packed into this year’s Take Back America conference, and they had little patience for establishment Democrats
WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Washington, D.C., Hilton hotel on Connecticut Avenue has had a rollercoaster history. In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot Ronald Reagan just outside it. In 2004, President Bush held his inauguration ball on the concourse. And last week the Campaign for America's Future's annual Take Back America conference, now a major event on the political left, overflowed from the hotel convention facilities.
The three-day event for 2006 was enormous—and an enormous rollercoaster ride for liberals of every kind. The conference occupied the concourse and terrace levels of the ritzy hotel, filling its largest ballrooms and exhibition hall and spilling over into the outdoor gazebo. Many among the several thousand attendees seemed excited by the idea that the political defeats of past years were over: in the organizers' words, that "the conservative revolution is at a tipping point" and "losing steam."
The ride began with opening remarks on Monday, June 12, by Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future, who described how "groundwork has been laid for a progressive era to rise out of the conservative rubble." Progressives, it seemed, were climbing to the top.
But the rollercoaster dipped as Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, the left's weekly staple, followed Mr. Borosage by complaining that Democrats are out of ideas and out of touch, to the point of engaging in "complicit conservatism." She admonished party loyalists, "This is a time for conviction, not caution." Ms. vanden Heuvel's comments were the official admission of a widening intra-conference rift, one exacerbated by the looming arrival of leading Democratic politicians.
The tension was evident at the 12:30 luncheon when attendees gathered to eat Caesar salad and listen to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Mormon who has at times opposed abortion. The choice excited few—it was yet another wedge shoved between centrists and numerous left-leaners—and the infighting about his selection discouraged many. The clanking of polished silverware all but drowned out the senator.
After Mr. Reid came an equally unlikely mixture of suave Robert Redford, AFL-CIO leader John Sweeney, National Wildlife Federation president Larry Schweiger, and two-time presidential candidate Gary Hart. This was but a sampling of the Who's Who on the Left at the conference: Blogger-journalist Arianna Huffington emceed the gala dinner, Sen. Tom Harkin presented an award to Texas philanthropist Bernard Rapoport, author Barbara Ehrenreich debated co-director Borosage, and even Sen. Edward Kennedy appeared, bigger than life, via the projection monitors.
Also in bigger-than-life projection was an extended trailer for Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, which played to a nearly instantaneous standing ovation. In addition, the conference screened other documentaries, some innocuous (The Motherhood Manifesto, featuring Rosie the Riveter balancing a baby on her bicep) and others not (Iraq for Sale, whose name is self-explanatory).
Down below, on the concourse level, signs flanking entrances into the Hilton's 45,000-square-foot exhibition hall and its vendor booths read, "We know what to do: Impeach him." On top of NOW, NARAL, ACORN, and the ACLU (which still contends it is nonpartisan), there was the Backbone Campaign, which sold miniature spines to discourage purchasers from engaging in yes-man, convictionless support of their politicians.
Attendees cautious of "establishment politicians" also seemed to be looking for signs of spinelessness at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday in the Hilton's International Ballroom, a classy combination of contemporary architecture bathed in florid adornments. That's when Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John Kerry, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi were to begin their back-to-back-to-back speechmaking.
Before the main event, two graying, hippie-looking men in the third row hoisted a handmade banner that read, in all caps, "IMPEACH BUSH." (This was becoming the unofficial theme of the week.) Wild applause erupted, and several people nearby, energized by their proximity to this agitation, felt compelled to stand in solidarity and raise peace signs. This horrified the conference leaders, who discouraged such displays and constantly reminded attendees, whom they treated like mischievous children, to "be respectful."
The three speakers were supposed to split 90 minutes—a virtual impossibility for accommodating the grandstanding of a presidential hopeful, a has-been, and a wannabe. All three approached the podium to applause, but the same unspoken division that underlay the rest of the conference—the disconnect between self-labeled "progressives" and the Democratic establishment—was apparent during the speeches.
When Sen. Clinton addressed the Iraq war, she lambasted the president but waffled in her own resolve. "It is not in our best interest to set a certain date [for withdrawal]," she said, her voice trailing at the end as it succumbed to the roar of boos. Sensing her nose-diving popularity, the senator added noncommittally, "A plan should be developed to bring our troops home."
As Sen. Clinton, who spoke first, exited the stage, one bold soul belted, "Bring 'em home, Hillary!" This novelty quickly caught on; soon, many of the 2,000 in attendance were chanting either "Bring troops home!" or "Now!"
Rep. Pelosi pleased the crowd more, especially when she noted that she had called for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld: This received roughly 30 seconds of sustained applause, indicating that the easiest way to unite progressives at this conference was to attack their enemies.
Many conference attendees even wondered why organizers had invited Sen. Clinton and Sen. Kerry: To hardcore progressives, these two represented the Democratic establishment par excellence. Their argument against Sen. Clinton was particularly strong, since Jonathan Tasini, who is running against her in November on a solidly leftist ticket, was not even invited to attend the conference.
Later that afternoon came more panel discussions and more anti--Bush administration vitriol. For "Eruption: Challenging a Lawless President," House Minority Whip John Conyers, who has sponsored a bill to look into impeachment, joined Steve Cobble, who runs a website advocating impeachment. Mr. Cobble began with a survey: "Raise your hand if you think that President Bush has committed impeachable offenses." Of the nearly 150 gathered in the room, including Rep. Conyers, the other panelists, and media, this reporter was the only person without a hand raised.
Arms were still up when the rear doors suddenly flew open and the "Chain Gang" entered. The "Chain Gang" was an elaborate contrivance: four people dressed in caricatured Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld costumes with enormous heads, all shackled together in prison uniforms and paraded around like bobble-head dolls by a phony prison guard. The surprise appearance sent attendees into a frenzy.
On Wednesday, the final day of the conference, the rollercoaster car was slower. Much of Monday's buoyancy—with John Sweeney roaring, "Now is when we take back the country"—seemed lost in weariness. Even the music turned, with Frank Sinatra's "I've Got the World on a String" on Monday wilting into mellow Kenny G tunes.
A veteran attendee named Pamela Schwartz, outreach director for a group called National Priorities Project that monitors government spending, says this happened after the 2004 conference as well—and will there be staying power for a campaign when negativism emerges on day three?
But Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, billed as a progressive lawmaker and strategically placed during the luncheon as the final speaker of the conference, brought the conference back to life. The only speaker introduced as "a rock star" and "one of us," he had only to say eight words—"The time is now; let's take back America"—for the progressives to leap up in riotous applause, forgetting their tired feet.
For the moment, conference attendees were back on top again. They ate their mixed-berry shortcake desserts excitedly: After all, it was their time.
Yep, as Mrs. Clinton said, the dems plan to take more of your money away from you to spend it on things they think are more necessary.
It's good to know what the enemy is up to, but for the life of me I can't understand them.
Try to imagine how our party would be picked apart on the MSM nightly news if this were the centerpiece of our offering of ideas.
I stood in the rain to watch Bill Clinton's limo go by and quietly hold up a sign at the traitor. I spent eight long years of political agony while that smirking juvenile delinquent befouled the Oval Office with his presence. And my liberal friends just said, "hey, get over it." Bubba was untouchable then, and he actually did crimes against the nation.
Ms. Pelosi, you are so out of touch that the light from a clue will not reach you in a quarter of a million years. Although dissatisfied with the way the war progressed (and who wouldn't be? I am too!) the American public sees it needs to be fought, that withdrawal is surrender, that there is hope it will bring democracy to the region, and that W did the best he could. And they also see that the only thing you have to offer in it's place is giant paper mache bobble-heads and name-calling.
"In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot Ronald Reagan at it"
No doubt why they picked the hotel.
Latest email from Kerry, via the DCCC;
** President Bush will be sneaking into St. Louis tomorrow to raise money for Republican Senator Jim Talent. If it's like most GOP fundraising featuring Bush and Cheney these days, it will be a "cut and run" affair.
Republican candidates ask high dollar supporters (tomorrow's event is at the Ritz-Carlton) to cut big checks before they run from being caught in the public eye with the President or Vice President.
We're going to greet this latest fast and furious Bush fundraising foray with a spirited, out-in-the-open grassroots campaign before midnight June 30th to support three Democrats locked in tight Senate races.
Contribute today: a Democratic Senate starts with these three races
Today, we're raising money for Claire McCaskill, who is running for the Senate in the Missouri race that President Bush will be personally trying to influence tomorrow.
An impressive campaigner who is eager to come to the Senate to fight for Missouri's families, Claire has just the right mixture of common sense and uncommon wisdom to help turn around the failed policies that Bush is hoping to disguise with his high-powered fundraising blitz.
We're also working to help leading House Democrat Sherrod Brown in his race against GOP incumbent Mike DeWine whom Karl Rove praised as "a loyal stalwart." Recently, DeWine scored a trifecta -- avoiding President Bush three times when he appeared in Ohio: skipping a health care event, a speech on Iraq, and even refusing to meet Bush at the airport when he came to Indian Hills to raise $1.1 million for DeWine's reelection campaign.
We can win this critical Ohio race if you give Sherrod Brown the immediate support he needs to press back against the GOP money machine.
Contribute today: a Democratic Senate starts with these three races
The third candidate on our list is a Senator who has stood with me to protect the environment and save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Maria Cantwell.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney have both already traveled to Washington to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Maria's opponent, Mike McGavick, and for the Washington state Republican party. Not that McGavick needs any help: he received $28 million from his former employer, Safeco Insurance Company, this year after just two months of work.
We're acting today to even the odds by lending Maria Cantwell the kind of grassroots support called for by her strong unflinching record on so many crucial issues of the day.
Contribute today: a Democratic Senate starts with these three races
The June 30th mid-year federal election reports, reflecting fundraising success to date, will be especially critical. That's why I am asking you to rush generous donations, if possible, to all three of these candidates who are in deadlocked races. Maria Cantwell and I need strong Democrats like Sherrod Brown and Claire McCaskill to join us in the Senate and replace rubber-stamp Republican incumbents Mike DeWine and Jim Talent.
Let's show people that we mean business when it comes to standing up for the candidates we believe in -- and standing up to the desperate barrage of Bush-Cheney fundraising now under way.
I urge you to act before we reach this critical deadline.
Sincerely,
John Kerry **
I think delusional doesn't come close to describing these people. Bush "sneaks" into town and grabs money before anyone is seen with him? Bwahahaha!!!
Because, they'd pi$$ off the moderate Democrats.
They are counting on the Republicans losing versus they, the Democrats, winning. Sitting back and being critical of everything Conservative only lasts for a little while. Eventually, they have to either put up or shut up.
Not only do the Dems not want to tell people what they want to do, their pimp media won't look into their policies.
Their Plan = Mob Rule.
That's it in a nutshell.
What these idiots don't realize is that we already DID "take back America" from the treasonous Clintonistas.
Yawn, more chat.
The loons are taking control of the RATS. The 2006 season and 2008 primary will be ugly.
Their motto should be "We want to come back to America".
I'm real tired of both parties spending my money on things they see fit.
I didn't work like a dog for society, I worked for MY family. Society can do for themselves.
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