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Once-confident Dems nervous
The Los Angeles Daily News ^ | August 24, 2008 | Adam Nagourney

Posted on 08/25/2008 2:58:03 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

DENVER - Democrats gathering here for their nominating convention are significantly more nervous about Sen. Barack Obama's prospects this fall than they were a month ago, and are urging him to use the next four days to address weaknesses in his candidacy and lingering party divisions from the bitter primary fight.

Obama's aides said they had learned from what they described as the mistake of the 2004 Democratic convention - when aides to Sen. John Kerry's campaign sought to forbid convention speakers from going after President Bush - and would use these four days to draw sharp contrasts with Sen. John McCain, particularly on the economy and McCain's opposition to abortion rights.

"The stakes of this election will be made very clear," said David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist. "We are going to define the choice."

At the same time, acknowledging persistent voter unease with Obama, his aides said they would use speeches and presentations over the next four days, including having Al Gore introduce Obama for his acceptance speech Thursday night, to offer a fuller biography and a more detailed plan of what he would do as president.

They said they were looking to 1992 as a model, when Bill Clinton successfully used his convention to address persistent questions about his personal life and what he would do as president.

In interviews, Democrats arriving here said they remained confident that Obama would leave Denver at the end of the week in a strong position to beat McCain. But many Democrats made clear that a convention they had once anticipated would be a breezy celebration of Obama had turned into a more sober and consequential event.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: 2008; 2008dncconvention; election; electionpresident; elections; hillary; mccain; nervousdems; obama
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I see big-time buyer's remorse in Denver...
1 posted on 08/25/2008 2:58:03 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Changing the message and the tactic ain’t gonna help at this point.

Obama bin Biden is sinking because of his past associations, his gross miscalculations on Iraq, his thinly-veiled anti-Americanism, and his pro-infanticide votes.

Most of the religiously democrat voters will still vote for him, a lot of the un-informed will vote for him, but he has lost his momentum among informed “independents”, devout Catholics, and Evangelical Christians.

I don’t know if he can overcome that.


2 posted on 08/25/2008 3:04:28 AM PDT by Westbrook (Having more children does not divide your love, it multiplies it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
One of the most interesting things about elections is how people--I've done it myself--try to convince themselves that if only they could do A, B and C, then everything will work out just fine.

The simple reality is that it's all out of our hands in terms of who these candidates are. We, of course, can talk, and debate with undecideds, and vote. But the natures of the candidates aren't going to be revamped "if they'd only do..." whatever.

The Democrats WANTED to love Obama, so they loved him. Biden should go down as the true conscience of the Dems for his completely honest observation about Obama being "clean" because he was expressing the Democrats' view of black people--"Look! A clean and articulate one! Let's show everyone we're not racist!"

The Dems have yet to learn something they should have learned back in the sixties--no one gives a hoot about them. We're not sitting around wondering if they're racists. They seem to want to impress some imaginary Perfect European, who isn't an embarassing, uncouth American. But no one gives a damn about them, and the country won't give them power because they've proven to "us" that they are Wonderful People. They cannot see that their condescending attitude toward black people is revealing of their root racism.

The Dems simply didn't deal with reality this time--not how they'd LIKE it to be, but how it IS. And they're slowly starting to learn that Obama is one of the most unqualified people ever to run for the White House.

3 posted on 08/25/2008 3:10:03 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 ("President Obama" = All the reasons I need to support McCain)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The democrats bought a “PIG in a POKE”!
4 posted on 08/25/2008 3:13:45 AM PDT by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The whole world’s watching, kids...


5 posted on 08/25/2008 3:15:29 AM PDT by Thrownatbirth (.....Iraq Invasion fan since '91.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; All
That “tingle” they feel on their leg may be their own “tinkle”... 'Part celebration and part anxiety'
6 posted on 08/25/2008 3:19:27 AM PDT by johnny7 ("Duck I says... ")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
They said they were looking to 1992 as a model, when Bill Clinton successfully used his convention to address persistent questions about his personal life and what he would do as president.

They just can't get out from under the Clinton shadow can they?

7 posted on 08/25/2008 3:21:56 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner ("We must not forget that there is a war on and our troops are in the thick of it!"--Duncan Hunter)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I hope to see lots of protests and hell raising in the Denver streets.
Head thumpin, non-lethal plastic bullets, and police lines being rushed. Fun and games for the Dems.


8 posted on 08/25/2008 3:25:55 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
and are urging him to use the next four days to address weaknesses in his candidacy

He can't do in 4 days what he couldn't do in 46 years.

He is the weakest major party candidate in history.

I went to the trouble of trudging through the snow in January to register as a Democrat so I could vote for him in the NH Primary, so sure was I that this day would come - when America finally started to focus on who and what he was.

I'm glad my one little vote helped the upcoming Denver convention catastrophe to come to pass.

9 posted on 08/25/2008 3:32:22 AM PDT by Jim Noble (When He rolls up His sleeves, He ain't just puttin' on the Ritz)
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To: Joe Boucher

The Fox reporters should get hazardous duty pay


10 posted on 08/25/2008 3:44:49 AM PDT by shalom aleichem
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They should be nervous.

The Left in this country has hijacked the Democratic party, and due to the way primaries are constructed, since the sixties they have been producing candidates that are further and further to the left of the general electorate.

Obama is the most left wing candidate they have ever produced, even more so than George McGovern. He is by all accounts the most left wing Senator in the government, even further left than Bernie Sanders and Ted Kennedy.

I don’t think he is going to fly.


11 posted on 08/25/2008 3:49:55 AM PDT by rlmorel (If they can call George "Dubya", we can call Barack "Hussein")
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To: rlmorel

http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=8/24/2008&id=45208

Obama stops in Eau Claire Wisconsin and only 300 people show up.

“The Wisconsin stop came a day after Obama announced in his home state of Illinois that he’d picked Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate. Biden did not join Obama on Sunday, but the mention of his name drew loud applause from the crowd of about 300.”


12 posted on 08/25/2008 4:00:25 AM PDT by ltc8k6
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To: rlmorel

Obama is THE MOST liberal member of the U. S. Senate. He is more liberal than 94% of the Senate on economic issues; 94% of the Senate on social issues; and 92% of the Senate on foreign issues. His composite “Liberal” score is 95.5%.

Biden is the 3RD MOST liberal member of the U. S. Senate. He is more liberal than 94% of the Senate on economic issues; 88% of the Senate on social issues; and 94% of the Senate on foreign issues. His composite “Liberal” score is 94.2%.

Both Obama and Biden are further to the left than Bernie Sanders, who comes in fourth. He is more liberal than 90% of the Senate on economic issues; 88% of the Senate on social issues; and 98% of the Senate on foreign issues. His composite “Liberal” score is 93.7% — and Bernie Sanders identifies himself as a Socialist.

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaLatest.htm


13 posted on 08/25/2008 4:02:09 AM PDT by Beckwith ('Typical White Person')
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Presidential election was too close to call. Neither the Republican candidate nor the Democratic candidate had enough votes to win.

There was much talk about ballot recounting, court challenges, etc., but a week-long ice fishing competition seemed the sportsmanlike way to settle things.

The candidate that caught the most fish at the end of the week would win the election. Therefore, it was decided that there should be an ice fishing contest between the two candidates to determine the winner.

After much of back and forth discussion, it was decided that the contest take place on a remote frozen lake in northern Minnesota . There were to be no observers present, and both men were to be sent out separately on this isolated lake and return at 5 P.M. with their catch for counting and verification by a team of neutral parties.

At the end of the first day, John McCain returned to the starting line and he had ten fish.

Soon, Obama returned and had no fish. Well, everyone assumed he was just having a bad day or something and hopefully, he would catch up the next day.

At the end of the 2nd day John McCain came in with 20 fish and Obama came in again with none.

That evening, Harry Reid got together secretly with Obama and said, ‘Obama, I think John McCain is a low-life, cheatin’ son-of-a-gun. I want you to go out tomorrow and don’t even bother with fishing. Just spy on him and see just how he is cheating.’

The next night (after John McCain returns with 50 fish), he said to Obama, ‘Well, tell me, how is McCain cheating?’

Obama replied, ‘Harry, you’re not going to believe this, but he’s cutting holes in the ice.’

Experience Counts


14 posted on 08/25/2008 4:03:26 AM PDT by IrishMike (Obama stands for change. He wants to change the subject.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The DNC thought that their enablers in the media were going to be able to snow enough people into thinking that Obama was the second coming. They counted on that whole rock star fawning to catch on like wildfire.

They miscalculated.

15 posted on 08/25/2008 4:06:09 AM PDT by Allegra (It's above my pay grade.)
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To: rlmorel
since the sixties they have been producing candidates that are further and further to the left of the general electorate.

You're right, but the scary part is that Kerry came pretty close to actually winning. However, I don't think Obama will win.

16 posted on 08/25/2008 4:18:25 AM PDT by libertylover (The problem with Obama is not that he's too black, it's that he's too red.)
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To: ltc8k6

Not only did only 300 show up, but Obama said Eau Claire - a town of 60,000 or so nestled in rural western Wisconsin - was state. I guess that means Eau Claire is the 58th state now, right? At least according to Obama’s reckoning.


17 posted on 08/25/2008 4:18:56 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"I think in the case of McCain, they need to frame him," said Kerry...

Gee, that sounds like swiftboating, M'sieur Querrie!
Frame him? WTH? Among the commonly understood American definitions of the verb, we have:

to incriminate (an innocent person) through the use of false evidence, information, etc.

Is that what you mean, traitor?

18 posted on 08/25/2008 4:19:42 AM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (Obama bin Biden -- So let it be written; so let it be done!)
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To: Beckwith

I knew Obama was the most liberal, and I knew Biden was close. But I’m curious, do you know who’s #2?


19 posted on 08/25/2008 4:21:35 AM PDT by libs_kma (NOBAMA. Keep the change)
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To: Westbrook

The key is to harp on his policies and not his experience. In four years, he will be more experienced.


20 posted on 08/25/2008 4:22:00 AM PDT by rabidralph (Watch out for the Obamakazis.)
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