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Babs Streisand (D-Calif.) Weighs in on Election
Barbra Streisand's website ^
| 11/8/2002
| Barbra Streisand
Posted on 11/17/2002 10:24:31 PM PST by Jack of Clubs
A SAD TIME Posted on Nov. 8, 2002 by Barbra Streisand
It is a sad time. The Democratic Party was not able to articulate a clear message - was not able to convey the very real and very many differences between the two parties. They did not allow the American people to make a meaningful choice. They never articulated what it was we were voting for, and in doing so they failed to motivate their base to go to the polls. The Republicans, on the other hand, spoke directly to their constituency and gave them a reason to vote.
Instead of standing up to the Republicans and indicating their differences, the Democrats went along with the president on tax cuts and Iraq- and were voted out anyway. The American people want leaders - they want people who convey a strong message and stand for something. The Republicans have done this well...even though what they stand for is against the interests of most Americans. Now it is time for the Democrats to stop operating out of fear.
Because the differences are there. The Republicans are excited to, in Trent Lott's words, "roll" their agenda through the Congress. And it's an agenda all of us will have to live with - for the worse. Tax cuts for the rich, destruction of the environment, a prescription drug plan that covers only a very small percentage of seniors, an inadequate pension reform bill, an overly aggressive foreign policy - that's all on the agenda.
And there is a horde of extremist federal judicial nominees, deemed by the Democratically-controlled Senate as too conservative for confirmation, just waiting to get rushed through the nomination process. These judges are guaranteed to threaten our civil liberties, a woman's right to choose, civil rights and environmental protection. And they will be around long after the president is gone.
So as we move forward, I, for one, will continue to urge the Democrats, even as, or especially as, the minority/opposition party, to be vocal in conveying the differences to the American public. Because this is not the time to give up fighting for what is important. There is too much at stake. The Democrats must once again return to their roots as a strong and directed party fighting for the betterment of the poor, working and middle-class Americans that make up the great majority of our country.
The Democrats who stood up to the president and showed strong opposition leadership were the ones that won on Tuesday. Hopefully, by 2004, the party - and the people - will get the message.
TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bs; election; streisand
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To: Starrgaizr
I keep thinking one of the reasons the Dems did so badly in this election is Barbara Streisand, along with Martin Sheen, etc. (I know he did Janet Reno no good down here in FL!) When these empty headed hollywooders come out to support the Dems, it just reinforces that the Dems don't share mainstream American values.
Babs for sure didn't do her party any good, with her idiotic emails to the House and Senate leaders, along with the implications that they actually listened to her! They like her money too much.
To: Jack of Clubs
What Barbara is trying to say is this...
The Dems didn't race bait enough.
They didn't demagogue the intent to go after Hussein enough.
They didn't defend Arafat and trash Israel enough.
They didn't stand up for peace or trash our military enough.
They didn't challenge enough military votes as they did in 2000.
They didn't advocate taking money from the rich (anyone making over $20,000 a year) enough.
They didn't advocate illegal allien's rights enough.
They didn't advocate another giveaway program on the order of SS or Medicare enough, namely prescriptions drugs for free.
They didn't call Bush enough names.
They didn't slander everyone who supported him enough.
In short, nobody does enough but Barbara and her bullhorn mouth "AGAIN!"
Could it be Barbara, you guys were selling and nobody was buying it anymore?
To: I still care
Right. Exactly. But Clinton is the one who truly hooked the Dems on Hollywood. The Celebrity president. He and Hilary loved being adored like Hollywood stars. So it was natural that they treated the empty-headed crowd as serious, big thinkers. Martin Sheen -- a great example. People on the left actually say they want to vote for a fictional president. The larger culture is rejecting this diseased thinking like a healthy person fights off an infection.
To: Jack of Clubs
It is a sad time. The Democratic Party was not able to articulate a clear message - was not able to convey the very real and very many differences between the two parties. They did not allow the American people to make a meaningful choice. They never articulated what it was we were voting for, and in doing so they failed to motivate their base to go to the polls. The Republicans, on the other hand, spoke directly to their constituency and gave them a reason to vote.
The problem for the democrats was that they did articulate a clear message. But the message was not one the American people liked. DemocRATS in Baghdad saying Saddam was more trustworthy than the President, blocking a Homeland Security bill in a time of war, a majority of democRATS voting against the Iraq resolution, the worst record ever for judicial conformations, etc. These are the many differences between the two parties and the American people saw and chose the meaningful choice the Republicans offered.
Instead of standing up to the Republicans and indicating their differences, the Democrats went along with the president on tax cuts and Iraq- and were voted out anyway. The American people want leaders - they want people who convey a strong message and stand for something. The Republicans have done this well...even though what they stand for is against the interests of most Americans. Now it is time for the Democrats to stop operating out of fear.
Again, the democRATS did stand up to the Republicans and indicate their differences. It is just that the American people decided they liked the Republican message better. Also, again, the democRATS did not go along with the president on tax cuts and Iraq, the majority of democRATS voted against both of these resolutions.
Because the differences are there. The Republicans are excited to, in Trent Lott's words, "roll" their agenda through the Congress. And it's an agenda all of us will have to live with - for the worse. Tax cuts for the rich, destruction of the environment, a prescription drug plan that covers only a very small percentage of seniors, an inadequate pension reform bill, an overly aggressive foreign policy - that's all on the agenda.
Yes, the differences are there and the American people saw that clearly and chose the Republican vision for the country. The Republicans would be betraying the interests of the American people if they did not now try to implement the agenda that the people voted for. Tax cuts for everybody who pays taxes, not only for the rich (Barbra Streisand is richer than most of us will ever hope to be); sensible environmental regulations balancing costs and benefits, not a destruction of the environment; a prescription drug plan that covers only those who need help, not everybody (including the rich like Barbra Streisand); a sensible pension reform bill, not a draconian pension reform bill; and a foreign policy that recognizes the reality of a post 9/11 world. Thats all on the agenda.
And there is a horde of extremist federal judicial nominees, deemed by the Democratically-controlled Senate as too conservative for confirmation, just waiting to get rushed through the nomination process. These judges are guaranteed to threaten our civil liberties, a woman's right to choose, civil rights and environmental protection. And they will be around long after the president is gone.
Well, the American people decided to give back the Senate to the Republicans in part (in large part IMO) just because the Democratically-controlled Senate would not confirm good judges who the President had nominated. Only in the fantasy world of Barbra Streisand would these judges be seen as a threat to civil liberties, a woman's right to choose, civil rights and environmental protection. But since the American people have now given the power to the Republican-controlled senate to make the determination who should be confirmed, it makes no difference what the Democratically-controlled Senate thought of the nominees. Plus, we need to get these nominees rushed through the nomination process to make up for the last 18 months of the democRATS obstructionism.
So as we move forward, I, for one, will continue to urge the Democrats, even as, or especially as, the minority/opposition party, to be vocal in conveying the differences to the American public. Because this is not the time to give up fighting for what is important. There is too much at stake. The Democrats must once again return to their roots as a strong and directed party fighting for the betterment of the poor, working and middle-class Americans that make up the great majority of our country.
I hope the democRATS continue to be vocal in conveying the differences to the American public. It was these very differences that caused the Republican victories in the last election. And of the three groups Streisand mentioned, the poor are the only people democRATS fight for. The working and middle-class Americans that make up the great majority of our country are the people the democRATS tax to provide the benefits to the poor so they can buy their votes with tax dollars.
The Democrats who stood up to the president and showed strong opposition leadership were the ones that won on Tuesday. Hopefully, by 2004, the party - and the people - will get the message.
The majority of democRATS who stood up to the president and showed strong opposition leadership that were reelected were in safe seats. For the majority of democRATS, opposition to the President meant defeat.
24
posted on
11/17/2002 11:22:33 PM PST
by
Badger1
Comment #25 Removed by Moderator
To: Jack of Clubs
Tax cuts for the rich, destruction of the environment...She's got all the little propaganda jingles down pat- that's for sure.
I get comical imagery all the time that accompanies my thinking process. I probably should've been a cartoonist except I can't doodle for squat.
Anyway, I got the image of what it is Babs thinks is going to happen now: Sometime in late January in the Senate- Trent Lott asks for a vote on Senate Resolution 666- "Destruction of the Environment". Key proposals in the resolution- immediately begin pumping sewerage, chemicals, battery acid etc into all lakes rivers and resevoirs. All trees to be cut down. All critters to be hunted down and shot etc etc etc.
Senate Resolution 666.5- Tax cut for the Rich. Key items in the resolution- all rich white folk to be exempted from paying taxes forever. All shortfalls in gov't revenues to be made up by increasing the tax on poor, minority single working mothers to 100%...
Senate resolution 666.75- "General Aggression and Mayhem in the World" key points- attack New Zealand, nuke the Vatican, Conquer Tahiti...
It makes me laugh- but in a way it's scary because the libs probably really see it like that.
To: Jack of Clubs
"They did not allow the American people to make a meaningful choice." (They = democrats)
American people WERE allowed to make a "meaningful choice."
They DID see the differences, understood them, and decided that Republicans, generally, would better provide straong national security. They were right.
The major cause for the democrat losses, was failure to stand with the President, except for a brief few weeks post 9/11/01, on national security.
Max Cleland's defeat illustrates this point. And if under Pelosi and Daschle, in two years it continues to be the case, the democrats will lose ground, again.
Call it survival instinct.
To: Jack of Clubs
"Ya gotta understand...if the election doesn't turn out her way, it's not because the voters rejected her ideas. No, it's that her party was inarticulate. What a twit."
Of course, this is the message of the day, week, month, for history. . .of Clinton/McAulliffe.
. . .it is a forced-feeding, that some Dems swallow more easily than others; but they do it willingly.
It's a Marxist thing; one mind equals no-mind. . .
28
posted on
11/18/2002 4:57:25 AM PST
by
cricket
To: Jack of Clubs
...even though what they stand for is against the interests of most Americans.
How would Jimmy Durante's daughter (Babbs) know what the interest of most Americans are? She has lived in la la land most of her life. How could this idiot think that she could possibly speak for us ordinary Americans. (sorry about that Jimmy where ever you are.)
29
posted on
11/18/2002 5:20:52 AM PST
by
my right
To: Starrgaizr
LOL. How did you like it when they had their own election, the day after? Martin Sheen beating the empty headed Repblican (Bab's husband). Was he the governor of FL or something in the show? Watching that must have made Babs feel better....
To: I still care
This is your mind....on LIBERALISM....any questions?
To: I still care
Martin Sheen also did the PR work for Kathleen Kennedy Townsend here in Maryland, and she ended up being the first democrat in over 30 years to lose the Governor's Mansion, in a state that is 2 to 1 Democratic! Good going Martin. Please continue to support the democrats wherever you can.
To: Jack of Clubs
It is a sad time. The Democratic Party was not able to articulate a clear message - was not able to convey the very real and very many differences between the two parties.Just the opposite, dearie. The dims have always been able to fool a large part of the apolitical, sleepwalking, "mushy middle" through the sheer weight of having the mainstream media on their side. Since the election debacle of 2000, the 'mercan pipple have awakened, and now see you for who you really are...ANTI-AMERICAN SOCIALISTS!!!
YOUR MESSAGE WAS CONVEYED LOUD AND CLEAR, AND WAS SUMMARILY REJECTED!
To: Jack of Clubs
And we should care what she thinks because....?
34
posted on
11/18/2002 8:02:30 AM PST
by
Adder
To: Jack of Clubs
Right Babs. The Dems stand for the poor people - people like you, Susan Sarandon, Paul Newman, Jane Finda, Ted Turner, Ted Kennedy, the Gores, the Clintons, the Mondales, you know, the poor people.
On the other hand, Republicans represent the wealthy people - you know, the corporate executives who put in 60 hour workweeeks, the profesionals who labored through college and continue to put in long hours, the skilled craftsmen and artisans who work long hours for the money they earn, people who have to hold down two or three jobs to pay higher taxes so Babs anb people who think like her can use their hard-earned tax money for hairbrained social programs.
What Babs fails to realize is that the Democrats have a limited constituency - ex-felons, prisoners, illegal aliens, uneducated minorities, the shrinking sector of the unskilled and uneducated union laborers, Green Party fanatics, environmental wackos, PETA groupies and PETA clones, rabid homosexuals, transvestities and transgender freaks, establishment liberal cergymen, jack-booted femi-Nazis, and recent immigrants who have not yet acquired enough knowledge to recognize that the Dems want to take away the money they work so hard for and give it to welfare cheats and overpaid government beaurocrats.
Libre Kalifornia!!! Libre Hollyweird!!!
35
posted on
11/18/2002 8:11:18 AM PST
by
ZULU
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