{"id":5083,"date":"2004-10-23T13:13:31","date_gmt":"2004-10-23T17:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2004\/10\/23\/may-i-speak-frankly-about-my-"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:58:19","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:58:19","slug":"may-i-speak-frankly-about-my-fellow-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/10\/23\/may-i-speak-frankly-about-my-fellow-democrats\/","title":{"rendered":"may I speak frankly about my fellow Democrats?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a name='a2556'><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">A little reality check for my fellow Democrats:&nbsp; If we fail to win the Presidency, it will largely be because the leadership of our Party:<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">did the politically expedient thing and gave the then-popular President blanket authorization to start a war against Iraq<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">did the politically expedient thing and failed to point out early how disorganized our efforts were in Iraq after the swift &#8220;military victory&#8221;<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">did the politically expedient thing and started attacking the war when John Dean&#8217;s anti-war rhetoric was popular<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">did the politically expedient thing and sought &#8220;anybody but Dean&#8221; because they feared Dean&#8217;s approach to politics and\/or thought he would surely lose the presidency if nominated<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">did the politically expedient thing and backed off on the anti-war talk as soon as the Kerry folk feared the swing voters would be turned off<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">&nbsp;etc., etc.<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/LI><\/UL><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/donkey.jpg\" alt=\"donkey\" \/>&nbsp; My point:&nbsp; If&nbsp;Democrat leadership&nbsp;had voted and acted wisely and courageously on issues relating to the Iraq war,&nbsp;we would almost surely be&nbsp;closer to victory&nbsp;right now (and the nation and world a safer, better place).&nbsp; Therefore, I&#8217;m hoping the Party (even those politicians for whom honesty does not come naturally), will learn the lesson that doing the right thing can be <EM>good<\/EM> politics, and feels better, too.<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">I&#8217;m sure that I&#8217;m not the only member of the electorate who <EM>would rather vote enthusiastically for an honest politician who almost wins,<\/EM> than reluctantly for a cowardly, evasive, or shifty&nbsp;politician who almost wins.&nbsp; [Nov. 2 better come quickly &#8212; &#8220;pithy poetry not prolix politics&#8221; is supposed to be&nbsp;our motto!]<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">speaking truth<BR>the rainy season&#8217;s crack<BR>of thunder<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><BR><FONT size=\"2\"><\/FONT><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\">&nbsp;<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">in poor soil<BR>blooming courageously&#8230;<BR>chrysanthemum<BR><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV><A href=\"http:\/\/webusers.xula.edu\/dlanoue\/issa\/index.html\"><STRONG><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" color=\"#ff0000\" size=\"1\"><EM>Issa<\/EM><\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/A><FONT><EM><FONT size=\"1\"><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\"><FONT color=\"#ff0000\">,<\/FONT>translated by <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/EM><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/06\/03#a1610\"><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"1\"><STRONG><EM>David G. Lanoue<\/EM><\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=\"2\"><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\"><EM><FONT color=\"red\">p.s.<\/FONT>&nbsp; Please note that<\/EM> the Editor<EM> , David Giacalone, is <\/EM>solely<EM> responsible for all <\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\"><STRONG><FONT size=\"2\"><EM>commentary or<\/EM> <\/FONT><\/STRONG><STRONG><EM><FONT size=\"2\">opinion that appears in the postings on this weblog.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The haiku<\/FONT><\/EM><\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><STRONG><EM><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\">poets who generously appear here as Honored Guests do not necessarily &#8212; or even <\/FONT><\/EM><\/STRONG><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\"><STRONG><EM><FONT size=\"2\">presumptively <\/FONT><\/EM><\/STRONG><STRONG><EM><FONT size=\"2\">&#8212; concur. <\/FONT><\/EM><\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><STRONG><EM><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT><\/EM><\/STRONG>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><EM><FONT size=\"2\"><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\"><STRONG>p.p.s. <\/STRONG>Post-election update post is <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/11\/03#a2638\"><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\">here<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif\">.<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/EM><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><EM><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT><\/EM>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><EM><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">&#8220;bombfuse&#8221;<\/FONT><\/EM><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><EM><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT><\/EM>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><FONT color=\"red\"><STRONG>update<\/STRONG><\/FONT> (April 29, 2006): The folks at <A href=\"http:\/\/action.truemajority.org\/campaign\/dontbombiran?rk=31wwt1Y1IXrMW\"><EM>True Majority<\/EM><\/A> have started a campaign to<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">bombard Democratic Leaders with the demand that they <A href=\"http:\/\/action.truemajority.org\/campaign\/dontbombiran\/explanation\"><FONT color=\"black\">Not Be Fooled Again<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">and that they stand up against <\/FONT><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">the Bush Administration&#8217;s plans and arguments <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">for bombing Iran over its <\/FONT><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">future nuclear weapons.&nbsp;&nbsp; Their <A href=\"http:\/\/action.truemajority.org\/campaign\/dontbombiran?rk=31wwt1Y1IXrMW\">Petition<\/A> to Democratic <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">Leaders says:<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><EM>Please, use all the influence you&#8217;ve got to convince Democrats to <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><EM>find sufficient backbone to withstand any and all pressure from the <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><EM>President or anyone else to go to war with Iran.<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">We wish would could agree that it was a lack of backbone and a problem <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">of believing bad information that got Democrats to vote to authorize the <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">Iraq War.&nbsp; It surely was the fear of losing votes from a public that appeared <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">to support the then very popular President.&nbsp;&nbsp; If Democrats do the &#8220;right thing&#8221; <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">now, it will surely be because voters are sick of war and its costs,&nbsp;and the <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">President is <\/FONT><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">unpopular.&nbsp; I&#8217;d still prefer integrity to political expediency, but at <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">least politics <\/FONT><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">should help prevent bombing and war&nbsp;this time, rather than <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">promote it.<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT size=\"1\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">FYI: you can find the <IMG height=\"70\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/noW.gif\" width=\"70\" border=\"0\"> sticker <\/FONT><\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.outspokenclothing.com\/cgi-bin\/cpshop.cgi\/political?target=prod&amp;page=9&amp;trail=&amp;st=&amp;p=anyonebbush04,impeachdubya,electjohns,kerryon04,stopw,bushnotbombs,endwar,corporatestates,gotpot1,nosweat,kerryhope,330billion,bushidiot04,,amendment1,dogblessamerica,goddessusa,any1butbush,kerryon,kerryedwardsprz,kerrybaseball,dubyaforrent.5860846\"><STRONG><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#42aac8\" size=\"1\">here<\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/A><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A little reality check for my fellow Democrats:&nbsp; If we fail to win the Presidency, it will largely be because the leadership of our Party: did the politically expedient thing and gave the then-popular President blanket authorization to start a war against Iraq did the politically expedient thing and failed to point out early how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1jZ","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13565,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5083\/revisions\/13565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}