[Peace-discuss] Time for a change -- in party leadership. (fwd)

[patton paul]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 8 Nov 2002 00:18:24 -0000
From: "Eli Pariser, MoveOn PAC" <moveon-help at list.moveon.org>
To: Dr. Paul Patton <ppatton at uiuc.edu>
Subject: Time for a change -- in party leadership.

Dear MoveOn member,

The time has come to tell the Democratic Party, "Enough."

Enough accommodation.

Enough politics based on polls rather than principles.

Enough focus on big bucks rather than big problems.

It comes down to this:  We simply don't have the time to mess around.
We need a real plan, we need real leaders, and then we need to make
real things happen.  We, the people, need to reclaim our democracy.
And we need to reclaim politics, because it's just too damn important
to be left to the politicians.

How do we do that?  One good place to start is next week's leadership
elections in the House.  Dick Gephardt officially stepped down as
House Minority Leader today.  The Democratic House leadership position
is an important one -- a good leader in that role could bring the
party together around the issues we care about, fire up the base, and
send the right wing packing in 2004.

Luckily, there's a great candidate in the wings.  Back in early
October, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) broke ranks with Gephardt on the
Iraq war resolution.  Through principled leadership, Pelosi persuaded
more than half of the House Democrats to vote against it, despite the
fact that their purported leader was four-square behind Bush's plan.
She's great on the environment, great on women's rights, and great
on civil liberties.  She could remind the party what it's all about.

Pelosi's heaviest challenger is Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX), who told the
New York Times today that the Democrats needed to move further to the
right.  Frost's strategy is to beat the Republicans by being
Republicans.  It's doomed to failure: after all, Republicans will
always be more Republican than Democrats.

That's why we need to stand up and be counted.  As a group, we've
given over $3.5 million to Democratic candidates just in the last
year.  We've volunteered.  We've made phone calls.  We've done
everything within our power to sway the balance and make sure that
those big decisions work for everyone.  But we just can't do it
without real leadership.

Please call your state Democratic Committee and the Democratic National
Committee today, and tell them that you demand strong Democratic
leadership and will no longer put up with accommodation. Use your own
words.  Give 'em hell.  Remind them that they work for you.

You can reach them at:

   Democratic Party of Illinois
   Phone: 217-546-7404
   Fax: 217-546-8847

   The Democratic National Committee
   Phone: 202-863-8000

Then please let us know that you made your call at:

   http://moveon.org/calls_dem.html?id=903-483317-fzHzQg7%2BwwNH8z7itj36cg

We want to keep track of the calls pouring in.

It's like the man said:  We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take
it any more.

Sincerely,
--Eli, Peter, Wes, Joan, Doug, and Carrie
  for MoveOn.org PAC
  November 7th, 2002

                    PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG PAC

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