I got an email this morning from Howard Dean (as did many others subscribed to Democrats.org) reminding us about the big picture, and it can not be stressed enough. Either Hillary or Barack will face McCain this come November, barring some sort of miracle. You know that the Republicans are gearing up to attack one of our candidates so it is best to be prepared.
From Howard Dean:
Dear Josh, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney are done. John McCain will be the Republican nominee -- he's the only one with a reasonable path to the nomination. So how do we beat him? We stand up -- right now -- start fighting, and show the American people that he's not who they think he is.John McCain is a media darling, but don't trust his carefully-crafted image - he's worked for years to brand himself. From Iraq to health care, Social Security to special interest tax cuts to ethics, he's promising nothing more than a third Bush term.
After championing campaign finance reform and ethics legislation to score political points, he now has a staggering amount of lobbyists involved in every aspect of his campaign. In fact, two of the top three sources for John McCain's campaign cash are D.C. lobbying firms, and he looked the other way as Jack Abramoff bought and paid for the Republican Party and the Culture of Corruption.
On immigration reform, he's run as far to the right as he can, aligning himself with the most extreme elements of the Republican Party.
On the war, McCain scoffed at Bush's call to leave troops in Iraq for 50 years, saying "Make it a hundred!"
On a woman's right to choose, McCain has vowed to appoint judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade.
On the economy, one of the issues that the American people care most about, McCain has said: "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."
We can't afford four more years with a President who drives the economy into the ground. We can't afford four more years with a President who fights an endless war in Iraq. We can't afford four more years with a President who gives tax cuts to companies who ship jobs overseas; with a President who can't get every American the health care they deserve; with a President we just can't trust.
Now of course that email was about fundraising for the DNC, but it is still an important message....and important to give to the DNC if you can. Every one of those points must be made again and again to Americans that will decide if there is a President Obama/Clinton or a President McCain.
As many national elections experts can tell you, going into a race you have approximately 40 percent of the people locked into the (D) candidate and about the same for the (R) candidate. The trick is to get as many of the rest as possible. So while we make our case to the undecideds about how America needs to go down a new path and choose the Democratic nominee, I'd like to add something to the mix. I suggest the we give McCain a hug.
Hugs are great things between two human beings. Showing compassion and being there for one another is an important human interaction. Of course it is not the same as voting for someone to lead the nation, so I think giving McCain a hug would be a good thing, and maybe with enough of them he'll see the error of his ways (see Dean's email above for some specifics). I'm not counting on that, but since McCain is such a good hugger anyways, why not give it a try.
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