rant on what frustrates me with the democratic party

[HAnnA MArin County]

What bothers me about the Democratic Party is how they don't stand strong for their views and philosophies. Take health care for example. It is a core philosophy of the Democratic Party that every single American have access to health care since we view it as a right and not a privilege. The only way this is going to happen is if we have a single-payer system, and in the disastrous health care reform bill law that was one of the many reasons why we lost control of the House, Democrats did not stand strong for the public option. I'm so sick of Democrats being the ones to compromise our values to appease the Republicans. I'll give them credit, despite that most everything they stand for is wrong and reprehensible, the Republicans do not compromise and somehow find a way to get their agenda passed. It's really time for the Democrats to grow a backbone. We had the perfect opportunity in 2008-2009 when we had huge margins in Congress, and while we're poised to win back some seats in 2012 in the House, we have to face reality: that we stand a good chance of losing control of the Senate. I'm not saying that every Democrat needs to be as liberal as Nancy Pelosi or as loud as Alan Grayson or Anthony Weiner (although that would be nice), but I just don't think you can be a Democrat and say that you do not support a public option on health care. If you don't believe that every single American has the right to high quality and affordable health care, then you might as well join the other side. Just my own personal rant.

Going on what the poster said about his rant, it bothers me that we can't win the white vote, but someone on here made a good point about the racial polarization in voting in the South. I'm sure if you'd eliminate the Deep South where McCain won 80-90 percent of the white vote that the national average would be much closer. If I were a Republican, I would find it more troubling that the GOP cannot win any minorities: African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, etc. Even crazy Mike Huckabee acknowledged that the GOP cannot be the party of "old angry white men." So yeah, keep in mind that Democrats did do pretty well among white voters in 2008 outside of the Deep South, but after the realignment in 1964, that's beyond our control. There's a white man's party and a black man's party. It's sad, but that's the way it is, I suppose. Had Hillary been the nominee (this has been discussed before), yes, she would have carried Arkansas, Missouri and West Virginia for sure, and possibly even Kentucky and Tennessee.

[HAnnA MArin County]

another thing that bothers me is the inability to win the white vote. Its been what? 45 years since the democrats won the white vote in a national election? This is getting kind of embarrassing. Hopefully this streak doesn't go on for much longer.

It's because your party can only get votes these days by dividing people into minority "victim" groups (latinos, blacks, gays, etc) and telling the that Republicans are out to get them and they need the Dems to cover their back.

Time to turn off Glenn Beck. If you wanna talk about parties being "owned," your party can't seem to get votes without kissing the teabaggers' nasty, greasy, hemorrhoid-ridden @$$e$. You all are too afraid to stand up to them and tell them to stop with their ridiculous conspiracy theories like Obama is a Muslim/not born in the United States, etc. For your party, it seems like if you dare cross the Tea Party, you might as well expect a crosshair on your district or to be teabagged in a primary.

Although you are correct. Republicans are out to get blacks (ever hear of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965), Latinos (Arizona Senate Bill, deportation, anyone?), and don't even get me started on the gays. Why would any gay person in his/her right mind vote for a party that doesn't want to give you any rights and labels you a pervert/sinner/immoral, compares you to pedophiles and says how you choose to be this way and could change if you prayed to be cured? Sure, there are some gay Republicans who say "We aren't single-issue voters." I can see that point. Even if the Republican Party were pro-gay, I still wouldn't vote Republican because I'm not a single-issue voter, either. But even the mainstream Republican Party doesn't want to have anything to do with the Log Cabin Republicans. I just don't understand it, but it wouldn't be the first time Republicans brainwash people to vote against their own self-interests.

Can't speak for all the many minorities that comprise the Democratic Party, but as for gays, it's not about victimization. If you haven't heard, most LGBT people are highly educated and affluent (characteristics that tend to favor Democrats), and smart people don't listen to Fox News or buy into the right-wing lies of how it will be Republicans who give gays their rights. The only right Republicans want to give us is no rights at all with all of their homophobic rhetoric and exploitation and lies about the community to pander to and gain votes among the hillbillies and Bible-thumping rednecks that constitute their base. NOT ALL Republicans are like this, I realize, but it does seem to be the status quo of today's Republican/Tea Party.

And I'm sure that most of these GOP politicians are not as homophobic/anti-gay in their personal lives; it's just politically popular for them to beat up on the gays to get votes. I'm sure many of them have gay friends that they keep on the downlow