Wake Up Dems!

Wake up Dems, because the numbers show that John Kerry was helping the party. But now some spineless want to cut him loose because he had the audacity and the courage to stand up and tell the truth. Well, that's just the problem isn't it? No one is supposed to stand up and tell the truth. And now members of the GOP-lite faction of the Democratic Party want to continue to cower and bow down to the Bush regime rather than grow a friggin spine and say like John Kerry has, "we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore."

Uh-huh that's right -- folks that were happy to have his help a few days ago are now hand-wringing instead of standing with Kerry. Yeah, we know we need to win the election. But, here's the deal, John Kerry reached out to his 3 million strong JohnKerry.com community and raised buckets of cash for candidates and now some of those candidates can't understand that he's been swift boated again. Instead, of standing by him, we have Hillary Clinton doing BushCo's dirty work when she says, what Kerry said "was inappropriate." Well, Hillary, many of us are still waiting for you to apologize for your Iraq War vote. We're not holding our breath though.

Now, it's mighty clear to many Dems why Hillary won't get Kerry's back -- she's got her eye on '08. Well, I've got news for Hillary, John Kerry stood and spoke the truth to power when you wouldn't. Rather than talk directly about Iraq, Hillary would simply rather "move on." Hillary Clinton could take a few lessons from the junior Senator from Massachusetts, while she's been fiddling with the notion of her next campaign before she's even re-elected in the one she's running now, John Kerry has been out there working to change "the direction of the country" -- for candidates all across the country. So, here's an idea -- Let's sideline him and "redirect focus." Why? Because before John Kerry botched a joke he was all over the media, not just pissing off Republicans but also probably making more than a few potential '08 candidates just a little nervous. And, So What - he botched a joke. How many jokes has Bush botched (Where's the WMD's)?

But here's the deal, there's a lot of Democrats who are made as hell right now and I am one of them. Because the man who speaks for us, John Kerry -- over and over again -- is stepping back when he should be out there swinging for us. There's a crop of new polls out today that show in the wake of John Kerry's remarks, Democrats are sliding towards a victory next Tuesday.

Democracy Corps latest poll shows that Democrats are poised and ready to win, "Despite the increased titters about Senator Kerry, there is every reason to believe that this week has further contributed to making this election a referendum on Iraq."

First, it keeps Bush on center-stage, and he is not popular in these Republican-held districts (45 percent strongly disapprove and only 24 percent strongly approve). It is hard to have a base strategy without a base. Second, the president is telling the American people to vote next Tuesday on who you trust on Iraq. And third, it has crowded out any other issue, including national security and terrorism and the economy and taxes.

The trends on Iraq promise disaster for the Republicans, as we can see in the results below:

• The president’s approval on Iraq is only 39 percent in these Republican districts, unchanged from last week, with no evidence of growing confidence as they define the election on Iraq.

• Iraq rose in the last two weeks to be the dominant issue in people’s congressional vote (40 percent 1st or 2nd most important issue), while national security and terrorism have decline to 20 percent – after being at almost parity at the time of 9/11 commemoration. Terrorism has dropped to the 4th most important voting issue.

• Almost 70 percent of Iraq voters are voting Democratic in the named ballot.

• Most important is the new majority of 53 percent in the two polls over the last week for reducing troop levels, with only 43 percent for staying the course for stability – a break with years of being evenly divided. That 10-point margin for reduced troop is greater than the margin in the congressional vote – suggesting this debate helps Democrats in these Republican districts.

The numbers in the Poll from Democracy Corps are self evident and yes, they concur John Kerry was actually helping to make "this election a referendum on Iraq." So, what's the problem? Some of you would rather he sit out the last few crucial days before the mid-terms -- how dumb is that? We need John Kerry out there front and center -- now more than ever. Why? Because he's not afraid to stand and speak the truth to power. Why? Because, John Kerry is the Republican's worst nightmare -- he has topped their most hated list since the Nixon days.

Don't bow down to the Bush regime. Wake up Dems -- John Kerry was helping the Democratic Party. Stand with him -- he sure as hell was standing with you.

The Republicans want to make this election an election about personalities but it's about the issues, damn it -- it's about Iraq. They know it's about Iraq, and they'll do anything to take the focus off Iraq -- don't let them. Sherrod Brown had it right yesterday, "The people who should apologize are George Bush and Mike DeWine for sending our troops into battle without body armor and without examining the cooked intelligence."

We need all hands on deck over next 5 days and we need John Kerry out there fighting to help lead all those Dems he's worked so hard for all year, to victory. Wake up Dems.