freeSpeech: Dean And Davidson

(CBS)  Howard Dean

In five days, Americans have a choice to make between staying the course, or taking America in a new direction.

That gives some Americans a reason to think about something they haven't done in a while: Vote for a Democrat.

Democrats offer a new direction that begins with a commitment to honesty and fiscal responsibility. A new direction in Iraq that begins with a responsible, phased redeployment of our brave troops. A defense policy that is tough and smart and makes our nation safer by implementing the recommendations of the 9-11 Commission. A new direction for our economy that ends Republican deficit spending and ensures middle class tax fairness.

We will make health care more affordable for all Americans, and fix the Medicare prescription drug program.

There are many things we disagree with Republicans about. Iraq. Budget deficits. The response to Hurricane Katrina.

But our deepest disagreements are with the Republican's attempts to divide America by putting their own interests ahead of the interests of our country.

The most important promise we make is this: We will value your beliefs and your families as we restore America to its position of moral leadership throughout the world.

Together, we will move America in a new direction.

Howard Dean is Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

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Jo Ann Davidson

My name is Jo Ann Davidson. I'm the Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee. My pride and joy are my grandchildren – it is because of them that this election is so important to me and to all of us.

I want to know that for my grandchildren, the 6.6 million jobs we've created over the last three years is just the beginning.

I want to know that the five years since 9/11 without a terrorist attack is just the beginning.

I want to know they will be safe, secure, and successful.

So when Democrats vote to eliminate the Patriot Act and stop us from listening in on terrorist conversations, I worry about my grandchildren's future.

When Democrats say that no tax increase is off the table, I wonder about my grandchildren's future.

When Nancy Pelosi, who wants to be Speaker of the House, says less than a year after 9/11 that she doesn't believe we are at war...when John Kerry, the 2004 Democrat Presidential candidate, says our troops are uneducated...
when Harry Reid calls our President a 'loser' and a 'liar,' I know that I don't want those people deciding my grandchildren's future.

That is why I know this election matters. And that is why I urge all Americans to vote Republican on November 7.

Jo Ann Davidson is Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

[mamahurd]

Did I hear Carl Rove say that if the Floridians wanted help when they had another hurricane they had better vote in a Republican? This was the 5:30 news November6, 2006. That sure looks bad for New Orleans. I can't believe anyone but him could be that gross.

[michaelz06]

I think freespeech3 has it exactly right....the Democrats very much need to realize that if they are successful in this election, as seems likely, it is because people are tired of the way things are going. But they will need to get it right the first time, because they are not being voted for, so much as the Republicans are being voted against. Our elected leaders need to start paying attention to what is right, not how best to further the special interests, etc. or elections are going to become a very fast revolving door. Throw the bums out will repeat over and over, regardless of "red" or "blue".

[pmatylonek]

The comment below this is exactly the kind of tact that Republicans have been using for years! They remind me of kids on the playground who bully, call names, threaten, start fights and taunt in order to achieve some level in the pecking order. Of course there will be elitists in every corner of society. Democrats have no monopoly on this though. Ideas are a different matter though. Republicans use fear to react in short-sighted ways, while Democrats seem to go beyond fear to seek solutions.

[freespeech3]

Facts are: the Republicans squandered their opportunities, wasted their majority, and did nothing except make bad policy and blindly do Bush's bidding. They don't deserve another majority. We need a change - even a purge.
On the other hand, the Democrats had better get it right these next two years or they will get axed in a way that might move their party to irrelevancy.

[samthetvcat]

It sounds like hamiltongrad is perhaps responding to the John Stossel 20/20 report about Privilege in America which touted GW as the most notorious Ivy League legacy admit of all-time (implying that he did not get into Yale on his own merit but rather because his father and grandfather were alumni). That show was on ABC, not CBS! :P

[freespeech3]

This was a good segment on "Free Speech." The differences couldn't be clearer between the Democratic positions versus the Republican positions.

One of hope, inclusion, and respect versus that of fear, hate and anger.

Bye the way why has the Democratic Party allowed those hate-filled cretons called Conservative Republicans hyjack their name and call them the Democrat Party? Just another mean spirited ploy by the right wing dividers! I think so...

[pmatylonek]

The Republicans always take the fear route. They always question dissent as "unpatriotic." They remind me of kids on the playground who bully, call names, threaten, start fights and taunt in order to achieve some level in the pecking order. Think Rush Limbaugh and his behavior with Michael J. Fox, or Bill O'Reilly against "progressives," unless of course, you're Oprah Winfrey. I am so tired of aristocratic politicians pretending to be down-home-on-the-farm folk. The smokescreen and lies are reprehensible, and the republican agenda is designed to enrich the wealthy on the backs of the poor and middle class.

[borntwice-2009]

If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten to twelve feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground all it can do is shuffle around helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then at once, it takes off like a flash.

A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

In many ways we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up.

Luke 21: 28 So, when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near.

[fraz2006-2009]

What a breath of fresh air, and such a positive attitude. Howard Dean was inclusive, hopeful, forward-thinking, and made me proud to be a Democrat. I hope America saw the contrast between Dean and the Republicans' representative.

[mlhayns]

The segments on Free Speech show why the country will be in the hands of Democrats after Tuesday. While Howard Dean focused on issues, Jo Ann Davidson chose to give personal slurs to individual persons. This country is tired of smear tactics. Republicans have spent so much time trying to make Democrats look bad, they forgot to govern.