Thursday, November 09, 2006

So, how'd those Fighting Dems do?

Back in the spring, before the primaries, a liberal friend sent me a copy of an email she got from the Dems about all their veterans who were running for state or federal office. Here's a link to it on her blog-

Mysa's LJ

I remember thinking at the time that it was interesting that the Dems felt they had to point out their vets, because usually the GOP doesn't. I maintained then that it was because such a vast majority of the military are Republicans, it's nothing new to us to have veterans running for office. I did think it was telling that in this election the Dems felt they needed to point this out.

Here's the list of 'Fighting Dems' that made it to the General Election-

Democrat Veteran Candidates

That's quite a few. This article tells how they fared-

Beltway Blogroll

Of the list a grand total of FOUR won in their races.

What does that tell me? That's it's not enough to trot out a veteran to run for office so you can 'show' you support the troops (or whatever). We're not so blind (or stupid) as to think that just because she's a veteran she must be right and I must vote for her.

I don't think we'll see quite the emphasis on Veterans in the Dems party in 08, it just didn't play well enough for them this time. They'd much rather be mocking the troops than supporting veterans for public office.

(But at least the Dems finally got a pic of AMERICAN troops on their webpage now!)


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4 Comments:

At November 09, 2006 11:02 PM, Blogger Alicia said...

Thanks for posting this--so you're saying that using "veteran" just as a promotional tool isn't effective? If nothing else, the fact that veterans are held in a positive light might show that general public attitude toward this war (or at least to our soldiers) is shifting to positive--I hope.

 
At November 10, 2006 8:34 AM, Blogger Kyrie Drake said...

If nothing else, the fact that veterans are held in a positive light might show that general public attitude toward this war (or at least to our soldiers) is shifting to positive--I hope.

It has nothing to do with public attitude towards the war. Since the first Gulf War there has been a distinct effort to seperate suppport of the troops from support of the war. Public opinion of our SOLDIERS is generally positive...except for the occasional Democrat who calls them cold blooded murderers or mocks them and calls them stupid.

It's because the public opinion of soldiers is good that Dems made a bigger deal about their Veterans this time around. But it didn't play because WE'RE not stupid and blinded by our patriotism.

Just because you're a vet doesn't mean your a good choice for office.

 
At November 11, 2006 9:11 PM, Blogger The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

Just because you're a vet doesn't mean your a good choice for office.

Kerry and Murtha immediately come to mind.

This might be useful to know, as well:

Republicans with military service: 15.6%
Democrats with military service: 9.6%
Independants with military service: 0.2%

 
At November 12, 2006 10:35 PM, Blogger Kyrie Drake said...

Kerry and Murtha immediately come to mind.

Yeah, and unfortunately these days so does John McCain.

 

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