Expanding the Big Tent

Do you want to know why the Democratic Party is having trouble appealing to "normal" people? From today's Kentucky Post:

Twenty years ago, the Republican Party captured the American flag, said Erlanger resident Dan McGue.

Then, with Rush Limbaugh, Republicans captured the nation's radio stations.

During the 2004 presidential election, they captured Jesus, McGue said.

"They're the only people who can talk to God, and he guides George Bush in all he does," McGue said. That anyone would believe that is really upsetting, he said.

McGue was speaking at a meeting of voters in Independence on Thursday night, voters united by their anger at Bush.

McGue, a retired railroad worker, said he has voted for Republicans, but he's totally upset with the Bush "dictatorship."

"I can't believe he gets away with what he does," he said, and he blames the national media for not taking the president to task.

Former President Clinton could not get away with what President Bush has, he said.

McGue was among about 30 voters who consider themselves progressives who met at the home of Jenny and Jamie Jameson for a Democracy for America "house party" on Thursday.

It was one of at least 50 similar events held in homes across the U.S. on behalf of the national political action committee formed out of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's presidential campaign last year.

The organization now works mainly to get candidates elected to local and state offices. Its state chapter is called Change for Kentucky.

Jameson told his guests he was looking for people who could put a political apparatus in place in Kenton County, one that could expand to all of Northern Kentucky.

"The power of the people can win elections and it will win elections," Jameson said, and many applauded.

The first priority for the organization would be to set up a communications system, he said, so that progressives could respond quickly to media attacks.

Too often, Democrats don't speak with a unified voice, he said. His prime example was their scattered response to accusations of partisanship in the Transportation Cabinet scandal.

Jeff Hampton of Morning View, wearing a "Please Jesus, save me from your followers" button, asked for pressure on local television stations to cover news they aren't covering.

"Whatever our first issue is, our second needs to be media reform," he said.

The guests spent most of their meeting getting organized and getting to know one another. Many talked about how isolated they feel as Democrats in a heavily Republican corner of the nation.

"I feel like a man without a country," said Roger Evans of Edgewood.

Frustrated at the direction the country's been heading in, he wanted to find a way to make a difference, and hoped the new group could provide that.

An ordained minister, he says he's very disappointed in the way the "religious right" has distorted the teachings of Jesus for political gain.

"How many people have to die to avenge 9-11?" he asked. "When will we realize that Jesus taught that we don't have an eye for an eye, but we forgive 70 times seven?"

The group will focus on organizing volunteers for local elections in 2006, when county officials and many city officials will be up for re-election.

Jeremy Horton, Change for Kentucky's co-founder and political director, told the guests he was encouraged that so many had come, with the elections more than a year away.

"Politics in Kentucky is in a very grave state," Jameson said. "We're going to do something about it."