The Defeatist Democrats

See, this is why they always lose. Shut up, they do so.

I gave a bunch of money to the stupid Democrats in the last election, because hyper little enthusiastic DNC workers stopped me on the street telling me how they could beat Bush if they had enough money. And we can all see how well THAT worked out. Although as I told this woman on the phone I don't totally blame the Democrats for it. But I do blame them for some of it. They need to try a whole lot fucking harder to come up with engaging candidates and good ad campaigns. They got bupkus.

So she totally is calling to thank me for my support in the past (the support that got my name misspelled twice and that it took them forever to deposit so my bank statement was all confusing?) and to read me a script (not all that well either) about how they need my support now more than ever, and we have a a choice, we can either let the Republicans "get away with it" ("it" being a bunch of nameless bad things that she doesn't name) or we can fight them. (Wait. NOW that's our choice? Could you maybe have thought about this, oh, twenty or thirty fucking years ago? This is not a well-chosen line, here.)

And she tells me how this is the time to give because a small group of dedicated Democrats, or something, are going to match any gifts dollar for dollar, so like, that's great and all. And can I give eighty? No, no I cannot. Can I give later? Sure, maybe. Well, they can send me a package in the mail that will let me send them money in like two weeks, can I do that? No, I can't. So that gets me this spiel about how they understand and blah blah and it's hard and yadda yadda, so can I give sixty which would be a hundred and twenty with the matching?

Now, the matching thing is a pretty good argument and almost makes me wish I could donate. But all her promises are so vague. And/or foolhardy. Like, the Democrats promise that they will take the Senate back in 2006. And they will not cede one single seat. They can't fucking promise that! And it just makes me think about how floppy and bad they are at this. Sure, I could be wrong about that, but their very own caller reading their very own script isn't exactly convincing me otherwise.

And it makes me think about how I do give money already, every month, to help good people take back the Senate and defeat Bush's agenda, to California PeaceAction. And when THEY call me, it's with really good, solid, amazing examples of what they've done lately. They make me want to give them TONS of money. They talk about the coalitions they've built of like a hundred organizations and what the coalition is doing, or the center they're building in San Jose and exactly what the political climate is like there and how that compares to where I am, and what inroads they've made there, or about the work they did to deny Bush every cent of the money he asked for around new weapons for the military, or whatever. And you know, the Democratic National Committee just looks really, really bad by comparison.

But here's the best part. The woman finishes her sixty-dollar spiel, and I tell her that I won't be giving right now. (To them, that is. I have a whole pile of stuff to give to the Red Cross or whatever in my car. But I don't think the Democrats want our clothes and dish drainers and whatnot.) And she asks why not, and I say, well, I'm not a Democrat, I'm Peace and Freedom Party. And I gave because they said they could defeat Bush, not that I totally blame the Democrats for that one. And when I give it's to California PeaceAction which works for the same causes but seems to be much more successful, and I don't really have anything else to give right now.

And the woman totally says that she'll take me off their mailing list!

I mean, come on. I've given in the past, and I've twice said that I'm just not going to be giving anything right now. If they called back in the future with a decent reason to give, they could totally get my money. But nope - they just give up, turn tail and run. Oh well, you aren't a Democrat and you're broke, we'll leave you alone forever! We won't ask for more money or try to find out how to lure you (back) into our party or work with you in any way.

THIS is what I'm talking about.