{"id":819,"date":"2006-03-23T16:39:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-23T22:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/?p=819"},"modified":"2006-03-23T16:39:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-23T22:39:00","slug":"coffee-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/coffee-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I’m interested to see what some of my readers think about this. Specifically some of the comments made in the story.
\nFrom the WDL<\/A>:<\/p>\n

By JONATHAN BLUNDELL Daily Light staff writer
\nThursday, March 23, 2006 1:05 PM CST<\/p>\n

They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Democrats, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not DrinkingLiberally – unless you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re referring to their morning coffee.
\nFor a group of 10-12 local Democrats, Friday morning is their choice for meeting over doughnuts and coffee to discuss local, state and national politics.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the guys who can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t drink liberally anymore,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Larry Wilson said, referring to The Thursday night gatherings at the College Street Pub.
\nThe group began meeting about five months ago at the Ellis County Democratic Headquarters on Main Street.
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an informal gathering, where people come and go freely and Democratic candidates stop in on occasion.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We just sit and drink coffee,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Larry Harris said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no (written) agenda and we just come and go as our schedule allows us.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nMembers of the group said everyone is welcome, but not everyone may be in agreement with their politics.
\nThe topics vary week to week, but group members joked that at least a little Bush-bashing will come up most weeks.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Strategizing might be a strong word for what we do,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bud Brannon said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We just sit around and talk about the news and politics.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAnd while Republicans outnumber Democrats 3 to 1 in Ellis County, the group says they expect to see more and more voters changing sides in the next few years.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Democrats used to be the majority party in Ellis County and I think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see the tide start to turn,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Harry Grier said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think people are disgusted with both sides.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nationally there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no clear cut leader for the Democrats,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Brannon said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no one ready to take advantage of all the administrations foul-ups.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to step out when no one else will back you,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mike Hollenback said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) stood up and called for censure against the president, but no one would back him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nSeveral names were dropped as possible leaders for the Democrats, but there was no general consensus among the group.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily have to be someone in the House or the Senate,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hollenback said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We just need someone to step forward and lead.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No one heard of Bill Clinton before he declared he was going to run,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Harris said.
\nBrannon said that President George H. Bush had a high approval rating before Clinton announced his candidacy.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153President Bush had the highest approval ratings ever after Desert Storm,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Brannon said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Then Clinton took a role leading the party and won the presidency.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nGrier said he believed the political tide could change quickly both locally and nationally.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take much to lead a turn of the tide, locally or nationally,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Grier said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think people are getting frustrated. People want a change. I really think Chuck Beatty (Democratic candidate for county judge) will do real well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also looking at a lot of statewide candidates who aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t properly funded for their campaigns,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Joe Gatlin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to win campaigns without proper funding.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nSeveral in the group said they felt Democrats have let the Republican Party paint the Democrats as anti-religious and anti-morality.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are a lot of church-based people who still hold to the idea that the Democrats are only about gay marriage and abortion,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Brannon said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But I think people are starting to realize there are other issues out there besides those two. There are issues such as school funding, the price of gas, medical care, health insurance and other areas that involve taking care of people.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How can any person in their right mind claim to be a Christian and vote for Bush?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Grier asked. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter to them that he started a war where thousands of people are getting killed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The GOP has done a good job of grouping us together as baby killers and anti-morality,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Harris said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just let them do it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve let them define us and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s our mistake,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Brannon said.
\nHarris said there are a number of misconceptions about Democrats that the party needs to overcome.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Morality is the biggest misconception,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Harris said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153People also think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the big spenders and for big government. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the party for the people and for helping people, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re for government that works.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nWilson pointed out that despite the notion that Republicans are for smaller government and less spending, the Bush administration has approved raising the cap on the national deficit four times during his term in office.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a big deal that Congress is voting to approve increasing the national debt,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Wilson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to control spending\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and then they turn around and make huge budget amendments, sending us further into debt.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThe Friday coffee club meets at 9 a.m. each Friday at the Ellis County Democratic Headquarters, 215 E. Main St. in Waxahachie.
\nThe group says everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of their political affiliation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m interested to see what some of my readers think about this. Specifically some of the comments made in the story. From the WDL: By JONATHAN BLUNDELL Daily Light staff writer Thursday, March 23, 2006 1:05 PM CST They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Democrats, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not DrinkingLiberally – unless you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re referring to their morning coffee. For a group … Continue reading Coffee Talk<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-dd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}