HOWARD DEAN: Democrats have been playing defense for too long.
Our fearless leader Howard Dean has sent out a request for funds. It's certainly a worthwhile investment.

Over the past few months, though, something has shifted. When it comes to national security, Democrats are playing offense for a change -- and it's working.

It's not enough to respond to the daily misinformation coming out of the White House, or defend ourselves against outrageous claims from Dick Cheney. We can't let them dictate the national conversation.

We have a fundamentally different vision for our security than the Party of Bush. We want a new direction in Iraq, more competent security at home, and the restoration of America's moral leadership in the world.

And we have a plan to take that message to voters between now and Election Day with person-to-person outreach in all 50 states. We have staff on the ground ready to take a strong Democratic message to voters -- supporting candidates up and down the ballot and spreading the word that it's time for a change.

We're going to fight for the Democratic vision on national security -- will you make a contribution to help fund our plan?

http://www.democrats.org/playoffense

People trust Democrats to handle our national security. In the latest CBS News and ABC News polls, more people trust Democrats to make the right decisions on Iraq. And in the latest Newsweek poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans agree that the war in Iraq has not made us safer from terrorism.

Meanwhile, as Iraq descends into civil war and becomes a new training ground for international terrorists, cargo coming into our country still isn't being inspected.

While the Party of Bush scrambles to write its latest talking points calling anyone who opposes them "al Qaeda types", nuclear materials sit unguarded in the former Soviet Union.

While the administration organizes lawyers to try to salvage its illegal domestic spying program, Osama bin Laden continues to remain free roaming around northwest Pakistan making videotapes five years after the tragic events of September 11th.

We're strong, we're right, and the people know it. Now let's get our message our to voters in all 50 states. Can you donate to help make it happen?

http://www.democrats.org/playoffense

Republicans have won two elections by instilling fear in people, and they're trying to do it again this year.

But it's not going to work. The President's foreign policies have failed. Iraq is sliding into civil war. Iran and North Korea are more dangerous than they were five and a half years ago. And the Taliban continues to present a threat in Afghanistan.

People have had enough. This administration cannot be trusted with our security.

Democrats are going to reclaim American leadership with a tough, smart plan to transform failed policies in Iraq, the Middle East and around the world.

We will double the size of Special Forces to destroy Osama Bin Laden and terrorist networks like al Qaeda.

We will implement the bipartisan 9/11 Commission proposal to secure America's borders and ports and screen every container.

And we will fully man, train, and equip our National Guard and our police, firefighters and other first responders.

Let's get this message out to Americans who need to hear it:

http://www.democrats.org/playoffense

When it comes to national security, the Republicans have not led.

We will.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Chairman, Democratic National Committee

P.S. -- We are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq. That's $2 billion each week, $267 million each day, or $11 million each hour. For what we spend in three weeks, we could make needed improvements in order to properly secure our public transportation systems. For what we spend in five days, we could put radiation detectors in all of our ports. And for two days in Iraq, we could screen all air cargo.

Can you donate to help make those things happen?

http://www.democrats.org/playoffense

LIEBERMAN LOSS: LESSONS FOR BOTH PARTIES
Democrats: Stand for something
Republicans: Your Iraq BS is over.
CT. SENATE CANDIDATE NED LAMONT

The loss by incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman to DFA-backed candidate served notice to the Washington DC Establishment that the time has come to stand up and be counted.

For six years, we've heard from the smug, failed leadership of Republicans and Democrats alike on Capitol Hill. Now the voters have spoken -- and it's not a message that is going to be well-received by the "don't rock the boat" entrenched status quo Dems on Capitol Hill.

The biggest reason Lieberman was rightfully defeated was that he repeatedly supported policies of failure. The Lamont voters aren't wild-eyed love-in peaceniks. They oppose the Iraq War, for the most part, because it was founded on lies and, more importantly, it's a failure, an utter fiasco. It only persists because no one has the guts or wherewithal to stand up to the lies, thuggishness and bullying of the Bush Administration. We have a continuing war because the people who began it aren't men enough to admit their mistakes.

---Buzzflash editorial

There will come a time in the near future when a politician will lose all pretense of politeness and call this Iraq occupation exactly what it is:

THE BIGGEST BLUNDER EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, AND PERHAPS IN RECORDED HISTORY.

How much more "evidence" is necessary for the American people to put a stop to everything happening in our name around the world and here at home? The expense to our country will be felt for generations. The poor leadership and failed stewardship by the Bush administration of American interests globally and domestically for the past six years will undoubtedly plague us for the remainder of our lives, and possible our children's lives as well.

Ned Lamont represents to us a change for those of us actually concerned about real security, not the lipservice sell-your-ports-to-the-terrorist-bankers-UAE cronyism that the neocons pretend is security.

The American electorate has given the neocons all the chances they can take, and finally seen the rhetoric for what it always was: empty words designed to scare and exploit.

Oh sure, we'll see a LOT more of it between now and November, but the reality is that the public, except the die-hard ideologues that are a shrinking minority, is out of tolerance for these insane traitoroous profiteers.

Because the policies Lieberman champions for the Bush Administration are merely the fig leaves that cover up unprecedented failures that in their bumbling implementation and multi-year bankrupting of America weaken our nation in a way no terrorists could.

Ned Lamont represents the Democratic Party members who are concerned about national security based on reality, not neo-con fantasies that have totally flopped. Lamont represents the Democratic Party members who don't believe America is safe as long as someone capable of the lunatic, inconsistent, mendacious and arcane proclamations of Donald Rumsfeld is in charge of our defense.

If the Capitol Hill Dems don't back Ned Lamont, they will have the fight of their lives on the their hands. But it won't be with the Republicans, with whom the DLC is so chummy.
It will be with Democratic voters who are ready to throw out the elitist Democrats who value their cozy jobs more than they do the will of the people and the security of our nation.
If these Dem "leaders" continue to stay arrogant and unwilling to heed the call of democracy, they will share the fate of Joe Lieberman.

Find out more about Ned Lamont here