What a real democrat sounds like. Or, how not to pander to the right.

While reading at dKos this morning, I came across a diary  by TXsharon about the candidacy of David Van Os. He’s running for Attorney General of Texas. Unlike the vast majority of today’s fake democrats who infest the power structures in DC, he has no desire to pander to the right wing as a way for democrats to win elections.
I wanted to keep this short, and direct you back to TXsharon’s excellent diary over there, but I also want to post a couple of short quotes, and two audio files to give you an idea of this guy’s positions. As far as I’m concerned, David Van Os speaks for me, because he speaks the truth. This east coast liberal is sick of being told that we need to give up our deepest held principles if we want to ever win elections. I’ll let David Van Os of Texas say it like it needs to be said.

In his own words:

Dare to Fight and Dare to Win.

It is time to discard the “avoid polarization at all costs” strategy, the “take no risks” strategy, the “appeal to everybody” strategy, and the “chase the middle” strategy. It is time to remember what Jim Hightower told us 20 years ago, “there’s nothin’ in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.” It is time to cease the followership strategies of scripting campaigns on the basis of what people thought yesterday in polls, and assert the leadership strategies of campaigning for what we know to be right based on our deepest convictions of what we want for tomorrow. It is time to stop worrying about whom we might offend if we speak truth to power, and start worrying about what value are our lives if we don’t speak truth to power. It is time to cherish partisan Democrats and reject nonpartisan Nothingcrats.

In his own words: (from a post on Texas Kos)

The new Texas Attorney General who is going to get sworn in to the office next January, after having been elected as part of the Texas Democratic ticket, is going to investigate possible connections between the possible fraudulent use of American military forces in Iraq and private corporate profiteering by corporations and persons doing business in Texas and engaging in activities in Texas.

Can you spell Halliburton? Can you spell Oil? Can you spell Fraud? Can you spell No-bid Contract? Can you say, “Fraudulently appropriating the Texas National Guard for the purpose of funneling illegitimate profits to corporate coffers?” Can you say, “Report to the People of Texas by their Attorney General on Possible High Crimes and Misdemeanors?”

And the audio clips

Constitutional Crisis

David Van Os’s message to George W. Bush and Alberto Gonzalez

Thanks to David Van Os for speaking the truth and reminding us all what real democrats look and sound like.
And thanks to TXsharon for making my day.

Peace