The DNC: All the Wrong Moves

[jackstraw45]

The DNC REALLY really REALLY needs to get it's head out of it's arse and begin making GOOD decisions for the party.

If the DNC had leadership, moderate Dem leaders would be ALL over the air answering the lies and spin of Condi & Cheney today.

But, as with the 2002 election fiasco, the DNC is PLAYING IT WRONG.

I guess if Bush wins in 2004, we will FINALLY get the new leadership we should have gotten after the 2002 debacle.

[tom_paine]

1. No, if Bush "wins" in 2004

we get Gulagged within 10 years.

[bkcc]

3. if the GOP wins in '04

i'll be moving out of the country and starting an expat community.

[KissMyAsscroft]

2. The DNC doesn't even seem to exist!

As I watch the right wing pundits on TV every second lying through their teeth....where is the DNC rep? Where is the strong counterpoint?

Where are the moderate Dems standing up and telling the truth?

[jackstraw45]

4. Their "strategy"

appears to be to stand back and let things unfold.

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

They are letting the admin spin the story away and make the average, non-political junkie settle back in their chair and dismiss Clark as a disgruntled liar.

The DNC is DROPPING THE BALL as usual.

I'm still STUNNED that there wasn't a shakeup after the 2002 election.

Same leadership, same mistakes.

It's our party and I guess it's our job to spread the word online but it would be nice to have a little help from the DNC.

[Catfight]

10. Call for resignation of Terry McAuliffe !!!

It's time for change in the DNC as well. When Kerry made the decision to change his campaign manager, everything turned around for him...it's time to do the same thing. I call for a vote to oust this apathetic non-leader of the DNC. I call for Bill Clinton to step up to the plate and take his place.

[mhr]

9. The Democratic Party Does Not Have The Money To Fund Counter Spin

The Repugs have millions of dollars to fund the activities we see.

They have this money available 24/7.

Until Dems get serious about supporting the party with $, one will never see the same level of commitment.

[TheFarseer]

5. And what was Edward Kennedy doing on

Fox News Sunday or Meet the Press or whatever it was on sunday? Could we possibly have a worse spokesman trying to get the message out? Whether or not you agree with his politics, he's a frigging joke to most Americans.

[Bandit]

6. He is not a friggin joke to most Americans only Right-wing fanatics

Senator Kennedy is a very respected and hugely popular Senator from Mass. Who is a Friggin Joke to most Americans is Bush* and that is beyond doubt.

[slinkerwink]

8. this is the guy who said the Gropenator should run for President

:eyes:

[sadiesworld]

13. I've always had a great deal of respect for Ted Kennedy...

but that bordered on the unforgivable.

[jackstraw45]

16. I agree

It's not that ANYONE is bashing Senator Kennedy.

The question is whether he is the BEST person to go in front of the MODERATE and UNDECIDED voters of the country to make our case.

To win in 2004, the dems need middle class WHITE MALE voters to swing to Kerry.

Ted Kennedy is NOT the person to appeal to WHITE MALE voters. I'm sorry, he's just not.

Out of ALL the Dems in he Senate, he is NOT the person to put forward on a Sunday where a MAJOR blow to the administration occurs on 60 Minutes.

[Bandit]

19. He did not say that. At least while I was listening

What he said was that our laws were outdated and perhaps should be changed to fit the times. He said he was in favor of people being able to become president after being a naturalized citizen for twenty years or more. He also said if Ah-nold were to run he would not get his vote. But said Ah-nold had a very fine wife. He never said he wanted to change the law so Ah-nold could run. That is just not the case.

[leyton]

20. "respected and hugely popular Senator from Massachusetts"

Ted Kennedy is that, but so is John Kerry. I don't think it means much therefore when one respected and hugely popular Senator from Massachusetts defends another. Better if the surrogates were Bob Graham, John Breaux, Mary Landrieu, Fritz Hollings, Gov. Warner, Evan Bayh, etc. - a politician from another sector of the Democratic party. (Or even better yet, more of McCain or Hagel or a guy like Chafee!)

[jpak]

7. He did a damned good job on MTP

and he is not a "frigging joke".

[TheFarseer]

12. He did do a very good job on the program

but the thing about the babysitter and being made fun of on Jay Leno for drinking dont help.

[Az]

11. Winning

The DNC and by lead the DLC are concerned with winning. They look at the field before them and decide their tactics based on what it takes to win. They do this in the belief that without the win they cannot set the policy. But that is a shor term game.

The problem with their tactic is that over time they become that which they emulate to win. Instead of posing as centerists they become centerists. If the name of the game is to win only then we are on a path to mediocrity.

Instead of chasing the people we need to get the people to come to us. We cannot do that by playing the DNC/DLC game. We have to stand up for ideas. We have to remember why we support the positions we do. We have to prod the undecideds. If we win in name only we lose in the end.

If we are right about our ideals and right about our opposition being wrong then fighting for the middle ground only harms us. It blinds the people to the alternatives. If we lose while fighting the good fight and we are right about the conservatives being wrong, then their victory will be short lived. Instead by playing to the middle we become indistinguishable from the right. The people can detect no difference. And in the end they will be slowly choked to death due to a lack of vision on our leaders parts.

[Cocoa]

15. winning is their reason for being

they aren't bereft of ideals, but they are above all concerned with winning elections, as they should be.

Maybe you'll find what you're looking for in other organizations, like the new Center for American Progress.

[Az]

21. Please tell me the difference between sports and politics

Are we just rooting for Democrats because we like the name?

[H2O Man]

14. Imagine

if people on here were to become semi-organized in a decentralized way, and addressed these issues ourselves? For example, there have been a few people who have helped d.u.ers to participate in CNN polls, etc. That's a positive start. The next step could be something as simple as asking everyone to e-mail Fox News on Mondays to respond to whatever stupid thing Sean Hannity is doing that week. On Tuesdays, people could send letters to the editor of TIME saying that the new Clarke book is great. Wednesdays we could have good-natured voter registration contests, to see which states d.u. is strongest in. How many d.u. members are there? 40,000? Even if only half are active participants on here, then the d.u. is a 20,000 cylinder engine that is in idle. I am confident that there is no republican group of 20,000 that is satisfied to engage in idle chatter. We should be getting in gear.

[tobius]

18. an astroturf assembly!

cool.

[sangh0]

17. What are you talking about?

Have you (already) forgotten about how McAuliffe raised the AWOL issue?

And do you really think that someone is going to get up and say "I'm the DNC and I think Bush* lied"?

If you want to see the DNC in action, look at Kerry, Bob Graham, McAuliffe, Dean, Kucinich, Leahy, Rangel, Mosely-Braun, Edwards, Clark, etc...ALL DEMOCRATS

[jackstraw45]

23. Have you forgotten that

McAuliffe didn't "raise" the issue. He mentioned it 4 years after the Boston Globe story at a time when OTHERS had already mentioned it.

Hardly leadership on the issue.

So do you think the 2002 election was a VICTORY for the democrats?

McAuliffe taken out, I would think that a TRUE leader of the DNC would have put ANY of the dems you listed on MTP this past Sunday instead of Kennedy.

WHITE VOTING MALES LAUGH AT TED KENNEDY.

Do you get my point?

[oc2002]

22. If they lose in '04 the future of the DNC is very questionable.

Its sometimes better to 'junk' an old car, than to replace/fix the transmition, engine, .....


Same thing for the Democratic party. I see it splintering and reforming into a more diverse and focused institution that is more independent than the current DNC.

If they cant win this time, they never will.