No More repuke Ideas and Tactics!!!!!!

[cynatnite]

Should we use the London bombings to show bush's incompetence and gross negligence to benefit us? No, we don't have to. The pictures speak for themselves. Everyone can look and know that the war on terrorism isn't in Iraq. It's nowhere near Iraq. They also know it's not getting any better.

Do we need to make a deal with america? Do we need to promise, proclaim or make oaths to guarantee health care for everyone? Do we need to do the same with education, taxes, debt or the environment? No. A simple comparison of life under a democratic president vs. a republican one is proof enough.

What about getting down on their level of name-calling, slandering and spinning? No. The facts are on our side. They always were. Challenge anyone who supports bush and his cohorts to prove how much better life is now than under Clinton and smile when they attack and attack with no facts to support their argument. Use the government's own data and reports to refute their claims. Use the most right-wing publication to show how much worse off than we are now. Show them how bad the war is going, how many have died and use the words of this administration to prove their culpability.

Religion, moral values...do we have to preach those things and force laws into existence? No. If they can prove one instance of christian persecution in this country, show them ten, twenty or however many it takes of gay persecution, poor persecution, single parent persecution, artist persecution and even persecution of professors who teach. It's all happened. We know this. Show the persecution of those who refuse to think like them. Show the persecution of those who don't believe like them. Show the persecution of those who think. Also, remind them that to demand a person to prove their faith in God and to be a Christian is an affront to God. 'Do not tempt the Lord thy God'. It's considered a sin to do so.

My point of all of this is that I've learned a lot from Howard Dean. He has shown that we don't have to act like the repukes and neocons. We can fight our fight and do a damn fine job of it by not being like them. We can fight by being better than them. We can use the corporate media to our advantage. Rather than the media twisting the message, we use them to push our message.

Also, those in power have been imploding for quite some time. They just don't know how much trouble they are in. Blindness, I suppose. We don't have to kick the repukes while they are down. We can stand right next to them and it takes little effort to show how poorly they have served and cared for this country. Their attempts to turn the religious conservative clocks back with corporate big brother in their pockets has harmed this country. The only way to heal and grow is by looking forward to the future.

This is what sets us apart from them and this is why we can and will prevail.

[Mythsaje]

1. I disagree...

The average American needs to have his/her imagination stimulated. Simply comparing/contrasting won't do it. It hasn't worked so far, has it?

It's been slogans, catch-phrases, things that stimulate the interest of your average disinterested person.

[cynatnite]

2. We have to set ourselves apart from them

We make the messages our own. We don't have to compare and contrast. We take what they think they own. As it is now, too many people think there is little difference between the parties when they are actually farther apart than what most think.

If we use their tactics and ideas we are no different than them.

on edit: I want to be different from them. I want to show there is a better way. We know there is and have to force the repukes to fight on our terms...not theirs.

[Mythsaje]

3. We have to re-craft the message

Otherwise the only thing people will see is THEIR framework. They've been feeding the masses byte-sized pieces of manufactured reality--specially crafted illusion the average person can't see through.

We HAVE to give them another vision--we have to reframe the argument...otherwise whatever ground we gain will be too slow to stop them from actualizing their plans. A few more years and we'll have one hell of a time turning things around.

We have to get their attention now.

I don't consider this using their tactics...not lies, or spin, but by saying it clearly, in short bytes they can absorb. THIS is why we are different. THIS is what we stand for.

If we don't do this, they'll continue to tell people what they want them to think of us, and people won't have any other information to compare it to.

We have to unify our message--sending a thousand different soundbytes out there isn't going to work.

[cynatnite]

5. A unifying message will never happen.

I guess I just see this differently than most. The repukes use bumper sticker slogans that are more fit for rambo type movie trailers.

Considering the type of party we are, this does not work and I don't believe it ever will.

The democratic party is a big tent for a reason. Diversity. Diverse people, beliefs, ideals, thoughts, etc. Democratic party accepts and wants diversity. This is why a unifying message will never work.

The repukes are lockstep in everything. Their speech is one solid voice while the dems are not.

Diversity is the dems strongest asset, IMO. That's what hasn't been taken advantage of.

[Mythsaje]

6. This is true

but, then again, there are PORTIONS of our overall message (all-inclusiveness) that can be used to reach certain segments of the population who are currently under their thrall.

[cynatnite]

8. There is a lot of our message that can get through

In fact, I'd say most of it would.

We don't have to act, talk, or even be like them in order to do it. I hate hearing that the dems have to this or that like the repukes did. It sickens me.

There are a lot of people who think the repukes and dems are the same only they hate each other's guts. The more fighting people see over SCOTUS, abortion, and any other issue people care to name, it will only serve to disenchant the American voter.

It doesn't have to be like this.

This is where my disgust with the dem leadership comes in. The dems should be a constant on the airwaves and start saying what they believe and not what they think the people want to hear.

It's not just a matter of getting the message out...it's also about connecting with the American voter. That's what we should be doing. We should be speaking to their problems and their cares.

As it is right now, the repukes attack and the dems fight each individual one. It makes us look unorganized and out of touch. It's like we're jumping when they bark.

It may take some yelling over the bark, but I do believe it can happen. I also believe that when one of our own is attacked, we stand by and defend our friend. We don't bitch back like they do.

We are better than them and we can show it by our dignity, thoughtfulness, reason and passion.

[Mythsaje]

10. Oh, that much I agree with...

We can't come across as vindictive or bitter. We have to offer another vision. A unifying vision.

I don't think my "Oath of Good Government" is out of line...nor do I feel my "Talking Points" won't work. It's a matter of changing the message.

Lately they've been controlling the language we use for nearly everything. It's "Pro-Choice" vs. "Pro-Life." It's "Tax-Relief" vs. "Tax and Spend." As long as we allow them to control the language and don't contradict it EFFECTIVELY, we're capitulating to what has been, so far, a winning strategy.

http://sajewilliams.blogspot.com

[lvx35]

15. I agree.

I can't stop singing your praises having read this thread.

One of the biggest weaknesses the republicans have...and one of our greatest opportunities...is the fact that they don't get art. They don't get hollywood, the way our mind has been affected by it. These guys don't know what the "good guy" looks like or how to act like him...So they constantly do things like overstating their power to look tough, and end up looking like the evil empire, rather than the good-hearted underdog. But thousands of movies have taught us to love the good hearted underdog, and we must USE it!

[lvx35]

14. you are so right.

The dems and repubs are like the non-smoking and smoking side of a restaraunt...they are fundamentally different. The smoking side has a unifying cause or FOCUS, their enjoyment of smoking, which they all share. The other side has no unifying cause or focus, they just dislike having the smoke around when they eat, but their individual FOCUSes are very diverse. It could be said that the democrats are simply the "non-mass-conformity" party. Diverse in our focus, but under the same big tent.

[Cocoa]

4. we have to be better than them

there's nothing they'd like better than if we sunk to their level.

Then complete cynicism would descend on the country, and millions would drop out, including myself possibly.

And then they would win.

[Mythsaje]

7. We don't have to sink to their level

we can RISE to a new level.

[cynatnite]

9. Exactly!!!!!!!!!

You hit it right! You said what I was trying to say in seven words:)

:bounce: :toast: :bounce:

[Mythsaje]

12. While I appreciate Howard Dean

pointing out their hypocrisy, it DOES seem as though all we've got is venom sometimes.

But we have to show the American people MORE than that. We have to show that we have a vision of our own...which we can't do if we use THEIR language.

We have to come up with something else.

[Mythsaje]

11. Self-Delete

[lvx35]

13. Well said!

We have a fundamentally different set of strengths than them, and we should use them. The emotional button pushing tactics they use will do us no good, because such things are used for covering up the truth, and in this case, the truth is clearly on our side!

[flaminbats]

16. join the coalition of the willing...

willing to take lives from countries deployed in Iraq, not willing to offer info to help Spain and the UK fight terrorism.