So how do we turn 38% approval rate into a DEM controlled congress in '06?

[MissMillie]

Seriously.... there has to be something we can all do to take away some of the power of the GOP. We're stuck with the shrub, but we can take away his congress... can't we?

[KingFlorez]

1. It will take a lot of work

We have to convince people to vote for Democrats. Republican corruption is not enough, we have to step up to the plate and make sure people actually know about it.

[Bob3]

2. Well making the election a referendum on * would help

Alas it still sounds like the inside the beltway folks are thinking more about protecting their nice lunches and limos and not rocking the boat rather than demanding that these swine should be broken ,whipped and driven from the land. They don't want to do that cause the other side will get offended.

"If my language is offensive sir, it is because I am offended!"
(quote from Murder by Decree)

[blondeatlast]

26. I've said for some time now that we need to connect every R to Shrub.

If they've done a photo-op, appeared at an event, had dinner at teh WH, used him in previous campaigns--EXPLOIT IT.

Maybe the Democrats will shy away fronm this, but there are plenty of others that might be willing to play hardball.

I'm absolutely serious about this and I could not agree with you more.

Time to take the gloves off when the pResident's popularity is hovering in the 30th percentile. there is no need to play nice.

[Imagevision]

36. Regulate Diebold machines for openers - your votes won't matter

How many times are we going to be subjected to illegal-controlled voting "devices"

who's willing to tolerate another Ohio, another Blackwell? you?

[Roland99]

3. Don't run a campaign of Not Bush or Not GOP

Clinton managed to do it in '92 and again in '96. Hackett almost took a very conservative district in Ohio.

A mostly positive campaign but enough muckraking to expose the lies and corruption of the right.

Smart campaign managers and plenty of money for TV ads.

[MissMillie]

19. Not a negative campaign per se

but if his approval rating is so low, shouldn't we stress that we can weaken him by giving the Congress back to the Democrats?

[Roland99]

20. Oh, definitely. We want to point out the failed and harmful decisions

but need to offer alternative solutions or what would have been a better decision after criticizing the other candidate.

[Brotherjohn]

4. We HAVE to elect people who are vocally anti-war.

People who have the courage to say it was a lie, we were misled, etc. and we can't afford to let this happen again.

People who will point out, over and over and over again, that this war has made us LESS SAFE, not more safe.

To the extent that our candidates are not living up to this, we need to write their campaigns and tell them to BE vocal about this, if they are tip-toeing around it.

Above all, though... NEVER let them trap us into the "So what's YOUR alternative? What's YOUR solution?" game.

The point is, BUSH has gotten us into a situation from which there is NO good solution, NO good alternative. NO ONE will be able to get out of this cleanly, but BUSH has shown tremendous incompetence and duplicity in getting us into it. He has, therefore, forfeited his chance to try to get us out of it. The reins have to be taken from him, whether he likes it or not.

Also, of course, never let up on the economy. Ask Repubs you know... how much did you just pay at the pump? Boy, what do you think will happen if the housing bubble bursts?

[AndyTiedye]

5. We Have To Get Rid of the Diebold Republican Electing Machinez!

As long as Diebold is counting the votes, there is no hope.


Fixing the votes around the Republicans.

[hwmnbn]

7. you beat me to it.....

This is the real enemy of democracry.

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Gotta plan that'll work?

Seriously, everytime there's some thread like this one, people come in, cite diebold, and leave.

Just how, exactly, would you propose we get rid of diebold voting machines? Rent U-haul trucks and run 'em down to the dump? Dynamite? Ask them to take them back cuz they wanna make us happy?

I get your point. I agree they're a serious problem. I agree we have no confidence in the voting process. I think media consolidation is a bigger issue, but I get your point. (If the media were simply honest instead of the RW's propaganda arm, more people would know of the voting problem and more pressure would build against black box voting.)

But this kind of hit and run 'get rid of diebold' post does nothing to add to the discourse in any given thread.

[AndyTiedye]

31. Without Real Elections, We Have No Democracy

Seriously, everytime there's some thread like this one, people come in, cite diebold, and leave.

I'm not leaving.

Just how, exactly, would you propose we get rid of diebold voting machines?

I don't know. I have been supporting the efforts of Verified Voting.
That is obviously not enough.

I get your point. I agree they're a serious problem. I agree we have no confidence in the voting process.

I think we can be confident that any election that matters will
be stolen unless we are winning by a landslide.

I think media consolidation is a bigger issue, but I get your point. (If the media were simply honest instead of the RW's propaganda arm, more people would know of the voting problem and more pressure would build against black box voting.)

Certainly the fact that they own the media AND the voting machinez
makes our situation much worse.

But this kind of hit and run 'get rid of diebold' post does nothing to add to the discourse in any given thread.

If they own the media, what does it matter what our platform is?
Nobody will hear about it anyway.
If we can't get rid of Diebold, what does it matter who our candidates are? Our votes won't be counted.

I don't know how to get rid of Diebold, but we must find a way,
or we will never get our country back.

[Imagevision]

40. We Have To Get Rid of the Diebold Republican Electing Machine

exactly, what's the sense in having an election if the machines will be fixed as they currently are in San Diego election requiring a new hand count??!! it's bullshit, no more Ohio's!!!!!!!!!!!!! or Blackwell's!!

[rniel]

6. Maybe try something different than what Kerry tried

How about coming out against the war for example.

[AngryAmish]

8. By crushing our enemies

Removing them from where they are.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Two-pronged approach

1) As the poster above suggested, it should partly be a referendum on the Bushboy. Every candidate should say, "If you think George W. Bush has gone too far, vote for Democrats for the House and Senate. That's the only way we'll be able to rein him in."

I don't think the average voter remembers this fact from civics class: that instead of voting for the candidate whom you vaguely "like," you should vote for the candidate who will promote your views. The average voter does not think strategically, and candidates need to educate them on this point, not with a sledgehammer or a "you're so stupid" approach, but with constant repetition by every Dem candidate for every office from Senator to dogcatcher.

2) But that's not enough. To get the swing voters, the ones who pay so little attention that their only opinion of Bushboy is that "he seems like a regular guy," you have to grab their attention with something that's in it for them. Roosevelt didn't win in 1932 simply by criticizing Herbert Hoover, although he did that. He promised to shake things up and make life better for ordinary people, and he followed through.

The Dems need to have a massive strategy session to narrow down a set of issues (other than pouring more money down the Pentagon rat hole, censoring videos, and other lame, piecemeal DLC initiatives), no more than four or five, that every one of them from Senator to dogcatcher will repeat at every public appearance and in every interview.

They should start with a vision, not a mission statement, but a vivid picture of the America that they would like to see in the future. They should share this vision with the voters and enumerate four or five initial steps toward meeting that goal.

Now the DLC types always bring up, "Democrats are perceived as soft on defense." Okay, let's address that. Let's have our candidates echo the Republican canard of "You can't fix a problem by throwing money at it." Let's have them advocate reallocation of existing resources--getting rid of Cold War systems and strategies and using the money to meet the threats that actually exist today. Let's have them go after waste and corruption and demand to know how $2.3 trillion went missing in the past twenty years. Let's have them say, "No more money for the Pentagon till they find out who has that missing money."

By the way, here's the link for the $2.3 trillion figure, in case you don't believe it.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

[TheFarseer]

13. Yeah, we can't copy republican issues

You're never going to beat a republican by screaming about violent video games. That's their issue. If that is people's main concern, first of all, their an idiot, and second of all, they are going to vote republican.

We have to have our own issues, and they have to be issues that republicans haven't done anything about. Campaigning on anti-terror will never win for a democrat. That, again is their issue. If someone wants to vote on that exclusively, you will never convince them you will do a better job than a republican. We have to campaign on things like alternative energy, getting out of Iraq with honor, the deficit,immigration reform, outsourcing, healthcare reform, education reform. And saying more money for it is not enough. We need real solutions, not vague promises of money from Santa Claus. I know people will respond to real solutions for real problems. We're going to do exactly what they're doing only better is a freeking stupid thing to campaign on.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. You are well-named, Farseer!

:thumbsup:

[TheFarseer]

17. Thanks, I try

We should be campaign strategists!

BTW, shouldn't you be from Oregon, Cali, or Washington to have the name 'Leftcoast" :)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. I was living in Oregon when I first signed on to DU in 2001

I have since moved to Minnesota, where I live on the left coast of a lake. :-)

Before moving, I polled the Lounge about whether I should change my name, but the overwhelming sentiment was for keeping my old familiar monniker.

[rniel]

22. That reminds me

of what Kerry was trying to do. I'll do a better job than him fighting terrorism. Which of course is 100% true but voters didn't see it that way. Like you said it's basically their issue. It is too much of a gamble going after them on their own issues.

[mconvente]

14. I agree with those proposals 100%

Excellent proposals. I really think this nails it:

"it should partly be a referendum on the Bushboy. Every candidate should say, "If you think George W. Bush has gone too far, vote for Democrats for the House and Senate. That's the only way we'll be able to rein him in."

There it is. You don't like the war, the economy, etc., vote Dem because we'll fix it. And then point out local things your candidate has done and/or supported to fix our current problems. That should help.

[Telly Savalas]

33. Howard Dean needs to give you a job at the DNC.

Great post.

[mom cat]

10. By-pass the DLC and their compulsive self-sabotage tactics!

[Hidden Stillness]

11. We Have to Act as if We are the Alternative to Repubs, not Their Partners

Democrats have been led by a corporate cartel of consultants called the "D"LC, funded by Republican contributors, for so long, that the true voice and constituency of the real Democratic Party has been shut out of decision-making for many years now. Because of this, we lost our character as Democrats, and elected Democrats or the "D"LC never fight for our majority/American people's issues. If you think of a corporate slogan, for example, "Too liberal for America"--who said it? Whose slogan is it, Republicans or "D"LC? You can't tell, and that is the problem.

This group and its iron-fisted control of the Party has made elected Dems pale, weaken, grow silent, imitate neo-cons, until finally they faded away completely. We are not benefiting from Bush's total collapse because, after all these years of both Parties pimping and whoring after corporate money, and doing nothing to help the American people but only converting all legislation to tax cuts for rich people and subsidies for corporations, people do not think of us as a separate group anymore, and don't remember how great Democrats once were, for them. We will not be supported until we are not "Republican/'D'LC" anymore, but the real Democratic Party, acting naturally as a different group again, and doing something, anything, to help the American people. At least acknowledge that the non-rich people exist.

[ShockediSay]

12. Referendum - Stay the Course w/ Bush Policies or Time for a Change eom

[madfloridian]

16. Talk and think like them?

:evilgrin:

[CitySky]

18. This is a great question. Nominated.

We should be putting our time and energies HERE. If we take away Shrub's Congress we can least stop the bleeding, though with all of the corporate give-aways the Congress has passed these last 6 years, it's sometimes hard to see what's left.

Democrats need to speak to people's real values:
* fairness and opportunity for all, not systems gamed in favor of the rich;
* recognition that we are all in this together, and that working together we can address real problems like the number of Americans without access to health care, the steady increase in childhood poverty, and the poisoning of the air that children breathe.

Greed is not a family value. It high time that BOTH parties in Congress step away from the trough of corporate lobbying and campaign contributions and address our real problems. May the Democrats take the lead on this powerfully in '06 and beyond.

[XScharlie]

21. Simple.

That's a simple answer :D

I just hope you DU guys don't EAT me for saying it.

Throw Cindy Sheehan, George Soros and Michael moore over the cliff.

I'm originally a Southern Democrat... now a bit more progressive but believe this:

The Sheehan thing is damaging the Dems... EVERYTHING we do lately turns to sh*t when we touch it. We will continue to weaken to a 30% minority if we keep pushing the moveon.org philosophy of the America that 70% view differently than we do.

We need to go back to basics, things that WORK!!

The Republican's affiliation with corrupt crooked corporate America. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see this, BUSH allows an open door to illegal aliens at the behest of his puppet masters, CORPORATE AMERICA. BUSH tailors domestic financial policy for his financial BUDDIES, e.g. "bankruptcy reform".

The Republicans are becoming a party of "Christian extremists" at a "Taliban" ferver...

The TAX system is unjust and talk of a nat'l sales tax that will tax 100% of the income of a middle income family and 5% of the income of a CEO... that's just WRONG.

Foreign interventionism... we need to beat that drum, but NOT in the Cindy Sheehan mode, it's a LOSER for us. Casey and 1876 OTHER soldiers VOLUNTEERED for this and WANTED the action. I've hired several of them, I KNOW this to be true. Cindy just embaresses the cause and herself. Her own family has turned their back to her, if CAsey could do so, he certainly would, too.

SO basically, we need to get back to what works... abandon the FAR LEFT ideals and become a STRONG party with a message, not a minimalized party with a STRONG message.

Anyone agree??

[blondeatlast]

27. "you DU guys?" Don't you include yourself in that statement?

Oh; I guess not... you disrupted poorly indeed.

[renaissanceguy]

30. I don't.

Democrats blamed lefties for voting Nader in '00.

Now, they want to abandon the left again.

It will be 2000 over and over. We DON'T have to change our principles, but we DO have to fight for them.

And by the way... what's so wrong with "far left" ideals of peace, prosperity, and privacy?

[Dr Fate]

23. Simple- tell the blunt, unvarnished truth about Bush without apologizing

Say it loud and otften, and back it up with examples.

Oh, and show up.

[veracity]

28. Here's the ONLY way.....send this out!!!

...to the Cowards in Congress. Unless they know we mean business....we lose in 2006. This says it the way it is, and my wake up some of our wimps.

It starts out this way:

What shameful toads you are! Yes you, our elected lawmakers. Yes you, the folks we sent to Washington in our names. Yes you, the most spineless, cowardly and craven Congress people in history. Yes you, the most bullied, gutless and shameful herd of legislators ever elected. And you know exactly who you are.

Read it. Download it. Send it out if the shoe fits:

http://www.tvnewslies.org/html/cowards_in_congress.html

[Donailin]

29. by pressuring every elected official to start using the "L" word for start

I have emailed my senators and rep and demanded that they start saying it out loud. Bush Lied. The emporer has no clothes. This is what will mobilize every citizen in this country with a brain. The rest of the planet has a clue and has no problem saying it. Now it's time for elected leaders to start saying it and doing something about it. Or they can face their own extinction.

[Gloria]

32. Tie the whole GOP to Bush for 2008---make them ALL responsible...

then FIRE AWAY with gusto! None of this crappy DLC wishy washy stuff. Make it clear why we are better! COMPARE AND CONTRAST!

[Arkana]

34. Do what Robert Reich says--show why the Republican system

isn't working, but also provide a viable alternative. If we don't show up, they win by default.

[FogerRox]

35. Election reform & Dems who kick ass and take names

[kodi]

37. focus people, we need only one of the two houses to bring down bush

do not squander this opportunity. put the chips where they are most effective.

a congressional investigation by either the House or Senate controlled by the democratic party will crack open the bushevik regime like a ripe walnut.

a real investigation of the lies and perfidy of the bushevik regime would result in so many criminal indictments that the republicans would run out of lawyers to defend themselves.

[Cocoa]

38. immigration

somehow get ahold of the immigration issue.

The GOP is going to use that issue as a club to try to pummel all rational thought into dust, and the dems have to concentrate on neutralizing it.

[Massacure]

39. We have to run a candidate in EVERY district. EVERY.

For every candidate we don't run in a republican district, that is one extra republican campaigning in a competitive district.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

41. Idealism

Paint a picture of a better U.S.A. and the steps required to achieve it. Offering voters a trip back to the 1990s won't be enough to return the Democrats to office. There needs to be talk of real increases in wages, improving living standards and health care reform (social health care).

But potential (or real) fraud in the voting process remains.

[Sgent]

42. Contract With America

Two pronged approach:

We CANNOT blame * for everything that is wrong with this country/war/etc. We have to point out why Congress (as a whole) is corrupt and failures in their jobs. See 1993-4 when repubs talked about check kiting, tax cuts, Alzheimer's patients as chairmen of major committee's, etc. Shrub isn't running for re-election.

Then we have to provide a vision for what a D congress would look like. What bills will we pass, what issues are important? We need what Newt did in 1994, a contract with america on 5-10 major issues that we will vote on within 1 year (6 mos, 90 days, etc).

Without providing a vision of what a D majority would look like, the American people will (rightfully) assume that no real change will happen, and the devil they know is better than the devil they don't.

edit: spell

[Sgent]

43. Bump for good topic (nt)