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Edited on Thu Apr-27-06 10:33 PM by mtnsnake
This is what I think, anyhow...
Why they win:
When it comes to picking an issue to be the theme of their campaign, they are experts at picking an issue which you can't attack without coming off as unpatriotic or anti-social. And when you can't attack the other guy's theme, then you're perceived as coming up with no new ideas of your own. You know the old saying that Repukes love to spout...."Democrats offer no solutions; they only piss and moan". So even though people might think Republicans are "bad", they're led to believe that Democrats are no better because Democrats are perceived as not having anything better to offer themselves.
A couple quick examples:
The Iraq War. This was really the only issue that counted. The Repukes made this their theme and there was no attacking it. If you attacked it, they made you out to be a traitor. If you didn't attack it, then you presented no fresh ideas of your own. They knew we had few options: We could be anti-war and come off as being unpatriotic, soft, and wavering, so that choice wasn't really an option. Another choice was that we could make our own theme a war theme, too, which is just what happened. Only trouble is, it became a "we're better at war than you are" game, and that took all our concentration and energy, considering Bush was the incumbent president. Ugh. Democrats fell into the trap of trying to look like Republicans all because of a corrupt war. Went over like a lead balloon.
Another example...the one I'll bet they're going to use this November:
I'll wager odds that Republicans will make their theme of November energy and drilling in the Arctic (ANWAR). This is obvious. That's why we're seeing all these artificial price swings on gasoline. They're setting us up. They want prices to be obscene right now in order to maneuver ANWAR front and center. They also want prices to be obscenely high so they can lower them in time for the elections, something I already posted a week or so ago. But you say, why would they want ANWAR front and center? Well, it's to make Democrats come off once again as being un-American. When drilling in the Arctic is made their campaign theme, their spin doctors are going to stand up in front of the country and spew out how we've got all these untapped oil resources in Alaska that could free us forever (yeah, right) from foreign oil dependency and knock the socks right off of gasoline prices at the pump (yeah, right, sure). They're going to portray Democrats as being responsible for costing good citizens, Average Joe and his family, all that extra money at the pumps because we won't let them tap into all this gushing underground oil in Alaska. They'll say what they always say...that all Democrats do is whine, but they offer no solutions.
Making high energy prices their theme will be double jeopardy. If Democrats fight against it, as we have been, we're going to come off as being anti-social because we'll be perceived as not wanting to people to save money at the pumps. We'll also come off as being unpatriotic because we'd rather save a few animals up there in some barren chunk of ice than save our entire country from being at the mercy of terrorists. Surely keeping the country safe from oil producing countries is more important than a wolf or two (Just for the record, those wolves are more important to me than any friggin oil exploration in Alaska's protected wilderness).
Another example:
Taxes. Republicans beat us all the time with this one. It's an issue that average American Joe just doesn't understand and never will. As long as Joe is promised a couple hundred bucks more come tax time, he doesn't give a rat's ass if the wealthiest of Americans are handed millions of dollars in tax breaks on a silver platter. Joe doesn't care that the rich keep getting richer and he keeps getting poorer, having to work extra jobs on the weekends to feed his family, as long as Republicans give him more tax breaks than Democrats. Democrats haven't figured out a way to make this issue a winner for them and it's killing us.
Why we might continue to keep on losing:
We're famous for falling right into their traps. The Republican think tanks are always two steps ahead of us. These gas prices aren't any accident. What's happening at the pumps has been carefully plotted and planned for years. They'll be the issue of choice, and Democrats will once again fight them on their own issue (drilling in the Arctic) instead of attacking them with our own issue.
Instead of picking our OWN issue that THEY can't attack without coming off as anti-social or unpatriotic, we instead fall into the trap of making THEIR theme OUR theme, too. Democrats still haven't been able to pick a theme for an election that will make the OTHER side look anti-American if they attack it. Until we learn to do that, we're going to continue to lose. We CAN do it, we just have to think ahead and pick the right theme. We can't let them dictate what the theme of elections will be any longer.
How Democrats could turn the tables:
When it comes to energy, we need to continue fighting against drilling in ANWAR because it's the right thing to do, but we need to make OUR energy issue that of fighting the oil companies themselves. When they talk about ANWAR, we need to talk about Big Oil. We need to figure out how to make anyone who attacks our theme come off as being unpatriotic, etc. We need to show that Republicans and the big oil companies are all in cahoots with each other and that Big Oil just happens to be buddies with OPEC. If we do it and if we do it right, then the other side will have to defend Big Oil and THEY will come off as being unpatriotic, anti-social, etc. If we repeatedly associate US Big Oil with OPEC, and Republicans with Big Oil, then sooner or later the sheeple are going to associate Republicans as being the real bad guys. We just need to say, say it loud, and say it often.
We can't let them make the focus be only ANWAR, even though we must continue fighting against such drilling at the same time. We need to take the offensive and make the focus Big Oil companies and how they're screwing Average Joe American. Pick our theme and remain focused on THAT.
I have in mind another issue that I think we should make a focal point of our next campaign, one that will back the repukes right into a corner, but I'm too tired to talk about it now.
mtnsnake
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