Dems foresake strategies of old

[babylonsister]

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/11/460666.aspx


From NBC’s Abby Livingston
OBSERVATIONS OF THE IOWA JEFFERSON-JACKSON DINNER

Oh what a difference four years can make. “You know in a little over a year from now, we will no longer have George Bush and Dick Cheney to kick around,” Edwards said. “And is that a great day for America? And I watch the Republican candidates. Giuliani, Romney, McCain, and…what I see is George Bush on steroids.”

Rather than following the Democratic campaign strategies of yesteryear and mimicking Republicans on national security, the 2008 crop of Democratic candidates burnished their donkey credentials. …And it is not just the homages to FDR and JFK that are hip again. The candidates poured gasoline on the already fiery crowd with words like “Peace Corps,” “Dr. King” and “Truman.” …Each candidate spent a good part of their speeches piling onto the current administration and the leading Republican contenders.

“Now here is the good news: George Bush will not be on the ballot,” Obama said. “The name of my cousin, Dick Cheney, will not be on the ballot. We've been trying to hide that for a long time. Everybody has a black sheep in the family. The era of Scooter Libby justice and ‘Brownie’ incompetence and Karl Rove politics will be finally be over.”

Biden joined in as well. “The Republicans, two weeks ago, had their ‘values conference,’ he said. “I can hardly wait to debate Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani or any of these guys on values. Tell me what is a higher value? Insuring every child in America or giving another 85-billion dollar tax cut to the wealthiest among us?”

The Republicans’ favorite punching bag, Clinton, sported in the Republican bashing, saying that the Republicans “deserve all the heat we can give them.”

…The Democrats also had something lacking in the last several election cycles: swagger. Emcee Speaker Pelosi insisted on introducing every single candidate as “the next President of the United States.”