Well, it's about time! For far too long, the Democratic Party--with the complicity of the M$M--has allowed the Republican Party to define the message. It's time for the president to be a leader and explain how this recovery and stimulus plan will work and exactly what it would do for the American people! He needs to put his plan in explicit, simple and understandable terms so that Americans will have no delusions of what the recovery package is calling for. The genius of the Republicans is their exploitation of language; their use of simple terms and phases that seem to get Americans to respond to their points of view. It's time for the Democrats to find a message that resonates with the American people by putting it plain, simply terms!!!
I just hope it's not too late. When I hear Democrats and even some liberals repeat what they've heard on the T.V. from Republicans and pundits, I want to beat my head against the wall.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/02/stimulus-spin-war-obama-t_n_163305.html?view=print-----------
<snip>
Barack Obama is slated to sit down with the five major television news networks tomorrow, a media play that is almost certain to be part of a broader effort to sell his stimulus package to the American public.
The president will conduct interviews in the Oval Office with ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and FOX News on Tuesday afternoon, according to the official White House schedule. The sitdowns come at a delicate time for the president, with concern mounting in Democratic circles that much of the debate over the stimulus has been dominated by the GOP.
Officially, the White House says it is not concerned with how the legislative process has played out. But, in private, party officials have grown acutely frustrated that the Obama White House, Democratic National Committee and congressional Democrats have not mounted a more effective defense of the stimulus package as Republicans seek to tar it as a "spending bill."
There have been "zero marching orders" to "push back on the negative, push the positive, or undercut Republicans," said one Democratic official. "I assume it's taking some time to organize internally too..."
Added another -- lamenting -- party strategist: "Democrats have let the Republicans run around willy-nilly, advancing a number of right-wing myths on falsehoods on this recovery package without pushing back with facts." But another aspect at play is, it seems, fortunate circumstance. Even so, Republican organization on the stimulus has been a sight to behold -- indeed, a common sight on cable news. While outside groups have begun running television and radio advertisements targeting vulnerable GOP Senators on the recovery package, they have not been supplemented on television and radio talk shows.
As documented by the site Think Progress, Republican lawmakers appeared twice as many times as their Democratic colleagues on cable news during the stimulus debate. And this discrepancy has skewed the stimulus debate in critical ways, progressives say.
"From misrepresentations of a partial CBO analysis to falsely claiming ACORN will receive $4.19 billion from the stimulus, the media has continuously misled the American people about the economic recovery package," said Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters.</snip>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/02/stimulus-spin-war-obama-t_n_163305.html?view=print----------
Many of you have accused me and other DUers who are arguing that President Obama and the Dems need to be more assertive and not allow the Republicans to control the message of either: (1) not supporting the president; (2) refusing to see the larger strategic picture; and/or (3) whining.
What many of us are simply saying is that the Democrats continue to allow the Republicans to control the message. They have been all over the media, on political commentary shows, punditry and Sunday morning talk shows...the Repukes have been EVERYWHERE selling Americans a bunch of lies and rhetoric about the stimulus.
Randi Rhodes was right the other day when she said that the Republicans did the same thing in 1992! They tried to block the stimulus bill then. Al Gore broke the tie in the Senate. Dick Armey then went on all the shows, as did most of the Repukes, calling Bill Clinton a "tax and spend liberal." They repeated the same talking points over and over about how the stimulus plan was a 'job killer'. And it worked!! As we know, the elections of 1994 ushered in a Republican revolution and the rest is history.
So instead of those of you hitting back on us who are simply pleading with the Democrats and President Obama to make their message clear and to hit back, please understand that we are frustrated. It is precisely because the Democrats refused to take a stand--and instead allowed the Republicans to define the narrative--that we keep losing these battles.
And while I understand that calls for bipartisanship may be part of a larger strategy, the Repukes are not politically stupid. I'm sure they have cynically challenged this notion and are acutely aware of the game. Sure, invite the moderate Republicans to the same; but at the same time, please don't be naive about what the Republicans are all about. In general, it has become a party who would rather see this country go down the tubes than lose the ideological wars!
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