What is the Biggest Political Mistake Liberals Are Making Right Now?

[Montagnard]

What steps do we take to correct that mistake?

[mdmc]

1. I am not sure that they are making any mistakes right now

:shrug:

I would like to see an up or down vote on censure. Other then that, I think that they are holdin up pretty good.

[stepnw1f]

2. We Are Not Marching Down to the White House...

...with a pitch fork and torch in hand. It's time to tar and feather the super rich supporters of this maniac.

[goclark]

50. And we are not saying catchy one liners

Dimson is Dim but they are still smart enough to turn our words on us.

I say we need to feed one line zingers for our leaders for every issue.

We need to stick it to them.

In stead of saying BUSH LIES, we need to start calling him PINOCCHIO!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. Being ashamed to call

ourselves "Liberal."

[Burning Water]

4. We consistently

underestimate our opponents, and fail to look for their motivations, preferring to think of them as stupid, and hence, unworthy of inquiry.

[godhatesrepublicans]

I'd say our leaders lack the will to fight.

Bartcop of Bartcop.com makes this point better than I can, but our "leaders" would rather seem reasonable than argue. We Dems have about 49.9% of the votes, and our leaders have asserted about 4% of the power.

[janx]

5. November, November, November... n/t

[Craig3410]

6. Severe lack of ballage.

Bush is as 34% approval, the GOP-led Congress is at 30%; for God's sake, just grow some balls and go on the offensive!

[Fovea]

12. I agree 100%

If not now, when?

I am still steaming over scAlito.
We need to make part of our 06 strategy
to come right out and declare that we are going
to impeach and indict all these NeoCon malafactors.

[omega minimo]

30. Severe lack of considering the source before answering the question

[seabeyond]

7. democrats are kicking ass and have been for a couple years. what

are the huge ass mistakes of repugs. priority.... focus.

[Montagnard]

11. What this post is about is strength

We cannot be doing everything right, so lets have the courage to see what we need to fix.

[seabeyond]

26. or focus where we are kicking ass and continue in that manner

instead of a continual of looking for and at the negative, continual of promoting only the negative. cause i tell you having run a business and being on a competitive team most my life, winners dont approach it in this manner. not even in the simple basics of raising children, the continual bashing time and time and time again of only focusing on the negative

so i disagree strongly with you

[Montagnard]

44. I did not say Liberals were totally in error, or even mostly in error

I was asking for how we get better....you dont get better by thinking you have achieved perfection. If you are perfect then that is as good as you are going to get. I think we can be better, always seeking to rise to a higher level. Evolving, if you will, you dont evolve then you die.

[Vinnie From Indy]

8. Not attacking the media directly and non rigged elections

The media has been the single biggest factor keeping Americans out of the streets calling for impeachment. The blindness of many Dem leaders in regard to the safety and fairness of our voting procedures is shocking and shameful.

[unblock]

9. being overly introspective.... d'oh!

:evilgrin:

[babylonsister]

Take a few days off for Easter, then return to do their jobs. Set

an example; their country needs them.

[Warpy]

10. They're finally starting to make noises about working class issues

like wages and jobs. That's what they need to concentrate on, with side trips into just how nuts the GOP has become with RADICALS in charge.

There is no way the GOP can counter a campaign centered on wages and jobs. There is no shit they can fling that will stick.

People out here haven't had hope for a better future for a very long time.

[seabeyond]

27. finally as in since gore in 2000???? sheeeeeit. n/t

[creeksneakers2]

13. Impeachment

A case must be built with the public first.

[bowens43]

29. It woulkd be a mistake to do this before the elections.

If the Democrats start publically screaming impeachment now it will work in favor of the republicans. There are many moderates out there who oppose bush and the republican congress(now) but who would not support impeachment. We NEED those votes if we are to take back the house.

[countingbluecars]

14. Attacking our own.

[BOSSHOG]

15. Believing that religious zealots love America

[Warpy]

19. Wow! How true!

That's why I'll be adding "unpatriotic" to "unchristian" when I describe support for the insane GOP agenda.

[BOSSHOG]

23. I'm a knucklehead liberal

and a combat zone veteran and there is nothing patriotic or christian about today's "christian conservatives" in America today. Their sole goal is to replace the constitution with the bible and they think that's a good thing. Knuckleheads like me ain't gonna let it happen. Please proceed with warp(y) speed with that message. Good on ya teammate.

[Taxloss]

16. Focusing on single issues a la carte and not building a

positive grassroots campaign. Leftists should be organising, volunteering, recruiting on a local level to build a lasting grassroots, not focusing on soundbites and media stunts (valuable though those can be). A positive, coherent policy should be built up - something that talks about poverty, housing, community, race, employment, inequality.

This is how the Christian Wrong took power, and it is the only way the American Left can take back power.

[madrchsod]

17. frame the game plan around the issues that are the

most important to the american people.

health care

energy costs

jobs

don`t bullshit the american people- come up with a plan that will work in the short term and the future
for god`s sake don`t scare the people anymore than they are now!

give the american people--HOPE....

i`m not holding my breath

[Coastie for Truth]

18. Al Franken and Big Ed Schultz both discussed this early in the week

CONCENTRATE ON THE "BIG" ISSUES THAT CROSS PARTY LINES

* Safe and Secure Pensions and Social Security
* Universal Health Care

WAIT UNTIL AFTER JANUARY 21 2009 FOR THE SPECIFIC CONSTITUENCU ISSUES

* Preserving Choice
* GLBT Rights

DON'T GO OFF ON TANGENTS THAT SCARE AWAY THE TRADITIONAL CONSTITUENCIES

That we lost to the Post-Goldwater "Southern Strategy" and Nixon's "Law and Order" and the "Christian Coalition."

We can face those issues after January 21, 2009.

Keep our eyes on January 21, 2009.

We can't do anything until we retake the White House, the House, the Senate, and the Courts.

[fasttense]

20. Not standing up for the middle class worker.

Propose legislation to increase taxes on corporations that send their jobs outside the US, severely penalize corporation who hire illegal workers and do not compensate illegal workers in the same manner they compensate legal workers, fine corporations who fail to fund and pay out pension benefits and health benefits, fine corporations who do not provide health benefits to all employees (or offer a nationalized health benefits plan), tax corporations who layoff workers, severely restrict visa use in hiring within the US.

Call it the middle class worker's relief act. Make a big to-do about proposing this legislation. Get party leaders to "advertise" legislation during speeches. Go on news channels about the legislation. Talk it up for months. Then present it before Congress. Even if it fails, repukes and DINOs would have to go on record that they don't support middle class workers.

[bklyncowgirl]

28. I agree.

I think that one of the biggest problems with Liberals is that we've gotten caught up in life style issues and lost the focus on what is good for the majority of people in this country.

The Republicans have gotten caught up in lifestyle issues too but they do it in order to provide a smokescreen for what they're really doing which is robbing from the poor and middle class to give to the rich.

We shouldn't be afraid of the term "Class Warfare".

[Coastie for Truth]

39. You have been listening to Al Franken and "Big Ed" Schultz

(I listen to them too ;) )

See append 18.

[leftstreet]

31. Refusing to admit they're actually Working Class

There is no "middle" class left.

[AbsoluteArmorer]

21. Cleaning House

Believe this or not, and besides the obvious about going after the GOP and making them accountable for all their corrupt actions, the Dems must also clean their own house of their own NeoCons. Yes my good Liberal friends, in order for any justice to prevail at all, it starts at home or the top. Once ACCOUNTABILITY is established in the Dem party will it finally have the power to hold true it's supporters in the correct way. The Republican party simply needs to go directly to jail before ever being trusted about anything.

Oh, another thing that MUST HAPPEN! Remove big business money ties from our politics. Then seperate church from politics also. If no one has noticed it yet, that is what drives ALL NeoCons in the first place. The people's money and the mind control that follows! Make the people's money accountable for everything it's used for... I MEAN EVERYTHING, and then the NeoCon's will look for other ways to steal the money and the power that goes with it as those types always will. BUT... until these things are done, we can guess all day long as to how we should fix the Dem party. Got to remove the 'established' bad guys first and their EASY access to our money!!!! That then brings us back to the original representation of the people of America.

[blondeatlast]

22. Assuming that we can, and must, appease the religio-political zealots.

They really are a tiny mionority of the voters in this country.

What we need to do to overcome this is just admit that they are lost to us and work on activating the enormous amount of consistent NON-VOTERS.

[SPKrazy]

24. Assuming That All Christians Are The Same

The vast majority of Americans are Christian

That means that to win elections, you can't bash Christians


I see anti religious threads and anti Christian threads on here a lot

I think that the liberals on DU are making this mistake

I don't know about the rest of liberals, I think probably they don't speak out enough or speak out in venues that don't get them noticed except by other liberals.

[Finder]

36. Many liberals on DU are Christians...

and there is no liberal vs Christian battle except the one the RW uses against liberals.

[SPKrazy]

46. As A Liberal Christian Myself, I Disagree

that there is not "liberal vs. Christian battle except the one the RW uses against liberals"

I find threads here all the time where posters cut down Christians as being foolish, or believing in something akin to Santa Claus

Now, I don't bash Atheistic Liberals, but the opposite has not been true on DU

so your statement that there is no battle except the one the RW uses is just WRONG!

[Finder]

48. that would be between atheists and christians...

not liberals as a whole.

[SPKrazy]

49. This Is True

but there seems to be a bias on DU

maybe that is too broad, but it does seem that way sometimes.

[U4ikLefty]

55. It "seems that way sometimes" because YOU are a Christian

and we all know how Christians have been tormented here in America. :sarcasm:

[SPKrazy]

60. And what I'd like to say to you

would be not allowed by DU rules

but I would have no problem saying it otherwise

[Finder]

56. That is why religion does not belong in politics...

As soon as it is introduced into a debate or discussion, all hell breaks loose.

Unfortunately, since so much that is wrong with politics today is related to the religious right, it becomes difficult to avoid. Many times the discussion is about that faction in particular and other Christians, moderate and liberal take offense.

[patricia92243]

37. Yes, yes, and more yes!!

[Craig3410]

38. That's the problem...

the Democrats need to find some way to effectively differentiate between real Christians and the hard-right fundamentalist Jerry Falwell "christians".

But how?

[Jose Diablo]

25. The biggest mistake I see

is believing we are in a democracy, thinking that voting will make a difference. I'd say that between the out and out election fraud and the corporate 'fixing' going on within both political parties, real democracy has been gutted.

The enemy is within the gates.

[Beelzebud]

32. Bashing each other on TV.

They need to use their TV time to bash republicans, not each other.

We bash Dems here a lot. But we aren't doing it on national TV...

[sandnsea]

62. Agreed, but we need to cut it out too

I'm not suggesting lockstep, but we do need to learn how to make distinct points without beating another Dem over the head. On TV, they just do it to score political points anyway, not understanding that they make the party look weak when they do it and that it hurts their own aspirations in the long run anyway.

And pretending that it doesn't matter if we do it on DU misses the point that the same people are doing it at their local Dem and activist groups, which only reinforces the negativity towards Dems.

[Finder]

33. Reacting to the opposition rather than framing...

issues. Also, adopting the "us vs them" mentality alienates many potential supporters.

I would also state that the term liberal is misdefined so often by so many(on all sides)as to make it impossible to know what a liberal actually stands for these days.

[azurnoir]

34. Trying to please everyone

the repukes don't care they know they have a following with the religious - political machine in this country but the Dem's keep constantly playing to those voters (*christians) who will never vote for them regardless SAY IRAQ WAS WRONG if you are one of the ones who voted for it admit you ah "misled" in to thinking there was a threat that wasn't and do not let the repukes get away with "you had access to the same info" sh*t.

[Dawgs]

35. EASY: Acting as one!!!

There are many great ideas, proposals, and amendmants being put forth by Democrats, but rarely do any of them ever get the support of the whole party.

Just look at the Feingold Censure, Murtha's Iraq withdrawal proposal, and the many ideas from Kerry or Reid.

[Hubert Flottz]

40. Playing like things are normal on capitol hill.

Being civil to tyrants and traitors.

[McCamy Taylor]

41. Is this thread for real?????RNC and Bush are making the mistakes.

I seriously wonder about some of the threads I see in DU. I mean, the level of Republican Congressional, Administrative and Party stupidity has never been higher. It is a topic of conservation in and of itself for the pundits, and yet we have a thread about what LIBERALS are doing wrong?


I don't see any need for us to beat ourselves over the heads for our own faults. The Repugs are being dumb as shit, mean spirited, corrupt, self serving, low life, hypocrites---and it is making the front pages and at least one network, NBC.

Here are some examples from my own site of stories that everyone in America has seen covered in depth on the news

"Congress Gone Wild"

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/050328.htm

"The Moronic Option" (Immigration Bill)

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/Flash/moron/moron.html

"Bush Spied"

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/051219.htm

"Domino Theory" (Enron, Iraq, Plame, Selection 2004)

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/050827.htm

And this is where it is all heading, and everyone in America knows it. "A Tower Struck by Lightning" from "Nixonians"

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/060128.htm

[Montagnard]

42. Yes, this thread is for real....we haven't obtained perfection yet.

I think we can be better. We must be better. We cannot win by running on "we are not those guys." We need to be ever vigil for ways to be better. That is the purpose of looking at our cause. We cannot afford hubris.

By the way, there are at least 35 good ideas for how we can be better listed so far on this thread.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

43. Not uniting against our common foe. Until we do that, nothing...

...we do as smaller, and divided, groups is going to matter.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

45. Still trying to be the "not as bad" party.

But, it would be difficult to anything other than what they are.

[DanCa]

47. The Greens and Dems need to unify.

As long as we don't the left has a split. Thats our biggest mistake.

[sweetheart]

51. Not producing a sound economic alternative`

that allows free markets to sort out global warming, by
pricing in the obvious unpriced public externalities.

[Lars39]

52. Accepting the hollowing out of the Democratic Party

by the New Democrats.

[U4ikLefty]

53. Answering questions from people whom disable their profile!!!

So please enable your profile.

[QC]

54. Fleeing in tears whenever someone accuses them of "class warfare."

I think it's time for some class warfare in this country.

[killbotfactory]

58. The rich elites have started class warfare already

And they are winning.

[meisje]

57. Not enough CowBell!!!!

[Bluebear]

59. Who knows? Let the RNC do their own homework! nt

[me b zola]

61. Leaving the Democratic Party

Let me begin by saying that I understand why so many are fed up and are leaving hoping to find representation from another party and I respect their right to do so--I just disagree.

The Democratic Party has been infiltrated by those who want to push the corporate/republican agenda. This is not only pushing the agenda quite far to the right, but it is destroying the message of the party. It has left most of us without representation in government.

I say the corporate types cannot have our party.

The vast majority of voters are not plugged in and informed as we are--in that sense we are a little bit of an anomaly. Those uniformed voters will mostly support a candidate because they have a D or an R after their name, and they have little or no idea of why Dems aren't doing any better for them than rethugs are doing. Until the majority of Americans understand that representative government depends on the average citizen educating themseselves on the issues and participating in the process, people will continue to vote D or R.


I believe that we have a much better chance at having representative government again much quicker if we work within the party to take it back. We should all be working at the local level to return the Democratic Party to it's liberal ideas and values. We should continue to support good progressive candidates.