Why We Lost In Massachusetts. (And what to Do About It) UD w/ Poll link.

[Blue State Bandit]

Preface:

I posted this on Daily Kos about 10 minutes before the posting of the Research 2000's poll on Kos. I was pretty much laughed off by 2 of the "heavy hitters" (one with over 1000 comments on their coverage of the election. I have yet to receive an answer to my retort.

Read the comments http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/20/827737/-Why-We-Lost-In-Massachusetts.">Here. and polling justification http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/20/827720/-POLL:-Scott-Brown-Voters-Even-Wanted-Public-Option">Here, in their own Recommended Diaries list(#2 currently).



Independents don’t vote for PUSSIES!

And here's the proof:

Obama and the Democrats won Independents in ’08 because of what we ran on.
1. Closing Gitmo takes balls.
2. Confronting Wall Street takes balls.
3. Drawing down in Iraq takes balls.
4. Trying terrorists in Federal Court takes balls.
5. Admitting past mistakes takes balls.
6. Reforming health care takes balls.
7. Confronting the Mid-East Peace Process takes balls.
8. Calling FAUX News on their BS takes balls.

This is what Obama ran on, and they loved him for it!

Independents walked away last night because all they saw was;

1. Democrats get punked by the Senate Super-Minority.
2. Democrats get punked by Wall Street
3. Democrats get punked by the health industry.
4. Democrats get punked by Joe Lieberman.
5. Democrats get punked by sellouts in our own party (Conserve-Dems).
6. Democrats get punked by FAUX News.
7. Democrats get punked by a few Tea Baggers waving guns and self-emulating Commie/Fascist/Nazi/Homo signage.
8. Bloggers and Pundits, whining on line and the TV box about all of this, but nobody taking to the streets and putting the fear of God into 1 thru 7.

For real now. If we don’t hit the streets, and I mean soon, you can forget about 2010 and 2012. And if you’re just going to sit there and key-snipe me from your cubical, because you think I’m talking about you; that “you’ve done plenty”, instead of doing something to prove me wrong, then I thank you for making my point for me. Those who have actually gotten out there in the wild and have done the hard work know who they are (h/t to you).

Are you going to let a hand full of whack job, gun toting, sycophants; bought, conned, or prodded by fundamentalist corporatist ideologues who could give two shits about anybody but themselves and their power over the masses?

Are you going to let them call you Nazi terrorist loving cowards; Let them piss on our parade and call it rain; Let them rob you blind, stick guns in your faces, completely fabricate the past, and threaten your children’s’ futures?

FUCK THAT WEAK TEA SHIT! It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee!

I’m calling on all you Greatest Thread/Diary/Post Regulars (and you know who you are). I have followed you guys and gals for years. I have great respect for 98% of you (and general respect for the rest), but it’s time to show up. It’s time to put those combat boots on, bite the bullet, and rally the troops, ‘cause it’s time to march.

It’s time to put out the call. Start calling for mass rallies, boycotts and especially, counter-protests. If there’s a Tea Party in your town, we had better be shutting them down. If they’re having fundraisers, don’t let them within blocks of the place.

We need to rally support for, and organize an on-call bussing fund so;

• when Wall Street gets out of line on a Friday, we shut them down on a Monday;
• if Rush Limbaugh threatens another Democratic official, we go to Limbaugh’s cave;
• if Tea Baggers are trying to intimidate our people into voting their way, we go to the busses (as opposed to the mattresses).

Run it like a flash mob. If our elected officials are scared of a couple of moon-bats screaming “baby-killer” outside of their local offices, imagine what they will think when a few thousand of us show up? Imagine how they will vote then?

We have to support our people. These threats from the Tea Baggers aren’t benign. Part of the problem is that some of our people, including our president, are being threatened with physical violence. They need to know that if they have our backs, we have theirs, and if that don’t work, we primary them: end of story. We have not shown them this.

What are we going to do, fend off the barbarian horde by swinging our keyboards at them like they’re flies? How safe would you feel if I said “I got your back”, but it was from behind 550 miles of CAT5, a firewall and a flat screen monitor? With 10% unemployment, I’m sure that there are plenty of people available for some good old fashion mass demonstrations; we could call them “Protection Details”! Just bring the BBQ and feed them.

Now I rarely get more than a few positive recommendations and maybe 20 responses to any of my sporadic posts, and that’s fine. But you have the readership; you have people that will click on you just because of your Name Recognition, UID or Trusted Status. I get my point out when I need to vent, and then I go on with my life. But as those lives we have get worse and worse, I have two choices, and so do you. Bend over and take it, or FIGHT BACK!

If you don’t heed these words, don’t expect Independents to vote Democratic anymore.
Cause they don’t vote for PUSSIES!

[BrklynLiberal]

1. and....

9. We got punked by Olympia Snowe.
10 We even got punked by Max Baucus!!

[Blue State Bandit]

2. That's what I'm saying!

Thank you.

[pocoloco]

3. "Bend over and take it, or FIGHT BACK!"

Now you are talking!!

.........woops,....... already bending over.

[Blue State Bandit]

4. Time to barge in the room...

and catch them with their pants down.

Scare them into shape.

[deaniac21]

8. Sometimes bending over is fun!

:evilgrin:

[Blue State Bandit]

11. And if this was the guy holding your hips?

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Nice rant.

:thumbsup:

[jmondine]

6. Like it or not, we live in a society with extreme femiphobia

No matter what any politician's policy stances, if they are perceived as, "weak", "wimpy", or, as you say, a "pussy", they will lose independent support.

[Blue State Bandit]

7. Unfortunately, this is how they feel...

and the shame these words should incur, are unavoidable.

[Edweird]

9. I don't think a pep rally is going solve, or even address, the underlying issues.

[Blue State Bandit]

10. Who's cheerleading?

Where do I advocate "cheerleading"?

Are you advocating laying down and taking it?

[rucky]

12. K&R

[crispini]

13. Excellent rant.

However, I just have to complain momentarily about the fact that "pussy" (female) is a synonym for weakness. I don't know about you guys but my pussy ain't weak. We need a new word for this.

[Blue State Bandit]

14. To you, I apologize, but not to those...

who earn the moniker.

Anger is a funny thing like that though.

It makes you do extreme things, like curse, or vote republican.

[crispini]

15. So, back to the SUBSTANCE of what you actually wrote --

calling for rallies and demonstrations and so on. I do agree with your tactics, but I think you need to either direct them at a specific organization, or consider starting an organization. A generic call for demonstrations isn't going to get you far. And, at least in my town, demonstrations are usually organized by a group or committee-- they have to be, they have a built-in audience and they have the people and the persistence to actually munge through all the logistics in order to get it done. Demonstrations don't just appear out of nowhere, they require a lot of pre-planning and person hours and cat-herding -- even if you choose a public place where you don't have to get a permit, you still need a group, you need to choose the time and place, you need to make signs, you need publicity -- etc.

In my town, most demos are organized by Code Pink or the Peace Center. There's always an opportunity to protest GWB here, haha. However, I think that those are not the KIND of protests you are looking for.

I suggest, as a next step, that you look into the kinds of pre-existing organizations that might be interested in calling for demonstrations, and try to talk specifically to them and to their membership about your idea. DU, sadly, is really NOT much of a hotbed of boots-on-the-ground activism; although there are many good activists here, overall, people mostly just come here to talk, although some stuff does get organized here, it's not much.

However, MoveOn.org would be a good fit -- national organization with people who are used to getting out and doing stuff (like house parties) although I don't know how to "talk back" to them as I haven't been on their site lately. There are also some internet-based progressive groups that I can't remember right now. If you can't find someone who is interested, at that point you might look into trying to start something yourself, but that's a lot harder than talking to existing organizations, and also you're going to have to have coalition partners in order to be truly effective, so I'd start off with seeing what's out there first because you're going to have to try to make those connections anyway eventually.

I think your plan needs to be more specific, too. Not just a generic call for demonstrations, but specifically, who and why, or at least more examples of your ideas about who and why. Specific plans get bought-off on or at least offer room for discussion and improvement -- non-specific plans don't.

Anyway, just my two cents -- good luck!

[Blue State Bandit]

18. Thanks, anything that happens...

would have to be with existing infrastructure. I had tried before to start an org; got the website, partners, ect, but without start up capitol, it becomes all consuming and, to put it bluntly, denied me the ability to scrape out a living.

On the up side today, I've been basically out of work for the past 2 month after training to become a solar PV/SHW designer and installer.

What I was hoping to do here, besides jarring my readers (and maybe shaming a few), was to propose that existing groups act in coalition to form a "quick reaction force" that can be called up within days as counter-protesters for Tea Parties that are announced over the 2010 cycle. With 10% jobless rates (more if you count those who gave up), there's plenty of available boots.

It's a reaction to the lack of ruckus; we always hear about the Tea Party protesters, but never the lefts protests. Part of that problem is corporate media ignoring us, but the other reason is that the ones we have thrown have been lame. They attract no attention because were not making it impossible to ignore.

If FAUX ignores us, surround there offices and force them to acknowledge us. When corporations abuse the new SCOTUS campaign finance laws and get caught running front groups, we surround there offices and tie up everything in their neighborhood.

When they call for a protest at a wavering Democrat in an attempt to scare them into voting there way, the call is made, people who are pre-registered as "Protection Detail" volunteers, get picked up by buses that are paid for from a dedicated pool account, and within days, we can provide a large enough counter demonstration that would help to bolster the confidence of that elected official. If they don't respond to our overture, we cut them off, leave them high and dry. We demand the Dems stop raising funds for them, and show up at there door steps and yell at them. They will get the message. "Lead, follow, or get out of the way"!

And can we march on Washington yet? The inauguration was nice and all, but the love fest is over. We have to go down there in large numbers and with chips on our shoulders. We need to go as democrats, but we need to show our disappointment in person.

It's like writing letters to congress, e-mails are nice, but when a Senator is getting thousands a day... We all know they don't get read by anyone higher than an intern, if it's read at all. But if you send a self addressed envelope with your letter inside, it's more likely to get the Senator's attention.

Blogging and whining digitally lacks the "personal touch" or maybe it's better described as an "in your face" quality.

This is why I posted this on Kos as well, because they have (sorry skinner) a larger audience. But it seems their bloggers just want to sit behind keys and cause problems.

Thanks again. Every penny counts these days.

[seabeyond]

16. what a DICKHEAD. a perfectly fine post....

but ya gotta be a dickhead about it.

[jpak]

17. be a pussy, stay home and pout, or vote for RW teabaggers

yup

[Blue State Bandit]

19. Dems will stay home, but the Indies will burry you.

Dems that stay home only cost you one vote each, but Indies it's two; the one you lose, and the one your opponent gains.

DEMOCRATS LEARNING WRONG LESSON FROM MASSACHUSETTS? EVEN SCOTT BROWN VOTERS WANT THE PUBLIC OPTION, WANT DEMOCRATS TO BE BOLDER

HEALTH CARE BILL OPPONENTS THINK IT "DOESN'T GO FAR ENOUGH"

by 3 to 2 among Obama voters who voted for Brown
by 6 to 1 among Obama voters who stayed home
(18% of Obama supporters who voted supported Brown.)

VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT THE PUBLIC OPTION

82% of Obama voters who voted for Brown
86% of Obama voters who stayed home
OBAMA VOTERS WANT DEMOCRATS TO BE BOLDER

57% of Brown voters say Obama "not delivering enough" on change he promised
49% to 37% among voters who stayed home
PLUS: Obama voters overwhelming want bold economic populism from Democrats in 2010
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/20/154146/129">POLL: Scott Brown Voters Even Wanted Public Option

Asside from the Dems that voted for Brown (which concidering the disrespect they felt after feeling ignored by the national party, and Coakley's devastatingly rude and un-Kennedy like decission not to earn their votes by waiting till the final week to ask for their vote, you can't totaly blame them), it's the Independents that should bee the focal point.

They voted FOR Obama, then voted against his candidate. The only way to get them back now is to take a stand and prove that he's willing to fight for what he believes. They don't care about party, they care about leadership. And if you don't show it, they won't walk with you. Period.

[ChiciB1]

20. "Tweety" Needs To Read This And DIGEST It! Last Night On His Show

he kept jumping on Howard Dean about HOW "the left" didn't turn out, and how "the left" didn't support HCR! He barely let Dean get a word in edgewise! What Tweety doesn't "get" is that "WE" don't like this HCR! So "the left" doesn't want THIS piece of crap to pass!

We on "the left" will compromise on issues, but we don't want a GIVE-AWAY like the one we're seeing!

And to all the points the OP is talking about... WELL, I can completely agree with!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

21. real, active progressives must also know the supremacy of the cojones, I guess?

Goddammit, you are so absolutely right about the need for action and outrage now. Another poster advised organizing that action, which I think is dammed good advice.

But GODFUCKINGDAMMIT, why must you also set up a polarization between good masculine worthiness and bad feminine worthlessness?

There are a fucking lot of women who are progressives.

So fucking tired of living with constant devaluation, constantly reminded of it even among those who supposedly advocate for human rights.