When did the Democrats lose this election?

[Aleric]

This post will probably be censored but I still have an account so I have to try.

And, before you get up in my face I voted for democrats here in Texas. Weak, milktoast candidates that they were I voted for 'em.

So when did the Democrats lose this election? It was back in 2008. Yes, 2008. Back when Pelosi and Obama announced that Universal Health Care and Single Payer was "off the table." Now, it's not that this one issue made the difference. It wasn't about Health Care. It was a demonstration from the start that Democrats were weak and could not stand up against the Republicans. They violated a primary rule of negotiation and politics;

When entering a negotiation you will ALWAYS end up with LESS than your opening bid.

They took true health care reform off the table and wound up with a package written by the Health Care Industry. The dems have compromised at every turn BEFORE negotiations have even started. They were weak and they have been punished for it. Today, their best and only hope is to fire Harry Reid as majority leader. They probably won't and, as a result, the Republicans will continue to control the Senate.

But no. I'm sure that I, as one of the "professional liberals" that the democrats have demonstrated so much scorn for in the last two years, am at fault. No, it can't be the Republicans fault and it surely can't be the democrats fault. It must be those naughty progressives. We're unreasonable. We ask for too much.

Yet, look who won. Unreasonable people making unreasonable demands. Leaders need to have vision. The democrats have none. The Republicans vision may be a hallucination but at at least they sell it as vision and people will follow that - they'll even wander around lost in the desert for 40 years for someone with enough vision and conviction.

Democrats don't have conviction. They have compromise and capitulation. They briefly looked like they had a vision in 2008 but maybe that was just the reflected glow of the sun setting on America.

[cags]

1. My health insurance premiums went up almost 100 dollars a month. People aren't feeling change.

[rhett o rick]

15. Mine also. Up 35%. nm

[jb2u1]

31. 45% increase and I am healthy!

I thought it was supposed to get cheaper WTF? Are they trying to make it too expensive to afford so that more people will support socialized medicine? I trust Obama has a plan and it will work out, I just hope it kicks in soon as I can't afford this kind of change.

[guitar man]

55. I'm about to find out what my increase is

What happened to "keep the insurance you have, we'll help you pay for it" ? When does that kick in?

[RKP5637]

2. Agree!!! n/t

[Donnachaidh]

3. when they kicked the public option to the curb. n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

4. The minute Obama named Rahm Emmanuel

as his COS. And it just got worse.

[tibbiit]

8. agree agree agree

At first I thought rahm was a good choice who had seen first hand the clinton witch hunt. I figured he would take no prisoners to make sure that didnt happen to obama.
How wrong was I
tib

[Hell Hath No Fury]

62. His allegance has always been to --

Wall Street and winnig at any cost. When I heard that name announced any genuine hope I had about Obama went right out the window. I knew we were going to get sold out - that is Rahm's specialty.

[saigon68]

11. That little weasel is the cause of a lot of this = Arrogant Bastard

Good Luck Chicago

[tavalon]

19. As much as I despise that weasel, our turdblossom, Rahm Emanuel

he is just one in a cog of useless Democratic machinery. Unless Obama comes out swinging (anyone care to throw bettable odds on that?) and I will give him a month, I'm done with him and his triangulation. I'm way done with the teabaggers and their facilitating Rethugs.

We are the change we've been waiting for and the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress can lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.

Obama, as I see it, you have three choices FDR, Truman or STFU and let someone with more fire in the belly do it. You are a policy wonk and thank you for that but it just isn't enough anymore.

[chimpymustgo]

37. You said it.

[QC]

35. BINGO! n/t

[bvar22]

51. It wasn't just Rahm:

The DLC New Team

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)

At that point, I KNEW Hope & Change was just a clever Corporate Marketing Scam.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

60. Rahm, Summers, Kaine, Geitner --

It was all over from that point on.

[vi5]

5. Bingo.

Wasn't just that moment but a series of very similar moments. Catfood Commission...No Child Left Behind Part 2....Financial Reform that like everything else was more directed and protecting and saving Wall Street as much as it was every day people (and yes I understand there is some overlap but there shouldn't have been as much as there was).

[budkin]

6. When Obama tapped Larry Summers and Tim Geithner

[Upton]

7. HCR

not only did we end up with a bad bill, but it immediately gave the opposition something to rally around. With the economy in the shape it was in when Obama took office, it should have been his #1 priority.

[SoCalDem]

9. When Obama won the presidency....n/t

SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Oct-30-10 06:49 PM
Original message

The GOP didn't give a shit about McCain/Palin (or any of their would-be candidates) in 2008.

In the run-up to '08, the ones "in the know" were keenly aware of the gigantic mess their Boy-George had made.

They did stage some resistance to the Democratic candidates, but it was tepid compared to what they are capable of, and we should have realized that.

This was their planning stage.

I think they may have been a bit flummoxed by the '06 rout they had suffered in the senate & house, and that was where they planned to concentrate for the immediate future. Obama's large turnout guaranteed that many gopers would be ousted, so they set their sights on '10. The GOPers they lost in '08 were not the most message-centric ones anyway, and they were probably replaced by dems who would be very vulnerable the next time around.

By immediately stating the obvious, as soon as Obama was elected, there was never any doubt of their plan. There was to be:
NO HELP..
NO COMPROMISE..
NO NOTHING from them.

All they had to offer the nation, after eight long, disastrous years, was NO HELP. How could they do this?

Easy..

The focus would be on "the new guy" ...the one with all the hope & promise. The GOP was more than happy to hand him the giant load of FAIL they grew for eight years. In fact, they would ADD more fail onto the load, by using arcane "rules" in the senate, and by watering down whatever legislative measures that did get passed.

They knew they could count on the media to help them stifle any real attempts to clean up them mess they made.

There was ample time to nurture their bull-pen and help them prepare for '10. But it's not even really about 2010 entirely. It's about 2012. That's their Holy Grail.

The moneyed ones in the GOP, have always worked in the shadows, and they are very good at controlling "the message".

Time was on their side. They had plenty of time to close ranks and rouse their angriest supporters. Democrats have always had the mantra of populism, and republicans needed to claim it as their own. Sarah taught them a valuable lesson. Given a choice, people often prefer frosting to cake.

They set out to capitalize on her rabid supporters' blind devotion and eagerness to avoid truth & reality.

They were willing to throw the general populace under the bus, in exchange for a victory lap in '10 and an even bigger one in '12 if they could ruin what's left of "the black guy from Kenya's" term.

Oddly, "the bus" was a big part of how the planned to do it. What could be more interesting to the media-monster than busloads of angry people mobbing meek democratic congresspeople/senators trying to hold townhall meetings? The more screaming, the more airtime. August '09 was the Ft. Sumpter of their very own "war of aggression". Those trips in big ole buses that fanned out across America, were not randomly occurring events. It was a carefully orchestrated campaign to undermine legislators, and to pave the way for what was to come.

The "spontaneous" outbursts of "KILL HIM", at Palin rallies , "YOU LIE" at the State of the Union Address, and the gun-toting at rallies, were but precursors to test the water. Having sailed though those tests, are we really surprised that the election season of 2010, ushered in unlawful arrests, head-stomping and various & sundry "throwings to the ground" of anyone who dared to even attend a rally they were not personally invited to attend?

This is the season of the "stealth" candidate, and apparently it only garnered an occasional chuckle from the spurned media. These are candidates whose histories are so flawed, whose demeanor is so lacking, whose intelligence is so absent, that they decided to hide from all but their own coven of like-minded zealots.

WE know they are inept, the media knows they are inept...Hell..even THEY know they are inept, but it does not matter. What matters is plain old arithmetic. If they get the numbers they need, they can control the agenda. What they don't even realize is that while they are doing simple math (addition & subtraction), and gloating all the way to DC, their overlords..the ones with the money on the line, are lounging in penthouses & estates as they do their own math. Their math involves angles & formulas, but it's not geometry, calculus or algebra (or even Sharrons). They are angling to become even richer and their formula for success is the same as it's always been:

Coerce "small" people to reject cogent thinking
Deny "small" people real access to growth
Create division
Nurture nativism
Cultivate tribalism
Encourage xenophobia
Excite "the base" (base, in every sense of the word), by dragging raw meat issues amidst them whenever possible:
..........race
..........abortion
..........gay marriage
..........guns
..........god

2010 will seem like child's play, unless a LOT of democrats start taking the GOP more seriously, and start treating them like the poisonous creatures they are. They have shown us their venom for decades, and we have tried to "tame" them , we have tried to ignore them, we have tried to shame them. Until we quit trying to change them, and start crushing them , they "win"...even when they lose.

[kath]

63. +1000

Great post.

[napi21]

10. That was part of it, but the failure of the Dems to refute the

lies coming fromt he Pubs I think really did us in. Every issue that we won was slamed by the Pubs as being BAD. Health Care was going to cost you more, bankrupt the Country & unconstitutional (not to mention those Death Panels)! The stimulus was unnecessary and tripled the budget deficit. Obama raised your taxes, which is a complete lie, but so many Americans believed it.

I think not being able to prove to the American people that all those stories were absolute lies burried the Dems for this election. I don't know if the Admin didn't try hard enough to explain their programs, if WE as Dem supporters didn't fight the Pubs hard or loud enough, if FOX is just that powerful, or a combination of all of those.

[TBF]

12. Average folks just want to keep their jobs and homes -

it's not that difficult. There's no such thing as "jobless recovery".

[Xenotime]

27. Obama has saved or created over 3 million jobs.

He has done an excellent job.

[TBF]

38. The unemployment rate is in the double digits -

that is not an "excellent job" - it is what the youngsters now call "epic fail".

[nadinbrzezinski]

72. The official rate would be at over 25%

if they did nothing. Problem is that most people really are bad at understand anything more complex than dancing with the stars. That said, you got a point.... the stim package should have included a WPA and have been far more extensive. That is where the OP's comes in. He's got more than just a point.

Mark my words... country due to milquetoast politicos is GOING RIGHT... and so far right we are gonna wish for the good ol' days.

[rhett o rick]

13. Some think it was Rick Warren's Inauguration Prayer. nm

[Poboy]

14. 'Democrats don't have conviction. They have compromise and capitulation.' -yes

[CommonSensePLZ]

16. Maybe I feel like it was a few months ago, but hindsight's 20/20

I saw a bunch of despirited comments over the last few months that tended to feature the question "What have the democrats done?" I think the democrats were too modest, I respected that about them but I guess it's just no good for politics, the people need to be updated and reminded of what their politicians have done for them, especially in such an over-stimulating nation.

Starting in summer they should've been more vocal about their accomplishments and how they overcame the republicans in things like foreign policy reform, healthcare, the stimulus, all of these are things that helped America but that the republicans opposed as only they do, they've even said they thought the dems helped out too much.

Not Obama's doings, but DADT, gay marriage are practically non-issues. I think the republicans are horribly selfish and unfeeling and that the democrats are the best hope for America so I hope they'll be working even harder from now on. They'll have to, the republicans aren't going to make anything easier for them from this point.

American political sanity 10/30/10 - 11/2/10, Rest in peace

[The Uncola]

40. I don't "need" to be..

... "told what the Dems have done for me," I NEED A JOB. Is that so fucking difficult to understand?

[BarryMeNot]

41. And what, exactly, is the GOP plan to get you a job?

:shrug:

[The Uncola]

45. Bout the same as the Obama Plan, from what I've seen.

:eyes:

[CommonSensePLZ]

58. Join the club, we'd have jackets if we could afford them

The GOP wants to abolish social security, the minimum wage, outsource labor to cut costs and probably many workplace regulations that are in place to protect workers and clients, good luck if you're supporting them, let's see how high a priority your unemployment is to their tax cut.

[The Uncola]

61. Why do you people...

.. assume that I'm "supporting the Regressives?" Good fucking grief, talk about a phony strawman.

[tavalon]

17. It was early in 2009

When we weren't allowed to criticize our new God for it had only been ___________days, weeks, months, years. It was when he surrounded himself with old Clintonites and began breaking his promises. It was when we stood still for it. It was when we allowed ourselves to be browbeated when too little happened considering the hold we supposedly had on the Congress, the Senate and the Whitehouse.

I said a few months ago that the Democrats were trying to throw the match but the that the Republican's seemed more hellbent on throwing it and they are just better at throwing elections than we are. I was wrong.

[AllyCat]

18. When the media refused to report and the Dems failed to impress upon us

what they have accomplished. How many people have no idea that organizations in THEIR towns received stimulus money that provided jobs? Many small businesses and other ventures in WI had NO CLUE they received money through the federal stimulus dollars according to Citizen Action of Wisconsin.

Citizens United really put the nail in the coffin I think, but the damage was already started when they failed to deliver a stronger health care bill that helped people sooner than fall of this year.

[Fly by night]

20. 2006 -- the Holt bill (with 200+ co-sponsors) goes nowhere.

It was one thing for a bill to ban unverifiable voting equipment in federal elections to go nowhere when Rethugs controlled the Congress. But when we took control and the Holt bill still went nowhere, we were headed for this day.

To be clear: conducting free, fair and verifiable elections doesn't guarantee Democrats victories in every election. It shouldn't, unless Dems earn the consent of the governed, which we surely didn't in my state (TN) this year.

But without free, fair and verifiable elections, Dems don't stand a chance. Ever again.

[Faryn Balyncd]

21. When we sold out the public option in a secret deal with corporate lobbyists.

....or perhaps even earlier, when we hired Rahm and sent Howard to Siberia.

[jgraz]

22. 2006 -- when Pelosi took impeachment "off the table"

That signaled that the Democrats were not going to govern from a position of strength, and that they were willing to let craven political calculus take precedence over doing what was right. It was at that moment that the Democrats cemented their eventual defeat and, most likely, America's permanent decline.

[seabeyond]

23. when we put a black man in office. nt

[BarryMeNot]

44. How do you explain 2008, though?

:shrug:

[seabeyond]

46. he wasnt in yet. the hate didnt manifest and fester until he got in. the minute

he was in, the damn burst on the hate. and it has been fed and watered for two years.

[Rebubula]

67. Bullshit

This is NOT because we have a black President.

You keep telling yourself that it is just due to racism and the adults will work on the solutions.

[Odin2005]

24. When they passed a giveway to the Health Insurance corps.

[snot]

25. I.m.h.o., they lost it when they did nothing in the face of the conservative take-over of the media.

At that point, they lost control of all messaging, and the brainwashing of the American public took off in earnest.

[immune]

56. Agree with you.

And at this point, all the corporate media has to do to make the pubs look good is downplay the fraud involved in the housing crisis, spin the jobs crisis and the economic crisis to make people believe last night's election was a good thing. Never mind if people are personally starving to death if the snooze tells them that everybody else is doing better now and their golden opportunity is right around the corner. They could easily spin that lie for two years.

Obama should have gone after the fairness doctrine when there was even a slim chance of pushing it through. Now it simply isn't going to happen.

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. When people like the "swift boaters" were allowed a media platform for their

hatred and craziness.

[The Uncola]

28. The limp health care sham was just one ...

.. of many crappy, watered down, almost worthless shitballs the DLC, in it's infinite wisdom, has tried to sell me as being "good for me."

Hey ObamaCorp, what I NEED is a JOB. A JOB that pays a decent wage. A JOB that doesn't treat me like a slave and then dump me when the going gets a little rough. Till then, maybe an Unemployment Check would be better than what I've gotten since February, which is $0. But then, you fuckers made sure the banksters and thieves on Wall St got plenty though, didn't ya?

[Pab Sungenis]

29. 2006, with "off the table."

We were handed the reins of power and we didn't use them. It made us look weak. We got a two-year reprieve off of Obama's coattails but not this time.

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

30. When they allowed Chimpy to put an unqualified corporate hack on the Supreme Court

Every DLC Senator who voted to confirm John Roberts is responsible for Shittizens United.

[BarryMeNot]

43. Amen.

nt

[swilton]

32. The minute they took impeachment off the table

as well as the refusal to prosecute the Bush Administration for war crimes. They should have cleaned house from the days before the inaugural.

[Ganja Ninja]

36. Yup. It was a series of moves like that that led up to today.

You have to play hardball with the GOP. No impeachment, no prosecution, no single payer health care bill, the constant steady string of capitulations ever since 2006. Add that all up.

[Wednesdays]

33. January 10, 2010

That's the date the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision came down from the Supreme Court.

It etched into stone the doctrine that Big Money trumps all.

The day the decision came down, Keith Olbermann made this apocalyptic prediction:
"After Today, Who's Going To Stop Them?"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x426053
Link to working video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKZKETizybw&feature=youtube_gdata

Big Money in elections is the enemy...not Blue Dogs, not Progressives, not Obama.

[gkhouston]

34. When Roberts and Alito were confirmed. All the money that poured in thanks

to Citizens United is what hurt us most. We lost Feingold's seat -- Mr. Campaign Finance Reform, we lost PA -- a battleground state, we damned near lost Reid's seat -- Senate majority leader, etc. None of that was coincidental and all of it was expensive.

[TexasObserver]

39. When the president thought he could beg his way to compromise.

That began early in his presidency. Instead of leading the country and the party, he let the tiny GOP control the rudder of state. He let them set the course and call the shots. He turned the recovery over to the same people who ran the economy aground. He turned the wars over to the same people who had made them a mess. He turned the health care "reform" over to the same people whose only goal was to get more for their industry.

He crapped on his constituents and groveled at the feet of his biggest critics. I've never seen any politician handle so poorly his mandate to govern.

[uponit7771]

42. Dems STILL had some REALLY good legislation that passed but no message or strategy behind it

...to gaine seats in congress

[TayTay]

47. The day after election day in Nov of 08

Every victory contains the seeds of defeat just as every defeat contains the seeds of victory.

We lost focus on serving those in need and allowed the discussion to become about policy. It needed to be "personal" to the voters and respectful of the amount of pain out there right now.

[Romulox]

edit: dupe

[Romulox]

48. When the President made the Banks, not Jobs, not the Economy his #1 priority

And then effectively put on the jumpsuit and unfurled the "Mission Accomplished!" banner after "making them whole".

[QC]

49. That was worth saying twice! n/t

[JohnnyBoots]

50. 1980

[Aleric]

59. Probably true but

The day that Dukakis ran from 'L' word was definitely a bad day.

[ecstatic]

52. The people that voted pug said they wanted NO changes in healthcare

So I'm not sure your meme works.

[guitar man]

53. When the Supreme Court put it up for sale

and the Koch brothers decided they wanted to buy it :(

[county worker]

54. We lost what we lost because we could not say what we did to help create

jobs and improve the economy.

[jpljr77]

57. October 8, 2010

That was the date of the last update to unemployment. It read 9.6% and showed no improvement from the previous month.

Election, lost.

[Poboy]

64. .

[One_Life_To_Give]

65. Didn't spend $300Billion in stimulus

IIRC Rt66 was built with shovels and strong backs.
There is far more than $300 billion in public works project that are either way overdue for repair/replacement or will b e within the next ten years. Why we left over $300Billion from the original stimulus sitting on the table????

[JVS]

66. When they didn't address the ways that the voters were hurting.

They lost young voters when they didn't do anything about rampant unemployment and college debt. Shovel ready doesn't do much for you when you're not already a construction worker.

They lost elderly voters when social security stayed flat for 2 years as medical expenses and everything else except for real-estate rose.

They lost middle class when after promising a reform of health insurance the insurance companies were free to jack up rates and enactment of the good parts of reform were still 4 years away.

They lost anti-war voters when they escalated.

They lost gay voters when they failed to advocate fiercely.

[One_Life_To_Give]

71. +1

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

68. When they started cutting deals and pandering to the right.

[laughingliberal]

69. We lost the day the Administration declared the stimulus would keep unemployment at/under 8%.

And I knew it the day he said it. Not saying we could have gotten a bigger stimulus but 2 BIG mistakes:

1) Not asking for more
2) Raising the expectations WAY beyond what the weak, ineffective bill could EVER have delivered.

[JackRiddler]

70. Soon as they decided that crimes against humanity and attacks on the Constitution were "history"

Not to mention rescuing the monsters of Wall Street, who predictably ate their rescuers.

[scheming daemons]

73. In January, when the SCOTUS came down with the Citizens United decision

....and unless we find a way to fix it.... we'll lose a lot more.

[rug]

74. 12/01/09