'06 & '08 Had Howard Dean firing up Progressives instead of rahm demeaning them

[mod mom]

Maybe it's time to learn from your mistakes, Democrats. We were fired up in '06 and '08 in big thanks to Howard Dean & his 50 state strategy. What we got since '08 was democrats attempting to undermine progressive candidates and administration officials using disparaging terms not only against Gov Dean but against progressives in general. How about a seat at the table and respect for a change?

[NC_Nurse]

1. No shit. K&R

[proud patriot]

2. here here

[Le Taz Hot]

3. He also had the 50-state strategy.

Good thing Kane came in and went back to the good ole days of the 6-state strategy. I don't need to remind anyone that Dean was relegated to the lower 40 acres by THIS ADMINISTRATION. He won't but I would love for him to challenge Obama in the primaries in 2012.

[mod mom]

4. This defeat should be known as Rahm's legacy!

[glitch]

24. +infinity. Although Rove also played a big part. There was a tsunami all right, of money

propaganda and suppression against our most progressive legislators, and it worked.

Rove full offense, Rahm zero defense. We lose.

[mod mom]

28. The difference being kkkarl fires progressives to work while rahm makes then wonder why they're Dems

:hi:

[Raksha]

42. A very good point!

It's really not complicated at all: When you abandon what obviously works (in this case, Dean's 50-state strategy) in favor of what doesn't ("bipartisanship" and a 6-state electoral strategy) it becomes very obvious that you don't WANT it to work.

[glitch]

44. Yeah, what's that about?

:hi:

[XemaSab]

11. I would love to have seen an expansion of the 50-state strategy

in the form of a 58-county strategy in California. :(

[Le Taz Hot]

16. Yeah, I'm not sure but I might have

voted for a noodly appendage in the CA-19. She got my vote because of the "D" next to her name but I never actually saw her. Nor have I even heard of her. Nor did I ever see even a political sign with her name on it. Nor a bumper sticker. Nor heard of anywhere she was speaking. CA-20 went from Blue Dog to Republican. CA-21 RAN UNOPPOSED (again). And the Democrats can't figure out why they keep losing in the Valley.

[XemaSab]

23. Wally &#^$* Herger won 56 to 44

despite being wildly unpopular even among republicans. He vastly outspent Jim Reed.

We again had an uncontested race for state assembly here.

I'm going to post a long rant about it in the near future, but the first part of winning is showing up, and the democrats have failed to do that on any level in a large percent of the state.

[Raksha]

41. You sure as hell don't need to remind ME!

Re "I don't need to remind anyone that Dean was relegated to the lower 40 acres by THIS ADMINISTRATION."

I doubt that you need to remind anyone, but it's still important not to let a certain faction pretend to forget it.

[cascadiance]

5. Fire Kaine and put in Grayson or Dean in charge of the DNC...

[snot]

6. I hope the party will look toward Dean again.

[Alcibiades]

7. Bring back Dean!

I wasn't a Deaniac, but he did an amazing job at the DNC.



Your country and your party need you, Dr. Dean.

[JamesA1102]

19. So by that logic...

You must think that Michael Steele is a genius.

[Alcibiades]

32. It wasn't just Steele

But the fact is that they won, despite the fact that it was a Republican Congress and a Republican president who were the ones who drove us into the ditch. Nationwide, they have a massive deficit in party identification, which they nonetheless overcame. Why?

1. Low information voters
In a world where elections are often decided by the voters who know the least, many of whom know so little that they look at the two parties, fail to see a substantive difference and so register as independents, you have to keep it simple. The Republicans kept it simple enough for Joe the Plumber to understand. Our response, all too often, was "it's complicated." Many of the voters I spoke with in this past election, including many reliable Democrats, failed to understand how important it was to return a solidly Democratic majority to both houses of Congress. To the extent that the DNC Chair helps craft the national message on policy, Kaine is responsible.

2. Appealing to the base
The post-Rove GOP understands that, if you want your activists to get out and do the work, you ought to give them what they want when it comes to policy. All too often, the administration and Congress were too willing to compromise, to make concessions without a real fight. To the extent that Tim Kaine is who he is, he plays a role in this. We need a fighter, someone who can speak to the liberal activists around the country who are the ones who get our people out. In my town, our GOTV effort was a tenth, maybe even a twentieth, of what it was two years ago.

3. The buck has to stop somewhere
Tim Kaine couldn't even get people to vote Democratic in Virginia. If he manages to lose key races in his home state, which, after all, consists of folks he supposedly understands, the sorts of folks to whom we need to appeal to win elections nationally, and yet he still isn't able to win those races, then what good is he? His job is to win elections. Period. Dean did a better job. He's a fighter, Kaine is a nonentity.

Tim Kaine didn't even see the same election you and I did. What was his take home message about yesterday?

"Everyone is going to have to work together."

If that's what he thinks, then I feel sorry for him. If he really thinks there is any chance of that, then he's a fool.

Howard Dean at the DNC wouldn't be a panacea, but almost anybody would be better than Tim Kaine.

[JamesA1102]

35. So maybe it wasn't Dean.

And maybe Tim Kaine is just a victim of timing and circumstance.

[BEZERKO]

49. Um, no

Tim Kaine's Better Way sucked.

[Exultant Democracy]

34. +1

[regnaD kciN]

8. Blah, blah, blah...

If you seriously believe that Howard Dean could have staved off this thumping, you're living in a bigger fantasy world than the teabaggers.

If Dean were in charge, we'd have had the exact same result yesterday, only now the vultures would be circling, screaming for his removal so we could get a party chair who would "move us to the center." :eyes:

And I say this as a long-time supporter and admirer of Howard. I think he's great -- but he can't work miracles, which is what anything other than an electoral debacle with the country at near-10% unemployment would be.

[w4rma]

9. Wrong. Dean would have dramatically cut down on our losses. (nt)

[regnaD kciN]

10. And you base this on what, other than your own unsupported assumptions?

:shrug:

Look, I can say that, if Justin Beiber had been appointed party chair, we would have won all 435 House seats and hold a 65-35 advantage in the Senate, but my saying it doesn't make it so.

[KittyWampus]

20. Then, why did Feingold and Grayson lose? Yeah, you'll have some rationalization for that too.

[jeff47]

27. Well

The Blue Dogs lost half their numbers. You'll need to line up a lot more progressive losses to use "too far left" as an explanation.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. Half the blue dogs lost

four progressives lost.

Any other questions?

[mod mom]

14. BS Many progressives, like myself, found other things to do than support a party

that was more willing to appease the GOP than to listen to progressives. I worked nearly full time from before the primaries until elections since '00 and I found other things to volunteer my time. Many of my progressive friends joined me in sitting this one out. Corporate Dems may write big checks but they don't work at GOTV. You obviously never worked at GOTV.

[treestar]

15. See they are looking for another Messiah

Dean, Jon Stewart, whoever. Just rely on a leader and sit back, not have to keep working at it. It's easy to attribute success to whoever does not really have to do the work.

If Dean were in, they'd be making the potential Messiah out of someone else, who did not have to do anything.

[mod mom]

21. What you saw was a GOTV effort w/o wholehearted support by progressives

Me and many of my progressive friends who were so active since 2000 found better causes to fight for than some candidates that show little difference than the GOP.

here is a message that resonated:

The Blue Dog caucus in the House was decimated yesterday, cut from 54 to 26 members.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/11/until_the_last_blue_dog_dies.php?ref=fpblg

Our party used to work for the average worker instead of the powerful, but the DLC types pushed the party toward corporate interest and were justly rewarded. Progressives deserve a seat at the table & recognition instead of attacks from inside.

[JamesA1102]

17. Well said nt

[wellst0nev0ter]

12. I Wonder How That Kneecapping ACORN Over An Obvious RatF**king

has worked out for the Dems GOTV effort this time around :eyes:

[glitch]

26. Letting that happen was a moral failure, if not a crime. nt

[treestar]

13. Well how useful are you when you are so easy to lose?

And since you can't be satisfied, not even for five minutes, all the effort in the world won't keep you.

Why the rest of us should be turning ourselves into pretzels trying to please the un-pleasable? Why are you so much more important than other citizens?

[EFerrari]

37. What in the world are you talking about?

Maybe in treestar world, that's true. In shared reality, progressives were out there this cycle getting the vote out. You're welcome, from California where we have a new Democratic governor and where a true progressive will keep her seat in the senate.

[Overseas]

18. K&R! //nt

[TexasObserver]

22. Dean knew what he was doing.

Rahm is nominally a Democrat, and Kaine is a joke, a very bad joke.

[City Lights]

25. R&K! nt

[toddwv]

29. How many people even know that Tim Kaine is the DNC Chair?

You never see him anywhere. Though the blame isn't all his, he seems to be a VERY ineffectual Chair.

[Rex]

30. Ya but talking about it won't do us any good. Moderates hate Dean

and couldn't wait to get him ousted so one of theirs could take over. Sorry, had too much whine today. I'll behave.

[mod mom]

31. Dean's strategy worked: all 50 states & energizing progressives

what did the DINOs do for us? Ask rahm & robert gibbs how their bad mouthing Dean & progressives helped win anything.

[JamesA1102]

36. But isn't Dean the one responsible for the Dinos/Blue dogs? nt

[Rex]

46. You know you have to throw in Obama and Biden too.

I thought their foolishness would be pushed aside so close to this election cycle - boy was I wrong! Words DO mean things! I believe that should be a new concept to those that seek the center of the political spectrum.

Hey folks, here is an idea - you know all that anger thrown at your political ally, during a critical moment in history?

Not such a good idea. Quick, someone write that one down so we don't forget next time! :banghead:

[krawhitham]

33. in '06 & '08 we were running against Bush

That makes it a tad bit easier

[Raksha]

38. I haven't read the thread or even your OP yet, but just the subject line alone

is a point that needs to be brought up every single day from now until the 2012 election. The way the Dems treated Howard Dean after the election was absolutely shameful. I have never seen such mean-spirited ingratitude--and they only ended up shooting themselves in the foot in the process.

[BurtWorm]

39. Funny how no pundits seem to be talking about that big difference.

:eyes:

[Raksha]

43. The pundits give themselves away as much by what they don't talk about as what they do.

Sometimes even more so.

[laughingliberal]

40. Hard to argue with results. Nice of Rahm to stay on long enough to alienate millions. nt

[Rhiannon12866]

47. K&R! We sure could have used Howard Dean this time around...

:(

[BzaDem]

48. I think it had something to do with being in the opposition. When we are in the majority, there is a

subset of people that simply cannot be pleased (as the reality of governing is quite different than what they think it is).

But in the opposition, it is easy to please everyone, since everyone is opposed to the opposing party's policies.