Time to Snap On the Chin Strap

[babylonsister]

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2010/8/23/122837/459

Time to Snap On the Chin Strap

by BooMan
Mon Aug 23rd, 2010 at 12:28:37 PM EST


Chris Cillizza discusses a couple of reasons to be optimistic that 2010 will not be a repeat of 1994.

Although few savvy Democratic strategists debate the difficulty of the national political environment, they do note that there are two important differences between the 1994 election and this one.

The first is the relative weakness of the Republican brand. In 1994, Republicans had been out of power in the House for four decades, and most voters had a limited sense of what a GOP House would be like. In 2010, the American public has fired Republicans -- in the House, Senate and White House -- twice in the past four years. And, in a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, the GOP had its lowest favorability ratings ever. (We repeat: ever.)

Second, Democrats understand the building frustration and desire for change in a way that the party simply didn't get 16 years ago. "The one advantage Democrats have is early-warning radar that we are facing a tough environment, and many of our incumbents have geared up their campaigns much earlier than in 1994," said Fred Yang, a leading Democratic pollster. "The possible wave may be too big for any campaign, but we're going to be ready this time and run harder and more aggressive campaigns."

It's our job to remind voters why they hate the Republican Party more now than they ever have in the past. (We repeat: ever). Most people would rather contract chlamydia than see the Republicans back in power. The problem is that most people are feeling apathetic and unenthusiastic about what the Democrats have accomplished. Anyone who wants to reinforce those feelings over the next 60 days needs to consider what the hell they think they are going to accomplish. But I've been saying this since July 1st.

[BootinUp]

1. K&R

[Atticus]

2. Happy to Kick and Rec this. I think it is still possible to confound the "experts" and hold onto

both houses. We just need to reduce the political question to one issue: "Do we want to live through two years of investigations and impeachment proceedings presided over by the likes of Michelle Bachman and Jim DeMint?" We KNOW that is what they intend. Will we let it happen?

[SlipperySlope]

3. Chlamydia < Repubicans < Syphilis before antibiotics

I'd rank it like that...

[mike_c]

4. in essence, "it's democrats' job to convince voters to seek the lesser evil...."

The second point really says it all, from my perspective: rather than actually fixing the problems facing the U.S., ending the unnecessary and demoralizing wars, putting the environment and education before profits and greed, creating genuine healthcare reform, reforming a patently evil and inhumane foreign policy, reining in the MIC and the Pentagon, solving human rights inequities in our own country that go back centuries, empowering and strengthening our working and middle classes, narrowing-- rather than widening-- income and wealth disparities in the U.S.-- the list could go on and on and on-- but rather than applying themselves to accomplish these worthy and progressive objectives, democratic leadership notes the need to begin campaigning "much earlier than in 1994."

Thanks, but no thanks. We need real progressive leadership, not more campaigning.

[babylonsister]

5. Your bellyaching doesn't help either. There is no task worthy

enough that can be accomplished solely by Dems, and that's the reality unless we have massive majorities, which we don't, and certainly won't after November unless the Dems do something to place blame where it's due.

[mike_c]

6. frankly, we can spend all day blaming one another...

...and that is, sadly, one of the primary occupations of political leadership these days. It's easier to blame someone else than to seek real solutions. Meanwhile, ALL of those worthy liberal objectives I referenced languish unresolved. Democratic leadership has DEMONSTRABLY failed (so did republican leadership, too). Reelecting the same failed leaders to fail over and over again is, well, quite similar to that popular definition of madness....

[yowzayowzayowza]

7. No they have not failed. Hundreds of Bills comprising...

the Obama agenda have passed the House only to be stalled by the Senate. The blame belongs in the US Senate. Blanket Dem blame is WRONG.

[mike_c]

8. forgive me, citizen-- I must not have noticed the wars ending...

...the restoration of civil rights and dismantling of the MIC, the war crimes prosecutions, the diminishment of corporate personhood, and so on. You're right, of course. Dems have accomplished it all! How DARE I blame the party in power for perpetuating the policies of the other party? Clearly that has not happened!

[yowzayowzayowza]

10. Nonresponsive. As usual.

Dems did not run on "dismantling of the MIC, the war crimes prosecutions, the diminishment of corporate personhood, and so on."

:eyes:

[mike_c]

13. which is why I don't vote for them....

So why are we having this conversation? Clearly, my progressive priorities are not shared with the democratic party-- so why would you object to my pointing that out?

And I suspect you'll find LOTS of dems who do in fact want the same ponies I want.

[yowzayowzayowza]

16. Seems rather daft to blame Dems for legislative failings...

based on priorities that they never supported to begin with or are unattainable due to lack of US Senate control.

eta - Gotta logoff due to lack of power from Tstorm. 2-4 hours. Ug.

[BootinUp]

17. have you been on sojourn?

this is the new du. lol.

[babylonsister]

19. Ha! Sojourn...sounds good! nt

[yowzayowzayowza]

22. Seven still sticky hours!!! n/t

[mike_c]

18. stay safe....

eom

[yowzayowzayowza]

21. Thx. Houston weather ... Gotta love it:

Noon - clear & calm 102 degrees; 6pm - 30mph sustained winds raining at rate up to 6"/hr.

[JNelson6563]

24. So you are against voting for Dems

and promote this on DU? I thought that was against the rules. Why would you hang out on a message board for Democrats?

Julie

[mike_c]

25. that's not at all what I said....

I vote for the candidates who take principled liberal stances on the issues that matter to me, regardless of party. Twenty years ago those were ALWAYS dems. Now they're rarely dems. I don't oppose democratic party candidates per se-- I oppose half-assed candidates who are afraid to be unrepentantly liberal.

Finally, it's my understanding that it's my RIGHT to vote as I chose, and that it's only against DU rules to ADVOCATE for non-dem candidates against dems. I don't do that here. As I say elsewhere in this thread, I work for the BEST liberal candidate in my community, regardless of party.

[babylonsister]

9. Alright, then you tell me; who can accomplish all the

objectives that need to be accomplished, w/o rethug cooperation? I will gladly vote for whomever you claim can do that, and can win an election.

Until then, the system we have is what we have, as shitty as it is.

I hear your frustration and recognize the problems. I don't know that there is an alternate answer other than the long, slow slog called democracy. And just think about the current dialogue; try getting anything done with that din.

[mike_c]

11. "the long slow slog called democracy" has manifestly failed to deliver...

...the sorts of reforms we need. It's been perverted. It's unrecognizable. Actually, I might be more hopeful and less cynical if I believed that any such long slow slog existed. Instead, all we have is the thinnest veneer of democratic smoke and mirrors-- few of our political institutions function in the peoples' interest any longer, if they ever did. They serve the primary interests of the wealthy and the powerful rather than the working and middle classes.

Stop any American on the street and ask "what makes America great" or some similar question and you'll get a long litany of democratic and egalitarian institutions that exemplify liberty and democratic process. Look more closely and just about every one of those homilies fails to deliver on much more than eyewash and appearances. We've become a nation addicted to telling one another how principled we are while we use our politics and our economy to undermine every one of our most important principles as fast as we can dismantle them. AND all the while congratulating ourselves for maintaining the train wreck for another election cycle.

My point is simply that democrats and republicans are both racing away from rational national government in the peoples' interest as quickly as they can. Anyone who thinks electing today's democrats-- most of them, anyway-- solves our problems is delusional, IMO. Democrats simply take us further from our ostensible principles by different routes than republicans, and sometimes they're not even all that different. The democratic leaderships' objectives are no more in line with the genuine needs of this country's working and middle classes than the republicans, frankly, and electing them brings us no closer to achieving progressive reform than electing republicans. That has been the experience of the last several decades. At least we KNOW the republicans will screw us with a smile on their faces.

[babylonsister]

14. Gotcha. So let's all just give up? Because everyone is alike

and nothing will ever get accomplished?

You have no solutions but just like to complain-am I reading that correctly?

Hey, I could complain all day long, too, but choose to find some sliver of positiveness when I can. There are occasionally more than slivers out there, too, if you'd look.

I know it's frustrating and seems hopeless, but I'm not giving up.

So, as Bernard Weiner (?) would say, Psssst! Do something!

[mike_c]

15. not to worry-- I'm working toward solutions in my community....

However, I don't discuss them except as abstractions here because this is Skinner's house and he's asked us to not advocate solutions that aren't democratic party solutions. So I don't, at least not here. In my community is a different matter.

[angee_is_mad]

12. positive post

thank you!

[BlueIdaho]

20. Fired Up

Ready to Go!

[Hekate]

23. KnR

:kick: