A piece I did for my blog which I thought was half way decent. Anyways since I do not have many readers (blog is only about a month old) I am hoping that this may be an outlet for people to see what I have to say about Democrats and what they HAVE to do to win the general election in 2008.
It seems as though Democrats in this day and age have become somewhat naive about what it takes to win elections. Just day's ago I was commenting on a speech George W. Bush had given pointing out the absolute lunacy of what he had said with a hint of satire and anger in my description. Now the people in the room at the time consisted of three loyal democrats, one of which responded to my colorful comments with "be nice, we are above those kind of attacks". My jaw instantly dropped, and I started to fire back only to be cut off by the same person claiming "stay positive, being mean will get you no where." I was done, so upset and startled I simply sat there pondering what I had just heard. This was two days ago and since then I have been unable to let the conversation and what was said go. Not because it was personally insulting, it wasn't, but because of what it represented in terms of the Democrat base as a whole. It shows that Democrats, or the vast majority of them have adopted this new belief that attacking the opposition is off limits, and juvenile. James Carville said it best;
"Democrats have gone from ruthless to toothless"
This my friends is why Democrats lost in 2000 (Republicans stealing, yes stealing, Florida didn't help either), and again in 2004 (Kerry's campaign was as lifeless as a corpse.) Sadly I truly believe that if Democrats do not change their quasi, "kill 'em with kindness" attitude towards campaigning and how we paint our inept Republican counterparts we will find ourselves back on the sidelines, a place we have become seemingly content with.
The problem with Democrats is that we lack any backbone, clearly we are not losing because ideological differences, equality, fairness, diplomacy, and helping those who cannot help themselves are all issues which if conveyed in the right manner would resonate with an overwhelming majority of Americans. But to get the message out we need to toughen up and beat them at their own game.
Some of us on the left are sick of hearing the constant whining regarding Republican hard-ball tactics. These supposed "hard ball tactics" got G.W.B. re-elected in 2004, making him the first president since Harry Truman to win re-election with an overall approval rating under 50%.
Then there are examples like Max Cleland's in Georgia. Cleland was a Vietnam veteran who not only won Bronze and Silver stars for his service but lost three limbs as well. He lost his 2002 re-election campaing for Senate to Rep. Saxby Chambliss who opted out of service in Vietnam citing a 'bad knee'. In what has become the one of the most sickening examples of political advertising, Chambliss (chicken hawk) ran campaign ads of Cleland (war hero) aside pictures of Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden claiming Cleland lacked "the courage to lead". This is pathetic, that's a simple as I can put it, and it baffles me that Democrats clearly know that things like this happen (Reps. did the same thing with John Kerry's war record) and still refuse to punch back.
What happened to the great Democratic spirit that once ran through this country and gave us leaders like FDR and John F. Kennedy. Now these guys were tough, they played hard ball, and guess what, they won. In 1932 when campaigning for president against FDR simply stated the truth about Republicans, saying they had given our country,
"a period of loose thinking, descending morals, and an era of selfishness."
The there was Harry Truman, another great Democrat who in 1948 let the GOP have it:
"The Democratic Party is the people's party, and the Republican Party is the party of special interest, and it always has, and always will be."
and continues to say how he would:
"win this electionand make the Republicans like it."
Then their was John F. Kennedy, who made a hobby out of abusing Richard Nixon, time and time again Kennedy verbally picked Nixon and the Republicans apart, and guess what, he won. All in all I am trying to show that Democrats who were willing and able to attack their opponents with negative, but accurate portrayals did so, which led to many winning years for the Democratic party.
In closing I think it is vital to Democrats seeking a change to shed the "play nice, or don't play at all" attitude which has spread through the party like the flu. When asked, a 2004- Kerry campaign strategist said this:
"our idea of a 'negative frame' is to say, 'Bush is taking us in the wrong direction'... Their idea of a 'negative frame' is saying 'Kerry is a coward, liar, and not fit to be President of the United States'. They're hitting us with a baseball bat and we're spitting on them."
This has got to change in order for us to have any chance of winning a national election, the nice guy routine is worn out and political strategy that emphasizes it ultimately fail. 2008 will be no different, the fact Republicans failed over the past eight years will not be enough for Democrats to win, we have got to hit them hard and those who are critical of us who attack the right for what they have done need to sit down and shut up. Paul Begala, Democrat consultant, and political genious puts it best:
"We need to answer answer Republican attacks and make Republicans answer some of ours. It's hard for your opponent to say bad things about you when your fist is in his mouth."
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