Excellent analysis of failures with dem strategy from Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
This blogger also noted the bizarre nature of Barrack Obama going on TV putting down the idea of a filibuster and then voting against cloture.
some of my favorite excerpts:
- Once the Republican framing goes unchallenged, the media repeats it as if it is fact. If you do not counter attack in the media, you have no chance in persuading the public.
- Then comes my favorite step. Shove the poll in the Democrats face and tell them that they have no hope of winning and that the public is against them. Even more importantly, that they will lose their elections if they don't run to the "center" by supporting the Republican position instead.
- Then the most pathetic part comes. When the Democratic representatives start to cave in, quiver and repeat the same talking points used against them (Biden and Obama last weekend were the perfect examples as they argued forcefully against a filibuster they were going to vote with). They internalize the Republican messaging, start to panic and then, finally, turn against each other.
- At which point, the base of the Democratic Party -- otherwise known as the people who voted them into office -- gets pissed. The normal people who vote Democratic but aren't intimately familiar with DC, can't understand why their elected representatives won't represent them. So, they send angry responses to their politicians demanding them to actually stand for what they promised they were going to stand for.
- Here comes another funny part. Then the Republicans point disapprovingly and tell the Democrats that their own base is crazy, radical and can't be trusted. If they "pander" to their base, they will lose all the mythical Republicans who vote for them in red states. Aren't the Republicans so helpful? They just want to help a brother out. Meanwhile, they keep appealing more and more to their base. I wonder why they don't worry about losing the "center."
- Final result is that the Democrats have been sorely outplayed. They have switched positions in the middle and criticized their own stance and their own voters. So, when the elections roll around, the Republicans say the Democrats are "flip-floppers" and "wafflers" and "weak." They convince the electorate to vote for them instead because they are strong and mean what they say.
The most important issue of the year is coming up -- the NSA warrantless spying scandal....
Any Democratic so-called "strategist" who suggests that the President should not be challenged for breaking the law should be fired on the spot.
(Recommend if you want dem staffers to see it)