I've been seeing two narratives at play here, one in the blogosphere about the Republicans being their usual, pissy obstructionist selves and how they've doomed themselves, and another one on television where the Republicans are all over the channels, talking about how they stopped this stimulus, which was full of pork, and helped avoid additional government spending which would've put more debt on our children.
They're talking about how their own stimulus bill helps create jobs, and produces tax cuts for families as well. Those are one of the many talking points they're spouting on all of the channels.
And where are the Democrats?
Instead, we're huddling here in our own blogosphere, with none of our own officials on television, insisting that the Republican party is doomed, and that they'll be seen as being obstructionists on television by the viewing public.
I'm sorry, but that's not what I'm seeing on television. The media doesn't rebut their nonsense of tax cuts producing far more in terms of an economic stimulus than government spending. The pretty anchor heads just lets the Republican politician spew his talking points with no challenge at all.
Take for example, Anderson Cooper on CNN just had on some reporter who insisted that President Obama had to move more towards the center with the stimulus bill and give more concessions to the Republicans. That's one of the talking points employed by the Republicans--that the stimulus bill doesn't include enough tax cuts.
Here's how it works with the Republican playbook:
- Insist on a party-line vote against a bill that's already had the tax cuts thrown in as a sop to them.
- All of the House Republicans vote against it.
- The bill goes to the Senate.
- Senate Republicans insist on even more concessions, and get their concessions by watering down the bill.
- They vote for it in the Senate, and the bill goes to conference.
- House Republicans now support the stimulus conference bill because of the more "concessions" in there.
- Democrats lose.
When Bush was in office, the Democratic delegation in the House and the Senate certainly NEVER followed this playbook. They didn't demand concessions, but they cooperated with Bush in the spirit of bipartisanship.
Like, after 9/11, with the Patriot Act, wiretapping, the war in Iraq, believing in the WMD claims, the bankruptcy act, and so on. The Democrats kept on giving the Republicans the benefit of the doubt, and we still do that even now.
And guess what? President Obama just bought into that playbook completely with his comments to the House and Senate Republicans.
Already a more bipartisan — and costlier — measure is taking shape in the Senate, and Obama personally pledged to House and Senate Republicans in closed-door meetings on Tuesday that he is ready to accept modifications as the legislation advances.
Democrats had already dropped provisions that Republicans had mocked, including money to resod the National Mall and expand family planning programs.
The Senate bill contains a plan that would cost approximately $70 billion to make sure that about 24 million mostly middle-class taxpayers don't get hit by the alternative minimum tax. Although welcome by many lawmakers, the move wouldn't do much to boost the economy since the AMT "patch" is expected anyway later in the year if it doesn't pass now.
That's our main flaw as a party. We don't fight back aggressively enough because we really don't believe in our own principles, and help sell some of them out all in the spirit of bipartisanship and triangulation.
And we have absolutely no media strategy to get forward our goals and talking points to the American people. It's why the press people in the House and the Senate suck.
Once again, is the narrative here in the blogosphere really what we're seeing on television?
No, it's not. It's time to wake up, and start fighting back by pressuring the reporters we see with our questions. It's time to bring back the old media e-mail lists that we used during the Iraq war and the later years of the Bush White House administration.
Oh, and tell the House Democrats to get off their damn asses and fight back by actually getting on television. If they're not presently on television, fighting back, it's because they're worried about not being seen as bipartisan and being as too partisan.
- Brendan Daly--the Communications Director for Speaker Pelosi.
Brendan.Daly@mail.house.gov
- Sarah Feinberg--the Communications Director for the House Democratic Caucus.
Sarah.Feinberg@mail.house.gov
Also, if you want to call Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid, please use these phone numbers below:
- Speaker Pelosi's office (202) 225-0100.
- Senate Majority Leader Reid's office 202-224-3542.
If we don't change the media narrative, we may very well lose control over the public perception of the economic stimulus bill and any additional government spending that's needed to keep the economy solvent, provide health care, and create a new green energy jobs program.
UPDATE: MSNBC just said that more tax cuts will be added to the stimulus bill in the Senate.