David Podvin decomposes the unions' CA triumph - via Carolyn Kay's
MakeThemAccountable.com
In the aftermath of the California special election the headlines read, "SCHWARZENEGGER ROUTED", a most welcome bulletin that for inspirational value ranks a close second to "COULTER DROWNS IN SEWAGE TREATMENT MISHAP". Yet the most relevant factor is not that He Who Gropes has just been groped. It is the way in which he has been groped that serves as a template for liberal success.
More after the fold...
Soon after taking office, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared war on the "special interests", which from his perspective are the employees who serve the taxpayers. Arnold sued to block changes in the state's nurse-patient staffing ratios that would have improved medical care, and then taunted the nurses that he was "kicking their butts". The governor also targeted educators and public safety personnel for abuse while promoting ballot initiatives designed to skew political power even further towards his corporate benefactors.
There is nothing unusual about a Republican attacking working people. The wild card was the response of union leaders, who reacted uncharacteristically for liberals by launching a withering counterattack. The unions understood that corporate news programs would never broadcast facts, so they did it themselves. For months, California television was blanketed with commercials in which gentle nurses and wholesome teachers and earnest firefighters and clean-cut cops politely explained that Arnold is a serial liar who has broken his promise to represent the common citizen.
There was no attempt to travel the high road - just a merciless lowering of public discourse via truthful personal attacks. Keeping in mind that many swing voters find it entirely plausible that the Professor crafted an intercontinental radio transmitter out of discarded coconut shells, the message was kept simple: Arnold lies. As a result of the relentless flogging, Schwarzenegger's once-lofty approval ratings fell by half.
... snip ...
Here's my favorite part...
The California experience provides an invaluable lesson for Democrats nationwide that relates to the contemptible cowardice of "keeping our powder dry". There is but one surefire way to vanquish conservatives, and that is to beat the shit out of them.
Emphasis mine.
Read the rest of the piece here - Podvin goes on to relay how the unions got the job done in the face of the usual regressive right attacks and MSM complicity and that, anticipating continued inability of elected Democrats in DC to get with the program, special interest groups and the grassroots need to do so.
I think Podvin is remiss in not giving Harry Reid, the House 30-something Dems (who are at it again on C-Span, or at least were when I started writing this) some credit for heading in the right direction and to Gov. Dean who's always had the right idea, if not the support needed to consistently get the job done.