OK, Atrios already linked to this, but I think it's so well-written and spot on that it bears repeating.
It sums up perfectly the frustration that we liberals feel with the Democrats. Why don't they GET it? How can they continue to send Donna Brazile (and if not send, at least not try to replace) out to go up against Ann Coulter? Why won't they call the media on their bullshit? Why didn't Barak Obama say to Russert: "Tim, that's an obnoxiously racist question for you to ask me. I'm not going to dignify it with a response"? Why don't the Democrats have their own version of the weekly Grover Norquist meetings to hand out poll-tested talking points? Didn't they see the John Stewart show where one Republican talking head after another repeated "most liberal Senator" something like a hundred times in one day? Why can't they figure out how to support popular positions such as reproductive choice or national health care? I mean, sure it's difficult to support an unpopular position, but Dems consistently fumble issues where the vast majority of Americans agree with them and have for years!
Daou identifies the problem perfectly, but he doesn't propose much of a solution. I don't know myself what the solution is. (Don't do it. Don't say the solution is for Soros to buy a network. I'll hex you into tomorrow morning. If that were the solution, it would have happened by now.) But as Woody Guthrie's Guitar has commented many times over at Atrios' place, as long as the Dems allow the media to keep these races close, they'll be close enough for Diebold to steal them. And I've about fucking had it with that.
I will say that a good start would be for Boxer, for example, to start holding the weekly meetings. I will say that no Democrat ought to apologize, the way that Durbin and Reid have, for making truthful statements. I will say that Dems need to learn how to interrupt and talk over other panelists. I will say that Dems need to question the premise of the questions and call the media on their bullshit all the damn time. The media will only change incrementally, but we've seen, with the pressure on Debbie Howell, that we can make them change. She'll at least phrase her Republican talking points more carefully next time.
So, I don't know what the solution is, but I'm sure that it's not continuing to do the same thing and hoping for a different result. That's what the Dems have been doing and that, by definition, is insanity.
The Third Time is the Charm
8 months ago
4 comments:
As the CEO of my place of employment says, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."
In other words, mix it up a little. You might be amazed at the positive changes you'll find.
You're right you're right you're always right, my witchy friend!
Including the "apology" bit. Never complain, never explain. That's the American way. Stand up, fight them, don't apologize, and the American people might start to think we have spines again.
P.S. T2 Thersites, not Thers Thersites.
greetings fellow thinking humans
to sum up in one word, Hecate - Exactly. If we are to regain any semblence of power, we need to do things differently. And borrowing from the repukes playbook on that is one way to do it (without sticking our fingers into the immoral and/or illegal sections).
But most of all we need some extremely strong leaders who have no need for smelling salts - because they won't faint like a goat!
You go girl
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