Saturday, June 17, 2006

Dammit, Democrats, remember

I am SICK of losing elections in which, given the playing field, we should be absolutely CRUSHING the Republicans.

Remember the 2000 presidential election result? Was Florida "stolen"? I don't friggin care. Gore was riding the crest of the longest economic expansion in American history. The Federal Budget was not just balanced, but running such surpluses that Alan Greenspan was cautioning against paying off the entire national debt too soon. The world was, relatively at least, at peace. Competence reigned supreme at the highest levels of government. Given all that, Gore - hell, ANY Democratic nominee - should have absolutely crushed whoever the Republicans found to run against them. Florida, and the rest of the country for that matter, shouldn't have even been close - Florida should have been 200,000 votes in our favor, along with 40 to 45 other states.

How do we win the Congress and the White House?

Hit the Republicans hard, all the time, everywhere.

"Hey folks, remember the last time the economy was really good for you - not in some abstract, esoteric-indicators way, but the last period of time when you were getting regular raises in your hourly wage? Yeah? Who was running the country then? Do you remember?"

"Tired of the leadership in Congress being covered in rich peoples' pocket lint? Wanna vote some people in who will fight for you, and not to keep their rich friends farting through silk?"

["B-b-but that's class warfare!" you stammer? The response is "Good call! Yes, it is." Period.]

The agenda must be to fight for the bottom 70% of the income scale. Whatever is most important to them, well, that's what we stand for.

This is not about "framing". If your agenda doesn't match their needs, no amount of "getting them to think about it in your terms" is going to get their votes. You ARE them. You must decide to stand with them, and then explain over and over and over again in what specific, concrete ways you are, in fact, standing with them.

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