Sunday, January 02, 2005
The liberals just don't get it
Some interesting stuff over at daily kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/2/164925/7172
""Values obviously are important," said Terry McAuliffe, the national Democratic party chairman, whose term expires in February. "But clearly, the overriding issue in this election was terrorism and national security. You don't get to those other issues until you have checked the box on national security."
What? Agreeing with McAuiliffe? Blasphemy! Well, not totally agreeing. I think this, coupled with the Iraq Debacle, was the #1 Issue of the Election, and will be again in 2006 and 2008. Shocking to hear that from me I know. However, McAuiliffe does, in my opinion, underestimate the effect of the "values" issue, but not in the conventional sense discussed by say, the DLC. The problem wasn't our message on values - the problem was our failure to properly label the GOP as extremists. What happened was the GOP drove a high turnout of their "values" voters without paying any price whatsoever with socially moderate voters. The differences were blurred by us, instead of highlighted. "
They just don't get it. It doesn't occur to these people that maybe the majority of Americans hold the same values as the GOP, and that for the first time that I can recall more Americans are calling themselves Republicans than Democrats. They just can't understand that they are in the minority right now. By labeling the Republican Party as extremist on social values they risk alienating the value heavy black and Hispanic communities that make up the traditional Democrat base. The author also fails to consider the impact of such figures as John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Governor Swarzinager, and Governor Pataki. These moderate republicans actively seek to push the Republican party to the center, or slightly left of center. He also fails see that one of these men holds a good chance for getting the 2008 nomination, thus furthering the move towards the center. If the dems don't wake up and smell the Social Values Coffee they'll only decline
""Values obviously are important," said Terry McAuliffe, the national Democratic party chairman, whose term expires in February. "But clearly, the overriding issue in this election was terrorism and national security. You don't get to those other issues until you have checked the box on national security."
What? Agreeing with McAuiliffe? Blasphemy! Well, not totally agreeing. I think this, coupled with the Iraq Debacle, was the #1 Issue of the Election, and will be again in 2006 and 2008. Shocking to hear that from me I know. However, McAuiliffe does, in my opinion, underestimate the effect of the "values" issue, but not in the conventional sense discussed by say, the DLC. The problem wasn't our message on values - the problem was our failure to properly label the GOP as extremists. What happened was the GOP drove a high turnout of their "values" voters without paying any price whatsoever with socially moderate voters. The differences were blurred by us, instead of highlighted. "
They just don't get it. It doesn't occur to these people that maybe the majority of Americans hold the same values as the GOP, and that for the first time that I can recall more Americans are calling themselves Republicans than Democrats. They just can't understand that they are in the minority right now. By labeling the Republican Party as extremist on social values they risk alienating the value heavy black and Hispanic communities that make up the traditional Democrat base. The author also fails to consider the impact of such figures as John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Governor Swarzinager, and Governor Pataki. These moderate republicans actively seek to push the Republican party to the center, or slightly left of center. He also fails see that one of these men holds a good chance for getting the 2008 nomination, thus furthering the move towards the center. If the dems don't wake up and smell the Social Values Coffee they'll only decline
# posted by Michael @ 5:38 PM 
