We can continue to lick our wounds and play the blame game, or we can regroup and do the job ourselves. We can all agree that messaging is not the Dems strong suit. We can continue to beg them to wake up and start fighting back or we can become our own think tanks and fire up the people who just don’t get it.
Last night on Rachel Maddow’s show, Gail Collins (progressive columnist) pleaded with the national Democratic leaders to grab and use the “fiscal responsibility” hypocrisy of the Repugs. Less than 24 hours after the election, Jim DeMint said it was going to be necessary to raise the debt ceiling again. The tea partiers are counting on the Repugs to slash everything in sight (especially all those “job killing” regs.) So we have to find a way to explain to anyone who will listen that adding $700 billion (tax cuts for super wealthy Americans) to the national debt does NOT reduce the total debt. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Then how come voters can be bamboozled into thinking we can have tax cuts for the rich and still reduce the debt? Because the other side is expert at bait and switch.
Fiscal responsibility is just one issue. Then there’s Karl Rove’s “climate is done” statement. And the new House leaders are already lining up witnesses for hearings in the spring to “prove” that climate change is a “hoax.”
And then there’s the repeal of health care reform. Mitch McConnell already is using (and you can be damned sure every Repug will repeat) Health Care Spending Bill to describe the Affordable Care Act.
President Obama has invited the Repug leaders to a White House dinner to discuss the economy, taxes etc. I hope he has a “taster” check his soup for him.
It doesn’t look like we’re going to get any help from the national or state Dem leaders as far as pushing back against right wing muggers, so we’ll have to do it ourselves. If everyone who posts on this blog finds 10 other sane folks, they can form their own think tank. Repeated often enough, our message will find receptive ears.
Yes, I know I’m spittin’ in the wind, but I’m Irish and don’t like getting stomped on.
The national and state parties are as worthless as tits on a bull. I have no use for any of them. I have spent the last few days internalizing what Tip O’Niell said so long ago…”All politics is local.”
Well, my local party is pretty strong and organized and keeps things humming along pretty damned well in our big, blue city on the rivers.
Healthcare? Check. We passed a levy in 2005 to give every resident of Jackson County healthcare either free or at reduced charge through the Truman system.
Drinking water? Check. Ours is the cleanest in the nation.
Public transit? Check. We don’t have our train yet, but our express bus service is expanding and adding a route that will serve that public hospital that treats everyone regardless of ability to pay.
Quality of life? Check. Since we passed the health levy and expanded access, our incidence of “lifestyle diseases” is falling. Childhood asthma and obesity are declining and while we used to have the zip code with the highest incidence of Type II Diabetes, that dubious honor now belongs to some other locale.
Kansas City is what you get when Democrats run things, and we are big enough to take care of ourselves.
So screw the national party, and screw the state party twice. I have gone so far as to block their numbers from being able to call my phone and beg for money. They haven’t done a god-damned thing for me for years, unless you count pissing me off bad enough on a regular basis that I could skip my cardio workout that day.
Living in a part of the state that is getting redder, we have to figure out how to tell people government is not the enemy.
And, living in Johnson County, I find it laughable that anyone would think that. Without Whiteman and UCM, Warrensburg would have all the charm of Lexington or Clinton. Government is crucial and yet our local Republicans run against “big government.”
If we Democrats don’t defend the importance of a well-funded government in our lives, we are done for.
Because Skelton never gave a good reason to defend government, he could NEVER point out the lunacy of Hartzler.
We already talked about how Carnahan’s campaign was: I’m not a crook.
Those of us in outstate Missouri have to defend government, so we are in a position to attack the bills that will weaken government even more.
This is a must watch perspective on things gone wild:
http://www.democracynow.org/20…