Discussion for article #229703
Even allies tend to lack finesse with regards to any issue involving minorities. This is largely due to the fact that what may offend one person within said minority may not offend others and it can be something of a minefield to navigate. Heck, Iâve upset many lesbians, gays and women by not always knowing what will offend them- and Iâm a lesbian!
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i would also suggest a passive and cowardly democratic party that had no message to counter republican misrepresentations and outright lies. the entire gop trope of âthe deeply unpopular presidentâ should have been countered by pointing out that congress â and especially republicans â is polling in single digits. instead, they reinforce the gop talking point by running away from obama and his accomplishments.
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See, thatâs what happens when you miss the super secret updated addendum to our Gay Agenda!
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But the real message for today is:
jw1
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LibtarDS alWays wiTH the RAce caRD. THere ARe MAny PEopLE in the SOUth that HAve a BLAck Friend. ALSo, There Are INDIAN GOverNors aND eVen a BlACK coNGressMAN or TWo. STOP wiTH the RAce CArd. THe SOUTh is WAY beTTER than IT was DURIng RecONStrucTION!!1!!!one!!1!!1!!!
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Eh, I adore Clyburn but there was just no way to answer the question without alienating white Democrats. KY has a 500,000 Democratic registration advantage but despite that advantage Obama has never been above the mid 30âs in approval or in actual election results. In a poor, uneducated state, one has to stop and ask why that is. Whatâs so different about him that made them flock to Clinton but not Obama?
KY is only 8% black, so this idea that sheâs alienating a sizable portion of the electorate just isnât true. She needs white voters whoâll vote for a Democrat in gubernatorial races but vote Republican in federal elections to come out and vote for her. Sheâs literally fighting McConnell for Democrats, not because she isnât liberal or Obama-loving enough, but because they fear sheâs too liberal and that she might not spit in Obamaâs face every time she sees him.
One can make the old blue state argument that voters will vote for a real Republican over a conservative Democrat but that just isnât even remotely true in KY and a lot of other red states. Steve Beshear, our much loved governor, is staunchly pro coal, a climate denier, pro life, and very anti-gay marriage and yet he won. Heâs like so many of KYâs most successful Democratic legislators, conservative on social issues and moderate to liberal on fiscal issues. Thatâs what wins here. Playing to people that look like me, unfortunately, doesnât.
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Dems lacked finesse on racial issues by mentioning them ⌠and violating the conservative PC meme that racism never existed in this country and died in 2008.
Oh, and they forgot to email pictures of watermelon-eating Kenyan monkeys to their supporters 
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So, it sounds to me that she loses either way. That being the case, I would prefer that she lose being honest with the people. As it is, the Democrats who are racist know that she voted for Obama, (they are not stupid, not all them anyway), and in addition, that she does not have the courage to be honest. And thus she forgoes the possibility of trying to educate them, which would have been a worthwhile consolation prize.
Hoping for a miracle, but not expecting it.
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Pardon me for my rant, but it is election day, and it looks dismal for the Dems. For weeks many of us here have been talking about the weak spined Dems, and how they were losing this election for themselves, and a few around here have told those of us who did, that we were stupid and did not understand how Dems had to run their races in red, and purple states to win. Well to the one who called me a "unicorn Progressive, and âfake liberalâ, how is that working out for them now?
As Joan Walsh said, and I am paraphrasing, the Dems are guilty of political malfeasance in this election, and she is 100% right. This morning Rep.Steve Israel, basically sounding as defeated as it looks like we are, tried to sound positive, and said that in this next âcycleâ the Dems are going to show Americans that they have the policies that favor them. Excuse me Steve but WTF??? If you whimpy Dems had spent half as much time running on just that, than you did on running away from that scary black President, we might not be losing the Senate. It is a FACT, that for the last four years in October, this President has had basically the same approval ratings as he does right now, give or take a point or two, which means he had them on October of 2012 and won HUGE in November.
The Dems, as they always do, as the skinny kid who stands there and allows the bully to kick sand in their faces, have defeated themselves with their own crappy run campaigns. The Dems were too damn worried about this Presidentâs approval ratings, to take note of just how despised the Republican brand is in poll after poll. So as the Dems let the RWNJâs and the RW media create their narrative for their campaigns, letâs look at how that worked out for them.
Kentucky for example, where McChinless approval ratings have been drowning, they have been so far under water for so long now, and where they have a very popular DEM Governor, and yet McChinless looks like he will be Majority Leader. Grimes, who I once had great hopes for, has been a totally abysmal candidate. Her first mistake was allowing the same Clinton machine who lost the primaries for Hillary in 2008, run her campaign. Those people need to be retired for good as campaign consultants.
Instead of running on Mitch"s REAL history in the Senate, she allowed that despicable excuse for a human to describe her. Instead of pointing out the FACT that he has done nothing to help actual coal miners, and everything to help the coal magnates, and instead of making it clear that if they repeal the ACA, that Kynect is gone too, and instead of tying Mitch in with every horrendous thing that Bush did as President, since he voted for his agenda 100%, she made it all about her stupid âI am a strong Kentucky womanâ. Excuse me Allison but nowhere in the polls does it indicate that anyone cares that you shoot guns. In fact in poll after poll, they do not even barely register this election. IT IS THE ECONOMY STUPID!!!
The two Dems who ran the best campaigns are Nunn and Hagan. They didnât sit back and let their opponents define them as evil Obama lovers. They defined their opponents and why their policies are so horrible for average Americans, and even if they didnât mention the President, they ran on the very bread and butter issues that gets Dems elected. Iowa is a different story, where the Dem mistake was once again nominating a very weak candidate, who would blend into a wall, while the sister of Bachmann, as batshit crazy and horrible as her policies are, is probably going to win a very reliable, decades long Dem seat.
Would I ever think of not voting, or voting for the other party because I am so sick and tired of how whimpy and downright stupid my Dems are at running campaigns? NO, but when you volunteer to make calls to get out the vote as I have, and you hear everything I just said over and over again from Dems, it is easy to see why so many do sit home, and why so many people are just effing fed up with both parties and become Independents. You do not get your base out by running away from the very policies that makes them Dems, and you do not get the Independent vote by allowing the other side to define you and your policies, instead of telling people why our policies are the best for average Americans. They seem to like our policies in poll after poll, but not our politicians.
Sorry for the long rant, but I think most of us know this is all true, and I for one, working to GOTV, feel deflated by my own partyâs ineptitude at running a race.
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Umm Hilary won the KY primary with over 60% of the vote.
Why is it that people who donât live in KY, donât have the faintest clue about the dynamics are so quick to tell US what the problem is? Itâs unbelievable to me.
Instead of running on Mitch"s REAL history in the Senate, she allowed that despicable excuse for a human to describe her.
He had double the money in which to do it. She was outspent by 10s of millions of dollars that he used to run a not-so-subtly racist campaign against her.
Instead of pointing out the FACT that he has done nothing to help actual coal miners, and everything to help the coal magnates
Oh really, that must be why she sought and obtained the endorsement of the United Mine Workers of America. Is that why she ran ad after ad touting that endorsement? Is that why she continuously pointed to McConnell as being the reason weâve lost coal jobs? Absolutely nobody in KY would agree that she didnât time and again tout her ties to coal and denigrate Mitchâs.
instead of making it clear that if they repeal the ACA, that Kynect is gone too
Again, not true. She ran ads to that affect, particularly one featuring her grandparents struggle with medical bills and how it ruined them financially. She also ran several ads and talked extensively about preserving peopleâs new insurance. The problem is that she couldnât say Obamacare because Obamacare is grossly unpopular while itâs just the opposite with Kynect. Gee, I wonder why?
and instead of tying Mitch in with every horrendous thing that Bush did as President, since he voted for his agenda 100%, she made it all about her stupid âI am a strong Kentucky womanâ.
She absolutely did this! Are you kidding me? Are you serious right now? Because this is so freakinâ divorced from reality I canât think straight. She hammered the hell out of him for voting for war and voting to privatize Medicare and Social Security. That was one of her biggest attacks from day one.
In fact in poll after poll, they do not even barely register this election. IT IS THE ECONOMY STUPID!!!
Wow, just wow! âItâs the economy, stupidâ was the campaign mantra of which president? Yeah, Clinton, the former president who appeared here multiple times with his wife, the former Sec. of State. Her entire campaign was built around 5 themes: the economy, Mitchâs horrible record, jobs, womenâs issues, and protecting the social safety net. Just because you didnât see that reflected in articles posted here or on other liberal websites doesnât mean that wasnât what was happening on the ground. Do you really think TPM posts every ad in every race? They didnât post even a fifth of her ads, particularly her best ones. They never posted a stump speech and someone who doesnât live here doesnât have a freakinâ clue what kind of campaign sheâs run. Itâs mind boggling that so many people think they do.
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And let me add that what REALLY, REALLY pisses me off is that some of us have been out here fighting the good fight in these red states. Iâve been volunteering for Grimesâ campaign for the last few weeks and Iâve been consistently called everything but a child of God. Iâm out here doing the hard work to get this woman elected, to save the Senate. Meanwhile, Iâve got a bunch of ReaLiberals pissing all over our hardwork because Firedoglake or some other bunch of assholes told them Grimes wasnât running a good campaign. If Democrats lose the Senate, it wonât be because of the DLC. It will fall solely at the feet of ReaLiberals whoâve done nothing but trash the hell out of our efforts.
And by the way, my parents, two black lifelong KYians in their late 60âs and 70s, called nearly in tears because theyâre so damn proud to have had the opportunity to vote for Grimes. My mother said, âWin or lose, she fought like hell for us.â But yeah, ReaLiberals in NYC know better.
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