Discussion for article #230755
Pretty good analysis. Schumer is being a tool, of course.
Our biggest problem is the lack of Democratic voter interest in the mid-terms, which is an institutional, rather than a policy-specific problem.
If the message about how well the economy is improving, and how the Repugnicants threaten that improvement could be broadcast better, that would certainly help, but we face a lot of opposition from a corrupt (Fox) and myopic (the rest) Mediacracy in that effort.
Fear tactics over Ebola and ISIL were highly effective in shutting out good news about the economy and the progress of ObamaCare.
15 Likes
Backstabbing, bitter recrimination, camera-whoring, and above all, many different people contradictorily insisting that if only they had done what the speaker claimed to have said they should do all along, are the traditional Democratic responses to a defeat. Because what is a defeat but an opportunity for self-aggrandizement and self-promotion? (Sadly âwe should have listened to what Bob Shrum said we should do and then done the exact oppositeâ never seemed to make it to the top of the list of âthings we shoulda done.â)
Among Republicans, of course, at least since 1976, there are only two approved and acceptable explanations for defeat: a) our positions or candidates were insufficiently conservative and/or b) the election was stolen from us through Democratic voter fraud (i.e. single women and black people were permitted to cast votes in places where their votes mattered).
13 Likes
Wish I could like this 10 times.
Of course, what the Dems really needed was Peggy Noonan blathering on about yard signs.
8 Likes
" this entire debate is a distraction from what Democrats can do to win in 2016 when they will be in a much better position to hold a comparative âtwo futuresâ debate over economic policies instead of a âreferendumâ on hard times."
This. People want to vote for something, the Democrats need to be the positive choice, but not be all wimpy about it. They need to fight back hard on the inevitable wingnut smears.
America is awash in marketing. The Democrats need to hire the best firm and get a coherent campaign going.
Schumer and his corporate pals are not being helpful.
11 Likes
Presidential elections are, by default at least, elections about what one is for. Thatâs a narrative and motovational frame that generally conforms to the Democratic mindset and thus drives them to the polls where their numerical superiority will make a difference. Midterm elections are necessarily about what you are against and what you are afraid of, a narrative and motivational frame that generally conforms to the Republican mindset and weakens Democratic resolve because they usually just donât feel fear or rage with the kind of intensity that drives conservatives to the polls.
Republicans always try to turn every presidential election into an election about what youâre afraid of and what youâre against. With the possible exceptions of 1952 and 1956 (though McCarthyism and fear of the USSR loomed in the background of both), Republicans generally only succeed in presidential elections when they succeed, or external events cause, a presidential election to be an election about what voters are against and what theyâre afraid of.
It does not seem possible, however, for Democrats to turn a midterm into an election about what people are for, even when that thing is âmore of the same.â It just doesnât motivate their voters because, to the extent things have already been done, they are either disappointed that the ideal they voted for in the last presidential election was tainted by contact with reality or upset that every single thing they wanted done didnât get done during the preceding two years. Nor do Democrats seem to be able to turn midterms into elections about what Democrats are angry about or what Democrats fear.
Instead, Democrats only seem to be able to prevail in midterms when Republicans, through actions taken by them in the seven to nine months immediately preceding the election and only when they control one or both political branches, manage to turn the election into one about what Democrats are against and what Democrats fear.
9 Likes
People want to vote for something in presidential election years. Most of the time. Except when theyâre scared.
I defy you to identify a single midterm in the last eighty years that was about what people were for. No one who isnât a chronic voter, and thus in no need of further motivation, ever votes in a midterm because of what the parties and candidates are for. No one turns out in a midterm our of gratitude or appreciation for what has already been done or because they want to give the president time to finish doing what he promised to do last election.
Anger about whatâs been done and fear of things you think will be done seem to be the only things that ever motivate voters to vote in midterms. And, indeed, thatâs kind of what the Founders intended. And, itâs another of those ideas about the proper construction of a government weâre taught in school were proof of their genius that, in fact, were on balance really pretty stupid-assed ideas.
2 Likes
We are talking as if just a few things had been tweaked, everything would be hunky-dory. We are in a period of real and vast consequential Change. Going on 8 billion people on the planet with climate Chaos baring down on us is unsustainable. Capitalism as practiced by elite Plutocrats is decimating the middle class workers. New jobs are part time at low wages and college graduates are stuck with large ($30~50,000) debts around their necks and no good paying jobs. We reward Hedge Funds (Mitt Romneys) for send our industrial manufacturing base to China. The Police are on some sort of sick killing spree. People are buying guns like we are preparing for civil war. Education (No Child Left) has turned into test scores instead of critical thinking and learning. We seem to hate teachers. The fossil fuel industry is living in a financial bubble and is ready to explode because of dropping oil prices. Tens of Trillions of dollars invested in the Fracking Industry are becoming worthless and hedging is worthless. Big Wall Street Casino Banks are coming for a bail out. We canât seem to extricate ourselves from our bankrupting 24/7 Wars for othersâ resources. I could go on and on and on. We all know what is happening and it is not pretty. Change is coming and I hope is for the better. Nothing is guaranteed. What ever happens there will be a lot of suffering. Itâs a consequence of stupidity and not learning from history.
If we had spent the 3 trillion dollars on sustainable energy instead of 2 immoral wars on innocent people (Muslims) we would be in a very powerful and advantageous position. Stupidity and a dysfunctional, self-serving government.
4 Likes
IMO the real lesson the Democrats should take away from 2014, and every other disastrous midterm is this: instead of wasting precious resources trying to convince people who will never vote for you, to vote for you, you should spend more of your time and money getting people who would vote for you if they bothered to vote, to come out and vote.
8 Likes
This stuff couldnât get more ridiculous if that was the goal. What message did the Democrats need? None. All you had to do was listen to the one the GOPâers were spewing and that should have been enough. Hereâs the message the Democrats need: Get your fucking ass to the polls and vote or STFU.
Itâs an ill wind that blows no good and this situation does blow. Perhaps there are enough nutcase GOPâers in congress now to make it clear who and what they are. Perhaps after a double shot of GOPâer the momentum they have with the American people will stall. Who knows. But if Democrats donât voteâŚand they didnât last monthâŚthe GOP is going to cake walk into power. They just did.
Vote or shut the fuck up Democrats.
As an aside. The rage of late is Ferguson and the outrages Blacks live with there. Really? That town is near 2/3 Black yet has a White Mayor, White Chief of Police, near all White City Council and a near all White police force. Somehow I get the feeling Black folks in Ferguson donât voteâŚso fuck them too.
3 Likes
This âfocus on the economyâ claptrap makes me imagine Obama. Reid and Pelosi sitting cross-legged on the Oval Office carpet chanting, âOm, jobsâ and visualizing GDP rising. Unless the critics have a set of actual proposals and some reasonable scenario under which they could have been enacted, they are just blowing smoke.
The truth is that the US economic record since 2008 is among the best of any G-7 countries. Is it possible to do better? Perhaps, but it isnât as simple as âfocusing on the economyâ.
3 Likes
Hindsight is always 20/20 and itâs always easier for analyists who donât have to run for office every 2/4/6 years and donât really have to make decisions and vote more than once a year in realtime.
1 Like
And what difference doers it make if all that is true? Democrats DONâT vote. Its not about messageâŚand if Democrats have to have an absolutely perfect message to get off their ass and go to the polls the GOPâers are going win in a landslide with a shitty message. They just did.
You beat each other up so much there is nothing left to fight the GOP. You are suckers too. All it takes is one GOPâer on a Lefty blog feigning to be a disillusioned Liberal and hell you are all on board in a few seconds. If the media works with the GOP to plant a bogus meme about you âall you want to do is make the people dependent on Governmentâ you donât do a fucking thing about it. The GOPâers explode when the media gives them shit and they have cowed the MSM by doing so. If your candidates arenât PERFECTâŚyou rip them apart with more fury than Americans for Prosperity.
Dumb assed Democrats. Get on your mule and get a lancet DemsâŚits a role that was custom written for you.
3 Likes
NO! Donât blame Blacks for the BS they have to put up with in Ferguson and elsewhere regarding the police. They should treat everyone with respect, regardless of how or if they voted. As for the rest, wellâŚ
1 Like
Nobody will respect black power (or brown power, or female power, or any other power) until the people rise up and take that power.
The people in Ferguson can have the power. All they have to do is reach out and grab it at the polls, which is the only way power will change hands in American society (since a âcity revolutionâ would be quickly smashed).
2 Likes
f**k this country. we deserve what we get.
1 Like
The elections of 1952 and 1956 were anomalous in a number of ways. People werenât voting against Stevenson (or even intellectualism) but for Eisenhower. Eisenhower could have had the nomination as either a Republican or a Democrat. Jesus Christ couldnât have beaten Eisenhower* in either 1952 or 1956.
While successful military commanders have often, for better or worse, segued their military exploits into the presidency (e.g., George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, U.S. Grant, even the ill-fated William Henry Harrison), Eisenhower was something else entirely. Eisenhower had been supreme commander in Europe in a war that saw the largest mobilization of the military in American history. His book Crusade in Europe coupled with the 26-part TV-series with the same title made sure that everyone in America over the age of 5 knew Eisenhowerâs name. Voting against Eisenhower would have been like voting for Hitler.
*For the record, Jesus Christ couldnât win an election in America anyway. In fact, he wouldnât be able to get the nomination. Were Christ to return, he would be marginalized because of his liberal views on social justice, and, while he might not be crucified this time around, he would probably end up in a rubber room, put there by those who so devoutly call for his return.
2 Likes
Thatâs what I mean. And, indeed, I am quite the admirer of Eisenhower and a bit of a student of his presidency, though not anything like the scale of my Lincoln thing.
The truth is that America hit a lucky streak from 1932-1964 that reminds me in many ways of the âFive Good Emperorsâ phase of the Roman Empire. The thing that made the âfive good emperorsâ a thing wasnât that each of them was, individually, a good emperor, but, rather that they got that many good ones in a rowâa thing that had never happened before and never happened again. Ditto the five pretty dang good to great presidents of the 20th century.
And if Lyndon Johnson wasnât a philosopher like Marcus Aurelius (though many of his best known quotes are more, um, memorable), he, like Marcus, rather tragically brought the string to an end as a result of a stunningly huge blind spot.
1 Like
Krugmaâs comment FTW:
ââŚgoverning is not just theaterâ.
Headline applies to the comments section as well, although I am glad we are having a hearty historical discussion.
You sound like youâd be a great motivational speaker. Have you considered running for office? You sure have an inspiring message.