glenn1
Lifer
Okay guys, let's face it, your current strategy isn't working. This isn't about right or wrong, what programs you support vs what the republicans want to eliminate (or vice versa), or any of that tangential nonsense. Fair or unfair, there are three basic points on which your side continues to come up short in swing voters' opinions when they are comparing you to your competition - national defense, taxes, and spending. The problem is not that your message needs fine tuning, you need a new message... first of all to completely turn around the voters' perceptions of you and secondly to slow down the Republicans and put them on the defensive against your ideas. You need a short, simple, and easily understandable platform that both identifies what your side stands for and answers some of the concerns that the voters have about your party.
So here's how you break through the perception gap, and here's your slogan.
"We won't raise taxes and will help our troops win the war, but our side will actually pay for it."
Yes, that means take tax raises off the table. You heard that right, state upfront that you think Americans should keep more of their own money and you won't revoke Bush's tax cuts, but you'll actually keep spending in line so that the tax cuts are paid for. The problem with your criticizing Bush deficits isn't that people don't care, but they don't trust you to not tax-n-spend your way out of it (or for that matter, not to dig the hole deeper). Kerry (and Mondale before him) showed that pledging to raise taxes is a losing proposition, so accept that as a political reality that you can't take on and win, and instead turn the focus back on the other end. Of course this means that you'll have to actually do some soul-searching and name some programs that you'd cut, but I'm sure that's something you can accomplish if you put your minds to it.
You can also slipstream this same slogan into something which will win on national defense. Don't act like you're upset about Saddam not being there or us spending $200B in Iraq. First of all, neither of those positions help you and they're both fait accompli anyway. Again, turn the message back onto paying for it. "We'll help our troops win by making sure we have the money back home to pay for accomplishing the victory" or words to that effect.
So here's how you break through the perception gap, and here's your slogan.
"We won't raise taxes and will help our troops win the war, but our side will actually pay for it."
Yes, that means take tax raises off the table. You heard that right, state upfront that you think Americans should keep more of their own money and you won't revoke Bush's tax cuts, but you'll actually keep spending in line so that the tax cuts are paid for. The problem with your criticizing Bush deficits isn't that people don't care, but they don't trust you to not tax-n-spend your way out of it (or for that matter, not to dig the hole deeper). Kerry (and Mondale before him) showed that pledging to raise taxes is a losing proposition, so accept that as a political reality that you can't take on and win, and instead turn the focus back on the other end. Of course this means that you'll have to actually do some soul-searching and name some programs that you'd cut, but I'm sure that's something you can accomplish if you put your minds to it.
You can also slipstream this same slogan into something which will win on national defense. Don't act like you're upset about Saddam not being there or us spending $200B in Iraq. First of all, neither of those positions help you and they're both fait accompli anyway. Again, turn the message back onto paying for it. "We'll help our troops win by making sure we have the money back home to pay for accomplishing the victory" or words to that effect.
