If I Were a Democrat

[CADsortaGUY]

I'm sure there will be much gnashing of teeth over this OP/ED but as usual Noonan just about nails it.

If I Were a Democrat - Here's what I'd do.

If I Were a Democrat
Here's what I'd do.

Thursday, January 6, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST

The 109th Congress has been sworn in and convened, and now the new post-election reality begins. If I were a Democrat right now I would think big and get serious. Second terms are tough for incumbents; history has not handed George W. Bush an easy ride, and there's no reason to think that will change now; and Mr. Bush is a gambler who's not afraid to throw the dice, which means he will likely have not only stunning gains but stunning losses ahead. The Democrats are still competitive. "In every defeat lies the seed of future victory, in every victory lies the seed of future defeat." Every morning I'd put my game face on knowing my party will stand a good chance of making a big presidential comeback in four years. Look confident; this will encourage victory. Or at least leave people saying you look confident, which for you will be a victory.

No one wants to be head of the Democratic National Committee. This is bad but understandable. A fractious party has been further fractured by a hard year. What you need for DNC chairman is a man or woman of some stature who can make the case for your party day in and day out in big media. Fund-raising expertise is secondary--hire someone to do it. So is organizational skill--hire organizers. You need someone who makes the Democratic Party look nonsleazy, nonmanipulative and nonweak on TV. He doesn't have to be nationally known, but he must be--how to put this?--good-natured, moderate in manner, and normal-seeming. That would mean not Howard Dean.

There is much to build on. You hold 44 Senate seats, 202 House seats and 22 governorships. You have been on a losing strain for a while, but you can turn that into opportunity. Now, in the depths--or what you frankly hope are the depths--you can move for change within the party. Nothing sobers like defeat. Use the new sobriety to shake off the mad left. This is the best chance you've had all century! Seriously, this is the best chance you've had in a long time. You couldn't rethink the party when you had Bill Clinton, because he kept winning. But he was a special case, a once-every-quarter-century natural. He had the gift; he brought his own winnerness with him every bit as much as he brought his own mess.

The Groups--all the left-wing outfits from the abortion people to the enviros--didn't deliver in the last election, and not because they didn't try. They worked their hearts out. But they had no one to deliver. They had only money. The secret: Nobody likes them. Nobody! No matter how you feel about abortion, no one likes pro-abortion fanatics; no one likes mad scientists who cook environmental data. Or rather only rich and creepy people like them. Stand up to the Groups--make your policies more moderate, more nuanced, less knee-jerk.

Don't reflexively oppose President Bush on Social Security reform. Talk and listen and consider; ask open-minded questions at hearings. If he's wrong--if his prescriptions don't promise to make the system stronger and more just down the road--then make a persuasive case, one a grown-up could listen to and understand. Don't do "sound bites for blue heads in Dade County," be serious. People can tell when you're not. They just punished you at the polls again because you weren't. You have nothing to gain but stature.



Hold a big public party meeting on taxes and spending. I am serious. Everyone knows where the Republican Party stands on both: they're against the former, and--in theory if not practice--against the latter. Where are you? Thrash it out, and in public. The next big election is two years away. You have the time. The attitude here should be: When the people talk, we listen. They just spoke. We are listening to what was said, pondering it, and will respond earnestly and in good faith. You don't have to be doctrinaire anymore, because your doctrines failed you. Reinvent.
A Sister Souljah moment? Why not? Keep your eyes sharp for a constituency that has proved itself spectacularly unhelpful in the past few decades, and go at it hammer and tong. I think not an individual, though Jesse Jackson and all he stands for is tempting. Go at a group. How about junk scientists? With Michael Crichton's manifesto doing well and getting praise, and with the natural disaster of the tsunami having left everyone brushing up on their wave trains and tectonic-plate knowledge, the time is right.

Or--and this would be splendid--there's this. In states like the Democratic bastion (though in some ways a vulnerable one) of New Jersey, people are starting to fear they're going to be forced from their homes by rising property taxes. New Jersey used to be a safe haven. Now its citizens are clobbered with taxes and spending. This leaves those on fixed incomes in a precarious state. Who is more sympathetic, a widow in Lodi or a Democratic Party that stands for the status quo? Come to her aid. Say "Enough is enough." Say "We can't support endless spending. Stupid and corrupt spending is the enemy of wise spending, and wise spending is what the Democratic party is about." Tax relief is an issue almost everywhere, and it is not going away any time soon.

John Kerry was almost shrewd to try to get to the right of Bush on issues like homeland security and immigration. I say almost because he didn't do it long enough or deeply enough, and by the time he made his move no one believed much of what he said. That's what the Swift Boat ads did to him; they didn't make him look like a coward but a liar. That he could never speak of his 20 years in the Senate didn't help. But he's over, and you're here. Homeland security can always be improved, and immigration will only grow as a fact and an issue. Get serious.

And don't forget to confuse categories. Be counterintuitive. Republican Mike Bloomberg of New York won't let workingmen and -women smoke at the local bar. Democrats always wind up in support of such measures. Don't! Distance yourself from the smoke Nazis, from all Nazis. Be sane; take the side of normal humans with normal imperfections. Let the Republicans look stupid on these issues if they choose to. Don't fall for it. The Sierra Club will love you anyway. (Politicians in New York tell me the tide has turned, that even people shuddering outside buildings grabbing a smoke say it's only right. I'm not shuddering outside a building, but I talk to smokers all the time and let me tell you how they feel about the banners. They hate them.)



The Bush administration has stood for cutting taxes, allowing high spending, and being tough in the world. The Democrats stand for raising taxes, high spending, and being weak in the world. Should the Democrats become more like Republicans? Yes, they should. Then, in the next big contest, they can agree on the big points with the Republicans and win on three other things. First, on small points, as Mr. Clinton did with such key issues as The Campaign for the Right Child-Carrying Seatbelts. Second, on campaign expertise. Third, on the personality and character of the candidate.
On all of these points they can be truly competitive. If they choose to get serious.

CsG

 

[Dari]

Bush is not the usual President. He can have this voodoo-like effect on people. I've got a strange feeling he'll get his way in his second term. Democrats are fvcked.

 

[Looney]

Personally i think Bush won because of how he played up the fears for the American people. "the world is a bad place, and you need me to protect you'. He raised the threat levels, with absolutely NO explanation why, except to tell people to watch out for anything strange, and to report it. Then after a few days, he would lower it, and people would think that the government did something to have secured the nation again.

 

[imported_brad]

i think bush won because of several reasons.

1-he made us even more afraid
2-he made the opposition seem unpatriotic
3-he played his faith to the T.

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

-- Herman Goering

 

[SuperTool]

Well, I agree the Democrats need to explain where they stand. They are right on the big issues, but they need to let some of the small ones go. Gun control and gay marriage are two most obvious. Abortion is not so obvious, but I think if it's overturned it will play to Democrats advantage, because Republicans will have to pay a political price for their talk.
On fiscal front, Democrats should make one immediate agenda goal. Removing the cap on payroll taxable income and reducing the overall social security tax rate to maintain the revenue.
The republicans want to ignore payroll taxes and only concentrate on income taxes. Democrats should do the opposite. The idea of a lower, flat social security tax should be easy to sell, it wil benefit an overwhelming majority of americans.

 

[Caminetto]

Originally posted by: CADsortaGUY
I'm sure there will be much gnashing of teeth over this OP/ED but as usual Noonan just about nails it.

LOL, advice for dems from a conservative repub. Dems protect your teeth from gnashing.

P.S. - Just about nailing it means your just beat the hell out of a perfectly good piece of wood aiming for the nail.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

We will all love Big Brother. Bush has shown us the error of our ways. We must conform. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. Our God in the White House will convert you.

You have no choice.



Do I believe it? Well Noonan says yes. I say no.

 

[Geardo]

Bush won because he is smarter than the DemocRATS!

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: Geardo
Bush won because he is smarter than the DemocRATS!

Please post something useful next time. Yes, I know the other responses were not exactly addressing the OP/ED because this isn't about Bush - it's about Democrats. It's also not about the Dems becoming Republicans either -but I sure as hell know your post was the worst by far.

Us Conservatives take enough flak here without posts like yours giving them ammo.

CsG

 

[n0cmonkey]

The best chance this country has at becoming something worth being proud about does not lie with the Democrats, or the Republicans. It lies in the people of the United States that want what is best for everyone, not what is best for big business or Jesus. It's time both parties reevaluated their positions and remembered that they are working for the people.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
The best chance this country has at becoming something worth being proud about does not lie with the Democrats, or the Republicans. It lies in the people of the United States that want what is best for everyone, not what is best for big business or Jesus. It's time both parties reevaluated their positions and remembered that they are working for the people.

Ideologies like that died over 40 years ago with Kennedy. It's been business ever since.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: Dari

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
The best chance this country has at becoming something worth being proud about does not lie with the Democrats, or the Republicans. It lies in the people of the United States that want what is best for everyone, not what is best for big business or Jesus. It's time both parties reevaluated their positions and remembered that they are working for the people.

Ideologies like that died over 40 years ago with Kennedy. It's been business ever since.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
The best chance this country has at becoming something worth being proud about does not lie with the Democrats, or the Republicans. It lies in the people of the United States that want what is best for everyone, not what is best for big business or Jesus. It's time both parties reevaluated their positions and remembered that they are working for the people.

I was thinking something similar..

As Dari said....it's dead!

Fiscal conservatism seems to also be dead....doesn't leave lots for me to be excited about. Makes me want to be (again) like the masses around me. Not knowing and not caring. Really saddening...

 

[imported_brad]

Originally posted by: Geardo
Bush won because he is smarter than the DemocRATS!

what is this, middle school recess?

for one, bush isnt smart. he surrounds himself with smart people, and they tell him what to do and what to say. when he says his own material, you get bushisms. google it.

 

[Baldeagle76]

My favorite thing, and it will continue to be my favorite thing for a long time at this current pace, is how people always say the left is going to raise your taxes and increase government. Okay I'll give the last three Republican Presidents this, with the exception of George Bush Sr., they don't raise taxes /cheer. But when you increase spending by billions of dollars what happens ? We get more debt. How do we finance that debt? The government sells bonds of $100,000 each, gaurenteed. Do you have the money to buy some of these great no-risk, profitable investments? Nope, but the rich people of the world sure do. And pssst, most of those people aren't from the US buying our debt *cough * China * Saudi Arabi * cough * At least when Bill Clinton raised taxes, he raised only people who made more than $200,000, let me tell you being in the military I come no where close to that, and he balanced the dang budget. I would vote republican if they really did what they say they do : decrease the government interferring in our lives and scale back the spending of the government. Neither of which happened with the awful, yes I am in the military and I said awful (read it), Patriot Act, or the creation of Homeland Defense Department. I heard a statement once and I think it is very true. "America is socially liberal and fiscally conservative". Neither of these parties represent that but the Dems come closer.

Do you know the last nation to have a Dept of Homland Defense?

 

[tekno82]

Originally posted by: Baldeagle76
Do you know the last nation to have a Dept of Homland Defense?

for high profile countries, id go with nazi germany as a reliable bet, since they focused so much on the defense and supremacy of the fatherland. and my next guess would be one of the pseudo-communist regimes during the cold war in the eastern bloc.

for one, bush isnt smart. he surrounds himself with smart people, and they tell him what to do and what to say. when he says his own material, you get bushisms. google it.

id wager to say the last truly independently "smart" politician was woodrow wilson. everyone else since has had really strong set of advisers, be they dem or repub.

 

[imported_brad]

Originally posted by: tekno82

id wager to say the last truly independently "smart" politician was woodrow wilson. everyone else since has had really strong set of advisers, be they dem or repub.

i didnt care for him, but clinton was a rhodes scholar, or something.

 

[tekno82]

that kind of distinction is more of a measure of cunning than what i consider smarts. those awards are highly politicized. take it from me, i took classes with a number of recent rhodes scholars, i was consistently underwhelmed..

 

[1EZduzit]

The Bush administration has stood for cutting taxes, allowing high spending, and being tough in the world. The Democrats stand for raising taxes, high spending, and being weak in the world. Should the Democrats become more like Republicans? Yes, they should. Then, in the next big contest, they can agree on the big points with the Republicans and win on three other things. First, on small points, as Mr. Clinton did with such key issues as The Campaign for the Right Child-Carrying Seatbelts. Second, on campaign expertise. Third, on the personality and character of the candidate.
On all of these points they can be truly competitive. If they choose to get serious.

That article reminds me of one I read when McGovern was defining what being a "conservative" meant.

 

[Mean MrMustard]

Maybe the Dems can gather enough money to hire Herr Rove. Lord knows he's done a good job for the Repubs.

EDIT: 'done'

 

[Pliablemoose]

The Groups--all the left-wing outfits from the abortion people to the enviros--didn't deliver in the last election, and not because they didn't try. They worked their hearts out. But they had no one to deliver. They had only money. The secret: Nobody likes them. Nobody! No matter how you feel about abortion, no one likes pro-abortion fanatics; no one likes mad scientists who cook environmental data. Or rather only rich and creepy people like them. Stand up to the Groups--make your policies more moderate, more nuanced, less knee-jerk.

IMHO, this was the #1 vote killer for moderates & fence sitters, and it swung the election in favor of Bush.

 

[arsbanned]

Originally posted by: Dari

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
The best chance this country has at becoming something worth being proud about does not lie with the Democrats, or the Republicans. It lies in the people of the United States that want what is best for everyone, not what is best for big business or Jesus. It's time both parties reevaluated their positions and remembered that they are working for the people.

Ideologies like that died over 40 years ago with Kennedy. It's been business ever since.

You must be proud. :disgust:

Originally posted by: Caminetto

Originally posted by: CADsortaGUY
I'm sure there will be much gnashing of teeth over this OP/ED but as usual Noonan just about nails it.

LOL, advice for dems from a conservative repub. Dems protect your teeth from gnashing.

P.S. - Just about nailing it means your just beat the hell out of a perfectly good piece of wood aiming for the nail.

HAHAHAHA! Nice. :thumbsup: