Do the Democrats need a makeover?

[teke184 0]

If they want to run a Southern Democrat, they should consider trying to find a centrist governor in a state like Louisiana who can navigate a 50-50 electorate and still win each time.

 

 

Technically, Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana fits that description on paper but she's got some skeletons in her closet that would keep her from winning the nomination.

[Dr. Tom 0]

What can the Democrats do?

I'm not sure, really. They've sold themselves out to the hardcore anti-war crowd and the international community, and those are not values which resonate with most Americans. They basically put everything into this Presidential election, and with Bush's victory a virtual certainty, they've lost a lot. The problem was that Kerry was the best they had to offer, and he was not a good candidate. The days of the tax-and-spend liberal are likely over, and the Democratic Party needs to adjust accordingly. They need actual centrists -- not people like the Clintons who are really socialists in disguise -- with sensible views on the issues and a touch take on terrorism. A candidate like that could do well nationally, though the people who still cling to the hardline leftist ideals in the party would have a problem with such a candidate.

 

Is the party dead in the water or is their hope for a significant gain in the next 20 years?

I think they're in trouble. The country has shown itself to be increasingly conservative in its values in the past decade-plus. Note that Clinton won re-election in 1996 by running on a platform full of traditional conservative issues, like welfare reform and a balanced budget. The GOP continues to make gains in the House and Senate, which further erodes the Democrats' power base. Some states do traditionall side with the Democrats, but a lot of those old, set-in-their-ways voters, products of the 1930s and 40s, aren't going to be around for many more elections. The Hippie Movement, which caused the Dems to sell out to the anti-war crowd, has been a disaster in recent years. The party clearly needs a more centrist direction.

 

Is the loss of Daschle a gift or a significant blow in anything other than the image department?

Hard to say. I don't think he was a big help to the Democrats, and if getting rid of him enables some more moderate folks to take the reins of the party, then Daschle's defeat will be the best thing to happen to the Democrats in a long time. If the far left retains control of the party's direction, the same problems will continue.

 

Who can they choose to lead the party and to perhaps spearhead an eventual Democratic revolution (or attempt at doing so)?

I'm not familiar enough with Dem Senators and Representatives from around the country to answer this. I guess the easy answer is Obama, but he's a neophyte in the Senate, and the party won't rally around him yet. Whoever they pick, the person has to be centrist and moderate. It'll piss off the old hardcore liberals, but their days of political relevance are dwindling fast.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Hillary Clinton is the answer, to be certain, but the problem is that you have a party that naturally appeals to the minority and the majority's value system is completely different. So of course there are going to be less voters on the Dems side. It's only logical.

 

The only reason I can ever find that Hillary is hated, by the way, is that she's a strong woman who doesn't back down. I have much more respect for her than I do her husband.

I dislike her for carpetbagging. But don't worry--I feel the same about Alan Keyes.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

The Hippie Movement, which caused the Dems to sell out to the anti-war crowd, has been a disaster in recent years. The party clearly needs a more centrist direction.

 

Ah, but ponder this: The Hippie Movement, or what's left of it, are soon going to transform into a political juggernaut: Senior Citizens.

[Guest MikeSC]

Hillary Clinton is the answer, to be certain, but the problem is that you have a party that naturally appeals to the minority and the majority's value system is completely different. So of course there are going to be less voters on the Dems side. It's only logical.

 

The only reason I can ever find that Hillary is hated, by the way, is that she's a strong woman who doesn't back down. I have much more respect for her than I do her husband.

I dislike her for carpetbagging. But don't worry--I feel the same about Alan Keyes.

I don't.

 

I dislike Keyes because he's a moronc, gay-bashing, useless slug. Carpetbagging is the least of his problems

-=Mike

...The Dems are trying to portray this as "OH was a total fuck-up and that's why Bush won"...

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I haven't seen anyone say that but you.

[Guest Loss]

Ohio wasn't a fuck-up. The system worked. Overwhelmingly. I'm depressed about it, but the problem is not the system.

[Guest MikeSC]

I haven't seen anyone say that but you.

Well, now that Kerry has apparently conceded, they aren't going that route. If they chose to fight, that is precisely what they would've claimed.

-=Mike

[teke184 0]

I haven't seen anyone say that but you.

As I've said to others, that's because I've been cleaning up around here by moving Cpac and St. Gabriel Of Djibouti to the Whiny Bitch folder once they completely lost it.

[Dr. Tom 0]

The Hippie Movement, which caused the Dems to sell out to the anti-war crowd, has been a disaster in recent years. The party clearly needs a more centrist direction.

 

Ah, but ponder this: The Hippie Movement, or what's left of it, are soon going to transform into a political juggernaut: Senior Citizens.

An awful lot of senior citizens live in Florida. Bush won Florida handily. I'm not concerned.

[teke184 0]

Anyone else think that we'll see a HUGE crackdown on voter fraud in the next month?

 

If nothing else, I can see 50,000+ snowbirds being sued for voting for the President in Florida as well as New York and/or California.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Hillary Clinton is the answer, to be certain, but the problem is that you have a party that naturally appeals to the minority and the majority's value system is completely different. So of course there are going to be less voters on the Dems side. It's only logical.

 

The only reason I can ever find that Hillary is hated, by the way, is that she's a strong woman who doesn't back down. I have much more respect for her than I do her husband.

I dislike her for carpetbagging. But don't worry--I feel the same about Alan Keyes.

I don't.

 

I dislike Keyes because he's a moronc, gay-bashing, useless slug. Carpetbagging is the least of his problems

-=Mike

...The Dems are trying to portray this as "OH was a total fuck-up and that's why Bush won"...

Oh all of that too, but I wanted to keep it brief.

[Guest Cerebus]

When you have the bulk of the media, Hollywood, Old Europe, a large chunk of the music industry, and most of Academia along with millions of dollars in donations from a bunch of different sources, and your canidate trumps the opponent in the debates...and your canidate STILL loses decisively in the popular AND electoral vote its time for a change.

[Guest thebigjig]

When you have the bulk of the media, Hollywood, Old Europe, a large chunk of the music industry, and most of Academia along with millions of dollars in donations from a bunch of different sources, and your canidate trumps the opponent in the debates...and your canidate STILL loses decisively in the popular AND electoral vote its time for a change.

All I gotta say is that if the Democratic party decides to try and appeal to the evangelicals, I'll change my affiliation to Libertarian.

[teke184 0]

When you have the bulk of the media, Hollywood, Old Europe, a large chunk of the music industry, and most of Academia along with millions of dollars in donations from a bunch of different sources, and your canidate trumps the opponent in the debates...and your canidate STILL loses decisively in the popular AND electoral vote its time for a change.

All I gotta say is that if the Democratic party decides to try and appeal to the evangelicals, I'll change my affiliation to Libertarian.

If the Dems try to appeal to Evangelicals, we'll see the Green Party become 20% of the electorate each year.

[The Czech Republic 0]

If the Dems try to appeal to Evangelicals they'll get laughed out of town. Won't happen.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Problem is for the Dems where do they want to go. Do they want to be snooby Northeastern Liberals or more conservative Southern/Midwestern Democrats. Personally, I'd go with the latter, but I'm an eeeeevil Republican...

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Two straight big losses.

 

The Democrats are in need of a makeover just like Michael Moore is in need of a shave and a diet.

 

The DNC is pretty much clueless. I started to feel that when they pulled out of Missouri. History will prove their 2004 plan to be asinine.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

The Social Wedge Issues are fucking the Democrats.

 

Of course Kerry decided to be gracious and let Bush define him. Good job there John.

 

Give me some issues and I'll go though my stands on them. I'm saying that the DNC has no clue on how to beat the Religious Right. Other than "Be more like them" which is such a load of crap.

[Guest thebigjig]

The Social Wedge Issues are fucking the Democrats.

 

Of course Kerry decided to be gracious and let Bush define him. Good job there John.

 

Give me some issues and I'll go though my stands on them. I'm saying that the DNC has no clue on how to beat the Religious Right. Other than "Be more like them" which is such a load of crap.

But how CAN you beat them?

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

Dean for DNC chair. Other than that, don't run a candidate in 2008 because we're going to fucking lose that one, too. Run Obama in '12 and hope America is ready to vote for blacky. And don't try to appeal to the young people, by any means!

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

The Social Wedge Issues are fucking the Democrats.

 

Of course Kerry decided to be gracious and let Bush define him. Good job there John.

 

Give me some issues and I'll go though my stands on them. I'm saying that the DNC has no clue on how to beat the Religious Right. Other than "Be more like them" which is such a load of crap.

But how CAN you beat them?

At the very least.. neutralize them!

 

Make them less of a concern.

 

Honestly, Abortions in this country would go down if people had more responsibility for their own actions. No law is going to solve that problem

 

And there's more pressing concerns for me than "defining marriage". I think the fact that we've gotten to a point where the recognition of marriage is so lucrative is a sign that something has gone wrong. I think the marriage benefits and all that came from the Republicans and now that's caused the desire for formally recognizing these relationships. And when it comes to insurance or whatever else. There has to be something that can get that settled if the person just happens to have a same-sex partner

 

What other wedges can we think of?

 

Well.. I'm not too sure what else I can bring up about guns

[bob_barron 0]

Some guy called into the Franken show to gloat- this is hilarious

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

Abortion's solution is simple. Treat the issue like a real issue and not a fucking birthright.

 

Why are most Democrats not in favor of mandatory counseling and a 3 day wait period? It's fucking logical and it blunts the effect of having PRO CHOICE, BEWARE!!!! on your resume.

[Guest thebigjig]

Some guy called into the Franken show to gloat- this is hilarious

Yeah he's Frankens friend... a Republican and a guy who always listens to Rush. Franken has him on every day usually to try and spin Rush's more outrageous statements. Usually, Franken mops the floor with him

[Guest Loss]

I agree with Tyler. One of the problems I think Kerry may have had in this election is that he tried to appeal to everyone instead of picking a stance and hammering it hard all the way to the end. Kerry agreed with Bush on so many issues that it was a task finding the differences between the two. The Republicans had done an excellent job of getting conservatives to the polls, and issues like the marriage amendments in 11 states ended up helping Bush win.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Abortion's solution is simple. Treat the issue like a real issue and not a fucking birthright.

 

Why are most Democrats not in favor of mandatory counseling and a 3 day wait period? It's fucking logical and it blunts the effect of having PRO CHOICE, BEWARE!!!! on your resume.

I'm in favor of banning partial birth abortions except in the cases of the mother's health too.

 

Why?

 

because a full ban has not been ruled constitutional

 

Anyways, there should be more studies to see when or if they would have to do the procedure.

 

I think Kerry's example on the "notification" is definately a bit rare. About the incest example. Although, when it comes to that.. there's evidence to support the idea that "If you get pregnant, we kick you out of the house". Since some parents are pretty much idiots about the whole thing, instead of being supportive.

 

Another thing..

 

Separation of Church and State means the following to me

 

That no official chuch should be established in America

That laws requiring anything like the Ten Commandments being displayed in public buildings can't be passed (why? because there's two different sets of commandments depending on what sect you are in Christianity)

 

That applies to the sects of Christianity and other religions.

 

We're not going to take your Bibles. But America is a nation with a lot of Christians, but not an official Christian nation

[Stephen Joseph 0]

Run Hillary in 2008. Get her out of the way if she's unelectable. How old is Richardson? If he's young enough, run Richardson in 2012, then pull Obama as VP in and groom for 2020

 

The Dems need a long-term 20 year plan right now to get back into things.

 

=)

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Of course Kerry decided to be gracious and let Bush define him. Good job there John.

How can you define someone whose position always changes?...

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Of course Kerry decided to be gracious and let Bush define him. Good job there John.

How can you define someone whose position always changes?...

well.. that's how they defined him