Daily KOS: Upset liberals are overthinking the election

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Three words: "Two party system."

Yes, last night sucked. But it was SUPPOSED to suck. It is a two party system. If voters are unhappy with the status quo there is only one other game in town. It doesn't matter how abhorrent the GOP is, they are the only alternative. Like Chris Rock said: "Obama didn't cure cancer fast enough! I'm voting for cancer!"

We can blame the voters if we must. But blaming the Dems for not being progressive enough? That isn't it at all. For one thing, Obama has had more fight in him in these past two years than he did for the entirety of his first term. Every day after 2011, I was worried what he was going to capitulate to the GOP with next. There was a knot in my stomach every time he went up against them. These Past two years? Never happened once. Once Obama trounced Romney he stopped trying to work with the Republicans and started working around them. Obama is not the problem. If the media reported on his accomplishments fairly his approval rating would be in the high 60's.

You don't need to play the blame game and talk about how much the Democrats suck. That's what the Republicans WANT you to think. All you're doing is playing into their hands and accepting their tiresome version of the narrative. If we think the Dems are at fault the Republicans have done their job.

Democrats were always going to get creamed this year and there was nothing they could have done to prevent it. The GOP basically destroyed the country and then blamed it on the Dems. And it didn't take a political genius to do it. It was easy and it worked.

Last night wasn't the end of the world. It was normal. In 2016 when the voters realize the GOP HASN'T fixed their problems, and has wasted all their time on impeachment proceedings, we'll make gains and get back the Senate.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/05/1342437/-Upset-liberals-are-overthinking-the-election?detail=email

[bigwillq]

1. Yup.

K and R

[workinclasszero]

5. Agree. Total BS /nt

[RKP5637]

10. Absolutely! What a gutless weak-kneed bullshit article! n/t

[RobertEarl]

3. What a crock

Last edited Thu Nov 6, 2014, 11:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Most leaders of the party have sold their souls.

That is why we lost. They have totally forgotten the message of the party, and that message is that the Democratic party is all about those who have less.

The republicans are, as Bush said of his base "The have mores."

Maybe Obama has been shouting our message, but the rest of our leaders have not. Sanders and Grayson and Warren have been claiming our message, but the rest are sleeping with big money.

[m-lekktor]

4. no amount of DEM party suckkage could ever cause me to vote

for the GOP but i suppose people like me are not who they are referring to in this piece.

[bhikkhu]

6. All very likely

...but I think the real existential democratic crisis begins with asking: why did so many people not bother to vote?

When the nation is supposed to be so polarized, and so many think that the country is heading in the wrong direction, why do so few bother to show up at the polling booth? What we wind up with is 20% of the electorate, more or less, choosing our leaders and national policy, while the rest just let them. "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity" comes to mind.

I tend to look on the bright side. Obama and the democrats in congress have been able to do a decent job of revitalizing the economy, in spite of great opposition. Things are pretty good overall, compared to 6 years ago. Holding a majority in congress, the republicans won't so easily resign themselves to "spitballs from the minority side" and simple obstruction. There is some responsibility to actually govern, especially with a much more important election in two years time. I don't expect them to drop the bluster, but I would look more at what they do than what they say.

[RKP5637]

7. I certainly mean no offense to the OP, I am speaking of the article. What a willy nilly bullshit

gutless article! It reeks of gutless weaknesses.

[RobertEarl]

11. BOOM!!

Good one RKP. Lets see what kind of comeback the OP can lay out for your takedown. I doubt we'll even see the OP again in this thread.

[pnwmom]

57. Why bother with a comeback to a content-free post?

[RobertEarl]

60. BOOM, again!

I certainly mean no offense to the OP, I am speaking of the article. What a willy nilly bullshit

gutless article! It reeks of gutless weaknesses.

[pnwmom]

61. Please tell me how many elections there have been in the last 50 years

in which a two term President at the end of his Presidency did NOT have to face a face an opposition Congress.

What happened to Obama is what happens to two term Presidents -- and in this one the result was especially pre-ordained because the Democrats had many more seats to lose than Republicans did, simply based on the calendar.

[RobertEarl]

64. That is a losing attitude

An attitude that is rampant in our leaders. Making all kinds of excuses for a failure to GOTV.

Shameful attitude, and a proven loser. BOOM!

[Andy823]

15. So what is your plan to fix things?

Do you have some candidates in mind the would be better than those you now have in your state?

[RKP5637]

24. Yes, but they lost due to low dem. voter turnout!!! n/t

[Andy823]

30. So do you have a plan to fix that nt

[RKP5637]

38. That is a good question I often ponder. There is a distinct lack of enthusiasm in

the democratic party IMO. I think this is because the party is fractured, a lack unity and clear identity.

First, would be to clearly articulate the values of the democratic party, basically, all the wood behind one arrow.

Second, would be to communicate that message loud and clear.

Third, would be to have candidates that subscribed to those values.

This message needs to be repeated over and over, the core values of the democratic party. What is required is instillation of the Primacy Principle. That, is lacking today, and that can't be instilled just at election time. It is a 7x24 task.

Additionally, democratic candidates need to learn how to present clear and effective messages.

If the values are well articulated in short precise and consistent statements, greater enthusiasm might develop in the base. People today, sad to say, IMO, relate and analyze in gut feelings rather than logic. Hence, communication needs to match that observation IMO.

Watching the ads for the last election, I often thought, what if the candidates all articulated a similar message, sometimes this is most effective against mudslinging rhetoric, because such a message will eventually cause the mudslingers to sound and look like damn fools.

These are just some of my feelings on this topic.

[Amonester]

58. And dare I ask what if after having done all these good improvements those 40-million non-voters

who lean to the left would still not show up to vote, for many different reasons, like maybe they'd be stuck on Twitting all day, or posting meaningless selfies on Instagram, or watching movies, or not knowing where to go to cast their vote, or being denied of their right to vote because they wouldn't know what to do when asked to show up an ID, or they're working two part-time jobs and they don't have a long-enough time break between the two, or they don't have enough gas in the tank to drive there.... or for so many other possible reasons.

What if you did all that, and somehow end up with the same depressing results?

Near 40,000,000 elligible-to-vote-and-leaning-Dems may not be in a position or even just interested enough to get off their bottoms and go vote anyway.

You'd end up with the same results.

Not saying it's not worth to try, though, but the results might not be any different if these voters don't give a f for midterms and never would.

[RKP5637]

71. Yep, I know exactly what you mean. Probably the first step is to really analyze why they do not

show up to vote, the exact causes and then address those. The midterms count as much as a general election for the president, but they just don't seem to get it. Maybe they are naive enough to think they are voting in a king with omnipotent powers. ... from polls on what people know about how government works leaves me just shaking my head. Here for example, once registered, it could not be easier to vote. Voting is done by mail.

[world wide wally]

53. See my post #49 for starters

[WorseBeforeBetter]

18. Gutless, dumbed-down and... such keen political acumen!

Watch. Sensible Centrist DU will give it 200 recs.

[Andy823]

32. Nope

Only the threads bashing the president, or the whole democratic party would get that many recs!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

34. You missed the ratfucking fun? The hissyfit fun?

Shame.

Backatcha.

[KG]

8. a nice steaming pile of poo.

[Phlem]

40. agreed.

[woo me with science]

9. Third Way talking points. Trashing thread.

IMO, here are the important threads right now:

(1)

Ignore Third Way diversion and spin
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025767160

(2)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025776260
(not really about Obama, but about how politics in America have changed and are not what we're told they are)

(3)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025776332
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025776965
glaring evidence for (2)

[RKP5637]

12. K&R

[Andy823]

14. Is this all you post these days?

Seem like every thread that you disagree with you simply want to trash it. Why not act like a grown up and discuss it. The may way or the highway attitude does not help make changes.

Why not tell us all how to find candidates that cane be elected to help make changes. Why not promote find a solution instead of posting only the negative things? We can't purge the whole party can we?

[Phlem]

37. Jeeezus

Teh

Oh I can't do it, so tired

"Why not act like a grown up and discuss it. " Ha!

"We can't purge the whole party can we?"

[Andy823]

13. I agree

Midterms are historically this way, the party not in the WH wins seats and the party in the WH lose seats. Thats just the way it is no matter what some on DU say. The usual crowd wants to blame it all on the president, or the third way candidates, who seem to be just about everyone that was running for office as a democrat.

What seems to fail to register with some is voter turnout was once again way down, only around 38% or so. When democrats turn out to vote they win, when they sit home, as many do during the midterms, they lose. I don't care why they stayed home, they did, and we lost.

Now all those people on DU who want to blame it all on the president, the third way candidates, or the entire democratic party, and especially those who want to "purge" the party, of what seems to be any one they don't agree with, need to stop complaining and start find all those candidates in their state that they feel will do a better job. They have two years to find them, encourage them to run, support them and get their names out to the public. Help them get the message out from town to town in every state. Get them on the ballot and get the voters out to vote for them.

It's your state, your members of congress, so if you don't like them do something about it. Make your voice heard at at the primaries. Even if your candidate does not win, at least you tried.

[RobertEarl]

17. Eh?

You blame everyone but yourself and Obama?

Who made you the decider?

I see not one whiff of what YOU will do, I only see you lay down and say: "That's just the way it is".

You may be the last person on DU who is happy we lost?

All you have done here is to abdicate to the leaders who did NOT get out the vote and you seemingly condone their failure to do so.

Your blaming DUers is like blaming the victims. Simple people who trusted the dear leaders and have been victimized. Well, guess what? Mutiny is so close I can smell it.

[RKP5637]

27. The democratic party needs a serious paradigm change. The party is in a rut, it is the SOS over and

over again. If it be mutiny, than be it IMO!

[RKP5637]

26. If democrats sit home and do not vote, it does not make much difference. n/t

[BlindTiresias]

16. Nothing to see here!

The loss is totally expected and not a big deal, the only way forward is to keep doing what we have been doing.

[RobertEarl]

19. Obama ran on what?

Change.

And here you are saying just keep doing the same as what has proven to be a losing proposition? Are you totally ignoring Obama and his Change idea?

[BlindTiresias]

21. I was being sarcastic

I guess the tag exists for a reason lol

[RobertEarl]

22. Use it until you have a 1000 posts?

It did leave a nice opening to blast those who really do propose we keep the 3rd way leaders we have. For they sure are claiming Obama's original idea of Change, is now trash. Obama was brilliant. I miss that campaigner. We need more of that Change message, eh?

[BlindTiresias]

25. Yep

If Obama was able to keep that political momentum the GOP would have very likely been deceased for real. I think a serious, unbiased post-mortem of the Obama presidency needs to be done if we are to learn anything for future use.

[Jackpine Radical]

28. The sarcasm was fairly obvious to me.

[betsuni]

20. Isn't there a "good Santa, bad Santa" strategy the GOP started years ago?

They wreak the country, Democrats clean it up. I tried to search for it but couldn't find it. Did I imagine it?

[NRaleighLiberal]

41. two santa clause theory - link here

First heard this on Thom Hartmann a few years ago.


http://www.commondreams.org/views/2009/01/26/two-santa-clauses-or-how-republican-party-has-conned-america-thirty-years

[betsuni]

47. Ah, thank you, that's it.

[F4lconF16]

51. Fantastic piece.

I heartily recommend reading for anyone who hasn't.

[gollygee]

23. Mixed feelings

I wasn't surprised that we lost, and I think there is some overthinking, but on the other hand I think a better strategy (aka the 50 states strategy of Howard Dean) would have helped. It feels like the Republicans take elections more seriously.

[RKP5637]

29. They do! The republicans take elections seriously and they unite to win. The democrats

could learn some lessons. Additionally, I wish we had had Howard Dean.

[zeemike]

31. "and there was nothing they could have done to prevent it"

That right there is why we keep loosing...presenting ourselves as helpless and blameless.
Spoken like a true enabler.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

35. The person who wrote that *has* to be very young, with NO sense of history.

They need to sit down and watch every episode of "The Roosevelts," to begin to get a clue...

[NRaleighLiberal]

42. +1

[F4lconF16]

52. Young? Maybe, maybe not.

The corporatists have been saying this all over DU. I don't think many of them are young.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

72. True. And many of 'them'...

come across as one wizard behind a curtain.

[PatrynXX]

33. But blaming the Dems for not being progressive enough? That isn't it at all.

Um yes that is it. exactly. like Rahm Emmanuel calling dems stupid for thinking Dems are just like Republicans. ouch that hurt the bottom line. alot of liberal sat it out because there were no progressives running. So again if Daily Kos wants to keep the fiction running and possibly lose in 2016 fine but hey , people are going to vote or not vote if a certain person matches or doesn't match what they need to be running on.

[whereisjustice]

36. See? It's all good. No biggie. Stay the course. lol

[jillan]

39. Bullcaca. The liberals that ran away from being liberals lost. There IS a lesson here.

If you want to ignore it, that's your prerogative. But I really hope the Democratic Party leaders are paying attention.

[NRaleighLiberal]

43. weak and apathetic. K but not R

[Spitfire of ATJ]

44. "Last night wasn't the end of the world. It was normal."

That's the way I took it.

Others around here?

[Major Hogwash]

67. Rand Paul sends shivers up my leg!

I can't wait for the bloviating to begin next year between him and Ted Cruz.
Rubio is going to have to go on to the Senate floor without his pants in order to get any attention!!

[AverageJoe90]

45. To be honest, there certainly is something to think about here.

I do still think that some of our candidates could have done a little better in standing by liberal principles.....but then again, even if everything had worked out, it's quite possible we might not have kept the Senate anyway. And there were a good number of folks like Wendy Davis here in Texas, and Mr. Kitzhaber up in Oregon, etc., who still did a *great* job. So there *is* still hope, it seems. Thanks for bringing us back down to Earth, Yo_Mama.

[lumberjack_jeff]

46. We're supposed to learn from this.

And there are several stunningly obvious takeaways that we ignore at our own peril.

For starters, "the war on women" as a campaign focus resulted in lower turnout among women (who voted in greater percentages for the Republicans) and higher turnout among men (who voted in even higher percentages for Republicans)

The first rule of wedge politics is to do a head count before placing the wedge - be sure that there are more heads on this side of the wedge.

I'm feeling like Bill Paxton here.

[F4lconF16]

54. Jesus, you've been saying this everywhere.

There is a war on women, there is sexism and rampant mysogyny everywhere you look in America, and most definitely Republicans are doing their damndest to take any rights women have away. You'd have to be completely clueless not to see it.

[lumberjack_jeff]

59. I'm right, but it's irrelevant.

You don't fix things from the bleachers. The campaign tactics we used, notably "war on women" rhetoric, failed. We lost. To the degree that birth control is an issue, Republicans are now driving the bus. THEY get to approve or reject any hypothetical supreme court nominees whom we expect to protect those rights.

Hate me for pointing it out? If we learn from that mistake, I'm fine with that.

[F4lconF16]

62. No, I don't hate you.

I just think it's funny you've managed to blame the phrase "war on women" as the primary reason Democrats lost the election.

Sadly, you're right about the supreme court nominees.

[lumberjack_jeff]

68. You think I'm the only one?

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=war+on+women+2014+election&start=10

I won't dispute the theory that it's more complicated than just that, but exit polls by sex and marital status are clear; we lost ground among both men and women, but women were less likely to turn out this year while men were more likely.

Guns? Ebola? Obamacare? ISIS? Jobs? Probably all factors, but this was our biggest self inflicted wound.

[Rex]

48. Of course it worked, their lapdogs in the media control half this nation.

Like a zombie horde standing in front of millions of TV sets, drooling and waiting for their next thought. When the media barked "Obama unpopular, Dems will lose" over and over - they clapped and started slowly walking toward the voting booth.

Still, Obama IS popular and has a strong record right now, not that you will hear about it in the media.

[world wide wally]

49. Maybe....just maybe Dems could have reminded people where this country was when Bush/Cheney

were having their way with them.
Maybe we could have warned them that they now stand to lose their entire social safety net.
Maybe we could have pointed out that in spite of the provocation, we have avoided yet more wars.
Maybe we could have pointed out the reduction in the deficit, the record stock market, the lowest gas prices in several years, the fact that fifteen million more people now have health insurance and costs are rising at slower rates than they have in twenty years,
Maybe we could have warned them that everyone will now have to face going back to the old broken system.
Maybe we could have given them something to vote for.
Instead, our national candidates here in Colorado spent more tv time talking about how they opposed Obama.

I don't know... Maybe my ideas are stupid.

[world wide wally]

56. I left out climate change, veterans and first responder benefits, over 400 filibusters, and of

course the war on women's reproductive rights, not to mention immigration reform, bank reform, you know..... Just something like that

[Major Hogwash]

65. That's coming.

That's what the 2016 election will be all about -- how the Republicans were ineffective at getting anything done!!

Are they going to overturn Roe v Wade this time?
Nope!
Are they going to outlaw gay marriages?
Nope!
Are they going to going to help immigrants or minorities?
Nope!

The only thing they can do is whine, and that has gotten old.
When McConnell says he was fair to this President, how do you think that is going to sound in 2 years, after being combative with this President on every single issue.

McConnell is no statesman . . . he is bobble head figurine that the brain dead can buy at the GOP gift shop!

[reimaginethis]

50. Almost...

I agree with the OP that defeat was imminent, but I disagree with the why.

Defeat was imminent because so many of our candidates sucked.

Why would anyone want Republican-lite when they can have the real thing? At least now, the 'blue dogs' are a minor footnote in history, and the party can move on to be a real progressive voice (if the PTBs will let it).

[rhett o rick]

55. We don't have a viable two party system. We have a Oligarch owned Democratic Party

and a Wack-a-Doodle Republican Party, also owned by the Oligarchs.

In 2016 we will get two Oligarch favorites Thing 1 (H. Clinton-Sachs) vs. Thing 2 (Jeb, he not quite as stupid as George, Bush).

And the sad thing is that we have some here, living in their comfortable denial bubbles that will think their vote for H. Clinton-Sachs assures them they are living in a Democracy.

[blackspade]

63. What a load of bullshit...

These two paragraphs especially:

You don't need to play the blame game and talk about how much the Democrats suck. That's what the Republicans WANT you to think. All you're doing is playing into their hands and accepting their tiresome version of the narrative. If we think the Dems are at fault the Republicans have done their job.

Democrats were always going to get creamed this year and there was nothing they could have done to prevent it. The GOP basically destroyed the country and then blamed it on the Dems. And it didn't take a political genius to do it. It was easy and it worked.

[Maedhros]

66. Maybe "not progressive enough" is not accurate.

But "didn't articulate a coherent platform" is.

[DallasNE]

69. I Agree With The Assessment. And I Disagree With The Assessment.

The Democrats faced a real uphill battle in the 2014 election cycle so losing ground was to be expected. It just didn't have to be the blood bath it turned out to be.

The Democrats did a very good job of recruiting quality candidates -- probably because Obama had a solid record of accomplishments. So, what happened?

Grimes in Kentucky was the poster child for what was wrong. The consulting class for the Democrats sucked. They told Democratic candidates to run away from Obama as fast as they could and in Grimes case she fumbled the softball question of "which candidate did you vote for in 2012 for President". (All she needed to say was "Obama, why&quot . And that was repeated in race after race after race.

Ted Cruz will make life miserable for Mitch McConnell while the Tea Party will continue to make life miserable for John Boehner so Americans will see how terrible Republicans are at governing making these gains on the national stage short lived. A bigger problem for Democrats is that they have no farm system. Only 8 States have Democrats in charge of both houses while 30 States have Republicans in charge of both houses. Because so much action on the State level happens in the off-year election this will be a huge problem for many years into the future with the 2018 election being huge as it will be these lawmakers that draw district lines based on census data.

[Cha]

70. "Obama didn't cure cancer fast enough! I'm voting for cancer!" Chris Rock.. ROCKS.. cutting off

their little noses to spite their collective face.

Listening to all kinds of shite except what's really real.. like the Global Climate Change and the Supreme Court... They want Elizabeth Warren for Prez? Well with Mitch heading the Senate.. she's not going to get all the exposure with her ideas that she would have with a Dem Majority leader.. but, yeah lets go all Ralph Fucking Nader on their ass.

Yeah, these republicons love our little whiners who stayed home and don't care about Global Climate Change which is True and Immediate.. don't Care about the possibility of getting even more Fascists on the Supreme Court.. Don't care about the possibility of getting Elizabeth for Prez.. which would have a much better chance with a Democratic Majority in the Senate.



Mahalo Yo Mama!