From now until the 2016 Convention: Circular Firing Squad?

[mattclearing]

I don't OP often, but want to remind everyone that democracy happens every time we open our mouths or our wallets, every time we send an email, click a link, go to work, or even just stop and refrain from participating.

Elections are an important part of the democratic process, but the way we live our lives is often more influential than the person who represents us.

I hope we can take a moment to consider the many ways we can change things in our everyday lives before pointing fingers between factions or chicken-littling right into the primary season.

This election brought with it many lessons, but foremost among them is the need to focus on the liabilities of our opponents rather than of each other.

Best of luck to us all.

[Cha]

1. Thank you, matt.. I would think it won't be that "circular firing squad until 2016"..

because something else will happen as it usually does. But, we're gonna see, aren't we.

Mahalo for your levelheadedness.

[mattclearing]

2. It's to be expected that there be some fallout.

The important thing is to dust off and make the best effort going forward, and I think that involves resisting the urge to blame one another and acknowledge the fact that this was the predictable outcome of a midterm with an unfavorable map and a difficult environment.

[Cha]

5. And, Mega Billionaire Buck$$$$$$$$ infused to the Liars' campaign.. think Joanie Ernst,

Mitch McConnell, Tom Cotton, that repub in Colorado.. etc etc etc..

[ColesCountyDem]

3. You're absolutely right, mattclearing!

Opportunities to advance our party's ideas present themselves daily, as do opportunities to distinguish ourselves from the GOP. Yesterday morning was just such an occasion, for me.

I went to get a hair cut yesterday, and the barber shop was very busy. Naturally, the discussion in progress was about Tuesday's election. The 'sub topic' of 'Obamacare' naturally came up, and some of the GOP talking points about it were trotted out, including how it had forced rates to go up. At that point, I chimed in and polled the group about their personal experience with premium costs had been. Out of 13 people, 11 had seen premiums go down, 1 had seen them go up slightly and 1 had seen no change at all. The poll result produced an awkward silence, a silence I broke by asking if they considered the group of us as being fairly representative of our community as a whole, socio-economically, and they agreed that it did. I then quietly observed that it might be a good idea going forward to not believe everything they hard on Fox News.

[mattclearing]

11. Nice work.

Every time a hole gets poked in the the bubble of misinformation, people have an opportunity to reconsider what they think they know.

[wyldwolf]

4. It's always been this way. Searching the DU archives is quite revealing.

Virtually the same posts today that appeared starting in 2003. The posters are different. A few of the words have changed. But the same "doom and gloom we must purge" mentality.

Just as a young generation of conservatives now believe Paul Revere "warned the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells," people who take some DU posts at face value (without fact-checking) develop a very skewed view of things.

[blackspade]

6. I mostly agree.

Although I would point out that it was the Democratic Party's lack of attention to it's own liabilities (ie shitty candidates) that largely cost us this election.
That said, the rethugs liabilities re legion. We just need the political will to hammer them on it, starting now.

[mattclearing]

12. It's always nice to have strong candidates.

That said, it's not clear to me that there are stacks of accomplished, media savvy people standing around waiting to take up the cause.

Being out in the world, actively and visibly being Democrats and creating an environment that is favorable to Democrats in our day-to-day lives is a way to improve the situation and counter media bias.

Considering how we spend money, and ensuring that we minimize red purchases and maximize blue purchases denies funding to Republicans and builds economies which are favorable to Democrats and workers.

And like you said, we need to continue to reject right-wing bullshit whenever we can.

[DeSwiss]

7. Indeed.

- There is much, much more we can do. Once we are unfettered by the past.......



K&R

''Let your life be a friction to stop the machine.'' ~ Henry David Thoreau

[GeorgeGist]

8. Maybe foremost should be our assets ...

not our opponents liabilities.

[mattclearing]

13. Fair enough, but they go hand in hand.

Take the example of running away from the President. Democrats could have campaigned saying that Republican obstructionism is making it impossible for President Obama to achieve the goals he was elected to pursue. That's what successful Republican candidates would do, no matter how their sitting President was perceived.

But instead, they built an environment that was toxic for Democrats by refusing to defend their president's achievements.

By doing so, they made the D next to their name a giant liability. You can't focus on your assets if you are too busy amplifying your liabilities.

[JoePhilly]

9. Started long before "now" ...

It started on the day after Obama won in Nov 2008 ... and has not stopped since.

We did the same thing back in 2000.

Fighting each other instead of fighting the GOP ... sadly its what we do.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. Here's a thought. Why don't you find one or two Democratic

leaders to give us inspiring speeches between now and the next election? And how about allowing them to take leadership roles in something that will make us all proud to vote Democratic?

[mattclearing]

14. I'd love to, but I live in Australia now.

It's part of my philosophy...less of my tax dollars go to the MIC, corporate tax breaks, etc., and instead fund infrastructure and subsidized healthcare.

A lot of the time, that is why I keep my mouth shut, but I still lurk here and it makes me sad to see so much finger-pointing and aggravation.

Democrats have the right priorities, and they just need to do a better job of communicating and combatting the competing narrative.