Please VOTE for which idea you like best.

[Quixote1818]

Several of us from DU have started a new 527 Group. We need your advise on which message would work best at bringing in Rural voters.
Please Choose Which of these two you would be more likely to give money to and which one would help out with rural voters more? If you don't like either please vote for "OTHER" and elaborate. Thanks


1. Talking about winning the values debate by promoting progressive values. Talking about fairness and hard work, helping the poor, better health care, economic justice, corporate responsibility, good ethics, civil rights for all. Talking about stopping let the right wing divide us and uniting the country around what brings us together.


2. Or doing the previous and using the liberal teachings of Jesus to promote these ideas part of the time? Not primarily but part of the time. Since the right has used Jesus to divide us mostly using two issues "Abortion and Gay Marriage". What about talking about how helping the poor is mentioned 3,000 times in the Bible and taping into the spiritual beliefs of this huge voting block of primarily Christian voters? Yesterday Jerry Springer said that Christian Democrats need to feel comfortable talking about their spirituality. Is he right? He also read several quotes of the Bible from John Kennedy speeches about helping the poor. It seems the left has become too reluctant to use spiritual teachings to get it's message across. As Springer said "Jesus was a liberal".

3. Other - Please elaborate.

Which is a better more effective route? A secular route or for Democrats to feel more comfortable talking about the liberal teachings of Jesus to promote the values we believe in? Remember even if you are not spiritual consider that Jefferson and the founders who were more Deist than Christian still believed the moral teachings of Jesus were the best the world had seen or was likely to see. You can agree with these liberal teachings without buying into all the miracles and supernatural parts of the Bible. Should we continue bding secular with our message or become more comfortable using religious teachings that promote OUR values? Remember, we are talking about rural primarily Christian voters. Will the more spiritual route work or will it seem disingenuous or like we are using religion?

[Pegleg Thd]

1. I think that

#1 would be the best choice. The others could backfire..

[Richard Steele]

2. I agree.

The "christ" angle really is a major turn-off to alot of people, mustly due to the INSANE rantings of the Fundie types. They are giving JESUS a bad name.

I try to keep the 'jesus was a liberal' stuff in reserve for REBUTTAL, not as the thrust of the debate.

[Quixote1818]

3. What about the Democratic image of being too secular? What should

we do about that? Any ideas?

[Stop_the_War]

6. Secular is a good thing, IMHO.

[Quixote1818]

7. But if we loose every election then the country becomes less secular

and no one wants that.

[Quixote1818]

4. Kick for more feedback

:kick:

[rucky]

5. I don't think you can out-Jesus the Jesus freaks at this point.

My vote's for #1.

Then again, I AM Jewish.

[MissWaverly]

8. definitely #1

Look, I think that we need to reach out to the little guy, last night I was listening to Ed Schultz and he had a caller from Oklahoma and the caller said that there were people going hungry there, I think that we need an outreach to the average guy. That's how I won over the die hard Republicans across the street by pointing out that the democratic City council rep that we elected has a staffer who is looking for a house in our neighborhood. At lot of people are alienated by the big inauguration bash. I think it's become apparent that despite their common man poster boys like Rush that the Republican party is a party of the elite & this latest effort to do a dirty political smear of everybody's grandparents is beneath contempt.