How do the Democrats move from defense to offense ??

[kentuck]

Thinking of Frank Rich's comments about the Democrats, I think it is true that the Democrats have been on the defensive, even about the Iraq War vote of a couple of days ago. Why do they respond to the Republican attacks? If the Repubs say the Democrats want to "cut and run", the Democrats deny it vehemently. "We don't want to cut and run...", they say.

Then the Repubs say that the Democrats will "impeach" George Bush if they are elected so they must do everything in their power to keep it from happening. They say the Democrats will raise the taxes on every American. They say the Democrats will not protect our nation - that they will weaken the military. Why should the Democrats respond to any of these attacks?

Why not just create attacks of your own? Why not challenge the Republicans everytime they come out with these bullshit attacks with attacks of our own? It's not like we don't have any ammunition.

For example, gasoline never went up to $3 per gallon under Clinton. Democrats created 22 million new jobs in 8 years - how many have the Republicans created? We have lost over 2500 troops in an unnecessary war - started on a pack of lies and continued on a pack of lies. Elections do not make a "democracy". We do not have a democracy in Iraq - we have the beginning of a theocratic dictatorship.
Only a hypocrite would call Democrats "big spenders" after the last six years. Look at the debt run up by these so-called "conservatives". If these are real "conservatives", I would hate to see what a fake one would look like??

If the people are given a rational choice, they will not choose the incompetence of the Republican Party. Republicans do not believe in government and it shows. Look at Katrina. If we had some boots, we could pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and if we had some ham we would have some ham and eggs if we had some eggs...

No soldier or Marine should ever have to go back for 3rd or 4th tours in Iraq. Most Republicans have no idea how the stress is multiplied with each added tour. Nobody likes to play Russian roulette unless it is some Republican chicken hawk that has never been to war and then it doesn't matter how many tours our troops go thru in Iraq. Because few of them have ever served.

There is so much ammunition to use against these hypocrites. We should ignore everything they say and say what we want to say. Don't fall for their little tricks...like should we set a deadline for Iraq??

[spindrifter]

1. You are right on with your points.

They have given us so many winning points to score! It should be like the U.S.-Italy soccer game today--they make our point for us. What we need is some aggro from our Congress people. They need to be right there, just like John Murtha.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

2. That's the questions many voters are asking. Maybe one way is to ask

the Demo candidate at a meeting directly.

:popcorn:

[Warren Stupidity]

3. How about by attacking the stupid war?

The bushista just declared victory again. What better time to attack the stupid ass war that 60%+ of the country hates?

[William769]

4. Simple.

Pick up the ball (so to speak) & run with it!

[AndyTiedye]

5. We've Been Saying All That, But You'll Never Hear It On the Evening News

[kentuck]

6. We just had ten hours of debate on the House floor...

televised. And I did not hear Democrats say any of these things?? Where was the rule that said they had to repeat themselves over and over on the Iraqi talking points? Why didn't they simply change the subject??

[spag68]

12. I,m sorry

I must have been watching a different debate on the house floor. On my set there were many dems. who made good points and reiterated the get out of Iraq theme.

[kentuck]

13. My point exactly....

They debated on Repub terms.

[OwnedByFerrets]

7. You are right......

I hear defense from most Democrats. I don't hear the Offense that needs to be used right NOW. We have TONS of ammunition that is being "saved" for WHAT? Damn, I get sooooo tired of the defensive Democrats. Stop answering the Repugs. Just tell it like it is. Maybe we should use that old line from several years ago "STOP THE INSANITY!".

[On the Road]

8. Personally, I Believe the Reason

is that most Democrats in office listen to like-minded people and organizations and cannot fathom the way that ordinary conservatives see the world. When they have to compete, they either pursue useless arguments or end up compromising when no compromise is necessary.

The biggest lesson for Democrats is: understand how the other side views the world. Then frame the issues to appeal to all voters and benefit all citizens. Once you take that first step, it's not that hard.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. By Getting New Democrats

Does anyone realize that the VP of Iraq asked Dear Leader for a withdrawal timetable? And that Itaq's new leader will not deny that he might declare open season on US troops.

If the Democrats can't make hay out of this, they are utterly hopeless. We need new Democrats. The current crop of spineless corporate shills will not do the job. They suck.

Here's the question I keep asking: WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE? WHY AREN'T WE IN THE STREETS, BURNING EFFIGIES? We suck too.

[Ripley]

10. Who the Hell Are You??

(Sorry, just wanted to act like a regular DU'er.)

Hi Kentuck!

You have a fine set of points there. Funny how folks on the ground seem to realize what the story line should be, huh? Yet, how many Main Stream Democratic candidates will USE this ample ammunition upon the Miserable Failures of the Republican Control of Government We all have suffered from for so long???

Instead we hear: Stay the course. Won't impeach. No Iraq withdrawal date.

Who the fuck ARE the Democrats representing?

[lyonn]

11. Reply to claim of raising taxes,

Dems will cut taxes once again on those making $200,000. or less and raise them on those that make more. I asked a very smart pharmacy school student who is a die hard repub. if she is ready to vote dem. and she said, no, I don't want higher taxes. So all we need to do is tell them they will get a cut in taxes.

Cut and Run or doing the same thing over and over again in Iraq and expecting different results is not the answer. Murtha didn't say Cut and Run, he said let the iraqis know we don't plan to stay and will be close by if U.S. is needed to back them in an emergency, give financial aid so Iraqis can help themselves by fixing their country that we blew up, we are paying other countries aid like Israel and Egypt to make nice.

Get a health care program that is not a gift to the HMOs, etc. so companies don't have to carry the burden of paying those gawd awful health care premiums. Then we might keep more jobs here at home. yes, and close the borders. I would rather pay my neighbor for roofing my house than an illegal, and road/hiway repair and building, etc. So I pay a little more, chances are good that he will do a better job and would understand my directions.

[Odin2005]

14. The DINOs and MSM are the problem.

Every time we try to go on the offensive the DINOs will denounce us and the media will run with the DINOs' soundbites.

[lyonn]

15. The Dinos think that money alone gets you elected

Dean proved that was wrong headed. He got an unbelievable amount of money by saying thing that a large part of the Dem. party agreed with who ended up sending in small amounts by the millions. Those were the voices of ordinary americans not corps. Dean also got backing from some well placed democrats. Sucking up to the corps. has been the Dinos error, hence, we lost, well barely, but we need paper trails to prove votes.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

18. Well, the party has to TRY, and not just with individuals like Murtha,

unless it's made clear that he speaks for and articulates the PARTY's position and not just his own.

[BlooInBloo]

16. Easy. By throwing punches.

[AndyTiedye]

22. Hard To Do When You're Bound and Gagged

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. If they are NOT on the attack, on Iraq, Katrina, gas, by MONTHS before

the elections, but only responding (and ineffectually at that) to Rovian attacks ("cut and run", immigration etc.), then the only conclusion is that what passes for the party leadership is INCOMPETENT.

(and don't forget Abramoff/Cunningham etc.)

The appearance is that they expect the American electorate to vote them into majorities in both House and Senate without ever having to aggressively attack the Republican Party on these GLARING WEAK POINTS. It may or may not happen even if they DO go on the attack, but I think it's VERY unlikely to happen without any such move.

[Jade Fox]

19. That is the question, isn't it......

I've been thinking about that the last few days.

One thing that has occurred to me is the need to promote the Democratic Party as the party with new solutions to the problems we face as a nation. I think even Conservatives are realizing that the redundant methods of Bushco are a disaster. in no small part because the GOP is responding to a combination of fantasies in their own heads and the Neanderthal agenda of the Religious Right, rather than to reality. Iraq is NOT Vietnam, and yet here we are being told that we cannot "cut and run", an argument that stalled any sort of resolution on Vietnam for years.

It's clear that a lot of the romance with which supporters endow George Bush is rooted in the longing for simple solutions from a (supposedly) simpler time. The popularity of the "War on Terror" itself is rooted not in the real need to stop Terrorism as a tactic, but in the fantasy of a group of clearly Bad Guys to whom we as a nation can play the unambiguous Good Guys. But as I said, I think many of those Bush supporters are waking up and realizing what their own foolishness has wrought. Maybe not consciously, but they might respond well if presented with innovative political ideas. Unfortunately, the media "noise machine" will continue to beat the Neocon agenda like a dead horse.

The Democrats need to be the party of new solutions.

[kentuck]

20. It was wrong to go into Iraq and it is wrong to stay in Iraq...

Bush and the Neocons lied us into this war. No excuse or reasoning can change that sad fact. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied. They lied.

[Jed Dilligan]

21. The problem is that our attacks are true

People are more in the market for fairytales.

We need to come up with something that isn't true to attack them with over and over again. It isn't easy to make these things up, especially when the Bush family's real offenses pretty much run the gamut.

One semi-true one I'd like to see is, "The Republicans are more concerned about sick people smoking pot than they are about meth, the plague that is destroying our communities." Show chemo patients smoking joints, then show meth fiends pouring chemicals next to crying babies, robbing liquor stores, smoking rock out of really crusty pipes, etc.

Then "Congressman X (R-Somewhere) took over a jabillion dollars in money from the drug industry last year. Isn't it time we had a congressman who cared more about protecting our children than collecting drug money?"

[SmokingJacket]

23. We need to take back the language.

If a single democrat EVER said, "YES! We want to CUT and RUN. We want to CUT our losses, CUT the number of civilian and military casualties, and CUT the deficit, which is ballooning because of this ill conceived war. AND YES, we want to run: we want to RUN our own country and let the Iraqis RUN theirs,"

... well, I doubt the repubs would use that stupid phrase ever again.

Why they allow the repubs to set the agenda time and time again is beyond me.