Why don't we circulate emails like the Repubs do?

[zanne]

I was thinking about the Obama smear email that's been going around for about six months now. It DOES influence people. I wonder why we can't do the same thing, only with more fact and less fiction. It would have to be something that would stick in the mind, though. Just sayin'.

[Ediacara]

1. Because we have guilt for lying and they don't know what guilt is

[Maine-ah]

28. I would think that the emails we would send would be truthful

If someone came up with some good emails about the candidates, I would gladly send them out.

[uberblonde]

2. Because liberals delete dumb emails.

We look them up at Snopes and say, that's just stupid. And then we hit the delete button.

[BuyingThyme]

13. I think that's right.

It's also why it's hard to sell advertising on progressive radio. That and the black lists.

[Ravy]

3. Democrats are different from Republicans.

First, we have enough truth on our side we don't have to make shit up.

Also, when a Democrat gets in office, they try to represent their constituency, not just the people who voted for them.

It works against us in getting elected/governing, but we don't automatically go to Hell.

[madokie]

35. yes. our worst truth is way better than their best truth

All it took was for me to read the platform of the re:puke:s and the Dem's way back when for me to see who I wanted to be associated with and vote for.

[FSogol]

4. You mean some email about how the GOP is a corrupt group of

warped people intent on putting control of the US in Dubai's hands?

[ArtieBoy]

5. Because we're idiots

We're too worried about being "fair." A guerilla tactic like that is proven to work, and we'd rather play nice and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I have a better idea! Let's vote with the Republicans for everything they propose!

[uppityperson]

10. That's about right.

[zanne]

24. I think it's form of "Swiftboating"...

And we've seen from the past that it works. We don't have to send out a lying email; there's plenty of dirt that's right out there, just waiting for people to read.

[NewJeffCT]

29. You're right

we're too concerned about things like facts, truth & honesty - and, most liberals have a conscience.

The RW also has a great distrubtion system.

[ArtieBoy]

34. Conscience vs. winning

we're too concerned about things like facts, truth & honesty - and, most liberals have a conscience.

I love polishing and shining my superior conscience while more people get killed in Iraq, gas prices skyrocket and houses lose 1/2 their value, don't you?

[Horse with no Name]

6. Because we know that we are being spied on

and really don't want to end up on a list that we aren't already on?

[IDemo]

7. Because we do not hang fake testicles from our pickups,

or believe Tyrannosaurs were a biblical plague.

[NoPasaran]

I get plenty of emails from supporters of The Only Real Democrat

Telling me what a fascist Hillary Clinton is.

[DJ13]

8. I sometimes think Dems already do emails like Republicans

There have been some tentative links to a couple of Obama bashing emails that seem to originate from people supporting Hillary.

[hughee99]

9. IIRC,

It wasn't just the repukes that were helping to circulate the Obama email.

[zanne]

23. IIRC?

Duh. Wha' zat mean?

[hughee99]

25. If I recall correctly (IIRC)...

There was a hubbub not to long ago about a Iowa county chair volunteering for the Clinton campaign forwarding on the "Obama is a Muslim" email. I didn't bother to look up the link at the time, but here it is.

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/12/hillary_campaign_acknowledges_that_hillary_backer_passed_along_obama_madrassa_email.php

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. They have to be built upon truth and facts,

We could do quite an effective one for Huckabee, and hit on things that conservatives and independents don't like. Example:

1. Huckabee raised taxes while governor of Arkansas. He did nothing to get rid of the state income tax, but rather caused several service industries to start charging sales tax on their services. Would his idea for a "flat tax" be a smokescreen for enacting a new federal sales tax without removing the federal income tax? Look at his record, and you decide.

2. Huckabee caused the state to get involved in local control of school districts by forcing many small districts to consolidate. Many were in the Ozarks, and, because of the terrain, schools weren't closed--he just added another layer of bureaucracy to the district, and forced the voters of the smaller of the consolidated districts to lose out as far as millage and other important decisions.

3. Huckabee's judgment came into question when he overrode the concerns of psychologists and law enforcement officers and pardoned a convicted rapist, who then moved to MO and raped and murdered a woman.

4. Huckabee doesn't know what is his and what isn't. After the Executive Mansion was remodeled, new furniture was donated. When Huckabee left office, he tried taking the furniture with him. There's more about him pressuring people to give him gifts after he and his wife renewed their wedding vows.

Before I put out an email like this, I would find links to every story and put them in for citations.

[NewJeffCT]

32. You need shorter points

people's eyes will gloss over if they have to read full paragraphs in an email.

1) At the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention, Mike Huckabee was one of 141 signatories to a full-page USA Today advertisement calling for women to graciously submit to their husband's sacrficial leadership.

2) As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee pressured the state parole board to free convicted rapist Wayne DuMond, despite many warnings he was still a danger to society. Upon release, DuMond promptly raped and then murdered another woman.

3) The liberals at the Wall Street Journal recently called Huckabee a "ticking ethical time bomb," for state house shenanigans like taking "donated" furniture from political supporters.

4) When the state police were investigating the criminal activities of Huckabee's son, Gov. Huckabee demanded the police stop. When they did not, Huckabee fired the police chief.

[Malikshah]

12. Simple really--

We have real relationships with real people.

Repubs tend to have to have virtual relationships with imaginary friends. Hence the e-mails to their "virtual friends"


That would go a long way in helping explain their understanding (or lack thereof) of reality.

:)

I think, however, that the real reason for it is the fact that the shit spewed forth in the roundrobin e-mails, if given face to face, would result in Repubs spending 99% of their time cleaning spittle, liquid (i.e., coffee, soda, milk from nostrils) off their faces and clothes. The final 1% would be spent fleeing from the mobs with pitchforks and torches.

[alfredo]

14. As long as it is fact based. I make sure the right wingers who pass on

false propaganda that the stories are false and then ask them why are your fellow republicans lying to you. Do they think you are stupid?

[NewJeffCT]

36. good response

our lack of response is often why these emails get so widely circulated.

[alfredo]

37. I'm on a veteran mailing list so I have to deal with this problem weekly.

[NewJeffCT]

38. I used to get them regularly, but haven't for a few years now

Not sure why, though.

[alfredo]

39. I piss off one gal. She stopped writing. Good.

[Barney]

15. Here's why

I think we Democrats could be doing much more to sway public opinion, and circulating emails is one tactic we ought to consider.

I wish I had said it, but I heard a comment on one of the cable talk shows about this point a few months back. Someone -- I wish I could remember who -- noted that Repubs regularly use hard-ball tactics, innuendo, lies and everything else but Democrats traditionally don't because Democrats play to make a point while Republicans play to win.

I think there's a lot of truth to that.

[soundguy]

16. Why Bother?

All one needs to do is read the headlines here. Slam hillary, Slam Hillary, Slam Hillary. Makes me want to puke.

[havocmom]

17. because we have real social lives?

And real private lives ;)

[Rosemary2205]

18. Because Democrats NEVER do what they are TOLD.

We know how to think for ourselves. When the email says "send to 10 people if you agree and delete if you don't" we are more likely to send it ONLY back to the sender 82 times just to piss them off.

:)

:)

[Zorra]

19. Those freeper emails are ridiculous fabrications that only a fool would

take seriously.

Most Democrats wouldn't buy into any kind of BS.

[NewJeffCT]

30. You'd be surprised at how many people take them seriously

including Democrats. They get so widely circulated sometimes, that it becomes conventional wisdom.

[blogslut]

20. Because we progressives hate spam in our inbox

n/t

[Touchdown]

21. Because we're not paying for e-mail farms to make shit up.

Ever wonder why they all seem to sound familiar?

"I'm so mad, I could spit!"

"I checked Snopes. It's true!"

"We need to do something about______"

"If you agree, pass it on. If not, delete it."

I think it's because they're being written by people in a sweatshop, with a script, and passed to church e-mail circles to generate a life of theri own.

That and we are too nice and follow their bullshit orders and delete, when we should be fighting back, and replying all. I don't take any orders from mouth breathers.

[tanyev]

26. I think it's a bunch of interns at RW think tanks, myself.

Maybe a Liberty University practicum.

[kineneb]

22. because: We Can Find the DELETE key/icon!

they keep hitting SEND...

"Hey, tech suuport, ma' computer cup holder dun broke..."

[crim son]

27. It's because we aren't a bunch of sheep.

It's both our strength and our weakness.

[ThoughtCriminal]

31. Because Democrats hate spam

Republicans will eat spam all day.

[ArtieBoy]

33. Because we love to lose

Judging by the replies here, Democrats love to think they're too intelligent, high-brow and self-directed for such things. They seem to miss the enormous point that the point of these things is to SWAY THOSE OF A DIFFERENT OPINION, not to circulate them to the already-converted on DU.com!

So we take the "high road" (if it leads to standing by while the country is destroyed, how much of high road is it?) while John Kerry gets swift boated and Bush, Jr. gets celebrated as a hero of Vietnam and Gulf War II, "Mission Accomplished" with full-color photos attached on the Navy ship.

This year it'll be Obama=Osama, Hussein=Hussein while Mitt Romney is celebrated as a man who "knows how to create wealth" or "McCain is a moderate everyone can love."

Way to go, pacifists!