dems and don'ts
the outcomes of three stories i have been following the past 6-12 months are finally emerging with some clarity: the democrats and how they can regain some power, the state of network news, and the new ceo at disney. today, the dems:
reading the rolling stone eulogies of hunter s. thompson this weekend, i was struck by what pat buchanan said. he recalled when hst interviewed nixon, noting that election was the first to use cultural warfare. i think the dems would do well to understand that it is no longer soley about issues and accomplishments, but the perception of what the politician is about, whether it's family values or some kind of vague notion of being a good american.
the dem's self-righteousness is what defeated them. in refusing to play hardball (so as to appear above poor sportsmanship), they missed an opportunity to be on the offense. case in point: they let the republicans seize the horrible allegations of the swift boat veterans as well as kerry's inability to articulate soundbites about his position on iraq and use those stupid points, successfully, against him. what the dems should have been doing, as my mother pointed out, was creating an ad campaign similar to lbj's. she recalled a commercial for johnson with a little girl picking a daisy and sweet music playing over which then shockingly cut to an image of a mushroom cloud. the message, of course, was if you don't vote for johnson, your children will die horrible atomic-bomb-related deaths.
why didn't the dems point to the fact that bush was at the helm when 9/11 happened instead of letting him take credit for whatever it is he did after? they should have made him and his cabinet accountable for the fact that he was on vacation or galavanting about promoting anti-abortion legislation rather then focusing on our foreign diplomacy and policy. the dems should hire marianne gregory as their campaign manager. she's got this stuff down.
reading the rolling stone eulogies of hunter s. thompson this weekend, i was struck by what pat buchanan said. he recalled when hst interviewed nixon, noting that election was the first to use cultural warfare. i think the dems would do well to understand that it is no longer soley about issues and accomplishments, but the perception of what the politician is about, whether it's family values or some kind of vague notion of being a good american.
the dem's self-righteousness is what defeated them. in refusing to play hardball (so as to appear above poor sportsmanship), they missed an opportunity to be on the offense. case in point: they let the republicans seize the horrible allegations of the swift boat veterans as well as kerry's inability to articulate soundbites about his position on iraq and use those stupid points, successfully, against him. what the dems should have been doing, as my mother pointed out, was creating an ad campaign similar to lbj's. she recalled a commercial for johnson with a little girl picking a daisy and sweet music playing over which then shockingly cut to an image of a mushroom cloud. the message, of course, was if you don't vote for johnson, your children will die horrible atomic-bomb-related deaths.
why didn't the dems point to the fact that bush was at the helm when 9/11 happened instead of letting him take credit for whatever it is he did after? they should have made him and his cabinet accountable for the fact that he was on vacation or galavanting about promoting anti-abortion legislation rather then focusing on our foreign diplomacy and policy. the dems should hire marianne gregory as their campaign manager. she's got this stuff down.
posted by ninaberries at 12:26 PM
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