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Audacity of Truth
Whiner-in-Chief:
"[W]hether the grumbling is about Republicans on Fox or bloggers in pajamas, there's a word for what the president and his aides are doing. That word is "whining." And nothing [...] does more damage to Obama's credibility or authority than the sense that a popular president is becoming the whiner-in-chief."
- John Nichols, Nation Magazine - 10/12/09
Dem party leaders feel as though they are in weak position
The NYTimes is reporting today that some leading Democrats are feeling like they are in a weaker position now than they’d hoped to be, because they haven’t been able to capitalize in any significant way on the various ’scandals’ that have plagued the Bush administration this past year:
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 — Democrats are heading into this year’s elections in a position weaker than they had hoped for, party leaders say, stirring concern that they are letting pass an opportunity to exploit what they see as widespread Republican vulnerabilities.
In interviews, senior Democrats said they were optimistic about significant gains in Congressional elections this fall, calling this the best political environment they have faced since President Bush took office.
But Democrats described a growing sense that they had failed to take full advantage of the troubles that have plagued Mr. Bush and his party since the middle of last year, driving down the president’s approval ratings, opening divisions among Republicans in Congress over policy and potentially putting control of the House and Senate into play in November.
Asked to describe the health of the Democratic Party, Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said: “A lot worse than it should be. This has not been a very good two months.”
“We seem to be losing our voice when it comes to the basic things people worry about,” Mr. Dodd said.
Democrats said they had not yet figured out how to counter the White House’s long assault on their national security credentials. And they said their opportunities to break through to voters with a coherent message on domestic and foreign policy — should they settle on one — were restricted by the lack of an established, nationally known leader to carry their message this fall.
As a result, some Democrats said, their party could lose its chance to do to Republicans this year what the Republicans did to them in 1994: make the midterm election, normally dominated by regional and local concerns, a national referendum on the party in power.
“I think that two-thirds of the American people think the country is going in the wrong direction,” ” said Senator Barack Obama, the first-term Illinois Democrat who is widely viewed as one of the party’s promising stars. “They’re not sure yet whether Democrats can move it in the right direction.”
Mr. Obama said the Democratic Party had not seized the moment, adding: “We have been in a reactive posture for too long. I think we have been very good at saying no, but not good enough at saying yes.”
I think that being all over the map on Iraq doesn’t help, either – nor does having an ineffective money manager at the helm of the party.
The Democratic party has been struggling since 1994 to gain ground and re-establish prominence on the national stage and – outside of the Clintons – they haven’t made much progress towards that goal. Part of the reason for that, in my opinion – and in addition to what I stated above – is that they party has allowed the McGovern anti-war wing to speak for them and right now, even though a majority of the public is unhappy with what’s happening in Iraq and also feels Bush deliberately ‘misled’ them on the Iraq war rationale, the country realizes that for better or for worse, we are at war. Bush’s positions – some of which I’ll admit have been misguided- have at least been consistent. The American people know where he – and the majority of the Republican party stands – with respect to the war in Iraq as part of the overall global war on terror: we’ll fight it until we win it, both home and abroad. The Democratic position, OTOH, on the war in Iraq is one of pessimism and defeatism.
Given the choice between the two, I can see why Democrats feel they have a lot of work to do before election time. Who was it that said if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything? I think that fits well here.
Also blogging about this: Big Lizards, Macsmind, Captain Ed, Gary Gross at California Conservative, Say Anything, Confederate Yankee
PM Update: Tom Maguire has some fun with this story. Heh. (Hat tip: Anchoress)
Related Toldjah So posts:
- Dems to Dean: where’s the money?
- Joe Klein: How to Stay Out of Power (and undermine the war in the process)
- The Rep. Jane Harman flip flop
- House Dems and Pelosi: trouble in paradise?
- Pelosi hails Democrats’ ‘diverse’ Iraq stances
- Dems once again fail to find unified message on Iraq
- Dems and media determined to ignore Iraq progress
- The undermining of this war
- Democrats won’t want to hear this but…
- Dem House Representative calls for immediate troop withdrawal
- The Kerry Tone
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Being a democrat leader is like being the tallest midget
Hmmm…perhaps if they didn’t concentrate all their effort on constantly complaining and whining about how terrible the current administration is, and instead put some effort into actually trying to lead and come up with alternative ideas, they’d not be in this situation. The last 6 years has been one non-stop litany of bitching and complaining about Bush, and it’s turned into a classic Boy Who Cried Wolf scenario. People have by and large turned them off and are paying little to no attention to them, other than to get PO’d watching their antics. Their response to this is to go even more open loop and extremist, rather than to offer up any rational alternatives.
That in and of itself tells you everything you need to know about how serious the Democrats really are, and how much you can trust them with serious business. It’d be nice if the Dems grew up and became a responsible party, but you can’t make a responsible party out of irresponsible people, and the rabid far left anti-war zealots are nothing if not irresponsible.
- All I can say is “Well Duhhhhhhhhh”…
- Hard to represent yourselves as potential leaders when your party is being led around by a ring in your political nose by the loud, obnoxious minority….. Good luck. People that have absolutely no reason to lie to them have been telling the Dems for over a year to dump the extreme left, lose the Bush derangement stupidity, and get a plan stan….
- I’m sure the electorate is going to be falling all over themselves to vote for a group that took this long to figure it out. I have a few problems with Bush too, but what we tend to lose sight of, because war is hell and we’re not patient as a general rule, is just that. Its been a rough 4 years, and maybe we take it for granted because whatever his faults we’ve come through it pretty good. That will be a keystone of the Reps upcoming campaign, and people typically go with the devil they know rather than the one they don’t. The Dems worst nightmare is the one they don’t want to talk about in 2008. If it happens they’ll lose another big chunk of their base in a heart beat…..
(Goooooooooooo Condi…. hahahaha)
- Bang
LINK IT TOMMY!!! This is the same stuff Steve says and does. So if you don’t have a link you don’t have any usable information. – Lorica
Tommy, you have to have more than service to get elected. Your vision is really shallow. This is the same shallowness the Democrat party demonstrated when they ran Kerry.
Kerry the candidate had baggage. He was a documented liar and a gigolo.
Democrats don’t want you looking too closely at Murtha’s Purple Hearts either PCD.
To people as brazenly cynical as the Democrats, it’s all about the appearance of something, rather than the thing itself. A real “war hero” doesn’t need to constantly identify himself as one. A person is who they are based on how they comport themselves and what they do, not whether or not they can claim to be a medaled veteran. But if you really believe in nothing, and stand for nothing, these sublties are lost on you. Such is the state of the modern Liberal/Democrat.
lorica just look up at yahoo.com national news Edited. –ST. How much F******g service in the military? Probably none like most righties shocking
Tommy, You pulled back your olive branch with your 1:03 post……..
….which is one of the reasons that Dems find themselves in this position.
The veteran card is a LOSING issue if you really did your research. There are veterans that are Democrat and Republican and the military traditionally have and CONTINUE to vote in a higher percentage for Republicans. Your PATTERN of attacking (which is typical for so many Dems) is the reason why Dems aren’t in the position the wish they’d be after attacking for a few years and offering no solutions.
“lorica just look up at yahoo.com national news Edited. –ST. How much F******g service in the military? Probably none like most righties shocking
”
tommy:
#1 – please refrain from your natural inclination to use the “F” word.
#2 – you mentioned in a comment earlier that you weren’t part of the moonbat wing of the Democratic party but your slam about “chickenhawks” is at odds with that claim.
#3 – the majority of the military votes Republican. That’s a fact. That doesn’t square with your ‘most righties haven’t served’ (paraphrasing) insult. As a veteran, you should know better. You owe Republican veterans an apology.
Your posts help lose future dem voters… Keep it up !
Hey ST…..
You said it better than I
The Left is transforming the Democratic Party into the Peace party. The Republicans will forever be known as the War Party, after the elections in November. Anybody who volunteers to go oversea’s and kill people belongs in the party of war, corruption and greed, the Republicans. Peace
Slanderous.
The Left is transforming the Democratic Party into irrelevancy. A party of losers.
Fair enough on a few points folks. No Doubt first off ST that a slight majority of ACTIVE military servicemembers vote right. This is true…. I also should refrain from my use of the F-word on this blog. It’s not a N.Y. or Navy thing it’s that language was acceptabl;e in my household when I was young so old habits die hard. Baklava well in my hometown there are very few veterans I know that support the G.O.P. outside my Dad. If anything most of the Vietnam Vets especially think we are making the same damn mistakes that LBJ and Nixon made. HUGE bases and I mean HUGE bases over in the sandbox. Little wonder why we are having a hard time getting this situation under control. If you want to know why I’m soooooooooo pissed at the right wing in this country travel to Walter Reed or Bethseda and look around that’s why. If anyone here thinks a majority of the Iraqi people are thankful that we tossed Saddam out on his a** and will hook us up for that favor I got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.
Tommy wrote, “Baklava well in my hometown there are very few veterans I know that support the G.O.P. outside my Dad.
For me it was the opposite Tommy. But one thing you might want to learn that you haven’t for months here. The veteran card does not and never will and never should score you political points. I don’t use it. Nobody I knew used it. I see Kerry and you trying to use it and I see some using it with respect to Murtha. It DOESN’T MATTER. What matters is YOUR MESSAGE. If the message of you, Kerry, Murtha are flawed and we point that out, get it straight we are not attacking you as a veteran and for you to raise your hand with that card in it and slap it on the table does NOTHING. Nothing. It simply reflects on your inability to stick to the substative debate going on.
Tommy wrote, “If you want to know why I’m soooooooooo pissed at the right wing in this country travel to Walter Reed or Bethseda and look around that’s why.
THe fact that you see that as a partisan issue again is your own inability to comprehend the message and/or come up with a valid substantive response.
Tommy wrote, “If anyone here thinks a majority of the Iraqi people are thankful that we tossed Saddam out on his a**
You fail to recognize polling results of Iraqi’s I suppose. The message again is the key to your failings. I’m not trying to attack you, I’m trying to point out the fundamental inability to comprehend basic messages or the unwillingness to. For now, I’m sticking to it being your unwillingness to because you are able to comprehend that the NSA surveillance issue is not a winner for Dems. Why do you have the unwillingness? My guess is years (decades) worth of brainwashing to believe the right’s message is bunk. Hey I feel for ya. I was there before 1991. It’ll take a lot of courage for you to LOOK at and LISTEN to the messages and respond accordingly to the message or accept it as valid.
You know Baklava you’re a fairly sharp guy Ithink what you’re missing is that kids are getting maimed and screwed up and bitter(like myself to an extent I doubt I would’ve developed testicular cancer yeah one of my freaking balls had to get cut off like Lance Armstrong) if I never went over to that sandbox. Hard to prove sure. But I’m not alone there are many other vets that were there who got far worse syndromes than myself. And for what? Seriously???? So I get to listen to a bunch of cats wrapping themselves in the flag who truly don’t care freedom or democracy. Shoot man we liberated Kuwait back in 91′ name their last elected President or congressman or hell even city councilman? You know man I did not fall off the turnip truck . It’s little wonder why I’m a fan of Rudyard Kipling.
Tommy wrote, “Ithink what you’re missing is that kids are getting maimed
Again. What does that have to do with which party you belong to or vote for normally? 50,000 Veterans died during the 3 Democrat presidents during the Vietnam war. There is nobody with clout or respect that I know of who went with your type of arguments due to that.
If you don’t like the fact that we are in Iraq then just say that. You don’t have to go down the road that you continue to stay on. Just state that you wish we didn’t go to Iraq or that we left immediately. Of coures you know that we’se on the right as you refer to us will point out that if we didn’t go or left then the Iraqi people would have a high probability of having the Baathists come and hurt produce mass casualties and the 2,000 + American soldiers would’ve died in vain. I’m not sure why you think your argument is a winning one. Simply state that you wish we’d leave. But for you to OBSESS about this, throw out your veteran trump card as if deals substantively with our message (it doesn’t), and continue obsessing doesn’t help anyone move forward, doesn’t help the Democrats and doesn’t help the situation on the ground.
Tommy wrote, “But I’m not alone there are many other vets that were there who got far worse syndromes than myself.
How again is this a partisan issue and how does it supposedly help the Dems that you are mentioning it? I think your failing again is that you’ve been brainwashed over the past few decades to believe that Republicans or conservatives don’t “care” or are not “well-intentioned”. I’m sorry but you have to shed that failing of yours. Shrug it off. Get rid of it. Get rid of your hate for Republicans…. Deal with the content of messages and think logically and clearly. It isn’t Republicans bad, Democrats good. It isn’t Republicans good, Democrats bad. There are quite a few simple core understandings out there that you need to grasp. Then talk to people on a conversational level about ideas and substance and not attacks. Am I saying I’m perfect? No. By far. What I’m saying is that you have so much to learn about economics and what people are made of and what people are tying to say and I really feel that you are kind of close to stepping up to the plate and shedding that hate and contempt.
If you aren’t close then I have you pegged wrong. But you gotta at least understand one thing and that is that there are well-intentioned and caring conservatives also. We have different ideas about the solutions to the problems we face and for some reason you want to just continue on with contempt instead of stating your agreement or disagreemnt to solutions.
Tommy asked, “And for what? Seriously????
If I answered would you open your mind? Many of us changed our outlook on 9/11. That isn’t to say that we are more patriotic, that is to say that there is a lesson that we keep referring to and that is that this Global War on Terror will be long (as Bush mentioned in every SOTU address) and will be waged on many fronts and that we NEED to because we cannot simply wait for extremist/terrorists to get stronger and plan and carry out their attacks against us any longer. We can’t stick our head in the sand. We have to acknowledge as a people that we have a struggle that we will face with open eyes now. We need to unite as a country and face this threat (hopefully this will start to happen – though I don’t see signs of this). The threat is real and is presented by many areas of the world. It’ll cost us a lot of money but it is the number ONE priority written in the constitution for our federal government to do. Ignoring it and/or not responding will not make it go away. Negotiation is not an option. Reasoning with these fanatics isn’t either. We need to take this power base away from these fanatics and help free people all over the world. This could take a century. We may give up in 10 years thinking we can’t go on this way. But for now, I believe we need to forge on as the threats of Islamofacists (not Muslims) are real and not to be taken lightly.
You or your kind may convince a majority of us someday but you won’t be convincing many with the rhetoric you use. You’ll have to change to convince people. Try other arguments besides “you’se on the right” and “wrapping yourself in the flag” and “chickenhawks”. Talk to us as adults and without contempt and convince us that this Global War on Terror needs a different strategy than the 50 ways we are already waging this war (news media only focuses on the military way and the soldiers that are dead).
Baklava – I don’t share your willingness to look for the “goodness” and well meaning in the Socialist/Marxist/Communist/Leftist screeds. The majority of Americans, (I think Bushes win would have been even more lop-sided if middle America would have seen the Democrats as they have since the Dems lost), simply do not share the lefts ideas. I also do not think a lot of Democrats agree with the extreme left either…
- Bang
It’s not looking for “goodness”..
It’s trying to pursuade and convert. I was converted and see the value in converting people. It isn’t impossible.
I agree the leftist ideas are not good solutions but that’s what we need to say. Pinpoint what their solutions would result in. There is cause and effect. The effect of their solutions would hurt more people and it is clear that is the case. Many are “well-meaning” and “good intentioned” and desirous of “utopia” and have “rose-colored glasses on” but some can see that no matter how well intentioned they are their solutions would hurt more people and not result in the desired effect. Sometimes an appeal to them on that level works. Sometimes not. No matter how mean Tommy is and how much he has hate and contempt, underneath he has expressed his “care” for this country and for the poor and for Americans. While his words and solutions and message do not match up with is supposed “care”, I do take him at his word because I was there. I hated the rich and the conservative. I was conditioned by two decades of the garbage in the dominant press.
And no. A lot of Democrats don’t agree with the extreme left. But they vote Democrat for two big reasons:
1) FDR, The great society (LBJ), Kennedy
2) They’ve been conditioned to believe that conservatives and/or Republicans are racist, sexist, not cool, anti-environment, anti-education, anti-social security etc.
Both of those 2 reasons if a Democrat actually talked to a conservative for awhile (most don’t because they have lives they lead) they’d see that Kennedy cut taxes and we’ve done a transfer of wealth of more than 4 trillion dollars since the great society and FDR exercised way more powers during a time of war and conservatives are for strenthening Social Security with nest eggs, and conservatives are for education but that doesn’t mean throwing money at it, and conservatives are for the environment as 99% of people are but science and not scare-mongering matter, and on and on and on.
The more the extreme left speaks the better it is for conservatives. Everytime big events happen (like the LA riots during my conversion in 1991/1992) people seek alternative messages and news and hear talk radio see the Internet and see that the prism they were looking through (the tube) was limited.
Every time big events happen those who lead different lives (without politics normally) have a greater chance of seeing the lunacy of the left as their solutions/messages are just not common sensical.
baklava, have you visited neo-neocon? She is a “convert”, if you will. She makes a very reasoned explanation of the process in her own case.
Yes, anyone can convert from one way of thinking to another. I’m always heartened that supposed life-long lefties can, and do, find the truth and give up the world of smoke and mirrors that makes up the Left.
Same thing with
EverythingIknowiswrong
and
Dinocrat
and many others.
Thanks for the link. It’s added to my collection.
- I am always open to listen to others ideas, particularly when its from the loyal opposition, in the spirit of intellectually honest debate, and with the idea that everyone basically wants the best for our country. I’ve lived long enough to know that I don’t know everything.
- I don’t see that from the left, particularly in the past 6 years. what I see is adhominem attacks, truculent insistance on their way is the only way, and endless obfuscation, and tortured logic, that transparently mimics the typical memes of Liberal/Marxist poly-sci Profs that infest our colleges. I’ve seen, as we all have, what that kind of sedicious activity can do to a good solid country. Worse it can undermine any real attempts at workable social solutions, so even more people suffer. I see it as a cancer on our society, and admit I have little patience for it, so if I tend to come down hard, theres the reason….
- I was raised to believe in family, country, and way of life. Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way. The Liberals, like Chamberlain, seem to want to stick their collective heads in the ground, and discuss everything to death, hoping the problems will just go away. They also seem to have lost the ability to tell right from wrong in their world view that everything is “relative” and “equivalent”. I have a feeling that some of the civilians in Iraq and elsewhere that have had their heads cut off would not agree with that idea of things. Unfortunately they aren’t available for comment…..
- Bang
The Democrats? A Peace Party?
Ha! More like The Surrender Party!
Because more and more people are realizing that they do not have the will to fight. And you know what happens to those who are not willing to fight for their survival.
They become extinct.
Years from now, there’s going to be a very interesting archaeological excavation at the site where the DNC headquarters are right now. Must make a very interesting reading on National Geographic.
Baklava – thanks for the links! Always good to have more, right? LOL
Bang – we’re all hanging in there, waiting for sanity to overtake them. But don’t hold yer breath.
That’s for sure…
This interesting tidbit I have yet to see hit the news media….
Maybe I am missing something, but it seems they wan tto do away with the limits so Democrats can bring in more cash? Could this be because of the shortfall of cash coming into the DNC?