Conventional wisdom and the mass media cite “moral values” i.e. gay marriage as the reason the Democrats got pummeled at the polls on November 2nd. Air American Radio, Ralph Nader and Black Box Voting (www.blackboxvoting.org) believe that the election wasn’t lost at all, but stolen once again. Then there are the folks like my father and some of my friends who say “fear and hatred” won the day. And then there’s this story from the Editor and Publisher (www.editorandpublisher.com) :
“Appearing on Don Imus' national radio program on Tuesday, (Zell) Miller ripped the woman he called "Maureen Loud," calling her a "highbrow hussy from New York." He added that the "red-headed woman at the New York Times" should not mock anyone's religion: "You can see horns just sprouting up through that Technicolor hair."
Asked by the New York Post for a response, Dowd said: "I'm not a highbrow hussy from New York. I'm a highbrow hussy from Washington. Senator, pistols or swords?" “
Again, as Dr. Marvin Monroe once said, “This is not the way to get healthy.”
The real reason why the Democrats lost the election is two-fold. The first is that your real candidate, Howard Dean, was defeated way back in January during the Hawkeye Cauci (Iowa Caucus) by the pretender, John Kerry. They say the Democrat party is split between the “moderates” like Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh and the “progressives” like Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich. Essentially that’s the problem. The Democratic Party is one collective ideology but is trying to sell itself as another. Let’s turn and face reality, you’re here, you’re progressive/socialistic, get used to it. And that’s fine.
There are good and valid arguments to be made for policies that fall within the realm of socialism/progressivism. Three of them I’m actually a proponent of which are, a Basic Income Guarantee, a Preventative Medical Care/ Health Care Guarantee and ending the prohibition of “hard drugs” by regulating marijuana (like we do with alcohol and cigarettes) and placing other drugs (heroin, cocaine, etc) on prescription (like they used to be before the Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914). However, progressive candidates like Howard Dean focused on being an “anti-war” candidate and did not spend enough time making the proper arguments to a populace that (believe it or not) wants to be educated. Meanwhile, because Dean (and his side of the Democratic Party) is not making the good arguments in a mindful and clear way, pretender candidates like Kerry are muddling up the message of the progressive movement…by sounding like a Conservative. And it’s not just Kerry; a lot of the “moderate” mainstream Democrats try to disguise their progressive arguments in the rhetoric of “middle of the road” politics. Patooey! Stand up and define yourselves as you really are. Half the country may hate George Bush but at least you know what he stands for and where he’s coming from. In short, the first reason you lost this election is because the progressive movement was hijacked by the Kerry and promptly sold out to the premise of winning over “undecided voters”. And in doing so your message got totally muddled and lost.
The second reason is your choice of non-political messengers and their way of communicating said message. Let me start with Bill Maher whom on his HBO talk show this past season referred to people of faith in this as, “…the dumb country”. This was in comparison to Europe where religious faith has plummeted while the elite trumpets this as a victory of enlightenment and science. This is pretty simple folk's and it’s marking 101: DON’T INSULT THE CUSTOMER!
I get it; some of you are atheists and think nothing trumps science. Outstanding! Some of you have been raised on institutionalized religion and have become jaded by its politics and inherent hypocrisy. Fabulous! You are absolutely entitled to believe this way. However, for the rest of us whom depend on some degree of faith to anchor our behavior and find some common purpose in life, we do not deserve to be condescended to or insulted. But that is exactly what happened in this election. Whether it was the “ELITEMEDIAANDHOLLYWOOD” or casual conversation with friends, if you were for the war in Iraq you were a racist and war mongerer; if you were against partial birth abortion or abortion in general then you’re a misogynist; don’t think affirmative action is necessary or effective anymore, you’re a racist; if you define marriage as between a man and a woman you’re a homophobic religious fanatic…and when you vote against a muddled messenger with no clear arguments or policy plan, you’re a victim of fear and hatred.
That’s fine. If you can’t learn to communicate your ideas with going to insults and have reasonable policy debates you will keep losing elections. Once again, the Republicans may have won with bad ideas but at least we knew what the ideas were.
Heard at Blogtalkradio.com/whiskeyrebellion every Tuesday Night at 8:00 PM Eastern, Call In At (646) 915-8862 Intellectual Honesty is a Greater Virtue Than Party Loyalty
1 comment:
Wow! that was awesome! I gave kudos to your fellow conservative blogger misercola for not being stupid like every Bush supporter I have met, but you really deserve the trophy, that was by far the best pro-bush anti-kerry argument I have ever heard, and believe me I have heard them all. My least favorite being 'we need a ranch hand' as if 1) we do need a ranch hand in the oval office and 2) Bush is even close to being anything that could be called a ranch hand.
Just for the record I am anti-partisan and as I told your fellow concervative blogger, I have bashed religious people, southern people, republicans in general out of shear rage because the arguments and policies put forth of late have not only spit on us 'other people' but have really trashed the constitution.
If most of Bush's people and supporters where as reasonable as you he would have won by a landslide, I still wouldn't trust the guy, but I would believe that he really got elected both times and figure that at least those who put him in office weren't freakishly brain dead morons.
Kerry pissed me off too, I don't beleive in organized religion for myself, I have no problem with anyone elses that does not enchorage hate. Both he and George said 'god bless america' constantly, which told me 'uh, dave, that don't mean you' but that is their personal belief, well, that is if you believe that they actually beleive what they say, and I have to say, George doesnt believe in god at all, he is like every other former coke snorter, drunk driver - cum - born-again, if I just say I do and say I am sorry and repent, I get to get out of jail free AND I get to lord over all the other people who are still 'sinners' sorry that stuff just chaps my ass.
So the democratic party has lost, nay, nuked its own rudder and the republican party has made a religious, personal, moral issue - gay marriage - not only a political and legal one but one that is more important than terrorism? I am furious over this one, seriously this is semantics at its finest, so people of faith want to bless the WORD 'marriage' as their own, to only be used by men and woman bound in 'holy matrimony' FINE but because of this zeal over this word, my gay brother can't marry someone who will stick by him through thick and thin, he cant have them make choices for him when he is in a coma, or even see him, he can't get health insurance and share it with him, what does that have to do with your god? Call it a 'legal union' or whatever but don't ram your church down their throats, thats what the brits did, remember? The truth is that what those concervatives really want is to outlaw being gay, hell, they want to outlaw not being a christian, those people need to get dropped out of your party wings like a hot potato in favor of more moderate people such as yourself or the flames will be visible from space, lets face it most of us, most americans when you get right down to it are in the middle of the extremes that each party keeps touting, thats dangerous, we need the people in the middle to demand a middle out of both parties, just today I answered a democratic support survey, asking basically 'where did we go wrong?' and I told them, lay the hell off the extreme stuff, the fringe issues need to be debated on the floor of the house but the electoral flag waving issues need to be just that, all about the core values of what it is to be an american, the common ground, not the ground of your 'base' as George called a room full of fat cats. Republicans need to do the same, tell their party, slow down tonto, I don't like gay people either but we can't go making laws about it, thats unamerican!
We have to find a common ground, people like you and me, we must, you dont have to agree with my views to agree that we are in trouble here, people on both sides are very very angry and its not getting better when you hear that Bush won ohio by like 130,000 votes but just one county has 90,000 more votes than voters. I really WANT to believe that he was actually elected, but I just can't with facts like that. Republicans need to call for an investigation, side by side with 'the rest of us nut jobs' so that they can validate their guy, to say we are just being sour grapes just sprays liquid hydrogen on an open flame.
Keep up the blogging, your side is in power now, executive, judicial, legislative so you are in the drivers seat, what you say and do is going to steer where we go for at least 4 more years, the more of you that are like you, the better!
Post a Comment