I hope the Democrats have the good sense to hammer relentlessly upon..

[Triana]

...this Christie scandal in 2014 and 2016 -- for it is the epitome of GOP mafia-style rule. It's a golden pig on a silver platter. Democrats are very bad about making good use of Republican idiocy, failures, dishonesty and malfeasance and simultaneously (very unfortunately) just as bad at lauding and selling their own good accomplishments. They need to learn to do both and to do it REALLY well. I hope they've got someone on this.

[Jamaal510]

1. The thing that

is missing from the messaging from the Dem side is that killer instinct. Like you said, pound the GOP on their miscues. That, and (always) thoroughly explain how various programs are designed to work and help the country, whether it's entitlement programs, expanded health care, or even our surveillance program. Never leave it to the media to interpret everything for the general public. Many people will readily believe anything that only their favorite talking heads say and jump to conclusions without analyzing everything first.

[Triana]

3. Agreed. They need to get mean and nasty. When they actually fight back...

...Repukes whine and complain (like most bullies do when confronted) - and most often - they also win

[MrSunNShineNYC]

2. Method

The real question is: how would you do it? It may make sense to bash Christie now and drag him through his slime, but in winning an election in 2016, it may be better to wait. Sinking Christie early in a presidential primary may open it up for a dark horse, who may be better at keeping his or her skeletons in the closet. Also, if you try to brand Christie as an out of control bully early on and not let him loss his cool, you may make him sympathetic (playing into his everyman persona) and immunize him against attacks when it really matters. I'd also ask what do you do at this point, outside the present media coverage. What forum do you go after him in? I believe this scandal can be used as more a rallying cry to cement Democratic political resources for the next election and debunk the idea of the existence of moderate Republicans.
On a side note, I wouldn't fault the Democrats strategies in elections too much. They hold their own, even if they do not fully exploit Republican weaknesses. To me, the issue is that Democrats are outflanked by Republicans when it comes to legislation and governing in Washington.

[Skittles]

7. interesting analysis

welcome to DU, MrSunNShineNYC, and I do hope you are staying warm

[MrSunNShineNYC]

9. Thank You

I am trying to, but at least, I got a warm welcome.

[Skittles]

11. awwwwwwww

[TBF]

8. Not to mention the state elections -

the republican party obviously has the funds to run the candidates in state elections and we've already seen some extreme policies in Wisconsin and Texas just to name two.

For example here in Texas we have a pregnant brain dead (since Nov. 26 I believe) young woman who is in a hospital in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She is hooked up to a ventilator in hopes of getting her baby to a place in which they can do a C-sec and save it. They have learned at this point though that the baby has severe deformities (gee, big surprise as it has been gestating in the body of a corpse) and now we'll see if they'll finally let this sweet woman and her baby rest in peace.

Paying attention to who is running in state elections and not let them take over all the statehouses is a big priority in my view.


Welcome to DU

[uponit7771]

12. It's better to use him as an example of the scary rep... The guy you thought you'd lik

... But turned out o be another rep jerk.

On dem strategy waiting to see of reps screw themselves usually doesn't do good against a disciplined opponent .... The current GOP isn't bit they could decide to be any day now...

Wash rinse repeat of accomplishments seems to a lot better than let gop define current Obama success as failure

[liberal_at_heart]

4. what would be nice is if we could have something to vote for, not against.

If I'm going to vote against something it will be the entire plutocracy that rules our country.

[loudsue]

5. The reasons dems are so bad at it, is because the Dem party is sucking at the same teet as the

republicans...the corporate teet.

Have you looked at the DLC/New Wave Dem organizers and contributors? Bill and Hill ushered them in. Obama is from the University of Chicago club. You want to play? You let them pay. The corporations are the Johns, the politicians are the ho's. It's not just because they are "so nice" that they don't make hay while the sun is shining: if they did, they wouldn't have sent Howard Dean packing.

They are bought and paid for by the same....THE VERY SAME ... donors as the republicans, and they are beholden to not make waves.

The rulership of the democratic party will not change until they are forced to change.

[flamingdem]

6. This time it has to happen!

It's a golden pig on a silver platter. -- indeed

[Cha]

10. The Dems in New Jersey are doing an Excellent job and I think

it's going to get only bigger(ya think Sherlock!).. and will be very hard to ignore for its culture of bully corruption on a national scale.

[Triana]

13. They've got Christie, McDonnell, d'Souza, etc.

I mean it's a veritable banquet of corruption and outright malice that Dems ought to be calling Repubs out on every day - really hammering them on all this! But they don't. I'm so sick of them playing "nice".