Democrats Lost Because They Weren't Progressive Enough

[Triana]

You know what the narrative is going to be. "Democrats need to moderate their policies. They were too liberal."

But that's total bologna. The GOP won this election despite having approval ratings themselves in the low 20s. Their "more conservative" policies won them no support.

People in this country hate the GOP. If your approval rating is 21%, even a lot of Republicans hate the GOP. The public hates their extremism, their attempts to take away Social Security, their attempts to pander to the rich, their warmongering, their own sloppy management of the budget, etc.

People voted for the GOP this cycle because Democrats didn't get much done. Obamacare was progress, but it only truly affected a limited amount of people. And even for the people it did help, Democrats basically ran away from it. Where was Obama, on the stump, leading the media narrative, berating the kind of savage mindset that leads Republican governors to block healthcare expansion in their own states? This move was a national outrage. You can't just blame the media. If Democrats make this an issue, it will be an issue. It should have been a daily outrage the way Fox News was freaking out about Ebola. Yet Democrats ran from it.

THE REST:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/05/1341956/-Democrats-Lost-Because-They-Weren-t-Progressive-Enough

[whathehell]

1. I think that played a large part..

You actually have to stand for something -- With some notable exceptions,

The Democratic party has become a party of Appeasers, Cowards and No Message.

They won't stand up for their own accomplishments, let alone Democratic values.



.

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. "...party of No Message".

I paid only intermittent attention this time around. Truly there was no one to actively support ( I mean aside from 'voting" for) where I live this year. A "DEM" incumbent gov who out-fundraised his GOP clone ( in most respects) by 10 to 1.

In other words, the 1% money went (THIS time) to the established pay-to-play candidate who *happened* to be the DEM nominee.

House rep is as bad and perhaps worse.

My only recollection of Obama campaigning this cycle is... and will always be.... his speech in Michigan a few days before the end, with a one-line take-away: "Are we fired up"?

Well, no. We're not. "Fired-up" about WHAT, exactly?

Party of No Message.

Can we try a different tack now?

[LondonReign2]

6. Agree

Obama had an extremely strong message in 2008, and the voters responded. Instead of building on that and fighting for the things he said he would fight for, we've spent 6 years being Republican Lite.

[AgingAmerican]

28. The party of Centrism

In a country with no center.

[JRLeft]

30. Centrism is the wrong word, the party of Wall ST and Corporations.

[AgingAmerican]

44. Halfpublican is more accurate than Centrist

nt

[LondonReign2]

45. Halfpublican. I like that. I'm stealing it

[hrmjustin]

3. When you run against your own party and values then you are courting losing.

If the electorate has a choice between a republican and a republican lite Dem the publican will go gop most of the time.


I appreciate that in red states dems have to be moderate but they have to stand for something.

[LiberalArkie]

21. The repub lite stands for nothing but himself. In Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln and Pryor stood

for nothing but themselves. As much as I dispise Cotton, at least I knew what he thought about things. The Democratic party has become the party of "Let me get back to you on that". When on TV and a statement is made that is an out right lie, they don't know enough to correct the speaker. They have to always get their ideas from their corporate masters.

The Republicans are bought and paid for by their masters. But most of the Democrats we have now do their bidding. It is time for the Democratic party to find some honest people who are liberal and willing to fight for the people without asking a focus group first.

[LondonReign2]

4. Kick

[CrispyQ]

5. And they will use this as a reason to move further to the right.

And blame the liberals, of course, that's just part of the package.

[Orrex]

14. ^^That.

[Puzzledtraveller]

32. nailed it.

repubs did it with the tparty this time, establishment and run of the mill repubs cleaned house this election, now is that what we want for us? No, but that's what we will get.

[lonestarnot]

7. Amen.

[libtodeath]

8. Time for a progressive revolution

oh but it will lose so many will scream.
Who the fuck cares at this point,did repug lite do us any fucking good?

[Orsino]

9. They were indeed too liberal.

Until Dems learn to toe the corporate line, they won't be allowed to ride Big Money and Big Media into easy victories.

It's Citizens United's country now. We just live here.

[cleanhippie]

10. Wrong. Dems lost because they refuse to fight against corporate money buying elections.

Last edited Wed Nov 5, 2014, 11:21 AM - Edit history (1)

Not only do they refusee to fight against it, they take what little scraps they can from those same corporations.

This election was bought and paid for by Corporate America. Anyone who cannot see that for what it is is only deluding themselves.

[NordicLeft]

13. I agree, its insanity to not have publicly funded elections, with greatly shortened campaigns

[colsohlibgal]

11. It's A Bad Combination

Big money plus the dumbing down of America. Hard to combat when also combined with the democratic party tilting way too much third way/Wall Street.

[Triana]

23. +1 n/t

[NordicLeft]

12. the 2-party system traps your nation

In order to get elected, both parties have to pander to so many types of people that they despise. On the Republican side, they dance a fine line between religious insanity, war-mongers, elite controllers, and then the majority of large grey centre-right. The non-radicals are more and more caught up in a media-controlled spiral that pushes them to further extremes.

On the Democrat side, the controllers are culled from the same group as the Republican elites. Hillary Clinton is the epitome of this, plus she is a situationally-driven war pusher. The far left of the base in the Democrats is NOT perceived by "swing-voters" as great progressives like Bernie Sanders (he is not even a Democrat) nor Elizabeth Warren. What they (your average swing-voter) sees, thanks to a divide and conquer mentality, is a group of radical splintered interest groups. The USA media plays the red team/blue team game to the extreme.

Brand A or Brand B as you 2 only choices is NOT a good way to run a country. Proportional representation is, but alas, the American system will not have this unless one of the parties rips itself apart. Demographics point to the Republicans falling first, but that is many years from now, and also what emerges may not be at all good for the Democrats, and/or the nation. All-in-all, its a true clusterfuck.

cheers from the EU

[JonLP24]

15. No matter how much pandering the Democrat does

They're still portrayed as a terrorist loving, open border anarchy, higher taxers liberal. The biggest thing affecting Joni Ernst's campaign was a lie involving a lawsuit over chickens.

<snip>

"Congressman, you threatened to sue a neighbor over chickens that came onto your property," Ernst said. "You’re talking about bipartisanship. How do we expect as Iowans to believe that you will work across the aisle when you can’t walk across your yard?"

"That’s just not true," Braley replied. "I never threatened to sue anyone."

The chicken incident, which came to light in July, has been well reported. But we wondered about their disagreement at the debate. Did Braley actually threaten to sue or not?

There was a real dispute over chickens, but we didn't find evidence for a lawsuit threatened against the neighbor.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/oct/02/joni-ernst/did-bruce-braley-threaten-sue-over-rogue-chickens/

It was brought in campaign ads and website parodies, rubber chickens handed out to voters. Ridiculous lies is what kill Democrats. What wins elections is your ability to advertise yourself and some level of charisma.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

17. Yep! See my response re: Maryland below.

[villager]

42. Exactly -- the pandering *never* does them any good; it just elects *actual* rightwingers

And yet, many here still defend the pandering poobahs of the party...

[marions ghost]

53. RIGHT TO THE POINT!

I wish you would put this up as a separate thread.

This blue vs red divide is KILLING us as a nation.

[NordicLeft]

54. I am too new to the site to post a separate thread

Also, I have surveyed the responses on thsi site to people who post similar type memes, and they are ripped to shreds by people who refuse criticism and/or alternative solutions such as 3rd parties. This is a Democratic Party website, and that means you cannot advocate a progressive agenda if that advocacy entails not supporting the party. I find it ironic that my favourite USA Senator (and a person who has so much support on here) Bernie Sanders is NOT a Democrat. I truly find it hard to believe that in a country of 320 million people, more like Sanders cannot be voted into political office at high national level.

To be honest, the corporate controllers have both parties (and thus the system as a whole) completely under their boot heels. A further hindrance is the refusal (or inability) of the vast, vast majority of Americans to expatriate, simply leave and move to a country that they would feel much more in touch with politically or economically. Here in the EU so many travel the globe, especially for opportunities to better their standing in life. The same can be said for nations like Australia, China, India, etc. I cannot see this happening with Americans, as it appears no matter what your socio-economic level is most think that the USA is and always will be the "best" nation on earth and to move out of it is suicidal. Such thoughts are completely alien to me.

I will just continue to observe the board and try to enhance my knowledge.


cheers

[marions ghost]

57. Got it

Yes--best to avoid conflict on the subject of party factions, but there is some room to talk about the topic in general, without advocating a specific third party. Anyway your perspective is refreshing.

Re Sanders--it is very difficult for others with Bernie Sanders' politics to get into high level office in the US. Vermont is a unique state with an unusually liberal population. Most other states have too many Republicons and "blue dog" (centrist) Dems to allow such a maverick to represent them at state level. Corporate control as you describe it, prevents the Bernies from having a chance. Those few who make it through the net are outliers. I don't see this changing any time soon--without a significant change in the Dem party itself at state levels--towards the left.

It's not easy for Americans to expatriate. Family ties, lack of money, lack of skills, lack of flexibility, etc. Places like Canada and Australia are very hard to emigrate to. It's not only super nationalism, tho I'm sure that's there. Some who could easily live in another country (I have before) choose to stay to try to change things --not seeing it as "the best" country by any means but one of the most in need of our kind of change.

Cheers

[MisterP]

56. duopoly trends towards keeping politics a game for an elite political class

but note also that 40s-70s Republicans were no less developmentalist than the Dems (who were being held back by their segregationist wing), and the 1945-73 economic boom was done under extremely loose contributions laws; in countries with third parties they became neoliberal as much as the other two parties, becoming part of the problem--part of the fence keeping national needs and demands safely out of legislation and political discourse

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

16. I want to believe you, but here in this Blue state of Maryland, voters decided

that despite the good things a very progressive/liberal state legislature did, along with a fairly liberal governor, we've decided that we needed a change and elected a Republican instead.

Even in my very liberal bastion of Montgomery County, MD, high earning "liberals" were supposedly fed up with high taxes--the #1 issue that led to Hogan's shocking win--and punished the "Tax and Spend Liberals" from Baltimore City and Prince George's County. The white folk rebelled, in essence. Seeing their communities become more diverse with the influx of Latinos and some higher-income blacks, Asians and newly-arrived Western Africans, Ethiopians and South East Asians. I'm hearing them talk about moving to Virginia where the taxes are lower, schools are just as good (or only slightly better), and oh, yeah...it's not as diverse (but they'll never admit to that).

Though it's not uncommon for this state to side with Republicans from time to time, it made more sense when Maryland was less of a liberal Democratic state and a more center-left leaning Democratic state.

Last night apparently there were liberals crossing over to vote for Hogan because of taxes, despite their own admission that O'Malley/Brown had been good for the state. Even Republicans admitted that O'Malley was effective, but none of that mattered. People only care about their taxes. I understand to a certain point, but not enough to reelect Republicans after we had made so much progress getting progressive Democrats to the state house.

[swilton]

25. You raise some good points about

Montgomery County, Maryland. But I also lived there for 13 years. I didn't see it as the progressive bastion that you defined. Chris Van Hollen was supposedly Mr. Progressive when he was elected to Congress in 2003. He's essentially the water carrier for the DLC. Since his election I belonged to more than one (2003-09) grass-roots groups that tried to get him (and the Democratic Party where he assisted Nancy Pelosi) to move to the left.... We were so unsuccessful that we refused to endorse him but despite much friction within our group (s) failed to endorse alternative candidates.... I also noted that M/C favored Obama over Clinton in the 2008 primaries.

I am/was proud of Maryland's progressive policies....but I would suggest their is also a division within Montgomery County of defining who the Democratic Party is and what it stands for.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

37. I think we are agreeing. Remember the seat that Van Hollen (my congressman) now holds

is same one that Connie Morella held for years. Though she branded herself a "liberal" Republican, she was barely that. But we are agreeing in the sense that Montgomery County has always been racially and economically bifurcated. The so-called liberals in the county are the same ones that fought to move Prince George's County line back and disputed added parts of D.C. to Takoma Park. Why? The wealthy folk didn't want certain "elements" included in Montgomery County; they wanted clearly demarcated geographical lines between PG and D.C. Again, race and class play a role here. I saw a lot of Hogan signs in the wealthy areas of MoCo: Bethesda, Potomac, a few in Rockville. I wasn't surprised. I never am.

I now live in Silver Spring, which is reliably progressive, but there is some backlash against the high taxes; there are also older Americans who vote reliably Republican. The younger folks who don't want to live in D.C. are progressives, but affordable and/or moderately-priced housing is scarce, so some are indeed moving to Virginia, not because the prices are better, but there are more options because land is plentiful.

I confronted Van Hollen years ago at the Takoma Park Fall Festival after he had authorized Bush to invade Iraq. He had no real substantive answer as to why he supported the invasion, only that now he regrets his vote.

As for Steny Hoyer, he was my congressman as a student at Maryland and no one really cared for him. He's an old school Democrat--not DLC, not Blue Dog, but might as well be. He has done nothing as Party Whip to encourage Democratic Party cohesion and solidarity on message. He is useless.

(Notice that most of the Democrats in positions of authority have some roots in Maryland.)

Pelosi who is originally from Baltimore, is useless. Another useless Democrat who seems so unconcerned about Republican dominance that she just bides her time. Why she and Steny just don't retire is beyond me.

The last remaining Maryland Democrat who holds some power in the party is Elijah Cummings who has been stellar. He is one of few who stands up to these ReThugs, Darrell Issa, in particular, and really takes it to them.

A rising star is Donna Edwards, who after many tries to oust Blue Dog asshole Al Wynn, finally defeated him in 2008 and again in 2010. She really is the new face of the Democratic Party in Maryland and a new, refreshing breed of liberal Democrats. However, the party is so stuck in its Establishment ways that I'm convinced that Donna won't get her shot unless Pelosi, Hoyer and the rest are ousted.

[swilton]

50. Agree with you totally

I was also at UMD - I remember well the 2004 debacle when KKT was a shoe in but had to pick some former admiral as a running mate and blew the 2004 election for governor. People though it was Townsend's to lose and thought that there were many more than qualified African Americans that Townsend could have picked as a running mate (i.e., Ike Leggitt / sp) Terry McAuliffe (sp) now governor of Va. was DCC....

I left Md 4 years ago - worked on campaign for Donna Edwards on her first campaign.

Agree with you about Steny Hoyer - seem to recall state Senator Jamie Raskin was well liked as well. Although he ran the Obama campaign in Md. - Asked him (half seriously ) why he didn't challenge Van Hollen. What ever happened to Ike Leggit....

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

51. Ah, yes. KKT botched her chances by ignoring the African American vote. (Sound familiar?)

Despite the urging of black leaders across the state who warned that Ehrlich would choose Mike Steele, she, like many old school Democrats, wrongly believed that Charles Larson could pull siphon off a portion of the white male Republican vote, perhaps capturing some military votes, while at the same time, maintaining black strongholds. Not only was she wrong, she was dead wrong. Furious that she seemed to complete ignore the recommendations from the black community--not to mention her famous guffaw of shouting "Bowie State," during a speech in front of the predominantly black student body at Morgan State University. Ehrlich thought he could attract some angry black Democrats to the Republican Party with Steele on the ticket and a few were duped. But by and large, black voters stayed home; some had their votes suppressed in Baltimore and P.G., and KKT lost.

Ike Leggitt is Montgomery County's Executive. He won a second term last night.

[turbinetree]

34. I disagree

I live in Maryland, and I am being represented by a right wing Congressman (Harris) that has done nothing for this state, he still thinks that shutting down the government and costing me and you 25 million and planning on black mailing this country again is the right thing to do.
In Cecil county there is a sitting republican executive that is cutting public education funds, given Wal Mart super store a tax break so they could move the store down the road which in turned is causing the further dismantling of the mom and pop stores in downtown and we have no jobs except by those at Wal Mart and two main grocery Stores, they gave this multi billion dollar a year non paying corporate company a break on its taxes to the county and the state , someone has to pick up this tax.
I was told by a councilman that the reason we have no industry in the town is because we have no education base to support the high tech jobs which are needed, what does that's say, its about the lack of infrastructure taxes and educational taxes which are lacking, so when the cities down south and near Washington are being used to make a point, you can thank your councilmen and women putting your tax dollars to good use, because more than nine times out of ten its a democrat that are giving out monies to support those infrastructure bases and not a republican.
The state tax payer is subsided food and medical care at (Walmart ) while they make billions without paying state taxes, someone has to make up the short fall for lack of a decent living wage and the high unemployment in the county and the country, and then to have the chief executive declare that he would not take state tax money to repave some roads because it would hurt business interests and was not in the plans to put people back to work is disingenuous to say the least.
Brown should have gone into the debates with a pie chart showing all the taxes and how it was being spent and then show what this right wing fascists supporter of Chris Christie would have done with another pie chart from the Erhlich / Steele crowd because (Hogan) has the same game plan and its not pretty:tsk

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

47. Not sure where we disagree. You are represented by conservative Republicans in

areas of the state that are not as populous or Democratic. That outcome is to be expected.

My point is that Democrats outnumber Republicans here by a 3 to 1 margin. And the brand of Democrats is slightly more progressive now than it was 10 years ago. (Case in point, the last remaining Blue Dog Democrat in the Maryland congressional delegation was defeated in 2010--the only bright spot for the Democrats that year in progressive politics.)

The state had been trending more progressive than rightward.

I'm not suggesting that there are no moderate or conservative Democrats or no Republicans with power. There certainly are.

The problem with what happened last night is twofold:

1. Brown was an incredibly weak candidate
2. Brown being an incredibly weak candidate did not inspire the base to vote--even in his residential Prince George's County.

The #1 issue cited by those who did vote--some of them even liberal Democrats--is high taxes. And they blamed O'Malley and Brown for that even while acknowledging that they did a good job.

Hogan brilliantly tied O'Malley to Baltimore = high taxes, high crime, poor schools and substandard public services

Hogan brilliantly tied Brown to Prince George's County = high taxes, crime, poor performing schools and substandard public services.

The moral of the story: if Democrats are going to tax voters, give them a reason for the higher taxes and make the reasons good!

Not sure where we are disagreeing.

[certainot]

18. being 'progressive' better include stop ignoring republican radio cause

otherwise it will be same old shit next election

[swilton]

19. 1,000 Recs

Here's Paul Jay on the eve of the 2010 election - How the Democrats Allowed the Tea Party to Rebrand the GOP....The message needs to go viral




http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5806

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. There's still a myth out there that a vote for a Republican is a vote for white people to RULE.

[RufusTFirefly]

22. Zell Miller endorsed Michelle Nunn. And we were pleased??

Alison Grimes showed she was fit to be in the Senate by shooting skeet???

Those moments are a clear indication of just how far we've fallen.

The Democrats tried to sell the electorate the New Coke, claiming that it tasted even more like Pepsi than Pepsi.
Voters did the predictable thing: They chose Pepsi instead.



We need to be proud of our brand and bring back the policies that once made our party great.

Three cheers for Democratic Classic!!

[SomeGuyInEagan]

33. With a few exceptions, the Democratic Party left me with Clinton's R-lite ...

... approach to colliding business and Wall Street.

I am very glad I woke up in Minnesota today. Not only Al Franken reelected to the US Senate seat (by a wide margin), but at the state level, the DFL won all statewide offices. This is the first time a governor has won in Minnesota by a true majority in a couple of decades and the first DFL governor reelected in 30 years. Dayton ran on having worked with a D legislature to create a strong economy, raising taxes on highest earnings, putting more money back into the schools and a low unemployment rate.

[RufusTFirefly]

43. Minnesota has a fine tradition.

Not only Paul Wellstone (who was my professor years ago) but also Floyd Olson. Have you heard of him?

He was governor in the 1930s. Here's what he said on March 27, 1934

In his speech before the Farmer-Labor Party Convention, Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson proclaimed “Now I am frank to say that I am not a liberal… I am what I want to be — I am a radical.” The party's delegates responded in suitable fashion by adopting a radical platform that called for "immediate steps … to abolish capitalism in a peaceful and lawful manner" and for the "complete re-organization of the present social structure into a co-operative commonwealth" in which "all the natural resources, machinery of production, transportation and communication shall be owned by the government" and operated according to democratic principles.

Floyd B. Olson

Floyd Bjerstjerne Olson was born on 13th November, 1891. His parents were both emigrants, his father from Norway and his mother from Sweden. After he graduated from North High School in 1909 he worked on the Northern Pacific Railway before entering the University of Minnesota in 1910. He only stayed for one year and moved to Canada before settling in Seattle where he worked as a longshoreman and joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

[world wide wally]

24. I am not sure if their political ideology actually mattered. Other than the fact that Dems agreed

with their Republicans that Obama was the worst president in the history of planetary leaders, the only thing they said was that Republicans would do away with abortion.

So, what good would it do if they were more progressive, but Never told anyone?

[AgingAmerican]

26. This is exactly what happened

Centrism has ruined the party.

[VanillaRhapsody]

27. time for all you so- called "progressives" to start

Your own party to prove your premise..

I DOUBLE DOG DARE YA!

[kentuck]

31. I accept your dare...

It is time for Bernie Sanders to get in the ring.

[VanillaRhapsody]

36. dont just talk....do it.

But I bet Bernie is smarter than you think!

[kentuck]

40. If Bernie is smart..?

He won't run?

He would not have to win to change our Party.

Yes, I'm ready to support a progressive Party.

[VanillaRhapsody]

41. if he is smart and I KNOW he is..

He will run as a Democrat.... he also doesnt bash them constantly for that very reason

Because HE is not a hypocrite..

[progressivebydesign]

29. They did not motivate their REAL supporters to vote...

That's the problem. They played it too safe, and forgot that they needed their CORE voters this time.

Not to mention the $$$$$ spent by outside forces. The GOP candidates in my area (which is almost 50/50) had SO much money!! There were 10 to 1 signs, and ads, and mailers out there. There were pop up ads online, and inline ads on so many sites. They had $$$, they had the media, and they didn't shore up their base.

[treestar]

39. Anyone who doesn't vote deserves the Republicans

Geez. What a loser you would have to be not to vote and let Rs win because you want more 'progress." There will be less progress that way. Nobody can try to get the vote of the irrational.

[taught_me_patience]

35. They lost because the base didn't turn out

they never do in mid-term elections. However, polls showing younger demographic breaking to the republicans is extremely concerning, but could probably be blamed on the economic malaise (which is caused by 30 years of misguided economic policy).

[B Calm]

46. When our candidates distance themselves from the party, it doesn't seem to be

a motive for the base to vote.

[treestar]

38. Lack of logic here never makes sense

when the Rs do it, too.

Then why vote in Republicans?

These elections were state wide or local. They happened to be in red states.

[WillowTree]

48. Wait a minute. I want to understand this.

They were unhappy that the Democrats weren't running far enough to the left.......so they voted for candidates way to the right?

OK. I suppose that explains it as well as anything else.

[LondonReign2]

58. No

The were presented with a choice of an actual Republican and a Democrat who refused to back Democratic policies and accomplishments, refused to acknowledge who they voted for, continually reminded voters they weren't Obama, and portrayed themselves as gun shootin', coal lovin', jesus fearin' moderates...and voters stayed home.

[avaistheone1]

49. Agreed

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025768211

[Recursion]

52. Why did David Domina lose? He opposed Keystone and sent bankers to jail

What more should he have done?

[L0oniX]

55. The ones that didn't get the message were the ones that are still under the bus?

Can't do much running when you're under the bus. Been getting used to it since 2008.