I love it when someone else says what I'm thinking, and I don't have to say it.

[madfloridian]

How the Lame Democrats Blew It

While there is a lot of truth to the notion that midterm voter turnout is a challenging for a liberal coalition comprised of the country’s most “unlikely” voters, the real story is this. Candidates from Arkansas to Kentucky, from Iowa to Georgia, lacked message discipline and skipped one opportunity after another to effectively target voters with any notable precision. For all of the bellyaching, tooth gnashing, and public wailing, Democrats have no one to blame but themselves. Their collective failings come down to message discipline, candidate selection, and voter targeting.

Let’s start with the message. In the waning days and hours of the fall midterm, the “party of ideas” frankly had too many, and almost none of them resonated with the base. It was hard to get too excited about red state Democrats who would rather kiss a bag of dead frogs than talk about Medicaid expansion, wage an all-out fight on the minimum wage, or press for meaningful gun control. Nary a word was uttered about voter suppression.

Democratic voters were left to feast on the bones of “bi-partisanship,” “growth,” and “accountability”-- words that mean next to nothing when it comes to stretching a paycheck or putting dinner on the table. Call me cynical, but campaigns aren’t won on love. They are won on fear.

....One and all, they come shaking their tin cups at election time then run like the wind when a critical vote comes up. “I’m a problem solver” really means “I will break party ranks when it is most politically expedient.” Forgive me, but I’ve had my fill of super committees and gangs of six, eight, or 14.

Adding my own words as well. Both parties are letting public education be dismantled and turned over to the highest bidder. Democrats pushed to cut the safety nets for seniors just as much as did the GOP. And I don't talk much about immigration as my opinions are not really firm on that in some areas.....but I think that the administration's failure to stop or slow down the deportations that separated families played a role in keeping people from rushing to the polls.

And don't get me started on how so many reproductive rights of women could never have been taken away if our party had taken firm stands through the years.

We don't need any more talk about "bipartisanship", we need an opposition party that isn't afraid of the Republican Noise Machine which really does exist.

[liberal_at_heart]

1. K&R

[upaloopa]

2. This is right on. But I expect Obama to need

to "work" with the devil to get things done. Nothing we want just get things done.

[madfloridian]

3. AND way to go Markos at Daily Kos. Kudos.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/05/1342174/-Running-scared-on-popular-immigration-didn-t-help-Dems

Running scared on (popular) immigration didn't help Dems

Read the post.

[madfloridian]

4. And another thing....

First I heard Crist was going to fight about the power outages and malfunctions in South Florida. Now I hear he isn't. Not a word by email.

I wonder if DebbieWS and the FL Democrats are discouraging him??

[Baitball Blogger]

5. "the Republican Noise Machine"

So very true.

[madfloridian]

6. Third Way in struggle for the Democratic Party’s soul. Boston Globe

Yes, they are. I keep waiting for their usual cries about not being bipartisan enough, or not enough post-partisanship.

Third Way in struggle for the Democratic Party’s soul

Fast forward a decade: The philosophy, sketched out privately at the Boston office of Brown Rudnick, is now at the center of an intense struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party.

Third Way, backed by Wall Street titans, corporate money, and congressional allies, is publicly warning against divisive “soak-the-rich” politics voiced by populist Democrats. Its target: Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator whose rise to power two years ago helped galvanize Democratic grass roots against Wall Street and pushed the issue of income inequality to the forefront.

This is more than a grudge match. At stake for the Democratic Party is the support of middle-class, swing voters who decide elections.

But in a decade of existence, Third Way has been able to expand its influence, hosting Vice President Joe Biden and other Democratic luminaries at its symposiums. Visitor logs show that Third Way leaders have enjoyed excellent access to the Obama White House, with at least 50 visits since 2009.

Third Way leaders are extremely sensitive to questions and criticism about their sources of funding. The real issue, Third Way says, is that harsh populist positions and rhetoric are damaging the Democratic Party.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. As "The Loyal Opposition" they leave out the Opposition part.

But...they do know where the money is and how to get it...for themselves.

[madfloridian]

28. Yes

Not enough opposition. That's what parties are supposed to do. In their own words they made it about getting money from other sources so they would not need the votes of their own people.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. This may be true some places,

but in Alaska, Mark Begich was way more on message than Dan Sullivan who just speaks in vague generalities - "Obama bad" - while Mark laid out point by point all the good he has done for Alaska. It's pretty disgusting really.

There are still about 30,000 absentee votes to be counted here, and Begich hasn't conceded, but it should never have been this close if people had been paying attention.

[madfloridian]

9. Agreed.

There are some who really did that. Crist stood firmly with policies for the people. He did come very close.

And the media controls so much of it.

[CrispyQ]

10. This:

"...we need an opposition party that isn't afraid of the Republican Noise Machine which really does exist."

The dems have been in fear of the Republican Noise Machine since Reagan first poked fun at the word liberal. They should have stood up & said, hell yes we're liberal and here's why & then read the Joe Conservative essay. The dems are cowards & the repubs are assholes.

[SoapBox]

14. Yup.

I'm SO tired of spineless and "brassless".

[mazzarro]

23. Why hasn't the Dem leadership convinced one of the wealthy liberals to own at least one MSM company?

It has been no secret since a long time ago that Faux Noise and other MSM are right-biased regardless of what the RW nuts keep crowing and complaining about. Yet no clearly liberal MSM company exist except for the token and fake MSNBC.

[madfloridian]

27. Here are some examples of what happens when they try

https://www.google.com/search?q=democracy+alliance&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&client=firefox-a&channel=nts

The attacks begin.

You are right. The GOP has been building this machine for decades. We should have fought them.

[madfloridian]

11. And busting teachers' unions did not help.

[ReRe]

12. K&R

All I can do is kick this. I'm so depressed and mad at the same time today.

[madfloridian]

15. Me, too

Same here.

[SoapBox]

13. Other than, thank gawd I live in California...

I'm not even sure what to say.

I just don't get it.

[heaven05]

16. americans get

what they vote for or don't. last evening there is proof many don't. We only have ourselves to blame. Evidently the RW got out the vote, we didn't. Period. We lost only a battle, not the war in this the second american revolution. We're trying to throw off the shackles and yokes of an entrenched fascist, racist, authoritarian group of people intent on turning out lives into a living hell(metaphorically, the british), we are the patriots behind every tree, there just has to be many more of us behind more trees. 2016 is right around the corner and this lost battle should wake many up from their snooze.

[madfloridian]

17. And speak out for the needs of the people instead of corporate needs and desires.

[Sparky 1]

18. Where to start to get the change we all want

As long as Citizens United stands and our media is five or six mega for-profit corporations with no obligation to air both sides of an argument, nothing will change for the better.

That's what we should be putting the pressure on Congress, en masse, and non-stop.

[DeSwiss]

19. One day.

- One day someone will look down and come to the realization that the horse we've been ''riding'' is as dead as a doornail.......




K&R

[abelenkpe]

20. K&R

The dismantling of public education really bugs me.

[madfloridian]

26. Oh yes, gets to me so much.

It angers me.

[glowing]

31. It is bugging the ever living Sh#@ out of me right now!!!

My son hasn't had a decent "math-minded" elementary teacher yet. So, with all these changes and common core agendas and teaching to a test because the results are tied to the teacher's performance and ultimately their livelihoods, there is an absolute disconnect in actually teaching in an effective manner. I personally have a BS in Marine and Environmental Science, and stupidly was only 2 classes from having a minor in math as well (I should have spent the extra money during the summer on those 2 classes). SO, I know more than a little about math and the patterns and the logical progression through comprehending math learning and different techniques you can use to "get it". Somewhere along teaching all these methods and core concepts, they forgot or the teachers themselves aren't taking the time or understand themselves that it won't matter how many concepts or methods you teach, if you don't have the basic skill set to add, subtract, multiply and divide your base 10 numbers, you will eventually fail and become lost. When I was in grade school, we had to know our times table like it was our own name. It's like knowing the alphabet before trying to read the word... Would you expect the kids to know to read before you taught them their ABC's? So, now, my son who is a very smart child, is struggling with math because his tool belt of necessary arsenal hasn't been filled and isn't even considered essential learning. AND what is it going to solve by going to the teacher or Principal or any of the other avenues? They have a mandate on how and what they must teach. Deviating from the state mandated "plan" isn't part of the job. Now, where the no kid should have left the 3rd grade without knowing their multiplication facts are all sitting in 4th grade having to learn all of these strange maneuvers to deal with long division because they don't have their base factors covered. I'm so angry I could spit. Of course, I'm not letting him move on to much further without knowing this inside and out because I know what he needs to succeed and not fall behind and become one of those kids who begins hating math because he's struggling with the basic building blocks that make up math. AND you know, repetitively having to say your math facts over and over and filling in multiplication tables helps with seeing patterns in the math that can't be taught and remembered at the dry erase board.

I'm thinking at some point, I'm not going to be able to take it anymore and I will have to ask for a meeting. AND whoever wrote these common core math books ought to be hung upside down and beaten with a switch. What a mess.. going in the wrong order of sequences in teaching the subject and not enough repetition (which is needed at this level). I remember having 30 problems a night to push through for homework to make sure that I understood what I'm doing. Offering up a handful of examples and then "repeat" older lessons with multiple choice answers is just not enough at his age group to make their brains retain what it is that they are doing. Plus he's a visual learner, so my showing him in pictures has finally wrapped his head around the general concept of what it means when he is multiplying or dividing. Such a sad sorry mess, and there's not much I can do about it at all other than add to his homework day and teach him myself so he doesn't get any further behind.

[Enthusiast]

21. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!

Thank you, madfloridian.

[deutsey]

22. K&R

[Octafish]

24. Thanks, madfloridian!

Well said, Goldie.

For all of their potency, women voters didn’t get much more. Save for Mark Udall in Colorado pushing contraceptive issues or Michelle Nunn trumpeting the importance of Georgia’s Pre-K program, public education and reproductive rights were ruled passé this time around.

[madfloridian]

25. ....

I don't really have words today, so I am using those of other people.

[Triana]

29. Had posted it here: Kinda sunk. I think DU was still in shock!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025765585

[madfloridian]

30. Responded to you in your thread.

Thought I was responding in this one. When I am that confused it is time to sign off for the night. I know I am still in shock.

[hobbit709]

32. "A committee is the only known lifeform with 3 or more bellies and no brain."