Democrats Have Lost 2008 - Wonder if they know

[Demeter]

http://progressivedailybeacon.com/more.php?page=opinion&id=1561


Democrats Have Lost 2008 - Wonder if they know

A. Alexander, May 31st, 2007


A political party's base wins or loses elections. The Republicans figured that out more than 40 years ago. Democrats, incredibly, remain stubbornly and willfully ignorant. One is left to wonder whether or not the Democratic Leadership Council-sponsored (DLC) DC Democrats have realized yet, that their unfettered war-funding disaster has already cost them the 2008 Congressional elections? Probably not, because the DC Democrats have condemned themselves to the DLC's delusional belief that a nonexistent entity called the "sensible center" wins and loses elections.

The "sensible center" concept sounds great and would be purely wonderful...if it actually existed. It doesn't exist...well, except for in the mind of the delusional DLC. The nonexistent "sensible center" is the same "sensible center" that the DLC told Democrats the party needed to placate in order to win in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004 - each year, of course, proved a stunning Congressional election defeat for the Democratic Party. Only in 2006, when the base physically disconnected the DC Democrats from the DLC's grip, did the party experience victory.



The truly unforgivable transgression wasn't so much that the Democrats surrendered to Mister Bush on funding for the Iraq War, as much as it is that they recklessly and foolishly entered into a political battle that they had no intention of trying to winning. Worse yet, Democrats entered into the game of political chicken pretending that they were actually going to stand up to a stubborn, despised, and dangerous president. And that was never their plan.

It was, perhaps, one of the most amateurish and reckless political gambits ever witnessed in the history of the United States.

Politics is often about expectations. A party usually tries to lower expectations when they know a cause is lost and conversely, parties make an effort to rev up expectations when they know victory is certain. In their pretended fight with Mister Bush over war-funding, Democrats went out of their way to heighten expectations. On several occasions, the Democrats had assured the nation that Mister Bush would receive "no more blank checks." And then, when the dust settled, the Democrats wrote Mister Bush a blank check.

The Democratic Party's war-funding scheme was disingenuous, incompetently handled and amateurish in conception and execution. At the end of the day, all the Democrats managed to do was alienate their base. And in the doing, they lost the 2008 elections.

One wonders whether or not that reality has yet occurred to the DLC-sponsored DC Democrats?

[JeffR]

1. Hmm. I'm part of that alienated, pissed-off base

And I'll be voting a straight D ticket in '08. Once again.

[mzmolly]

6. Brava!

:toast:

[Prophet 451]

17. But...

Is that because you agree with the majority of their positions or because there's no other viable option for a lefty?

[JeffR]

27. Very good question

Sadly, the answer is the latter.

[Prophet 451]

29. Thought so n/t

[tavalon]

23. Me too, but

not in the primaries. I will be voting for any challenger of anyone who had any part of this latest fiasco.

[JeffR]

28. I feel the same way n/t

[illinoisprogressive]

2. excellent. thanks.

[lostnotforgotten]

3. The Democrats Lost Me In 2004 When The Electronic Voting Machine Fiasco Was Not Challenged

eom

[man4allcats]

4. I'd be hard pressed to argue with that.

K&R

Impeach the Bastids!

[theoldman]

5. The Democrats will again be able to pull defeat out of the jaws

of victory. Sad but true, they just don't know how to win an election. Maybe it's because nice guys finish last.

[mzmolly]

7. Hmm, I just read a Repubican whine to this effect over "immigration."

We're not losing jack.

[thunder rising]

8. Our Dems have yet to poke their heads up from under the rock yet

too. They know they screwed up. I cannot believe that the Republican base gets reasurrances every day and the big issues are absolutely fought rank and file. I'm pissed.

I'll vote the ticket, but they are going to have a hard time getting a dime out of me til I get stroked in big way. Olberman's comment was on target ... No other election came with a clearer message...

[L. Coyote]

9. Dime Store Crystal Ball? Hack Fortune Teller? or Hearing Voices? Gotta Wonder

Now if only we can make them think they already lost ..... they won't vote. Tired, futile, and wel-worn, at best. No bright either.

[Cobalt-60]

10. Straight D- down and locked

I'll hit the heavy D button until the dirt hits me in the face.
And maybe thereafter.
The DLC sucks, it's true. And I'll work against them.
The worst Democratic Rule is better than the best Republican rule.

[Demeter]

11. Amen! I'll Drink to that! May We Live Long Enough

to see our party become all it can and should and must be, with leaders who actually lead, and an esprit des corps that gets things done right the first time, for the sake of the country and all its people. Democratic principles must be defined, refined, and PUBLICIZED, so even the DLC can't quibble that they didn't understand.

[reprobate]

30. The real problem is that there is becoming little difference.

They are both funded by the same corporations

[pat_k]

12. Reality doesn't "occur" to DC denizens. Must rub their noses in it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1003456">Impeach to Win. Refuse, You Lose.

[applegrove]

13. This isn't true. Bush was at 28% in some polls last week. Wake up.

That means the Dems will win in 2008. Sure the right will try and name the neocons as neoliberals for the next two years and run against their own administration. They will try and win. But they don't have a chance. People will get over this horrible week. And continue on with the fight.

[libodem]

14. I don't get that DLC

and the sensible center. Is it republican lite? An attempt to capture wavering Republicans? Laying a trap, to rope in what the Republicans achieved with the 'Ray-gun Democrats'. We better grow the fuck up and start looking around at reality. Just because the Right has gone off the deep end into Fascism DOES NOT mean the Democratic center scoots over there, too. We need to create our own reality and stop copying what we see those other monkeys doing. Howard Dean still speaks for me. The DLC should shut it's doors and join the REAL democrats at the DNC.

[Vidar]

15. K&R. As long as the DLC leads, we are the designated loser party.

[earthlover]

18. DLC=Designated Loser Coalition

[depakid]

19. That's precisely what this article points out

Legitimizing and enabling the far right is what has cost the party both elections- and its sense of honor and integrity.

It's also caused people to become cynical and question whether there are really many differences between the parties.

[MsUnderstood]

16. love this line

It was, perhaps, one of the most amateurish and reckless political gambits ever witnessed in the history of the United States.

As amateurish and reckless as. . .

Misson accomplished

Heckava job Brownie

TERRA TERRA TERRA

give me a break. Yea the democrats tried to stop the war then backed down. So now all democrats are going to become republicans because republicans stick to their guns whether wrong or right?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

20. Yes, that sentence struck me as incongruent, as well. This was a political gamble gone wrong and

if one wants to seek utter and repeated "amateurish and reckless" political actions, one need look no further than the GOP and their leaders for the past 6 years.

:eyes: MKJ

[The Count]

21. I thought this was about Diebold, caging et al...the base will vote against "R"

no matter what. I know I will - even knowing it will be stolen somehow.

[Peggy Day]

22. who is the Progressive Daily Beacon? On their site, I could not

find the "about us" type info on them. Do you know anything about this organization?

[grasswire]

31. probably a trap

I swear the "failed Democrats" mantra is part of the RNC's strategy.

[gravity]

24. With all this criticism from it's own party, I wonder why?

[rainy]

25. Come on you guys... we all know what would have happened if the

Dems voted to defund the war. The media and all the Repubs would be screaming that we lost the war that George could have won, plus, we left our boys and girls over there without the means and equiptment they needed to win and it'll be all our fault no matter what the facts are.

This way this war is George's to lose not ours. Unfortunately people keep dying. That should be the major concern above politics. Unfortunately it is not. We should have defunded the war, I'm just saying the above would have happened anyway.

[greyghost]

26. Exactly n/t

[Edweird]

32. I respectfully disagree. I feel that doing the right thing is the best long term strategy.

Now the repubs can rub our faces in the mud they are stuck in too. Every time a Dem speaks out against the war, we will be reminded that that they voted to fund it, just like everybody else. That would make the Dems hypocrites, and the 'pubs would be telling the truth. Resistance is NOT futile.

[Demeter]

33. The 'Sensible Center' Is a Fantasy

designed to cow the progressives into supporting corporate agendas.

[natrat]

34. a large portion of the democratic party machine is complete bullshit

ie the designated party of failure