Arianna Huffington: Anatomy Of A Crushing Political Defeat

[regnaD kciN]

Just got this as a e-mail, but see it's up on the web as well:

With Iraq burning, WMD missing, jobs at Herbert Hoover-levels, flu shots nowhere to be found, gas prices through the roof, and Osama bin Laden back on the scene looking tanned, rested, and ready to rumble, this should have been a can't-lose election for the Democrats. Especially since they were more unified than ever before, had raised as much money as the Republicans, and were appealing to a country where 55 percent of voters believed we were headed in the wrong direction. But lose it they did. So the question inevitably becomes: What now?

Already there are those in the party convinced that, in the interest of expediency, Democrats need to put forth more "centrist" candidates — i.e. Republican-lite candidates — who can make inroads in the all-red middle of the country.

I'm sorry to pour salt on raw wounds, but isn't that what Tom Daschle did? He even ran ads showing himself hugging the president! But South Dakotans refused to embrace this lily-livered tactic. Because, ultimately, copycat candidates fail in the way "me-too" brands do.

Unless the Democratic Party wants to become a permanent minority party, there is no alternative but to return to the idealism, boldness and generosity of spirit that marked the presidencies of FDR and JFK and the short-lived presidential campaign of Bobby Kennedy.


http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/column.php?id=742

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Right on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cha]

She does have a way of putting things..

I think that's why we're all so in shock because with all this and more going down in bush's first term..we thought no way can the American People elect him for the first time.

[The Traveler]

2. Ah ... the bare naked truth.

There it is, Terry. Wake the fuck up, DLC.

[Lorien]

3. AMEN!!

[NYCGirl]

4. Bravo! What a fantastic column. Arianna's right on, as she so often is.

NT

[d_b]

5. Fuckin' A!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. I like many of her columns, but has she ever explained her transition

from being a RW shill wife of a hollow suit millionaire Repub political candidate to where she is now? I mean, she wasn't just a Stepford Wife like Laura, she made TV appearances, interviews, I think even wrote things for them... :shrug:

[regnaD kciN]

8. Several times...

She has written about how she was suckered by Newt Gingrich and his claims to build a new American centered around volunteerism and the now-infamous "compassionate conservatism." Once they got in power, it became obvious to her that those were just empty words.

[barb162]

10. I think when she wrote "Pigs at the Trough" she explained

that she was seeing big business and Republicans as they really are

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. Hey, people can wake up.

[NVMojo]

7. She knows how to call it!

And I saw the weak job the Dems did in Nevada, could paint the picture now without even looking, it was so simple. Kerry got hosed by the poor leadership and lack strategy, lack of ability to see what people need to see.

Thanks, Arianna for giving our anger a name....and it was not JFKerry.

[IndianaGreen]

9. "So the question inevitably becomes: What now?"

The answer is not to clone an army of Zell Millers to appeal to people that are incapable of rational thinking, but like Ron Reagan said, to find something we believe in and fight for.

[quaoar]

11. RFK

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Bobby Kennedy, 1966

[Tamyrlin79]

12. There it is. The truth.

Sounds like Dean had "the strategy" back last winter. It is a real shame that Kerry didn't learn that lesson from him. Arianna hit the nail on the head.

Makes me regret even more that Dean didn't win the primaries. He had his faults/shortcomings as a candidate (as everybody...), but I think they were all the kind that were ultimately forgivable by the public, if the vision for the country was there.

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. Hear, Hear!!!

It was the rousing of our base that gave us a campaign to begin with. We will never win by being the other guy. It just confuses both sides. We need clarity, vision and purpose.

We will not let them continue making 'liberal' a perjorative.

There is a global test for going to war -- it was violating that test that brought the world down upon Hitler and Tojo. The bad guys are the ones that attack their weak neighbors without cause. We can't let ourselves be the bad guys.

We must do everything we can to stop the draft, stop the coming wars on Iran and Syria and, God help us, Korea.



It's all there in the PNAC plans.

But, Damn, I'm tired.

[stopbush]

15. This is a great column by Arianna, BUT...

I wonder where her memory is? After all, she ran for Gov of California which helped to dillute the Dem vote and elect the gropinator. I always felt that Gray Davis should have run on his own against Arnold; that the Dem leadership should have thought strategically and said it's Gray or Arnold - choose. Instead, they put in Bustamante and others as options, dilluting the Dem vote and giving Arnold a clear shot.

Yet in this column, she attacks the Dems strategy for going after undecideds. I'd hope that she would realize from personal experience that power and the lusting after it gets in the way of people thinking strategically and logically. Were Arianna to follow her own advice, she would not have run for Gov but would have used her columns and TV appearances to define a strategy for success to keep Davis in office. We might think he's an ape, but the fact that Arnold won California helped bush in this election. Those last-minute appearances in Ohioland probably swayed a number of voters. Were Arnold back on a movie set groping the help (and neutralized as a political asset), who knows what might have happened?

Every little bit adds up to the disaster we experienced yesterday. And in a very real way, Arianna contributed to that disaster.

I'd still love to get her in the sack...

[LiberteToujours]

16. She is 100% right

But it is up to US. We can't rely on the DNC to do the right thing. They are thinking politically so they are thinking short-term. They do not have the patience to do what is right and what is necessary.

[StickNCA]

Follow Adrianna's ideas.......

right to the gates of hell.

The country's outright dismissal of the gay rights initiatives should show us all that we need to change our focus if we want to integrate ourselves into the red states.

We can continue to be strong, unwavering liberals, but only on the coasts. To begin the trek into the red zone, we NEED to have more centrist ideas and platforms.

[Dems2002]

21. POPULIST - NOT CENTRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a huge difference between saying, I heart the President, and saying, hey, these guys are wrong on this, this and this. I will fight against corporate America, I will fight for your rights...

But, if these folks happen to think abortion should be outlawed or gay marriage is wrong, so what.

I want Harry Truman.

Dems

[StickNCA]

17. .

.

[madfloridian]

18. Boldness is good. Keeping our populist dems out of some states is weak.

The party failed to use Kucinich and Dean effectively in the campaign because of state party heads who are DLC inclined. I think Iowa, Florida for sure....as Maddox hosed Dean in the NYT *before* the primaries were far along. I was furious.

The Florida Democrats have catered to Republicans so long that even the thought of crossing them scares them out of their wits.

[theHandpuppet]

19. Amen, sister!!

If I wanted to be represented by a Republican I'd vote for one!!

[madaboutharry]

20. She is so much smarter than

everyone else. She really understands that trying to win over other voters is a losing strategy. Democrats need to get democrats to the polls with the democratic message. End of story.