Let's stop blaming all the wrong people

[LiberteToujours]

We have to stop casting the blame on those who don't deserve it. Let's go through the list:

The South: They went more Bush than the north, but if you look at a county by county electoral map it's clear that it is mainly because they are more rural. The urban areas in most places came through.

The young: The 18-30 group is the ONLY age group that voted for Kerry. The rest went Bush. Sorry that they didn't show up enough to tip the election, but if we had the other age groups, they wouldn't have had to.

The stupid, poor rednecks: Again, the under $50K group is the ONLY income group that voted for Kerry. It's the middle class suburbanites and farmers that voted Bush, not the poor. We have to stop dumping on them. They get dumped on enough already.


Now, who are the REAL targets?

The evangelicals: 25% of the votes yesterday were from evangelical Christians. They went overwhelmingly Bush, as we knew they would. We need to find ways to demoralize them about Bush, and/or bring them to our side. We have the truth on our side. We're not going to get the fundies, but we don't want them anyway. But there are plenty of sane evangelical Christians who can be brought to our side if they can see that we are true to our morals, and don't just posture. Two of my Mormon friends told me today that they would have voted Kerry; granted, we are in Canada, but it shows that the ultra religious can be reasoned with. If we can't get them on our side, we need to at the least expose the GOP for the moral hypocrites they are. This is going to require a very aggressive campaign.

The ignorant: The other 25-30% of Bush's vote came from regular, hard-working people who just couldn't be bothered to see past Bush's talking points. Or they were not moved by our message. Or they were afraid. There is not one common reason for why all these people voted Bush, but we need to find these reasons and address them.

They came mainly from suburban and rural areas and morals and terror were their number one issues. So let's chew on that and figure out what to do about it. But we have to make sure we have the right target before we start firing blindly.

[BrendaStarr]

1. Some of the ignorant we can get to from the Internet

Besides our lazy news media many Internet mixed boards are rife with misinformation, either because the people their just aren't very informed or because they are Rs passing disinformation.

We are still losing the mixed board wars, and I think our future is tied up with being able to get real information on politics to people.

Also, believe me the Rs do not stop at the political boards. They are playing their games in nearly all the special interest boards and chats too.

Some boards will ban people who post politcal, but not a lot. They will probably warn you first anyway.

A lot of young people are online for a good amount each day.

I know the young did vote more for Kerry, but there is no reason not to increase the amount.

There is no reason not to help young people get grounded in reality rather than letting them be inundated with the disinformation of the Karl Rove's propagand squads that are all over the interenet.

We will still need DU for information and a base, but we also need to get out and pass on the truth, or just express ourselves in mixed venues too.

[davepc]

2. The evangelicals

elected Jimmy Carter in 1976.

There is *no* reason for us to write them off.

[LiberteToujours]

3. That was before

That was before the Republicans started effectively using Roe vs. Wade as a wedge issue. But you're right, I do think we can get a lot of them back. I think it will require a fight on both fronts: expose the GOP and show them that we're not what we are cast as.

[OneTwentyoNine]

7. Your exactly right but...

I have to endure it everyday here in Wichita just by opening and reading our local paper. As long as Dems support Gay rights and a womans right to choose you'll never get their vote back in winning numbers.

There has been a slow brainwashing since 73'and its taken hold for good. Reading the paper yesterday they exit polled lots of people. The numbers for Bush because he's a "moral man" were staggering. He can kill 100,000 in Iraq and it doesn't mean SHIT to those people,but if a Dem wants rights for all people including gays they'll never get their vote.

David

[sub.theory]

4. Excellent Post!

I completely agree. The corporate fascist media and the "christian" right fundamentalists are our worst enemies. We have to do something to neutralize both or we will never win again.

[The Mafia Squirrel]

5. White Christians

should be utterly ashamed of what they've done to their country. I don't care if you're a believer or a non-believer. To buy the shit that man and his hellspawn have been shovelling for 5+ yrs now is atrocious. To think that fundamentalist Christians, of all stripes Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Baptist, etc, are so goddamn stupid to blindly vote for a man who professes to be a devout Christian but who actions have shown him to be a simple-minded, willfully ignorant bully who is prone to cruelty or worse, finding that cruelty amusing, hence that awful chuckle. How incredibly Christian, Jesus must be fucking thrilled.

One of the biggest WEP issues was abortion, a so called "culture of life". Now without even touching the intellectual dishonesty of the anti-abortion movement let's just focus on the lives now in danger: in Iraq, Afghanistan, and coming to a Shock and Awe station near you in '05 Iran; those being poisoned by our declining environment and rising mercury and arsenic levels; tens of thousands of lives wasted by being blind to science and any hope for cures to neurological diseases etc. etc. What a culture of life! Protect the unborn but once they're out of the womb, fuck 'em.

[QC]

6. kick!

:kick: