Where are the Democrats? the MSM asks. Here is 1 response. More?

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

With regard to the question, Where Are The Democrats?

I just sent this to one of the MSM. Anyone else have replies for them???

"You folks in the media could do us all a favor if you stopped talking in sound bytes and start talking in terms of substance and issues.

Because as an involved Democrat, I can tell you there is a heck of a lot of substance to what is being discussed and proposed and acted upon among so many Democrats.

I can only assume that you refer to the lack of a sound byte like "Contract for America."
While such a battle cry can be helpful, it doesn't begin to tell the story.

But surely you already know this. If not then you have a lot of work to do to get up to speed, PLEASE!

Democrats have been active in help for Katrina survivors, in trying to get immunity for them from the new morally bankrupt bankruptcy law, working for voting reform (see Rush Holt's HR 550 being held hostage by House Republicans like so many other pieces of legislation and amendments have been in the house), strategies for success or failing that withdrawal from Iraq, working to extend the Voting Rights Act, supporting the provision for an end to torture in the House as was done in the Senate.

And there are so many many more, like the work John Conyers has been engaged in with regard to the election reform and so many other areas, what Wes Clark is doing with regard to "Securing America."

It really is a preposterous notion to allege that Democrats only criticize, and stand for nothing.

The irony really is that what Democrats do is under-reported in the media by folks like you, and then you spend valuable time talking about why are the Democrats not visible. Get it?

And by the way, other Democratic candidates who may be in the running for 2008 include General Wesley Clark, John Kerry, Al Gore, Mark Warner, and John Edwards to name a few."

[smoogatz]

1. Sun Tzu said

that it's foolish to intervene when your enemy is defeating himself.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

2. That one's good. Someone else attributed it to Napoleon Bonaparte

Either way, can you imagine how the accusations of partisanship would be flying if we Dems were attacking the Repugs now?

It would divert all the attention from what they did wrong, to look at those political Democrats being all partisan.

:puke:

[pacalo]

11. Exactly.

Smoogatz's Sun Tzu quote says it for me, too.

[lateo]

5. You don't have to intervene to...

point a spotlight on their defeating themselves...

Let them keep killing themselves but make sure everyone knows the exact details of how they are doing it. When the Democrats are silent it allows their spin machine to control the damage.

[OzarkDem]

22. Exactly

Sitting on their thumbs waiting to get lucky is a proven recipe for failure.

When will Dem leaders realize the strategies of the past that have led them to defeat shouldn't be repeated?

[krkaufman]

21. Nothing personal...

... but I'm tired of hearing the Sun Tzu line -- or at least the message being implied/inferred from the context in which I've heard it.

I agree that one doesn't necessarily want to pile on when an opponent is flaming out, but that doesn't mean you have to go on vacation. Just because the Rethugs are experiencing some (likely temporary) turbulence, it doesn't mean the Democrats should be silent.

The Democratic Party needs to get on the offensive -- promoting progressive/liberal alternatives, contrasted with the failing conservative Contract on America.

They/we shouldn't be doing petty sniping of Bush, Rove, Delay, Frist, et al, but we *should* be highlighting the root causes and patterns of corruption, conspiracy, certainty and contempt (the *real* 4C's of Republican politics); and underscoring where the Democratic candidates had predicted the conservative failures, and how Democratic principles & policies would have avoided or ameliorated the general suffering.

[smoogatz]

24. I agree with you in principle

but principle doesn't win elections. I think you'll see some serious piling on--and that's a good thing--once the cases against DeLay, Frist, Rove, Libby et al become public and clear-cut. For now, it's probably best to stay above the fray, and not give the Republicans an issue. Howard Dean has already been talking about corruption (he did so on Letterman)--and Howard is usually a week or two, at least, ahead of the rest of the party on the issues. So we'll see. I'm just saying their caution is understandable--the risk of doing something and having it blow up in your face is greater, for the moment, than the risk of sitting back, eating your popcorn, and watching the Republicans self destruct. The circular firing squad they've formed over the Miers nomination is particularly amusing--as is the McCain anti-torture amendment, and of course all those indictments, current and prospective.

[bluedawg12]

3. Waiting for the fools to defeat themselves

nothing to say while they are doing such a bad job and a great self defeat.

But that does not mean we are not in the wings watching, thinking and talking.

The MSM should just STFU and not speak for Dems, libs, gays and anyother honest American group.

[Pepperbelly]

4. I hate to think this but maybe ...

the real problem with the press is not that they are corrupt puppets of the righties but instead, the current "superstars" of the media are a tragic mixture of stupidity, laziness, and classism. Truly, an enraged populace should show up on their doorsteps with pitchforks and torches to demand justice.

They truly are the part of the MAN that we see lying us up for the next horse-fucking.

[seabeyond]

6. i think so. someone said, why isnt there any indepth conversation

from the democrats. who hears any indepth conversation about any subject on msm. they dont have it. it is all yelling about sound bites and lies. if dems actually try to have in depth, they are cut off and attack. and accused of being nuanced.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

7. How much would you bet that they would respond that there is

no demand for indepth discussion out there?

And we'd have to say we don't know, cause when was the last bleepin' time it was tried???????

And then we get to the media conglomeration, the profit motive, and ratings.

Which is not fine, but if it is the way it is, then call it what it really IS: sound bytes and pablum.

Don't call it news and then substitute the above, please.

[seabeyond]

16. right there with you. kinda like the dummin down

repugs cant afford indepth. nothing they suggest would make sense, they absolutely couldnt sell if the had to go indepth, fuck what am i saying. they couldnt go indepth. there is no depth to repug

media would be the first to admit it.

further one of the "stars" recently sadi to report such a story doesnt fit our storyline. media already has the story line of the dems or any candidates adn regardless of whether true or not, they cannot go away from the story line. like kerry had no plan during campaign. kerry had a damn good plan, a lot of them, but anytime he talked about the plan media said kerry boring and didnt let the people hear the plan. then, media says, kerry has no plan. dems are planless

the real bitch..... i hear lots of dems on this board projecting media storyline of the dems all the time, regardless of be givin factual information that states that is not true. just help media and repug in defining the dem. shake my head in wonder

[Pepperbelly]

17. They sure as shit do from Clinton to Gore to Kerry to the DLC to ...

Michael Moore to Cindy fucking Sheehan.

[seabeyond]

18. yep. it is so obvious, everyone knows and then, they tell

us we must pretend it isnt true. wow. bushco has always been one to present a none truth and insist it be defended

[omega minimo]

8. Not "irony. Tragedy. Reality. Conspiracy.

"...what Democrats do is under-reported in the media by folks like you, and then you spend valuable time talking about why are the Democrats not visible."

Which they reinforced on the networks and Friday PBS talk shows last night: "Democrats just can't come up with anything definite."

:puke:

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

9. How true. I should have said they need to stop talking in

untrue sound bytes.

Cause it isn't just that they're bytes rather than substantive.

It is also that they are not true.

[omega minimo]

10. Missed yer own point?

:hi: Mebbe bump the point I picked up on to the top of your list:

The Right Wing controls the "liberal" media

They decide what to show

They don't show what Dems ARE doing and saying

Pretend they're not DOING anything

Pretend to wonder "Where are the Democrats?"

UM, EXCUSE ME, BIG MEDIA-- THEY'RE NOT SHOWING BECUZ YOU DON'T SHOW THEM.

:rant:

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

12. Too late to edit the opening post.

But the next time I will tell people in the media not only to stop talking in sound bytes, but if they must could they at least make them as true as any oversimplification can be?

And also ask them to stop creating the "news" they report, ie Democrats not in the news cause we don't report on them, duh.:crazy:


:hi:

[dkofos]

13. The democrats are here, there, everywhere.

Look for us, we are easy to find.
Talk to us, hear what we have to say.

The MSM chooses not to look for us, or talk to us.

We must not be interesting enough for them.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

14. Really, and reminds me of a song:

Here, There and Everywhere
Beatles

"To lead a better life,
I need my love to be here.

Here, making each day of the year
Changing my life with a wave of her hand
Nobody can deny that there's something there.

There, running my hands through her hair
Both of us thinking how good it can be
Someone is speaking but she doesn't know he's there.

I want her everywhere
and if she's beside me I know I need never care.
But to love her is to need her

Everywhere, knowing that love is to share
each one believing that love never dies
watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there.

I want her everywhere
and if she's beside me I know I need never care.
But to love her is to need her.

Everywhere, knowing that love is to share
each one believing that love never dies
watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there.

I will be there, and everywhere.
Here, there and everywhere."

Lyrics Here There Everywhere Beatles

[OzarkDem]

23. Apparently they've been ignoring Dems for so long

they've forgotten where to look for them. Hint: don't look for the ones hiding under their desks inside the beltway.

[Opusnone]

15. Where are the Democrats?

I'd rather let Steinbeck say it...

I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere, wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready and where people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build. I'll be there, too.
Tom Joad, The Grapes of Wrath

That sums it up for me.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

20. I went through a period reading a lot of Steinbeck.

That's a great quotation!

I've heard it before, not sure I knew it was from one of my fave authors and books.

[unlawflcombatnt]

19. Good Point

The Democrats just aren't providing them with any catchy sound bites. We have plenty of positions and views on issues, but none of them are simple-minded enough for the media, like "stay-the-course" or "we need to be strong."

The Reich-Wing media doesn't want to hear any "good" ideas from the Democrats, all they want are simpleton sound-bites that won't offend their Neocon-Artist advertisers or their fun-demented Christian listeners.

[murpheeslaw]

25. Someone here was bemoaning the fact that there are few Dems

willing to challenge an incumbent Repub.

I know this slightly off topic - but I don't have enough posts to start a thread.

What about a 14 year resident of a small Pennsylvania town. A Political Science professor at Penn State. A Naval Reserve officer. A Pentagon senior adviser. A father of 5 with an 18 year marriage . . .

http//www.carneyforcongress.com

I am blood related but haven't spoken to him since I and he were 12. My mom told me today he was in the running. I'm guessing he must be good because the Republicans are ALREADY trying to smear him.

*****
From his blog:

The National Republican Congressional Committee attacked Chris Carney in a press release today. From the Hotline:

The NRCC said Naval Reserve Lt. Cmdr./Penn State assoc. prof Chris Carney (D) was a “hypocritcal professor” who “says one thing and does another” because Carney criticized Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA) for taking DeLay PAC money while accepting support from Rep Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL).

They are changing the subject and not answering the question. Either Don Sherwood stands with Tom DeLay or he doesn’t.

They are also lying. Carney for Congress has not received any money from Rahm Emmanuel or Nancy Pelosi.
******

The above was in response to his call to Mr. Sherwood to return the $14,000+ of Delay PAC money he had received. Plus Mr. Sherwood was one of those who voted to adjust the rules so Delay could stay Speaker.

If I have stepped on any toes or broken any rules by posting this here I apologize.

[wisteria]

26. They all keep on repeating this mantra- the Democrats don't

have any plans. Its amaising, they keep saying this, but none of them seek out Dems to ask them their opinions. This all seems to be part of an effort to discredit Bush, and not give us any credit either,that way we can't get ahead and the media can still receive perks from this administration.