If not our leadership, then who?

[Stinky The Clown]

I started a thread suggesting our people stay of teevee. Lots of you thought that might be the wrong tactic. A few saw fit to attack Pelosi, who was in the hottest of the hot seats on the Sunday morning Kick the Democrats Shows.

Okay.

What ***three*** people do you think would be effective spokespeople for our side?

[GymGeekAus]

1. Three huh.

Well my side might not be the same as your side.

Randi Rhodes. Rachel Maddow. And Howard Dean.

How's that?

[Stinky The Clown]

2. I'm with ya on *at least* two out of that three

How's that? :)

[GymGeekAus]

4. Well, I like them all.

Randi has the soul. Rachel has the brain. Howie has the plan.

And each of them have experience with the radical right-wing media and their tactics.

They're practically our party spokespeople already, given that Rachel is on television more than any other leftist, Randi has been getting serious pundit-show play, and Dean actually is our party spokesperson.

PS: Go buy a Democracy Bond.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Wes Clark, Jack Murtha, Russ Feingold.

I like them because they can speak articulately and they don't back down.

[GymGeekAus]

5. But I don't want a conservative Democratic Party.

I am tired of appealing to centrists. They don't accomplish anything long-term. They can't even keep control of their seats.

You need real progressives for change. And boy, do we have some problems to solve here!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. The OP's question was who would be effective spokespeople, not

so much where they are on the moderate/progressive spectrum. Murtha is a bit conservative, overall, for my taste but he is very effective when he speaks. Feingold, of course, is quite progressive, as is Clark (and before anybody goes off on a rant about how former military people can't be progressive, go look up what he actually proposed during the '04 campaign). Both of them always do an excellent job of getting their points across and not letting some blowhard pundit talk over them, sidetrack them, or misrepresent their statements. If more of our so-called leaders were as clear and tough-minded as these guys, maybe we could get somewhere.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. That's a really interesting trio

I can see alignment between any two of them, but the three together are very interesting. I respect Murtha a great deal and agree he is a very good teevee speaker who will not be sidetracked. His recent out-of-Iraq stand was completely fearless when that stance was yet the popular or safe one. That said, I suspect many of his past votes would raise more than afew hackles around here. He's pretty damned conservative as Dems go.

But I'm not arguing with his inclusion on your list. He'd be a good (but probably limited in scope) spokesperson for our side.

[zulchzulu]

7. I see it more how they should prepare for these shows...

If you're going on Meet the Timmy, you have to make sure you can defend the usual stuff...like hand-picked quotes from years back...you need fresh copies of RNC talking points and arm yourself with zingers in return. As a monster, Tim is fairly predictable. He uses old quotes to play Gotcha. Some preparation is needed to safeguard against him... Oh, and dress like you're giving a speech at a convention. Be sort of serious...no chessycatting smiles....

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace is a less nimble variant to Timmy. It's pure RNC talking points, which can be plucked pretty easily from Free Repuglic and a few of the basic Righty web sites. Pretty easy to dance around that crap if you are pumped up and throw Wallace off with humor...not act angry...just be artfully amusing and laugh right into Wallace's face when he asks Brit's nitwit questions.

Tweety is a little left to Timmy, but not by much. Same schooling for him as Timmy, but you can relax a little more.

Paula Zahn just needs to be laughed at when she spews RNC talking points...imagine her as someone tied to a railroad and you are the train. Same goes for most of the CNN shows.

[janx]

9. There is Dean, who was elected to do so, for starters.

And he does very well. Clark does very well also, but he has the exclusive contract with Faux News, so that doesn't help much. (It helps a little, but not a lot.)

I notice that Gore isn't exactly a regular star on these talking head shows, but he's one of the wisest Dems around. They don't want him on. That might change if they get a whiff of a possible run during the next year or so, but damn, he is smart, articulate, and determined. They tend to shy away from people like that and look for the Ken dolls or the women with blindingly white teeth.

Biden is awful. That's one of the reasons he's always on the shows. :rofl: I know I shouldn't laugh, but it's true. It's Godawful.

This media stuff is all for the money and for the hype and food-fight factor. I understand your frustration (and saw your other thread). I do have faith that the Dem party is constructing a media policy; from what I read today, things are coming together in many ways for the party and its message in D.C. and across the country.

Our media problem has been a contributing factor to this whole mess, as Colbert so artfully illustrated recently. (The guy is a genius satirist. I think I enjoy reading what he wrote and performed just as much or more as watching it.)

[FrenchieCat]

10. Clark's Faux contract ends this month.

although, I'm mixed on whether he should remain at Faux if he has the chance. Seems like Bushco's Numbers have been dropping even on Faux....so, it doesn't hurt to keep someone over there that rational and that the righties will hear....during the course of election 2006. I don't know if it helps Clark personally....but I do think it helps the Dems running in the Red Districts....which are the ones we need to win to take back Congress, and I would dare to guess that many of the voters we want staying their asses at home are watching Faux, and not CNN (although it's the same difference in a long run).

[JNelson6563]

19. Change one detail and I'd be happy

I'd say let him renew with Faux with one change, that it's not exclusive. I for one never, ever, ever watch Faux and there are many others who do not. As Faux ratings continue to fall, it's time for Clark to spread the love around a little bit IMO.

Julie

[JNelson6563]

18. Agreed on all points Janx

Why am I not surprised? ;-)

[FrenchieCat]

11. I say....Barbara Boxer, Wes Clark, and

Charley Rangel. I like these three the best, cause they tend to use the word "WE" instead of "I".

But actually there are more than just those three.

Howard Dean can be effective, but he needs to slow down his speech. I realize that he probably feels the need to say as much as possible in as little time as possible to keep from getting interrupted...

He was good on "This Week"....but rushed his words so that they stacked on top of each other more than was required, which can distract from the message.

[madfloridian]

12. Howard Dean..

Russ Feingold, Murtha, are very convincing.

[madfloridian]

13. Correct me if I am wrong....

but there seems to be a lot of competition lately as well as some rather petty jealousy about who gets on air. I read a squib in CNN's The Situation column...which I can't link to because I don't have the archives. One former DNC chair from SC....Harpootlian...said Dean was doing a good job but he needed to stay off shows like Meet the Press.

That is BS. He draws high ratings. I believe there has been some pressure to keep him off the Sunday talk shows so the 08 candidates can be there. AND so more of the DLC types can appear.

I don't think Pelosi should have been so horribly criticized. Russert was not very nice.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. I agree with you about Pelosi

I think she did a credible job under very difficult circumstances .... but that discussion is better in another thread.

This one just asks for a list of three names.

[FrenchieCat]

15. Who gets on the air is Biden ....and before that it was Lieberman....

Everyone else; not so much.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Holy and Breezy

"Holy Joe" for obvious reasons.

"Breezy Joe" cuz he always seems to allow himself to twist so he's facing the direction the wind's blowing.

Add to them Dear Diane and we have the antithesis of who we need as spokesmodels.

Side note: Breezy Joe is the real shame in that list. He is actually a damned good speaker and very good as a fast on-the-fly thinker. Too bad his message is always just so sorta ........ whatever. When he gets on that high horse for this (usually safe) issue or that, he's one of the best we have for the flaming nostrils set. Too bad be stands for .... exactly nothing.

[FrenchieCat]

17. What I dislike about Joe Breezy....he always, always, always uses

"I" to preface everything.

So he can't really be a "spokesperson" cause he only speaks for himself, and about himself.

Think I'm kidding? Here's a random example.....(laugh if you want, but I randomly typed into google; Joe Biden, Transcripts)....and just went with the first one listed.

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Yes. There has been progress. I've been there five times. I was back there Memorial Day. The only place there has not been progress, there's been a regression, is in the security side. In the southern part of the country -- the northern part of the countries where the Kurds have their own army and in the southern part, where the Badr Brigade, the Shiite basically have their own army, things are much, much better.

ZAHN: David Gergen also mentioned that he believed this speech, because the president hasn't had an open dialog with the public lately about the single issue of Iraq, might stop his slide in the polls. Do you agree with that?

BIDEN: I hope so and I mean that sincerely. The reason I hope so: If the president, as a consequence tonight, the one thing he did do, he made it clear that Vice President Cheney doesn't speak for him, just by implication, and that Secretary Rumsfeld -- all this happy talk they've been talking about, the end of the insurgency, he acknowledged, is nowhere near where we are.

That takes the reality and the rhetoric and moves it closer together. Hopefully, that will have the American people say: OK, the president's leveled with me more, I'm going to give him more time. Because if the American people further walk away from this thing, the only people who are going to get hurt are our troops sitting there in Iraq.

ZAHN: The other thing David Gergen said, and this is a man, once again, who's worked in both Republican and Democratic administrations, that he thought the president very effectively played his trump card, tonight. That trump card: The issue of the 9/11.

And while he personally was insulted by the multiple references to 9/11 tonight, he thought that was affected. Your reaction to those references.

BIDEN:I think the American people are a lot smarter than that, Paula. Look, they've finally figured this out. Even the president of the United States said, and I think it's a quote, I wrote it down -- I can't find it right now -- he said, "We must prevent Iraq from becoming a haven for terror." That means it wasn't a haven for terror before. The American people now know that and I just wish he had been more -- he had leveled with them more. We cannot afford to lose. We can't afford to set dates of disengagement.

But therefore, we have to do more to reach out and get the rest of the world in on the game. We have to do more to bring folks in. We need more troops, we need more foreign troops, more foreign trainers.

As I said, my fifth trip, Paula -- got back Memorial Day. I was there Memorial Day -- not one single general, not one single major, not one single colonel I spoke to you -- and I spoke to, I think, all of them, all of the major players -- not one of them said they had enough troops. Not one. And you've been reporting that. Your folks have been going out to Iraq. Your folks in Iraq have been interviewing the military guys on the ground. I don't know who's talking to the president.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0506/28/pzn.01.html

and it goes on and on like that! :rofl:

[SparklyJr]

20. Psssssst...!

So sorry to interrupt... DUers please ignore..

My cell phone is broken and I have no way to contact for a possible ride to work? Husb2Sparkly, please email!

Isn't it funny, when I need to get ahold of my parents, I know where to find them? Why, DU of cource! :)

[Stinky The Clown]

22. Sweetie ..... as your mother so loves to say .........

***some of us*** have to work for a living!

Mom gotcha there and that's what matters. :)

[Uncle Joe]

21. Al Gore, Albert Gore and Albert Gore Jr. in that order. n/t