Thoughts on Edwards MIGHT reach out to the right

[surfermaw]

I read most of the replies to the post on Edwards might reach right...This brings one thing to memory that is the years from the 30's to the 50's when this nation stood tall and grew. This was a time when a Bi Partisan Coalition made up of Conservative Democrats from the South such as Richard (Dick) Russell of Georgia and moderate Republicans from the north such as Jerry Ford of Mitchigan... I lived these years we were a proud nation, well liked by our neighbors.

This group of men could bring any bill they thought was wise, and pass any legislation they wanted to. They could stop any legislation in its track if they thought it to be unwise for this nation... Boy that would sound awfully good to me now.

Reaching out might not be a bad idea if not to excess.

Let's hear what you think?

[Warpy]

1. Reaching out to what the GOP has become

results in withdrawing a bloody stump. These are zealots we are dealing with, fanatics for whom compromise is defeat, and they will avoid defeat at all costs. They are party first and foremost, and everything else, including the good of the country, simply has gotten lost.

Our best hope lies in defeating enough of them to force that party into reassessment and reorganization.

[iamjoy]

2. Depends On What's Meant By It

If reaching out means trying to build consensus by focusing on what unites us (the things on which we agree) I say go for it. If reaching out means trying to reason with them to persuade them why our philosophy works, I say why not.

If reaching out means making small compromises, I say be careful.

If reaching out means rolling over and playing dead I say heck no.

[surfermaw]

3. Imjoy...right on

[LBJDemocrat]

4. Hmmmmm. He can reach out to them on immigration.

I'd be cool with that.

[On the Road]

5. Democratic Candidates

shouldreach out to the Republican base, just not in the way Republicans do. It should be done not by addressing the raw meat issues of the right, but by addressing concerns, interests, and loyalties that the GOP is not tapping into.

If done properly, Edwards's economic populism should appeal to the interests of working class right-wingers. Edwards should probably appeal to a sense of fairness rather than charity -- to be successful, his policies should not appear as a set of liberal giveaways.

Personally, I think Edwards should be phrasing more of his policies in terms of the middle class, "regular Americans," or something that people can identify with. Even people at the poverty line don't like to think of themselves as poor.

As Howard Dean said, Democrats should be getting votes from people who have confederate flags on their pickup trucks. It is not necessary to hoist that flag in order to appeal to those voters.

[JDPriestly]

6. Reforming NAFTA and other such agreements is an issue

on which grass-roots Republicans agree with us Democrats. There are lots of such issues. The Republican Party has actually moved a lot further pro-corporate right on many issues than the Republican voters stand on the whole. It is a matter of shifting the focus to good jobs and how we Democrats will represent them better on those issues. Better balanced budgets is another issue that grass-roots Republicans will support Democrats like Edwards on. I wonder what the average income of Republican voters is.

[Catchawave]

7. Edwards will reach out to the most qualified ....

Country before party :D