"Houston, we have a problem."

[kentuck]

There is no reason that the Democratic Party should be in trouble in Massachusetts, one of the nations most liberal states. Somewhere there has been a misdiagnosis. What went wrong? What did the Party do to make so many disillusioned supporters?

Most of the progressives on DU are only a reflection of other progressives across the nation and in Massachusetts. They are not to blame for what is happening in Massachusetts. Very few of them live in Massachusetts and very few will affect the vote in that state. The animosities directed toward the progressives here on DU is misdirected.

Why? That is the question we should all ask. And we should not try to place blame where it does not belong. We have a problem and there is a reason. Let us address that problem rather than blaming others or making excuses or covering up the truth of the matter.

[flyarm]

1. they told us they didn't need us or want us!! ..even here we hear that!!

I have always made calls for dems in other states ..but I and many like me have been told to fuck off basically..so we are fucking off!!

eom

[ChiciB1]

6. AAAHHH, You Speak Too Much Truth!! Kind Of A Pickle We Find Ourselves

in! So many of us NEVER have felt so BETRAYED! As a long time activist who many people come to for "political info" I've become even more cynical that I was during "The Idiot Admin!" Too many Dems have left us and then there are those in the WH who just say SHUT UP, GO AWAY, we don't NEED YOU!

So, many of us feel THEY MEAN IT!! What can ya do??

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. +1

Fucking off here! :thumbsup:

[Birthmark]

18. +1

Fucking off in the forest am I.

[TayTay]

2. Each state is also it's own entity

Not everything is about Obama or national politics.

Sometimes it's about that state and the people who live there. They do have their own concerns and fears that are about the region they live in and the people they see and talk to every damn day.

Why is this so hard to understand. The Senate race in Massachusetts is also, oddly enough, about the people of Massachusetts and their worries and concerns.

[Mari333]

3. this was eye opening....

http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=2028

[timeforpeace]

4. Of course it's not progressives. Nothing progressive has happened for MA to be upset about.

[xiamiam]

5. lack of confidence reflects on the dems and obama..nt

[glinda]

8. slight of hand with the word "Independent" plus no one knows this guy

[existentialist]

9. We do have a problem.

We're disappointed and demoralized.

But if we can grieve a bit, I think we can get up and fight again.

Much of what we're upset about is that we perceive (I believe correctly) that those we elected back in 2008, whom we believe we elected to continue to fight, have not been fighting.

I hope that Coalkey wins.

I also hope that we get through to the Democratic "leadership" that we didn't elect them to see them compromise what we fought for into in consequentiality.

There are underlying issues that we cannot ignore. We didn't elect them to ignore these issues. Being just a little bit better on these issues than were the Republicans does not inspire us to fight, and it doesn't really address the substantive problems that concern us.

Yes, I will without enthusiasm vote for my own Blue Dog representative as against the wingnut that will run against her. But I will do so without enthusiasm, and I feel it beyond me to inspire others to vote for her also--though when she first ran I did work for her very hard.

I'm disappointed in her.

I'm disappointed in Obama.

I'm still a Democrat.

[tbyg52]

10. And then they tell us *we're* the problem. nt

[salguine]

11. The whole answer is right there in your first sentence. "There is no reason...

...that the Democratic Party should be in trouble in Massachusetts, one of the nations most liberal states." Massachusetts may indeed be a very liberal state—it's the Democratic Party that's not so liberal any more.

[lukasahero]

12. "it's the Democratic Party that's not so liberal any more"

Exactly.

[Gman2]

15. Did you expect sillily to suffer no growing pains, in becoming a BIG TENT?

[Gman2]

13. People want some balance. They see all dems. Other than 60, It aint the end.

And again, I PREDICT, that if Brown wins, the baggers will have a civil war, in the rethug party. Likely the end of them. And if Brown loses, the baggers will have a civil war, to fight for a recovery vision, and to be in place to push the agenda. They are so disorganized, as they had Armey doing all their coordination. Without all that babysitting, and providing the soda and dogs, they will fall into disarray. Mark my words. Soon after this election. I usually am right, when I make a pronouncement. It will happen sooner, if Brown loses. The hate, for again losing, cuz they ran a rino, will get white hot. The purges will begin.

If brown wins, their hubris will be unbounded. They will spout about turning this country back a hundred years. At least 70. They will make statements about ending a womans choice. They will disparage gays. They will in fact, talk about the ostrasization they have planned for LIBERALS. These baggers are cocked and ready to go. Thank god for youtube. Its coming.
\


MARK MY WORDS!

[JVS]

27. The tea-baggers are not a threat to the Republican party, and they won't be.

The teabaggers were not some kind of spontaneous rebellion within the republican party, they were set up as astroturf by the republican party. They serve the republican party in a manner similar to the Red Guards served the CPC. Their function is to allow current leadership of the conservative wing of the party to establish a doctrinal legitimacy that does not depend on involvement with Bush, who is seen as a failure and thus being relegated to "not a real conservative" status. But the song remains the same.

[Gman2]

29. Yeah, I've thought all that. They also are the disenchanted religious right.

[TheWraith]

14. DU is not even close to a reflection of the Democratic party. Analogy fail. nt

[griffi94]

16. i don't live in MA

so i don't really have anything to say about the senate race there.
i think there is a great sense of unease in the citizens of our country tho.
this administration hasn't seemed to show much of a sense of urgency with regard to middle class
issues. the stimulus bill was passed and an extension of cobra and unemployment benefits, but those were like putting a band-aid on a severed limb. foreclosures are still up, unemployment is still up, and the HCB is not exactly what most voters thought they were getting.
i'm not commenting too much on specific things because i don't believe the average voter dives into any particular policy too much. americans just know they're not really seeing much that's different from 2 years ago, and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. add that to the bank bailouts and it looks like an opportunity for the repubs to make political hay. should the gop manage to field some moderate candidates in 2010 i think democrats will pay dearly. i won't put all of this on obama, but he is the president and should be visibly out in front on some of these issues. while i understand he can't fix anything overnight and with out the help of congress the voters did give him a huge majority and solid mandate to get results. instead we've largely seen business as usual, and the will of american voters thwarted by assholes like lieberman. should things look the same as they do now in 2011 it will be 2004 all over again.
americans didn't work their butts off sending a dem president and a huge dem majority to washington for "we're not quite as bad as repubs"
jmho

[Gman2]

20. "should the gop manage to field some moderate candidates in 2010 i think democrats will pay dearly.

First of all, that is silly. The baggers will start the purge shortly. Rinos are going extinct. Far from finding good ones, there wont BE ANY.

Your wanting Obama to be out front in all these things, is silly. He is tapdancing as fast as he can. The issues he is handling now, makes him such a media figure, that even Bill Maher takes him to task.

ITS OUR FAULT. Yours, and mine. Obama should be out front. BULLSHIT. You and I should. If YOU AND I were out front, it would already be done. And congress acts the same. Obama can spend HIS political capital. Why spend mine. He is superman. More spunk, at all levels, is whats needed. Where the FUCK, is a liberal march?

[griffi94]

26. sorry pal

but the moderate repugs aren't going extinct...they're the "new democrats"
and obama should be out front as it's his job. he ran for and was elected to do his job sorry if it's a difficult one but he knew that going in. now the american people want some of that change he was touting back in 2008, and he better find a way to deliver it. i don't believe the democratic rank & file will be anything like the repub rank & file they won't, for the most part, make excuses for obama the way the repubs did for bush.

[Gman2]

17. Did you consider that losing, and going recon, on HCR might throw the gauntlet down?

And make Obama all that you ever wanted and expected? Fuck 60. That is for old men. How bout a kickass 51? I'm ready to duke it out! How bout you? They have no ideas but NO. Steamroll BABY! We tried the other. That is the GENIUS of Obama. His constant dulcet tones of inviting cooperation, and the horse whipping he always recieves, makes him teflon. Go daddy go. He already chose his targets, when he called them fatcats.

[Craftsman]

19. Once the dem party was the part of the middle and working classes

Now I and many others are not sure of that anymore.

[StreetKnowledge]

21. Not Sure?

Both parties represent the top 10%. That has been obvious since the Democrats started going off to the right during the Reagan years. Not sure they support working people? Try they DON'T support us.

[Craftsman]

32. I agree.

[Tailormyst]

22. Here is what I think is wrong

"Together we can" turned into a steaming pile of crap

"Yes we can" turned into a steaming pile of crap

"Health care reform" turned into a steaming pile of crap

Add in corruption on Beacon Hill, loss of jobs, a plummeting economy and what you get is an electorate screaming for change, any kind of change. Then along comes a dickwad in a pickup truck with pretty daughters pretending to be moderate and people jump on board without thinking. All they know is he isn't one of "those guys" that has been feeding us crap.

THAT is what has happened in MA.

If the Democratic leadership wants to save our party then they need to get back to working FOR the people and back to talking truth instead of pretty fucking speeches. You can only fool people for so long. Coakley showed she was just another politician when she flipped on HCR right after the primary.

[hfojvt]

23. Why shouldn't 'others' be part of the problem?

How do progressives get disillusioned? They come to DU where they can read about how bad the Obama administration is.

Did I say bad? That's not nearly a strong enough term. The Obama administration is not just bad, according to many threads and front page articles on DU. The Obama administration is corrupt, sold out, just like the Bush administration. Worse than worthless, because instead of accomplishing nothing, they accomplish giant giveaways to the corporations. Plus, they lie all the time.

This negativity is bound to build on itself. Let her read twenty or thirty negative stories per day and even Pollyanna is gonna turn into Cassandra.

I work as a janitor and I work pretty hard, but you know what gets noticed? Not the hard work that I do, generally, but whatever I forget to clean or miss. The undusted window sill. The finger prints that I miss on the acres of glass that I clean every day. The footprints and scratches and scuffmarks that will not come up (or that my co-workers do not bother to scrub when they mop the floor). If you only look at and talk about the negative it can be pretty easy to make an argument that I suck at my job.

Here's the example I came up with. Here are some statistics for a baseball player in 2007.

He struck out 71 times.
19 times he made TWO outs, by hitting into a double play.
252 times he popped or grounded out.
58.1% of the time he came up to bat, he made an out. Well over half.


If that was all you looked at or heard about this baseball player, wouldn't lots of people think he should be sent back to the minors? 71 strike outs? How much of this excrement are we supposed to take??? 19 double plays?? He sucks. And he has a history of sucking. Did you know that in 2005, he got on base less than 24% of the time? And this from a guy who makes over $12 million a year? In 2008, he didn't even play for over 30% of the season!!! In 2009, he made over $28,000 for every at bat. So he made about $500,000 to hit into double plays. In 2005 he hit a mere 8 home runs. Just 8, in 500 at bats. That's not his worst year though. In 1998, when he played for the Yankees, he didn't hit a single home run. And the next year he only hit 12 for the Florida Marlins.

My obvious point is that you can even make 2007 World Series MVP Mike Lowell look bad if you just dig up and constantly talk about all the things he's done wrong. How much easier is it to do this in politics when there are no clear measures of success like home runs, hits, victories and world series? Anything positive like the Sotomayor appointment, Hilda Solis, the making work pay tax credit, unemployment extension, can just be waved off as 'no big deal' or 'not enough'. The bash and trash brigade will just call it crumbs. Even if the glass is 90% full, or our opposition, including the M$M, keeps us from filling it further, some are determined to complain and help re-empower the Republican party by tearing down the Democratic one.

[GreenPartyVoter]

30. "How do progressives get disillusioned?" You missed the part about being told they

are unneeded and unwanted. (Except when it's time to vote. "Pull this lever then siddown and shaddup until next time we need your vote!!"

[hfojvt]

35. where do they get told that?

Mainly on DU by other DUers who perhaps get tired of always hearing "Democrats suck. I'm not gonna vote any more, or I'm not gonna vote for Democrats any more." Of course, when any conservadem speaks out against progressives, that too will be broadcast on DU as though it represents the entire Democratic party. Some om DU want to find fault and help to kill any bill that is not their beloved single payer. Yeah, they are not much use to the team. Instead of helping to protect the quarterback they prefer to undercut other blockers and try to tackle the quarterback themselves. Then they complain because he's not throwing enough touchdown passes.

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. Rahm said it. If that's not demoralizing enough for you, then I dunno what would be.

[Citizen Kang]

24. This is what happens when you 'eff a stranger in the a$$.

Walter Sobchak reference. Democrats think they can abandon their base and it will still be there when elections come around. The national party is about to get a Big F-YOU from the base.

[notesdev]

25. Where do you even start??

If I started listing all the ways in which our party has sold out the vast majority of us, I'd be typing all afternoon.

So I'll just summarize and point out that our elected officials have been bribed, nearly every last one, to pursue the interests of the elites at the expense of the rest of us and it has not gone unnoticed.

[jotsy]

28. I believe you could add an 's' to that Mr. Tuck

But before I list them, and because I would rather not step on your toes as too many like to engage in that unjustifiably, IMO. Will pm the info and you can decide if that's a direction you want to see the conversation take.

Happy Monday!

[Justice]

31. This is not about the Party (R or D). This is about the candidates (Martha and Scott)

I don't see this as a forum on the party - although many are talking that way and will talk that way. They are wrong. This race comes down to Coakley versus Brown, who they are, aren't and what people think about them. After Tuesday, I will post why, for now, just keep your fingers and toes crossed.

[BolivarianHero]

33. That's obvious...

It's the DLCistas and the corporatist blue dogs...Obama selling out LGBT Americans to play nice with Rick Warren's Wife-Beating Brigade hasn't impressed too many people anyways.

In a few years, people will be thinking "I kept Obama in power for 8 years, and all I got was a marginally more progressive supreme court."

[JCMach1]

34. Never misunderestimate the stupidity of the American Electorate...

I say it ironically... However, it is dangerously close to the truth.