It's really no big secret about how to get out the base...

[kentuck]

They made a good start today.

Appoint Elizabeth Warren to create a board to defend people from the cannibalistic practices of Big Banks and big Business. People have a right to know what they are buying. Otherwise, it is fraud and deception.

Repeal DADT - it is passe. We are now in a new century.

Also, open up a can of whupass on the Republicans that attempt to block taxcuts for the working and middle class. We can't afford more taxcuts for the wealthy. They've been riding on easy street too long. So long in fact, that their easy ride has added trillions to our national debt and deficit.

In other words, if you want the base to be "enthused", do something to please them. The above would be a good start.

[DJ13]

1. The above would be a good start.

Yep, but a late start.

They should have been in campaign mode starting last year with HCR.

[PBass]

5. I think the Dems' timing could actually be spot-on

You probably want voter enthusiasm to peak in the last days leading up to November 2nd.

I've got a feeling the GOP enthusiasm has already peaked - arguably around the time of the Beck rally. Too early for them.

[gateley]

2. I also wish they had the machine up and running that was getting us all

together and organized during the campaign. It felt cohesive and it was encouraging. I know we can do it on our own, but they did it SO WELL and there's more oomph coming from the top, you know?

Did you see Biden on Rachel? They spoke about DADT and I get the sense it's coming soon.

[stray cat]

3. The base gets to decide if they want the GOP in charge - no one is making them stay home

And not vote - if they want the tea party candidates they can stay home and reap the consequences a long with everyone else

[Skittles]

27. WTF

what is wrong with asking Dems to behave like DEMS?

[Rageneau]

4. And repeal Prohibition!!!

It never worked and never will.

[denimgirly]

6. In Other Words: Govern the way you Campaign

Democrats always campaign as progressives but when it comes to governing they always go right which end up demoralizing the base, allowing the republicans to build traction, and the democrats then begin to "act" progressive out of panic for the next election season, but when its done they are back to capitulating to the Right, again. Repeat.

If democrats always governed the way they campaigned republicans would not exist today. End of story.

[ClassWarrior]

9. Bingo. Being a strong progressive EARNS votes. See #8 below.

NGU.

[RBInMaine]

21. You have gotten EXTREME PROGRESS ! Quit the shit. Governing is NEVER identical to campaigning.

[demwing]

26. Your anger doesn't make your point any stronger, just louder and more passionate.

If you've seen "extreme progress" from the Obama administration, then you simply have lower expectations for Democratic success, and probably alternate definitions for the words "extreme" and "progress".

BTW - you say that governing is never like campaigning as if it were an absolute truth. It isn't. We can change that! As a matter of fact, Obama ran on a promise for just those types of changes. Have you forgotten that?

[RBInMaine]

22. Also, there has always been DIVERSITY in the Dem ranks which is GOOD. Leave the crazy purity to the

RePUKES who have now purged every last moderate out of the actual base.

[Phx_Dem]

7. We need to get the middle now that the GOP has left them behind.

If we always have to worry about the constantly whining base at the expense of all the other potential voters, we can't win. The so-called Democrat "base" (aka progressives) are not big enough to put us over the top by themselves.

If the base is still in a snit about whatever they're always in a snit about, then the GOP will make big gains.

[ClassWarrior]

8. One more time. There is no such thing as "the middle."

You get to undecided voters (often wrongly called "the center") by appealing STRONGLY to your base values.

No Center, No Centrists
by George Lakoff

"'Centrism' is the creation of an inaccurate self-serving metaphor, and it is time to bury it.

"There is no left to right linear spectrum in the American political life. There are two systems of values and modes of thought - call them progressive and conservative (or nurturant and strict, as I have). There are total progressives, who use a progressive mode of thought on all issues. And total conservatives. And there are lots of folks who are what I've called 'biconceptuals': progressive on certain issue areas and conservative on others. But they don't form a linear scale. They are all over the place: progressive on domestic policy, conservative on foreign policy; conservative on economic policy, progressive on foreign policy and social issues; conservative on religion, but progressive on social issues and foreign policy; and on and on. No linear scale. No single set of values defining a 'center.' Indeed many of such folks are not moderate in their views; they can be quite passionate about both their progressive and conservative views.Barack Obama has it right: Get rid of the very idea of the right and the left and the center. American ideas are fundamentally progressive ideas - the ideas this country was founded on and that carry forth that spirit. Progressives care about people and the earth, and act with responsibility and strength on that care...

~snip~

"The very idea that there is a 'center' marginalizes progressives, and sees them as extremists, when they simply share fundamental American values. The term 'center' suggests there is a 'mainstream' where most people are and that there is a single set of views held by that mainstream. That is false...

~snip~

"The losing strategy is to move to the right, to assume with Republicans that American values are mainly conservative and that the Democratic party has to move away from its base and adopt conservative values. When you do that, you help activate conservative values in people's brains (thus helping the other side), you offend your base (thus hurting yourself), and you give the impression that you are expressing no consistent set of values, which is true! Why should the American people trust somebody who does not have clear values, and who may be trying to deceive them about the values he and his party's base hold?..."

More at: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/15/3174

NGU.

[Phx_Dem]

10. Of course there is. Just because some blogger says otherwise doesn't make it so.

[ClassWarrior]

11. Some blogger? ROFLMAO...

How about distinguished Professor of linguistics at UC Berkley and former senior fellow at the Rockridge Institute?

NGU.

[Phx_Dem]

12. A professor of linguistics! Oh, well then. ROLF

I don't give a shit if he's King of the world. He can't claim for a fact that there is no political middle. That's just fucking stupid.

Most independents are in the middle, as are many Democrats.

He's a profession of linguistics and not political science.

[ClassWarrior]

13. Did you even bother to read the article?

:shrug:

NGU.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Define 'centrist' and contrast it to 'moderate'

It is hard for me to tell who is who. When I ask the 'centrists' or the 'moderates' what specifics they use to identify themselves as such, and others as not, they can never answer, because they are using the words not for the actual meanings but for the things they sound like. They think it means 'not too much, just right' or 'rational'.
What are the five things that define the middle as opposed to the slightly left of middle? What are the hairs that are split in Centrist coffee houses when they meet over bland toast and weak tea? Define them, specifically, or they do not in fact exist.
I declare I am the political middle. Prove otherwise.

[ClassWarrior]

16. Thank you.

:fistbump:

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

15. "For nearly 40 years, George Lakoff..."

"...has been one of the world’s best-known linguists. Professor Lakoff is widely recognized for his research on metaphorical thought, the embodied mind, and the structure of language. But in recent years, his application of cognitive science and linguistics to politics has brought him to national attention.

"With colleagues at the University of California, Professor Lakoff founded the Rockridge Institute, a new political think tank dedicated to reframing political thought and political debate in this country. He has a new book to appear in August, DON’T THINK OF AN ELEPHANT! WHAT EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT VALUES AND THE FRAMING WARS."

More at: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/lakoff.html

NGU.

[opihimoimoi]

17. Lets Frame with Natures call to POSITIVITY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbZNqwTW5tw&feature=relate

The Planet needs fixing

or, we dwell in misery

[ClassWarrior]

18. I know it's probably more comforting to think that you don't have to stick your neck out...

...for anything, but that ignores the subtleties of reality, my friend.

:shrug:

NGU.

[mkultra]

19. sorry buts that idiotic

A large swatch of these middle folk are low information voters that really dont pay much attention. The middle is everyone who is not in a base. Pandering to the base does not secure the middle.

[ClassWarrior]

23. It helps to read the whole article first before commenting.

Otherwise you may say something idiotic, to borrow a phrase.

NGU.

[mkultra]

24. There is no requirement to read every piece of junk that crosses my path

I don't read fire and brimstone christian pamphlets either and i still know what they say. If the message is played out, we don't have to play it again.

[ClassWarrior]

25. But there is a requirement to comment on it?? ROFL...

:rofl:

Did you read Chomsky via ESP too?

Because heaven forbid anyone think you've never read him, even though he's your avatar.

NGU.

[RBInMaine]

20. Very very very brutally and forcefully ATTACK THE LIVING SHIT out the Republican Tea Party.