"You build a party from the base not the from the middle." Big Ed on today's radio show

[county worker]

He said that in 2012 the right will have tons of corporate money to throw at Obama and unless Obama gets his base back he will not be able to raise enough funds to beat the repub if it is someone like Romney and the repubs could then get a super majority.
I agree.

All you DUers who are saying it "takes time" to govern, well that dog won't hunt anymore. Unless Obama starts backing the working class soon, it is too late for all of us!

[impik]

1. Another ex-Republican cashing on suddenly becoming "progressive"

[AndrewP]

2. rinse and repeat

[polichick]

4. LOL - why not respond to the substance of what he's saying? nt

[AndrewP]

23. Because it's easier to use talking points to discredit him!

[polichick]

25. I can think of a group of people who do that. nt

[Eric Condon]

16. Oh yeah, because the Left is really where the money is

:sarcasm:

[AndrewP]

24. Exactly! One side has 10 openings, and the other has 324828439

It must have been the lure of being on the side with 10 jobs in the media!

LOL

[Mimosa]

30. Attacking the messenger not the message is so 'automatic'. n/t

[niceypoo]

35. So, you disagree with him?

If you disagree with him, refute him. Personal attacks are based on logical fallacies and make it look like you are trying to change the subject.

[OHdem10]

3. He has a point.

[polichick]

5. self-delete - wrong place

[polichick]

6. Howard Fineman claims the WH is trying to win back the middle...

Apparently they think the base will stand firm no matter what.

[JoePhilly]

7. Ed is wrong.

Why ... ??

The "BASE" is called "the BASE" because they are ROCK SOLID. They do not stop being the base after 2 years. They are the BASE for DECADES.

They do not crawl into a hole and POUT.

A true BASE does 2 things ...

1) They are loud regarding what they want.

2) They do not "give up", and stop donating or voting, when they don not get what they want.

Have the Anti-abortion folks ... a key part if the GOP base QUIT???? F-No!!! The GOP has not delivered on this. Does the GOP base QUIT?? F-No!!!! They continue to PUSH. They do NOT stay home.

Your BASE supports you because of what you want to do ... and they do not RUN AWAY when the political opposition prevents you reaching your ultimate goal.

We Dems could learn from that ... but I will not hold my breath on it.

[county worker]

8. We'll see in 2012 won't we.

[JoePhilly]

9. Yes, I suppose you can hope that the BASE shrinks in 2012.

But even if that happens, that does not change the fact that the BASE stands strong.

As a very simple example ... in 2000, the Democratic BASE did not vote for Nader. The Democratic BASE voted for GORE.

Parts of the left voted for Nader ... and in doing so, indicated very clearly that they were NOT the Democratic base.

In 2012, the Democratic BASE will vote for Obama. Center right Dems, and Dems on the far left may not ... but those groups are not the Democratic base.

[polichick]

10. Maybe it'll take corporate Dems getting their asses handed to them...

...before they get it. Hope they figure it out before that, but I'm not holding my breath.

[JoePhilly]

14. Who are the "corporate Dems"?

This is an important question.

In the mid-terms, we lost blue dogs, as well as progressives. It depended on the state.

The Democratic base is not blue Dog, and its not progressive. The Democratic base is between those.

The folks in red states who vote for blue dogs are just as likely to vote for a Republican. They are NOT the Democratic base.

And ... the folks on the left who will STAY HOME, or vote for a "NADER" are also NOT the Democratic BASE.

The Democratic BASE will tolerate some movement towards the middle and some movement further left. They accept the political reality that the Dems face.

Those outside "the base" may not.

[polichick]

15. The prez is our most influential corporate Dem imo. nt

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

18. You know what? You make a whole lot of fucking sense! As much as I would

for the base to be only liberals, it's just not the case. Some way, somehow we need Independents to win elections these days. It's a sad reality. I love Ed. We need his passion and his voice. But his emotions oftentimes get in the way of reason. He is right but he's incorrect if that makes any sense.

[JoePhilly]

34. HAha ... yea ... I follow you ...

And I like Ed too ... but as you suggset, his emotions can over take reason ...

There is a thing I do with my kids. At times something "bad" happens". I modify a line from the movie twins with Arnold Schwarzenegger ... I know ... sad.

His line during a fight is ... ""The first rule in a crisis situation: you negotiate first and you attack last."

I change it to this ... ""The first rule in a crisis situation: don't panic." (I do this in a BAD impersonation too)

So ... when my 11 yar old daughter had a "crisis" recently (she realized that she forgot a text book she needed to be able to study for a test the next day) ... she started to flip-out. And I asked her ... "What is the first rule in a crisis situation?"

She stopped ... looked up to the ceiling then looked back to me, and she did her own impersonation of "Ahhhnuld". "The first rule in a crisis situation: don't panic." We laughed. And then started to plan out how she could use her notes and the internet to study.

My point ... I wish ED, and some other on the left could adopt this rule.

The SKY seems to fall almost every day on DU and on some of our most "liberal" shows.

[county worker]

32. Why would I want that to happen?

I want to win not lose. I'm afraid the base will not put enough cash into the 2012 elections as we need.

[Phx_Dem]

12. We don't need to wait for 2012 to see, look at past elections.

When have the progressives EVER elected anyone past the Senate or House? Never.

[treestar]

22. Coming awfully close to hoping a Republican will win?

[county worker]

33. You can't even read a map either can you? How about a book?

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

17. Exactly. The critical left around here aren't the base.

President Obama is enjoying an 81% approval rating from Dems. Higher then LBJ and Clinton had at this point. The whinny brigade around here is made up of a lot of Green Party, PUMA and freeper trolling.

[bluedigger]

29. I laugh every time that number is trotted out.

About a brazillion times a day...

Bush probably had similar numbers of Republican support right up to the end as well...

Is it better to be a dead rat going down with the ship, or a live rat jumping off?

[treestar]

21. And they accuse others of not having "backbone."

Anyone who quits already is the spineless one.

[SidDithers]

26. You noticed that incongruity too, eh?...

If Obama has lost "the base", then they weren't "the base"

Sid

[Hello_Kitty]

27. Actually the anti-choicers have made substantial gains

Hyde, bans on late term abortions, parental notification in many places, abortion being made unavailable in 80% of U.S. counties, etc. More recently they inserted themselves into the HCR with the Stupak amendment. In the upcoming Congress they plan to try and make bans of federal funds going to abortion permanent and to defund Planned Parenthood.

I'd say they get a lot out of the GOP and are poised to get more.

[displacedvermoter]

37. The Dems seemed to have helped them, as Stupid was a Dem

and the President (a dem) went along with the Executive Order post HCR-passage.

[Phx_Dem]

11. But you win elections with the middle. n/t

[jtuck004]

19. +1

[polichick]

28. Only if you still have a base. nt

[BklnDem75]

36. He'll have them

That's why we're called the base. Those threatening to enable repukes are NOT the base. It's that simple.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

13. Dem government has been almost taken away

[treestar]

20. With 80% approval from Democrats, he has not lost any base

this is from living in a DU bubble. Get into the real world, where Obama is not the Great Satan to Democrats.

[Mimosa]

31. The real world Dems claim we approve to pollsters

But in reality...