Chicagoist: Fear and Reading

Spook

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:54:28 -0600

Damn Kevy, what's it liked to be called "not a serious analyst" by a serious third grader? WhyMust While Dean was in the race, he was running against not just Kerry, etc, but the whole democratic establishemnt that fears real populace voices. They wanted Lame AS$ Kerry! What is clear is that Dean was generating a movement that the party wasn't use too and could not control. The democtatic party is almost as fearfull of real change as the republicans. Then after the "sceram", the democowards,including those in the press got really afraid. Of course had a republicreature screamed like this, it would have been applauded as getting down with the grassroots base. But look how Dean and Kos have revived the party!

whymustiregister

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:34:42 -0600

So in other words, we are going to drive the moderates to the GOP or independents, and really try to fire up the 20% of the population that supports our most extreme agenda. This 20% COULDN'T CARRY A SINGLE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY ELECTION for Dean, but that's ok. Somehow this time the strategy will work out differently from every other time we have tried this.

matilda

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:29:49 -0600

Why says: "But fratricide is more fun, so expect the GOP to remain in power pretty much forever and the Dems to accomplish exactly nothing." I think you make pretty good, if simplistic, points in your one-sided debate with Kevin, but I do think this last one is a not so solid. I see signs--and maybe I am too hopeful--that the social cons and fiscal cons and all the others might be getting a bit tired of that big tent. I see evidence of fratricide on conservative blogs and among Republican friends. Maybe this is just the primary playing out, or maybe it is something bigger. Then again, I've never had much faith in the Dem party of my lifetime. They've yet to learn how to organize with the discipline seen with the GOP, or even fight with claws and teeth--and I don't mean Clintonian-style personal attacks, either. And while someone needs to offer a more realistic message than "'tis always sunny in the USA," or "let's kick some ass," the Dems have yet to come up with anything good. God knows why. Don't worry about Kevin, though. He's more apt to offer sarcasm than debate when you stray from the party line. He's not a serious analyst.

Spook

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:18:13 -0600

"There's a cliche that the GOP spends its energy "looking for converts" and the Dems spend theirs "looking for heretics." I guess a bipartisan commission of "thinkers" came up with that piece of the gospel right? Instead of say Karl Rove. Democrats lose because they keep trying to be republican lite (like riding around on a tank) and on down the road they crowd out the few democrates who can speak from the heart like Howard Dean and Wellstone. Meanwhile Poor working class males vote against their self interests, because no one is screaming at them saying wake up, like Rush Limbaugh. I love how it’s like there was a time since FDR, RFK and LBJ that a president or presidential candidate every really went after the democratic base. p.s Kos has been one of the few venues that have stired up a demoralized base

Navin

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:02:54 -0600

Only a total moron [or somebody who lives in a political echo chamber like Kos readers] would willingly repeat that experience. I agree that's why we need more progressive politicians than the Democrats. As for the Republicans, they should just go back in time to the gilded age so they can live in the Friedmanian failure of a society they so want to us to devolve into.

whymustiregister

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:52:36 -0600

No Kev, I'm not. You will lose with Wellstone's agenda. Were you even born in 1984 when his home state was the *only* state that went for the Dems? I remember it vividly. It took the Dems 8 years to get back in power and only then they did it by capturing the center and pushing the GOP to the extreme. Politics is about consensus and the 3rd way works. There's a cliche that the GOP spends its energy "looking for converts" and the Dems spend theirs "looking for heretics." There's more than a grain of truth to it. This "Fear and Courage" nonsense is more of the "looking for heretics" school that kept them on the outside looking in. My suggestion is to grow up, realize you live in the most right wing country in the industrial world, and aim to achieve the most doable and best parts of your agenda. You will be called a sellout but you will have actually achieved something. But fratricide is more fun, so expect the GOP to remain in power pretty much forever and the Dems to accomplish exactly nothing.

Kevin Robinson

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:27:57 -0600

whymustiregister: the vintage/retro thing only works for thrift store clothing. Leave your politics in the 1980's, with tacky vests and bad mustaches, where they belong. Unless you're being ironic. In that case, carry on.

whymustiregister

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:25:24 -0600

At this rate, I'll jump on my own. The Dems spent the 1970s and 1980s totally irrelevant for a reason: Being the party of "welfare, economic stagnation, and hating America" [to use their oppponent's language] didn't play well in Peoria. Only a total moron [or somebody who lives in a political echo chamber like Kos readers] would willingly repeat that experience.

Spook

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:14:27 -0600

"whymustI....." I thought we traded you to the republican party for a shot of Scotch

whymustiregister

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:03:38 -0600

Thirty more years of irrelevance here we come!

Spook

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:58:19 -0600

Hummm.....sounds timely and the fact they Paul Wellstone is featured is most def a plus