The Democratic Conundrum
Dr. X post this from Radmod HQ:
"Two quotes come to mind - I hold them in view simultaneously, but cannot decide which is greater.
" 'I’d rather vote for what I want and not get it, than for what I don’t want and get it.' - Eugene Debs
" 'Whenever I hear a campaign talk about a need to energize the base, that's a campaign that's going down the toilet. It's a pretty good indication that they're not eating up any territory, they can't get anybody in the center to support them, they're getting shelled back into their own bunker.' - James Carville
"Mr. Clinton said on the Daily Show the other day that the one thing about the GOP is they know how to win elections. What, exactly, is to be done about that...?
"Clinton's appearance also brought to mind a sincere feeling of nostalgia - for a time when I was proud of my country."
posted by Latouche at Large at 9:11 PM
1 Comments:
Zogby was on NPR tonight saying Carville was wrong - the GOP got it success precisely by motivating it's base and spurning the middle; as a pertinent example, the recent three or four point improvement in Bush's numbers came from reattracting disenchanted conservatives with popular -and out and out fascistic- torture and surveillance iniatives, not from mushing around in the middle.
Fortunately, Congress' numbers are general driving lower and lower - change is looking more likely.
As a practical matter, the D's SHOULD concentrate on motivating their base. We made substantial gains precisely when the circumstances of the war made enegetic criticism possible again, and however reluctantly, Ds started taking actual positions, however disparate and mealy.
Too much in the middle, and you can't be FOR anything.
Debs they put in prison for opposing WWI.
Post a Comment
<< Home