Democratic (Party) Direction

Oh yes, political genius - hostility to the person who brings you your audience.

I pay for the Times to be thumped against my apartment door.

you also have to recognize that 80-85% of voters are 30 or older

tracer mostly OTM (re the part about the dems being "left"). OTH, it wasn't as if truman, lbj, or fdr pulled punches when punches needed to be thrown.

xpost

because I've often thought of him when reading your posts.

Echo chamber? Aside from Krugman, they're all bad, but in pretty different ways don't you think, don?

very few of them ever challenge the Editorial page's dogma--although admittedly the only time I acknowledge by glancing at it read the OpEd is on Sundays anymore (that's the only time I ever actually buy the paper.)

but this is what i'm saying only if you adopt this binary view that says being on the offense requires getting all het up about it. this is what i was trying to illustrate above - Bush/Rove don't go around and say "John Kerry/Democrats would surrender in the war on terrorism," they say "I/we believe that fighting the war on terror takes [X]; some have a different view". The candidate should let flunkies and supporters connect the dots, but should attack only indirectly as an antecedent to making the positive case for what the candidate is going to do. Taking someone on directly just lowers yourself to their level. That kind of attack more often will wound the attacker, as an acknowledgment of their own weakness, than their opponent.

Of course, this is more about 2004, when Dems were actually out of power, than 2000, when Gore barely held on to it (running away from Clinton might have made sense on some grounds but it destroyed the biggest thing he had going for him - incumbency).

cf Imus in the Morning and all his inside the Beltway buddies.

#1 reason why my father & his country club cronies are just about permanently disgusted with the Democratic Party. a few of 'em (lawyers) grudgingly voted for Kerry because they hate Bush but otherwise they think national Dems = wussy, don't stand for anything, out there in far left looneyville. I hear this over and over and over. Not "they're wrong," but "they're so clueless that the idea of voting these guys into power is 100% inconceivable."

I can't even tell you how many times I overheard my ex roommate telling some poor friend of hers or another about how GWB mighta fucked up, but at least he "stuck to his guns, had a plan and is following it thru" as if being the most pigheaded person in the world is such a great accomplishment but that's what the people like. Changing your mind or waffling = confused and disoriented, not trustworthy.

I should say that I mean as a matter of power/alpha-ness, not morally.

to fight for the center, which is where the votes are, you have to start by credibly asserting your place in it, and rhetorically holding your opponent outside the circle. attacking the opponent directly brings them inside.

attacking an incumbent for his official acts is even worse, because you are acknowledging not only that the incumbent is inside the circle, but that you're outside, trying to get in. the only way to successfully unseat the incumbent is to try to move the circle to where you stand, such that the opponent is now outside it. that was pretty hard to do in 2004, and I'm not sure Kerry would have been able to do so even if he understood the need to do so. Clinton did it successfully in 92 (putting people first), but he had a much easier opponent. Bush arguably succeeded in 2000 with Clinton/Monica's help, and Gore came close to turning things around by trying to turn himself into Clinton 92 (the people vs the powerful).

and what do they think of Gore and Dean? the Dems absolutely have to make addressing the wussy factor one of their top priorities, but they also have to get that attacking Bush/GOP in the wrong way makes them look even wussier.

yeah, I definitely agree with this. The whole "steadfastness/stubborness" was one of the constant storylines trumpeted. Jon Stewart summed it up with, "He may have driven us into a brick wall, but at least he didn't blink." Of course, there was plenty of evidence disproving this, but etc etc etc.

However, I do think Dems need to start adopting more of the Americana side of heartland isolationism, even if it means wrapping themselves in the flag and smearing themselves with apple pie. Mmm, pie.

Well, yeah, to a lot of people.. er, it does if they can't understand why. If there's no underlying sense of core values it just looks like everything is done for short-term political gain and according to focus groups.

Whereas with W lotsa folks still think, OK, he has his core strong beliefs so therefore all the stupid shit he does (& including plenty they don't even agree with) is comprehensible in the context of his larger, uh, vision or whatever.

So yeah, reluctance to vote for the Dems because the devil you know is still less scary than the devil you don't. And ya know if the other current in the race is Dick Cheney et al going PH34R DISASTER ARMAGEDDON OMG WMD HOLY SHIT than, yeah, it's likely you're even more afraid to risk going with the devil you don't know.

Well, at least there won't be an incumbent in the 2008 Presidential race, so everyone will be more or less on an even footing as far as that goes.

that oughta help win over the "git-r-done" demographic

I'm not even kidding.

I disagree, at least to your terms. People already think the administration isn't doing the job well enough, but still trust them to do better than the Dems. If Dems said 'you can't do the job', it doesn't address the fact that the public doesn't think Dems can do it either. Instead, Dems have to say 'we're here to get the job done right', and they have a huge credibility barrier to hurdle by means of personality, rhetoric and actual practical steps to point to, as well as ceaseless assertions that they want to protect America, while "others have different priorities," namely... etc.

a huge credibility barrier to hurdle by means of personality

this means not only finding a sufficiently alpha personality, but also finding a personality that knows the limitations of its alpha-ness. you don't see Bush on a horse.