2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumYes, We Have a Turnout Problem. And Here's the Biggest Culprit:
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/21/1488628/-Yes-We-Have-a-Turnout-Problem-And-Here-s-the-Biggest-CulpritThe bad news (and yes, it is bad) following the first three Dem presidential primaries of this cycle, is that Dem turnout is lower than it was in the wave election year of 08, and (this is the really bad part) that the GOP turnout is commensurately higher. This, indeed, does not bode well.
But to attribute the problem (and yes, it is a problem) totally to the incompetence of the two remaining Dem candidates campaigns is an extremely blinkered notion, especially since this very outcome was predicted months ago, based on the strategic idiocy of the Debbie Wasserman-Schultz-led DNC. Heres what I wrote in that diary of Aug 5 last year:
So the Chair of the DNC, in a brilliant strategic move, is encouraging Democrats to inflate the ratings of the FOX News network as they go about the business of promoting the personalities and policies of the GOP Presidential field??? And she's hoping we'll use the DNC's Bingo game to make a fun night out of it??? This is not a game, Debbie, it's the most critical political juncture in the history of the world (and that's not even close to hyperbole) and your plan is for us to sit down with popcorn and Bingo cards and have some fun! Meanwhile, the whole country (and the world) is going to be subjected, without a countervailing event from the Democrats, to the distortions of the John Birch Society that has rebranded itself as the Modern GOP.
Fuddnik
(8,846 posts)2pooped2pop
(5,420 posts)She is expecting a position within a Hillary white house but I hope we can show her the door instead.
FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)Geez - who would da thunk it
Ferd Berfel
(3,687 posts)If these people represent YOU, the YOU are part of the problem.
djean111
(14,255 posts)here in Florida, refuse to support Democrats, and fund-raise for GOP buddies? Her reason - working relationships. Yeah, we sure do get that.
Looks like it is tougher to be a member of DU than it is to chair the DNC, doesn't it?
No respect for the DNC while Debbie is there. Either the DNC should admit it is now a Third Way tool, or get rid of the DINOs.
I am guessing the DNC is now the Third Way's version of a Snap-On truck. At least it is, here in Florida.
wyldwolf
(43,868 posts)Or did she outsmart the Bernie campaign... somehow...?
redstateblues
(10,565 posts)That was the "Bernie is most electable" meme. It's always somebody else's fault
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)It's hard to win. Letting people caucus without registering first, and not allowing Orthodox Jews to vote after hours. I'm glad you people feel comfortable winning at ANY cost. Cheating now will surly leave HilLIARy crying come Nov 2016. The more we see how she rolls, the less likely we will roll for her. And the GOP will roll over her. It will be 1984 all over again.
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)My eyes are now bleeding. Thanks Obama!
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)Another day another savage attack against fellow democrats.
This meme is getting old Bernsters, can't you find another excuse for the total failure of the Bernie revolutionary army to vote?
CorkySt.Clair
(1,507 posts)So everyone is on edge.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)4 states have legalized for recreational use - including a vital swing state- and the public face of the DNC is in the NY Times going on about how they all should be sent to jail.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)Some of the lamest "blame placing" I've seen in eons.
If all it takes is "WAAAH!!! DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ is EEEEEEVIL!!!" to stop people from voting, well, maybe they are getting what they deserve. But I don't think that's the case at all.
People who want to participate in the democratic process get off their asses and VOTE. People who like to shit stir on the internet, though, maybe they don't.
This brilliant analysis (the B word is used reservedly) fails to take into consideration that we had a SHITLOAD more CANDIDATES back in 08. A SHITLOAD more, that needed everything from more debates to more vetting to more ginning up excitement in differing camps.
Why, I remember Susan Sarandon vigorously stumping for that Iraq War loving John Edwards, I do! And who else was running? Why, JOE BIDEN--remember him? Chris Dodd!!! Mike Gravel!!! Bill Richardson!!!!!! And don't forget DU favorite, Fox News Analyst DENNIS KUCINICH!!! And there were a lot of others who contemplated, and then passed (many of those had tried in 04).
We're down to two now. Hell, we were down to two, for all intents and purposes, after IA.
Here's another analysis--there are a boatload of people who aren't like the poop flingers on the internet, who are Just Fine with whichever candidate the Democrats finally decide upon. There are--believe it or not--a lot of people out there who don't see much real daylight between Clinton and Sanders, and think that the attempt to starkly contrast them is just electioneering horse shit by partisan factions with special interests and a poor view of the Big Picture (that's on both sides, so none of that "Waaah they're being meeeeeean to BERRRRNIE" shit I keep getting whenever I make a point). They don't care which of the two gets it, because they're going to vote for that person, whosoever they might be. And they don't feel like standing in line or caucusing or whatever the hell--the outcome just DID NOT MATTER to them. They'll vote for the Dem at the end of the day. IN NOVEMBER.
smh.....
islandmkl
(5,275 posts)her program of support for candidates that didn't fit the Third Way agenda was zero...and her encouragement to run away from Obama was disastrous...
MADem
(135,425 posts)Get a grip. She's in charge of raising money.
The party leader is a man named Obama. Take your whines to him.
islandmkl
(5,275 posts)In 2014, she directly assisted in losses by refusing to support three Democrats, Miami-Dade Democratic Party chair Joe Garcia, former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez and businesswoman Annette Taddeo, who were challenging Republican Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, because she is 'friends' with her Republican colleagues.
her handling of the debate schedule was a work of art, too...her bullshit 'reasons' were lame enough, and then she talked herself, and her potential benefactor (part II), into a corner...which they managed to triangulate into looking like it was what they actually wanted to do all along...
let me know next time President Obama is actively involved in the operational machinations of the DNC...he is, as Presidents always are, the symbolic head of the Party, and HBO has only shown interest in anything directly going on in the DNC when he was running for re-election in 2012...
MADem
(135,425 posts)our party leader is.
DWS was chosen for that job (that she does part time because she has a full time job in the House) because she is a talented fundraiser. She doesn't need to be a "moral leader." That's OBAMA's job.
You remember him? He lives in the White House and is the leader of the free world.
smh!!
Keep playing that "Evil Debbie Wasserman Schultz" card, though, if you think it works for you....LOL! Beat up on a cancer survivor who kept working two full time jobs through chemo! Ascribe All Things Evil and Wrong to this One Mighty Woman!!!
It sounds a bit like one of those far-right wing crazytalk memes, but you go on with your bad self!
islandmkl
(5,275 posts)if it's just a part-time 'hobby' gig, let me know...
she sure seems to have a lot to do with the operations of the DNC...just unlocked the corporate donation thingy, didn't she...or did Obama make a call and tell her to do it...
screw 'moral' leader...who the hell claims that...she is supposed to direct traffic for the betterment of the Party...oh wait, I forgot, that is the Clinton/TW/DNC group...
well hell...she is doing great after all...
your responses mimic the best of the 'no need for change' segment of the Party...and you even doubled down with a cancer reference to accomplish what?
you like the way she is operating, fine...a lot of good Dems don't, and we have plenty of reasons, none of which are about her goddam health, lousy hair, eyeliner or any of that crap....
she is the epitome of the establishment of RepublicanLite as the direction of the 'new' Democratic Party...
islandmkl
(5,275 posts)or, maybe better...let her supporters list all of her accomplishments as head of the DNC...
at least you won't have to exhaust yourselves with the endeavor...shouldn't take long...
Todays_Illusion
(1,209 posts)Oh, it doesn't exist because low voter turn out helps Hillary Clinton.
islandmkl
(5,275 posts)to get the voters to turn out for her if she makes it to the GE...
the opposition, regardless of their candidate, won't have to do much to energize their base to come out to VOTE AGAINST HER...they really won't have to spend much energy getting the base to vote for their candidate...STOPPING HILLARY will be their mantra...
she needs a plan...and the current HRC/TW/DNC program, which minimizes exposure/platform specifics/turnout, doesn't appear to have the kind of 'plan', nor the kind of operators, who can turn it 180° and actually crank up an electorate to turn out in support...
haven't seen it yet, anyway...
Ferd Berfel
(3,687 posts)IT would be a train wreck.
mhatrw
(10,786 posts)about a week before the Iowas caucuses.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Title caught my attention. Too bad you did not provide an answer.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)About Hillary and Bernie.
I like Bernie. I like what he says. I like most of his ideas. But he's a tough sell.
And Hillary is another Clinton.
Neither candidate is all that great, imo.
kgnu_fan
(3,021 posts)JimDandy
(7,318 posts)of the DNC and they have failed miserably at it under her leadership. Dems are going to lose in the GE unless enough independents get out to support our candidate. So far the independents are breaking for Sanders. I doubt they will engage, if Clinton is our candidate.
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)...we're the minority party, standing on the edge of irrelevance, desperately trying to emulate the other party while trying to draw nearly non-existent distinctions. "Vote for us! We're not as bad as they are!" There's a winning theme, custom made to attract a big voter turnout. Gosh, if that doesn't make you want to fight your way through snowdrifts and get to the polls, I don't know what will.
jonjon
(68 posts)Jenny_92808
(1,342 posts)Bernie will be our next President.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)...drawing in tens of thousands supporters to his rallies. Why isn't that translating to higher turnouts, like President Obama did before him?