2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumSaw This Buried In Another Thread And Thought I'd Elevate It To It's Own Post....
The Dems should begin an ad campaign through the rest of the run up to the November election that focuses on how the Repugs gridlocked Congress and wouldn't let anything of any substance go through. The Dems need to put the blame where it lies - on the backs of the Repugs. We need to make the American People understand the reason that things are as bad as they are - and of the importance of taking back the Senate and the House.
With Trump as the Repug standard bearer - and knowing the lack of support he is getting by rank and file Repugs - we have a golden opportunity here to capture not only the White House - but also the Senate and the House.
The Dems should start an all out campaign to accomplish this. Every Dem running for office - be it local, state or federal - needs to
ram this message through every opportunity they get. All of us Dems not running for office - needs to stress this same message to our families, friends and colleagues.
Let's not let this opportunity slip away.
tblue37
(64,982 posts)StrictlyRockers
(3,854 posts)Then we can really get some things done! Hillary is a progressive who wants to get things done!
Or so she says..
emulatorloo
(43,982 posts)"Hillary is a progressive who wants to get things done! Or so she says."
You can falsely attack her character, insinuate she is a "Republican," "A Corporate Whore," "Monster" and all the baseless lies about her until you are blue in the face. They don't reflect her record of public service.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)While I don't agree with every choice she has made she she has been a good progressive with an overall progressive record .... she voted as a progressive during her time in the senate (she was much supported by her constituency)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/3/31/1374629/-Hillary-Clinton-Was-the-11th-Most-Liberal-Member-of-the-Senate
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-progressive_us_572cca08e4b0bc9cb0469098
http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_New_York,_2006
StrictlyRockers
(3,854 posts)I take her at her word.
I am very curious to see how much she can actually get done.
It will be much easier for her to get things done if we give her a Democratic Senate and House and don't waste our time mincing words and infighting about semantics and invented slights.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)we need to get her t very least the senate and hoping a few more seats in the house (much harder and trickier)
StrictlyRockers
(3,854 posts)For sure it will make gaining a majority in the House very difficult. That doesn't mean we shouldn't aim for it.
Also, my understanding is that with the way gerrymandering works, once a more tectonic shift occurs in the electorate, a few more percentage points in our direction can push many, many districts into the Dem camp. Think about it. You can only divide the people up so many ways in order to get majority Republicans into lots of Congressional districts.
Once the shift comes, many of those districts which are configured so as to be barely Republican will ALL turn Democratic. It's my hope, at least, that Trump will have a large enough effect down-ballot that many of those districts will become blue, despite the best efforts of the state legislators who drew these crazy lines on a map to favor themselves.
lastlib
(22,981 posts)This organization can help us turn state houses blue. It truly deserves support from all Dems, just as much as the top of the ticket.
cynzke
(1,254 posts)But win at least by some! Gerrymandering works best by low turn out. If Democrats are stimulated to get out and vote, the volume can inhibit gerrymandering.
emulatorloo
(43,982 posts)Senate in reach and I think we can decrease the amt of Repubs in the house.
riversedge
(69,727 posts)riversedge
(69,727 posts)BlueCollar
(3,859 posts)Really? You had to go there?
StrictlyRockers
(3,854 posts)I believe she's progressive. What are you trying to imply here?
I'm curious to see how much she will actually get done in office. She says she's a progressive who likes to get things done.
Hekate
(90,202 posts)...i guess you could say your mission has been accomplished.
Or so some people would say.
StrictlyRockers
(3,854 posts)Some people would say you're looking for something that does not exist.
riversedge
(69,727 posts)StrictlyRockers
(3,854 posts)liberal N proud
(60,302 posts)Unless they think it will have more impact closer to November.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)material like Trump and the GOP. But maybe they have learned.
Auggie
(31,067 posts)maybe they don't run in liberal California.
shadowmayor
(1,325 posts)Ugh - we democrats are expert at dropping the ball. This should be cause #1, but we don't want to hurt any poor repuke congress critters' feelings so instead let's look at some statistics or paragraph 3 of some policy that nobody is paying attention to, or gives two hoots about. Bush was AWOL? Don't look here folks. The war in Iraq was based on lies? Nah. McCain doesn't understand economics? No, let's all look at Palin. Romney killed how many jobs? Too tough to figure out? And in the off-election years, we go to sleep.
Congress had gridlocked the nation, and 3 or 4 Supreme Court nominations are on the table. Can't imagine why this isn't front and center?
calimary
(80,700 posts)You'll notice how it's NEVER followed by the question - WHY do you feel that way? There should be multiple-choice answers: Because of the President, because of the Congress, for example.
I once got called by the Gallup people in a random telephone survey. Land line, even though we have cell phones, too. They got to the "do you think the country's going in the right direction or has it veered off onto the wrong track?" I honestly think it's off on the wrong track because the CONS were busy doing everything they could to block everything and anything that President Obama brought up. But I suspected that the question was probably pegged to - who do we blame in the White House? So I said "right direction."
I think it'd be interesting to see - with that poll question skewing so strongly toward "off on the wrong track" (I think it's something like 70%), WHY people think things are going off track. I bet it's not merely because 70% of respondents supposedly hate the President.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,789 posts)Hekate
(90,202 posts)....but since it was a binary question that would rebound on the president, I'm saying "right direction."
I find those polls excruciatingly shallow.
calimary
(80,700 posts)lostnfound
(16,138 posts)"Who do you blame?" And "Who do you blame the MOST?"
Very important point!
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,789 posts)While we're at it, let's win the House too!
FairWinds
(1,717 posts)It is NOT a question of GOP-created gridlock or obstruction.
It is rather a question of deliberate GOP sabotage of vital
American institutions such as the Postal Service, Social Security,
Medicare, K-12 public education, and much more.
All of this is easily proven; many GOPPERs even brag about it.
THIS IS WHAT THE DEMS need to push.
Will they?
Panich52
(5,829 posts)Remember, the day after PBO was elected in 08, Repubs had meeting where they pledged to block his every move the final assault on our social democratic republic after 20-30 years of trying to kill programs you mentioned.
global1
(25,168 posts)the sabotage or the obstruction or gerrymandering?
TeamPooka
(24,156 posts)I've lost count.
El Shaman
(583 posts)no, foreseeable planning: Afghanistan and Iraq are good examples.
TheDebbieDee
(11,119 posts)Several right-leaning posters have been convinced that it was Democrats and President Obama that caused the shut down of the government in the fall of 2013. They insist that it was because Pres O wouldn't sign the budget because he refused to de-fund Planned Parenthood!
I tell you, these do-gooder hackers should concentrate on blocking Fox News Channel transmissions for the good of the country and the world!
bucolic_frolic
(42,676 posts)Obstructing Judge Garland may be the way they lead this
By organically grown I mean grassroots and growing from common folks' minds
Obvious to anyone who isn't biased
Doitnow
(1,103 posts)Dems should stress how the more progressive Democrats have been winning seats. Apparently they are more mainstream than we are led to believe.
glennward
(989 posts)LonghornJack
(136 posts)Global1, you are right on!
To be honest, I'm just baffled that the DNC has not brought this up in the last few election cycles! I can still recall McConnell's blatant statement: "Our number one priority is to deny Barack Obama a second term." Can't be any more obvious than that! His plan was to scuttle Obama's legislative plans, let the county sink into ruin, and then blame Obama for the mess. It worked.
How did we let them get away with it?
We need to remind the public repeatedly during this election. I hope someone within the Dem organization picks up on this. May if DUers keep bringing this up.....
Good work, Global1.
LHJ
stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)I have been frustrated forever at the Dems, including Obama's, refusal to place blame with the Repubs. Per Obama the obstruction has always been "Congress" not the Republican Congress. If he'd been laying the blame where it belonged it would certainly have
given every Repub in Congress a more difficult track (voting) record to weasel away from in the public's mind. Certainly the MSMfailed from day one to do it, even after the "plot" was disclosed that the Repub Party hatched this self serving, Party Of Obstruction Plan the night Obama was sworn in..
Debbie Wasserman Schultz was a disaster for our Party and the continuation of Dean's 50 State Strategy. She even promoted Republicans over Liberal Dems. Who is running the DNC now? Why are there not even national ads re: Trump saying: Trump is not different from your Republican Senator or House Rep, he's just louder. Then Show clips of Trump saying his hideous stuff and show clips locally of that senator or House Rep saying same, like "delay,delay,delay" and ex. Kevin McCarthy saying same and "women should be punished for abortions"and ex. Rubio "no abortions for women who carry Zika babies" like that...
Darrell Issa is one of the most entrenched and odious members of Congress. He is facing a Dem opponent (retired military and bluntly liberal) who could defeat him if he had some financial backing and exposure. Issa was one of the first to embrace Trump. His district has grown much in liberal and Hispanic registration. A knowledgeable and efficient DNC would recognize now they have the opportunity to get rid of Issa, but nothing.
Issa is just a sickening example, there is no infrastructure nationally or locally by the Dem Party to run a campaign against the Republican Party. Making this simply a race between Hillary vs Trump is just appallingly stupid. This is the time to make this a race between a party of racism, profits over people, pollution, creationism, sexism, the worst of the failures of the past vs the Democratic Party and the future of our children and grandchildren.
Republicans made "Liberal" into a short hand slur. Time for Democrats to make "Republican" a term of the disgrace it deserves..
If not now, when?
thucythucy
(7,986 posts)"Let's not let this opportunity slip away."
Indeed.
denbot
(9,894 posts)Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)Chemisse
(30,793 posts)We really need to go after those down-ticket races. The Republicans are directly responsible for the gridlock and the government shutdowns, and now is the time people have a chance to change it.
TonyPDX
(962 posts)Blue Dogs (yes, they're still with us) will keep their lips sealed.
paulkienitz
(1,295 posts)Initech
(99,915 posts)Needs to be brought into the spotlight. This is seriously a step too far. If we let the supreme law of the land be decided by lunatic fringe groups like the NRA, it's game over.
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)Of course the Republican's priority, since Obama was elected, was to obstruct any of the legislation that he or the Dems put forth during his tenure as President. They work for corporations and for the ultra rich. Republicans often use the phrase ''take this country back''. Well they've lived up to that and taken us back to the 1950s minus the economy and tax rates for the super wealthy. Obama has to be commended for a job well done; especially in the face of such blatant obstructionism. I will be voting a straight Dem ticket as I always have. I have never, never voted for a Republican nor have I ever been member of that hateful party.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Please SOMEONE---make ads. Show who participated. Show them and identify each Senator and each house rep. Run the ads EVERYWHERE.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)That could be the tag line.
SheriffBob
(552 posts)for the blue collar workers.
Let me remind everyone that The the repubs destroyed the unions in this country.
Look at all the, so called, "right to work" laws they have passed.
The repub godfather, reagan, started the war on unions.
They have always opposed raising minimum wage.
They have stolen the power of the people and and transferred it to corporations.
They have taken peoples' voting rights.
Their real platform consists of dividing the country by using coded racism, lies, and fear mongering.
UCmeNdc
(9,589 posts)ColesCountyDem
(6,943 posts)Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)Publich their calendar, too. It shows 4 day weekends, weeks off and the few days they actually worked.
Martin Eden
(12,803 posts)They will say that the economic recovery since the great recession would not have happened if there wasn't a Republican Congress in place to block Obama from pushing through his socialist agenda. They will continue to point to "Obamacare" (legislation enacted when the Dems controlled Congress) as an expensive failure.
It doesn't matter if any of this is true. They will hammer away at that message and a significant chunk of voters will buy it.