|
I ask because to me this is a calculated risk, one which must be done right from day 1.
Scenario - we bellyache about recounts, we get some, * still wins. Then we go the next route, impeachment - if that dosen't work (and it could all well take some time) 2006 rolls around. Dems look to be sore losers to fence sitters and while the base may be energized the rest of the voting public is disgusted at all the attempts to overturn and election (ie, the dems don't really care about our votes, they will do whatever it takes to make it the way they want).
When I say proof is needed, I mean the type not gleaned from a blog but using US code and showing step by step documentation of where laws were broken. If we throw something together simply because we hate * we will lose the impeachment and the 2006 seats (except in areas where dems would vote for any dem and no need to care what they think).
Strategy is the key here. Our chances are slim for a win on impeachment. The headlines more and more of the general populace could be - 9/11 was inside job according to liberals, recounts asked for after kerry conceded, liberals want to impeach *...We may believe all this but if we spend the next two years on * and not on getting our message out in a way people can understand what will they see? * is buy one man, the ideology is where we need to be increasingly strong and focused.
Again - I am not against trying, any politician on the right or left who deserves it I am for taking them to the cleaners. WE hire the help and they are accountable to us - but we must also consider the reality of a long term and short term strategy to change the hearts and minds of the people.
We need to get back to issues and showing in a simple way why we feel we are right on those issues. If the majority does not hold those ideals we must 'evangelize'.
We CAN do both, but we must carefully weigh and measure as we do so. Everyone here on DU may see * one way and all the aforementioned issues as obvious - but obviously many others don't. I do know dems who voted for * and those I have asked (have not asked them all) are older school dems who were focused on workers' rights, schools, and so forth but were heavily turned off by a plethora of things (ie * is hitler, he made 9/11 happen, they are not terrorists but freedom fighters and we had it coming, etc and so on).
Five of these folks are from NY and like HRC as their senator, voted for dems mainly, but felt the mainstream dems (if you will) abandoned them (whereas we see them as abandoning us). My Mother-in-law is a good example. She lives in a R area of CA but won her 10th election as a dem there. Her husband heads up a union. While they voted kerry they think the notion of * being all the things we claim him to be is nuts. They have spent their lives as Dems, often going door to door close to elections campaigning. My father-in-law is 63 and has spent some 30 years as an active dem in the party and is strong on the issues - he could not believe how little the talk centered on specifics for the issues he has always cared about and how much time and money spent on * the man, and not * the president and how his policies were not in line with what is best for America.
Have we lost touch with the average person? I talk to a lot of average people and they just don't see things the way we do. 9/11 was a terrorist attack, they watched it on tv, have seen bin laden take credit, and here the left comes in telling them we know more than they do and that they were idiots and could not see the truth. In a subtle way we got the message across that we know the truth and they are not able to know it. No matter what world wide coverage showed, it was all a sham and you were dupes. They are not buying it, and since we are pushing other messages they look at them as suspect.
Being right is a good thing, but we shoved hatred en masse down their throats. Hate * was the message, and now that we lost (maybe) we are still doing the same things.
In a utopia we design all people would think like we do (which would kill diversity imho) but they don't. Analyze how those who do not agree with us think, find out how they think, and engage them. We want the US to do this with the ME - use peace to make change, respect their values, stop fucking them over, stop the hate - yet here we sit saying people in red states have lower iq's, they are idiots, they deserve this that or the other. We are engaging them as the enemy so they will become defensive.
Jesus had it right. Don't hate, turn the other cheek, and tell people we love them. Send a message, talk to them like adults, win them over with a new message of hope. What do we offer? Hate for red states, hate for *, anger, anger based bumper stickers, and so on.
We can do better, if only we listen to ourselves and our real message. Hate breeds hate.
|