I'm sorry, if the Democratic party is goind to survive....

We need to start defining ourselves, and quit being in "attack Bush mode" only.

I think we should keep some people on the "attack Bush mode" but get most back.

I posted this the other day, and can't remember who I heard it from, but for years, both sides have had plans, some good & some bad. The problem is that FEW if ANY actually worked!

For either side to keep saying what they think the public wants to hear doesn't work, and never will!

The Dems have the perfect opportunity now, to point out all the programs the Pubs have enacted have FAILED! But the can't stop there! We MUST formulate our own, and promote them in a simple enough way that EVERYONE will understand, and accept that they ARE good ideas, and will work!!!

need to define ourselves? no, what we need to do is stop playing defense to the right-based agenda. we know who we are, no matter our differences, there are certain things that have never changed with regard to our focus and our agenda for the country. this idea of "definition" is precisely what has neutered the Dems from being proactive. if they would stop buying into this nonsense and simply stand up for what we have already defined, then we will have a strong party. the "attack Bush mode" is what is left when the regular, Constitutional channels, legal channels, etc., have been blocked. I say let them attack at will, but attack with facts, not react with definitions.

attacking the war in Iraq, attacking the tax cuts, attacking the pro-business government, but did not offer real concrete alternatives in simple language.

And we are still doing this with Social Security, with retirement, with medicare, with health care, with jobs. We know that these are the important issues even for the ignorants in the red states, but we let the local politicians and ministers talk about abortion and gay marriage.

For example, it is clear that if we have national health care it will have to be rationed, yet we are not talking about this and if we ever have a serious debate, we will be killed.

thirty years. :shrug:

then turn around and offer a sensible alternative to the failed policy.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

http://www.democrats.org/pdfs/2004platform.pdf

I think our goals and positions are spelled out fairly well.

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Classy post by the way. I might have mis-spelled a word or two, but at least I can comprehend what I read.

and will stay that way whether there is a Dem or a Repub in the WH or in Congress

The Democrats have to stop trying to define themselves by the Republican's standards. That has been the problem with the DLC. Instead of fighting for this side, they are more concerned with making us look like the Repubs for "moderates". The problem is that people in the middle would rather see someone with a belief system that they disagree than someone who is murky water.

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Or the nutball conspiracy theories?

And I'm glad to finally see that here on this board!

...democrats. We're not going anywhere.

Not to mention the Republican defectors to independent status.

Some repubs will try anything to stop the bleeding. They will waste a lot of time with diversionary tactics.

If they really want to save their party, they best be about the business of getting Bush to step down, or request impeachment hearings.