"The liberals are angry that..."

That is what I hear on the radio and TV, it's what I read in news reports. To me that is a horrible way to frame the story for the public. We should have seen news reports along the lines of "The popular government option was stripped...." or "The popular Medicare expansion program was removed...". In the world of politics it's all about the framing and the story. When the public option was framed as the pet liberal cause, it became doomed. After all you leave DU, Daily Kos, Huffington Post and the rest of the liberal blogsphere you find a totally different mindset. The nation sees the liberals as just another special interest group and one that is out for themselves rather than the nation. If we are correct in our assumption that what we want is also what is best for the nation, we sure didn't sell it very well (on this issue or even in general).
It's funny when you got to the main stream media all I saw was right wingers everywhere (including protests and town hall meetings) screaming about death panels, the socialized medicine bogyman and how the government was going to come between you and your doctor. Where was the liberals? Why weren't they drowning them out or at least equalling the efforts? While it is certainly justified to be angry at Lieberman, and disappointed that Obama didn't push harder for this option, or being unhappy with moderate Dems who have been less than helpful, the biggest fault lies with the liberal community as a whole. Our historic failings to stay on message (or even to develop a few effective messages to stay on), work the media effectively, to effectively sell our visions and our bad habit of coming off like we know better else is what ultimately sunk the message. Bottom line is more often than not, when the conservatives push a program, they are able to get so many people behind them that politicians often go along out of fear of popular backlash. In our case politicians had little to fear. After all with our small ranks angering the liberal base hasn't exactly spelled doom for a politician (or made them fearful). Just look at Joe Liberman. We couldn't even punish him in the relatively liberal state of CT. How do you think politicians are looking at that liberal anger in the purple and red states?
Bottom line is we need to be smarter, work harder and be better organized. Maybe there is a need for a liberal counterpart to the DLC. Maybe we need to start preaching in the streets instead of to the choir.

Health Insurance Reform rather than Healthcare Reform. Everybody hates health insurance companies already, most people would be gung ho to reform them.

Bryant

government ensured competition (since many people associate public with lesser, as in public school vs private school or public golf coarse vs private gold course)

That is hilarious. YOU want a "liberal counterpart to the DLC" Who are you trying to kid???

that's your choice

:rofl:

seems like it!

or part of the problem.

:rofl:

:boring:

If liberals had protested the way they have and attended town hall meetings like they did, real healthcare reform would have passed months ago.

we all were amused by their antics and made fun of them, but in the end it seems they are getting the last laugh.

I made sure to visit my congressman's local office and to call his Washington office to voice my support for healthcare reform. I posted about it here and urged others to do the same. But there was no interest. It seems too many DUer's rather just sit on their butts and pound their chests in self rightous indignation that actually do something to help.

If our's is the best choice we should be capable of selling that to the public (rather than just pushing the politicians and appear to be forcing it upon them).

The right has successfully sold the propaganda that the media leans to the left. In truth it leans to the right. The MSN never would have given Al Gore and John Kerry the same access that they are now giving John McCain and Dick Cheney.

I don't hear about the right wing ownership and bias nearly as much as I should hear it.

representation anymore.

the nitwits...and guess what, the MSM framed that as union-organizing.

while there is no doubt a right wing bias, the right wingers are just much better at manipulation. I am convinced that with better media skills we could stop things like that from happening.

then get stabbed in the back or thrown under the bus, and that politician listens to the tea-baggers claims instead and shudders and hides, it's more than just a problem with being more media-savvy.

I certainly feel that's the case. I look at their message discipline and savy talking points and their framing skills with a certain ammount of envy.

Of course they're going to twist it in a way that makes substantive healthcare legislation seem unpopular and partisan, passing along every lie that the RNC and the various teabagger factions regurgitate.

Want a fair hearing on the airwaves? Get the Fairness Doctrine reinstated.

engage in very skillful manipulation of the media. We must learn and start matching that if we hope to succeed.

But until fairness is returned to the public airwaves, the corporations and their mouthpieces will always own the debate.

But I still maintain that the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine allowed the right-wing vomit machine to fill the vacuum caused by progressive/liberal voices being pushed out of the limelight by deliberate corporate censorship.

We'll never be able to effectively counter their lies until we can get equal time to put our truth out there. Brainwashing-via-propaganda can be reversed, as my own experience tells me.

although in the age of cable TV and internet, I am not sure the doctrine would have prevented what happened. After all if you are not getting a broadcast license the government has little say in the matter.

long before the Internet came into widespread use. As for cable TV, it was indeed embraced by the Right as a way to bypass the Doctrine but was for a long time secondary to talk radio as a forum to spew their memes, the latter which would have been covered by the Doctrine.

but these days I think they have been eclipsed by Drudge and FAUX News

It all comes down to: those who monopolize media win the propaganda battle.

And for awhile, it looked like we could have had one. The chaos started when that was taken off the table.

70% support of Public Option. Before that, progressives were advocating for Single Payer.

We're as organized as we'll ever get. Marching in lockstep is just not in our nature. We have the best ideas and the worst marketing.

it's how strongly they support it. Talking to nonpolitical people they just don't seem all that interested in or care about public options or medicare expansion. With the political situation and the correctness of the position we should have been able to drum up stronger support. The kind that polticians fear to cross.

Not saying it's a sound strategy, but our goals are aligned - it's our methods that are unfocused.

they fear what the vast majority in the middle of the spectrum thinks.

Instead we put a disproportionate weight in pleasing people who are acting in bad faith, and in the end, not securing new votes - compromise after compromise. That's not what the majority wants - not even close. Just look at the low-low congress approval numbers to see how out of step they are with the mainstream.

I worked in national media during the OJ/Clinton Impeachment years. I agree with this assessment 100%

:thumbsup: