Democrats need to fight fire with fire
Suppose you're a kid on the playground and a bully pushes you down. What do you do? Some kids will just stay down, knowing that if they get up and push the bully back, the bully may start punching. Other kids may jump back up and punch the bully right away, taking the exchange to the next level themselves. The kid who stayed down fears the bully will escalate the violence if the victim fights back. This kid would rather placate - and thereby empower - the bully by letting the bully "get away with it". The second kid may likely realize that he does no good for his cause if he just "takes it". He knows that the bully will feel free to push him over again any time he likes, and will not have to fear any retaliation. He also senses that the bully may become emboldened and may punch him next time. This kid shows the bully that, even though he is not a bully, he can adopt the bully's tactics to fight fire with fire.
The Republicans have become the bullies, and the Democrats - during the 2000 and 2004 elections - were like the first kid. The Dems thought if they said something negative or got riled up, then the Republicans would use it against them in an attack ad. The Dems did nothing to aggravate the situation, remained quiet, and lost elections. During this 2006 election cycle, Democrats are starting to fight back. But it is quite an uphill battle, what with the Republican smear machine painting all Democrats as wimps, weak on national defense and on terrorism. Democrats also do not have a real voice, because they do not control Congress, the White House, the courts, or the Main Stream Media.
The Democratic leadership is also in disarray. The Republicans have Karl Rove as their Architect. Whom do the Democrats have? Howard Dean? Jack Murtha? Chuck Schumer? Hillary Clinton? They do not speak with one voice, as the Architect commands the Republicans to, with talking points transmitted by fax machine and phone calls. Indeed, recently the Democratic party was its own worst enemy when, after asking Paul Hackett to run in Ohio for the Senate, the DNC flip-flopped and told him to step aside and let Congressman Sherrod Brown run for the seat. Hackett was quite popular with grass roots supporters in Ohio, and Brown had not decided to run, which made the DNC pick Hackett, an Iraqi war veteran. But when Brown flipped, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid - the DNC leaders - flopped. They asked Hackett to drop out of the Senate race and instead to run for the Ohio District 2 Representative seat. Hackett, who promised other Democrats in District 2 that he would not run in that District, refused to follow suit and flip-flop himself. Hackett dropped out entirely, with a barely-concealed bitterness for the Democratic "leadership".
The Democratic Party now needs to stand up and punch the bully. A few in the crowd gathered around may have sympathy for a wimpy kid afraid to fight back, but the crowd will have a lot more respect for the kid if he jumps up and punches the bully in the nose. Democrats may have a dislike for Republican bully-and-smear tactics, but that assertiveness seems to get the respect of the people. Now is not the time for Dems to wimp out or argue amongst themselves. The Republicans, being in charge, have set the ground rules: Democrats need to fight on the battlefield set up for them, using the tactics and weapons their opponents have used against them. The Dems can't walk away, or take the high road, hoping the crowd will follow them. They won't. But they WILL stand behind the kid who stands up for himself.
The Republicans have become the bullies, and the Democrats - during the 2000 and 2004 elections - were like the first kid. The Dems thought if they said something negative or got riled up, then the Republicans would use it against them in an attack ad. The Dems did nothing to aggravate the situation, remained quiet, and lost elections. During this 2006 election cycle, Democrats are starting to fight back. But it is quite an uphill battle, what with the Republican smear machine painting all Democrats as wimps, weak on national defense and on terrorism. Democrats also do not have a real voice, because they do not control Congress, the White House, the courts, or the Main Stream Media.
The Democratic leadership is also in disarray. The Republicans have Karl Rove as their Architect. Whom do the Democrats have? Howard Dean? Jack Murtha? Chuck Schumer? Hillary Clinton? They do not speak with one voice, as the Architect commands the Republicans to, with talking points transmitted by fax machine and phone calls. Indeed, recently the Democratic party was its own worst enemy when, after asking Paul Hackett to run in Ohio for the Senate, the DNC flip-flopped and told him to step aside and let Congressman Sherrod Brown run for the seat. Hackett was quite popular with grass roots supporters in Ohio, and Brown had not decided to run, which made the DNC pick Hackett, an Iraqi war veteran. But when Brown flipped, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid - the DNC leaders - flopped. They asked Hackett to drop out of the Senate race and instead to run for the Ohio District 2 Representative seat. Hackett, who promised other Democrats in District 2 that he would not run in that District, refused to follow suit and flip-flop himself. Hackett dropped out entirely, with a barely-concealed bitterness for the Democratic "leadership".
The Democratic Party now needs to stand up and punch the bully. A few in the crowd gathered around may have sympathy for a wimpy kid afraid to fight back, but the crowd will have a lot more respect for the kid if he jumps up and punches the bully in the nose. Democrats may have a dislike for Republican bully-and-smear tactics, but that assertiveness seems to get the respect of the people. Now is not the time for Dems to wimp out or argue amongst themselves. The Republicans, being in charge, have set the ground rules: Democrats need to fight on the battlefield set up for them, using the tactics and weapons their opponents have used against them. The Dems can't walk away, or take the high road, hoping the crowd will follow them. They won't. But they WILL stand behind the kid who stands up for himself.
posted by batguano at 3:11 PM
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