A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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March 22, 2005"Defeat Bush"Last night I got a call from the DNC. They were doing the normal round of shilling and I didn't have any money to give to them, like always. But after this phone call I'm not sure I want to give them any more. The lady who called talked very divisively talked about how Bush wants to bankrupt social security (not how his plan will, but how he wants to). This didn't surprise me at all, I was put off by the parisanship of it all (like always), but then she said something that I hadn't noticed until after I hung up the phone. "We need your contribution to help defeat Bush." Not "We need a better plan for social security" or "Help us build a stronger DNC" or even "Help us fund the overhead costs here at the DNC." The DNC is still stuck in election mode, and it's hurting America. This is why I hate the two party system. It's us-versus-them, but for the most part both groups of "us" don't matter. Or, more accurately, shouldn't matter but much to the detriment of the American public, do matter. If there were a viable centrist third party this sort of thing wouldn't happen. When there are two sides it's very easy to get caught up in the us-versus-them mentality, because either we're right or they're wrong. However, with another demention to it, a second "them," it becomes easier to work with someone else who is not within your group. Either you have to form teams to get stuff done (taking the best of winner-take-all and proportional representation) or the us-verus-them strategy becomes irrelevant as it begins to sound paranoid when you say "We are right, it's those other two who are wrong" over and over again. Posted by Art at March 22, 2005 11:31 AMComments
Both parties run against hated members of the other party in perpetuity. Democrats have been running against Nixon since the 70s and Hoover since 1929 while the Republicans have run against McGovern at least as long. Posted by: Alf at March 22, 2005 12:42 PMAnd Clinton, both of them. Posted by: tim at March 22, 2005 03:30 PMSo they're not mad at Hoover anymore! Posted by: c3 at March 22, 2005 04:39 PMBut Wilson's still in the doghouse. Posted by: Tully at March 22, 2005 05:03 PMYou have hit on something important; The DNC is becoming the party of obstruction. I hear no ideas on any front. Just Block this and block that and filibuster judicial nominies. They better get with the program. Posted by: The Uncooperative Blogger at March 22, 2005 07:17 PMI liked Wilson. Posted by: AH at March 22, 2005 09:26 PMWho's got a beef with VanBuren? He'd make a great target. Posted by: EG at March 22, 2005 10:49 PMYea, they need to do the latter of what you said. Posted by: Daniel at March 22, 2005 11:58 PMHarrison. Last of the Whigs. Died after a coupla months in office. Everyone can hate Harrison. Posted by: Tully at March 23, 2005 02:08 AMMaybe instead of hating Harrison Democrats should worry about becoming Harrison. Posted by: Alf at March 23, 2005 07:32 AMI wonder if the "defeat Bush" script you heard is something that's been highly tested with focus-groups et cetera, or if the caller is just working from a script that some intern created. It's probably the former -- that DNC research shows that "defeat Bush" is more effective. Anyone know? But if the DNC or RNC got really smart, they'd refine the message according to the recipient. They'd have a database that says "joe schmoe responds best to Bush = Hitler" and "Art wants to hear about policy proposals" and "Uncooperative Blogger is 100% Republican" (if I had to guess, I'd say the Republican operation is a lot more sophisticated in this manner). Posted by: Oberon at March 23, 2005 11:14 AMHas anyone noticed how JFK's reputation is shooting up in recent years? There have been several relatively favorable books out about him and now I noticed another one. (Very weird front cover--a huge close up of JFK's face--when you see it, you assume it's the back cover.) This is after years of his reputation going in the dumper. Even conservatives have embraced him to some extent, at least as a Democrat who stood up to the Russians. Posted by: MWS at March 23, 2005 10:19 PM |
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