Posted on 10/17/2003 4:27:46 AM PDT by kattracks
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Two moderate Democrat senators are leading an effort to improve the Democratic Party's image among churchgoers and gun owners with the hopes of recapturing Congress and the White House next year.
Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) said Democrats have adopted the wrong political strategy when it comes to countering Republicans on cultural issues like religion, gun rights and family values.
"If we appear to be hostile to individuals of faith, hostile to those who own guns, indifferent to the concerns of traditional families and weak on national security issues," Bayh said, "that is not a winning prescription for the Democratic Party."
Pryor, the only Senate Democrat to oust a Republican incumbent last November, said he didn't let cultural issues stand in the way of his campaign against former Sen. Tim Hutchinson.
"I'm living proof that a Democrat can go out...and talk about these issues in a way that people understand and people appreciate," Pryor said.
The senators said the key to winning had everything to do with spreading the right message. Even though the National Rifle Association gave Pryor a "D" grade for his views on firearms, the former state attorney general said he took his message directly to the voters and ended up a winner.
Bayh told a story about a former Democrat speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives who described himself as "Bible-quoting and gun-toting" in an effort to bridge the gap.
The discussion comes days before a conference this weekend in Atlanta organized by the centrist Democratic Leadership Council and Americans for Gun Safety. The event is dubbed "God, Guns and Guts: Seizing the Cultural Center."
The groups used Thursday's gathering in the nation's capital to highlight a new poll that shows a Democrat who endorses the Second Amendment would defeat a pro-gun Republican.
Pollster Mark Penn, who advised former President Bill Clinton, conducted the study of 800 likely 2004 presidential election voters. He said Democrats who advocate gun control or stay silent about guns are at a disadvantage to Democrats who support the Second Amendment but also favor "closing some gun law loopholes and enforcing the laws on the books."
A Democrat candidate with that message would beat a pro-gun Republican by a margin of 57 percent to 32 percent, Penn said. In contrast, Democrats who favor gun control or don't bring it up in their campaign would get only 42 percent of the vote.
"The Republican message, which wins against the current Democratic silence, loses to an effective, articulated message on gun safety," Penn said. "Just in terminology, gun safety is preferred by everybody over gun control."
Americans for Gun Safety President Jonathan Cowan said his organization believes in the Second Amendment, but it also wants to fix the "gun show loophole" in addition to improving background checks and enforcing existing gun laws.
Cowan said that if Democrats ran on a similar platform, they would fare better against Republicans who have gained the upper hand among gun owners.
"Gun owners can vote their gun and vote for Democrats," Cowan said. "If Democrats follow the blueprint we're releasing today, they can dramatically change the politics of guns, stand up for sensible gun safety measures, level the electoral playing field with Republicans and thus stand a much better chance of building a majority."
Gun Owners of America spokesman Erich Pratt questioned whether Democrats would be sincere in their support of the Second Amendment. Pratt noted that liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) proclaims to be a Second Amendment supporter, yet he consistently votes to infringe gun rights.
"It seems what's happened in recent elections is that the Democrats have decided the stove is still hot, and they don't want to get burned again," Pratt said. "That's why they're talking about having a new message. Let's hope this isn't just remarketing and repackaging the same old worn-out gun control proposals."
Pratt said his organization would support a Democrat if the candidate was a true believer in the Second Amendment. He said that, more often than not, Republicans get endorsements from pro-gun groups because they are opposed to any kind of gun control.
Bayh said the message he's trying to convey is larger than just gun rights. He said if Democrats want to win, they need to improve their image on cultural issues across the board.
"People don't follow the nuances of policy that much," Bayh said, "but if after a series of these issues, they conclude, 'Democrats just don't understand folks like me,' that's an instinctive reaction they have. We have a credibility problem we have to overcome."
See Earlier Story:
'New Democrats' Focus on Moral Issues (July 17, 2001)
Listen to audio for this story.
E-mail a news tip to Robert B. Bluey.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
What do you mean "IF"? This is the Democrratic Party!
It seems the dummycrats are going to be well prepared for the upcoming election. What he said is absolutely true, and once democrats start rhetorically thumping the Bible and waving their guns they will have a far better shot at gaining seats in congress. Remember they did this before in it believe the 1996 election. They run a number of pro-life democrats in the south and won some unexpected seats.
You've got to be kidding me! Those kinds of people (me!) would shoot themselves before they voted Democratic. This story is so full of lies and double talk that it's amazing. It's not that Democrats "don't understand" these issues, they actively hate guns (and I think you have to be mentally ill to hate an inanimate object). They have a bitter and ruthless hatred for traditional family values and work every minute and every day to destroy them, and their stance on national security is the moral equivalent of treason.
Give me a break.
Waaaaaaaay too late. The DLC doesn't have Clinton in office anymore.
Without him, the Democrats are veering far to the left. Being antiwar brings with it a lot of other intellectual baggage that tends toward gun confiscation and secularism.
The DLC people, the smart ones anyway, have figured this out. The Democratic Party as a whole, however, has not.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
So then the leopard says," Spots? What spots? You mean these things? Those aren't spots..."
Which brought this to mind. Paraphrasing: And the serpent said to Eve, "God didn't want you to eat from that tree because you'll be as smart as He is. Try it, the fruit is delicious."
Until then, we only have to look at their main spark plug for this...Americans For Gun Safety. AGS has NEVER supported ANY gun control repeal, and is simply another gungrabbing organization wearing a mask...much as they are obviously advising the Democrats to now do.
They must, in their hearts, truly believe that gunowners ARE stupid rednecks, who'll gleefully fall for their B.S. Sorry, they've got over forty years of grabbing and laws to make up for, first. A change of slogans won't do it.
"Gun owners can vote their gun and vote for Democrats," Cowan said. "If Democrats follow the blueprint we're releasing today, they can dramatically change the politics of guns, stand up for sensible gun safety measures, level the electoral playing field with Republicans and thus stand a much better chance of building a majority."
They've got their doublespeak down, all right. Surely real live gun owners aren't dumb enough to fall for this, even if the pollsters talk to idiots.
Suddenly, it's the "cultural CENTER." For the last half a century, we've been demonized as the "extreme Right," often by members of our own party!
What we're seeing here is the triumph of principle. But this is simply a feint; the true victory is decades away. Don't be fooled.
They've got one problem....WE AREN'T FOR SALE.
Yet, they STILL don't believe a frig'n word that spews from your rotten lips.
Go figure.
Union members must really have to hold their noses when they give the Dems their vote.
It would be nice if the voices of the strident left were silenced... I'd have to hear them publicly take the position that the Second Amendment pertains to individual, for example. Not that I'd vote for them, but maybe I wouldn't feel my usual visceral gut-wrenching hatred of them and everything they stand for.
Best joke all day.
bttt
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