Posted on 11/04/2004 10:31:02 PM PST by Former Military Chick
As John Kerry basked Wednesday in the final applause of his failed campaign, at a packed gathering in Boston that was nothing short of funereal, supporters shivered in the cold outside and wondered what went wrong.
One distraught man with long hair lofted a sign that read, "Democracy doesn't work!"
A woman wearing pink tennis shoes carried a poster that read, "Time to secede, not concede."
Democrats across the country are assessing the damage of Tuesday's election and trying desperately to figure out how they lost ground in both the House and the Senate, and failed to capture the White House.
"When you feel that the issues are on your side and you don't win, you have to look at what happened," said John McCormally, a spokesman for the Iowa Democratic Party, whose state Mr. Bush appears to have carried -- the first Republican to do so in 20 years.
"I'm convinced that our side is right on the issues," he said. "But maybe we're selling it the wrong way."
Many other Democrats agreed that Democrats didn't flub the issues; they flubbed the marketing.
"This election was not about issues," Democratic strategist Chris Cooper said. "If it were, clearly we would have won."
Matt Farrauto of the New Mexico Democratic Party blamed the loss on deceptive Republicans.
"When it comes to having a moral compass, our values are more in line with the American people," he said. "But it's very difficult to combat the deceptions of the GOP. They don't seem to have any compunction for honesty."
Mr. Farrauto said it was "ironic and disingenuous" to portray Mr. Kerry as weak on defense.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
A free republic is just about one of the coolest things possible on this planet. Theres a pretty neat web-site too...
Uh-huh. Like Hillary, when she says the Pledge..."To the country as it SHOULD be."
Wrong? Everything went right.
I think they hate religion because they have their own secular based religion with govt as God (and a jealous one at that) and an inflexible dogma that gives them the very cult like mentality that they always claim the 'fundamentalists' have.
Simply put, they want their religion to be THE religion and get rid of all the competition, and are utter hypocrites about it.
"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt!"
Libertarian is ideological pie-in-the-sky. While I sympathize philosophically, my empathy is precluded pragmatically.
U.S. Taxpayer party.
I'd rather focus on the Constitution now, and deal with the nuance later (lest we no longer have a Constitution's nuances worth mincing).
Let's see how well the Republicans can handle being dealt another "Contract With America". Despite Newt Gingrich, they blew it the first time, and I'm not holding my breath this time around either.
One thing is for certain, come 2008, if the Republicans can't get their story straight, well, by then I'm sure the Democrats will have their Truman.
Yes, it's a funny thing, isn't it.
Nobody else can ever hear the voices in your head. (grin)
Dems keep saying this, and they keep losing elections.
You're right and they have been on the same issues for 45 years and never solved any of them. How long have they been saying that they were going to fix the education problem in America? Welfare, homeless, minimal wage, health care, environment the only thing they have done is give us cheap abortions and teach our kids how to put condoms on cucumbers.
Nothing "went wrong" you idiots; the good guy won and the freakish, lying poser got thrown out with the other demotrash.
A new Democrat myth is developing. DUmmies are telling themselves the exit polls were right and the balloting was wrong.
Suits me. Or do it on a weekend. Either way, we get an increased turnout of gainfully employed Republicans who find it harder to vote on a work day.
The Democrats, the party of criminals, welfare deadbeats, idle students, and union thugs who already have Election Day off, should be careful what they wish for.
-ccm
The democrats have it all wrong.
We got the message! The American public could not help but hear the message: Iraq bad, economy bad, education bad, Bush bad, war on terror bad, US image bad, medical care bad, social security bad, debt bad, Cheney bad, and and and. No we got the message alright, especially since Hollywood and the media (news) loves to harp on negativism and favored Kerry. WHAT THE DEMS DON'T GET IS THAT IT IS THE MESSAGE WE DON'T LIKE! It's not getting "The word out" as they think but rather that Americans do believe in God, many don't think abortion is OK, a lot do favor capital punishment, we do think that after 2,900 of us get killed in a terrorist attack we should retaliate with all we have and so on. It's the CONTENT which killed Kerry and the Democrats.
It's good to have competition and I wish the democrats were a viable option since it's never good to only have one choice. But the Democrats with their pursuit of every fringe groups vote, far left stance and weakness in leadership have alienated themselves from the MAJORITY of Americans. They do NOT represent America anymore. They are a party which advocates things that go against the fabric of American values and is lead by in part very freaky people. Just thinking that all you need to do is say the same $hit more often or yell it louder is not going to help them. Come up with a "VIABLE" message which you are REALLY going to execute, unlike 100,000 teachers, 100,000 police, national health care....... which Clinton promised. The message to Democrats is two part. First, come up with a message America wants. Secondly, if you have a feasible and reasonable plan, make it happen once youre in office and dont be a demagogue as Clinton was.
The Democrats are shocked that they lost the way they did. They dont understand, and with a typical victim mentality blame others for their loss. What they fail to see is that the US public actually behaves quite rationally.
Red6
I think they think religion is -- like everything else -- one more source they can mine for votes! Else what's the point?
By '08 the ems will have found another Truman/Stuart Smalley will be there to greet the GOPers? When Edwards has already started running for president and the N.Y.Times has already anointed Hilary?
Yes,there is always a cycle of back and forth between the parties;however,those pendulum swings are unpredictable in terms of time and THE DEMS WILL HAVE NO VIABLE PENDULUM SWINGER CANDIDATE IN '08 !
Many other Democrats agreed that Democrats didn't flub the issues; they flubbed the marketing.
I'd say there is an element of truth in that statement, about the marketing that is. IMHO, the biggest difference in how the two parties approach an election is based on how they view their opponents.
Conservatives - for the most part - view liberalism as an evil by RESULT. Where liberals may truly believe that their views are the best for the country/world, conservatives believe liberalism would be a distaster. We treat it as a difference in philosophies and build arguments on how our way is better and theirs is worse.
For many liberals, conservatism is an evil by INTENT. Every action is design to screw over someone to help the rich, white guys. The thought that conservatives truly want what's best for the country doesn't enter their minds. As a result, instead of building arguments in support of their position, they're left to trying to scare the old people about social security, minorities about civil rights, etc.
Look at Iraq. Had the Dem's taken the position of: right decision based on bad intelligence, good war plan bad peace plan, here's how we can do better - it might have worked. Instead it was: Bush mislead/lied to America, rushed to war, didn't build a strong coalition all so Haliburton could get some government contracts. There's a winning message.
A Democrat supporter observed about conservatives "They are faith-based rather that reality-based". How do they expect to seriously appeal to people of faith, when this is how they seem to regard faith?
LET'S NOT GIVE THEM ANY CLUES!!!
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