Why We Lost

Wall Street Journal ^ | 11/17/02 | ZELL MILLER

[Homer_J_Simpson]

• Why couldn't our party push for a national lottery with the proceeds going to help pay the cost of college for deserving students in America?

• Why couldn't our party push to restructure the sacrosanct Head Start program into a universal prekindergarten program, with more emphasis on learning instead of just day care?

• Why couldn't we Democrats push to spread the massive government bureaucracy now concentrated in Washington out around the whole nation, saving money and bringing jobs to America at the same time?

Do Republicans really want someone who think these are good ideas in their party?

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

The better question Mr. Miller is Why are you still a Democrat?

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Well, I can't say that any of the ideas are terrible.

[Cicero]

Yes, the first part of the article is on target, but the suggested "message" is pretty bad. Zell is still a Democrat, in the line of FDR, HST, and JFK. They were better than the current crop of Democrats, but I still wouldn't vote for any of them.

[SerpentDove]

>>• Why couldn't our party push for a national lottery with the proceeds going to help pay the cost of college for deserving students in America? <<

I like that. a "national lottery." A tax on people who are bad at math.

[Tacis]

Gee, I don't know if these are good ideas or not. I'm going to have to check with Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Sarandan, Tim what's his name, Alvin Baldwin and the othet great thinkers of the party to see what they think.

[Real Cynic No More]

It's hard to run on your record when you don't have a record. And it's hard to run on your vision when you don't have a vision.

Tom Daschle!; Tom Daschle!; Tom Daschle!

All we got in the end was the blame.

Tom Daschle!; Tom Daschle!; Tom Daschle!

The Democratic Party--party of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, the party that gave us Social Security, the G.I. Bill and Medicare--has become a party that stands for nothing and does nothing.

Tom Daschle!; Tom Daschle!; Tom Daschle!

This speaks for itself!

[nutmeg]

bump to read later

[Poohbah]

I like that. a "national lottery." A tax on people who are bad at math.

I call it a voluntary tax on stupidity. Given that stupidity is, like hydrogen, nearly universal, this can't help but increase our national revenues without an onerous tax increase. I mean, think of how stupid the average person you meet is. Then, realize that half of them are dumber than that abysmally low standard.

[pabianice]

Why couldn't we Democrats push to spread the massive government bureaucracy now concentrated in Washington out around the whole nation...

AIIEEE! The horror! This guy is as clueless as Gore.

[Dog Gone]

My guess is that Miller will find the party lurching even more to the left. He's a DINO, but apparently is too stuck in his ways to realize it.

[xrp]

I mean, think of how stupid the average person you meet is.

I was pretty much in for a rude awakening when I hit college...I had always schooled with fairly high intelligence kids and those kids were my friends, too. Then I hit college and it was a SHOCKER! Idiots everywhere. Then I looked up my IQ ranking (top 99% or higher) and realized what was staring me in the face. I sucked it up and joined Mensa.

[GOPJ]

Democrats want issues, not solutions.

A problem solved is an issue lost.

Talk to Democrats' most loyal voters ... black Americans. Democrats trot out the same grievances every year, and play blacks for fools. But this year, black Americans starting to catch on. Democrats use their dreams to gin up the vote. Nothing more. The writer is innocent and has no idea who the democrats really are:

We lost the Senate, big. Why? To start with, we didn't get anything done. After all the noise in the 2000 presidential election, we still don't have a prescription-drug plan. More than a year after the terror of Sept. 11, we still don't have a Department of Homeland Security. Nearly two years into an economic downturn, we still don't have a clear economic agenda, and even when we're not opposing tax cuts outright, our party still doesn't have a clear position on tax relief.

[GOPJ]

Democrats want issues, not solutions.

A problem solved is an issue lost.

Talk to Democrats' most loyal voters ... black Americans. Democrats trot out the same grievances every year, and play blacks for fools. But this year, black Americans started to catch on. Democrats use their dreams to gin up the vote. Nothing more. The writer is innocent and has no idea who the democrats really are:

We lost the Senate, big. Why? To start with, we didn't get anything done. After all the noise in the 2000 presidential election, we still don't have a prescription-drug plan. More than a year after the terror of Sept. 11, we still don't have a Department of Homeland Security. Nearly two years into an economic downturn, we still don't have a clear economic agenda, and even when we're not opposing tax cuts outright, our party still doesn't have a clear position on tax relief.

[TheBattman]

Actually, Zel Miller sounds more like a "moderate" Republican than a DemocRAT. Certainly some of his ideas are liberal, but he is far more centris/right than liberal in general.

I think this guy should be the new head of the Democrat Party. Would probably be bad for the Republican side of the fence (other than helping on some of "our" issues), but could bring the Democrat party back closer to mainstream America than the ultra-freak liberals have taken it.

Overall, I'm impressed that the man knows where to place the blame - he didn't blame or accuse the Republicans of anything - he admitted that the RATS don't have anything to stand on anymore.

[Mr. Lucky]

Good one.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

"help pay the cost of college for deserving students..."

Hmmm... I wonder who gets to decide just which students are "deserving"???

[wastoute]

Lotteries are just the only way to get the lower income tax brackets to pay taxes. After the dims whine about how each tax cut should help "everyone but the wealthy" we have reached the point where only the wealthy pay taxes. I think lotteries are immoral personally, but it seems to be the only way to get some of the rest of the folks to pay anything.

[saminfl]

The Democratic Party--party of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, the party that gave us Social Security, the G.I. Bill and Medicare--has become a party that stands for nothing and does nothing. Our party is stagnant, and if we don't do something new--in a better and bolder way--the Democratic Party could follow that other inflexible party of groups, the Whigs, into the dustbin of history.

During the 1960's, the party was captured by the communists and socialists.