Dem Dummies

MUSTERING THE CIRCULAR FIRING SQUAD
There are really bad parts about getting older. Hamstrings tighten up, get hurt doing the most mundane tasks, less time for fun and games, you become more jaded, your optimistic leftist plans for utopia vanish and other depressing facts. On the other hand there are benefits as well, homeownership, powertools, and the acquiring of a taste for good scotch and bourbon.

One of my observations over the last few years, maybe even couple of decades is watching how my Democratic party is able to never create a coherent message except that "we aren't the Republicans" and "poor and minority folks should vote for us."

Bill Clinton for the most part attempted to stem the bleeding of the McGovern-Carter-Mondale-Dukakis cycle of failure by moving the party to the middle. For his sins, he was attacked from the left as a "corporatist" (hell at that point, I was one of them, damn this hindsight is awesome), and from the right, well it was just a straight up attack on him personally, unable to get the "penetration" necessary on many of his policies, they attacked him and his family personally or took what would be normally minor issues and make them impeachable offenses. Compare the "lying before congress about oral sex" to the knuckleheadedness and nincompoppism that happens today.

There is a certain blindness and arrogance around progressivism in this country. We just can't seem to understand why poor people would vote against their own personal, economic interests. Likely there are many different reasons, cultural reasons, conservative mores and "values" that don't seem to jibe with those of Democratic candidates, particularly in the primaries where candidates seem to pander to the lefty activists that raise the money and hold the signs. Also there are many who are taxaphobic that they feel the liberals will raise taxes beyond levels that they feel are already to high or ration health care. Certainly there is also a feeling that Democrats want to a. take their guns and b. surrender to the terrorists. Also, for many poor and working people, there is little intention particularly for new immigrants to stay poor forever, and the feeling maybe be that the Republican party better represents the interests of entrepreneurs and those willing to work hard to bring themselves up from poverty.

These beliefs are fanned by talk radio politics and right wing commentators and parroted by tabloid media recipients, and unfortunately there is a fear or inability to adequate explain progressive ideas on the part of Democratic candidates. I've become very frustrated with my own party, the zeitgeist of my party is that it is a big tent and everyone in the tent gets to yell and scream at the same time, becoming a cacophony of bizarre notions and insipidity. Certainly, we have a hardcore center of the party, build by the followers of FDR, JFK and beyond, based in the factories of urban America and fields of rural America of days gone by. But there is no real message to the party today, other than we're not George Bush and we believe in change. Unsure what that change is but it's change.


The Democratic Party certainly lacks the strong message to guarantee a White House bid despite weak Republican candidates, even as a political junkie, I have no idea. Certainly a lack of this message will guarantee defeat in November.


IOWANNA WIN
So today is some type of weird quadrennial holiday in Iowa. The last day that most people across the country will give Iowa a second thought.

As much as I don't like the idea of Iowa having so much power in a campaign, It's a nerdy, voyeuristic, political junkie's dream especially as it's brought to you by C-SPAN. Luckily the wonderful people of Comcast have also brought us C-SPAN 3.

I'm sure the candidate have had just about enough of porkchops, county fairs and overalls at this point. It's big fish in a little pond time at caucuses, like the dream of every blogger being in the New York Times, every little leaguer in the Boston area, knocking one off the Green Monster. I mean they are literally counting hands and trying to convince one another to come to another side that is more viable. At least on the Democratic side, on the Republican side they sit down in bowties and fill out ballots, less chance on the GOP side to act like a complete jackass on national TV.

In Iowa, it appears at this point that Huckabee will win the Iowa caucuses (at least that's what the teevee tells me) so Romney's deep pockets couldn't carry the corn farmers and evangelicals who supported Skinny Mike to victory here.

Just a short post here. Post caucus and pre-New Hampster primary talk to follow.