Who caused Dems to lose the House in 2010? You did.

[last1standing]

If you're a dirty hippie leftist you caused it by demanding your pony "NOW!"

If you're a fascist center-right republocrat you caused it by demanding that the party cave anytime Lieberman got antsy.

But 2010 is past and no matter who caused it, it's done. What matters now is whether we're going to let the same shit-stirring trolls infect this site with their attempts to divide us just as we've mostly all come together in support of a Democratic President and Senate.

We - all of us - fucked up in 2010. We thought that Democrats had a lock on the House and Senate for a generation and that we had the luxury of fighting amongst ourselves for control of the party. We didn't.

Now we're paying the price of our arrogance and yet some are still pushing the fight. Whether these people are trolls, haters, plants or deranged doesn't matter. What matters is that a few instigators are attempting to create division between us just as we are coming together for a common cause.

I believe it's time to stop the bullshit. Stop the blame game. Stop the hatred and the anger because now we have a real enemy to fight - an enemy that is laughing as it destroys our nation.

If you agree, come in and say so.

Come in to denounce the machinations of those who want us to fight each other instead of the monsters in the republican party.

[Rex]

1. This is clearly the fault of the GOP 100%.

People trying to blame their standard punching bag and give the GOP a pass are a rather curious group, open to much scrutiny.

[last1standing]

4. Agreed. Anyone trying to blame Democrats right now is highly suspect.

One thing I would expect every Democrats (and sane independent or republican) to agree on is that shutting down the government because you lost a vote is unacceptable.

Yet a few of "us" would prefer to break our unified stance with divisive posts. That should indeed open them to much scrutiny.

[Rex]

7. Yes, hurting thousands and thousands of people to play politics is pure evil

and downright criminal negligence imo. THERE is only one group right now that can claim that dishonor and it is the GOP.

[last1standing]

11. It looks like you may have been the only one to understand the meaning of what I posted.

I keep re-reading it but I don't know how I could have been more clear.

[Andy823]

59. I understood it

Made perfect sense to me. We need to stop pointing fingers at each other and go after the ones who are, and will if we don't vote them out, destroying this country. United we stand, divided we fall.

[last1standing]

64. Thanks, that's exactly it.

I'm not trying to say that we need to all walk in lockstep to whatever the party wants, but this is one of those times when we all agree and those posters trying to divide us now are working for republicans. There's no nicer way to say it.

[cthulu2016]

2. You assume party infighting caused 2010

Why do you think those internecine squabbles had anything much to do with anything?

[last1standing]

10. Yes, I do. But whether they did or didn't, the problem now is those who are trying to divide us.

n/t

[1000words]

15. For the win

"The constraints of melodrama can be a great blessing, because they demand that all the characters involved - as absurd and extreme as they may initially seem - must stay utterly rooted in their own reality, or the whole project collapses."
-- Stanley Tucci

[winter is coming]

3. Oh, yeah, this'll help.

[last1standing]

5. I certainly hope it does.

If it doesn't at least I tried. Did you?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

6. "We - all of us - fucked up in 2010."

Strange. I remember voting (D) in 2010. How did I fuck up?

[cthulu2016]

8. Maybe it's "the royal we"

[last1standing]

9. The point is that each side sees things differently but we should be united right now.

And that there are a few shit stirrers trying to drive that old wedge between us. Please read the OP again and tell me where I failed in getting that message across.

[winter is coming]

12. You don't "unite" people by telling them they fucked up. Especially when they didn't. n/t

[last1standing]

14. Ah. You didn't get past the first couple of sentences then.

It doesn't matter who caused 2010 (neither side, really), what matters is that there are a few people trying to achieve the same results for 2014 by creating divisions just when the vast majority of us have finally come together.

[winter is coming]

17. No, I read it all. Not sure why you thought any of it would be "helpful". n/t

[last1standing]

18. Because I think very, very differently from you.

Bye.

[Orsino]

49. Hey, the trolling subject line got us to read the post, didn't it?

Blame sells.

[Dawgs]

51. So basically, 'get in line' and don't fight for what you believe in. Got it. n/t

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

13. You probably failed right about here. "We - all of us - fucked up in 2010."

You're basically saying it was "We" that caused the failure in 2010 and not policies that drove off or alienated voters that may or may not have been Democrats.

[last1standing]

16. Ok. Have a nice day.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

19. You too.

[Fumesucker]

20. I for one did not remotely think the Democrats had "a lock on the House and Senate for a generation"

All us hippies know that Republicans are like the damned undead, shoot them with a silver artillery shell, drive an oak tree through their hearts and drown them in an ocean of holy water and they'll still come back to fuck your shit up.

No, I'll tell you who thought the Dems had a generational lock, it was the Obamatchiks, not the dirty hippies.

[last1standing]

21. It's painful to see people I generally agree with not getting the point.

This isn't the time to fight amongst ourselves over who's the bigger meanie.

[Fumesucker]

22. I know who's the biggest meanie and I think that's your point

Something I've learned about DU over the years, broad brush generalizing will get your ass handed to you tout suite and a lot of posters will never read your entire post before replying if you piss them off before you get to your point.

Being really unequivocally clear is much harder than I ever would have guessed when I was younger and it's all but impossible in any communication over a couple or three halfway complex paragraphs.

[Bluenorthwest]

43. The writer, not the readers, is always to blame. You put your desire to snark ahead

of any 'point' you think you were making. Your OP is just rude and redundant, so many others that shit on good Democrats without discussing facts.
My State had Record Setting Turn Out in 2010. My Blue State. Care to address that? Don't you wonder why your State fucked up so badly while liberal pot smoking hippies in Oregon did so well? Care to apologize to the entire West Coast for your bullshit OP?

[joshcryer]

40. Some districts did, see Feingold and Grayson.

[Bluenorthwest]

44. Feingold was a Senator, from a State not from a 'district'

the basics are important. Without them there is no understanding.

[joshcryer]

61. Relevance?

Nitpicking, to be sure. They both lost.

[Orsino]

50. Twenty years ago My thoughts leaned that way.

Had I awoken from a coma in 2010, i might still have been so deluded.

[loyalsister]

23. What does it matter now?

Maybe some of us relaxed too much because having a Dem in the WH seemed like THE main challenge. I think looking forward is more important than fighting battles about the past.

If you have a strong opinion about what the cause might have been, embrace a productive solution to help win back the house in 2014.

We are in a mess that could possibly be turned around and bring some very good movements for our party and all Americans if we can get the house back. I say take whatever perceived lessons from 2010 and work our butts for 2014. Field good candidates and start early!!

[BainsBane]

24. It's a result of simple laziness

We need to get off our asses and turn out the vote for midterms. Democrats lose ground during non-presidential elections and at the state level because not enough of us turn out to vote. We will regain control of the house only if people are willing to work for it.

[Bluenorthwest]

42. We had record setting turnout in 2010

And we are no less lazy than anyone else. We are just better prepared. And Bane it seems to me no one really cares. They want to blame, I point out that we had huge turnout, the blame gamers never ask us how, why, much less 'how can we get the same good results'. Nope. They look at a Blue liberal State like this getting giant turnout and electing Democrats like Wyden and DeFazio and they shout 'liberals stayed home!!!!'

[DiverDave]

25. RIIIIGHT, I did it

way to blame.

[eridani]

26. This is nonsense

Politically active people NEVER skip voting. NEVER! If you have documented evidence to the contrary, please post it.

[PeteSelman]

27. Yeah, it was my fault for voting straight Democrat.

Bad me. Bad, bad me.

[Ninga]

28. Kasich won in 2010 because 77,000 Democrats DID NOT vote.

In fact, it was the biggest off-year get out the vote effort - ever - and Ohio Dems stayed home in droves.

[Bluenorthwest]

38. Then the candidates you ran failed to draw voters. What candidates were those?

Can you find better candidates? Same year my state broke turnout records.

[HappyMe]

29. The blame for this gets dumped 100% on the GOP doorstep.

I voted in 2010.

I haven't missed an election since I turned 18.

[sendero]

30. I voted Democrat...

... but I totally and completely understand why the vote didn't turn out, and those who don't understand don't want to.

[brooklynite]

31. -I- didn't

I worked hard to get Democrats elected nationwide, more liberal than me where they were electable, more conservative than me where they weren't. I learned long ago, through many hard losses that reality didn't always match my hopes and dreams.

[Bluenorthwest]

33. And yet NY lead the way on flipped Seats, more D seats went R there than any other

State. Perhaps your concept of 'electable' is as flawed as the results NY got in 2010. Perhaps you should clean your own backyard rather than indulge in fantasy of being a national influence? Perhaps NY State could do better?
Here in Oregon we had record setting turnout and flipped no seats, elected Democrats, no nonsense about who is 'electable' we just elect Democrats.
And let me ask you this about your closing statement. Do you really think other adults, including those who did not fuck up in 2010, are not aware that our dreams are not always in line with reality? Do you REALLY think you are needed to lecture like some half backed preacher? I have big issues with those who lose elections then want to lecture those who did not lose.

[brooklynite]

54. Need I point out that the NY seats were...

..."electable" Democrats who'd been elected 2-6 years before
And that Bill Owens, a Democrat whom I'm sure you find too conservative for your taste, has held on to his upstate seat that hadn't seem a Democrat in 80 years previously?

[scarletwoman]

32. Maybe *YOU* did, but I didn't. I voted, just as I've voted in every single election since 1970.

I'm a dirty hippie leftist activist and I never miss a vote. EVER.

You say "it's time to stop the bullshit" - but you start your post WITH bullshit. Not helpful.

[MelungeonWoman]

34. So, you're admitting you didn't participate in 2010

and you think your divisive post is helpful. Interesting.

[truebluegreen]

55. I want one of those!

Political compass thingies...

[MelungeonWoman]

56. Here's the address:

http ://s21.postimg.org/haia8c1gj/compass2. png

Take out the spaces. There's a bigger image somewhere but I didn't save the address.

[truebluegreen]

57. Thank you!

[Iggo]

35. No, YOU did.

[Bluenorthwest]

36. Oregon had record setting turnout. No seats flipped and we are 4 districts out of 5

Democratic. California did fine in '10 as well as Washington. Our entire region did great.
So your complaints are with 27 other States and about 65 districts whose reps are now holding us all hostage, I assume your Rep is one of them.

[hobbit709]

37. Blame the party leaders for not doing their job to motivate voters.

blame the national party for sucking money out of states and then not putting any money or effort into states they had written off.
Blame the party for thinking repuke lite was good enough.

BUT DON"T BLAME ME- I FUCKING VOTED.

So take that BS, fold it until it is all sharp corners and you know where to put it.

[joshcryer]

39. It is objective fact that the faux "teaparty" got nearly 10% more votes.

Elections matter.

[Bluenorthwest]

46. Not one 'Tea Party' candidate elected here. That's a fact, Jack.

Where is it that you live and vote, so that we can do this properly?

[joshcryer]

62. Obviously there were anomalies.

But +63 House pickups, +6 Senate pickups, +6 Governorships in favor of the Republicans tells the story. You and I can both be proud for our activism. But it is ignorant to deny that it was a resounding defeat across the board.

[B Calm]

41. Don't blame me. Hell I voted straight democratic and I

live behind the Hoosier Iron Curtain!

[Art_from_Ark]

48. I voted for the Democratic candidate

for Arkansas's 3rd district in 2010, but that district has been solidly Republican since 1967.

[OmahaBlueDog]

45. It's not just throwing your RED congressscritter or senator out

It's also the state legislators and the governor who do the gerrymandering. You have to get them too.

It means organizing with nearly the same intensity that you organized for Barack or Hillary, and it means doing so for races that -- at first glance -- don't seem nearly as important.

[JoePhilly]

47. All of the infighting causes those who don't really follow politics to tune out.

Its like a barrier.

Folks who would normally be "with us" can't hear anything through the intramural Democratic bickering.

Take the ACA. Our infighting on that allows the media to claim that "most Americans" don't like it. The reality is that most Americans like it, or want it to go FARTHER.

But because we spend our time bickering about it, the media takes the folks on the right who hate it on ideological grounds, and then ADDS to that the folks on the left who want more, and then claims that "most Americans don't like it".

They use our internal fighting against us, to muddy the water and get those who don't pay much attention, to throw up their hands and give up.

The media and the GOP actively work to get more Americans to distrust government, and depress turnout.

And broadly speaking, that helps the GOP.

[Fumesucker]

58. "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat." - Will Rogers

Some things never change, expecting liberals and Democrats to shut up and salute the party flag like conservatives and Republicans do is a fantasy that will never happen.

You really ought to deal with the reality of the membership of your chosen party rather than trying to remake it as a pale shadow of the Republicans.

[abelenkpe]

52. Disagreement on this board caused the results on 2010?

Then what caused the house results of 2012? Cause despite being a national election with huge turnout democrats did not retake the house. Is that because DU didn't walk in lockstep too?

[last1standing]

53. It seems there are a lot of people who are faultless for 2010 and will be blameless in 2014 as well.

I'm willing to take some blame for 2010. Not because I pushed Democrats to the left, which I did, but because I wasn't able to get out more votes than I did. It was very hard to convince the same independents and casual voters that the party I had claimed would fix things really would after two years of Democratic caving and insults toward the "loony left."

But the point of this OP was that regardless of who is to blame (all of us and no one), this is a time to stand together and reject those who are trying to divide us by dragging all this up. Instead, too many found the need to justify themselves and their actions more important than dealing with an outside threat.

I don't have much hope for 2014 or any other election if the posts in this thread are indicative of the larger party.

[SomethingFishy]

60. So your attack on liberals was a call for unity?

You and a couple other DU'ers drug this crap up, laid it down and sat back to watch all the "unity"you were trying to bring forth.

A bit of advice, insulting someone isn't the way to bring about unity.

And one more thing. This is the Republicans fault. Period. Play all the games you want, in the end we know who did this.

[last1standing]

63. LOL! That may be the silliest thing I've ever read on this board.

Please look through my posting record before claiming that I attack liberals. I'm not exactly a favorite of the center-right crowd at DU.

[LostOne4Ever]

65. Awesome post

But it looks like many on here missed your point

Though to be honest, I came into this thread ready to flame as well until I read your OP in it's entirity.

The Teabaggers are destroying our country right now causing millions of people pain purely because of their own selfishness. And if we don't unite and work together they are going to destroy the economy.

Rather than infighting about past squabbles long since past, we should be doing all we can to stop the heartless rethugs and the crackpot party idiots propping them up!!!