So here's my Monday morning quarterbacking.....

[MsTryska]

First off - i think we did a great job GOTV. Unfortunately they did too.


We did everything right. They did too.

I honestly can't think of anything we could have done better, or that we did worse that them.

Most importantly - It ain't over til the Fat Lady sings.


What i'm having the most trouble wrapping my head around is how so many people willingly vote against their own interests.


As a nation we have:

Voted NO to equal right for all people

Voted NO to being a respected leader of the free World.

Voted NO to a clean environment where people can hunt and fish and not be poisoned by their catches.

Voted NO to lower healthcare costs.

Voted NO to a balanced budget.

Voted NO to a minimum wage increase

Voted NO to civil liberties.

Voted NO to the Seperation of Church and State

Voted NO to cheaper Higher Education



this boggles my mind. i had no idea so much of America was more interested in ensuring other people don't have rights than protecting their own.


So here's my ideas on what we need to do, because the Ground Game Starts Now:


1. Work to make sure Liberal is no longer a dirty word:

-by ensuring in those super duper red states we start getting some serious democrat/green representation. I look at my own district - for half of the local positions on my ballot there was no opposition to the republican incumbent.

-by not trying to distance ourselves from the label.

2. Get Jeb out of Florida. He needs to be unseated, and he needs to be made unelectable.

3. We have to bring the reds back into the fold, whilst not alienating the blues. we do this, not by espousing what the reds think they stand for - the wedge issues are irrelevant. They really are.

To those of us who are part of the wedge groups, maybe not, but to the majority they aren't. we need to stop making them such a big issue in the daily lives of people they don't effect, in essence nipping the fundie agenda in the bud. What we need to do is go back to our roots as liberals, and maybe even co-opt the old-time republican stance a la Teddy Roosevelt.


just my opinions...feel free to flame or agree or commiserate or whatever.

no matter what, realize we worked our asses off, but so did they.

[NewInNewJ.]

1. What about

forming our own Country.

[MsTryska]

4. I'm all for that too...

but that means i'd have to give up my warm southern winters.


i'd rather work on turning red/blue.



i live in the Deep South. I'm surrounded by red necks.


And let me tell ya something....the red necks i know...the real true red necks who've had nothign most of their life have mile-wide populist streaks.


they want free healthcare, they want free education, they want more pay for a days work.

[quaoar]

9. Bingo

You just hit the nail on the head -- and the solution resides therein.

[drdigi420]

11. unfortunately they also want:

gay ppl killed
black ppl killed
smart ppl killed
brown ppl killed
freedom to choose killed

they are also usually religious, which trumps all rational thought

[MsTryska]

14. But....this is because

that's what they THINK they want.


this is what i'm saying...those cultural wedge issues need to be made irrelevant. if they become meaningless they go away. We act "as if" assuming they are meaningless, and they become that way.

Yeah you might wanna have all gay ppl, black ppl, brown ppl killed, but unless you the one killing them, you're gonna just have to suck it up and live with them.

Simple as that. I also disagree on wanting people dumb, and freedom of choice being a hot button. for fundies maybe, but not all rednecks are fundies. this is important to relaize - the fundies are trying to take over, but your average person is scared to death of fundies. even when they are baptist.

[cali]

2. I think you just posted

an excellent, thoughtful analysis. No flames from me, just kudos.

[MsTryska]

7. Thanks. granted, when i think about what we're giving up for the next 4

years, i start choking up, but when i took my shower this morning, my mind immediately switched to "how do we turn this thing around".

[Neecy]

3. yeah

What i'm having the most trouble wrapping my head around is how so many people willingly vote against their own interests.

Two examples of this on a state level come to mind at the moment:

People in SD pissed away the benefit of having the Senate Minority Leader coming from their small, insignificant state, with all of the financial benefits that accrue from that, to elect a freshman senator who will have exactly zero clout for them for years to come.

People in Nevada just agreed to become the willing respository for nuclear waste just a short distance up the road from their largest city. Thanks, Nevada! We're all glad YOU are taking ALL of the risk. Enjoy your president.

It boggles the mind. It really does.

[wabeewoman]

5. I'm really struggling with this

I have never been so far from 'main-stream' and out of touch with the rest of America. Can there really be that many uninformed people? If this just affected the ones who voted for bush it would be one thing but it affects us all. I believe they are stealing this election but the fact remains that half the country voted for this arrogant, cocky, unintelligent jerk. Geezzze.

[opihimoimoi]

10. If you can FOOL, you can RULE

We pay a steep price for IGNORANCE......

The War on Ig shoulda, coulda, woulda but neva got started hence our stratospheric level....

[Hamlette]

6. exactly!

the term for it is permanent campaign. Here's what we do:

1. We get Dean or Clinton or someone to organize it.
2. We all (who can) agree to donate money each month so it is well funded.
3. We use the money to fund a think tank and a counter to the federalist society. Do everything the conservatives have been doing for the last 50 years.

We need to remember, when you poll americans on issues, we are liberal. We just don't know its application. We need to find the buzz words that resonate with red states and sell our product like madison avenue.

[MsTryska]

13. In Essence...we take a page out of the Fundie playbook....

it's worked wonders for them, let's steal it, and get back on track.


I like the idea of donating each month too. And i think Dean is an excellent lightning rod to get us motivated. He's got balls, and he's to the left.


and last thing is, we have to really get involved on the local level. if we start getting that "liberals are not so bad" subliminal message in our red communities it opens up the door for "liberals are not so bad" in our larger races.


I live in Georgia. We got TROUNCED last night. Denise Majette had something like 27,000 dollars for her campaign to start with earlier this year.

it's also no coincendence that Newt, Bob Barr, and Ralph Reed have all held office here. The last time we were blue was Carter. They've been infiltrating, so it's time we do the same, because they are "the establishment" now.

We need to really work on those local races, the unopposed ones, the ones no really wants to fill. We need to make those Blue and Green.

[angee_is_mad]

8. Agreed

liberal is not a four letter word.

[sir_arms_50]

12. excellent post

thank you

[MsTryska]

15. Exactly.

They've tried to make it one. We need to take it back.

[MsTryska]

16. For everyone.....

:kick: