Reply #57: Thanks for the great responses [View All]

[EarlG]

There are some really good suggestions in this thread. Let me try to boil this down a bit.

What do we want to achieve here? Obviously we want to stop terrorism, stop the fighting in the Middle East, try to bring a lasting peace to the region. At least that's what any rational person would want.

The number one problem is that the media has a vested interest in not allowing this to happen. There's nothing newsworthy about peace. Every time there's a terror alert, or a new conflict in the ME, the cable news networks whip out their fancy graphics and theme tunes and crank up the 24-hour speculation machines, and they get a big ratings boost.

Missing white girls and shark attacks are their "filler" material for when there's nothing "interesting" happening. You know that they'd much rather be showing video of bombs going down chimneys and interviewing flak-jacketed reporters standing in front of rubble. What's bad for the world is good for the media. Not only that, but the disconnected American public, engorged on a steady diet of reality TV, now views all this as a form of entertainment rather than something to get disgusted about. As long as we are "fighting them over there," then why worry?

People watch shows like Big Brother and Survivor because they get a kick out of feeling superior to the contestants. The viewers watch the contestants bicker and argue and come up with all kinds of underhanded methods (usually set up by the producers) to "beat" their opponents. And they think to themselves, "I'm glad I'M not an asshole like that guy." It makes people feel good about themselves.

Same goes for the media's coverage of terror and the Middle East. People feel totally disconnected from it; they're never given the impression that they might have an interest in stopping the violence. They just watch it and think, "Better them than me," and it gives them that same feeling of superiority.

The Republican message plays directly into this. "We're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" is the most obvious example; it means nothing, but in one sentence it sums up the reason why many Americans don't care whether this "war on terror" just carries on forvermore.

So what do we do? Whatever it is, it needs to be a unified message that we can all agree on, that resonates with the American public, and that can be repeated easily and confidently by Democrats everywhere.

So let's see.

Our Republican leaders have failed in Iraq. They had their chance and they blew it. It's sucking billions of dollars out of the national treasury. Our soldiers are caught in a ferocious civil war. They told us they would make America safer. They have not.

Our Republican leaders have failed to stop the terrorist threat. Osama bin Laden is still at large. Random groups of angry extremists have become motivated to plot against us. There are more terrorists in the world today than there were before 9/11. They told us they would make America safer. They have not.

Our Republican leaders have failed to protect the homeland. Airline cargo holds are not inspected. Port security is outsourced. Hurricane Katrina proved that we can't take care of our own people after a natural disaster, let alone a terrorist attack. They told us they would make America safer. They have not.

I dunno, maybe that it: "They promised us security. They have failed to deliver. It's time for leaders who can."