We have ourselves to blame for Priscilla Owen, Janice Brown, etc.

[brentspeak]

This never would have happened if we had not abandoned our hold on the Red states. Why do the Republicans have more of a visible presence in these states than the Democrats do? Give them complete credit -- they've worked harder at getting more people into their party than we have ours.

We keep blaming our Senators -- but the truth is, it's not really their fault that there's no major Democratic grassroots organization in Red states. That's the People's responsibility, the little guy. I bet we have more people blogging on our side than we do people actually out there in the field.

Until that changes...

[minnesotaDFLer]

1. you're right

i think some dems would rather see this country get destroyed just to say "i told ja so" then actually fight. i kinda would too.

[acmavm]

2. Howard Dean has been raising money to take the battle into the red

states for sometime now. In fact, last I saw he had raised five million dollars, and that wasn't from corporate donations, it was from the people.

And then fools wonder why the average Joe Dem supports Howard Dean. Because HE CAN DELIVER. He can ENERGIZE. Just because HE CAN.

[brentspeak]

3. That's great, but

how did it ever get to the point where we have to play catch-up? Don't get me wrong -- feeling sorry for ourselves won't do us any good. I just want to know why the rank-and-file Dems in the Red states allowed themselves to get outhustled to the point that I think a lot of them just lost interest.

I think that some kind of system should be set up so that Blue staters like myself and others can assist in reinstalling the party's physical presence in the Red states. I feel kind of helpless watching from afar.

[acmavm]

4. Because after Nixon resigned we all got complascent and lazy.

We believed our own hype about 'Never again'.

[brentspeak]

6. I think you're right

And I think the Republicans had a "never again" philosophy of their own, but actually followed up on it.

Nixon had a pathetic relationship with his own party; by the time of Watergate, he had few GOP allies willing to help him out. The influence of the Lee Atwaters and Karl Roves and all the College Republicans sat down and thought hard about what to do, so that by the time Reagan got into office, the GOP made sure that they had a president who would have GOOD relations with the rest of the Republican Party. Massive disunity was out of the question, and major effort was put in that's paid off in the "Red" states.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[Doctor_J]

5. Bullshit

if those idiots believe the crap that comes out of their radios 24/7, it's their ignorance, not our failure. We have no media presence in those areas, and that's NOT our fault. Limpballs' lies have swayed 100 times as many votes as any grass roots organization could ever hope to. The people in Kentucky elected the drooling whacko Jim Bunning instead of an extremely qualified Dem. It's their ignorance that did it.

If you want a specific example, count the number of anti-war protestors in the streets in early 03 vs. the pro-war voices. And who won? The ones with the microphones.

[rhett o rick]

8. I agree. But it doesn't help the problem calling them ignorant.

If 51% of the voters are ignorant and vote for a fascist, we loose. We have to fight the ignorance, or continue to be the intellectual losers.

[brentspeak]

10. It is our fault that we had no media presence in those areas

Just as it is for not having much of a people presence out there. What prevented the Democrats from getting their own talk radio hosts out there, or even forming an Air America back in the late 80's/early 90's? Lack of interest, lack of foresight, lack of hustle.

We're supposed to be a group of people that knows how to get things done; not a group of people who lets the other guy beat us out.

[Selatius]

7. You're blaming poor folks who have little access to resources

You're essentially blaming workers for the stupid management decisions of the bosses. How could there be any thriving organization where you've got people who spent their whole time trying to hold two fucking jobs just so that they can pay the damn bills at the end of the month on top of raising their kids?

[brentspeak]

11. I don't know if most Dems in Red states were so poor

that they couldn't possibly be part of the Dem organization, but I see your point. National and local leadership failed miserably to maintain the party in Red states. But if the Repubs could have gotten those poor Dem's poor neighbors to be involved in THEIR party, I don't see why it couldn't be done by the Democrats.

I'm disappointed that there's no system set up by national Dem leadership to enable us Blue staters to help create a physical presence for our colleagues in the Red states. That's something I want to push for myself.

[libodem]

9. if we hadn't of gotten mixed up in that

filibuster crap maybe we could have kept them out. This group of rethugs in the congress would sacrifice our whole democracy if they thought it would get them what they wanted.

[Warpy]

12. I don't suppose you've been to a DFA meetup

That is where the grassroots organizing is going on. If you are in good health, you have no excuse not to go to these meetups.

They are our best hope to get our party back, no mater which state they're being held in.

Just whining that the leadership has abandoned those states won't do any good. Yes, the leadership sucks, and yes they've abandoned grassroots organizing in favor of whoring for corporate cash. That's why we want to GET RID OF THEM!!

[brentspeak]

14. Can you message me with info on DFA?

[leesa]

13. No. We have nothing to blame ourselves for. The GOP forced a coup

and manipulated people with blatantly false information assisted by their treasonous media.

Stop saying crap like this.

They have overthrown our government through illegal activities. It has NOTHING to do with pleasing the red state people...there IS no such thing.