Are the Democrats out of ideas?

[Ravenseye]

Hell no. What the hell is this garbage? Read it again today from, gasp, Thomas Friedman over at the Times Op/Ed. "especially with the Democrats so clearly out of ideas."

What lack of ideas are those Tom? The lack of ideas for single payer health care? The lack of ideas on getting out of Iraq as soon as possible? The lack of ideas about not mining in the arctic and promoting renewable energy? The lack of ideas about getting rid of Bush's destructive tax policies and funding schools? The lack of ideas about actually putting money to our homeland security by protecting chemical plants and our ports? The lack of ideas about...

Ah shucks. I'm having trouble thinking of any that dont' conform to this bullshit Republican talking point.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. If they say it enough times, it'll become true.

That's the Republican mantra.

[getmeouttahere]

2. Look no further...

than Dennis Kucinich's website, Friedman, if you're looking for ideas from the Dems!

[Warpy]

3. That's certainly where the ideas that have a chance

of winning elections are.

The DLC/New Democrats are out of ideas but that doesn't stop them from trying to cling to party power, even if it means keeping the party shut out of all 3 branches of government.

[getmeouttahere]

4. Yes, Warpy....

unfortunately for Mr. Kucinich the party doesn't think he is electable, even if he has one of the best records of winning elections of any politician out there. At first glance, he's ideas often seem radical, but given the resources that this country has as the richest on earth, we could do all these things, and do them better, if we had our priorities in order. That's where getting rid of BushCo comes in.

[Warpy]

8. Alas, I agree with the party about Mr. Kucinich

because the guy inspires neither hope nor confidence.

However, his ideas, carried by somebody with the psychopathic charisma favored by the ovine US voter, would awaken the party base from their stupor of economic hopelessness and get them to the polls.

It's certain the tired old ideas favoring corporations and the tiny yuppie vote have been losers for far too long.

[gratuitous]

5. The new meme from the Republican blast fax

And Friedman is a reliable little megaphone for those memes: Sure, the Republicans may have a lot of sucky ideas, but the Democrats don't even have lousy ideas. Vote Republican! Their plan may be detrimental to the nation, but it's a plan.



Say what you will about national socialism, but at least it's an ethos.

[getmeouttahere]

10. If there is one thing I've learned....

in my travels around the world, it is that you cannot have a decent society without a social safety net...and all we want is what we've always had (Ok, maybe with some improvements)

[Doctor_J]

6. No, just out of media outlets to promote them

I'll try to say this slowly. The media works for Rove. It doesn't matter what our people do, it will be spun as bad. They refuse to cover our news conferences, then say we haven't presented any ideas.

Fortunately, when the purge comes and the neocon nation burns to the ground, the media will go with it. Then we can rebuild a great nation from the ground up.

[malachibk]

7. Well, yes and no

There are certain issues for which, I believe, the Dems have yet to offer an explicitly laid out plan (Soc. Sec., for example).

There are other issues where the Democratic party is split, with the people capable of garnering media attention holding desperately to the "wrong" position (Iraq, for example or gay marriage).

There are still other issues about which one branch of Congress is speaking out loudly while the other has their heads up their asses (DSM, for example).

Finally, there are issues about which the American people agree wholeheartedly with most Dems, yet we have no one out there vocally fighting for it (stem cells, for example)

Given all that, yes, there are indeed some Dems that have plans that go unnoticed (Kucinich, whom I love, for example.)

However, how can Dems put their plans out there when we are so busy apologizing (Durbin), pussy-footing around the issues (Kerry), voting with the opposition (Landreiu -- sure I spelled that wrong), prematurely running for President (Biden) or distracting from the Democratic plans by saying incendiary things (Dean -- whom I agree with, but after he slams a Repub policy it would be SO nice for him to offer a point by point alternative).

What we need is (a) a set of common sense policies to fix what the Repubs have broken/are about to break (why cap SS at the first $90,000 earned -- why not $150,000 or even, gasp, $200,000 -- seems like a sensible plan that would only alienate folks that don't vote Dem anyway) that is laid out by (b) a ROCK STAR. I don't mean that literally. I mean someone who is attractive, intelligent and capable of speaking in short, declarative sentences.

Unfortunately, and I'm ready to get flamed for this, none of our Dem "leaders" fits this bill. Everyone is too afraid of losing that "moderate" tag.

[karynnj]

9. Friedman can be very myopic

I heard him speaking about his new book - which deals with the impact of globalization. He was saying that no one in Washington has considered these ideas. He talked about IT jobs going to India and the amount of scientists produced by China. I was shocked that he was saying these ideas were new and that no one talked about this in the election. (True, if he only listened to Bush)

Kerry's web site did address these ideas - in fact, in some rallies, he nicely argued that supporting innovation on alternative fuels could be a solution for jobs and the environment as well. (and that it was critical that we be in the forefront on this.)

The idea that the job market is becoming global and that technology superiority is key is not new - on a thread on NAFTA, Tay Tay recommended Kerry's 1993 speech which he titled "What's NAFTA Got To Do With It?" (on Thomas) that addressed this very issue. I do not know who was first to discuss these issues, but Kerry's speech beat him by at 12 years. It takes real chutzpah to say no one in Washington has talked about this issue, when the Presidential nominee of a major party did.

[ComerPerro]

11. I love your sig line!