NYT Op/Ed: Democrats continue to display natural knack for losing elections

[babsbunny]

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/NYT_OpEd_Democrats_continue_to_display_0419.html

he Democrats, at the delight of the GOP, are once again showcasing a long established natural aptitude for losing elections, says New York Times columnist Bob Herbert today.

The post-Carter days, Herbert says, have left the Democratic party so battered that they consider the Clinton presidency a "period of triumph," despite Clinton's efforts to "throw the presidency away" during his two terms, the first of which Clinton owes, Herbert opines, to Ross Perot.

In the meantime, Herbert continues, Senator Obama is losing his way in his bid for the presidency, falling prey to character attacks from the Clintons and not doing enough to clarify his message beyond his speeches. With the panelists in the recent ABC debate between Sens. Clinton and Obama getting a much deserved reprimand from the public, Herbert goes on, Obama still could have held up his end better.

EXCERPTS:
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[Liberal Gramma]

1. NOT THIS TIME!

[stillcool]

22. Yes We Can!!

sometimes it is fun watching them pimp this shit!

[NC_Nurse]

2. The Clintons need to go away. Period. I hope it's sooner than later.

[gateley]

5. Agree,

but I also agree with the article's author in that there is more Obama could be doing.

(Easy for me to say. :))

[NC_Nurse]

9. I disagree. I think he tries to lay out his policy proposals all the time, but it

never gets the time of day. People love to play these bullshit non-issue pseudo-scandals ad nauseum.
They don't play the speeches he makes with details of what he wants to DO in them. They don't mention
that his website is a WEALTH of information about his programs for the economy, healthcare, taxes, etc.
It's the nature of the press these days. Yuck.

[gateley]

10. Good points. nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. Just like Kerry's answer to the swiftboat attacks was thoroughly

ignored, leaving people to say "why didn't he fight back?"

[MarjorieG]

17. I hit the wall with this.

Why is it always the candidate's fault when the media doesn't report all that was said. Herbert is my hero, but he's as faulty for believing the meme of no substance, or he's only inspiration.

Obama doesn't want to promise what he can't deliver, and, frankly, lessening the hostility and even incremental change are key achievements. He's a policy wonk, but that's not his message.

[question everything]

24. Sure he gets the time. In all his rallies he could have talked about specifics

in the debates he could have talked about specifics, the day Clinton has been doing.

Instead he just talked in homilies: hope, change, that can mean anything to anybody.

Why should people go to his website? Why should people make the effort to find out where he stands? Why can't he say where he stands? Because then many people will realize - as they will once he takes office - that their interpretation of his buzz words are different, that, in fact, what he offers can be disappointing or even dangerous, and certainly detached from what ordinary people want.

[New Dawn]

18. The DLC belongs in the GOP!

Then we would have a real opposition party in this country.

[stellanoir]

3. Gee it wouldn't have anything to do with who owns and operates the voting machines.

Would it. . .?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=121199

[gateley]

4. Last line of the article:

"The G.O.P.’s fondest wish is that the Democrats keep doing what they’re doing."

That pretty much sums it up.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. Cooling Toward Clinton

Cooling Toward Clinton

At Warmdaddy's, Cooling Toward Clinton
By Krissah Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 19, 2008; Page A06
PHILADELPHIA -- Slow R&B music played as the after-work crowd trickled into Warmdaddy's, a South Philadelphia restaurant and jazz club where the hostess wears a square button with Sen. Barack Obama's smiling face and two Obama '08 placards hang from the window.
Vernita Colclough said she worries about the "petty little things" said in the campaign; husband Wade points out that "politics is a contact sport and this is a heated challenge." (By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)

Support for the senator from Illinois may be in doubt in other parts of Pennsylvania, but Warmdaddy's is a stronghold for Obama supporters in a city he is expected to win in Tuesday's Democratic primary. And in recent weeks, as Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) has pushed the notion that Obama is "out of touch" with working-class voters, the goodwill the restaurant's African American clientele had for her has dropped sharply.
When Clinton again raised the issue at Wednesday's televised debate, Zoe Ashby, who has worked at the club for 14 years, had had enough. Ashby, 54, said she tried hard not to get upset by what she saw as more direct attacks by Clinton on Obama, but a few times she felt her face get hot.

… "I think what is most important to her is Hillary, not the party," Ashby said. "If it was the reverse, with her leading Obama in pledged delegates, people would be saying he needs to step down. There would be more pressure to bring the party together. Why do you think it is like this?"
Vernita Colclough, 37, and her husband Wade, 41, sat at a booth in Warmdaddy's, each eating shrimp and grits. They, too, have grown tired of rehashing Obama's observation that small-town voters have grown "bitter," as well as questions about his patriotism and church affiliation. But this is Philadelphia, home of rough-and-tumble machine politics. In a close contest, you can expect mud-slinging, Wade Colclough said.

Clinton's problems with African Americans began during the South Carolina primary. After she remarked that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. needed the help of President Lyndon Johnson to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed, it sparked an uproar among black voters. Former president Bill Clinton exacerbated the problem when he pointed out after Obama's double-digit victory that the Rev. Jesse Jackson had won the state in his unsuccessful bid for the presidency, a comparison that some Obama supporters called racially divisive.
The result has been a sharp drop-off in Clinton's popularity among black Democrats. The percentage holding strongly favorable views of her has fallen from 55 percent after the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8 to 24 percent, according to polling by The Washington Post and ABC News.
When Bill Clinton visited Philadelphia last month to stump for his wife before the city's Democratic leaders, State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, an Obama supporter, said he told the former president he was concerned about the tone of the campaign and did not want to see racial subtleties seep into the Pennsylvania race. Yet, the story line of the campaign here has been focused on who can win over white working-class voters -- who understands them and who doesn't, he said.

… "This thing about honky-tonk America, drinking a beer and shooting guns, is just patronizing to people in small towns and in big cities, where we also feel forgotten about," Williams said. "I don't think it's good for the country. I don't think it's good for the Democratic Party, and it's not good for African Americans, who have been loyal supporters of the Democratic Party. Whether people like it or not, these scars will remain after the Democratic primary is over."

…more at the link http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041803025.html?hpid=topnews

[stillcool]

23. "These scars will remain after the ...

Democratic Primary is over"...they sure will!!

[Name removed]

7. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[question everything]

8. How, then, do you explain 2004?

We got our nominee early, no one challenged him for anything; no one brought up things from his past and the very first attack - the Swift Boaters - he folded and died.

Yes, I know, Ohio and other problems with voting machines... excuses all. Look at 2006.

[AndyTiedye]

11. You Have Fallen Prey to the MSM/GOP Party Line about the 2004 Election

the very first attack - the Swift Boaters - he folded and died.

They refused to air Kerry's responses to the Swift Boaters and then spread the meme that he was "weak" for not responding.

He could have spent his whole campaign budget in August, which was what they were trying to goad him into doing.
That would have meant his campaign would have been over in September, and he would have lost by a landslide.
Remember, the Swift Boaters were getting almost all of their airtime for FREE.

I remember the Clarkies saying their guy "would not let" the MSM do that to him.
What would he have done to stop them?
Put on his uniform and ordered them to stop saying bad things about him?
Yeah, that would have worked. :sarcasm:

The only thing we have going for us this time is that our candidates will not accept matching funds, so they will not be subject to spending limits.
The amount of free airtime given to the Swift Boaters in 2004 would have been valued at several billion dollars, if they had had to pay the going rates for advertising, like we have to.
Can we raise that much?

[blm]

12. You don't know WTF you're talking about. Swifts came out in May and Kerry IMMEDIATELY shut 'em down

and they came BACK in August and the corpmedia COMPLICITLY kept them in the forefront when they already HAD all the information they needed proving the swifts were lying.

The corpmedia also refused to broadcast Kerry's speech to the Firefighters Convention in midAugust where he attacked the swifts for lying about him and then challenged Bush to stop hiding behind the swifts and called for a public debate about their services.

That is as hard a hit back as it gets - but corpmedia refused to air that speech and barely even reported on it. The exact chronology of the swiftlies and the counters from Kerry are in the Research Forum if you care one whit about the FACTS.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x2555

Further:
Do you even UNDERSTAND why Dan Rather has been telling us the corporate media protected Bush in his first term because they NEEDED Bush in office for the favorable rulings they expected in Bush's SECOND TERM.

They knew Kerry was set against their agenda.



Kerry Seeks to Reverse FCC's "Wrongheaded Vote"
Commission Decision May Violate Laws Protecting Small Businesses; Kerry to File Resolution of Disapproval
Monday, June 2, 2003

WASHINGTON - Senator John Kerry today announced plans to file a "Resolution of Disapproval" as a means to overturn today's decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to raise media ownership caps and loosen various media cross-ownership rules.

Kerry will soon introduce the resolution seeking to reverse this action under the Congressional Review Act and Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act on the grounds that the decision may violate the laws intended to protect America's small businesses and allow them an opportunity to compete.

As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerry expressed concern that the FCC's decision will hurt localism, reduce diversity, and will allow media monopolies to flourish. This raises significant concerns about the potential negative impacts the decision will have on small businesses and their ability to compete in today's media marketplace.

In a statement released earlier today regarding the FCC's decision, Kerry said:

"Nothing is more important in a democracy than public access to debates and information, which lift up our discourse and give Americans an opportunity to make honest informed choices. Today's wrongheaded vote by the Republican members of the FCC to loosen media ownership rules shows a dangerous indifference to the consolidation of power in the hands of a few large entities rather than promoting diversity and independence at the local level. The FCC should do more than rubber stamp the business plans of narrow economic interests.

"Today's vote is a complete dereliction of duty. The Commissioners are well aware that these rules greatly influence the competitive structure of the industry and protect the public's access to multiple sources of information and media. It is the Commission's responsibility to ensure that the rules serve our national goals of diversity, competition, and localism in media. With today's vote, they shirked that responsibility and have dismissed any serious discussion about the impact of media consolidation on our own democracy."

[IsItJustMe]

13. Some good right wing talking points.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. Funny how the "post-Carter days" coincides

with the rise of the DLC.

[GoldieAZ49]

16. It is beyond words to describe the implosion

historical self destruction

[Buzz Clik]

19. Keep in mind that this paper heartily endorsed Clinton.

This is yet another plea to the super delegates to consider giving Hillary "I'm About to Get Weepy" Clinton another look.

[AtomicKitten]

20. Obama is currently running against both Clintons, McCain, the MSM, and the GOP.

It's bullshit but the scenario isn't of his making. His Dem opponent lost the bid for the nomination several weeks ago, and is demonstrating an utter lack of grace and party loyalty by refusing to concede. All the other candidates knew when their time was up and withdrew. Hillary is damned determined to take the party with her when she goes down in flames in this primary.

[bowens43]

21. What election are they losing?