Reply #14: I think you're very close to the real answer in this post.

[VaYallaDawg]

Ronald Reagan (a masterfully shrewd marketer if there ever was one) managed to make "liberal" a completely negative concept. Remember "the L-word" BS he preached for so long? It stuck, and it continues to stick today. And the GOP seized that brand, elevated Reagan to sainthood, and have managed to give the "conservative" position marketing legs which it still enjoys.

I respectfully disagree with some of the other posters in this thread - American voters are not stupid, lazy, or ignorant. They merely respond to the mass marketing which is completely woven into the fabric of our society - IMO. The challenge for us as liberals is to reinvent ourselves using a strategy that will resound with voters and overcome the negative niche we've been cornered into. The surest way for that to happen will be if we come up with - and champion - a spokesman - a figure of the stature of you-know-who - who will lead that charge.