A Problem for Democrats?

[erpowers]

Is the fact that Democrats seem so willing to support people who have moderate some times Republican Lite view in the hope that some so-called moderate Republicans will vote for them a problem for the Democratic Party?

[purduejake]

1. Yes.

If dems start going after the vote of the knuckle-draggers, the republicans will beat us at it every time. That's why the dems loose so much.

[pstans]

2. That was the basic premise of Howard Dean's last book.

I just got done reading Howard Dean's last book, "You have the Power". That was Dean's main point throughout the book. He basically said that it worked for Clinton because Clinton was such a good salesman. He also said that Clinton was forced to compromise on some issues in order to get certain things passed.

Everyone else who tries and sound Republican end up sounding phony and voters are able to see through it. Democrats need to stand up for their core beliefs because they are the core beliefs this country was founded and once voters here these beliefs they will realize they should be voting for Democrats.

[mattclearing]

3. Well, in a word, yes.

Personally, I think Democrats haven't sold their beliefs and values to the American people. We assume that Americans remember the Democratic Party and what it stands for.

I look at the last thirty years, and I have to wonder if the American people are rightly saying, "Dems talk a good game, but what have you done?"

We haven't accomplished much.

Republicans have accomplished a lot. Most of it is really bad news for the American people, but they polish it up nice and present it well. Hell, they turned that criminal Reagan into a saint.

Can you imagine the Democratic Party giving Bill Clinton the same kind of treatment?

So yeah, as soon as Dems start really going back, talking about what working people are going through...not just woe is me the government won't pay my way kinda stuff, but real, honest to goodness populism, empowering people, giving them the tools, the policies, and using the bully pulpit of public office to instigate some real social and economic justice, then you will see a Party that can win every single time.

[cruadin]

4. As long as the only choice most people feel they have is between...

Republican and "Republican Lite" they will opt for the real thing---every time.

Democrats have to stand for a clear alternative on both domestic and foreign policy. We have to do as better job of explaining what that difference is.
We have on a golden opportunity on the Social Security issue as just one example. I hope Dean understands that (as I believe he does) and stresses that the Democrats aren't the "me too" party, blithely following the shrub's formulations on domestic policy, but rather, staking out clear alternatives and being ready to defend them against the inevitable onslaught from the Repug machine.

[DaveinMD]

5. how about a problem being

that some Democrats attack any Democrat who does not have ideological purity in their book. I think that is a bigger problem.