dagblog - Comments for "Mark Pryor and Chris Coons stab party in the back. Let's return the favor"

Now you've let the cat out of

Lurker — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 10:16:15 +0000

In reply to Urban myth, actually:

Now you've let the cat out of the bag...er...box.

The article makes an

Peter Schwartz — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 01:51:03 +0000

In reply to I'm concerned with who

The article makes an interesting point.

The trick would seem to be to pursue liberal policies, but align them with, or sheath them in, conservative symbology.

Somewhat hard to do because the conservative symbol keepers are quick to label and often mislabel Democratic proposals, no matter what they are.

ACA is a perfect example. It was birthed at Heritage, embraced by Dole, Gingrich, even DeMint, implemented by the Republican presidential candidate, and yet still it became widely known as a government takeover of health care--not to mention all sorts of other even more nefarious things.

I agree with you 100% on Medicare. I didn't at the time, and while the public would have loved it, I'm sure, it would have had to get through the Republican gatekeepers and conservative Democrats in Congress. Not entirely sure it could have done that. This may be a bit of 20/20 hindsight.

But yes, it's a universally well loved program by everyone. Everyone understands it and how it works (well enough). Everyone's parents and grandparents have been on it. It would have been much less complex and dead easy to explain. I would have renamed it AmeriCare...America cares.

Just because something polls well doesn't mean you can get the votes for it. In Off Center, the authors show how the GOP strategists have moved the official party much further to the right than its rank and file--and certainly than the great mass of Americans--without suffering electoral consequences. They play to a gallery of well- heeled extremists and a smallish fired up base.

Urban myth, actually:

jollyroger — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:21:53 +0000

In reply to Urban myth, actually:

Urban myth, actually: Schrödinger had a dog.

You motherfucker, you've broken my heart!

Urban myth, actually:

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:03:09 +0000

In reply to Oh yeah? Yeah? Well,

Urban myth, actually: Schrödinger had a dog. Not even a nice dog, but still... "Schrödinger's dog" has no pizazz to it, a marketing disaster - & how can you hold an erudite discussion on quantum mechanics when the subject is rolling around pissing himself? Thus the pussy. I'll leave it to you as class exercise to continue this thread.

Oh yeah? Yeah? Well,

jollyroger — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 22:37:00 +0000

In reply to I could still vote if you

Oh yeah? Yeah? Well, Verified Atheist believes that cats can be alive and dead at the same time, and they let HIM vote, how 'bout that? And he thinks there some kinda invisible soup that drags on everything and THAT's why stuff pulls other stuff and so there's gravity, sorta...So HE's crazier than YOU, and they let HIM vote...

Edit to add: The guy who owns the cat, however, is definitely dead, if that helps...

I could still vote if you

Anonymous ncd — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:38:21 +0000

In reply to This would work especially

I could still vote if you stick a prune in my voter roll.

I don't believe in the the theory of gravity (I believe in invisible aliens pushing stuff down), I know evolution is a rock band on the internet.

No matter what libruls say I still will vote for the polititians the billionaires TeeVee ads tell me is the best one to save our freedoms.

I agree, not this year, as I

ocean-kat — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:26:58 +0000

In reply to I see your point, but would

I agree, not this year, as I said in my original post in this sub-thread. We don't have any seats to spare this year. No matter how much the stink we have to hold our nose and support and vote for the conservative democrat this year.

I see your point, but would

Verified Atheist — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 21:11:21 +0000

In reply to I'm concerned with who

I see your point, but would you rather see a 49-51 Senate (i.e., with 51 Republicans) than to see conservative Democrats dilute the message? Given Larry Sabato's prognostications that is indeed a possibility.

I'm concerned with who

ocean-kat — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 20:37:40 +0000

In reply to But what would be the point

I'm concerned with who controls not the degree of control. In many ways its better to have a republican than a conservative democrat, imo. I'd rather see a 51-49 senate than add 3 conservative dems for a larger majority even if they were less conservative than the republicans they replaced.

Conservative dems dilute the message and make it harder to sell democratic policy to the public. Moderate and liberal dems have to make larger concessions to conservative dems than to republicans. They can push legislation farther to the right than republicans.

I think the public is farther to the left than the so called "center." There's lots of polling to support that opinion, as my recent "in the news" posts shows.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/06/why-most-c...

I think we'd do better with a clearer and somewhat more left democratic message, even in the red states. For example I think health care reform could have been better without Baucus pushing it to the right. Even more I think a more left health care reform would have sold better with the public, and been better, than the republican designed ACA we got. Maybe not the most extreme liberal policy but something like an expansion of medicare with subsidies for the less well off and a buy in for others. I think it could have been passed, the public would have supported it, it would have worked better, and helped democrats even in the red states.

If we were to primary conservative dems, win or lose, it would push the democratic party to the left. That's worth losing a senate or house seat, so long as we're not so pure we lose control.

This would work especially

jollyroger — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 18:48:30 +0000

In reply to Ok, ok, everything you say is

This would work especially well in Arkansas--you might be left with ten voters, all Democrats...