dagblog - Comments for "Hey, Democrats, You Want To Win? Try Being Democrats"

These are the things that

trkingmomoe — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 21:58:43 +0000

In reply to Momoe, here I am, many days

These are the things that make people wake up to the fact that they have to vote. It is the hardships that they are causing.

I am going to go out on a limb here and state the Republicans are going to get some of their asses kicked in Nov. The GOP is not going to gain much. The over poling by poor quality pollsters have been pointed out by both Sam Wang and Nate Silver in this election cycle. That they underestimate by 1.5 % on the average, the Democratic votes in the recent past elections.

The Bannock Street Project has kicked in now in full force in the competitive Senate races with GOTV. They aren't here in Florida but there is a big GOTV effort from the Crist campaign. It is on the same scale as 2012. The Democrats in this county has an office in a dead strip mall and for the last month that empty parking lot has been full of cars. I drive by when taking the big kids to the university. I am sitting this one out this year because of time, money and health reasons. It looks like there is more participation then in past cycles.

Momoe, here I am, many days

Ramona — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 18:04:46 +0000

In reply to Women and minorities have

Momoe, here I am, many days later, just now seeing your comment. I'm so sorry. I would like to hear more about the private companies that take care of traffic fines. I don't know if they do that here in Michigan, but since they're privatizing everything, I wouldn't be surprised.

It's disgusting that they will try anything to take money from poor people. My cousin was in jail for a third-offense drunk driving sentence and he had to borrow a couple thousand dollars to pay for court costs and everything he used in jail, because if he didn't, they would have put him back in jail. A privatized debtors prison.

He, of course, lost his job and had no money, but that didn't matter. It also didn't matter that he had a heart attack while in jail and had to be hospitalized for a portion of his sentence. When he got out of the hospital he went back to jail and incurred even more costs. But that's life in the oppressive 21st century.

Women and minorities have

trkingmomoe — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:24:02 +0000

In reply to When I was in the military, I

Women and minorities have awakened to the fact that they have to vote in the states that have completive races. That it is important because Republican would cause unlimited hardship if they get control of the Senate. There may not be much that will get done but at least they won't be able to impeach the President and pick more Judges that are sub standard.

There is a lot going on locally and in states right now that has Democratic voters engaged. I live in Florida and the turn out will be high for a mid term because people want Medicaid even the elderly needs and wants it for long term care. We also have medical marijuana on the ballot.

There is an agenda there but you have to listen to people like Elisabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown and other liberal voices. They are wanting to limit corporate power and hold them accountable and pay forward to society in taxes so that there will be a future for other generations. Legalizing marijuana and allowing hemp to be grown again in the country is an agenda. Raising the minimum wage and reducing the debt that college education causes is an agenda. Sustainable clean energy is an agenda. Breaking up big banks is another. Fixing our infrastructure that is falling down. There are bills in the Senate that is being worked on that address this.

If I knocked on the doors of everyone on my street and asked them to tell me about what they know about ISIS they would give me mostly a blank stare. Most of us don't have cable or the time to watch it. I live in a poor community. But they will tell me all about the cops that are underfoot all the time. Or tell me how they were making a legal right turn on red and all the cameras that now hang on all our stop lights and street posts took pictures of it. Then the private company that owns the dam things sends you a letter explaining you have been given a $125 dollar ticket for turning illegally because you pulled over the white line and did not stop there. You can not see to turn behind the white line so we just sit there now and wait for green. We don't have the money to fight the ticket or get many of them. The county has been trying to mine us for revenue that they need because of cuts. They can tell you how hard it is to get their kids to the bus hubs so they can finish the rest of the way riding the bus because the county schools have cut bus service in favor of bussing kids to private charter schools. They are struggling on minimum wage part time jobs and have had their food stamps cut. They know about Ebola but they worry more about getting meds from the VA and the health department to cover their chronic illnesses.

The only party that has been here to ask for our votes is the Democratic Party. Will some of the people that are registered to vote show up at early voting. Probably yes a lot more then in 2010 because of the fact they closed all our voting poles and we now have to go to the suburbs to vote on election day. Early voting is on bus routs and closer. Our turn our was high in 2012 and that is why the poles were closed to make it hard to vote. I know for a fact that if you feel your right to vote is threaten you will go and vote just for spite. Some will go because of the cameras or losing school bus service or because the cops are always running dogs through your car at night looking for pot. Even I have had to put up with that.

So there is a lot of motivation in towns like mine in Republican run states and not so much because of ideology but for reasons like what I just pointed out. I am sure there will be some surprises in November that the national media didn't see coming. Nate Silver says the quality of the polling is worse then 2012.

The phrase, "sincere irony",

A Guy Called LULU — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 18:13:42 +0000

In reply to Do you realize the sincere

The phrase, "sincere irony", is stuck in my head like an ear worm.

Do you realize the sincere

Beetlejuice — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 16:24:14 +0000

In reply to After you posted this, I

Do you realize the sincere irony of you're what saying ... minorities and women have a lot at stake in this election ???

They're the people politicians and the machinery prefer to neglect because they think their impact is too small to measure and change the outcome. That coupled with political-religions that dictate the wife follows her husband's advice and other such oddities, chances are they may be right.

It would be nice if all the money they paid out for focus groups to hone their messages does the exact opposite of what they're expecting.

When I was in the military, I

Beetlejuice — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 16:08:18 +0000

In reply to Hey, Democrats, You Want To Win? Try Being Democrats

When I was in the military, I was a non-commissioned officer. And the US Naval Academy had coined a phrase about non-comms at the end of the 19th centurty ... they're sly, devious and cunning, and bear considerable watching.

There's a conservative manager I work for who likes to blame "liberal democrats" ... as if there really is such an animal ... for all the country's ills. I gave him an obscure book of mine to read ... Unreasonable Men. So far, he's an incredibly s...l...o...w reader and has only penetrated the first two chapters. But he's already challenging the authenticity of the contents ... which I show him the reference pages in the back.

The point is ... there's not too much that's going to change anyone's opinion unless there's an immediate danger for everyone to focus on and the President takes actions that the public expects. That's why ebloa and ISIS can easily become political talking points that sway the election ... the President/Democrats aren't doing enough to protect YOU from THEM.

And Bu$h was quite effective in using the ploy and it's active today if you listen to the political talk.

The issue for Democrats is they don't have an agenda to fall back on ... ObamaCare is a done deal and it's not the panacea the public really wanted ... a Medicare/VA medical program for everyone. No clear focus on the economy, creating jobs, manipulating businesses to plow money into the business instead of shareholder equity, forcing businesses to pick up their fair share of the tax burden and so forth.

And the Republicans were able to push their agendas between 2001 and 2007 with nothing more than a simple majority.

See where I'm going with this ???

After you posted this, I

trkingmomoe — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 04:43:00 +0000

In reply to Hey, Democrats, You Want To Win? Try Being Democrats

After you posted this, I thought I better take a look around with google at the Senate races. So I started to follow closely what is happening now in those races. I am not ready to clutch my pearls yet.

SD Senate race could be a black swan. The favorite to win this one has been Republican Mike Rounds in a three way race in an open seat that was held by a Democrat. But Rounds is being dogged by scheme to sell off EB-5 visas to the highest bidder so his friends can make money on them. Democrat Rick Weiland is trailing as well as the former Republican Senator from SD Larry Pressler who is an Obama supporter and now independent. Pressler don't have much money but has been picking off older voters who still likes him. DSCC has just spent a million dollars on adds for Weiland and MayPac has also just spent a million dollars also for Weiland. Two million dollars is a big buy in SD. RNC is busy defending other races and is reluctant to spend money on this race that they see it as theirs. DSCC now sees the potential for a pick up with Rounds poor campaign effort and controversy. Here is one of Weiland ads from this this summer. Keep in mind this is retail politics in SD.

Here is the one that they just released. It is a great improvement over the first.

In Kentucky McConnell is worried because his numbers are falling behind Grimes. He may have made a big campaign mistake by going on a popular sports talk radio show. He showed how arrogant he is and would not answer the soft ball questions he was asked. This is the number one sports talk show in Kentucky. In the last couple of weeks the trend has been moving towards Grimes and she is now showing a lead in the last 3 poles. McConnell would not have gone on that show if he was not worried. He only agreed to debate Grimes once and that debate is coming up. This race is far from lost and Big Dog has been in there swinging for Grimes. He did some ads for her. Since they have been aired the voters have been moving in her direction. He is popular in Kentucky and people don't want to lose their health care that they just got.

The Bancock Street Project has been working over time on GOTV for Michelle Nunn. This is a toss up right now. Predue may pull it off but if GOTV gets their votes out in the Atlanta area, we will be dancing on election night if they do.

One other point, minorities and women have a lot at stake in this election. They know they have to get out and vote.

Richard, I'm scared to death

Ramona — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 02:32:02 +0000

In reply to Whenever I clear my head out,

Richard, I'm scared to death about losing the senate, too. I can't believe we'll lose the House again, but the pundits all seem to think it's a done deal. I will never understand why this keeps happening. In a sane world, there would be no Republican party after what they've pulled for so long.

Look what they've done to this countryj! And they keep winning. It looks like Snyder will be governor again in Michigan and he's done everything but murder somebody at high noon. We may get a Dem to replace Carl Levin but it's only because the Republican candidate is so gawdawful even the Republicans can't stand her.

I don't get it and I never will. And I'm tired of hearing how the Dems don't try hard enough. We have good candidates with plenty to offer and crowds of good people out there knocking on doors and manning telephone banks, but no matter how hard we try we can't convince enough people to vote for the Democrats.

It can't all be about fear and paranoia and ignorance. Can it?

So depressing. So, so, so depressing.

Whenever I clear my head out,

Richard Day — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 20:00:53 +0000

In reply to Hey, Democrats, You Want To Win? Try Being Democrats

Whenever I clear my head out, I am sure I am going to get into this.

I know this:

If we have five Dem Presidential candidates, and the moderator of the debates asks:

How many of you candidates believe in Evolution (which is a stupid question just like most moderator questions) all will raise their hands.

I keep looking at the Walker ';model' in Wisconsin, I mean that sombitch took after progressive taxes, the woman's right to choose including contraceptives and voting rights and union rights and fair taxes and.....

If a repub is elected as President, we are screwed. As a matter of fact if the Senate turns repub we are screwed.

I WANT THE DEBATES AMONG DEMS AND I WISH TO SEE AT LEAST THREE OF THEM.

But we, as other countries, depend upon coalitions.

The Senate race in Kansas scares the hell out of me.

Oh, Orman is better than nothing, but if we lose the Senate, we end up losing Orman anyway.

I am so depressed about the elections just a month away that I would hope we end up 50-50 so that Joe Biden can once again become Senator Biden.

Just random thoughts.

Sorry I just got around to

MrSmith1 — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 15:15:28 +0000

In reply to We need universal health

Sorry I just got around to reading this Ramona. I concur with much of what you wrote and share the anger and frustration. I also agree with Resistance when he says that the Democratic name has been hijacked.

I was riding in a vehicle the other day and had to listen to a radio interview of Paul Ryan. It was on NPR and he did his absolute best to sound like a Democrat. Clearly this will be his strategy for 2016. He will assume the mantle of a caring, humanitarian and downplay all his extreme right positions. He even told a little anecdote meant to show he realized that ignoring, or not doing enough for the 47% in the last election was a mistake. All in all, he was, to use Resistance's analogy, the Scorpion on the shore, warmly reassuring the frog. And the interviewer never challenged him when he talked about how the Republicans were going to make government work again ... It's like a man putting a cork in a bottle, and then wanting to be hailed as a hero for taking the cork OUT of the bottle. I fear we are going down in this election because the GOP has convinced voters that, somehow, Democrats are the ones that caused the obstruction. It's mind-boggling.