Here's my suggestion for 2014:

[ProSense]

Deny Republicans any advantage anywhere. Vote them out wherever possible.

Remember 2010? What's happening in states from North Carolina to Texas and across the country can be directly linked to the outcome of the 2010 elections.

I try to imagine where things would be had Democrats won decisively at the national, state and local levels. Instead of the crazy, I think the country would be on a path to more sane policies, even some progressive policies.

It's bizarre to see the advances in civil rights for the LGBT community juxtaposed with deeply regressive anti-choice policies.

The assault certainly didn't begin with 2010, as the SCOTUS' Voting Rights Act decision shows, but that election expanded it into states that leaned progressive, and it's going to take several voting cycles to reverse.

Start with 2014.

[Bonobo]

1. I'll take "People I'd Never Ask for Advice From" for $1,000. nt

[cali]

2. Spiro Agnew?

Joe McCarthy?

[ProSense]

4. Or

you: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=152034&sub=trans

[Blanks]

15. Wow, someone isn't playing nice. eom

[ProSense]

3. So you don't think voting Republicans out is a good idea?

OK.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

22. Or maybe he thinks that it is self-evident.

[JaneyVee]

7. I'll take "people who woke up on the wrong side of the bed" for $1000

Daily double!

[GeorgeGist]

5. Quick call the DNC ...

WHAT A NOVEL IDEA.

[ProSense]

6. Do you think they had a hand in 2010?

What could they have don't better?

"Quick call the DNC ..."

http://my.democrats.org/page/s/contact-the-democrats

They'd love to hear your ideas.

[pscot]

12. Maybe the DNC should be consulting with Dr. Dean

instead of Wall Street bankers.

[HardTimes99]

8. Here's a suggestion from a Democrat who seldom minced his words:

I've seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the fair Deal, and says he really doesn't believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don't want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign.

That little quote explains 2010 in a nutshell, imho. And probably 2014.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman

[ProSense]

10. Does that mean we got what we deserved in 2010?

"If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time"

Does that apply to Russ Feingold? Still, forget the U.S. Congress, states are rolling back rights, attacking the poor, and these attacks are being driven by Republicans.

That's a great quote by Truman, but let's deal with the reality of now.

[HardTimes99]

14. The Rahm Emmanuel wing of the Democratic Party should have

been thoroughly discredited by the 2010 results and maybe even purged from the party because of those results. But I do not remember even the lightest censure being directed in the Blue Dogs' direction. Instead, I heard 'Dems weren't conciliatory enough with the Republicans and that's why we lost.' Hah!

Look, we both know that today's Republicans are little better than yesterday's fascists. And no working person ever, EVER, deserves to be ruled by fascists.

It's a 'great quote by Truman' because it captures a deep truth.

[ProSense]

16. Here's

The Rahm Emmanuel wing of the Democratic Party should have been thoroughly discredited by the 2010 results and maybe even purged from the party because of those results. But I do not remember even the lightest censure being directed in the Blue Dogs' direction. Instead, I heard 'Dems weren't conciliatory enough with the Republicans and that's why we lost.' Hah!

Look, we both know that today's Republicans are little better than yesterday's fascists. And no working person ever, EVER, deserves to be ruled by fascists.

It's a 'great quote by Truman' because it captures a deep truth.

...a "deep truth": If the goal was to see a "wing of the Democratic Party...thoroughly discredited," by an election that resulted in a big win for Republicans, then the goal was a big FAIL.

Because a huge Republican victory is a good thing for the "working person"?

I don't think any Democratic politician is licking her/his wounds because Republicans won and are trying to take the country back to the 18th century.

[HardTimes99]

19. You may have forgotten, but Rahm Emmanuel called attempts by

Progresssives to primary Blue Dogs 'fucking retarded.' Then, in 2010, it was Blue Dogs were were resoundingly defeated by their fascist rivals. The progressives remained largely untouched by the tidal wave that swept the fascists to power, thereby demonstrating the 'deep truth' of the Truman quote.

So who was 'fucking retarded' when all is said and done, Progressives who wanted candidates who did not play politics with the New Deal, Fair Deal and Great Society or Rahm Emmanuel who was only too willing to appease fascists?

Rahm Emmanuel's politics, strategy and tactics are the main reason for the debacle of 2010 and no working person should ever forget it.

[ProSense]

21. No,

"You may have forgotten, but Rahm Emmanuel called attempts by Progresssives to primary Blue Dogs 'fucking retarded.'"

...I haven't forgotten what Rahm said or the ridiculous mischaracterization of it. He was wrong to use the term, but WTF does that have to do with 2014?

"So who was 'fucking retarded' when all is said and done, Progressives who wanted candidates who did not play politics with the New Deal, Fair Deal and Great Society or Rahm Emmanuel who was only too willing to appease fascists? "

You think it's smart to believe that the outcome of the 2010 election, a sweeping victory for Republicans, was a teach-them-a-lesson moment?

[HardTimes99]

23. I would hope all working people and their advocates in the Democratic Party

looked at and understood just what went down in 2010: Blue Dogs got their asses whomped but Progressives emerged largely unscathed. So why does this party still cow-tow to Blue Dogs, their philosophy having been hugely discredited and revealed as the losing strategy it has been since Truman first spoke?

You bet your ass 2010 was a 'teach-them-a-lesson' moment: You can't defeat fascism by going fascism-lite.

Did I mention I really, REALLY, hate Republicans (except for Abraham Lincoln)?

[Scuba]

9. If Democrats want to win in 2014, they should advocate for ...

... Living Wage

... Medicare for All

... Strengthen, expand Social Security

... Legalize weed

and

... Cut defense to pay for it all



Supporting such positions, Dems could gain tens of millions of votes from the 40% of the electorate who currently stay home because neither Party offers then squat.

Failure to adopt such stances just makes Democrats look like Repubican-lite, demotivates the base, does nothing to attract the currently disaffected and cedes the issues to the other side.

[antiquie]

11. You are correct and it is just common sense.

It is difficult to comprehend why the Corporate Dem$ do not support the people's agenda...

[winter is coming]

18. +1000. You want casual voters to show up at the polls?

There's gotta be something/someone on the ballot they strongly want or don't want. "More of the same" isn't going to get casual voters to turn out and "Republicans as boogeymen" failed in 2010. It's time to run a different play.

[Freddie]

13. "Women: Vote Democratic As If Your Life Depended On It"

In more and more states, it does.

[DontTreadOnMe]

27. I like that phrase

needs to be made into billboards

[leftstreet]

17. Voters eliminated the GOP in 2006 & 2008

What good did it do?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

24. Apparently, it provided employment for the 3rd-Way I-want-to-be-a-Republican crowd.

That trickle-down theory that they and the official Republicans are so proud of isn't working.

[Blanks]

20. There's an entity running anti-republican ads...

Named 'Patriot Majority'. I went to their web page and they have ads against a lot of republican candidates and issues.

I think where we mess up in dealing with the conservatives is that we let them control the message. For example: when these state legislatures are trying to pass laws restricting abortion, we frame it as an assault on women's rights, they frame it as trying to save babies. To the disinterested un-pregnant person on the street; the person protecting babies may have an edge in morality.

However, the attack on the local representative (Cotton) doesn't specifically address what he's doing (except voting to raise his own salary). The idea of attacking conservatives through an organization with both 'patriot' and 'majority' could be very effective.

If we are really going to win in the mid-terms we have to control the message and instead of complaining about what they are doing, we need to complain about what they're not doing.

I think we need to have a list of issues that congress should be working on (at both the state and national level) and to me the most important is the single issue of sustainability/climate change/renewable energy.

Since everyone is so upset about the NSA/surveillance/privacy issue, that could be another issue, but if we keep our focus on abortion, they are controlling the debate.

[cascadiance]

25. Redistricting has hurt us since then... It can also help give us more progressives too...

Though the Republicans have redistricted since 2010 to help them get overall greater numbers in the House, they've had to do it in many places by consolidating all of the progressives more in to certain districts so that they can win the others. Those districts they've "consolidated" in Dem's favor should no longer settle for a DLC "moderate" or anything close to it. If the sitting member is in any way DLCer or corporatist, they should be primaried, and progressives in those districts should have the numbers to put in a more solid Democrat to represent them. Even if we still have a minority in the House, if we can build that minority in to a more cohesive and strong progressive minority that we build from later, that will help us make sure that we don't let crappy bills pass through because poor excuses for Democrats still are reps in districts that should have more progressive representatives instead.

[winter is coming]

26. Good point. If we had a larger contigent of progressives working for us in Congress,

the general perception of Congressional Dems would likely improve.

[SunSeeker]

28. K & R