Here is the Democratic "brand" plain and simple that every Dem can run on:

[LBM20]

Last edited Thu Jun 22, 2017, 06:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Here's the brand:

"We are the champions of the middle class and everyone trying to get into it. We believe in a government and an economy that works for everyone, where everyone can achieve the middle class American dream, period. The people own the government, and it needs to work for them, not just the privileged few. And we believe in capitalism that works as it should by providing all people the American dream, again, not just the privileged few. That means campaign finance reform and not a government that can be sold to the highest bidder, livable wages and fair taxation, affordable education and training, investing in infrastructure and small and medium sized business development, and retirement security through Medicare and Social Security. We believe if you work hard and play by the rules, you have earned the great middle class American dream, and we exist to help you get it."

What is so damn hard about that? Joe Manchin can run on it. John Bel Edwards can run on it. Nancy Pelosi can run on it. Elizabeth Warren can run on it.

Now, three things.

First, this leaves room for differences on social issues. I myself am pro-gun with a long tradition of hunting in my family going back to the 1700's where gun ownership means needed meat in the freezer. It is just fine to be a strong believer is second amendment rights but also a strong populist Democrat. We have to be a big tent party on the social issues and run candidates that fit the districts they are running in in this large diverse country.

Next, it is important to live up to these populist ideals and tell the corporate Democrats to tell their corporate donors to go screw themselves and that we don't need their corrupt corporate toady donations. If they want to be corporate toadies, then go be Republicans. One corporate toady party is enough. We don't need two of them. We need to be a strong grassroots populist party and champions for working and middle class Americans. That is our tradition and who we are supposed to be.

Finally, we can not be a party just about government programs. Some government programs are good and very needed, but it can't stop there. That is NOT the middle class American dream. A good job that provides enough money for you to buy two cars and a home, send your kids college, take a vacation every year, and have a good retirement IS the American dream. And we have to clearly say how our brand of economics gets people there. This is what they aspire to, and we have to clearly speak to their aspirations. And we haven't been and so we have been demolished all over the country.

So there it is.

[bettyellen]

1. Women (who are the base) don't even figure into it for you. FUCK THAT, NOPE!!

[LBM20]

5. How the hell do women not fit into the middle class American dream? Please, enough of that nonsense.

And enough of the identity politics. It STINKS and it is a LOSER. The Dem party is for EVERYONE, not just one gender. I am for ALL genders and all races and all ethic groups being valued, involved, and getting the American class American dream. Keep up the exclusive identity politics and watch the Dems continue to get DEMOLISHED all over this country. People all over the place feel the Dems have left them, and that is because of LOSER identity politics. The party is for EVERYONE, and that means EVERYONE EVERYWHERE, not just some people in some places because you don't agree with some people in some places on some issues.

[Skittles]

14. lol, "identiy politics"

repukes do IDENTITY politics, only theirs are GUNS, GAYS AND GODS

women are NOT A SPECIAL GROUP - WE ARE OVER HALF THE POPULATION

[bettyellen]

20. You seem completely unaware or unconcerned about the ongoing erosion of my rights.

So, we're not interested. Women lead the resistance now, get behind us, or go away. The days of dismissing human rights issues are OVER. We're doing the hard work, don't you dare dictate to us.

[Skittles]

30. I can guarantee you gun rights means more than women's rights to that one

seriously fucked

[bettyellen]

38. He's got a sick idea about "everybody", doesn't he? It's actually "me first" and that's

Ridiculous, becasue women have taken the wheel. We aren't just doing so much more of the work, we're driving the damn thing now. We have no choice after listening to this bullshit for a year. Men got us here, they need to help us undo this shit.

[Alice11111]

2. It needs to be done without attacking the rich too. I've

Had more people tell me that is why they would never vote Dem, and.they were not rich. They are clearly social liberals too. They think the only thing Dems think about is hating rich people. They want to be able to aspire to being a success, by working hard and making money. Besides, we have a lot of good folks on our side who are wealthy.

The image is Dems hate the rich, but want the rich to support them. We need to change this to equal opportunity for all to succeed...and then tax the hell out of them to make it possible for everyone. Clearly, the rich don't need more money, but many tenets of our society do.

[LBM20]

6. Notice I didn't attack the rich. BUT, the rich need to pay their fair share. Easy.

[Alice11111]

16. Strongly agree, but it does come off as Dems hating the rich

I would put the top rate at about 80pc, but quit raging against them.

[FiveGoodMen]

36. Considering what they have done to the US by buying out our democracy from under us

and demanding to take every last penny from everyone, everywhere...

I DO HATE THE RICH.

YES. THAT SIMPLE. THEY ARE EVIL.

FUCK THE RICH.

[BumRushDaShow]

41. And then there were FDR & JFK & LBJ

FDR
JFK
LBJ

[Alice11111]

43. & Bill Gates, George Soros, Warren Buffett and hundreds

Of others who give billions to good causes. Warren Buffett gives a lot to Planned Parenthood.

[BumRushDaShow]

44. But to drive home the point

The three I listed were Democratic Presidents - 1 of whom is worshiped as the standard-bearer of populism by the "faux populists" on DU.

Roosevelt estate (New York) -


Kennedy compound (Massachusetts) -


Johnson Ranch (Texas) -

[Alice11111]

45. Interesting photos. FDR started many social programs, LBJ

got the Civil Rights Act through the south ( and it was Ladybird's money), and Kennedy fought for civil rights.

We could just elect Mike Pence's, who can't afford his own lawyer.

My point is, we can't be the party that just rags on the rich.
Maybe many are GREEDY and will shaft theit workers like DT, though I think he is an extreme exception. Many detest him as much as we do too.

We should be a party of values, care and respect for people as individuals. To determine your status based on how much money you have or don't have is the Republican's gig

[BumRushDaShow]

46. I agree 100%

But the post I was responding to claimed to "hate the rich" and "they are evil". And the OP is describing systems like Social Security and Medicare that were promoted by wealthy 1%ers like FDR (whose father was a railroad barron) and LBJ (whose wife owned profitable Texas television and radio stations). I.e., they made money or inherited money as "corporatists".

So based on that, both are "evil".

Add in the Kennedy patriarch (who dabbled in the same types of "industry" that Drumpf did - real estate, stock market, etc.), and you have one helluva evil but much-worshiped populist Democratic Presidents.

[bettyellen]

22. You make a special place for guns while throwing women and POC under your bus. No fuckig way.

Get over yourself.

[Skittles]

39. that is what repukes do

[BumRushDaShow]

3. "Finally, we can not be a party just about government programs."

That right there is a RW talking point. There is nothing in the Democratic Party platform that only focuses on "government programs". The whole infrastructure, alternative energy, and healthcare planks involved partnerships with industry to bring about training and jobs.

And there's also nothing in the platform that was anti-2nd Amendment. There has been a call for "common sense" regulation and it seems the extremists among the gun owners keep assuming that this means Democrats want to take away their guns.

And the irony of your argument against "corporate Democrats" is that it flies in the face of your talking point about "party of government programs". So which is it? You need "corporations" to create jobs unless the government itself does that ("through government programs&quot . Unless you are on the RW "entitlement" bandwagon, which then contradicts your note about Medicare/Social security.

FAIL.

[LBM20]

7. Dems have done a SHITTY job SAYING they are not just about government programs. So this COUNTERS

the right wing talking point and framing of us. We need to talk about our populist brand of private sector capitalism, and we have not been.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. WTF?

How many times have Democrats stood in front of crumbling bridges and roads to promote infrastructure investment? Or have promoted partnerships to re-train those in industries that have gone the way of the horse and buggy?

The problem is that the left does NOT own the media (newspapers, news magazines, broadcast radio and television including cable). When you don't own the megaphone then your message will not be heard, where the "framing" you talk about is coming from media that we do not own nor control.

[LBM20]

19. Dems do a SHITTY job framing and sticking to one powerful collective message, and that is just the

truth. R's are much more effective at this. Dems are scattered on this.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. You want one message that you think is "collective" and it is not. nt

[Alice11111]

47. Dems used to be better. The Repubs watched, copied,

improved upon, then blew up and cheated. The Dems would rather implode than compromise and win.

I still cant figure our why no one is investigating jill stein. She was right there at the RT dinner, obviously being paid to attend, just like Flynn. She was just one of Putins tools to shave off some votes.

[Alice11111]

21. We need to talk small business, because the Repubs are

BIG business
Obamacare was a lifeline to small business, who do pay major taxes because the corporations finagle their way out of it. Small business is the backbone of the country, and almost everything the Repubs do hurts small businesses, who are usually struggling.

[Skittles]

4. pro gun

does exactly does that mean? Are you are pro-everyone living in fear and sporting assault weapons with no regulations?

[LBM20]

8. Please, enough of the extremism. It means favoring safe legal hunting, sport shooting, and self

protection. Go ahead. Be anti-gun, and watch the Dems continue to get SMASHED TO PIECES in rural America.

[Skittles]

11. enough with the extreme?

GUNS KILL 1300 CHILDREN A YEAR IN AMERICA - *THAT* is what is *EXTREME*

and FUCK THOSE IGNORANT VOTERS

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-gun-deaths-children-20170619-story.html

[LBM20]

28. No, idiots unsafe with guns who allow kids to access them kill them. I am damn talking about

SAFE LEGAL HUNTING, target shooting, and self protection. Guns are our heritage. I am all for some common sense gun safety measures. But guns in rural America are not the same as guns in big cities.

Saying "Fuck Those Ignorant Voters" means elitism, ethnocentrism, and why the Dem party has been DEMOLISHED all over the country.

I am from a rural state with a lot of hunting. It means meat in the freezer for people who NEED it, just like my family going back to the 1700's. That is what I am talking about, and it is extreme to talk about guns in such a narrow way. Guns on the streets of the Bronx are not the same as guns in rural New England.

[Skittles]

32. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

you tell me nothing I don't already know

republicans are voting against their own self-interests because they're sooooooo afraid someone is going to take away their guns because THAT IS WHAT THEIR DITTOMASTERS TELL THEM

time will take care of the trends of most of these racist, ignorant voters: they are holding on to a way of life that is dying out

hopefully the fact that they were so easily fooled by the fascist orange buffoon may awaken SOME of them

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a55824/senate-republican-healthcare-bill/

[Alice11111]

42. Yeah, we have to be realistic. I grew up partly on my grand

Father's farm. He kept a gun for wolves who got in the chicken coup or cattle. The mantra was, "dont take your gun to town."

I don't know why it is such a hard issue to resolve.
In America, guns are not going away, no matter how much we wish they would.So, let's get reasonable. If I were King:

1. Assault weapons only for law enforcement in limited circumstances and the military. Not fair for PD to have to deal with nutty people shooting them with assault weapons. Dallas. Felony, 2 yrs in jail and $20000, first offence.
2. All guns must be registered, just like you have to have a license to drive. Take a photo of yourself, photo of each gun, number or identifier on gun, file it. Renew every 5 years. Yeah, some nuts will say it will be used to take their guns away, but there are nuts all over saying dumb things.
It will help the police solve crimes. You pay a small fee for each gun to aid in enforcement program, upon registration. $50+?, just like a car.
Failure to Register is Class A Misdemeanor with $250 fine per gun. Give people 6 mo to get old guns registered w a 6 mo extention for $500. 2nd offence becomes a felony.
New guns register upon purchase. Any guns not registered within a year can be confiscated.
3. Start a Goverment program to buy guns at good prices to reduce the number around. Instead of people pawning their wedding rings, they can sell their guns to the government at a better price than they would get anywhere else. Maybe FMV plus 25pc. or 50pc. Create an incentive to get guns from being all over the place. Give the good ones to law enforcement and destroy all others.
4. No guns schools, universities, parks and public lands (some exceptions for hunting w proper license) or public places. Hire plain closed and dressed marshalls with guns to protect these places and airports. Numbers depend on population and area, but at least 2. A large University could have 20.They are to be posted all around, not hanging out together in an office.
Cameras in all rooms and all about. ER buttons, just like fire extinguishers, are easily accessible.
5. Air travel, can declare and check in a gun box, so labeled, a registered gun, but no ammunition. Have to buy it when get to hunting lodge or wherever .
6. Anyone owning and registering a gun must take a gun safety course and first aid course. Pass a minimal test, like for a driver's license. The courses , or part of, couldbe available on line.
7. No guns for felons or those charged w domestic violence, child abuse or other crimes. Once proven not guilty, can retrieve guns.
8. Anyone on terrorist list, no guns. Get busy and clear your name. TSA or FBI check.
9. If you purchase or own a gun, you must have FBI check. FBI before take possession of new gun. Hey, you have to wait to get a passport, why not a gun.
10. If you have minor children living at home, you have to register your storage facility, which must meet minimum standards, so that it can't be broken into. Must be issued a certificate by law enforcement who inspects. Store off the premises until you get certificate. Glass showcases that can be easily broken into are not acceptable. (Possible exception for antique guns or rifles, like civil war, if they cannot be loaded and used. )
11. If you are notified by law enforcement or social workers, schools, psychologists that someone in your house, including you (usually a teenager) is at risk of
Hurting his or herself or others, you must turn your guns over to law enforcement or a specially licensed dealer for storage, until such time that it is agreed that the risk has passed.
12. No concealed carry permits , except for law enforcement, marshalls, & security, and these professional people must renew right to carry annually w a brief interview w a doctor, social worker or psychologist. Providers can give a form, just like for a handicapped sticker. Take that to motor vehicle and get a card license.
13. Other people who own or purchase guns also must have such an interview every 5 years when re register guns or buy a new gun. They could choose to see their own physician or SW or psychologist.
14. Profesionals who do such interviews must eventually be trained and licensed for such, as the program is put into place
15. Anyone acquiring a gun for another person must register the gun and declare who the gun will go to (maybe a Christmas present). Before the person getting the gun may take possession, he or she must register. Not sure, but it might be easier to state no one can buy a gun for another. If it's a gift, go pick it out, register, background check, before take possession.
16. Anyone selling a gun to another must go to a registered gun dealership or law enforcement to complete the transaction, all other necessary steps, and registration.
17. Any large events, sports. Concerts, nightclubs, stores are required to have proper security and cameras.
18. In summary, Background checks will include an FBI check, doctor or mental health visit, and a 20?day waiting period. How far out to you have to book some plane tickets?
19. This is much less than Europe or the UK require. If you have nothing to hide, it shouldnt be a problem, once you have gotten through the initial registration...which is less than you have to do to get into college or get certain medications. It will create a lot of jobs. If a teacher is feeling nervous about someone, she can silently push a button and summon an officer to sit in her class. Officers will routinely check out classes or sit in, so it will not be cause for alarm to see one.

[nikibatts]

9. Yaeh, because corporate donors and people with money are ALL bad right? They didn't help us win

over the decades, right? WTF do you mean by "tell the corporate Democrats to tell their corporate donors to go screw themselves and that we don't want them."?

Last I looked they had a "D" beside their name. So the "big tent" is only big enough for other than corporate donors. Perfect example of problems within.

[LBM20]

12. Do you want to be a progressive populist brand or do you want to be a second Wall Street brand? Your

choice. The party needs some core values. If you believe in continuing to sell out Wall Street and K Street, go ahead. It is why we have been losing. We are supposed to middle and working class champions, not Wall Street fat cat champions just like the Republicans.

[nikibatts]

18. We have some core values and one of them is to be INCLUSIVE!

[bettyellen]

24. But but but.... his paycheck!

[Alice11111]

25. !!!

[Alice11111]

33. It is not either or. At least half of Wall Street voted Hillary,

while knowing there would be a tax increase. If you take this purist philosophy, we will never win. Broaden the base, rather than shouting people away.
They have a right to be Democrats, just like you.

[Alice11111]

29. For sure. I've been trying to make this point too

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. well glad you fixed that problem for us. so long as no one actually asks a question on abortion

or criminal reform or black lives matter or really anything, we can just repeat your lines likes parrots.

[LBM20]

13. ALL lives matter, and some Dems can disagree on social issues and still be Dems. Or we LOSE.

Do you want to be a national party or a litmus test purity party on social issues everywhere? Because that mentality has DEMOLISHED this party all over the nation.

Are you against economic and government populism too? How about those issues?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

17. i would not vote for someone who in this day and age and after 2016

responded with all lives matter.

i would just not do it. and if women of color don't turn out for your candidate, your candidate loses.

[nikibatts]

23. So who, then will women of color turn out for that will actually benefit them? The women of color I

I know are very smart, and well schooled in politics and pragmatism.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

26. democrats won't be dumb enough to depend on WOC and run away from them

else we dont show and they lose.

it's not just disaffected white people who can ask the party to earn their votes

[bettyellen]

27. So guns matter more than women's lives? Your paycheck more than Justice for POC.? Nope....

It appears you're some sort of libertarian. Go away with this bullshit.

[BumRushDaShow]

34. You just put a "litmus test" on a wing of the party

that has given Democrats the funding to get other Democrats elected in states like NJ (notably northern) that rely on banking or pharmaceuticals.

You make a false argument because a large majority of Democrats prefer to include "all" as long as they are not actively engaged in going after the marginalized. Your argument has essentially elevated one group that you claim as being neglected, over others who have been neglected for the entire history of this nation.

One of my Senators here in PA (Casey) is a Catholic (like his father, the former governor) and is thus personally against abortions. But he is not actively trying to defund Planned Parenthood nor has he ever done what his father did, as a Democrat, and shepherd through something akin to PA's "Abortion Control Act". That shot across the bow lead to Governor Casey being sued by Planned Parenthood, resulting in the landmark "Planned Parenthood vs Casey" ruling 25 years ago.

Hopefully you will see the difference of what many of us are saying.

[bresue]

31. Call us the Bourgeous party?

[betsuni]

37. I still don't know what or who corporate Democrats are.

I suppose I never will.

[Skittles]

40. by the way

Last edited Thu Jun 22, 2017, 09:36 PM - Edit history (1)

if the "repuke brand" was so great, they would not have to rely so much on gerrymandering, voter suppression and Russia

this is how STUPID these fucking people are:

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a55808/trump-rally-poor-people-solar-wall/

Democrats DO NOT need to change their brand, they need to target the people who are not voting. Repuke voters are LOST FUCKING CAUSE.

[Awsi Dooger]

48. Republicans squeeze every last advantage

Illegal, unethical and outright lies but at least the moves make sense toward the desired outcome. Democrats, on the other hand, are inept handicappers. I've emphasized that countless times since joining this site in 2002 and for decades prior.

In Las Vegas sportsbook circles I quickly learned that I had to seize every method to negate and reverse the mathematical casino advantage. That meant I had to get the best possible odds on every game along with playing middles and arbitrages, etc. Daily grind with tons of legwork but logical and successful. In following politics I see the Republicans essentially doing the same thing. They aren't popular. They rarely pretend to be popular. They savage the opposition while placing a handful of big picture themes into the mindset of the electorate then hammering and hammering away. It's backed by massaging the districts and voter rolls in their favor. Russia was a late summon and candidate driven. Somebody like Jeb wouldn't have gone there, and probably denounced it, while more than satisfied with the typical schemes. He was Florida cleanse 2000, after all.

When I do all the exhaustive dirtywork in Las Vegas it's amazing how often the result cooperates. I imagine Republicans feel the same way. They must laugh like hell as we whine about machines and similar waste of time. None of that is earning a half percent here or half percent there. In fact, just the opposite. We actually play into their hands and do some of the work for them when the faces of our party are the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Rachel Maddow. That's no pushing or explaining required. One look or one mention and the hate overflows. Then we run Obama and Hillary back to back but somehow choose the most amazingly ignorant ordering possible. The more likable candidate had to go second, in the exponentially more difficult terrain after two straight terms for the party. I'll always wonder how the nation and world would have evolved if we'd simply been intelligent and slotted Hillary in 2008 with unmarked Obama waiting in the wings.

Then during the 2016 campaign we brainstorm to prioritize North Carolina and its 43% self-identified conservatives. We might as well campaign in Winnipeg. I realize I'm the only one who ever mentions those liberal/conservatives splits by state. That's the issue. The party relies on bullshit polls, ones that often carry no foundational logic whatsoever. Some of the polls in every campaign are so moronic it's literally like debuting pro football pregame polls and touting them on the air: Look, according to our poll Tom Brady is forecast to go 3 for 28 this week with 6 interceptions. Interesting.

Yes, Republican voters are stupid. We allow them to be stupid, without shame or concern. People don't like to feel stupid or inferior. There hasn't been one clever slogan or campaign aimed at jarring the fringe Republican voter out of the stupidity or gullibility. Remember the Apple commercials with the cool guy and the PC nerd? I absolutely loved that campaign. I've owned a chunk of Apple stock since the late '90s. I was touting Apple stock here when the price was 50 bucks and countless posters were dismissing the company as nothing but overpriced hardware, blah blah blah. In fact, those people are the reason I adopted this avatar well more than a decade ago. Lousy handicappers...no surprise.

I knew that Apple campaign was sheer brilliance, that it would unnerve some PC owners while swaying others to make the switch, to become cool. You could tell how effective the campaign was when Microsoft desperately tried to counter with its own pathetic version. And there is no reason Democratic strategists can't summon some type of ad aimed at people who fell for fake news, or believed the manufacturing jobs would magically reappear, etc.

It is not a risk. The risk is doing nothing similar. Chuck Schumer holding up a "Meaner" sign is exactly the type of standard fare hopelessly overmatched tactic we've used since I started following this party.

[Skittles]

49. I guess I just do not fall for slick shit

I have never bought an Apple product