...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Thursday, June 19, 2003
      ( 11:07 AM )
 
Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes

Two excellent readings this week with wake up calls for the Dems. The first has already been mentioned in several blogs. But I just had a chance to sit down and read it last night in its entirety, and it's well worth a perusal. It's the article by Ruy Teixeira, "Deciphering the Democrats' Debacle." He talks about what happened in the 2002 elections and why the Republicans might not be sitting as pretty as they think. But there are some good object lessons in the articles for Democrats to take to hear for this upcoming battle. The most important one being:

...the Democrats are learning that "No ideas don't
beat bad ideas." In 2002, they had no agreed upon
economic policy, no plausible alternative foreign
policy, and a handful of domestic program proposals
like prescription drug benefits for seniors that
Republicans neutralized with vague proposals of their own.

Building on this message, thanks to Eric Alterman for pointing us yesterday to Danny Goldberg's new book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the segment of "Dispatches from the Culture Wars" released by Salon. I enjoyed it for two major reasons: 1) he writes in a very down-to-earth, non-elitist, non-patronizing way and 2) he brings up a crucial point about the Left ignoring the young people. This is an incredible asset that we have, people just getting politically active and just starting to vote. This demographic is made for the Left in its social awareness and its rejection of what the GOP has stood for. But if the Dems keep harping on GOP issues, keep focusing on things that turn off the 18-25 year old population, they are going to fall hard and fast. It's time to turn on, tune in and take charge, kids.



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