Why the Democrats won't win in November!

Besides the obvious, republican owned Diebold & ES&S electronic voting machines, breaking down and not counting votes in prodominatly Dem precincts, adding of votes in prodominatly republican precincts, etc... This is the way the republicans will keep races close, in order to steal the necessary votes with their machines.

At dinner a few weeks ago, a well-placed Republican political operative was oozing confidence about GOP prospects in the November elections, not because the voters were enamored of George W. Bush but because the Democrats and liberals had done so little to improve their ability to reach the public with their message.

By contrast, he described to me a highly sophisticated Republican system for pouncing on Democratic “bad votes” and verbal gaffes and distributing the information instantaneously to a network of pro-Republican media outlets that now operates down to the state, district and local levels.

This huge conservative media advantage has now contributed to dooming Democratic hopes for snaring the vulnerable suburban San Diego seat of imprisoned Republican congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham.

In the June 6 special election, Republicans reported a last-minute surge of support after conservative media outlets trumpeted a verbal blunder by Democrat Francine Busby, propelling Republican lobbyist Brian Bilbray to victory by about four percentage points.

Near the end of a lackluster campaign in which Busby followed the advice of national Democratic consultants to avoid controversial positions, the candidate blurted out to a mostly Latino audience that “you don’t need papers for voting” before she clarified her meaning to say “you don’t need to be a registered voter to help.”

But conservative radio and TV talk show hosts across southern California seized on Busby’s verbal slip and began accusing her of urging illegal immigrants to vote. Busby then spent the last several days of the campaign apologizing and backtracking.

In explaining Busby’s defeat in this bellwether special election, national Democratic consultants will likely point to failures of Busby as a candidate or the fact that the Republican Congressional Committee pumped more than $4.5 million into the district.

But the one point the Democratic consultants almost never mention is the giant media advantage that Republicans have created from years of investing in media outlets – from newspapers, magazines and books to cable television, talk radio and the Internet.

Yet, it is this conservative messaging capability – in coordination with the Republican national political operation – that has proved decisive in election after election, even in disputed contests such as Florida in Election 2000 when the conservative media quickly portrayed Bush as the legitimate winner even though Al Gore got more votes.

Funneling Money

One of the reasons that the Democratic consultant class neglects this glaring problem is that the consultants don’t profit from building media infrastructure or from other nitty-gritty aspects of prevailing in the national “war of ideas.” Even in losing, there is money from consulting contracts and ad buys.

Obviously, during election cycles, Democratic consultants encourage wealthy liberals and progressives to funnel money into campaigns or into allied groups where Democratic insiders also get a cut of the ad buys. Then, in off years, the Democratic “consultariat” directs the money into “think tanks” where other friends and insiders hold down high-paying jobs but don’t really do very much.

Then, when elections roll around, the Democratic consultants are there to help pick the candidates and counsel them in expressing safe “themes” that have been tested before focus groups arranged by other consultants. Next, the tightly managed candidates are guided through campaigns designed less to inspire than not to offend.

Inevitably, however, the over-coached, tongue-tied candidate blurts out some stupid remark – even a polished candidate like John Kerry made a clunky ill-timed comment about Dick Cheney’s gay daughter – and the Republicans immediately go for the throat.

The Busby defeat was a kind of microcosm for this pattern of Democratic failure.

Given the conservatives’ huge media advantage at both national and local levels, the Republicans demonstrated how easily they can still set the defining issues of a race, despite the country’s general dismay over Bush’s presidency.

In the Busby-Bilbray race, the Republicans made immigration the hot-button issue and Busby’s clumsy remark soon was reverberating through the giant echo chamber of right-wing talk shows, right-wing blogs and right-wing columnists.

Lacking the media artillery to fire back and having had her fighting spirit leeched out of her by the consultants, Busby chose not to go on the offensive and accuse the Republicans of using their old tactics of division, racism and smear. Instead, she followed another favorite piece of Democratic consultant advice: apologize and retreat.

“This is a classic case of how the Democratic consultariat class loses an election,” said Brent Budowsky, a political analyst and a former aide to Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Rep. Bill Alexander.

Budowsky said the Busby race again revealed the national Democrats’ failure to match up with the Republicans across the board, from their campaign spending to “their aggressive commitment to every aspect of the election machinery and a convincing message necessary to win.”

“I hope this creates an uprising of Democrats all over the country demanding a party that will take a courageous case to the country and will fight the fight worthy of the crisis that America faces,” Budowsky said.

A similar pattern applies to the dwindling number of Democrats who manage to win and go to Washington. Given the clout and cruelty of the conservative news media – and the me-too conformity of the mainstream press – many Democratic officeholders feel that to be “taken seriously,” they must hedge or “triangulate” their views even between elections. That’s how they get onto the Sunday talk shows and are treated with “respect.”

On the other hand, Republicans harbor no similar fears and indeed seem to relish taking the fight to even mildly skeptical mainstream talk show hosts, who, in turn, must fear for their careers if they are targeted as “liberal” by angry and well-organized conservatives.

Yet, as the Busby defeat has again demonstrated, the national Democrats don’t seem to have any clue how to break this cycle.

http://consortiumnews.com/2006/060706.html

(Much more interesting thoughts & ideas in this article).

so lets not waste our time working for candidates or even voting--it's a forgone conclusion that the GOP will win--no matter what.

p.s.
I'm sick of the media trying to label the election in California's 50th as a big loss for Democrats. They are taking Rove's talking points hook, line and sinker--just as some on DU are. The fact is that Busby erased an 22-point deficit to 4-points in a heavily Republican district. She was always the underdog and the GOP ended up spending alot of money to preserve a seat they shouldn't have spent a quarter of that amount on.

Did you read the whole article---Do you care about stopping these republican owned Diebold & ES&S machines...you want to just give up---NOT wake up and do something?

Breaking the Cycle

Another question I’m often asked is how can Americans, who are alarmed by the drift of their country, change this dynamic. Not surprisingly, my answer is usually about the need to build an honest media infrastructure that will engage the American people with well-reported information on issues that are vital to the country.

But given the current media imbalance to the Right, there is also a desperate need to level the playing field by having more media outlets that present views more from the Left side of the political spectrum.

Liberals and progressives simply cannot count on the mainstream news media to act as a counterweight to conservative news outlets. That is not in the job description of mainstream journalists, who understand that their careers will be better served if they tilt Right and avoid getting stuck with the “liberal” label.

Since 2004, the Left has benefited somewhat from the creation of Air America Radio and the emergence of progressive talk stations around the country. But those cash-strapped start-ups never had the strong backing of wealthy liberals and thus have been forced to skimp on advertising and production of original news content.

In the book, The Road to Air America, Sheldon Drobny, one of the liberal radio network’s founders, described the resistance he encountered from “limousine liberals” in California and elsewhere while trying to raise money for the project. “It was too risky an investment for most people’s taste,” Drobny wrote.

Another problem was that wealthy liberals were listening to the same Democratic consultant class that had led the party to lose control of the entire U.S. government – from the White House to Congress to the courts. Like political candidates, wealthy liberals felt safer giving money to operations run by “credentialed” Democratic operatives.

This “consultariat” mostly disparaged investments in media and directed money instead to “think tanks” where the consultants and many of their friends were kept in high-paying jobs. They apparently are awaiting a Republican crackup like the one in 1992 when Ross Perot siphoned enough votes away from George H.W. Bush for Bill Clinton to slip into the White House.

So, instead of investing in promising Internet sites or improving the “progressive” content on radio and TV, liberal money flowed overwhelmingly into the hands of the same ol’ Democratic consultant class.

Perhaps, the Busby defeat finally will serve as a wake-up call to the Democratic Party to throw off the consultariat’s cold hand of failure and turn to candidates who are not afraid to address the pressing issues of war and democracy now confronting the United States.

Perhaps, money will be redirected to groups and institutions that are leading these fights – and away from the “think tanks” and consulting firms that have a vested interest in maintaining the Democratic Party as little more than a junior partner in a Republican one-party state.

Perhaps it is still not too late for Election 2006 to be a meaningful referendum on where George W. Bush’s authoritarian form of government is leading America.

http://consortiumnews.com/2006/060706.html

which has made me cranky.

feeding the M$M with your negative posts and comments.

Change your title!

criticism can at least give us an idea on where we need to improve. We are up against a political machine with the republicans and they are getting our fucking asses. We are getting bad advice from our own consultants and not standing together as a party in support of each other. The ass whipping will continue until we get a clue. The media is the least of our problems when we can't get our leaders to show some love to each other.

GOPs have been investing in for decades while Dem investor groups never bother to pick up any media outlets that come up for sale.

The GOP media team was CONSTRUCTED into a behemoth with massive clout. The Dem media team doesn't even exist.

I think they're harboring plenty of fears.

I love reading defeatist propaganda on DU.

Too bad the Dems couldn't scrape up more money and better advice for the lady, she was on a roll for awhile.

"some sort of federal program" and got caught hiding an old DUI, but he still "won" thanks to Fox News and the Supreme whores. Have the absentee ballots been counted yet or not?

showed weakest is that our leaders didn't stand up and defend Kerry as a group. He said nothing wrong and expose the hypocrisy. However, the other points are pretty much on mark.

Don't make me feel like such an emo kid, gah.

Democrats can and will win in November.

I've waited too long (18 years) to just be discouraged about my first general election!

because they are not friends of the democratic party, IMO.

that the republicans wll fuck up type candidates.

The Dem's have go out and fight!!!

Being Right Is NOT Enough - What Progressives Can Learn From Conservative Success
By Paul Waldman--Media Maters

Excellent book---Amust read for ALL progressives!

How many Congressional races did it happen in this year? At least two I know of, where a popular local candidate was replaced by someone brought in from outside and given massive DC support. Dissing the grassroots people, that always makes it easier to mobilize folks the next time.

“This is a classic case of how the Democratic consultariat class loses an election,” ...as the Busby defeat has again demonstrated....????

Christ on a motorbike, despite DIEBOLD and an overwhelmingly GOP district, she came within less than 5K votes of pulling it off.

Whistling in the dark, more like.

pegged, no guts, follow the strategist line of don't stir the waters. When their candidates lose they go home with money in their pocket and they wait for the next election. In other words, the party is scattered, without a real plan. And to think the Dems in Washington just love to trash Howard Dean for trying to get the "group" together on Something. Read the article and read how we will lose in November.

article is a detailed echo of something I wrote on DU last Friday.

This was my thread:

Why I don't expect big name Dems and Dem pundits to push the RFK article.

Edited on Fri Jun-02-06 05:37 PM by blm
Because it goes against everything THEY have been selling for the last couple decades - their EXPENSIVE services.

There is ALOT of money to be made in consulting for strategists. These strategists often double as pundits and spokespeople for the Dem party and get most of the allowed airtime from the media.

Except they make their living telling Dem lawmakers and politicians what THEY say they are doing WRONG and what THEY think NEEDS to be done and said to get elected.

Gore won - yet there were so many mewling about what they think he did wrong. Kennedy's article proves Kerry CLOBBERED Bush and Bush had to go to great lengths to suppress votes, purge voter rolls and rig machines all over the country to stay in power.

But, that's never been the storyline that makes money for Dem party strategists and pundits. No - it's CRUCIAL to their paychecks to paint Kerry as an out of touch loser who should have listened to them. Only by stressing MISTAKES and EXAGGERATING those mistakes' impact on the race, do they frighten the next crop of contenders and party elders into paying BIG MONEY for their services and thereby controlling the Dem message which they want to move rightward.

If the voting machines were banned state by state and Dems get a square count, Dems will be victorious because the Dem priorities and issues are the right ones for most Americans and always have been - and the consultant and strategist business would shrink to its appropriate size and role within the party.

Just my 2 cents.

supporters who make the pundits pay instead of picking apart everybody from their party. That's how the cycle gets broken and the people who are supposed to be OUR echo chamber are the ones who don't get it.

This was like a red flag:

At dinner a few weeks ago, a well-placed Republican political operative was oozing confidence about GOP prospects in the November elections, not because the voters were enamored of George W. Bush but because the Democrats and liberals had done so little to improve their ability to reach the public with their message.


Talk about "hook, line and sinker"!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

The R's are in panic mode, as well they should be. That oft cited pantload, "The Dems have nothing to offer!" is hardly original, nor accurate. What's with all the anti-Dem propaganda on DU lately?

:shurg:

Julie

He wants BushInc exposed and taken down as much as we do.

He knows what's going on - and he knows that the whole process for GOPs begins with their manipulation of the media that they pretty much control.

cause he's parroting the RW line.

Julie

and the republicans are going to turn illegal immigration into a wedge issue. Bu$h is up on his throne yelling amnesty and the house is yelling no way.

What just happened in the Senate (illegal immigration) was a joke run by the RNC, and they now have a wedge issue that's going to work for them come November.

Just seen it happen in San Diego, that was the issue in So. Cal and it's going to be a big issue in the the mid terms. I don't like it, but it's gonna happen as sure as i'm typing this post.

Peace!

They are going to be talking Immigration, Immigration, IMMIGRATION!!! until they go blue in the face.

Then when the exit polls appear to be showing a democratic victory, they'll explain it away when the actual results are different, by claiming it was the immigration issue which swung it their way.

NO WAY THEY'RE GOING TO LET DEMS TAKE CONTROL OF EITHER HOUSE IN '06.

and all of the repuke companies that are laying off american workers to ether ship their jobs off shore or by hiring undocumented workers. We need to win Red States!

all those issued you mentioned are important, but the repugs now have a wedge issue and that's all Rove needed. Rove and the RNC will drive illegal immigration home till Nov, mark my word.

No matter how much we talk about corruption and how it's gone on for the past six years, want matter one damn bit and it's going to drives me crazy.

The whole damn list we have on Bu$h and his congress, just went out the window. People are going to be fixated on illegal immigration from now till Nov, and the MSM will make sure they are.

I'll be damn!! This is going to be a very hard fight, alway thought it was going to be hard but it just got a lot tougher.

Peace!

They will do whatever is necessary.

I'm not going to rain on anyone's parade. You can Rah Rah Rah all you want between now and November. But I stand by my prediction, that any gains the Dems will make are going to be limited, and won't result in control of either house.

The repubs have too much at stake to let the congress fall into democratic hands. They Won't allow it to happen. Mark my words.

It's ok to try. It's fine to put in the effort. But don't be surprised when the results don't pan out.

Busby should have won. Busby could have won. But Busby lost. Whether it's by 5 points or 20 points, she lost. Go ahead and cheer that it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. Try selling that to someone who lost and see what they think.

I'm just so sick of the Dems losing, but I don't expect that to change anytime soon. It's what they do best.

Folks, I made this exact same argument about Dem consultants and strategists last week.

And the media infrastructure that was built by GOP investment teams while Dem investors don't even bother with media purchases when they become available.

Copying and pasting the work of others won't cut it.

the march of Republicans, or more truthfully stated, Fascism.

But it would be difficult to defend statements such as Busby's.

As long as we vote by means of the "vote theft" machines, we will always hear excuses such as poll numbers shifting on election day due to a "last-minute surge of support" or voters "deciding they're afraid of 'homos'", (which is insulting to everyone) fear of terrorism, fear of marauding bears gone wild, blah, blah, frickedy blah.

Sometimes such things can actually be true, but again it implies that most Americans are stupid and vote on a whim. We'll never know for certain as long as we don't vote with paper ballots, hand counted.

Busby's gaff could have at least been mitigated somewhat by shows being required to have an opposing view represented. Maybe we should call the Fairness Doctrine "The Protection From Propaganda Law" to garner it more public support.

Get rid of the Electoral College and let us publicly fund presidential elections. That too would be a boost to actual Democracy.

with any degree of fairness, at all. And I think Parry has it right that the Dems screwed up by not having a solid media team to counter the GOPs who put theirs together with DEDICATION resulting in near total control of all broadcast media.

and unless we do something very different - it could happen again.

DAMN.

It IS the media, guys. It's the echo chamber. And the fact is - WE DON'T HAVE ONE!!!

I, too, don't know why the Dems or progressive groups or SOMEBODY isn't buying up EVERY radio and TV station that might come up for sale, and stringing together a little network. Hell, if I had that kind of money, it's the first AND ONLY THING I'd do. And I sure wouldn't give it to the consultants - who've been steering us wrong through SEVERAL election cycles.

To me, it's all about the media.

With the right-wing echo machine and the conservative-leaning "mainstream media," all politics and political discourse in this country is skewed. It is not a level playing field. Repukes can say or do anything they want and get away with it, while Democrats are painted in caricatures: the wooden Gore, the aristocratic Kerry, the over-the-top Dean. Talk of stolen elections and the exposure of lies for wars is muffled and papered-over. Meanwhile, every Dem waits to be hammered by the media.

I would quibble with one thing in the article: The author makes a distinction between the right-wing media and the mainstream media. To me, they are one and the same.

:rofl:

(One of the Aliens movies, remember?)

Oh ye of faint heart...

Sheesh.