A message to DEMOCRATS

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I just got a fundraising call from the Dems that began (more or less): "The 2004 election was very devastating to Democrats, and that's why it's important that we raise money to defeat Bush's agenda."

STOP BEING THE SCRAWNY KID ON THE PLAYGROUND! You're devastated? Are you hurricane victims or a political party? Show some fight! Don't tell me you need money because you're devastated! And stop telling the world you're "deeply hurt" by Republican comments! Don't you get that that's what they want?

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

Hurting's right. Look ahead. Concentrate on the future instead of alluding to past defeats.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

I'm confused now.

You're not hurting, hurting?

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

It would be really nice if the Democratic Party as an organization grew a backbone.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

Dems have been acting like a battered wife for so long, they don't know how to stop.

― recovering optimist (Royal Bed Bouncer), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

mmmmmm, battered.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

Mark, I'm as devastated as anyone by the last few years of politics, but using that as a talking point is no way to win an election.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:36 (twenty years ago)

mmmmmm wife

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

http://www.blogman.net/mt2/archives/deangoesmad2-thumb.jpg

― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

xpost it's not the election they want hurting! it's your MONEY

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

Note to America,

Get some real politicans please.

Thanks.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

xpost The tone of the statement made me not even want to give them my money. I wanted to just hang up the phone. And I am planning to give them money this year.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

feingold for prez! not that america will ever vote for a guy named feingold but still!

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

If any politician actually tells me "I need to get into office because we need to get X done" and it's actually a reasonable issue, I'll elect them at this point. I don't care what it is, just make it an issue that's important and make it easy to sell and make everyone else look like a jackass for neglecting it.

― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

The tone of the statement made me not even want to give them my money.

well that's really kinda silly, if ya ask me.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

Stence, understand that I wouldn't actually not give them my money because of the statement. But looking at it from the perspective of someone who wasn't already ready to donate, I don't think I'd rush for my wallet after hearing that.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

i wouldn't donate to anyone who called me! maybe that's just me...

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

The Republicans handed a counter-talking point to the Democrats on a silver platter ("Stop playing the Blame Game!" ===> "This is not a game! Stop fucking up the country!") and to my knowledge only Hillary Clinton has picked up on it.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

http://re2.mm-c1.yimg.com/image/1472789763
"Wow, I really got my ass kicked in the last race. Pathetic showing, really. I'm not very good at this. Would you please consider sponsoring me?"

― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

Giving Politicians money? They'll be wanting clothes next!

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

I just got a fundraising call from the Dems

which Dems? the DNC? DSCC? DCCC? State party? Local Democratic club?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

Oh, that is bad. WTF. Over at dKos people were freaking out the other day about losing the "framing" battle over the aftermath of Katrina. This, with Bush's approval rating at 38%.

If they could just get some people to write decent no-BS talking points and stay on message! The usual "liberal" DC pundits will wring their hands but that's all they ever do.

― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

also, a fundraising call is not a media strategy. perhaps the people who give the most money are responsive to the message you received.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:00 (twenty years ago)

Fundraising calls should be considered part of a media strategy - they convey a message to potential supporters.

I didn't actually catch which organization the woman said, because she said it in a typical half-bored, half-articulated telemarketing voice.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

A strength that both Bush AND Clinton share, I think, is an ability to let attacks roll off. Looking unfazed conveys strength. In the 2004 campaign I noticed that Bush would usually respond to attacks with humor and confidence, whereas Kerry would usually get angry. Well, angry is better than "hurt" but Bush's/Clinton's approach works best.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

C/D: Online Petitions or "Please Stop Urging Me to Sign This Petition, John Kerry."

xpost it's not the election they want hurting! it's your MONEY

I'm beginning to think that this is OTMFM. The Democratic Party reminds me of that joke that ends with the bear telling the guy, "You're not really here to hunt, are you?"

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

that's all well and good but it's pretty much conventional wisdom that you get money out of people by telling them that the sky is falling

also, are you really solving the problem of the democratic party sucking by saying that the democratic party sucks (and not giving them money)?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:27 (twenty years ago)

Nobody thinks a fundraising call is a media strategy, but if you're going to write a script for a fundraising call, the script doesn't have to be that pathetic.

HRC very very shrewd. Howard Dean needs to STFU until December 2006 at least.

― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:32 (twenty years ago)

First of all, I didn't say I wasn't going to give them money, sorry if my comment read awkwardly. I'm going to give them money.

Second, fine, tell people the sky is falling but tell them that you're capable of fixing it.

Third, no, I don't think I'm hurting the democratic party by complaining. It's not like I'm saying this in a column for a mainstream newspaper, I'm talking about what Democrats need to do better among people whom, I'd guess, almost unanimously support Democrats and will continue to do so.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

xpost My first fucking thought when I heard "blame game" was, "What an idiotic talking point! Turn it around on them! Say 'It's not a game! It's accountability, stupid!'" I'm glad at least someone else thought of that.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

And by the way, I DON'T think Democrats are completely losing out or missing the boat on the hurricane issue.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

you don't get someone to stop being the scrawny kid on the playground by calling them that

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:36 (twenty years ago)

I'm watching the Roberts confirmation hearings and not being impressed by Joe Biden right now.

Also, re: Roberts, oh yeah, we're fucked.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:39 (twenty years ago)

But acting aggrieved and marginalized has served the Republican party incredibly well! Since like 1968! It's our turn.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

Democrats can get started with the same kind of aggrieved fundraising tactics: "Did you know that Texan Republican elites, contemptuous of the common man, want to outsource MOWING YOUR LAWN to Halliburton? Did you know that YOUR TAX DOLLARS are being spent to help snake-handling Florida evangelicals 'RECRUIT' in your child's kindergarten class?"

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:43 (twenty years ago)

GOP = aggrieved but righteous. It doesn't work the same way if we try it without the persecuted Christian angle.

― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

haha Nabisco should be writing copy for the DNC.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

Joe Biden = used car salesman.

― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

Joe Biden = better used car salesman than Ted Kennedy in the hearings (which isn't saying much.)

― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

I haven't been watching, that's just Biden in general. I tried to watch, but Roberts' kids give me the creeps. Also Roberts himself. I think they are all robots.

― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

The aggrieved trick is only recently about oppressed Christian -- through the 60s, 70s, and 80s it was just Joe Hardhat and Jane Sixpack watching "their" old America get rearranged by imaginary east-coast liberal elites and collegiate radicals and other snotty, culturally upper-class troublemakers. I don't know that it'd actually be so hard to turn that around on the current elite: Joe Hardhat and Jane Sixpack being led down the path of ill-advised military action and Christian-right influence by a bunch of equally foreign old men who've spent the last quarter-century holed up in Washington hatching insane schemes to remake the universe.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

b-b-but Dubya is a man of the people! He goes fishing! He clears brush!

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

B-b-but the people don't get to go fishing anymore! They don't own brush! We will have a true "of the people" president only when the White House downsizes to an Oval Cubicle, and Clinton-era "bring me fried chicken and pizza" practices are reinstated!

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 16:23 (twenty years ago)

DON'T IMITATE YOUR RIVALS ANDM AYBE YOU'LL WIN, DUMBASSES

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 16:32 (twenty years ago)

Oval Cubicle! hahaha

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

dude I'm all for Halliburton mowing my lawn

― quality does not equal quality (wetmink), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 19:20 (twenty years ago)

You won't be once you see the bill.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

It's hard for me to think about messages and strategies when we don't even have voting machines that function properly. I also hate it when people ask "why aren't the Democrats saying this that and the other" while certain Democrats are actually saying those things but not getting the same amount of media coverage as right wing nutballs.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 19:58 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I think Democrats can play the aggrieved angle, but only in a "we're not going to take it anymore" kind of way.

By the way, I think both Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi have been especially good in their responses to Katrina. It'd be interesting to see a future in which the Democratic party was led, or at least co-led, by tough women.

Despite rumors to the contrary, the GOP is still years away from developing their own.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

John Kerry called me the other day to join him at a rally for Senator (future Governor) Corzine. I was happy he thought of me, really.

― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:04 (twenty years ago)

well, there's Condi and her Nazi/"fuck me" boots...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

Walter, to paraphrase what I heard Jonathan Kozol say on NPR today, never use the things you can't change as an excuse to avoid changing the things you can.

I'm not even convinced that non-working voting machines were a significant contributor to Kerry's losing the election, nor am I convinced of any anti-Democrat media conspiracy, outside of Fox News. But even if I was, improving their message is something the Democrats can do immediately -- or rather, I should say, continue to do, since I've seen some vast improvements since the 2004 election.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

"never use the things you can't change as an excuse to avoid changing the things you can."

the Serenity Prayer will not save the Democrats.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)

improving their message is something the Democrats can do immediately

I don't think it is.

― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

I'm also curious what you think has improved about their message, Hurting, since their poll numbers are just as bad, if not worse, than DunbyaCo's.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:18 (twenty years ago)

"We're not going to take it anymore" is, yeah, exactly how the right stoked so much backlash support for themselves -- just think how much of their rhetoric once turned on "revolution," on "taking government back," on what was essentially a crusade to storm the walls of a castle they already had pretty well occupied. Nobody responds to the aggrieved angle when the conclusion is "and it's just not fair to us." It has to be "it's just wrong, and now, America, is the time for us to do something about it."

(Maybe America just has too much revolution in its political DNA -- we always want to see it all get overturned.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 20:24 (twenty years ago)

(Maybe America just has too much revolution in its political DNA -- we always want to see it all get overturned.)

as jefferson would have it...

― kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:12 (twenty years ago)

never use the things you can't change as an excuse to avoid changing the things you can.

I agree. It's just that for me personally, I can think about the Democratic message a lot and get all worked up about it but I inevitably fall into cynical resignation when I think about these other, in my mind, much bigger obstacles. I mean Bill Clinton was probably the best candidate the Democrats could hope for in our lifetime and he was impeached! I wish I were as optimistic as you about the media's willingness to air liberal points of view. The coverage of Katrina seemed like a brief improvement so it will be interesting to see what happens from here.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 21:57 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

STOP SPAMMING ME

― ledge, Friday, 5 August 2011 22:09 (fourteen years ago)

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