time to get real

Chris Bowers has an excellent post up at MyDD about the existence of a "generation gap in perception" around the 2006 midterm elections. That post, in making a distinction between how those above and below the age of 40 see this election and the Democratic party, dovetails with an interesting conversation I had with fellow blogger Matt Ortega at Drinking Liberally Oakland last night.

There is a missing ingredient that the Democrats need to find RIGHT NOW. That ingredient is precisely this: a level of backbone and a resolute focus on the GOP record embodied personally by Republican candidates. Democrats have failed to produce this ingredient in previous elections, and we've paid the price.

We need to make a visceral connection with the voters about the price of this GOP Congress. We need to make this personal. We need to get real.

To elaborate on what it means to "get real," Matt Ortega spoke convincingly about the recent anti-George Allen Vote Vets ad on body armor. That ad, with its direct, side-by-side comparison of GOP versus Democratic legislation makes the kind of visual point that sinks in. The Vote Vets ad pulls no punches. That approach is EXACTLY what is called for.

In my view, if this election is simply base against base. Mid-term voters versus mid-term voters. Democratic turnout versus GOP turnout. We change nothing even if we win seats.

We Democrats need to take our chips and put them ALL on a simple, direct message that will resonate for decades: it's time for America to get real about the consequences of this GOP Congress.

To convey that message we need to get real ourselves. We can't pussy-foot around. Let me put it this way, if the Republicans are going to spend another election season attacking Democrats as if we are "in bed with terrorists" then Democrats sure as hell better stand up and start attacking Republican candidates and standing up to that slander. We Democrats need to make it clear that we mean serious business. There is no room for equivocation or qualifiers. This is no time for niceties.

You see, everything that is wrong with the direction this country is headed in is embodied in the record of this GOP Congress. Everything. We need to convey that. We need to talk about that. We need to present that distinction in unequivocal and direct terms.

Democrats need to connect with folks who eat breakfast at McDonalds. Our arguments have to work in that environment. Our ads, our candidates, our message needs to play in that arena: we need to connect...viscerally...with small groups of Americans talking over a cup of coffee and an Egg McMuffin. The VoteVets ad does that...in 30 seconds.

That is precisely where the Democratic Party needs to be right now.

Comments

Scaramouche said…
Kid,

We're meeting tomorrow at the Zeitgeist.

Can you make it?

ref: http://barbarianblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/barbarian-time-at-zeitgeist.html

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