The answer to Bush politicizing 9/11 is, of course, to politicize 9/11 (and the Iraq war).
Dems lack the stones for this maneuver, because they're worried that the GOP will tar anyone soft on the war as soft on security. They would do well to remember how little this concern plagued the GOP when they were assailing Clinton's various interventions.
It doesn't matter what tack you take, Dems—incompetence, lying, ideology, it doesn't matter. Everything these guys have done in the foreign policy arena has been a loser fcr America; just attack it however you feel most comfortable. But attack.
Posted by dj moonbat at September 12, 2006 09:10 AMAt this point, I fear waiting for the Beltway Dems to attack is like Waiting for Godot.....
Exactly when do they plan to "roll out their product?" They simply refuse to even try to take the initiative.
I'll shamelessly steal the plaintive suggested Dem message posted yesterday at Talking Points Memo:
"Voters have ONE DAY to hold Bush accountable for what's happening in Iraq, and here at home. One day--Election Day. If you think things need to change, vote Democratic. Seize the day. It's your very last chance."
Is that so freakin' hard beltway Dems? If YOU don't say it, it has no hope of getting into the mainstream press.
Stop Reacting!! Attack! Attack! Attack! Do Something!!
Posted by euzoius at September 12, 2006 09:22 AMWe the netroots must carry the message. The beltway types are as always unwilling or unable to play to win. It's not a good situation, but it is what it is. I hope that I am pleasently surprised by their aggressive message before November. But I'm not expecting their past inadequite behavior to change.
We the netroots must carry the fight. There is no evidence that anyone else will.
Posted by herbal tee at September 12, 2006 09:44 AMAnother fine example of the Republican win at any cost mentality in this Times editorial today.
It was especially disturbing that Tom Kean, co-chairman of the 9/11 commission and a former Republican governor of New Jersey, was willing to lend his prestige to this ill-considered project. Mr. Kean served as a senior consultant to the miniseries and has repeatedly defended it in public, even as several Democratic members of the commission criticized its distortions. Mr. Kean has said he will give his payment to charity, but that does not undo the damage done to the aura of bipartisanship that has surrounded the commission’s work. And it has not defused concerns that Mr. Kean did it in part to help his son, who is the Republican candidate for Senate in a close race in New Jersey.
Maybe Mr. Kean wasn’t entirely kidding when he quipped that he had not apologized to President Bill Clinton for any inaccuracies because “he was out campaigning against my son yesterday, so I didn’t reach out to him at all.” Whatever his motives, he has tarnished his carefully nurtured image of a statesman above the political fray.
All we have to offer is fear mongering.
George "The Moron" Bush
Posted by John T at September 12, 2006 09:48 AMThe Republican strategy is very simple. Hammer in that there are no terrorist attacks on US in last five years since 9/11 therefore they are the party that will keep Americans safe. The Democrats have chosen to keep mum on the advise of their so called "experts" instead of pointing out that Bush administration's adventure in Iraq has increased terrorism worldwide. That is why there were attacks on our allies such as in Spain, England, Turkey and recently in India. We had chance to cut the roots of Al-Queda in Afganistan causing the collapse of that terrorist outfit. Instead Bush took his eye off Afhanistan and ventured into Iraq. Now Osama is alive and well and planiing more attacks.
If Democrats lose in November, it is due to their own incompetenace.
Posted by suresh at September 12, 2006 09:52 AMI agree.. The Democrats need to quit bitching and moaning and remove the Gerbil in office. End of story.
Posted by Bil Biloxi at September 12, 2006 09:53 AMThe Democrats need to quit bitching and moaning and remove the Gerbil in office.
I don't think there's much good that could happen to Dems in the event of an impeachment (or two). But they need to promise that if elected to Congress, they absolutely will not let him do anything he wants, neutering him until 2009. That should include writing budgets on their own.
Posted by dj moonbat at September 12, 2006 10:05 AMKerry's speech on Saturday was very good and very specific. I especially liked the line "the President's Katrina foreign policy."
That brings it home.
I have heard other Dems speak and speak loudly...that is only because the SPAN is on 24/7 in this house.
I saw one line, one time on the traditional media from Kerry's speech. One.
Not only does the traditional media give substantial airtime to Pukes and their minions, they put on so-called "Democratic strategists" who cannot speak clearly or with courage. In addition, every single pundit and host of the various cable news shows repeats the GOP talking points ad infinitum.
If I had a nickle for everytime that Tweety said "the Dems have no plans."
We are at war in the US. It is not a war against terrorism. It is a war between propaganda and truth, media and real reporting, right and wrong, the Right and the rest of us.
We are in for the fight of our lives.
Seriously - take a look at everything that the Dems have been able to put out even though they are impotent due to no subpoena power or platform...a whole lot has been able to seep out. It is not picked up. If just one media person put together the oodles of lies and misdeeds and law breaking that the Pukes have done and aired it in one episode that would significantly change public perception (It would also be an eight hour program.)
Excellent post Steve. I too wish that I could hear every single Dem screaming from the rooftops. Unfortunately the ones who do are given to airtime. They save the airtime for the DLC bastards and so-called "strategists".
Posted by Anjha at September 12, 2006 10:17 AMWell Steve Soto, you just put into words the frustrations I have had for five years. Personally, I think your post should be sent to every Democrat that holds a political office today via email. You are so right. It is not Bush's fault that the Democrats are silent. They have become the Party of the Enablers.
Posted by Judith at September 12, 2006 10:22 AM"Would you buy a used car from this man?" was used against Richard Nixon. It didn't work in 1972, but he was out by 1974 and the Dems took a large number of House seats. It is a way of undermining him and reminding people of why they (now) don't like him. It was a good tactic then and it is a good tactic now. This post is spot on.
Posted by Mimikatz at September 12, 2006 10:25 AMexactly. Play offense. My post from last week is below.
This bad flaw in all these progressive responses persists. It is not enough to simply play defense. It is not enough to simply defend the Clinton administration and point out all they did and said. It is not enough to logically lay out the facts in defense of the truth. Don’t get me wrong, by all means do so, however IT MUST ALWAYS COME AFTER YOU KICK YOUR OPPONENT IN THE TEETH. Yes, fine defend Clinton. You should do that, you need to do that, you will do that. His administration deserves that. But first pick any one of the following bombs and right off the bat shove it down their throat.
1) Right wing conservatives and their darling puppet dictator the Shah of Iran are the ones who sparked the whole Islamic revolution in the first place.
2) Ronald Reagan funded and trained the same radical Islamic fighters that threaten us today, including possibly Osama Bin Ladin himself.
3) Ronald Reagan sold munitions of war to the Ayatollahs in Iran to fund his illegal war in Nicaragua.
4) The Bush family, Jim Baker, and many other stalwarts of the Republican party have long standing personal and spectacularly profitable relationships with a Saudi Royal family that funds Madras schools, terror groups, and runs a country that produced Osama Bin Ladin and 19 of his 9/11 hijackers.
5) Clinton did go after Bin Ladin. And every time he did the entire GOP demanded he stop as how dare he use the good men and women of our military to wag the dog and take attention away from Monica – or – Clinton was going after Bin Ladin and the GOP was just too busy to notice so all consumed were they trying impeach the President of the United States for a consensual sex act with an adult.
6) In 2001 President Bush and his newly appointed aides had ample warning, including a briefing paper titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S” and direct, dire, and repeated calls to arms from the Clinton people, and they failed to take it seriously to even come off vacation or expand any national defense discussion past the words “Star Wars”.
7) Dubya and his Republican enablers in congress lied about the need to start a war with a country that was not a threat, the prosecution of which has greatly strengthened the radical Islamic terrorists and increased their number while at the same time killing or maiming tens of thousands of our soldiers and drastically depleting and diverting our precious national defense resources away from the real threats.
8) While Dubya and the his Republican enablers in congress have wasted our treasure and blood in Iraq, the Taliban is back in Afghanistan, along with record opium production.
(Note last part of number two. It may not be true. In fact, I don’t think it is. But if you get it out there, it’s out there. And we would be happy to spend as much time as they like talking about exactly what murderous, hyper-religious, Muslim armies Reagan did fund and arm and train. See how that works? Now you have them playing defense).
In any politically competitive narrative, you don’t have to come out great. You only have to come out better than your opponent. The best way to do that, the most efficient way to do that, the most effective way to do that – is to demonize your opponent. Make him/her radioactive, unacceptable, dangerous. Attack first, always attack first and hard. Then if you have time, and remember you don’t have much time, play defense.
If Bush compares Democrats to Nazi appeasers, don’t just point out how ridiculous that is. First say how ironic that is given that the Bush family aggressively ran the US fundraising and money laundering operations for Hitler and the Third Reich (right up until the US Sized their assets under the Trading with the enemies act in 1942). Oh yeah, all of a sudden we’re not talking about the Democrats anymore, I can assure you of that. Then go ahead and defend your party, make a logical argument about how their analogy fails and that kind of rhetoric is textbook fascism in action, etc, etc, etc. But you know as well as I the main point people will take from that exchange, no matter what else is or is not said.
Dems just need to nut up and start using the big guns. There is enough ammo to shatter the Republican party.
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[Editor: ignore=off]You contradict yourself when you write that congressional democrats should "..get down in the gutter with them..". Truth telling doesn't require being in the gutter to be heard. It needs only be plainly spoken.
Otherwise, your good words are indisputable.
Posted by True Blue at September 12, 2006 10:37 AMHow about Democrats suggest we fight the war on terror right at its roots, and, at the same time ask ALL Americans, not just our military, to sacrifice in a huge SHARED NATIONAL PURPOSE: Break our dependence on oil from "Terror-land." We all conserve and support development and use of new energy sources. Every American can do his part: The self indulgent owners of all those McMansions can slap some solar panels on the roof, anyone can combine trips, turn off some lights. We can replace old appliances with new more energy efficient ones. Clean coal technology can be implemented. New jobs for energy development companies.
Maybe we would feel like the old "can-do" America again.
I've had it up to my ear drums with the typical Beltway dem response of "The president ought to be ashamed of himself".
5 years later and these people act like Bush got sworn in yesterday.
Or this one: "What the President needs to do is..."
He's ignored every suggestion dems have offered, what makes them think he's going to start listening now?
Posted by Daryl at September 12, 2006 10:42 AMPerhaps they simply can't play offense.
We're into the second week of September. They've had national television network propaganda deployed against them, operating in conjunction with the Rove "weakness" theme. They're being described as appeasers of fascism and the actual cause of 9/11.
If they have a unified, planned message in the can, ready to roll out, they should be doing it.
If they haven't planned and created such a unified theme message by this point, it's too late.
Exactly what did the consultants spend the money on? IS there a product?
Posted by euzoius at September 12, 2006 11:10 AMSteve,
You hit the nail right on the head. The Democrats have to play offense.
1. They must assume that Bush administration will continue to politicize everything and continue to lie.
2. They must show the public that the GOP are a bunch of lying thugs.
3. And they must push their own plan. I think Joseph Biden's plan is a good one. You can read it at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/23/AR2006082301419.html
Jonathan
Posted by at September 12, 2006 11:13 AMBush selling the Iraq war last night did remind me of when a South Phoenix car dealer sold a car with no reverse, and thought it was no big deal.
I guess his car lot's version of election day was when the people returned an hour later and demanded their money back at gunpoint.
bush sold the rubes an Iraqmobile with no reverse, will they demand their money back in November?
Posted by TIKI AL at September 12, 2006 11:36 AMJust a thought, but if we can't even pretend to be behind our side 100% during the most crucial election for this country, how are we going to convince swing votes to go for the Dems? The 'pukes stick together no matter what, show a united front, and talk in glowing terms of even the basest asshole. I get the feeling that's the missing ingredient for the dems. Doesn't all of this badmouthing do Rove's job for him? Just saying...
Posted by iamcoyote at September 12, 2006 11:40 AMCoyote, I agree.
Even though the Dems encourage actual dialogue and allow people different opinions and going after a common goal from many different angles, I do not believe that we can afford to eat our own.
This absolutely is the most important election in America's history.
I do not agree with everything that our Dem Senator does. She is way too fucking DLC for me and I just found out about the fabulous challenger in the primary. (I wish that we would have known about her and pulled a Lieberman...) I will absolutely support her.
We need sweeping Dems elected everywhere in this Country. From City Council to school board to US Seats. Everywhere.
We need to fight like hell and get out and work for these people. There is endless ground work from phone banking to doorbelling to literature mailing...massive work.
We need to go out and be on the offense for them.
If the media will not provide them the platform - we need to. We need to be the media for these candidates. We need to be loud and come out in front and on top of this WH spin.
What part of Representative Democracy do we not get?!
We are the government. We need to speak to the people and be the voice of our Dem employees.
We need to get out and do this speaking and quit waiting for our Dems to be given platforms. They are not given platforms to speak and when they do - nobody fucking knows about it.
We do. We research and watch the SPAN and pay attention to things like Kerry's speech on Saturday. Why are we not out letting the people in our neighborhoods know about the Kerry speech? Giving them a copy? Talking about HR635? Asking our neighbors to save the rule of law and call our Reps and Senators and tell them no on S2453 & 2455?
The media will not cover the people who speak out. We need to do it for them.
Posted by Anjha at September 12, 2006 11:54 AMcoyote, Good point. We Dems have a lot of different issues but the main issue is that republi-cons are bad for this Nation. Hammer it home day after day. They have destroyed this country through thievery and corruption.
Time to start reminding the people of Tom DeLay, Enron, Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, the Dubai Ports World deal, continued failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, pension failures, etc. I can't believe the people fall for the fear line every election.
Come out with a commercial minute of the scandals and failure reminder and replay it over and over. Remind the people it will never get any better until someone new is in charge.
New Guy nailed it. Demonize those motherfuckers with their own bad acts.
Posted by God Of War at September 12, 2006 12:12 PMNew Guy nailed it. Demonize those motherfuckers with their own bad acts.
He did good. A few extras.
The handshake with Rumsfield and Saddam. Reagan supplying arms to the Iraqi's to fight the Iranians.
If you play offense all the time, you rest your defense or don't need to use it.
"If Bush compares Democrats to Nazi appeasers, don’t just point out how ridiculous that is. First say how ironic that is given that the Bush family aggressively ran the US fundraising and money laundering operations for Hitler and the Third Reich (right up until the US Sized their assets under the Trading with the enemies act in 1942)."
New Guy, that is exactly the way to handle the GOP. Karl Rove would never have hesitated to use that type of rebuttal. They call us "appeasers", and what do we do, basically whine about it. However, we have been saying this for at least three years. Again and again we can't play this political game by being nice or indecisive or fearful. However, I look for nothing to change.
Posted by Judith at September 12, 2006 12:43 PMDon't forget "WE WON'T BE FOOLED AGAIN!"
Thanks Ed Drone
Posted by Judith at September 12, 2006 01:05 PMThanks, Judith, I was going to add that, too.
Posted by iamcoyote at September 12, 2006 01:22 PMIt is refreshing to hear so many regulars at Left Coaster on the same page. The choir is swaying the same way at the same time!
I believe the enablers have to be voted out no matter the party. It's the only way. Is it possible to a clean vote? Only if the numbers are overwhelming in 2006 and 2008. There will be voter suppression and rigging as before, but "shock and awe" at the ballot box would be twice the normal turnout. Should the Republican Party be demonized? I say in concert with others, "go on the offensive, tell the truth at every turn, and do not let them change the subject".
I would not buy a used car from Bush Cheney Rumsfeld Condi Chertoff Lieberman Big Powell or Junior Powell Bolton Fieth Haynes Alito Frist Graham Hastert Burns Stevens K Rove---or Nixon.
Did I mention Bush?
It's time they hang---together---in the court of public opinion.
Posted by gtash at September 12, 2006 02:23 PMLet Bush keep on talking. We have reached a Social Security moment with Iraq; the more Bush tries to sell it the more the opposition will grow. A smart political move for Bush and the Republicans would try to keep Iraq out of the news before the November elections. The more people think about Iraq the worse things are going to be for the Republicans and yes, Lieberman.
Ron in Portland, I agree, we know that every effort will be made to distract us and keep Iraq out of the news, as they have been doing it for a very long time with much success.
2,670
Posted by Judith at September 12, 2006 04:49 PMI want to vote for the Democratic party this go around. However democrats have a problem. Its not so much what the Republicans have been doing, its what the Democrats have been doing. They have fought tooth and nail against almost every anti terror measure the Republicans have taken. This really hurts because all this domestic spying crap appears to actually be working. ( at least at home anyway ) Democrats have this habbit of being quick to tell someone they are doing it wrong, without telling them how to do it right. I am an indepanedant but I tend to be fairly conservative. I am angry with Republicans for a number of reasons and would love to be able to vote for Democrats. Unfortunatly every time I look and listen to them I am very frustrated. I hear a bunch of name calling and Bush bashing. Thats really about it. OK ...well thats not much of a message. What are you planning on doing? I heard one idiot say we needed to have more Dialog with Terrorists. Wow I feel safer already. The only thing I know for sure is that Democrats plan on putting a stop several of Bush policys such as Domestic spying. Wow.. I'm sure the terrorists feel safer already. How can yo expect people to believe that you are not weak on national security. You can't when you consistantly demonstrate that you are. You need to get a better message out. They are many people out there like me that could be easily turned but you are going to have to do a much better job at convincing me.
Posted by Creeply at September 14, 2006 08:11 AM