As a dedicated but pragmatic Democrat, I basically agree with the Newsweek poll.
1. We have to be progressive on domestic issues (prescription drugs, minimum wage, health care, education, environment).
2. But we must be old-time conservative on other issues (security, fiscal deficit, trade gap).
3. We must support full civil rights and unions for gays, but stay out of the gay marriage debate because the word "marriage" has many cultural connotations for most Americans.
4. On abortion, we must work to make sure that abortions are rare, safe and legal. We must point out clearly that the woman and her doctor should be the ones to choose what to do, not some hypocritical theo-cons.
5. We must reward work, not accumulated wealth and power. This means removing corporate welfare and tax havens, but it also means we help people get off welfare as soon as possible.
6. We must use the "tax" word very carefully. One reason why Gov. Gray Davis was recalled because he imposed the car tax. The same happened with Phil Angelides because he branded himself as a tax increase advocate.
7. We must recognize that fundamentalist Islam is a fascist creed, and help those people and those countries which are trying to be secular. Saddam Hussain was a secular leader, but unfortunately Bush and the neo-cons have removed him and made a horrible mess in Iraq where it has become impossible to distinguish between Al-Qaeda terrorists, Sunni insurgents, and Shiite militias.
8. We must frame our messages carefully and boil them down to sound-bites.
9. When Republicans attack us, we must retaliate swiftly and effectively.
Jonathan
Interesting. I am surprised that the issue of scandal which was at the top of the list of the exit polls was not mentioned.
Americans voted at an extraordinarily high percentage this time and the percentage of young voters, women, hispanics & blacks as well as Muslims meant across the board Americans were concerned enough about their own personal lifestyle to exercise that vote. And a funny thing happens when you vote, you become invested in the process.
We haven't done a good enough job yet to get people to understand that a workable Iraq resolution translates into national security. With Iraq on fire, all of our foreign policies are hobbled.
With the housing bubble looking pretty flat, it seems a safe bet that we'll see more attacks on peoples' bank accounts than terrorist attacks. And simply put without the strength of a strong economy, national security won't have the purse strings to do squat.
Posted by mainsailset at November 11, 2006 12:06 PMThe eight years of Bushco will have been not just utterly and completely wasted, but will have also placed us into an enormous hole, with little remaining room for error.
Our last window of opportunity on an irreversible catastrophe, global warming, is closing very rapidly as a result of Republican lies, misdirection and unending special interest blow-jobbing. The mountain of debt incurred was basically wasted, blown on "projects" (Iraq occupation, etc.) that got us nothing and nowhere and which (to be honest) actually increased the dangers we face.
What filthy Augean stables the Dems face....do the people understand this? Bush-Blaming could legitimately go on for decades!
Absolutely criminal.
Posted by euzoius at November 11, 2006 01:42 PMThe remarkable thing to me is, Karl Rove is roaming around like a chicken with its head cut off, rambling on about Little Boots losing the Republican-controlled Congress to the Democrats having nothing to do with Iraq or the Bush agenda.
Turns out Karl Rove's legacy is now written in stone. He's not a genius after all.
Posted by Christopher at November 11, 2006 02:29 PMPart of the problem with polls is that frequently the answers given to issues questions reflect what is on people's minds at the moment the question is asked.
Thus, exit polls may indeed have shown that corruption was on people's minds when they were voting. Now that the results have been determined, the mind moves on to the problems at hand. People may have felt that corruption - more or less - was taken care of by the election itself and might not be so important - relative to the war and other issues - in the mind of those being polled after the election.
Posted by workingclassannie at November 11, 2006 02:55 PMThe fact that the majority want the democrats to be "moderate" means jack shit. The only questions and answers that mean anything are those about specific policies. And even then, it's called leadership for a reason. The Dems have to make the choice to lead.
Posted by Seth Edenbaum at November 11, 2006 02:57 PMSince the Democrats won the election with no plans or ideas of their own but by a public backlash against the GOP, it is hard to fathom Pelosi and Reid accomplishng anything of any significance.
The era of a Do Nothing Congress (DNC) is baaaaack.
Posted by at November 11, 2006 03:13 PMworkingclassannie,
Another problem is that the voters are almost always asked to choose from a list of options rather than provide open-ended answers.
The decision to vote for/against can be complex. Most voters feel it "in the gut," then reach for reasons to justify the decision. If you show them a list of options, they choose one that sounds like a good reason, but which may or may not be the key reason.
This is especially true if the voter is a consistent voter for one party. The pollsters' choices don't usually include a choice for "because I always vote for the Republican/Democrat." People will attribute positive qualities to their choice after they have already made their choice, rather than look for positive qualities before making the choice.
How does George Bush feel about the recent mid-term elections? This shirt says it all ...
Click here to visit the store.
Posted by kenhensley at November 11, 2006 06:51 PMHey, chicken. You forgot to sign your post.
The only thing this Congress has done for these past six years is take care of the wealthy, give approval for an immoral war, destroy the middle class, approve of torture, and let Bush spy on Americans. Outside of that, this Congress has been THE do nothing Congress. Domestically, they have absolutely not only did nothing, other than hurt people, they have not been interested in the needs of this Country. So take your bullcrap elsewhere. YOU LOST LOSER!!!!!
Posted by Judith at November 11, 2006 07:29 PMIf a being "moderate" means being a member of the reality-based community and therefore sane then a majority of our nation's voters on November 7th definitely repudiated Bush extremism and general Republican insanity.
And I had to laugh at someone saying the Democratic Party will have a "do-nothing" Congress.
The "culture of corruption" Republicans have done so much damage to our democracy that I doubt there will be enough hours in the day starting in January 2007 for the Democrats to address all the things the Bush sock-puppets in Congress have let slide or enacted that have endangered our national security and the well-being of U.S. citizens.
Thus, it wouldn't surprise me to see the House and Senate under Pelosi and Reid having a longer work week than the few days a week the Republicans have been allocating for House and Senate business.
Plus, I expect Pelosi and Reid to make the "rule of law" a top priority, and if Bush doesn't want to play by the "rules of law" of our democracy and our Constitution, then he should be impeached. And the same goes for Cheney.
I smell the sweetness of integrity and freshness of honesty blowing away the foul odor of the "culture of corruption" Republicans up in Washington. The Democratic cleanup crew arrives in January 2007 and they'll have plenty of cleaning up to do.
Posted by The Oracle at November 11, 2006 11:00 PMIf I'd answered that poll, I'd have answered that the main reason I voted was to oppose Bush and that the main issue was the war in Iraq.
Does that mean that I don't support the Democratic agenda? NO! It just means that I hate Bush more that's all. So, if I'm given a choice of "what was most important in deciding your vote:
1. Oppose President Bush
2. Support Democrats
I'm going to choose #1 every time.
So the media spin that there's "no mandate for Democrats" because voters were voting against the Republicans rather than FOR Democrats is just pure B.S. They were doing both.
And anyway why does this "mandate" crap only come up when Democrats win? When Bush won, he sure acted like he had a mandate! He immediately tried to abolish social security saying "I won some political capital and I intend to use it."
Of course, it backfired which immediately triggered his decline in the polls that led to the election "thumping", but the media wasn't instantly filled with pundits saying "Bush has no mandate because the voters weren't voting for Bush, they were voting against Democrats."
It's just endless B.S. with our shameless media whores!
Posted by Cugel at November 12, 2006 06:57 AMI think the War polled at the top because most people realize that it not only directly impacts the lives of thousands of men and women in this country who are serving, but it exemplifies and is the primary source/cause of everything else that is wrong with this country and republican governance. The War is the source of corruption, deceit,and lies. It is the source of huge financial deficit and fiscal instability of this country. The final cost will be in the trillions. People are wondering, just how are we and future generations paying for it????? (currently its cost is off the books). What current domestic programs have been cut in order to pay for that enormous defense budget too? The War is sucking up enormous time and precious resources of our country. The blood costs and projected true financial burden is never really analyzed and talked about much seriously by any politician or media. However,I think most people realize in the back of their minds it does and will continue to seriously impact our country and the lives of millions of people for many many decades (even if we were to leave in a year) in so many other ways. It's the War, Stupid... or maybe It's the STupid War.
Posted by emal at November 12, 2006 07:26 AM