Last one
Last post that’s directly centered on fallout from the election. I’ll let other people cover it from now on.
Compare and contrast.
Example #1: Not a good strategy for helping your party gain respect in “Middle America.”
Example #2: This is the right way to start encouraging votes to come back to your side. Note this section, in particular:
Our error is that we Democrats are far less understanding than we think we are. Our version of understanding the other side is to look at them from a psychological point of view while being completely unwilling to take their arguments seriously. “Well, he can’t help himself, he’s a right-wing religious zealot, so of course he’s going to think like that.” “Republicans who never served in war are hypocrites to send young men to die. ” “Republicans are homophobes, probably because they can’t deal with their secret desires.” Anything but actually listening and responding to the arguments being made.
Please, Democrats, go with option number 2. Those in our party who refuse to listen, who think that Middle America voted the way they did just because we’re stupid, they will cause you to be increasingly marginalized. (Not me, though — I’m marginalizing myself as soon as I decide which third party I’m switching to.) Even if you were right, insulting Middle America is a moronic strategy — If there are more stupid people than intelligent, we will breed faster than you will. That’s not even counting the fact that we’re the ones not killing our babies.
It is not beneficial to anyone that a single party be in control, whether it’s Republicans or Democrats. We need you to help fight corruption (and if you continue to hand the power to Republicans, there will be corruption) in the Republican Party, but in order for you to do that, you need to find a way to reach out to some of us in Middle America.
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Red vs. Blue
Oh, how I wish I could hear those words and think about nothing but the comedy animation made using the Halo game. (Next Election, Sarge Vs. Tucker)
Still, via Kevin Baker and Boing Boing, there are some maps (By state and County that show that this isn’t a matter of Red America vs. Blue America, but rather a Purple America being forced to choose between Red and Blue candidates.
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Why did we vote for Bush?
Kevin Baker points out that it’s not because we hate homosexuals:
We voted for Bush because the unemployment rate is lower than it was when Clinton ran for reelection.
We voted for Bush because we’re bright enough to understand that “Public Health Care” would be as inviting as “Public Toilets,” and probably about as sanitary. (Canada is right next door, you know.)
We voted for Bush because we know there won’t be a draft under him, but under Kerry there’d be a mass exodus from the all-volunteer military, and he’d have been forced to resume the draft to meet the force levels he promised.
We voted for Bush because, as of right now, nobody can name a single civil liberty we’ve lost under him, regardless of how many chicken-littles have decried massive loss of same.
We voted for Bush because Kerry would have done his damnedest to raise our taxes.
We voted for Bush because he won’t apologize to the world for doing what he believed was right, and damn the consequences.
We voted for Bush because he’ll talk to the UN, but he won’t grovel before it, nor kowtow to it.
We voted for Bush because he’ll work with our allies, not insult them. He saves his snubs for our opponents. And he brown-noses no one.
And we voted for Bush because he’s willing to prosecute the war on the Jihadists, and Kerry – quite simply – was not. It’s a war, not a law-enforcement effort.
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Why didn’t we vote for Kerry (or other Democrats)?
Varifrank covers that topic in his post “New York Times Asks: Why Do They Hate Us?”
What the losses of the Democrats to the Republicans comes down to is this:
You cannot make fun of people and then expect that they will vote for you.
I’m not sure the Democrats understand that everytime they said “Bush is Stupid” a small part of a “Red State” slipped further out of their grasp. I’m not sure they yet understand that many,many people identify with and even empathize with President Bush and when Democrats say he is stupid that the Democrats are also saying that they the simple minded “Red State” folk are also stupid.