Well, yeah, to a lot of people.. er, it does if they can't understand why. If there's no underlying sense of core values it just looks like everything is done for short-term political gain and according to focus groups.
Whereas with W lotsa folks still think, OK, he has his core strong beliefs so therefore all the stupid shit he does (& including plenty they don't even agree with) is comprehensible in the context of his larger, uh, vision or whatever.
So yeah, reluctance to vote for the Dems because the devil you know is still less scary than the devil you don't. And ya know if the other current in the race is Dick Cheney et al going PH34R DISASTER ARMAGEDDON OMG WMD HOLY SHIT than, yeah, it's likely you're even more afraid to risk going with the devil you don't know.
― dar1a g (daria g), Thursday, 26 January 2006 18:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 18:54 (eighteen years ago) link
Well, at least there won't be an incumbent in the 2008 Presidential race, so everyone will be more or less on an even footing as far as that goes.
― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 26 January 2006 18:58 (eighteen years ago) link
that oughta help win over the "git-r-done" demographic
I'm not even kidding.
― dar1a g (daria g), Thursday, 26 January 2006 18:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:07 (eighteen years ago) link
I disagree, at least to your terms. People already think the administration isn't doing the job well enough, but still trust them to do better than the Dems. If Dems said 'you can't do the job', it doesn't address the fact that the public doesn't think Dems can do it either. Instead, Dems have to say 'we're here to get the job done right', and they have a huge credibility barrier to hurdle by means of personality, rhetoric and actual practical steps to point to, as well as ceaseless assertions that they want to protect America, while "others have different priorities," namely... etc.
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:13 (eighteen years ago) link
a huge credibility barrier to hurdle by means of personality
this means not only finding a sufficiently alpha personality, but also finding a personality that knows the limitations of its alpha-ness. you don't see Bush on a horse.
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:14 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:19 (eighteen years ago) link
My prediction = if it gets them anywhere it's through no fault of their own. No, they'll have the Bush admin to thank a thousand times.
― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:22 (eighteen years ago) link
STRAPPED: Why America's 20- and 30- Something's Can't Get Ahead
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:30 (eighteen years ago) link
no, you don't get it. (I have no idea what Dem "consultants" say, but I'll stipulate to your kossack/Sirotan belief that they are a monolithic group counseling meekness.) I'm not arguing for Dems to look and act as centrist as possible, I'm counseling that they assert their ownership of the center, aggressively but mild-manneredly (yes you can do those things at the same time) where necessary. Where a Dem position is really way outside the center, which would be rare but conceivable, they should consider whether it may be wrong.
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:36 (eighteen years ago) link
or they just move the center to where they are.
― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:38 (eighteen years ago) link
centrism-of-spirit has served Dems very well since Carter thanks very much. the two cultural centrists - Clinton and Carter - won. those who lost were Northern/urban/insider professorial types who did little to argue that they better stood for American values than their opponents.
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2006 19:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:22 (eighteen years ago) link
Appointed U.S. ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture by President Clinton, McGovern lobbied for a universal school-lunch program funded partly by a $1.2 billion annual U.S. contribution. As an isolationist skeptical of foreign aid, I am able to restrain my huzzahs, but I’d sure as hell rather spend a billion buying lunch for kids in Bangladesh than $300 billion occupying Iraq.
― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:26 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_01_30/images/magcover.jpg
― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:35 (eighteen years ago) link
Clinton - 49.2%Dole - 40.7%Perot - 8.4&
do the math.
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:40 (eighteen years ago) link
did you have some other math in mind?
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:41 (eighteen years ago) link
xxpost - In the same issue they run a pro-Gene McCarthy piece, a piece about Mencken, and a piece critical of Greenspan. Like I said, I don't think it's an easy magazine to pigeonhole and although I don't have a sub I always check in.
― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:41 (eighteen years ago) link
But back to gabbneb and his "obstructionist binaries" and focus group claptrap...
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Thursday, 26 January 2006 20:59 (eighteen years ago) link