…are dangerous. Dave Yaseen, of the usually smart blog A Level Gaze, posts what I pray to Woodie Guthrie is a slip of the liberal tongue. His post concludes:
Yes, this debacle of an election is the media’s fault. But it’s our fault as well, and we need to drastically change the way we do things in the Democratic party, not diddle around with how to phrase things to make them palatable to the electorate. If we have to drag American voters, kicking and screaming to chose their own interests, so be it.
(emphasis mine)
Well, damn. That’s the way to reach the poor uneducated voter and get them onto your side…
…or not. My comment to him was to say that I hoped this was a slip of the tongue (which all of us are subject to) and if not, that if this really represented the philosophy of the leadership of the Left, they’d better be prepared to be sleeping outside on the porch for the full length of a long, cold winter.
I’d say this represents the philosopy of pretty much all political leaders, bureaucrats, media elites, etc.
I don’t think any of them have much respect for the population, regardless of ideology.
The Left is just more obvious about it.
I saw your comment over at ALG and responded to it there. Since it’s more or less here as well, I’ll reproduce it.
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Thanks for your comment, A.L.
I see your point, and the tone of the post was off (hope I get some slack from my emotional state at the time), but I stick by my main point.
The issue here is Leadership. Did the voters want an enormous tax break for the rich or a war with Iraq? No. The Republicans led them there. If we’re going to get anywhere with voters, we have to be something other than “not the Republicans.” We need our own agenda, not strung-together sentences made up from the output of focus groups.
The voters are not themselves going to come up with coherent policy proposals that work to their benefit, at least not in the face of coordinated Republican opposition backed by every major media outlet in the country. The Democratic (or whatever) leadership has to do that for them.
And when we get started on this program in earnest, it’s not going to be pretty. It’ll be an all-uphill slog through the haze of Republican misinformation and deliberate confusion of the issues, amplified 100-fold in the media. We’re going to be starting with a significant chunk of the public against us. That’s where the “kicking and screaming” part comes from. We’ll need to be co-ordinated and disciplined and thick-skinned enough to stand in there and take it.
Democrats have tried following and getting out of the way. It’s time for us to lead.
I don’t think it was a slip of the tongue, I think it was quite illustrative of the liberal mindset, to wit: “They’re too stupid to know what’s good for them.” Granted, the Republicans believe the same thing, but the aren’t nearly as blatant about it.
How about treating us as if we have a brain?
Read Lileks today? Here’s the pertinent part:
The other day I was talking with a Democrat friend about the election. She’d remarked, with equal amounts of sarcasm and good-natured ribbing, that the GOP had two years to build utopia. I thought about that later while walking Jasper around the block, and thought, no; they’re not about building utopia. Personally, I’m interested in keeping other people from building Utopia, because the more you believe you can create heaven on earth the more likely you are to set up guillotines in the public square to hasten the process.
Another quotable insight. Love that guy.
You guys have to get over that “enormous tax break for the rich” crap, too. More of us are able to do the math, these days, or have it explained to us in small words. Computer technology, you know? Wonder of the internet, and all that.
>
Are you kidding?????
What is this fixation with manipulation that people have?
An ad will not get me to buy a truck if I want a car. The most it might do is convince me to buy one truck over another.
Same thing with war with Iraq. The Republicans didn’t convince the public to favor war agains the publics’ better judgement. The average American has been watching Iraq for the last decade+, and we are tired of what we have seen, and the government’s response to it.
If you keep bending over backwards, eventually you are going to be fuck up the ass. That is fine if you like that, but most people don’t, and they voted accordingly. (Please note that that wasn’t intended to be a homosexual slur)
The strength of a democracy is the intelligence and education of the electorate. If you want to talk about legitimacy, compare the average intelligences and educations of the Democrats vs. Republicans, and get back to me.
I know it’s nitpicky, but I can’t resist pointing out that backwards is actually the wrong way to bend for that sort of activity. Or so I can only suppose. But otherwise, I’m inclined to agree.
Kevin–
“most of us are able to do the math.”
Please show your work. What are your numbers that do not reveal an enormous tax cut for the rich?
David,
I think you’re still phrasing it poorly. It’s the Democrats who have to do the kicking and screaming. If we can get the word out, most people are smart enough to know what’s good for them.
On High Horses
Trent and Joe have pulled up the story of teachers abusing the children of military families by accusing their serving parents of being war criminals. Abuse is abuse, and I’ll let others talk about specifics