Seizing the moment and winning by playing
offense.
These are things that the Democratic Party remains steadfastly unwilling to do or lacks the imagination to even occur to them to do.
Yet, it would be hard to comprehend any better time for the Democratic Party to dust off their cob-webs and publically assail the Bush administration on a wide array of tragedies, lies, cover-ups, and plainly failed results.
This strategy of "say nothing and maybe people will like you" approach to political campaigns is clearly not working. (see below)
While the polls have been sinking for George W. Bush across the board on a whole variety of questions, the Democrats poll numbers have been sinking right along with the imploding Republicans. Stan Greenberg, a leading Democratic Party pollster, declares that "feelings about Democrats are at a 54 month low." Another pollster, John Zogby, reports that the Democrats are floundering, why? --- because people do not perceive them as having any credible national leaders.
Instead of drawing bright and bold lines with the Republicans about the nation's future directions, leaders in the Democratic Party have persuaded themselves to just stand by and then hope the Republicans sink all by themselves (despite the Mainstream Media always willing to spin the news in their favor in that type of vacuum, and the U.S. Court System willing also to aide them, if necessary). By standing still, the Democrats are feeding the "pox on both your houses" mindset of many citizens.
There is only one single issue that the Democratic Party has shown that it is willing to actually stand-up for and fight publically in the bare-knuckled sense, and that is Social Security. Despite polls, at one point, showing that 45%-50% were attracted to Bush's Social Security privatization scheme -- the Democrats stood clear & unwavering on that issue and swatted it away (where it now lays dead until after the 2006 elections).
Note that 45%-50% is about the same percentage of people that think the Iraq War was "worth it" (for months & months). Yet the Democrats remain AWOL regarding the Iraq war-occupation. Their leaders cannot even follow some of their own members in Congress and propose a responsible but definitive exit strategy -- which leading retired military, diplomatic and intelligence officials who have even done.
To this day, Democratic House Leader, Nancy Pelosi, with arguably the most anti-war constituents in the nation residing in her California district, is not leading the Democrats with even comparable statements that some Republicans are making.
Consider the following:
From Vietnam war veteran, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who, after returning from one of several trips to Iraq, said: "We should start figuring out how we get out of there. Our involvement there has destabilized the Middle East. And the longer we stay there, I think the further destabilization will occur."
From Rep. John Duncan, Jr., conservative Republican from Tennessee, who urges conservatives to oppose the "undeclared and unnecessary war" not only because of the deaths but because "there is nothing conservative about this war;.it.mean[s] massive foreign aid, [and] huge deficit spending."
From CIA Director Porter Goss, who told the Senate in February that the war in Iraq has become a recruitment and training ground for more and more terrorists who will go back to other countries.
From Walter B. Jones, Jr., Republican Congressman from North Carolina, comes the declaration that he wants out of Iraq - a war he once prominently supported but does no longer because the President did not tell him the truth when invading that country.
These legislators come from regions where a much larger percentage of the people support the war than in Nancy Pelosi's own District. There is a growing majority of Americans who believe that war was a costly mistake and want out.
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The Democratic Party simply will never win again until it decides to take on foreign policy issues with the same sense of right .vs. wrong passion and logic as it applies on the subject of Social Security.
When even Howard Dean now says, that talking about Iraq is hard -- they are misreading not only where the majority of the Country stands, they are also abdicating any hope of ever
re-emerging as the more persausive of the two political parties! (which what campaigns are really all about).
They are choosing to lose ... once again.
Right-wing propaganda, jingoism, Militarism, & phony-Nationalism
will
always -- win out -- over the alternative of .. silence!
They are choosing to lose ... once again!
(Howard Dean included).