Monday, July 10, 2006

Can It Be???

Please tell me I didn't just hallucinate this Digby post...
All this handwringing amongst the cognoscenti about the barbarians at the gates ruining everything for the Democratic party (again) and what do I find in my mailbox but this strategy memo from insider Dem establishment polling outfit, Democracy Corps run by none other than Carville and Stan Greenberg. And lo and behold, here's what they have to say:
The Democrats need to catch up with the country, which wants to vote for outsiders, is demanding change and ready to respond to the Democrats’ message and definition of the election. All things considered, this is not a bad problem to have, but it requires a new intensity and focus to grab ahold of the forces for change and take the Democrats to a new level.
[I'll just give the first sentence of each "change dynamic" to save space - you should be able to get the general idea]
Change dynamic one: The Iraq war....

Change dynamic two: Washington is working for big corporations and the privileged, not the people or the country....

Change dynamic three: They’re not taking care of America....

Change dynamic four: This economy brings you high gas and health care costs and financial pressure for the middle class....

Change dynamic five: They’ve bankrupted the country....
The memo also emphasizes the need to push for accountability at long last. This is surprisingly good stuff - the only big thing I would add would be that the Republicans are losing the War On Terror and endangering our troops because they are placing profits and politics over American safety. Less big, but I would also like to see them address the Republicans' use of fear and hate as tools of manipulation. Both issues are at the very core of the Republican campaign strategy, and if Dems can take those away, the Republicans won't have much left: abortion, gay marriage, immigration...

So maybe Carville & Co. have seen the light and decided to listen to the netroots. The question is: Will the Dems listen to Carville?

4 comments:

four legs good said...

Will the dems listen to Carville? we can certainly hope so.

Beth said...

Say it isn't so!

Beth said...

(that was snark, btw)

Eli said...

I'm guessing that complacency and DLC codependency will override any respect they have for Carville (not that I generally have much anymore either). Oh well.