Anonymous
04/01/2025 11:24
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Anonymous wrote:Seeing how lost Democrats are today, I am really struck by how remarkable Barack Obama was. He transcended all the stupid little boxes that progressives have these days. If he were to emerge today, I'd expect Democrats to be completely twisted into pretzels as they agonize over whether Obama is too black or not black enough.
Candidates matter much more than the boxes they are ticking. Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris lost not because they are women but because they were shitty candidates running on platforms that most Americans rejected. I'm pretty sure Nikki Haley would have won if she had been the Republican nominee. Voters rejected Harris not because she's a woman, but because Biden progressives suck - from illegal immigration to preferential racial hiring to soft on violent crime policies to wrecking an entire generation of public school students because of cruel blue state Covid restrictions. Jesus Christ Himself would have lost running as a Democrat in 2024.
So Democrats have both a candidate problem and a policy problem. What they need is a movement leader - a charismatic individual who can move Democrats away from losing social issues and toward winning economic issues. The economy is going to suck over the next few years. That is where Democrats can pick up heaps of voters if they can somehow re-orient to being the party of the working and middle class. Identity politics are death for Democrats. They need to walk away from that and focus on health insurance, income inequality, parental leave, safe neighborhoods, good schools, and all the other kitchen table issues that progressives have ignored for years. There is so much space for Democrats to be the dominant party in the US if they could just focus on the things that matter to the working and middle class - and that is not gender pronouns or Gaza.
Right now the only prominent voices I'm seeing that really resonate with working and middle class voters are Bernie Sanders and AOC. But Bernie is too old and AOC is too young. So that space is completely free for a more viable candidate. And I'm not seeing anyone. People like Buttigieg and Booker and Whitmer and Newsome will never do anything that pisses off donors and the DNC. But Democrats desperately need exactly the kind of candidate that pisses off donors and the DNC. I don't know who that person is, but that's what Democrats need. And their race or gender is completely irrelevant. It's their character, charisma, and policy that matters. But if Democrats choose to go with either a milquetoast DNC candidate or a identity politics candidate, they are doomed to irrelevancy. But a charismatic class warrior will win big against the party of Elon Musk.
Proving once again that Dems have to be more and bigger and better than any R candidate b/c we eat our own alive. Just reading this, and reading your takedown of any and every possible candidate, was exhausting and dooms to failure.
And, yes, HRC and Kamala in fact did lose in large part b/c of their sex. I know people who said as much ("I'll never vote for a woman.") And those were just the overtly sexist statements.
Anonymous
04/01/2025 11:21
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Anonymous wrote:Being a Democrat means never having to say you’re sorry. And never admitting the Party has made any mistakes. The 1000 posts in this thread make that abundantly clear. Even the issues that clearly hurt us badly at the ballot box are absolute non-negotiables. The voters need to apologize to us for their stupidity and insolence.
Nah.
Anonymous
04/01/2025 11:20
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Anonymous wrote:They should denounce the violence against Teslas.
I’ll denounce a wad of gum and a spray painted penis on a car, when you apologize for attacking police officers, bringing a confederate flag into the Capitol, defecting in Congress, and causing $1m+ in damages.
Anonymous
04/01/2025 11:18
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Call your senator and ask for the moderate voice to be heard we want you back!
today is a good day bc of the events on the senate floor
today is a good day bc of the events on the senate floor
Anonymous
04/01/2025 11:16
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
That dream candidate might to better as an independent. Not only would today’s Dems get all fussy and nitpicky over Obama’s exact racial and sexual and religious identity, they would HATE his old stances on strong borders, marriage between a man and a woman, no men in girls’ locker rooms, etc. The party has progressed a ling way since Obama and since Hillary. And the candidate will have to adapt to the Party, not vice versa. Not even Bernie, with his deep understanding of how migrants suppress American wages, dares to talk about that anymore. He now toes the “no human is illegal” line. Obama and Hillary too. Their old principles have “evolved” massively. They aren’t even running for office! But just to stay relevant, they are all in on migrants and trans folks.
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:56
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Seeing how lost Democrats are today, I am really struck by how remarkable Barack Obama was. He transcended all the stupid little boxes that progressives have these days. If he were to emerge today, I'd expect Democrats to be completely twisted into pretzels as they agonize over whether Obama is too black or not black enough.
Candidates matter much more than the boxes they are ticking. Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris lost not because they are women but because they were shitty candidates running on platforms that most Americans rejected. I'm pretty sure Nikki Haley would have won if she had been the Republican nominee. Voters rejected Harris not because she's a woman, but because Biden progressives suck - from illegal immigration to preferential racial hiring to soft on violent crime policies to wrecking an entire generation of public school students because of cruel blue state Covid restrictions. Jesus Christ Himself would have lost running as a Democrat in 2024.
So Democrats have both a candidate problem and a policy problem. What they need is a movement leader - a charismatic individual who can move Democrats away from losing social issues and toward winning economic issues. The economy is going to suck over the next few years. That is where Democrats can pick up heaps of voters if they can somehow re-orient to being the party of the working and middle class. Identity politics are death for Democrats. They need to walk away from that and focus on health insurance, income inequality, parental leave, safe neighborhoods, good schools, and all the other kitchen table issues that progressives have ignored for years. There is so much space for Democrats to be the dominant party in the US if they could just focus on the things that matter to the working and middle class - and that is not gender pronouns or Gaza.
Right now the only prominent voices I'm seeing that really resonate with working and middle class voters are Bernie Sanders and AOC. But Bernie is too old and AOC is too young. So that space is completely free for a more viable candidate. And I'm not seeing anyone. People like Buttigieg and Booker and Whitmer and Newsome will never do anything that pisses off donors and the DNC. But Democrats desperately need exactly the kind of candidate that pisses off donors and the DNC. I don't know who that person is, but that's what Democrats need. And their race or gender is completely irrelevant. It's their character, charisma, and policy that matters. But if Democrats choose to go with either a milquetoast DNC candidate or a identity politics candidate, they are doomed to irrelevancy. But a charismatic class warrior will win big against the party of Elon Musk.
Candidates matter much more than the boxes they are ticking. Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris lost not because they are women but because they were shitty candidates running on platforms that most Americans rejected. I'm pretty sure Nikki Haley would have won if she had been the Republican nominee. Voters rejected Harris not because she's a woman, but because Biden progressives suck - from illegal immigration to preferential racial hiring to soft on violent crime policies to wrecking an entire generation of public school students because of cruel blue state Covid restrictions. Jesus Christ Himself would have lost running as a Democrat in 2024.
So Democrats have both a candidate problem and a policy problem. What they need is a movement leader - a charismatic individual who can move Democrats away from losing social issues and toward winning economic issues. The economy is going to suck over the next few years. That is where Democrats can pick up heaps of voters if they can somehow re-orient to being the party of the working and middle class. Identity politics are death for Democrats. They need to walk away from that and focus on health insurance, income inequality, parental leave, safe neighborhoods, good schools, and all the other kitchen table issues that progressives have ignored for years. There is so much space for Democrats to be the dominant party in the US if they could just focus on the things that matter to the working and middle class - and that is not gender pronouns or Gaza.
Right now the only prominent voices I'm seeing that really resonate with working and middle class voters are Bernie Sanders and AOC. But Bernie is too old and AOC is too young. So that space is completely free for a more viable candidate. And I'm not seeing anyone. People like Buttigieg and Booker and Whitmer and Newsome will never do anything that pisses off donors and the DNC. But Democrats desperately need exactly the kind of candidate that pisses off donors and the DNC. I don't know who that person is, but that's what Democrats need. And their race or gender is completely irrelevant. It's their character, charisma, and policy that matters. But if Democrats choose to go with either a milquetoast DNC candidate or a identity politics candidate, they are doomed to irrelevancy. But a charismatic class warrior will win big against the party of Elon Musk.
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:46
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
. Finally! Yaasss Queen!Anonymous wrote:Cory Booker is an American Hero.
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:41
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Amen
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:33
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
We don’t need policies to win over MAGA. We just need policies to win back the Democrats and swing voters who think the Democratic Party took a wrong turn somewhere. But it’s tough. most of us on here are quite pleased with what our Party currently stands for, and we’re not inclined to compromise with fickle voters who abandoned us and caused this mess
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:33
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Anonymous wrote:Being a Democrat means never having to say you’re sorry. And never admitting the Party has made any mistakes. The 1000 posts in this thread make that abundantly clear. Even the issues that clearly hurt us badly at the ballot box are absolute non-negotiables. The voters need to apologize to us for their stupidity and insolence.
+100. I am the “start fresh” poster. that can be our slogan
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:31
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Anonymous wrote:Cory Booker is an American Hero.
I didn’t fully appreciate him until today
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:31
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Anonymous wrote:So Booker has been speaking on the floor since last night. I hope that more continue to speak. Non stop. Every single Dem senator should take the floor.
They are doing great. Finally
where have they been?
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:29
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would rather have had Kamala campaigning with a band if nudeish transsexuals everywhere she went than with… the Cheneys!!! Ew!
Wide coalition
Narrow coalition
You are saying you would rather have a narrow than a wide set of voters.
This is how D’s lose.
Liz Cheney cost Kamala more votes than she gained her.
Barf. So you actually think there were democrats who didn’t vote <i>because</i> of Liz Cheney.
And these people wanted orange man?
Improbable or gross.
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:28
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
All Dems agree with you in hammering Trump and being cheerful in our messaging. But almost none agree with you on “backing away from…trans rights” or “pushing for reasonable border controls.” Those are Republican ideas, and if you like them, you might feel more comfortable with the other party. Senate Democrats certainly don’t agree with you. It’s currently all hands on deck protecting trans athletes and fighting deportations.
Anonymous
04/01/2025 10:14
Subject: What SHOULD Dems do?
Anonymous wrote:I am a little disappointed that this long thread hasn’t delivered any ideas about how Democrats can win back voters, though. It seems like the thread consists of:
Moderate Dems who want a Republican lite candidate like Mark Kelly and hate the idea of progressive candidates
Progressive Dems who want AOC and hate the idea of milquetoast white male candidates
Mayor Pete adorers who hope he can square the circle
Believers in vague “messaging” improvements
People suggesting reworked policy priorities. Of that last category, 60% are MAGA trolls trying to scare us off our agenda, get us to abandon some of our constituent groups and principles, etc. 20% are disaffected Dems who are already kind of “out.” These Dems-in-name-only will bail on our party if we run a POC or a woman. And only 20% are legit committed Dems evaluating our policy strategy.
Overall, I haven’t seen any new ideas out of 1000 posts. No-one seems to thing introspection or change are reasonable responses to our recent loss of power. .
What do you want? Some magical idea that’s going to capture the simultaneous affections of MAGA, independents, and liberals all at once?
There are plenty of good ideas on this thread. Back away from hot button social issues like expansion of Trans rights. Push for reasonable border controls. Highlight responsible stewardship of the economy including improvements to infrastructure. Then hammer Republicans on their terrible policies. Provide a message that’s upbeat and forward looking for America’s future, rather than Trump’s apocalyptic negativity and anger.
It’s not rocket science and doesn’t require some magical silver bullet. And no, nobody is going to apologize to you for Biden. Get over it and move on.