For those that are all in a tizzy about Edwards supposedly "rebuking" Dean's statement about many Republican (lawmakers) not working an honest day in their lives, it would be instructive to read this blog entry by John Edwards.
Meanwhile, here is a real example of who to be pissed off at, from this article:
"He was gratuitously insulting 50 million Americans who call themselves Republicans, some of whom we hope will vote Democrat," says Democratic consultant David Axelrod.
GOP talking point... who is this nimrod?
Update: Well crap! Nimrod helped run Edwards' campaign. That doesn't help either. He also ran other campaigns though so he's probably being independent.
Posted by tunesmith at June 6, 2005 05:18 PM
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Boy, you're talking about Christians that think Homosexual behavior is wrong, and think the Democratic party should be aiming to attract them?
The *only* way for the Democratic party to attract them is to show that their values are important enough for those sorts of people to vote for them *despite* their difference of opinion on how to treat homosexuals.
I seriously think you may be mislead on just how big a portion of America is a) actively (and politically) Christian, b) believes life-at-conception and abortion-is-murder, and c) believes homosexual behavior is morally wrong. You're describing an evangelical right-winger there, not anyone the Democratic party should be pandering to.
Now, if you're talking about someone who is a) conveniently Christian, b) is vaguely uncomfortable about abortion but wouldn't protest against it, and c) thinks homosexuality is funny on tv and otherwise kinda icky but not a big deal, now then I think you'd be describing a large portion of the political middle. They're ripe for the taking from Democrats, simply by appealing to their better selves.
Posted by: tunesmith at June 13, 2005 12:11 AM
I don't really follow the whole Democrat/Republican thing that closely outside of elections since I'm actually a Canadian, but I thought I could give an outsiders perspective.
I don't know if Edwards meant to rebuke Dean, but he certainly should have. The effect of Dean's comments are to make solid Democrat voters feel superior and to drive Republican voters away. Don't worry about David Axelrod's comments. The Republican voters you're wanting to reach are already thinking that. Axelrod saying that doesn't give them that perspective, it gives them the idea that maybe not all Democrats think that way.
From the outside, I'd say that one of the biggest problems the Democrats have is driving potential voters away. Dean's comments are part of this, but the biggest example of it I see is how Democrats treat the bulk of Christian voters. Yes the Republicans have managed to portray themselves as the party Jesus would vote for, but the Democrats have been helping them do this. I was reading TPM cafe and Ed Kilgore seemed to be aware of this.
Where is the place in the Democratic party for Christians who believe life begins at conception and therefore abortion is murder? Where is the place for Christians who think that Homosexual behaviour is wrong? There may be a place for them, but it's awfully hard to find. Those aren't the only issues in US politics, but they're the ones that I see the Democrats establishing as articles of faith. When you do that, you drive people to the other party.
Things like the "JesusLand" graphic make this perception much much worse.
You might point out that the Republicans do the same. Perhaps they do. From the outside, I just don't see it as a great problem for Republicans.
Posted by: issachar at June 12, 2005 09:44 AM