Kerry Lost and Here's Why
First of all, the presentation of this argument is key. Kerry lost the election. Bush did not win it. Kerry did not lose because of Right-Wing conservatives. Kerry lost because he did not inspire. Kerry had no ideas. Kerry had no substance. The best thing that Kerry had going for him was that he was not George W. Bush.
Combine that with a flamboyantly gay lifestyle, marital infidelity and a grapefruit goiter on his neck and he STILL should have won. So why didn't he? It's simple. You have to be something (ANYTHING) yourself. You cannot get by solely on not being the other guy.
Dean, as liberal/socialist as he was, at least had conviction.
The trick now for democrats is simple. They have to undertake a massive voter education effort... Educate yourselves as to why you are losing elections.
Here's the plan:
Step 1: Pile into the car.
Step 2: Drive to a red state (a red county will probably suffice)
Step 3: Get anthropological on their ass. See how people live in those areas, and you may understand why they vote a certain way as well. It's not about off-the-wall religion... it's about hard work and values.
Anyway, that's my $.02.
Combine that with a flamboyantly gay lifestyle, marital infidelity and a grapefruit goiter on his neck and he STILL should have won. So why didn't he? It's simple. You have to be something (ANYTHING) yourself. You cannot get by solely on not being the other guy.
Dean, as liberal/socialist as he was, at least had conviction.
The trick now for democrats is simple. They have to undertake a massive voter education effort... Educate yourselves as to why you are losing elections.
Here's the plan:
Step 1: Pile into the car.
Step 2: Drive to a red state (a red county will probably suffice)
Step 3: Get anthropological on their ass. See how people live in those areas, and you may understand why they vote a certain way as well. It's not about off-the-wall religion... it's about hard work and values.
Anyway, that's my $.02.
posted by Jake Barnes @ 1:53 AM
5 Comments:
At 9:58 AM,
Ashley said…
You are right, actually. Maybe that can be a start-up business. A series of seminars in hotel ballrooms starting with: How the Left Could Have Won
At 11:26 AM,
Jake Barnes said…
I want to get away from the idea of left vs right. That's big picture stuff and not truly relevant to the way things work, in my opinion. Look at it this way:
The 'extreme-left' vote democrat, but many people who identify themselves as democrats are not those type of people.
Same applies for the 'extreme-right'. They vote republican, but the majority of republicans I know don't vote on morality issues. I can speak of the people that live in the sticks, too, because I spend considerable time out there as well.
On a national level, both parties are in trouble, as they've been phenotypically hijacked by their most villifiable constituencies. That said, those people probably make up no more than 10% of the membership of each party's approximate 37% 'base'.
Christ, scary to think that if that's about right, 20% of this country is off their damned rockers.
At 8:45 PM,
Ashley said…
Voice of Reason - It is true, Kerry didn't have fear on his side. No packs of wolves in his commercials. But I agree with Jake that a lot of his appeal was that he wasn't Bush. He was visually and verbally the anti-Bush and that apparently didn't appeal to the middle to the far right.
At 9:57 PM,
Jake Barnes said…
Am I to assume that only one truly willing to face their fears would vote for Kerry and that those that are unaware or unable to control of their unconscious voted for Bush?
I submit that it was more of a smell test... stack the two piles of shit up next to each other and see which stunk worse.
At 1:46 PM,
Jake Barnes said…
I actually like the libertarians in just about every office except for some statewide elected commissions, US senators and the presidency.
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