[ Saturday, November 06, 2004 ]
Man, Blogger ate this great rant I did yesterday.
I've been spending too much time (as usual) on a local BB,
http://www.baltimoresun.com/cgi-bin/ultbb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=18 ,listening mostly as the emotions of the election run their course.
I've two observations;
First; the election was very close, 49% to 51%. That means that, for all practical purposes, half of America still thinks Bush sucks. John Kerry would have been just fine, thank you.
The difference between win and loss in this case can easily be attributed to the Dirty Tricks (r) of the Rove machine. Early analysis is showing that the Diebold machines in Ohio and Florida (indeed, nationally) erred substantially in favor of Bush. Independent media hipsters universally conclude that the Republican dogma significantly dominated the discussion from day one. Poll machinations, from out-and-out intimidation to the fact of insufficient polling places, machines and workers leading to discouragingly long lines, discouraged universal voter participation. These "tricks" can easily have delivered the necessary 2% - 3% vote in favor of Bush.
And second, the win - loss is so close, no change in necessary in the core of the Democratic Party. We lost only by that which is attributable to the cheating of the other side. Slightly less than half of the Americans that voted think that mainstream Democratic values are just fine, thank you, and in fact, are preferrable to the double-meaning rhetoric of the Republicans. This 49% of America, even in the face of the fear-mongering of the Republicans, STILL voted in favor of a woman's right to choose, in favor of full civil rights for homosexuals, in favor of a national health care initiative; we STILL voted against the unnecessary war in Iraq, unnecessary tax cuts for the wealth and a "defense of marriage" ammendment to the constitution.
I was just watching on CNN (why?) as Bob Novak intoned, for the umpteenth time, that the problem with the Democrats is that they are too liberal, that the "radical far left" has too much influence. On my BB, rightwings are turning themselves purple with the same meme.
We must learn to tell "the right" to shut up. Election numbers prove that the country is about evenly divided, that half of America prefer DEMOCRATIC values (whatever that means) to Republican.
The Democratic party does NOT need to move anywhere, it's just fine right where it is. What the Democratic party DOES need, is to learn how to communicate more effectively with the media; how to better define its core, mainstrea values in a way that will be heard through the din of the opposition. The republicans have succeeded in defining who and what the Democrats are in the media for the last four years or more. This must stop.
gonzoliberal [9:53 AM]
