Genius is Asking the Right Questions
Jun 14th, 2006 at 8:39 pm by Susie
I sat through a polling presentation today by Democracy Corps, the firm owned by Stan Greenberg, James Carville and Bob Schrum. (Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.) The guy giving the numbers said people are consistently pissed off at Bush and the Republicans, but it doesn’t translate into votes for Democrats - yet.
I asked if anyone was looking to see if the trends were similiar to 1974, when the Dems took 48 new House and five new Senate seats. (The startling thing that year? Voters dropped by 10% and the bulk of the stay-at-homes were Republican.)
He said they didn’t have enough extensive data to compare, which I find odd. But whatever. Then I saw this over at Booman Tribune, a guy posting about a hardcore wingnut friend who’s turned against Bush. I have a feeling this dude’s more typical than anyone realizes:
It was then that I went on a verbal rampage: I talked, gently, about how wages were down versus inflation; how productivity had shot up versus wages; how CEO pay has increased 700% in the last 10 years, while workers got the shaft; how corporate profits had gone up 93% in the past five years while workers lost their pensions and got outsourced.
It was then that Joe said something truly extraordinary: “Man, this country is fucked–and somebody better get it unfucked real quick. I won’t vote for a Dimocrat because they don’t stand up for guys like me either–so it looks like I’ll be staying home playing the WoW [world of warcraft] on November 7th.”
A Republican friend of mine who really wants to like Al Gore saw Gore on Larry King. It was Gore’s style, his long-winded diplomatic answers, that dismayed my friend, who wanted a curt, forceful style (sound familiar?). If we get more polite 2004-style Kerrys, Rove will take advantage.
I wish I understood why they think Democrats won’t stand up for them better than Republicans…
I thought Gore was fine on Larry King. I don’t understand why informed, educated answers are a turn-off to people. Don’t they WANT the guy in charge of everything to be smart enough to handle it?
Look at how newspaper stories used to be constructed, starting with a short, memorable, statement, and then going on to add the detail.
I’m not sure you can do the same in a TV interview, it gives the interviewer a chance to jump in. Maybe that is what drives the Dems into dull replies, they have to start in the middle to have a chance to finish.
Doing it right needs both.
If anyone can show any examples of Democrats standing up for anything at all, I’d love to see them.
John Roberts was confirmed 78-22. One-half of the Democrats voted for him.
For Alito, the important vote (for cloture, not confirmation) was 72-25. Again, half the Democrats voted for him. Then many of them turned around and voted against him, so they could lie and say they “opposed” his confirmation, by voting for him when it counted and voting against him when it didn’t count.