Sunday, March 19, 2006
Rahm Emanuel's Strategy To Retake The House
This sounds like a winner in the November midterms to me (via Jonathan Alter at Newsweek):
I agree that turning the election into a referendum on how to punish Bush would be a mistake.
Most Americans don't want to obliterate Bush off the face of the earth the way some of us on the left do (and believe me, I'm one of them - I've never hated a politician the way I hate this motherfucker. Just the sight of his arrogant, unreconstructed alcoholic face makes me angry and I would like to see him go down in history as the worst American president EVER, which undoubtedly he will unless the wingnuts at FOX and Murdoch Inc. get to write the history!)
Most Americans, rather, want to fix the mess the nation's mired in. Bring down the budget deficit, clean up Iraq, make the borders and ports more secure, ensure that Social Security, Medicare and people's pensions will be around 20 years from now, make the multinationals stop outsourcing good paying American jobs, etc.
I think Emanuel's on to something with this midterm strategy. Hang this Congress and Senate with all their rubber stamp votes of Bush's disasterous policies.
Tell people:
If you want to fix Iraq, the deficit, border/port security, Social Security/Medicare/pensions, outsourcing, etc., then you have to vote against this Rubber Stamp Bush Congress.
On the other hand, if you want more fuck-ups in Iraq, more fuck-ups during national disasters, bigger deficits and more financial mismanagement, insecure borders/ports, insolvent Social Security/Medicare/pension programs, and more outsourced jobs, then reelect your Republican Member of Congress or Senator.
The strategy for getting swing-district voters to fire their incumbents is already taking shape. Just as Harry Truman ran against the "Do-Nothing Congress," Democrats will run against the "Rubber-Stamp Congress," which pimped for K Street, took a dive on its critical oversight duties (particularly on Iraq) and helped the president bankrupt the country by shoveling money toward the rich. Emanuel won't say yet which votes supporting Bush he plans to wrap around the necks of incumbents. But look for gut-punch ads that highlight the incumbents' 90-plus percent backing for Bush on issues like cuts in college loans and veterans benefits, privatizing Social Security, selling out to Big Pharma on prescription drugs and halting stem-cell research. Republicans are now scurrying away from Bush, but it may be too late. They can't take those roll-call votes back.
...
Emanuel knows that if Democrats turn the election into a referendum on how to punish Bush (censure, impeachment) instead of on the Bush record, they'll get clobbered. But election experts are reassessing their earlier predictions, as districts in upstate New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania once thought out of reach for Democrats move into play. Controlling at least one chamber of Congress will give the Democrats the subpoena power necessary to offer some basic accountability. If Rahm Emanuel can pick the lock, he'll help open the door to a long-overdue housecleaning.
I agree that turning the election into a referendum on how to punish Bush would be a mistake.
Most Americans don't want to obliterate Bush off the face of the earth the way some of us on the left do (and believe me, I'm one of them - I've never hated a politician the way I hate this motherfucker. Just the sight of his arrogant, unreconstructed alcoholic face makes me angry and I would like to see him go down in history as the worst American president EVER, which undoubtedly he will unless the wingnuts at FOX and Murdoch Inc. get to write the history!)
Most Americans, rather, want to fix the mess the nation's mired in. Bring down the budget deficit, clean up Iraq, make the borders and ports more secure, ensure that Social Security, Medicare and people's pensions will be around 20 years from now, make the multinationals stop outsourcing good paying American jobs, etc.
I think Emanuel's on to something with this midterm strategy. Hang this Congress and Senate with all their rubber stamp votes of Bush's disasterous policies.
Tell people:
If you want to fix Iraq, the deficit, border/port security, Social Security/Medicare/pensions, outsourcing, etc., then you have to vote against this Rubber Stamp Bush Congress.
On the other hand, if you want more fuck-ups in Iraq, more fuck-ups during national disasters, bigger deficits and more financial mismanagement, insecure borders/ports, insolvent Social Security/Medicare/pension programs, and more outsourced jobs, then reelect your Republican Member of Congress or Senator.
