DEMOCRATS: Stop the name-calling of Republican candidates for President. You think you're demonizing them somehow, but Republicans and Independents aren't listening and the only people being convinced by the name calling is other Democrats. The name-calling rhetoric just gives Democrats a false sense of how the Republican is viewed by the voters. Didn't you learn anything from two landslides following your calling Ronald Reagan as a reckless cowboy, someone not smart enough to be President? Respect your opponent in politics or pay a price.
REPUBLICANS: President Barack Obama is an extremely talented politician. He is very capable of coming across as a moderate,reasonable voice. You may view him as a reckless liberal politician, but that's not how the average voter views him. Defeating him will not be a cakewalk.
REPUBLICAN COUNCIL CANDIDATES: Running for office is about putting together a coalition that gives you a plurality of the vote come Election Day. Anyone who is in a majority-Democratic district is a fool for running as a rubberstamp of the Ballard record. That candidate has to have Democratic votes to win and you can't there being a rubberstamp for the Republican administration.
MAYOR GREG BALLARD CAMPAIGN: Winning votes in the African-American community involves the personal touch, building relationships over time. If you think you're going to get black votes by running ads bragging about minority contracts, you're sorely mistaken.
MELINA KENNEDY CAMPAIGN: I have no problem with so called negative campaigning (as long as it steers clear of being personal). There is so much about Ballard's record after all that could be used in a negative ad, including a hundred plus tax/fee increases, misplaced budget priorities, foreign junkets, reckless corporate welfare spending, turning the administration over to profiteers, broken campaign promises, mortgaging the future, etc.) However, I wouldn't have put education in the top 10 of Ballard's failures. Not sure why that was the first negative ad of the season.
MIKE PENCE CAMPAIGN: Treat Jim Wallace as a serious candidate and treat him with respect. The best candidate is the one who runs scared.
REPUBLICANS: Give the political rhetoric against same sex marriage a rest. There is no proof it undermines traditional marriage and it is a matter of fundamental human decency.. We Republicans should want people to join together in monogamous, committed relationships. Oh, and I should mention, the polls have turned sharply against those who oppose same sex marriage. It's coming Republicans. Let's be on the right side of history.
DEMOCRATS: Showing a photo ID to vote is not some terrible burden. Nobody except a few extremists think that. To compare Republicans advocacy of that to your shameful history of voting rights abuses in the South is disgraceful.
That's all I can think of now.
14 comments:
You can't be more wrong about the consequences of attacking the Republican candidates.
They really do look anti-intellectual, warlike, theocratic, intolerant and scary. This country is overwhelmingly urban. Urban people find those attitudes and beliefs terrifying.
The Democrats are doing quite well in exposing the country to just how crazy the Republican offerings are.
When the GOP gets through an entire primary cycle without resorting to God or prayer, they'll restore some credibility.
Rick Perry prayed for rain.
Enough said.
As for the voting rights abuses in the South, all the former abusers are now Republicans.
Those conservatives were Democrats because Lincoln was a Republican. The conservatives are now exclusively the base of the GOP. The GOP inherited that shame. The "Southern Strategy" is a core Republican campaign practice.
No gay, liberal, feminist in Atlanta ever kept a black from voting.
Showing a photo ID to vote is not some terrible burden. Nobody except a few extremists think that.
you're right: this is a straw man argument.
the biggest problem with indiana's voter ID law is that it is highly restrictive about what types of ID are acceptable. remember julia carson trying to vote with her congressional ID, which was invalid because it didn't have an expiration date.
"They really do look anti-intellectual, warlike, theocratic, intolerant and scary. This country is overwhelmingly urban. Urban people find those attitudes and beliefs terrifying."
But not so terrifying that it stops them from killing and terrorizing each other every night.
stAllio,
I actually agree with you 100%. D's should have fought the battle on the types of photo IDs you can use. I agree Indiana's is too restrictive.
Cato,
Those conservative Southern Democrats were Democrats that was the party party of segregation and Jim Crow. Once you took that reason away, they naturally gravitated more toward the Republican Party. It had ZERO to do with Republicans adopting the Democrats' racist politics.
I hope you're not claiming that the Republicans got those voters by adopting the racists, segregationst policies of the Democrats because there is no proof of that.
I would point out that, oontrary to the myth, the Democrats still run much of the South. Mississippi hasn't had a Republican majority legislature since Reconstruction, i.e. the 1870's.
The Democrats weren't racist; the conservatives were racist. The conservatives moved over to
the GOP.
"We have just lost the South for a generation." -LBJ, immediately after signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
This actual Southern song is quoted for the record.
Lyrics to No Niggers In Our Schools :
No we don't want niggers in our schools
We're not for immigration
Keep those niggers in their place
We'll have a better nation
Our southland got along just fine
Until those immigrators
Came down here stirring up a mess
With outside agitators
They'll march, sit in and demonstrate
And try to take our schools
They want to change our southern way
With a brand new set of rules
No we don't want niggers in our schools
We're not for immigration
Keep those niggers in their place
We'll have a better nation
We must prove to martin luther
We stand for what is right
No court, or left-wing liberals
Can ever make him white
Form a solid line of white men
Conservatives we'll be
They'll never ever overcome
Our schools will still be free
No we don't want niggers in our schools
We're not for immigration
Keep those niggers in their place
We'll have a better nation
We must prove to Martin Luther
We stand for what is right
No court, or left-wing liberals
Can ever make him white
Form a solid line of white men
Conservatives we'll be
They'll never ever overcome
Our schools will still be free
No we don't want niggers in our schools
We're not for immigration
Keep those niggers in their place
We'll have a better nation
No we don't want niggers in our schools
We're not for immigration
Keep those niggers in their place
We'll have a better nation
Our southland got along just fine
Until those immigrators
Came down here sturring up a mess
With outside aggitators
They'll march, sit in and demonstrate
And try to take our schools
They want to change our southern way
With a brand new set of rules
No we don't want niggers in our schools
We're not for immigration
Keep those niggers in their place
We'll have a better nation
We must prove to martin luther
We stand for what is right
No court, or left-wing liberals
Can ever make him white
Form a solid line of white men
Conservatives we'll be
They'll never ever overcome
Our schools will still be free
No we don't want niggers in our schools
We're not for immigration
Keep those niggers in their place
We'll have a better nation
We must prove to martin luther
We stand for what is right
No court, or left-wing liberals
Can ever make him white
Form a solid line of white men
Conservatives we'll be
They'll never ever overcome
Our schools will still be free
No we don't want niggers in our schools
We're not for immigration
Keep those niggers in their place
We'll have a better nation
Like Bill Maher says, "Not all Republicans are racists, but if you're a racist, you're probably a Republican."
The Libertarian Party will not, and should not, play a bigger role. It is little more -- and sometimes less -- than a junior Republican Party. That is even more true of the Indiana LP than of most other state LPs.
A Libertarian Party without libertarianism is worse than nothing since it causes voters (and non-voters) to misapprehend and eschew libertarian principles; and to associated them with neoconservatism.
Genuine libertarians do more good by not voting than by voting for the LP pretenders and opportunists.
Voter ID example:
my parents, staunch patriots, American Legion and VFW members, won't be able to vote in the upcoming elections because they moved to Indiana this spring and can't get to a license branch for a government photo id (because although mentally capable, they're both in a rehab facility and currently bedridden).
Now, is that fair? They're citizens who've voted for decades, and now they're disenfranchised because of Indiana's voter ID law!
The ID requirement is a pole tax. Individuals who didn't have an Indiana State issued ID had to pay as much as $34.50, to obtain one. Not all of Indiana residents drive cars.
What makes matters worst is when politicians that break the voting law, such as Charlie White, but get away with it, because their party is in power.
Voting is a right, not a privilege, not like driving a car.
The ID requirement is a pole tax. Individuals who didn't have an Indiana State issued ID had to pay as much as $34.50, to obtain one. Not all of Indiana residents drive cars.
What makes matters worst is when politicians that break the voting law, such as Charlie White, but get away with it, because their party is in power.
Voting is a right, not a privilege, not like driving a car.
Driving a car is a right, not a privilege, and nobody should have to buy a state ID to drive. Driving is essential, while voting is not, and far more people drive than vote.
Of course nobody should have to pay for an ID enabling him to vote. But it is peculiarly selective to focus on that voting tax instead of the many other taxes -- like the sales tax -- which are more onerous and destructive.
For instance, the minimum wage is a tax that makes hiring low-skilled and inexperienced workers unaffordable. It is important to work, but voting is rarely more than a meaningless ritual. Occupation licensing is a tax making dental and medical care, legal counsel, and many other services less affordable to all Americans.
Let's apply our self-righteous indignation where it is needed most.
Heartland...
have your folks vote early by absentee ballot. They dont have to show any ID to do that.
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