Last night was our monthly poker game, and predictably enough politics came up as a topic for discussion. Once again, I found myself biting my tongue. Not only was there Bush-bashing going on, but I didn’t feel comfortable elaborating on my comment that There are people whom I think less of now because of their attacks on George W. Bush.
At least my keeping quiet kept the conversation relatively civil. I wasn’t talking about anyone at the table, but I feared if I went on, one of them would say something to turn me off. Don’t lecture me about how the election was stolen by Republican Evil. It was lost by Democratic Incompetence.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to defend Bush. I wouldn’t have voted for him in this election at all, but I also think that if you’re going to attack him, you should use something that actually has some basis in fact, rather than in Fahrenheit 9-11. Better yet, don’t attack, but criticize in a way that doesn’t immediately alienate those people who don’t agree with you 100%. Saying that it’s time to check the fire sprinklers in the Reichstag
may be cute (once, maximum), but it won’t sway anyone. Preaching to the choir may give you warm fuzzies, but it doesn’t win people over.
As I’ve said before, one of the bigger problems with this election was that the Democrats didn’t offer a clear alternative to the president. There’s a reason I’ll sometimes refer to them as the left-wing of the boot-on-your-neck-party.
With that in mind, I collected some links for today.
- Shelley Powers thinks the Democrats should be Moving Forward, Not Pulling Back. I agree. I’m on a mailing-list where there has been a ton of scorn heaped on
Red America
and all the people doing that have managed to do is make me think they’re not half as clever as they think they are. - In Don’t Mourn, Organize, David Grenier has some other suggestions for how to help, but I think he, like the Democratic Party, misses the main point: don’t demonize the opposition. It Just Doesn’t Work. Or at least it hasn’t in the time I’ve been alive.
- This Open Letter To The Democratic Party: How You Could Have Had My Vote has a number of good points:
andHere is something you could work on right about now: I could not stomach to listen to your incessant hatred of President Bush. Bush is stupid, Bush is an idiot, Bush is Hitler, Bush is a Nazi, Bush masturbates to photos of dead Iraqi babies, I’d vote for my dog before I’d vote for Bush, I’d vote for Castro before I’d vote for Bush, the Rethuglicans are fascists, Bush voters are treasonous, Bush should be impeached, blah blah blah blah blah blah. It was old three months after Bush’s inauguration, and it’s now just tiresome. I don’t hate my President, even though I voted for him with more reluctance than I can express and a queasy feeling in my stomach. Language like this makes you seem immature, needlessly vulgar, and obnoxious.
In my lifetime, the left demonized Nixon, Reagan and GWBush when they ran for re-election. The right demonized Clinton when he ran for a second term. In none of those cases was it a successful strategy.President Bush won on values, yes, but not hatred of gays or any other stereotype you have in your head about Bush voters like me.
He won because he has values, clearly defined values, and even though I agree with little of what he believes, at least I know what he believes. At least I know that he really does believe in something. At least I know that he will do what he says he will do.
That’s disgustingly little, but unbelievably - you offered me less.
Maybe a better approach would have been to field a credible candidate (who wasn’t a senator) in those cases and pointing out why he’s the better man, rather than running down the opposition or trying to lie about your record in Vietnam or convince gun-owners your their best buddy. Insanity is keep making the same mistake over and over and expecting the outcome to be different.
At the very minimum, saying that people who voted for Bush arestupid
orevil
is probably not going to win very many hearts or minds. [instapundit] - On a slightly different, but still political note, one of the places where I find myself disagreeing with just about everyone I know IRL is that I don’t believe The Quest For Cosmic Justice will ever bear fruit. I don’t believe that Cosmic (or Social) Justice is attainable, and attempts (by both major parties, but more traditionally by the left-leaning sorts) to attain it are not only misguided, I think they’re harmful, mostly because of unintended consequences. Further, by seeking Cosmic Justice, you run the risk of alienating ordinary Americans who still have a belief in traditional justice and the Rule of Law.
You cannot redress the myriad inequalities which pervade human life by applying the same rules to all or by applying any rules other than the arbitrary dispensations of those in power.
[colby cosh]