Rove's machine worked. He effectively microtargeted small segments of the population and created wedges to drive them away from the Democrat party. Problem is, after 8 years, the machine backfired. People divided stayed divided and remained fearful...of everything. That's why McCain and Palin wer... more
Rove's machine worked. He effectively microtargeted small segments of the population and created wedges to drive them away from the Democrat party. Problem is, after 8 years, the machine backfired. People divided stayed divided and remained fearful...of everything. That's why McCain and Palin were forced into going negative. Our base was programmed to respond to FEAR. "He'll meet without pre-conditions, he's friends with a terrorist, his middle name is Hussein, he'll kill your babies." People voted for McCain and Palin out of fear of Obama, not out of dedication or excitement. That's why people are terrified of the new administration. My challenge would be to build a new message based on possibility, not fear. Our Party will be better and so will our country.
Anti-Libertarian
Obviously I'm a flaming liberal but I can tell you that you would win more independents and the respect of more liberals by abandoning the politics of fear. No more specter of terrorism, no more "steal your money", and no more "destroy Christianity" talk. Fear wins elections but at the cost of virtue.
facehead
Are you saying Obama doesn't pal around with terrorists? Is Palin a liar?
I'm not scared because I got a gun.
FVB
Agreed. It pisses me off to see people on here advocating even more division and negative messaging, as if somehow our party has been avoiding the low road. We failed because we offered the people no positive goals, just more muck and bile. Claiming otherwise is a sure way to keep sloughing off membership and losing to the Dems in the future.