{"id":221,"date":"2009-07-17T18:34:55","date_gmt":"2009-07-17T22:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/07\/17\/the-party-with-the-best-message-wins\/"},"modified":"2009-07-17T18:34:55","modified_gmt":"2009-07-17T22:34:55","slug":"the-party-with-the-best-message-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/07\/17\/the-party-with-the-best-message-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"The Party With the Best Message Wins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationaljournal.com\/njmagazine\/cr_20090718_3698.php\">challenge is on<\/a> (via <a href=\"http:\/\/politicalwire.com\/\">Political Wire<\/a>).<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Democratic momentum is slowing but not yet reversing. What Republicans should hope for, and Democrats should fear, is that we are nearing an inflection point, when the directions change. That hasn&#8217;t happened yet.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The key indicator to watch for the rest of the summer is public confidence in Obama. Whether looking back at the economic stimulus package and the budget, or forward to the pending climate-change and health care reform proposals, voters see legislation that is massive, important, and complex. Few will understand the intricacies of any, let alone all, of these measures, which will be defined, positively or negatively, by the media and public dialogue. <strong><em>Whichever party does the better job of messaging will win.&#160; <\/em><\/strong>[emphasis added]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The first thing I hope Democrats do is <strong><em>work the refs<\/em><\/strong>.&#160; Democrats tend to wring their hands when the media criticizes them or, more important, when the media consistently regurgitates the GOP talking points.&#160; They never seem to challenge reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Or for that matter the GOP talking points.&#160; The Dems in Congress will probably argue that they defer to Obama to take the message to the people, and he has shown that he has some fight in him.&#160; But he could use some help.&#160; <\/p>\n<p>For starters, stop talking like geeks.&#160; Talk in big themes, and by all means, criticize Republicans.&#160; If you want to win, you need to not only give your argument but destroy your opponents\u2019.&#160; And don\u2019t be afraid to put things in simple language.&#160; This is not a debating society.&#160; Talking points:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Healthcare<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Health care is already controlled by a massive bureaucracy.&#160; it\u2019s called the insurance industry.&#160; Which seems to be what the GOP is beholden to. <\/li>\n<li>Meanwhile, Medicare, a public option plan, has worked great for 50 years. <\/li>\n<li>The U.S. has some of the worst health outcomes of industrialized nations and the highest costs.&#160; The GOP points to France.&#160; Well, they\u2019ve got some of the best outcomes, there is no wait, and it costs less than U.S. healthcare.&#160;&#160; Pass the french fries, please.<\/li>\n<li>A public option will help small businesses, most of which can\u2019t afford health insurance for their employees.&#160; Why does the GOP think it\u2019s more important to help businesses avoid healthcare than it is to ensure healthcare&#160; for its citizens? <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Taxes<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The top 1-2% of the population had massive tax cuts in the last decade, while the middle class and below sent their children to war that they rich would not pay for.&#160; It\u2019s time to be fiscally and morally responsible. <\/li>\n<li>A tax increase of a couple of percentage points on the rich would still put them below levels of taxation during the Reagan administration.&#160; Is he the GOP\u2019s gold standard? <\/li>\n<li>Over 98% of small businesses would not be impacted by higher taxes on the wealthy. <\/li>\n<li>Democrats are taking responsibility for paying for better healthcare, a cleaner environment and a stronger military.&#160; The GOP wants our grandchildren to pay for everything. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Party of No<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why is it that the GOP, whether it\u2019s war or the economy or healthcare, their answer is always fear?&#160; Fear of what might happen.&#160; Democrats act as Americans have always acted \u2013 with boldness, confidence and commitment to make things better. <\/li>\n<li>The GOP was against social security, against Medicare and Medicaid, against civil rights, against unemployment insurance.&#160; Historically, the GOP is defined by what it opposes and never offers an alternative.&#160; <\/li>\n<li>We want to include Republican ideas.&#160; There are dozens of them in the healthcare bill, for example.&#160; <\/li>\n<li>Republicans seem to think \u201cbipartisan\u201d means we put out our ideas and they put out theirs&#8230;and then we do it their way.&#160; No, Republicans did enough of \u201cmy way or the highway\u201d when they were in power.&#160;&#160;&#160; We have been more bipartisan in a few months than Republicans were in 8 years.&#160; We\u2019re serious about solutions.&#160; Republicans are serious about politics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cap and trade is a responsible way of ensuring a cleaner future.&#160; The GOP thinks Big Oil is the answer because that\u2019s who pays their bills. <\/li>\n<li>Does anyone really think that gas will never rise to $4 a gallon again?&#160; It is likely to rise to $10 a gallon by 2020.&#160; <\/li>\n<li>The wind and sun are free.&#160; Let\u2019s harness them.&#160; American ingenuity is up to the challenge.&#160; Why don\u2019t Republicans trust Americans to solve big problems? <\/li>\n<li>It is a sin how we are destroying God\u2019s earth.&#160; We have a moral responsibility to tend to it, to protect it and to leave it vibrant and lush for generations to come. <\/li>\n<li>American parents have made sacrifices for two centuries to give their children a better future.&#160; Investing in a future where our children won\u2019t worry about a polluted environment and unaffordable energy is a legacy Americans want to leave.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(Here pretty much you can say the same thing to whatever criticism they have of the economy.)&#160; When many people we thinking we might fall into a depression, what was the Republican solution.&#160; Oh yeah, it was \u201cdo nothing.\u201d <\/li>\n<li>From day one, we knew \u2013 and said \u2013 the economic turnaround would take time.&#160; Meanwhile, the Republicans were saying \u201cdo nothing.\u201d&#160; Now they\u2019re saying, we didn\u2019t do something fast enough.&#160; Democrats take a long view that Republicans are apparently incapable of.&#160; We want the money to be spent wisely, so that we take on projects that will benefit our country in the long run. <\/li>\n<li>We need to rebuild our economy in a way that rewards work, not moneychangers.&#160; <\/li>\n<li>We need to respect those who work for a living and not those who risk our money for their living. <\/li>\n<li>Believe it or not, Republicans argue that we don\u2019t need more regulations.&#160; They just want to enforce the regulations we have.&#160; Wasn\u2019t that what they were supposed to be doing before the crisis? <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That\u2019s enough for a Friday afternoon.&#160; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The challenge is on (via Political Wire). Democratic momentum is slowing but not yet reversing. What Republicans should hope for, and Democrats should fear, is that we are nearing an inflection point, when the directions change. That hasn&#8217;t happened yet. The key indicator to watch for the rest of the summer is public confidence in&hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/07\/17\/the-party-with-the-best-message-wins\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}