July 25, 2006
Dem Poobahs Need to Learn That Winning is Defined by Winning, Not
Coming in a Close Second Place
Somewhere along the line, the Democratic leadership forgot that you win
by winning. For the Republicans, that is all there is to politics --
that and then permanently maintaining power.
For the Democratic leadership, it seems enough to say "well, we tried
hard and came in a close second." Coming in a close second in politics
is defined as losing, not a consolation prize.
Of course, the Republicans don't care how they "win." They will mug you,
rob you, hide votes, suppress votes, miscount votes, steal them -- it
doesn't matter. And the Dems shrug, "What can we do? And do you really
think that they would steal an election?"
Duh, just ask Al Gore. Heck, just ask Antonin Scalia or Katherine
Harris. Just start there and move on through each election.
Part of the Democratic leadership mentality is "playing dumb." They
pretend that the felonious Republican tactics are inconceivable and that
the Dems on the Hill are too "gentlemanly" to accuse the Republicans of
rigging elections.
But the Republicans don't have to steal EVERY election. Many they
actually win. By all accounts, the GOP is much better -- no surprise
here -- at mining data on voter personal preferences and getting out the
vote in marginal districts. They use computers and phone banks and
direct mail that's targeted down to the flea in your dog's navel.
And of course, they use wedge issues, demagogic emotional appeals, and
understand the power of television images better than the Dems.
In short, the Republicans are better marketers, much, much better.
They have been, ever since author Joe McGuinness documented Nixon's
resurrection in "The Selling of the President." Roger Ailes, who runs
the FOX GOP News Network, was one of the early masters of packaging,
branding and treating candidates as products.
George W. Bush's entire presidency is one big marketing campaign, using
themes and narratives that best "catapult" the sales of the product, the
product being Bush.
The main vulnerability of the GOP brilliance at marketing is that since
it is based on selling the fantasy of a brand -- rather than the reality
-- its products run into trouble when they run into reality.
You can, to a great degree, control the consistency and predictability
of how Fritos taste, for instance. In fact, every bag prominently
displays a customer service number that you can call if the bag of
Fritos that you are eating doesn't live up to the "brand quality" (not
that we are recommending Fritos as a junk food, but we are talking about
their marketing strategy and brand consistency).
The Democrats need to be the customer service number for democracy.
They need to drag reality kicking and screaming before the American
public -- whether it is the GOP's failure to really protect America or
the theft of elections; whether it is the willful destruction of the
middle class in our nation or the appointing of incompetents to respond
to domestic crises; whether it is the vetoing of stem cell research or
the hijacking of domestic policy by religious zealots.
And then there's that little dismantling of the American Constitution
thing that the Bush Administration is pulling off.
You can't -- Joe Lieberman style -- pretend a bag of Fritos is fresh and
tasty when it is crumbled and filled with cockroaches.
But that's what Dems too often do. They are paralyzed by the GOP
marketing brilliance and then rendered speechless about denouncing how
the product that is being marketed is foul, distasteful and harmful to
your health.
And so the Dems all too often end up in second place. They are happy
with a pat on the back for "putting up the good fight."
But they really haven't put up a good fight because the cards were
stacked against them all the time -- and they were too timid to expose
the reality of the situation.
When will the Democratic big shots define winning as winning, not coming
in second place?
Because coming in second place in politics, however the vote was
counted, is losing.
BUZZFLASH
