You've Got To Stand For Something

I may be essentially a Westerner, before I'm a Democrat, before I'm a liberal, before anything else.  Because these two grafs from the tail end of the Salon interview with Brian Schweitzer ring absolutely true with me:

And how do you persuade the most conservative voters -- the ones for whom abortion and gay marriage are be-all, end-all issues -- that they should think about education and healthcare as important "moral values" too?

The most conservative voters? The beauty is that I only need about 50 percent to win. The most conservative voters will not even give me a shot. I don't need 100 percent of the vote. Just do the right thing, for God's sake. And if that means I'm only going to be governor for the next three and a half years, so be it. Just tell 'em who are you are, tell 'em what you believe in, and tell 'em in a way that they're gonna believe you.

The Democrats spend a lot of time worrying about how to finesse these social issues.

Please. Please.

Just tell 'em what you are. You know, this polling stuff, having to go out and figure out which way the wind's blowing -- do you believe in something? Did you have something when you started? If you do, tell 'em what it is. You'll be all right. If you're a kook, you're not going to get elected. But if you're real, you're normal, you're halfway bright, and you're willing to stand up -- that's the most important thing.

In other words, you know what he stands for, even if you disagree.  Remember the Democracy Corps poll that showed the Democratic Party had a huge problem with people  not knowing what it stands for (page 4 of the PDF)? Schweitzer, a pro-choice populist Democrat, won the 2004 Governor's race in Montana (a 20% Bush state). 

So, Democrats, stop moving toward the Republicans, and stop aligning yourselves with corporate interests.  You're hobbled by your allegiance to corporate money (which mostly goes to Republicans anyway), head fakes toward the Republican Fundamentalists won't get you any votes, actual movement toward the Republican Fundamentalists will lose you votes, and the attempts muddy your already muddy message.

Comments

[Desert Donkey]

As another native dryland westerner, I couldnt agree more.

Put another way, quit trying to dilute their position and focus on strengthen yours. FDR built a strong coalition by delivering real value to the inland west. People out here know there are issues as important as "faith based" issues, but they cant vote on something that isnt on the table. There are plenty of people in red america who are moderate on many issues. Schweitzer has done a good job of this and Democrats from surrounding states need to pay attention (says the man in Idaho).

[eRobin]

So, Democrats, stop moving toward the Republicans, and stop aligning yourselves with corporate interests. You're hobbled by your allegiance to corporate money (which mostly goes to Republicans anyway),

This is the key problem. Hobbled isn't a strong enough word. The Dems are destroyed by their addiction to corporate money, not because most of it goes to the GOP, but because the GOP has been allowed to transcend the whole idea of corporate money and tap straight into the corpofascist hive, e.g. the corporate media.

When push comes to shove, the Dems are truly, madly and deeply GOP-lite, if we define GOP interests as corporate interests. Now the GOP has moved into wacko territory creating a tiny, maybe even imaginary, vacuum the Dems believe they were born to fill. They're thinking, "Now that we look electable, the corpofascists will give us more money, now they'll love us." Except they won't because the GOP is promising to roll America back to 1896 under cover of the same faith-based smokescreen that has the Dems so excited. The Dems can't promise anything the corpofascists want because our cover/distraction is that we'll preserve the New Deal. And then there's electronic disenfranchisement voting.

I'm back to thinking that it's going to take another Depression or, god forbid, a civil war, to make the current class war visible to the people who are living and dying in it. Maybe those oil wars Publius wrote about will do the trick. I don't know. But hey, good times ahead!

[DaveB]

I don't like Corporations that much in general, but I don't necessarily think corporate money is the Democrats problem...its the we stand for whatever you want us to stand for thing. We need a leader who is more like MT's governor than like John Kerry or Al Gore. Those two guys were total finger in the wind politicans, especially Kerry.

His only conviction was his political career, and that is why I supported Clark over Kerry.

[paperwight]

I don't like Corporations that much in general, but I don't necessarily think corporate money is the Democrats problem

Two words: Bankruptcy Bill.

I might agree that corporate money isn't the Democrats' only problem, but it's a problem.

[Abby]

Can we dump Biden too?

[paperwight]

Can we dump Biden too?

Someday, one hopes.