I don’t think I’ve ever had less respect for the Democrats than this year, when we finally have a majority in the Senate, House, and White House. When Tyrant Bush was in charge, there wasn’t too much we could do about it all, because they were in the majority. But now that Democrats have the majority everywhere, we can see what Democrats are truly capable of accomplishing when they have the power, which is: not a lot.
GOOD LORD, DID YOU REALLY HAVE TO FUCK UP EVERYTHING?
I’m sorry, but this is really pathetic. What was the Public Healthcare system that Obama laid out at the very beginning of things? And now we’re struggling to get pretty much anything. Forget about Single Payer–they threw that out before it even began. Public Option? maybe not, thank you Joe Dumbass Liberman. Buy-In Medicare? Probably not. DEMOCRATS, YOU HAVE THE MAJORITY, YOU HAVE THE POWER–GET IT TOGETHER!!!
How To Lose The Public Relations Battle, Step 1: Operate on logic instead of emotion.
The Democrats think that everybody in the country is smart and makes decision based on rational, logical, weighed-out arguments. The Republicans know that most people in this country are not that smart and operate primarily on emotion, and they know that the emotion that overwhelms all of our logic circuits is FEAR. So they tell everybody lies in order to feed that fear.
How To Lose The Public Relations Battle, Step 2: Use bland, unemotional jargon devoid of catchphrases.
I know this is related to Step 1, but it’s such an important step, that I wanted to highlight it. The Republicans agree on catchphrases and repeat those catchphrases ad nauseum until everybody thinks they’re true, even if they aren’t true. How many Republican catchphrases can you recite off the top of your head? “Death Panels” and “a bureaucrat coming between you and your doctor” are two that spring to mind immediately. What do the Democrats have? “Public option”–how long did it take for anybody to even understand what the hell that was? Democrats clearly learned nothing from the Patriot Act debacle. Why did everybody vote for it? Because it was called the PATRIOT ACT! Who’s gonna vote against something called the Patriot Act? On the other hand, who’s gonna vote for a bill called the Wiretapping and Eavesdropping Constitution-Circumvention Bill? If the Democrats had branded the Public Option something like The American Way, The Healthcare For America Act, or something like that, it would have gone a lot beter.
How To Lose The Public Relations Battle, Step 3: Don’t organize any public demonstrations.
All this summer were Tea Parties, protests against healthcare reform, and people organized to shout down Town Hall Meetings. Where the hell were our Democratic Healthcare Reform Rallies?
How To Lose The Public Relations Battle, Step 4: Don’t keep a united front.
The Republicans are a tight-knit group, and they vote like automatons. The Democrats let their team have individual freedom to screw things up on their own. Joe Liberman feels like he’s not getting enough publicity for himself? Joe Liberman wants to get some extra concessions for himself? Well, then he’s not going to vote for Healthcare Reform unless he gets his way and gets more attention for himself. Somebody needs to seriously kick Liberman’s ass around. And by Somebody, I mean Rahm Emmanuel.
I feel like the Republicans are all the schoolyard cool kids and bullies who taunted and outshouted everybody to have their way, while the Democrats were the brainy, kind, but ineffectual kids who were smarter than everyone, but couldn’t get anybody to do things their way. Jeez, Democrats, you piss me off. And yes, Obama, you too. You’re being waaaaay too nice. Call people out on things like you promised you would. Name names and mock people. That’s what affects the public emotionally, and that’s what the Republicans deserve.
Democrats, learn to be more like Republicans. And get shit done.
Vic Chao 