By Dave Anderson:
Here are a couple of quick thoughts on Democratic politics that I would fund and encourage if I was the head of the DNC and the DCCC:
1) Wedge the Conservatives --- Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) was on the Shock and Transformation panel at Netroots Nation. He recognizes the weakness of the Republican coalition and argued briefly that Democrats in Congress should force the Republicans to put at least one member of their coalition on the chump seat each week by allowing up and down votes on previously controversial issues that have no where close to majority support, in fact will actively repel majority support while a negative vote would be a massive slap in the face to either a major supporting bloc or the ideological argument. Here are some of the votes I would want to see hit the House floor. If any of these votes get more than 80 Ayes, I'll be shocked:
Cancellation of all Medicare services combined with a voucher program equal to $39,000 per Medicare eligibile individual to buy insurance on the private market.
A vote on a bill with the exact language and intent as the 2006 South Dakota abortion ban (that one failed)
Refund all Social Security contributions and allow for unlimited tax free savings but absolutely no Social Security Payments going forward after Jan 1 2010.
2) Assume no good faith negoatiations are possible with Senate Republicans on high salience issues.
Second, Chuck Todd asked Grassley whether he'd vote for the bill if it was a good piece of policy that he'd crafted but that couldn't attract more than a handful of Republican votes. "Certainly not," replied Grassley. Todd tried again, clarifying that this was legislation Grassley liked, and thought would move the ball forward, but was getting bogged down due to partisanship. Grassley held firm. If a good bill cannot attract Republican support, then it is not a good bill, he argued.
Grassley, in other words, is working backward from the votes. If the Gang of Six reaches a compromise that the Senate Republicans don't support, Grassley will abandon that compromise, regardless of the fact that he's the guy who built it.
3) Start working on a primary campaign againstRep. Mike Ross (D-bluedog-AR) to impose minimal party discipline on high salience issues and the use of Republican frames:
No federal funding for illegal immigrants or for abortion, and no rationing of health care. I will never vote for a bill to kill old people, period."
4) Forget about most of the South and most of the South's concerns as the politics there are too damn peculiar --- don't try to win a southern majority, just attempt to not get wiped out. Make being a "Southern Conservative" as much of a political slur and conversation ender as being a "Massachusetts Liberal" (of which I am one, and damn proud of that fact!)
If we look at Congressional approval for Democrats, it's -40 in the South, and +3 outside the South--a 43% difference. The difference for Congressional Republicans is even one point higher! It's just less dramatic-looking, since it's all in deep negative territory: -33 in the SOuth, -77 everywhere else.
If we look at party approval, the gap is even bigger: -45 in the South for Dems vs. +15 outside the South, for a 60-point swing total. And for Reps, it's -5 inside the South vs. 73 outside the South, for a 68-point swing total.
That's D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T. It's the very definition of D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T. And pretending anything otherwise is as removed from reality as the Birthers are.
Speaking of the Birthers--from the PPP poll above, McCain voters: Obama a US citizen? -19 total. Obama voters: +79%. That's a combined 98%.
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