Are Democrats too gentlemanly and respectful to Republicans?

[kentuck]

Should they be more tough and hard-ass toward them?

Are they deserving of any respect at this time.

They lie, they cheat, they slander, they kill. They attempt to destroy our democracy.

How much respect do they deserve?

Have Democrats been too nice to these people?

Or do you believe that would make us no better than them?

Even though we are fighting for the exact opposite?

[MineralMan]

1. Yes, many of them are.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

2. Yes

As I keep saying, we need to get louder when they shout their stupid, evil shit. And reaching across the aisle is not an option with people who would gladly rip our arms off when we try.

[XanaDUer2]

3. Oh, yes nt

[EmeraldCoaster]

4. NOPE

Not Me
I am being shunned

[CrackityJones75]

5. More of what Democrats are doing wrong.

In the face of those actually doing wrong.

[Demsrule86]

6. What are we supposed to do yell and scream with no results? I think that makes us look weak

we need more Democrats to take them on in a meaningful way so maybe the question should be ...what can do to help our elected take on the GOP...maybe voting for more Democrats and supporting the ones already there might help?

[Thomas Hurt]

12. Life is war to fascists, they see politeness, civility and negotiation as weakness.

Democratic messaging sucks, managing the narrative on our side sucks.

[kairos12]

19. Precisely.

No accommodation or politeness with evil.

None. Ever.

[GoodRaisin]

21. How?

Perhaps our own cable news network, to offset Fox News? How do we deliver an effective narrative?

[Demsrule86]

22. Who cares what they say...it won't matter. Nothing we say or do can make them come to the table.

Our only option is to win more elections and increase the number of Democrats in office. Every move we make should be calculated to do this. And we should support all Democrats in the meantime and not make demands that could cost us seats or show a lack of support for Biden or other Democrats. Every person who does this is on my 'no vote' in a presidential primary for this person ever list!

[gratuitous]

7. Yes

But every time a Democrat vents even a drop of righteous anger, the Civility Police pop out of the wood work to scold them and to set the narrative that Democrats are wild-eyed radicals, not like those nice Republicans like Rep. Greene calling them all pedophiles or Rep. Gohmert yelling about taking the Lord's name in vain. Or any one of dozens of Republican men parading their ignorance of women and their reproductive systems while voting to cut them off from health care.

[Buns_of_Fire]

8. In a word, yes.

They don't have to stoop to the level of invective I'd use (reason #28,884 why I know better than to run for Congress), but enough of the "our good friend(s) across the aisle" crap. Just call them "republicans" and leave it at that.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

9. And too deferential.

"Oh, we can't do that because they might use it against us."

[OLDMDDEM]

10. My thoughts

Should they be more tough and hard-ass toward them? Hell yes.

Are they deserving of any respect at this time. No and never back down.

They lie, they cheat, they slander, they kill. They attempt to destroy our democracy. True statement.

How much respect do they deserve? None and there will be none from me even if they come around.

Have Democrats been too nice to these people? To say the least.

Or do you believe that would make us no better than them? Turn about is fair play but the Dems need to be relentless at it or they will suffer for it.

Even though we are fighting for the exact opposite? The RWNJs are true fascists. They need to be put in their place or we will be put in ours.

[fightforfreedom]

11. I have to say yes in this sense.

When the Republicans attack the democrats they all attack, they are all on the same page and they don't let up. Democrats do not do this on a consistent basis.

[Demsrule86]

26. Oh you mean like certain Congressional members calling Biden out way to often?

Yeah, I agree we need more loyalty.

[hamsterjill]

13. Democrats need to toughen up.

Messaging matters and Democrats need to be tougher, less worried about offending and more cognizant of defining actions instead of intentions.

Republicans do not offer respect to Democrats, so they drew first blood. Fuck them.

[Demsrule86]

25. Seriously? No one gives a damn about tough talk...the only thing that can save us

is electing more Democrats. We need a big tent and a fifty-state election strategy. We need to go into every district we can in every state. We also need to gerrymander seats in Democratic states to compensate for the gerrymandering in Republican states.

[TygrBright]

14. It is possible to be both well-mannered and vigorous in opposition.

Democrats want to role-model how adults should undertake difficult processes that have a lot of conflict involved, and that is a good thing. We want to restore expectations of adult behavior to our political processes.

Demonstrating good manners (there is nothing gender-specific or 'gentleman'ly about them, by the way) is not synonymous with being wimpy, insufficiently emphatic in advocating for one's own position, a 'pushover' or any similar indictments.

As part of role-modeling an adult approach to these difficult, conflict-laden, divisive processes, Democrats are also role-modeling a key element of adult behavior, which is respectful acknowledgment of the humanity of those they oppose even as they pursue that opposition. And this, too, is a good thing.

You can be respectful of an opponent's humanity and act as an adult toward them even while the opponent is acting childish and disrespectful. And in the long run, this is the more successful approach and yields the best and most long-lasting results.

You can also employ plenty of rhetorical smackdown on your opponents' ludicrous and evil arguments, positions, policies, etc., without descending into their childish mudpit of personal baiting, insults, etc.

Once you get into that mudpit, you increase your opponents' chances of victory because, as the Ukrainian Army is demonstrating vividly in real time, 'home territory' is a vast force multiplier for any army.

opinionatedly,
Bright

[Scrivener7]

15. Yes.

[awesomerwb1]

16. Yes. For as long as forever.

[kacekwl]

17. Take a class from

Katie Porter and learn how to fight. If you REALLY want to fight back. Do you ?

[Pyryck]

18. Be NICE, until it's time to NOT be NICE.

From Roadhouse.

[IcyPeas]

20. Democrats are playing by the rules. the other side aren't.

[Demsrule86]

23. What rules? We are not playing by any rules. We don't have the numbers to break a filibuster.

Try electing more Democrats and watch what happens. We have a 50-50 Senate and a majority in the House. There are no rules being obeyed here. And for all his bluster...TFG got taxes and that was it...all other shit came through executive orders. And consider that the courts have refused to allow Biden to get rid of some of these orders which is unprecedented.

Some of Biden's Executive Orders have been struck down in court as well. Not only do we not have the numbers to do much, but we also have hostile right-wing courts. I and many others warned about the courts in 16 and it did no good. Now we pay the price for decades. And all the bluster in the world can't fix it. We must get more Democrats elected or I believe We will lose our Republic.

[Patton French]

24. Uh, yeah.

Duh. Lol. J/k

[Demsrule86]

27. I have a question...could we maybe use this forum to attack Republicans occasionally and

not Democrats especially in a midterm year? I don't dispute that this post is perfectly fine. I just question the wisdom of such posts...no disrespect intended.

[Paladin]

28. Yes, absolutely. (nt)

[Initech]

29. Yes, absolutely.

They spent 5 years with a murderous rage in their eyes, fueled by insane off the wall conspiracy theories and extremely violent fantasies, and it ended with an attempt to overthrow the government that had all levels of government involved. We got lucky this time. Next time we might not be so lucky. It's time to start kicking these treasonous insurrectionists to the curb.

[Silent3]

30. If the phrase "with all due respect" was always followed by a good demonstration...

...of exactly how much respect is actually due, Democrats couldn't help but being a lot tougher on Republicans.