The Dems have only themselves to blame for the proliferation of Republicanoid zombies [View all]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

When Reagan came into office in 1981, the House was controlled by Democrats and remained under Dem control all through Reagan's two terms and Poppy Bush's one term. The Dems even had control of the Senate during Reagan's last two years and all of Poppy Bush's term.

However, instead of maneuvering from a position of strength, they

1) Didn't put up a tough enough fight against Reagan's policies, such as firing the air traffic controllers, supporting the murderous oligarchs in Central America, lowering taxes on the rich, and building up the nuclear arsenal beyond all conceivable needs. In fact, some Dems (I'm looking at you, DLC) even supported most of Reagan's policies, which makes one wonder why they bothered to put a "D" after their names. (And yes, I know Al Gore was a founding member of the DLC. Did you know that he was a supporter of the Contra rebels against the Nicaraguan revolution as well as being a supporter of Reagan's military buildup?)

2) Didn't look out for the interests of their traditional constituents, working class people. Instead, they were silent against Reagan's union busting tactics, supported "free" trade, and did nothing when thousands of farmers lost farms that had been in their families for generations, due to a double whammy of high interest rates and low crop prices. Even if Reagan would have vetoed any measures they proposed, they still could have made the gesture and made sure that everyone knew where they stood. (This is how the Republicanites keep the loyalty of their party members--they make a lot of noise about policies that they know are unlikely to pass, just to make sure people know where they stand.) More recently, the Dem response to the Wisconsin recall election was tepid, to say the least.

3) Made the tent too large. Since the Reagan era, I have been able to tell you what the Republicans stand for. What do the Dems stand for except "un-Republicanism"? Is there anything short of misconduct that will get a Dem kicked out of the party? Dems who vote with the Republicanites most of the time are still welcomed into the party. Would the same happen with a Republican who voted with the Dems most of the time?

4) Ignored the rise of the right-wing media. I first overheard Rush Limbaugh on the radio in the late 1980s. Where was the Dem response?

5) Disrespected their most populist and leftist members. There are more members of the Progressive Caucus than there are Blue Dogs, and yet it's always the Progressives who have to give in, never the other way around. Do the Republicans do that to their most die-hard members? No! They honor them and send them off to spout nonsense on the talk shows.

6) Published wonkish position papers and spoke in platitudes while the Republicans have employed finely targeted advertising and propaganda techniques that influence the emotions.

7) Adopted a defeatist attitude. Ever since the founding of DU, I've heard lame excuses for the Dems not taking a stand, even for voting WITH the Republicans: "We don't have the White House or either house of Congress," which became "We don't have the White House," which became "The Blue Dogs are holding us back" which became "We don't have Congress anymore."
If past politicians had taken that approach, that they can't vote for anything unless they're sure it's going to pass, women wouldn't be eligible to vote yet.

8) Blamed the voters for abandoning them instead of looking in the mirror. If your significant other abandons you, maybe it's because they're stupid or faithless, but maybe it's because you have continually ignored or disrespected them.
If the Dems have ignored the economic needs of the white working class, why should they be surprised if the white working class votes for the people who pay lip service to their social conservatism? If the Dems have treated their left wing as crazy aunts and uncles who must be kept in the attic and brought out only to volunteer and vote every four years, and also continue many of Bush's policies, why should they be surprised when their left wing votes third party or stops volunteering and contributing? Yes, yes, the Republicans are terrible, but "We less awful than the other guys" is not a very persuasive argument.

9) Ran inept presidential candidates, whose lack of PR smarts made me wince: Mondale, Dukakis, Gore.

Your average voter is not very intellectual and reacts mostly from the gut and from his/her personal sense of well-being. Right now, people are frightened and angry (being outside the country for two weeks, I came back and found an unpleasant underlying tension in the society that isn't always overtly perceptible when you're in it all the time), and the Democrats are not only letting the Republicans dominate the conversation but are failing to use the PR methods that the Republicans have mastered over the years.

You're wondering why anyone at all is voting for Romney? He certainly is not a better candidate, but the voters are in a "What have you done for me lately" mood.
If Obama had taken the Blue Dogs to the woodshed the way he did to the Progressives and insisted on, at minimum, a Medicare buy-in to be effective immediately, then everyone would have known someone who benefited from it.
If Obama had not tried to impress the raw meat crowd by catching Osama Bin Laden but had completely withdrawn from Afghanistan (as is his right as Commander-in-Chief) and used the $250 million per day to put people to work, then everyone would have known someone who benefited from it.
The bank bailout was highly unpopular across the political spectrum. If the Dems (who had both houses of Congress at the time) had insisted on severe penalties for the banksters and had reinstated Glass-Steagall and had shouted this from the rooftops, everyone who wasn't a bankster would have felt that justice was done.
And really, was it necessary to sign all those "free" trade deals, to renew the Patriot Act, and to try to appeal to the red meat crowd by continuing the bogus and (probably illegal under international law) War on Terror?
You can be sure that if, God forbid, the Republicans recapture the White House and both houses of Congress, they will implement their agenda and will not make lame excuses about why they can't.

The Republicanoid zombies deserve to live under such a regime. It may be the only way they'll learn. The rest of us don't deserve this. If worse comes to worse, however, the Democrats will deserve part of the blame for thirty years of wussiness.