The Democratic surrogates on TV need to be more aggressive....

[kentuck]

Not loud, but willing to interrupt the wingers when they make a statement that is obviously false or purposely misleading. For example, while watching the re-run of MTP with Ken Mehlman, the GOP, and Tad Devine, the Dem, tonight, I could see that this is a problem that needs to be addressed. Democrats are more polite - for example, even on shows like Crossfire. Just watch when Tucker is giving his initial spiel and Begala never interrupts - but within 5 seconds of Begala's turn to talk, Tucker is interrupting like a rude child. Perhaps Democrats need to be less polite? At least, for the time being?

Tonight, Mehlman was talking about how Kerry voted for the war but then voted against protecting the troops by voting against the $87 billion package. I was hoping Devine would interrupt and say something like, "No, it was Bush that threatened to veto the $87 billion if he didn't get what he wanted. John Kerry would never make such a threat and would never vote against protecting our troops in war. His vote had no bearing whatsoever on whether the troops got the aid that was supposedly in the $87 billion package. His vote was a protest vote against the dishonesty of George W Bush. To pretend that his vote was the difference in the bill passing or not is dishonest."

The spokesmen for our side need to be less polite and interrupt when such statements are made. Unless, of course, it is one of those rare occasions where there is a polite Repub. ANd that would be unusual, indeed.

[slinkerwink]

1. I agree with that and if Dem_Strategist is still around.....

I hope he'll notice this.

[volosong]

13. Your Hamster Image

I wouldn't distribute that because the claim will be made that only a rodent would vote for Kerry.

[slinkerwink]

19. what the fuck?

It's based upon the story of how Kerry saved his daughter's hamster. It's just a playful take on that.

[fujiyama]

23. LOL

Some people will criticize anything. BTW, how was your internship with Jeff Seeman? Does he have a chance in winning the seat?

[Doctor_J]

2. they won't though

that's why we've fallen behind over the last 15 years. The words "coward", "deserter", "AWOL", and "slacker" shold be uttered repeatedly whenever there is a microphone in view. When these get tired, "arrests", "cocaine", "drivers license number", "lost service records" should fill the airwaves. Videos of * falling down drunk should be shown at every opportunity.

But they won't be. Let's face it, our pundits like Begala and the like get paid by the same GOP organs that pay the rw shills. They may secretly want * out of the white house, but in fact they'll be just as rich either way.

[KoKo]

3. Nicely understated, Kentuck. I still am raging about Podesta's

performance against O'Neil on Snuffy's show this a.m. Put me in such a rage I've been posting on DU most of the day and hubby tried to drag me off and I shouted...GO AWAY...I'm saving the world from Repugs! (ha! like my enraged scribblings could save anything, lol's on me)

The Kerry Campaign Operatives leave much to be desired. Would have thought we would have a new crop of Carvil's working for us by now...but no such luck.

I can't imagine what Kerry's operatives are thinking at this point...but I put it up to "inside the beltway" think...or worse. I really don't want to think the worse...so I think they are hacks and Kerry needs to get some folks who can counter this slime. Polite is wearing thin for some of us Dems and I think we need more "oomph" to cut throught the Repug Crap to get to the the rest of Dems out in America who aren't as savy as we here on DU are. :shrug:

[loftycity]

6. That was horrible this morning Podesta was painful

They need to get tough. I'm so tired of this garden party approach.
Do they get it? That they are up against Fascist Thugs?
The Dems have had 20 years to wake up.

[Sugarbleus]

9. LOL KoKo--->'GO AWAY' Same here. I apologized to my

family today for this obsession......but leave me alone anyway. lol

I did manage to write some letters to ner-do-wells..so I accomplished something at least.

[rumguy]

17. What happened with Podesta?

Did he just suck?

I don't think he should be going on these show - he doesn't know how to argue effectively.

[Sugarbleus]

4. I agree. They should put ME on the panels.. LOL

I'm no shrinking violet. I would be in-your-face-no-backing-down firm. I'm sure there are plenty of folks in this forum who could do the same. Geeeeeeeeeeeez Find some gumption!

[Democat]

5. It's going to take many years to replace the current wimpy party

There are institutional problems in the Democratic Party that need to be corrected. The only way to correct them is probably to replace the current group of people with a new batch of people. That includes elected officials, strategists, talking heads, just about everyone.

We are still getting our asses kicked by the Republicans on a daily basis. It isn't one person (Lieberman) or one group (the DNC) that is letting us down, it's almost the entire Democratic Party as it exists today.

They simply do not have what it takes to fight the Republicans.

Our side are wimps who don't want to offend anyone or take any career risks.

[sampsonblk]

20. Amen to that

I agree 100%. We are RIGHT, but our "leaders" have been afraid to say it loud enough and often enough.

[MichDem10]

7. Carville...

Where the hell has Carville been anyway?

[loftycity]

8. Mike Malloy would be great against that O'Neil sleaze

[featherman]

10. It's a frustrating thing to watch

I have been distinctly unimpressed with the Kerry campaign's response team so far although I can't say I have watched everybody all the time on all tv shows. What I have seen has left me wondering. There was a young woman on Scarborough evening (rebroadcast?) that seemed to have done some research at least and was fairly articulate. (But I couldn't watch much because Joe makes me ill). For the most part I get the impression that the Smearboats and their GOP supporters have pretty much had their way with all these talk shows. God knows the host "journalists" would never stoop to doing any research or anything to counter even the most obvious and brazen lies so it is up to the DEM spokespeople to step up and GET THE JOB DONE. I long for the days when Clinton's people ( Carville, Begala, Rahm Emmanuel, Jamie ???, etc) would spin these jerks so they didn't know if they were coming or going. Now it all seems like weak and wishy washy defensive whining. Maybe I'm just tired and should go to bed.

[Placebo]

11. They are being pretty agressive as is.

I don't know what else it is you want them to do, when they are only invited on a show for like less than 3-4 minutes of total talk time.

[quaoar]

12. That's just enough time

To slap someone so hard his whole family will hurt.

[featherman]

14. We need better talkers, better prepared

But I am willing to concede that this may be some kind of field tested strategy, i.e., let the most brazen lies and misrepresentations go unanswered when it is your turn and just return to the campaign's talking points (jobs, economy, whatever). But it is frustrating.

[Lerkfish]

15. This has always been a standard repug tactic....

if you'll notice, they never are saying anything NEW, they are repeating themselves, but interrupting the dem to do so.
I fault the moderator or interviewer for this, frankly. It is not the position of the one being interrupted to tone the opponent down, and its dangerous because it feeds into exactly what the repug is trying to do: limit the time the dem can actually spend presenting their side.

[Toucano]

16. I hear what you're saying, but I wonder...

if Democrats were less civil (polite) would they be republicans? :(

We are Democrats because we respect people. We're decent. We hope for a more civil society. We also are people who walk the talk. We encourage people to respect one another, and therefore, we respect those who disagree with us. It's a curious problem, isn't it?

I think our strategy might be to be MORE civil, MORE decent, MORE polite. We can't contradict our nature, so maybe we should enhance it. Then the world will see Tucker a frothing mad man while Begala remains in control, rational, together.

I'm not contradicting you, I'm just talkin'.

[kentuck]

18. Perhaps you are right dralston....

But, it would leave a lot of unanswered questions and assumptions for the viewers that are totally untrue...just like now.

[Nordic]

21. I think a different tactic is called for

Because if they get more "aggressive" it will just result in unintelligible shouting matches every time.

The Repubs need to be called on their bullshit.

The Dems need to simply stop, smile, and say "you just interrupted me." And make a big deal out of it. THEN start interrupting and saying "I'm not gonna let YOU talk until you quit iinterrupting me."

Always in a very civilized, smiling and even condescending way.

That sort of thing.

Our side simply needs to start pointing out their tactics.

OUr side ALSO needs to start pointing out the talking points. Getting ahold of the actual e-mails and faxes, holding them up and saying "So you're saying exactly what the White House is telling you to say today. "

That sort of thing.

on edit: By the way, the only person I've seen do this, and do it really well, is Ted Rall. He should be the example for every Democratic pundit on TV

[ljm2002]

24. Another excellent idea...

...and for some, this will work better, it depends on the person though.

I do tend to agree about the shouting matches, it gets old and in the end generates more heat than light. So while I do believe that we need to be "less polite", I'd be thrilled to see some from our side keeping their cool while persistently pointing out the tactics used by their Republican adversaries. It does however require a certain style, not everyone can pull it off effectively. And I'd rather they do something than nothing -- so if they have to keep talking while the interrupter is talking, I'm all for it.

I forget which show it was this morning, but there was yet another case where one of the Repub spokesmen talked about the "Democrat" candidate. It made me livid! I kept waiting for our person to come back and talk about the "Republic" candidate. Just politely but pointedly use the wrong term, in just the same way the other guy did.

Didn't happen though. Our guy (or gal, sorry, I really don't remember) just let it slide on by.

[NightOwwl]

25. I swear I was just thinking the exact same thing...

when I scrolled down to your post.

"You just interrupted me."

Short, sweet, and very effective.

[ljm2002]

22. "Perhaps Democrats need to be less polite?"...

..."At least, for the time being?"

Ayup. We're getting killed on the talk shows because (a) we always allow them to make their talking points, even when they're outright lies; and (b) we let 'em talk right over us. Oh, yeah, and (c) we forget to make our own talking points.

C'mon, team! This ain't no foolin' around! This is it. We've got 72 days or so until the election, and every single unrefuted lie loses us votes. We cannot, CANNOT afford another 4 years of this foul regime.

[bklyncowgirl]

26. I totally and completely agree

Our spokesmen need to be better prepared and willing to be as rude and loud as the republicans.