In working class parlance, Dems need to grow a pair. Oh wait, that might offend somebody! And that's where they start watering down what they want to say. And that's where they lose us...
I'm all in with Dems have to up our game. And as a gay man who has mentioned my husband in every public appearance around Iowa since 2010 (that's when the radical right organized to fire the 3 Supreme Court Justices who ruled with the other 4 to define marriage equality), I don't think we need to pull back our support for diversity and a sensitivity for peoples' lived experience. As long as "grow a pair" refers to lots of pairs of things that we could grow including eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, and breasts and testicles, I'm all in. I'm perfectly OK with welcoming "you gotta man up" as long as we also understand that "you gotta trans up" is just as powerful. I've put that on Facebook in the past. If you want to see true grit, watch a transman or transwoman put themselves on the line. I'm good with all of it, but I'll also call out the BS when some folks are only good with some of it.
Agreed! We can say it all. What we must stop doing is censoring ourselves when our own groups should know they can trust us to be on the right side. Otherwise we end up so watered down nobody know what we stand for.
Thanks, Matt. Yes, let us stand up to our values and voice them with clarity as you have so well articulated. We don't need to apologize for DEI which just means we welcome diversity, we want equity for everyone, and we want to make sure we are inclusive of everyone in articulation of our own value system. How others can take an acronym and make it sound like something bad without even knowing what they are saying. Hooray for Harvard University who is standing up for their values and for the president of Drake University who is doing the same thing. Heroes everyone.
I have long said that the rise of Trump has been the death of shame. Gary Hart was shamed from the 1988 race over accusations of an affair. Joe Biden was shamed from the same race over allegations of plagiarism. Howard Dean lost steam in 2004 after the so-called "Dean Scream" that followed his loss in Iowa. Those times seem so quaint today. You are correct, Matt, that we have to do more than simply remind voters of Republican flaws. We need to offer an alternative. Or else, voters may not vote for the GOP, but they may just stay home.
I'm not sure Democrats can count on being immune to shame as Republicans have branded themselves. And I'm quite confident the goal shouldn't be that Dems can be as shameful as Republicans. We've got to build a team that people want to be part of. And I do think that is happening.
I agree. Shame keeps us honest (when the regular levers aren't enough to do so). We have learned over the last 8 years that it is critical to our system. I think the key is to keep reminding voters of what the GOP now stands for while also offering reminders of what Dems value (as you say in your article).
We need to constantly remind voters that Trump and his enablers couldn’t care less about the American people…their only concerns are securing unlimited power and wealth for themselves and the corporations that want no regulations that protect us.
In other words… REPUBLICANS TODAY CARE MORE ABOUT ALLOWING CORPORATE GREED AND OUTRAGEOUS CORRUPTION… NOT WE THE PEOPLE!!!
In working class parlance, Dems need to grow a pair. Oh wait, that might offend somebody! And that's where they start watering down what they want to say. And that's where they lose us...
I'm all in with Dems have to up our game. And as a gay man who has mentioned my husband in every public appearance around Iowa since 2010 (that's when the radical right organized to fire the 3 Supreme Court Justices who ruled with the other 4 to define marriage equality), I don't think we need to pull back our support for diversity and a sensitivity for peoples' lived experience. As long as "grow a pair" refers to lots of pairs of things that we could grow including eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, and breasts and testicles, I'm all in. I'm perfectly OK with welcoming "you gotta man up" as long as we also understand that "you gotta trans up" is just as powerful. I've put that on Facebook in the past. If you want to see true grit, watch a transman or transwoman put themselves on the line. I'm good with all of it, but I'll also call out the BS when some folks are only good with some of it.
Agreed! We can say it all. What we must stop doing is censoring ourselves when our own groups should know they can trust us to be on the right side. Otherwise we end up so watered down nobody know what we stand for.
Thanks, Matt. Yes, let us stand up to our values and voice them with clarity as you have so well articulated. We don't need to apologize for DEI which just means we welcome diversity, we want equity for everyone, and we want to make sure we are inclusive of everyone in articulation of our own value system. How others can take an acronym and make it sound like something bad without even knowing what they are saying. Hooray for Harvard University who is standing up for their values and for the president of Drake University who is doing the same thing. Heroes everyone.
Very proud of Drake.
Thank Matt. You are spot on showing how Joni Ernst and so many others have sold their souls to the politics of hate.
I have long said that the rise of Trump has been the death of shame. Gary Hart was shamed from the 1988 race over accusations of an affair. Joe Biden was shamed from the same race over allegations of plagiarism. Howard Dean lost steam in 2004 after the so-called "Dean Scream" that followed his loss in Iowa. Those times seem so quaint today. You are correct, Matt, that we have to do more than simply remind voters of Republican flaws. We need to offer an alternative. Or else, voters may not vote for the GOP, but they may just stay home.
I'm not sure Democrats can count on being immune to shame as Republicans have branded themselves. And I'm quite confident the goal shouldn't be that Dems can be as shameful as Republicans. We've got to build a team that people want to be part of. And I do think that is happening.
I agree. Shame keeps us honest (when the regular levers aren't enough to do so). We have learned over the last 8 years that it is critical to our system. I think the key is to keep reminding voters of what the GOP now stands for while also offering reminders of what Dems value (as you say in your article).
This is right on target. Full stop. Thank you for the hard work of putting things on paper...clearly!
"If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them."
Adlai Stevenson I
Main lesson. Tell the truth of our values and vision. Always.
Spot on, Matt.
We need to constantly remind voters that Trump and his enablers couldn’t care less about the American people…their only concerns are securing unlimited power and wealth for themselves and the corporations that want no regulations that protect us.
In other words… REPUBLICANS TODAY CARE MORE ABOUT ALLOWING CORPORATE GREED AND OUTRAGEOUS CORRUPTION… NOT WE THE PEOPLE!!!