Ted Strickland: Democrats Suffering From 'Intellectual Elitism'

[Stephanie]

ran across this, thought it fits in this thread.

SNIP:
December 02, 2010
Liberal Excuses for Conservative Victory
By Jay Haug
Following their electoral repudiation, the left is handing out very few mea culpas. Instead, we are getting a lot of whining, excuses, spinning, and outright distortions. Other than those 43 House Democrats who wanted someone other than Nancy Pelosi as minority leader, the Democrats, in the words of Margaret Thatcher, "are not for turning."


Contrast Democratic Party talk now, or lack of it, with 2008. When the left won, their rhetoric was all about "change has come." The verbiage crescendoed with exalted talk of imposing their agenda, elections having consequences, and compromise mandating conservative surrender, white flag in hand, to the liberal creed. Triumphal talk of "we are the people we've been waiting for" and "this is our time ... when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal" was all the rage when Democrats took Washington by storm. But the story changed dramatically a few weeks ago when liberals lost and conservatives won. As a result, we now get a peek behind the curtain at the quickly sewn fig leaves of liberal defeat.


Here then are the top nine excuses I have heard for the Democratic Party's losses in the 2010 elections -- justifications we are going to hear in abundance of over the next two years. So write 'em down now and refer back to them as often as needed.


Excuse #9. Talk Radio did us wrong. Even in victory, Barney Frank lambasted talk radio, saying that "right-wing media talk show hosts targeted me." Since the election, Rush Limbaugh has been named by Democrats from the House floor, on liberal talk shows, by Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, and by many others as what is wrong with America. A local lefty letter-writer to my hometown newspaper condemned the "lie spread by mean-spirited talk show entertainers" that show the power of "false and misleading information." Look for the "fairness doctrine" to be revived as a debating point, though the left has less chance to reimpose it than when they ran the U.S. House. The political left currently has no answer to conservative talk radio, which has a great advantage, namely at circumventing the liberal filter the mainstream media places on the news.


Excuse #8. Conservatives must compromise now. After every election liberals lose, the message is the same, and it is parroted by their friends in the mainstream press. "This election is evidence that the American people want Republicans and Democrats to work together." Huh? Where did they get this from? Gallup tells us that 42% of Americans call themselves conservative and 20% liberal. Why any conservative would want to compromise with a liberal while sporting a two-to-one advantage is beyond me. That is like a football team leading 42-20 at halftime and agreeing to their opponent's offer to "call it a tie." So after a sweeping conservative victory, we are supposed to believe that the message is "compromise"? The Democrats jammed through ObamaCare, bailouts, stimulus legislation, and all kinds of other pieces of hefty lefty dogma, without any compromise with Republicans, and now that the voters have rejected their agenda, they want conservatives to compromise? President Obama said it to Republicans after 2008. "I won." Conclusion? Obama got to dictate the agenda, and so he did. Now conservatives can say back to him, "We won."


Excuse #7. It's not my fault. John F. Kennedy said it. "Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan." By that standard, Nancy Pelosi is now a motherless child. "We didn't lose the election because of me," she stated. "Our members do not accept that." Why don't they? Because if they did, liberal Democrats would have to change course, something not possible by their DNA. After the election, President Obama himself made appropriate noises about his "shellacking," but when pestered by the media in his post-election news conference about changing course, he appeared to be the only one in the room unwilling to accept the voters' message and actually do something about it. Bill Clinton saved his presidency by compromising over welfare reform, proclaiming that "the era of big government is over" in 1994, when Republicans took the House of Representatives. But Obama is a lefty true believer who seems incapable of following suit.


Excuse #6. Voters are stupid. Surely one of Obama's top political gaffes was when he said at a Democratic fundraiser, "Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we are hardwired not to always think clearly when we are scared." This is a cleaned up version of the much-maligned and haughty "bitter clingers" comment during his election run. Did anyone think Obama included himself among those "not thinking clearly"? No, it is the people "who don't get me and my programs." This kind of thinking is not new among Democrats. Just ask Al Gore, who attempted to put science to a vote in the global warming debate only to finally realize that science advances by disagreement rather than a show of hands. This week, even Gore admitted that his support for corn-based ethanol in 2000 was more about politics than science.


Excuse #5. The conservative victory was purely emotional. This card has been played frequently since Peter Jennings of ABC characterized the 1994 Republican congressional victory as voters "throwing a temper-tantrum." This was regurgitated by liberal Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on September 3, 2010, when he condemned "the spoiled-brat American electorate ... the nation demands the impossible: quick, painless solutions to long-term structural problems." In fact, what the electorate recognized quickly was a hard left Democratic leadership taking the country in the wrong direction by proposing bad solutions that not only would not work, but would hamstring our economy, increase our debt, and endanger America's future.

the rest here.
American Thinker: Liberal Excuses for Conservative Victory

You forgot the best one. "THEY TREAT ME LIKE A DOG"

When idiots can provide no real answers the best they can do is derail the thread by trolling it.

waaaaaaa

 

[California Girl]

Ted Strickland: Democrats Suffering From 'Intellectual Elitism'


It kinds of sums up what I said in my thread on why the Democrats lost big time in this election cycle and if Obama and the American people can't get it through their thick craniums that the Republicans in the House and Senate they are dealing with don't care about public policy, the deficit and the people, but who's sole intent is to remove Obama from office by destroying him, they're never going to get it and Obama, the Democratic and the American people are going to suffer. This is the best time to hit the Republitards hard who are basking in the spotlight of Democratic loses they are wrongly perceiving as approval and enthusiasm for the Republitard Party when in reality is showed the failure of the Democratic Party to rally and get its own people to come out and vote in huge numbers and the blame for that falls squarely on Obama and the Democratic Party because face it, the Republitards have done diddly squat over the last two years for voters to feel enthused about them.

I see the infection is spreading.... it's not just Fail&Go who needs to get his opinions from a comic, now you do too.

Interesting that you define yourself as a conservative and show absolutely none of the characteristics of an actual conservative. 'Check Chaser Charlie'.

If you're going to answer me at least answer without trolling me. I am a conservative, just not in the fashion of Republitards. I believe in cutting spending and slashing the budget, but not by giving more money to the rich and slashing from the poor, treating them like second class citizens.

I didn't quote Huffingtonpost, I quoted the person who made the statements himself since Huffingtonpost didn't make them.

The HuffPuff is leftist crap. But, extending the tax cuts is not 'giving more money to the rich'... It is their money. Extending the cuts provides stability for wealthy to invest in business. That creates jobs. Poor people need jobs - not handouts.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Ted Strickland: Democrats Suffering From 'Intellectual Elitism'


It kinds of sums up what I said in my thread on why the Democrats lost big time in this election cycle and if Obama and the American people can't get it through their thick craniums that the Republicans in the House and Senate they are dealing with don't care about public policy, the deficit and the people, but who's sole intent is to remove Obama from office by destroying him, they're never going to get it and Obama, the Democratic and the American people are going to suffer. This is the best time to hit the Republitards hard who are basking in the spotlight of Democratic loses they are wrongly perceiving as approval and enthusiasm for the Republitard Party when in reality is showed the failure of the Democratic Party to rally and get its own people to come out and vote in huge numbers and the blame for that falls squarely on Obama and the Democratic Party because face it, the Republitards have done diddly squat over the last two years for voters to feel enthused about them.

 

[blastoff]

Seems pretty simple to me.

The party of No dug in against the various Obama spending schemes and whatnot. The party of Yes went along with Obama in lockstep.

Then a month ago the voters spoke and the party of Yes got its ever loving ass kicked all over the country. Now if they're too stupid to get it there will be plenty more in store for them in the '12 elections.

 

[Sarah G]

Strickland is correct in theory but if the answer is that simplistic, why did Strickland allow that idiot John Kasich take the governorship away from him?

Obama is doing what he can, the Dems in congress need to develop some senblence of a fighting strategy with these teapartiers. They have to get scrappy and creative with solutions Repubs and Independents can connect with.

The strategy to demand that the tax cuts are paid for just as the unemployment benefits need to be paid for is correct. Pound on that until the tax cuts sunset if need be.

There is no need to be creative with any of the solutions. We should simply look at what's actually worked in the past and do them.

Instead, we have politicians being "creative" and using the the solutions that have been known to make things worse.

And how did the Bush tax cuts do anything that has worked in the past? They didn't, they were meant to stimulate the economy and create jobs. They did neither, the tax cuts have done absolutely nothing except give a break to the wealthist Americans.

 

[Bass v 2.0]

I see the infection is spreading.... it's not just Fail&Go who needs to get his opinions from a comic, now you do too.

Interesting that you define yourself as a conservative and show absolutely none of the characteristics of an actual conservative. 'Check Chaser Charlie'.

If you're going to answer me at least answer without trolling me. I am a conservative, just not in the fashion of Republitards. I believe in cutting spending and slashing the budget, but not by giving more money to the rich and slashing from the poor, treating them like second class citizens.

I didn't quote Huffingtonpost, I quoted the person who made the statements himself since Huffingtonpost didn't make them.

The HuffPuff is leftist crap. But, extending the tax cuts is not 'giving more money to the rich'... It is their money. Extending the cuts provides stability for wealthy to invest in business. That creates jobs. Poor people need jobs - not handouts.

Taxcuts need to be paid for, if they're not paid for there's going to be a deficit, now what part of that do you not understand? Again, I didn't quote anything that Huffington Post said specifically as far as their opinion, I quoted the words of man who made statements, Strickland, I don't care about your mania against Huffington Post, thats irrelevant to this thread so stop being a troll CG.

 

[California Girl]

If you're going to answer me at least answer without trolling me. I am a conservative, just not in the fashion of Republitards. I believe in cutting spending and slashing the budget, but not by giving more money to the rich and slashing from the poor, treating them like second class citizens.

I didn't quote Huffingtonpost, I quoted the person who made the statements himself since Huffingtonpost didn't make them.

And it's a good thread too.

It is a good thread that she's attempting to derail with fallacious argumentation and bickering, just like a certain former governor from Alaska, but let me not feed into her nonsense.

I'm not trying to derail it, I'm wondering why - as a conservative - you seem so desperate to back Obama. I suspect it has less to do with his politics than his skin color. I dismiss anything from the HuffPuff... they are a morally bankrupt source. There is absolutely no balance anywhere on their site.

I am not a Republican either, I too am a conservative... and yet... you and I disagree on everything... You might say you're a conservative, Charlie, but I see no evidence of it.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Pro tip:
He is not a conservative.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

LOL
Another, EVERYBODY is out to GET the poor Obama thread.

And the Republicans didn't win a "historic" midterm election because the people WANTED them.

cracks me up.

You link to this kinda shit and expect any credibility?

While some white people are gentle and enlightened souls, most unfortunately are not.

You are racist filth.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Strickland is correct in theory but if the answer is that simplistic, why did Strickland allow that idiot John Kasich take the governorship away from him?

Obama is doing what he can, the Dems in congress need to develop some senblence of a fighting strategy with these teapartiers. They have to get scrappy and creative with solutions Repubs and Independents can connect with.

The strategy to demand that the tax cuts are paid for just as the unemployment benefits need to be paid for is correct. Pound on that until the tax cuts sunset if need be.

There is no need to be creative with any of the solutions. We should simply look at what's actually worked in the past and do them.

Instead, we have politicians being "creative" and using the the solutions that have been known to make things worse.

And how did the Bush tax cuts do anything that has worked in the past? They didn't, they were meant to stimulate the economy and create jobs. They did neither, the tax cuts have done absolutely nothing except give a break to the wealthist Americans.

Ok, we heard it the first 10,000 times it was chanted.

 

[editec]

Americans are currently in one of those ANTI-INTELLECTUAL phases that we tend to go through periodically.

The so called ELITE have betrayed us, so naturally the unwahsed therefore dismiss academia as just so much bullshit.

well, have you seen them make any smart moves lately?

Define "smart move".

I'd say overall that both the Ds and the Rs are both doing really smart things if their agenda is the bankrupting of the American Republic and the American people.

However, if THEIR agenda is to make this republic strong and the american people affluent, then I guess they're both pretty god-damned stupid.

And since I know that neither the RNC or DNC is actually being run by authentic morons, I'd have to say that they've been smart enough to dupe MOST partisans.

 

[Avatar4321]

And how did the Bush tax cuts do anything that has worked in the past? They didn't, they were meant to stimulate the economy and create jobs. They did neither, the tax cuts have done absolutely nothing except give a break to the wealthist Americans.

Let's see:

2001 - Recession

Then Bush tax cuts

Prosperity until 2008

You dont think that's just an odd coincidence do you?

Problem is tax cuts are only half of the solution. You only get half the effect with them.

You want to fix the economy, cut taxes and cut spending.

Youll see unemployment under 3%

 

[Avatar4321]

Taxcuts need to be paid for, if they're not paid for there's going to be a deficit, now what part of that do you not understand? Again, I didn't quote anything that Huffington Post said specifically as far as their opinion, I quoted the words of man who made statements, Strickland, I don't care about your mania against Huffington Post, thats irrelevant to this thread so stop being a troll CG.

No. Spending needs to be paid for.

Tax cuts just keep the money with the people who make it.

We have high taxes and high spending. Its about time we started cutting the spending already.

 

[Bass v 2.0]

Taxcuts need to be paid for, if they're not paid for there's going to be a deficit, now what part of that do you not understand? Again, I didn't quote anything that Huffington Post said specifically as far as their opinion, I quoted the words of man who made statements, Strickland, I don't care about your mania against Huffington Post, thats irrelevant to this thread so stop being a troll CG.

No. Spending needs to be paid for.

Tax cuts just keep the money with the people who make it.

We have high taxes and high spending. Its about time we started cutting the spending already.

No retard, taxcuts need to be paid for, if all taxation ceased right now are you going to tell me there wouldn't be any debt? Thats the extreme case there, but my point stands, taxcust need to be paid for, it shouldn't be any surprise why dumb Republitards plunge the country into deficits with this type of thinking you're espousing.