I wrote this post last month with some degree of bitterness that we of the Center and Left had outraised the Republicans dollar for dollar, and organized better than we ever had, and had nothing but defeat to show for it.
Well, now Amy Sullivan of Washington Monthly tells us the sad story of the revolving door of unsuccessful political consultants in the Democratic Party (hat tip to Kos). Yup, nothing succeeds like failure, I always say.
We already knew this was the problem, didn’t we? How often did we watch Al Gore, John Kerry, or some other cautious candidate take a pass on a softball down the middle of the plate? Barack Obama is one of the few liberal/Democratic message-deliverers who actually sounds like he means what he says, not just debasing himself with baby-talk pandering. (Bill Clinton was smart and incisive but always pandered; Howard Dean was all anger and no optimism, no "city on the hill.")
Let’s trust our instincts: If we think a candidate sounds weak, chances are everyone else feels the same way. And when was the last time you saw a really clever, effective, innovative political ad from the Dems? ("Never"? Was that a "never" I heard?)
We worked too hard in life and on this campaign to give $5 million to Bob @#%@ Shrum. Right now, we’re all Reform Democrats.
Oh, and here’s a great little nugget, a quote from one of these Demo-hacks (with my emphasis):
?Our firm has an unmatched record of success that no other firm can match.?
Uh… I wonder why we’ve got problems with our message? Problems with our message? Problems with our message? ….
I got a request today from the Democrats to give money which said that this is not ‘their’ (the ‘republican fat cats’) coiuntry – it’s ours….I thought it belonged to us all…