Democrats' Latest "NewD irection"

Dana Milbank of the WaPo lampoons Nancy Pelosi's latest campaign initiative and so do we, but we settle for cheap sophomoric hijinks.  Milbank first:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the woman who will become speaker of the House if Democrats get lucky in November, began her weekly news conference yesterday holding up a red-white-and-blue brochure.

"I hope you all received 'A New Direction for America,' " she said, standing at a lectern that bore the same slogan. She called the manifesto "a compilation of many of the initiatives taken by our House Democratic Caucus that encompasses our new direction for all Americans."

It was a handsome booklet, full of homey photographs and popular proposals, but there was a problem. Democrats have had more "New Directions" recently than MapQuest.

Among the party's campaign slogans this year: "Culture of Corruption," "Culture of Cronyism," "Do-Nothing Congress," "Rubber-Stamp Congress," "Together, We Can Do Better," "Together, America Can Do Better" and, most recently, "Six for '06."

For those keeping score at home, Democrats arrived at "New Direction" yesterday by downgrading one of the "Six for '06" issues (health care) and upgrading three others (honesty, civility and fiscal discipline), for a total of eight items on the contents page.

By contrast, Republicans have settled on a single, unofficial slogan, which essentially says: Vote Democrat and Die. And in politics, scary and scurrilous usually trumps elaborate and earnest -- something Pelosi has experienced firsthand in recent days.

Others have had similar difficulty taking the latest Dem brainwave seriously - a sly commenter has this suggestion:

A New Direction for America as the dems chosen slogan?

Say that again and see if you can hear it.

Or, move the "d" from direction over to new and then read it out loud again.

A NewD irection for America

And you think it's coincidence that Bill has been popping up in the news recently?

Is that one of Nancy Pelosi's pamphlets in his pocket, or is he just excited to see her?

Comments

[Robb Allen]

That's it. You've finally 'jumped the shark' as far as I'm concerned and I'm taking you off my blogroll as well as my RSS reader.

Using the words 'NewD' and 'Pelosi' in the same post is beyond the pale...

Good lord, does anyone have any tips on how to gouge out the mind's eye?

[clarice]

It couls be worse. Tom never suggested you imagine Kennedy or Murtha newd, did he?

[The Unbeliever]

And in politics, scary and scurrilous usually trumps elaborate and earnest

Scary and scurrilous--OK, so we've got Pelosi and Reid respectively, but who's the poor earnest sap Milbank thinks will be trounced by her? (And does he really think anything will ever defeat Karl "Elaborate Conspiracy" Rove?)

[Jim Hu]

See a spin doctor if this slogan lasts more than 4 hours

[Bob]

Robb the antidote is being glad your not one of these poor souls! over at the DU

I think it is because there is so much shit happening...

and so much propaganda to dispel that we are starting to experience a sort of battle fatigue.

It is prob a Rovian strategy to keep us from campaigning.lol

I hear there's been a run at the local supermarket on Kool Aid!

[The Unbeliever]

But seriously folks, I'm so glad we have another plan-type thing from the Democrats. Perfect timing too--it's just starting to turn cool here, and soon I'll need some kindling for my fireplace.

[clarice]

Very funny Jim Hu!

[Pofarmer]

(honesty, civility and fiscal discipline)

Do Dims really wanna run on that? Really?

Talk about Swift Boating-----Yourself.

[Lew Clark]

Hang on, the Dems may finally be on to something. Rove is like Darth Vador and the Death Star. But the Dems have realized that they're no Rebel Alliance. So, they're doing what they can and what they do best. Circus clowns running around squirting each other with seltzer bottles and hitting each with giant styrofoam hammers, in hopes that Rove will be amused and cut them some slack.

[Sue]

that Bill has been popping up

...that your first thought on reading Bill and popping up is sexual...is so wrong. ::grin::

[hit and run]

Wow, I made it to a post title on JOM!!! Woohoo!

Is that as big as an article in the WS? Jus' askin'...

[clarice]

BIGGER,IMO! To be singled out for wit on a board with PUK, Rick,Soylent, Cecil et al is an incomparable honor.

[doug deeper]

@hit and run

kudos!

[Neo]

"hit and run" must be a sock puppet for Bill Clinton LOL

[ajacksonian]

Perhaps the Democrats can just become the Know-Nothing Party... not the originals of course... on the plus side, they already have a T-shirt and slogan available!

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Does anyone else think 'Nancy Pelosi' and 'get lucky' should not be in the same sentence?

Especially with this post's title.

[Pofarmer]

I thought their new slogan was gonna be "Homeland defense begins at Home"

Too long?

[Sissy Willis]

Come, come, now. The Democrats feel our pain, after all.

[TakeFive]

Oh how I long for those simple days when John Kerry said he had a plan - but wouldn't tell us what it was.

[Terrye]

That is pretty dang funny.

[PeterUK]

This is conjuring up terrible visions,Tedda,like a huge albino walrus,John F "Newd Boating",make them go away please nurse!

[Daniel DiRito]

I just don't get it. Democrats will never gain traction on an issue if they continue to determine important issues from the latest focus group or the most recent polling data. In contrast to their Republican counterparts, Democrats seem to chase issues rather than attempt to define them. Perhaps the GOP decision to focus on primarily one singular issue...the war on terror...will prove to be a miscalculation and a return to the well one time too often, but if the new polling is accurate and indicative of voter trending, its working as it did in 2002 and 2004.

Further, Republicans have mastered the art of pivoting from their primary topic enough to draw its connection to other relevant issues...culminating in a comprehensive narrative that may well be a fabrication but it has all the elements of an easily understood and seemingly logical rationale. From their focus on the war on terror they explain the Iraq war, they discount the deficit, and they tout economic progress in spite of the impact of 9/11 and two costly wars.

The GOP understands simplicity and they recognize that voters ultimately spend very little time studying the issues and the positions adopted by the two major parties. They find a message that is short and simple, they repeat it incessantly, and they stay with it till the end. Doing so gives voters the impression that they are both decisive and principled...traits that resonate with busy people looking for strong leadership on issues they haven't the time to address.

Read more here:

www.thoughttheater.com

[clarice]

Daniel, well-written post!
I'd debate this "...but they demonstrate the fact that Democrats have within their grasp a salient message...". They don't. Unless that is that they are a totally unprincipled gathering in of whatever they can grab. Had the McGovern wing not been so prominent, and the moderates not been working so hard to hide that, there may have been a salient message. That message, however, to win would have required they not grab at every stupid notion--"Bush Lied",or there is no terrorism threat or the inconsistent -we have to hand inspect every container that lands here for example--and stuck to a high ground of offering rational alternatives to deal with terrorism.
That might appeal to the general population, but not to their bankrollers (unions, Soros, Bing and Lewis) or their base.

[owl]

no thanks

[lurker]

"The charge enraged Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who had come to the floor to talk about education.

"America is not tired of fighting terrorism," she retorted. "America is tired of the wrongheaded and boneheaded leadership of the Republican Party that has sent $6.5 billion a month to Iraq when the front line was Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, that led this country to attack Saddam Hussein when we were attacked by Osama bin Laden."

She continued: "And Americans are most certainly tired of leadership that, despite documented mistake after mistake after mistake . . . never admit that they ever do anything wrong."

It was angry and raw. But it was a new direction."

Nice writeup, Daniel, too.

If that is the message given by Landrieu to be given by any democrat, it will backfire against them. Why?

Because there is enough evidence that the progress in Iraq and Afghanistan has been looking mostly good. Besides, the GOP would be ready with a really good response.

[The Unbeliever]

Democrats will never gain traction on an issue if they continue to determine important issues from the latest focus group or the most recent polling data.

Actually, I'd argue the Democrats have a slightly different problem: their real stance on the important issues is too radical to be electable on a national scale; so they must try to hide it behind a platform which they loudly declare is "moderate", just enough to slip it by the electorate without losing their core lefty base.

This has two key results: the first is that since they can't pitch the real platform they have to figure out what is electable, and for that they turn to the aforementioned focus groups. However, the lefty pitch is electable in certain rarified cases, i.e. the hopelessly blue states and districts; the combination of these two facts causes a huge problem when the Dems try to run a national campaign.

Which brings us to the 2006 election cycle, where instead of leaning on the "all politics is local" mantra, the Dems are trying to run a coordinated national campaign lumping all Republicans together and railing against the national GOP agenda (as opposed to targetted local issue campaigns). Now you have a party that's trying to reconcile New England and west coast liberalism to a national "moderate" image... and the paradox is bound to drive the sloganeers, marketers, and focus group readers to distraction.

I think they'll have a tiny bit more success than their last national campaign (in 2004, where John "I Have A Plan" Kerry lost, and the GOP picked up more Congressional seats). But that's in large part because of internal GOP discontent over conservative values, which may hamper the vote. I doubt the Dems will pull their message together into any kind of coherence, and will ultimately make such small gains that they won't take back the Senate or the House.

[clarice]

You said that far better than I did, unbeliever.

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

You don't think The NewD irection is going to be enough to carry the Dems to victory? Geez, Shrum got a written guarantee from Evor Political Strategies that it couldn't fail. Arlie K. signed it himself.

'Course, the guarantee is void if the strategy isn't carried out to the letter but that's a minor matter. The Dems have six translators working on the chapters that were inadvertantly left untranslated from Sanskrit (Arlie only works in Sanskrit) and if they don't finish up by the end of the week, Arlie is due back from his trip up the Amazon on Monday. No sweat.

[lurker]

I agree with Clarice on unbeliever's post. In yesterday's committee meeting over the military tribunals, the democrats refused to participate by staring into space with the intent of putting up a block vote.

Rick, I see this as a weak message to send to the public.

Fox News just reported Bob Ney's issue with alcoholism and Nancy Pelosi taking advantage of that story "Republican Corruption!".

[clarice]

The plan is always perfect--ask the authors--it's the damned execution, isn't it?

[lurker]

I read a few posts over at Captain's Quarters. Looks like one poster just got hit with "Stupidity" comments. Daniel referred to the democrats calling Republicans "stupid" in his part 1 of his writings.

Guess we should be expected to see more of the "stupidity / idiocy" comments over the next few weeks....

[lurker]

Conservatives for Nancy Pelosi

Even Jonah Goldberg is flirting with these ideas.

[Pofarmer]

"But that's in large part because of internal GOP discontent over conservative values, which may hamper the vote."

The only discontent I see is that the GOP isn't conservative enough. The danger it is too conservative is nearly nil. As the population is aging, and more families are getting out of the cities, we are becoming more conservative, not less. It's a trend folks, don't bet against a trend. The extreme liberals are noisier, but they are a small minority, blue dots in a red sea, as it were.

[Toby Petzold]

What a boner!

[Kevin B]

Daniel DiRito's analysis of the dems strategy failings is very informative, but I think Toby's really hit the spot.

[richard mcenroe]

clarice -- now be fair. That Kennedy on Buffy was one hot chickie.

[Soylent Red]

Dammit Toby! You beat me to it. The best I can do now is simply to say that Clinton suggested the Dems use his own personal motto:

"I'd like to get something straight between us..."

I think unbeliever gets to the crux of the problem for the Dems: How do your craft a manifesto when you have no core beliefs? Or more accurately, when you have so many competing core beliefs.

Conservatism, in its many shades, relies on a basic philosophical adherence to traditional cultural values and a belief in American exceptionalism. Most of the GOP, even the more liberal neocon elements, can at least agree on certain fundaments. Taxation, national security, hands off business. When you get into the base, the list of dearly held beliefs gets longer and is in sharper relief. Even our wacko Buchananite and religious fringes don't stray very far from the party mainstream. That was the real gift that Reagan gave back to the movement. He showed the paleos and neos and fundies and right libertarians our points of commonality and caused the party to run on those points. Big tent conservatism.

While conservatives are, metaphorically, many different flavors of ice cream, liberals are ice cream, basketballs and crowbars.

Dems are a conglomerate party where each individual constituency operates independently, only held together by the glue of party affiliation. Thus you can have pro-Second Amendment Union yobbos who drink beer and hate gays consorting with anti-war types, health-nazis, and transgender-rights types. They also refer to the "big tent" but really it's more like a large campground.

The concept that unites Dems is the notion of "group disenfranchisement", or "group entitlement". Put bluntly, Dems thrive when they can draw distinctions between have and have-nots and play individual group interests against each other, and the more liberal the Dem, the more that comes into play.

That's why libs tend to protest more, shreik more about "-isms", demand more government levelling, and generally be malcontents. Their entire worldview is based on the inherent crappiness of the system and the conviction that, everywhere, justice is not being served. By extension, they're constantly on the lookout for those trying to "hold them down". It's a weird system of simultaneous solidarity with everyone and selfishness.

So what you wind up with is conservatism making a positive appeal to mass collective interests, while liberalism is making a mass negative appeal to indiduals' self interest. It should be obvious which would be easier to build a unified national party and message around.

BIGGER,IMO! To be singled out for wit on a board with PUK, Rick,Soylent, Cecil et al is an incomparable honor.

I'm no wit Clarice. Many would suggest only half that.

[MayBee]

Congressional AIDES must be proponents of the NewD irection.

On the other hand, the slogan regarding the Rubber Stamp may have eliminated Aides.

[clarice]

Your last post belies that claim.
Very good analysis combines with very colorful writing.

[clarice]

**Soylent,Your last post belies that claim.
Very good analysis combineD with very colorful writing. ****

[Soylent Red]

NewD irection: Since the Republicans are offering no new ideas, we'd like to show you our large package.

[clarice]

*THWAAAAAAACK*

[Barney Frank]

Vote Democrat and Die.

Some lines are so profoundly true they should only be savored, not analyzed.

[Neo]

Bill Clinton must be proud.

[clarice]

Barney, How quickly can TAC get that made up into bumperstickers and posters and T's..We always need to top off the treasury.

[Neo]

I caught this commercial the other night, but was too busy to see who was sponsoring it.

It started ..

They're out to kill you

.. then some pictures of al Qaeda in Iraq readying to do a beheading and a bit more voice over and finally ..

They're out to kill you

Even "NewD irection" will have a bit of trouble fighting this one.

[maryrose]

" Vote Democrat and Die"
Truer words were never spoken; I totally distrust the dems in protecting us from the terrorists. That will be the theme in the November election.

[DRF]

The Democrats hate Bush
because he beats them.

Bush beats them because
they hate him.

DRF

[JM Hanes]

Bumper sticker alert:

VOTE for many of the initiatives taken by our House Democratic Caucus that encompasses our new direction for all Americans!

[clarice]

Do you suppose we could use the Animal House Death Car for our sticker"Vote Democratic and Die"..I think that would ad just the right touch.