Does "Protect America and Our Military Families" include getting the military out of harm's way as Rep. Murtha suggests? If it does, it would be nice if it was listed in the so called priorities of this new direction plan http://democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=257236& I hope they have an answer for what the Democrats plan for Iraq.

"Checklist for change" is OK sloganeering (certainly better than "A new direction"), but... Where's the story? Where's the passion? Where's the ideas?

Good luck to the Senators.

I thought this was a great forum for discussion about what needs to be done and what the women democrats in the senate are doing for everyday americans. For those of you that missed the show, the idea "Checklist for Change" comes from the idea that in order to get things done many women keep checklists in order to manage tasks. So, the nine female senators created their own Check list for the senate and are pushing for the legislation as one body. I thought their insight on the issues across the board was fantastic, and they all seemed to have their own input to each topic that was positive and progressive. It's forums like this which really propell candidates into the future of the senate because it shows what our party and what the women senators are all about!

This is more of the same old laundry list our leadership always throws out.

Where is the urgency? We need to pick one or two clear calls for action and hammer aways at them like they did with gay marriage and abortion.

Preserving Social Security Forever and Accepting Victory in Iraq...get my vote.

Both are postive and put the Republicans on the defensive.

And equally important...we need one strong campaign spokesperson to deliver our message.

The DLC and DNC need to come together and quit wasting time. Let them select the most likable, articulate communicator we have within our ranks and send him out on the attack.

All the Democratic pundits and presidential hopefuls must step down until after the mid-term. The only one speaking for Democrats must be this spokesperson.

I like Edwards or Clarke. Bboth are outside the Beltway and invoke confidence. They also posess an integrity that Rove was quoted as saying worried him.

Or better yet, let Clarke lead the charge on Iraq and let Edwards spearhead the fight for Social Security. They are a much better team than Bush and Cheney.

Let's put our best and brightest out front. Then attack, attack and attack with a clear, consise call to action.

WOW!

I saw the ladies on CNN tonight.Perhalps, our boys chould learn a little lesson about being UNITED on NATIONAL T.V.See how it works? No crap.No disagreeing with anyone. No falling for questions that cause divisions.Try it boys and we might just win an election or two this year.;p

Republicans have been successful in the past decade for many reasons, all of which have been discussed at length in this space. Chief among these are their ability to craft message that is superior to ours, and our willingness to repeatedly capitulate and compromise (the latter deserves to have an anthem written for it). When these two conflate the most serious consequences occur. For instance, the Republicans made the "War on Terror" their credit card on virtually every domestic issue, and Democrats collectively shrugged for fear of being labeled "soft on terror." The Republicans followed Dan Quayle's lead, of all people, made "Family values" their theme, rolled in abortion, gay rights, etc. and Democrats? Well, DLC Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Lieberman and the rest said "Me too!"

During all of this time, as I have noted many times in this blog, and as Krugman suggested in his excellent NYT piece this week, the magician's other hand has been hard at work and more effective than ever. Bush, Cheney, and the Republican Party represents one thing above all others - wealth. Wealth is what matters to them. Pick an issue - any issue, and if there is a corporation or a wealthy shareholder that has a special stake in it - that entity's position will be the position of the Bush administration and the Republicans. If we could make abortion a huge, money-making enterprise, Republicans would propose an amendment to the Constitution protecting a woman's right to control her own reproduction.

In 2000 Bush repeated his nasally whine that Gore's proposals represented "class warfare", and since his election that is precisely what he has done for the past five plus years. Every problem requires more tax breaks for the rich, and a reduction of government support for anyone and everyone else.

It is here that Democrats should have been making their case for the past five years. They could have supported the war if they felt in good conscience they had to, but they could have been making a broad argument that their party represents the interests of the vast majority of Americans. Then, now, as Bush's approval numbers drop into Heinrich Himmler territory, voters would look for an alternative, and they would have seen Democrats. Democrats arguing for a big increase in the minimum wage, because underpaid Americans is not a family value. Democrats working to stem the tide of jobs overseas because unemployed Americans is not a family value - it's a value of CEO's trying trimming labor costs to enhance their chances at fat year end bonuses. Democrats championing the protection of retirement benefits in the form of Social Security AND pension plans because elderly Americans forced to work until their death is not a family value - it's a value of CEO's who view the funding of retirement for longtime, loyal employees as an unnecessary and avoidable cost of doing business. Democrats proposing alternatives to subsidizing rich kids' primary and secondary educations with vouchers, because uneducated American children is not a family value, and finding ways to make college education affordable for anyone who wants it is a family value. Democrats fighting for the protection of clean air, clean water, and preservation of forest tracts, because there is no family value that should force Americans to choose between big dividend checks for the rich and asthma for their kids. Democrats installing a national healthcare system because it is cheaper and better than using our emergency rooms as a proxy for regular healthcare, and because no American family value condones the choice parents make every day between keeping their kids healthy and putting food on the table.

We are in a class war right now. The problem is we're not shooting back. THIS is where Democrats can fashion an effective message which will attract voters - millions of them new voters, to the polls. "Do you want more Republican policies designed to make their fat cat friends even more fabulously wealthy, or do you want a government that looks out for your interests and your family's?" We don't even have to specify "working/middle class people." The emphasis on that group comes from the deluded DLC anyway - that we'll win elections only by going after the mythical middle. What? We can't register three million poor voters? We have no interest in their affairs, giving them opportunity to become a part of the working middle class? How myopic can this party be anyway? No - the message should be addressed to no one in particular. If one half of one percent of this country shakes their head in disbelief and says "Who are they talking about anyway - I'm rich!"...so what? THEY are the Republican constituency.

The positions staked out in the lead post of this thread are a good start, and there could be many more. Unfortunately, this comes so late that a jaded electorate will view it as merely more election year posturing and politicking. And folks...the sad part about our elected Democrats is...it probably is.

It was the best Democratic performance I've seen. Put them in charge of the party!

Well ; I guess this checklist is going to impress someone, its not bad but lacks alot more.
Border security, no amnesty , port security , fuel prices , HERE IS WHERE THE VOTES ARE and if the Dems fail to see this shame on them. Where they are right now isn't good , the 4 issues I layed out above will win you whatever you want.
Mark my words
Fred
www.fredwilkes,blogspot.com

Checklist for Change? It has the stench of Beltway consultants all over it. It is a recipe for disaster, yet another one! How much money did they spend focus grouping this one? What is it with these people, do they think that this is all some kind of fun college project where they all get into a room and think up "neat stuff" to say? Iraq, the most important issue in thirty years and these freakin' dumbass Democrats can't get their head out of their asses long enough to pay attention to the freakin' country! The Iraq War is NOT EVEN ON THE LIST! Why in God's name would most Americans pay any attention to what you have to say? The DLC, the Republican Light Brigade of the DNC have actively hated its activist base since McGovern, whom the stalwarts of the DNC helped defeat. Nothing has changed. This laundry list sucks kitty litter. I just read it and I can't recall a single thing that's on it. Neither will most other Americans. They'll listen for about two seconds, they'll start to hear that old familiar drone and whine of the Democratic consultant class and then they'll turn over and go back to sleep. The Democrats are actively PLANNING to loose...AGAIN! What is it that the Democratic Party actually BELIEVES? What is it that the Democratic Party actually STANDS for? By what guiding principles, what values, by what morals do the Democrats plan to rule from if the people give them power? Screw a bunch of laundry lists, focus group diddly, and consultant BS. How much simplier can this get? They mean to take the clearest demarcation in the history of politics in this country since the Civil War and they mean to roll it up in these little soft spit balls of stupidity and spew them all over everyone and expect people to say, "Wow, great! That was refreshing! Now I see what you mean!" What will it take to break the spell of stupidity than hangs around the necks of the Democratic Leadership like a burning tire?

it's no more stupid than sloganeering like "cut and run" and marriage is between "one man and one woman" and saying no to the star-spangled banner being sung in spanish.

You speak to the crowd you want to attract in language they understand. This is an agenda aimed at women--mothers--and I think it has legs.

I don't think the women's agenda is anymore stupid than "cut and run," marriage is between "one man and woman" and opposing the star spangled banner. Kerry, Feingold and Reed are putting forth Iraq proposals and the Senators offered their point of view last night when asked. While polls show the war is a concern, poll numbers are too volatile to use those to craft any reasonable policy decision.

Whenever I hear someone say look at the polls, I think of what Mario Cuomo once advised on a National Press Club speech on relying on polls to set an agenda--"You live by the poll, you die by the poll."

cballs -

You are absolutely right about the DLC.

I have to agree with the Baron. The message is very clear, however, what it needs is refining. The addition of exciting ideas and specific proposals would help. Getting people excited about something, anything, is what works. So let's add the excitement. It's out there, all we need to do is locate it. Take Sen. Clinton's area, for instance, the developing technology for motor design is so exciting that it boggles the mind. Engines that develop 20:1 weight to power ratios running on bio-fuels. Autos that are powered by compressed air. It goes on and on. www.greencarcongress.com OK, GO!

Jon Stewart for President!

Bush and the Republicans have repeatedly shown that they don't care about anyone's opinion except their own. They've articulated this. Their actions support this. So why Democrats are running around like chickens with their heads cut off isn't surprising. The Republicans don't answer to anyone! Additionally, I truly feel that Democratic voters felt disenfranchised as soon as the Supreme Court said that Bush won. Where was the outrage? The challenges? The action? It's almost too late for all of that now. We don't have a Rove or an Atwater to do whatever it takes to keep Democrats in power. Verbalizing outrage against these political gangsters has little effect. We can voice all the outrage we want. Words bounce off. We need to channel our outrage in the voting booths. I find it hard to believe that the Republicans can outmaneuver the rest of us. But...

But I do enjoy hearing the Republicans saying "the majority of Americans" are with us on this or on that law being passed when we know they haven't checked nor do they care about what the majority of Americans think. I think it is obvious that we can't work with them. So we have to go around them.

Jon Stewart for Vice President!

Where the heck is BORDER SECURITY, NO AMNESTY,THE IRAQ WAR, BIG OIL Screwing US? Of course, and as usual the list they were so proud of did not reflect the concerns of the average citizen RIGHT NOW! Without a plan on Border Security and Illegal Peoples and the constant hammering of the middle class, I can not and will not vote for these people. DEMOCRATS, where are your plans? Where are your guts? Pandering to the Swing Voters or the Conservatives will not get my vote. Shame on all of you.

Dear Democratic National Leadership,

Does Dem National Leadership really exist? How long are you going to wait as the GOP rolls out its “Democrats Cut and Run” theme to frame the 2006 election? What’s the theme that the Dems are going to run on? “Culture of Corruption?” will not do. You have to give the voters something to think about and something that they will easily remember. You have to give them a call to action.

Sixty years ago this year the GOP coined a two-word phrase and revived its party during the mid-year 1946 election. Do not be hesitant to co-op “Had Enough?” to use for your purposes in 2006. It’s the theme that’s screaming to be used, and it’s one that any local congressional candidate can build on to suit her or his purposes.

Here’s a sample draft:

HAD ENOUGH of high gas prices?

HAD ENOUGH of corporate lobbyists running the Republican-controlled government?

HAD ENOUGH of rising inflation eating into your paycheck?

HAD ENOUGH of corporations shipping American jobs to foreign countries?

HAD ENOUGH of Republican scandals, from the White House to Tom Delay to Scooter Libby to Jack Abramoff?

HAD ENOUGH of Hurricane Katrina government?

HAD ENOUGH of a war without an exit strategy?

HAD ENOUGH of the loss of American prestige?

HAD ENOUGH of Republicans who stir up prejudice?

HAD ENOUGH of Republicans sticking the future generations of your family with the biggest deficit in history?

HAD ENOUGH of the Republicans who plunder our national resources for obscene profits and have you HAD ENOUGH of a White House that lets industrial polluters rewrite environmental laws?

HAD ENOUGH of shaky Homeland Security?

HAD ENOUGH of George W. Bush and his rubber-stamp Republican government?

If you’ve HAD ENOUGH, vote Democratic on Nov.?