Friday, April 28, 2006

Calling Out the MDP

Something has been bugging me for awhile, and now I just gotta say it, in hopes that either someone can tell me I'm wrong or take what I say and apply it. I wrote this diary on 4/25 and immediately paused on publishing it; self-confidence is not my strong suit. I had other reasons also.

I had taken a "speak no evil" position on Democrats. Sometimes I want to kick their ass for them, but I figured they knew what they were doing, there was a plan, there was a strategy, I just wasn't seeing it. I'm not part of the machine in any way, shape or form. I'm a "Good Dog Democrat"; if I'm a good dog and vote for them they will throw me a bone eventually, but basically I am on the outside of the mainstream of modern "normal" life, whatever that is. Perhaps that gives me a different perspective; maybe it throws me totally off base, I don't know.

This morning Tim Skubick validated some of my feelings with an editorial complaining about both candidate's campaign tactics.

There were a couple of things I felt he got wrong. First off, the Grand Valley issue is mischaracterized- Dick quit that one to pursue his voucher plan, not because of Daddy's health problems- he jumbles the two times "Dick quit" together.

He also has ignored Saul, Dick and the MI GOP's attacks on Granholm (what was that expense account accusation all about anyway?) and focuses solely on Mark Brewer and the Democrats, calling them "Granholm's henchmen" and lumping them in with her campaign. Maybe they are those things, but if you look strictly at her campaign (and by this I mean her website, because, what else is there to look at?), you won't find any mention of DeVos. So, who is doing more "attacking" here, Tim?

Anyway, there is one glaring point Skubick wrote that jumped out at me-

So the bottom line here is simple. All the Democratic mud-slinging was not enough to bury Engler on Election Day in 1990. Heads up, Granholm team. A successful campaign must include reasons to vote for your candidate, not just reasons to vote against the other guy.


To that I would say- "Heads up, MDP". The "Granholm team" does have positive stories about the Guv everyday, we just don't see them because the MDP is getting the press on the negative and not featuring the positive news that is out there. (and I partly blame the media for that, too)

The MDP is caught in the game called "Chase the Lie", and, as I said in the other day, it basically goes like this-

Republicans lie. We spend all our time refuting the lie with long stories, links, and proof that they are not telling the truth- and by that time it's too late. The lie is out there, it becomes part of the fabric of thought amongst those who aren't really paying attention (Michigan is a "high tax" state- when the reality is that we are somewhere in the middle), and by the time we knock it down, they have already spoken the next lie. Round and round we go, never getting the chance to get to our message. Its part of the reason Democrats cannot define themselves- we are too busy chasing the misdeeds of the Republicans.

Markos from Daily Kos hit it right on the head also the other day-

People ARE seeing that Republicans can't govern. There's no way around that. What they AREN'T seeing is how Democrats will be any different. How they offer change.

The GOP WILL motivate its voters come November. They'll rail on abortion and gays and scary brown people crossing the southern border and how Democrats want to take their Bibles away. And their core supporters will turn out. And Democrats, unless they realize that they need to inspire, will find those huge gains will fail to materialize.


Markos was talking about the DC Democrats, but this translates to our state, too, as Tim pointed out. We need to give people a reason to vote for Democrats, and for Granholm, not just against DeVos and the Republicans. I hope the MDP continues with their great work on the Republican lies, but I want to see them accentuating the positive things that make us Democrats in the first place.

Let's look at the Michigan Democratic Party website for an example.

First of all, I want to commend the people at the MDP for the work they have done refuting DeVos' misleading commercials. It has been excellent. But what they are missing, in my opinion, is a chance to highlight how the Democrats would be different, the things we can do (and Granholm is doing) to fix the problems that confront our state. They did do this on the "Grand Change" ad rebuttal- and that was exactly what I'm talking about here. Let's see more of that!

Here is a rundown of what I see as of the morning of 4/25/06. (I want to note the date because their content does change frequently)

Home page- a picture of two Republicans and the announcement of the new ad on the SBT. Yesterday morning it was a picture of DeVos. To put it simply- you don't go to the web site for Coke and immediately see a picture of a can of Pepsi. In the advertising class I took, that would have gotten me an "F". I realize that political parties aren't commercial products, but I believe the same principles apply. When you take into consideration that people sometimes don't (or can't) read the accompanying text, you have already ceded the visual ground to the competition. Mix it up a bit. When doing pictures, put pictures of your guys up there, too.

Down below- two stories about DeVos, one on Levin. Congratulations to go Carl and all, but does that really need to be a featured story on the home page?

Compare with the MI GOP "Home" page (no, I'm not linking to it. You have Google if you are so inclined)- they have a big 'ol picture of "Mr. 32%" featured prominently (You go, Republicans! Ride that horse! But still- he is their horse. They win a certain percentage, around 32% apparently, with that visual), followed by a couple of stories that take a shot at Granholm, a shot at Stabenow, and a shot at the head of the Dept. of Corrections. BUT, down below- there are pictures of Cox, Land, and links to the State House and Senate. Over on the left- prominent links to "talking points" and activism. To sum it up- there are the attack stories, but there are also links that tell you who the Republicans are. (and boy, could I have a field day tearing apart the "I am a Republican because..." section. Some of those points are laugh out loud funny when you consider what they have done while in power. Future diary maybe.)

But I don't really want to talk about them; I was just drawing a comparison on the home page visual. They "mix it up".

On to the MDP "News" page- and this one bothers me the most. The name "DeVos" is mentioned in headlines 23 times. Granholm? 0. Think about that for a minute. Your incumbent Governor, in an election year, has no headlines on the "News" page. What is up with that? Same with Stabenow- nothing. We've got Brewer going to the DNC convention, the accolades for Carl, and the next story about Democrats is the Canadian trash story. Look folks, the imported trash story is an issue, to be sure, but it's way, way, WAY down there on the list of important issues. To be blunt- most people do NOT care about this in the face of rising energy prices and health care issues and job issues. Nobody is sitting at home wringing their hands because trash is coming into Michigan, they are worried about paying their bills.

The "News" page has no news on Granholm's accomplishments on the jobs front (and there have been quite a few lately, they don't get much press unless you happen to live in the town where they are occurring)-, which is the main Republican attack point. Want to knock down that attack? Start featuring those stories prominently. I'm finding them- just this morning it was announced that the deal Granholm made for UniSolar in Greenville is already expanding. This was Jennifer's victory; not only does it bring jobs to Michigan, it also addresses the need for alternative energy and how we can be poised to take the lead in that regard. Two birds, one stone.

(You too, Granholm for Governor. I shouldn't have to dig through the archives to find the stories on Surefil, United Solar Ovonic, Marisa Industries, highway projects, etc., etc. These stories should be divided by issue and not by date, and get them readily accessible with buttons by category. That way, when people are looking for releases on "Jobs" or "Health Care", they don't have to scroll through a bunch of stuff that gets in the way.)

Now I'm going to harp on the "blog" thing one last time. I was greatly disturbed to hear that "there was a group of experienced bloggers that offered to do it for free" and the MDP shot them down. Get a clue, people. "Blog" is the hottest thing going right now. Dick has a blog. The MI GOP has a blog. My weatherman has a blog (and it's a good one, too). You can control the message on blogs. Do what Saul does and don't let anyone post comments if you are worried about content. But just DO IT. Call the "news" page a "blog". You look absolutely out of touch without it at this point.

I know the MDP is looking for a web person- but quite frankly they have been looking for a long time now. Tick, tick, tick, people. It's almost May. You are wasting valuable time and web space when you don't address these issues I have outlined. I would like to see a two-pronged attack; you can knock down the Republicans as you are highlighting the Democratic difference. You can still point out the glaring DeVos/Pub weaknesses- Skubick again-

And while on the subject of those DeVos ads, it's truly amazing that viewers have apparently been sucked in. The spots tell us very little about what he would do if he was actually elected. He even had the audacity the other day to suggest he might not release a lot of his plans until after the election.

All we really know from his commercials is that he knows how to put his blazer on and take it off. He knows how to schmooze with his former employees and he walks at a pretty good clip ... and, oh yeah, he sure smiles a lot.

Heck, if that doesn't qualify him for the governorship, what does?


They don't have a plan other than to cut taxes and drown government. What you are seeing in Washington is exactly what you will see here, and they are not going to tell you about it because they know they can't win on that stance. Granholm does have a plan on jobs, health care, education, energy... all of it. Draw a comparison.

The most important thing, to me, is to get a solid Democratic stance on the issues out there. We win on the issues. Articulate it. Tell us the talking points. Tell us who you are.

An "Anybody But Dick" campaign isn't going to cut it. You have an attractive, intelligent, articulate candidate who has the right ideas- start selling those ideas and that candidate, please. The consequences of not doing that are going to be dire.

And that's all I got to say about that.