...poking at people who are working to support the party?

It's not actually advocacy against republicans.

Fucking support Democrats.

Tacking on Elon Musk Also Bad won't cut it either

Clearly elected officials could use some valuable input towards a successful strategy!

and not enough strategizing

Maybe that’s changed lately, because I too am noticing a ton of bashing without consequences.

Sometimes there can be a fine line between constructive criticism and inappropriate bashing.

No one is "politicking against Democrats here."

As always, some are supporting the more moderate faction, others are supporting the more progressive faction.

What does "fucking support Democrats" even mean? We vote for them, we give them money, we defend them, we canvass for them, we give them our feedback. You don't like the feedback that some people here are expressing. Fine. But don't accuse those you disagree with having bad motives, OK?

What sort of democracy would it be if all we do is pick one of two parties, and then defend each and everything the leaders do ad say? No sort of democracy, that's what sort. What tyou are asking people to do would be appropriate for sports fans, cheering for their favorite athletic team. It has no place in politics.

It means don’t trash Democrats. Super easy rule to follow.

But thanks for the tip.

The party consists of all of us. You are trashing fellow Democrats just because you disagree with them.

So be it. I’m tired of our recently-defeated, currently-rebuilding party being trashed here. This kind of shit will do nothing to help win in 26 or 28.

Where so many were blaming democrats for not opposing Bush enough. That resulted in major losses for democrats in 02. The result will probably be the same in 26.

You aren't "standing up for the party." You are fighting for one faction of the party to have complete control over the party. Rather tha argue the merits of that openly, you attack those with whom you disagree, by claiming that they are trashing the party. They aren't. They might be effectively rebutting your arguments, maybe. So step up and defend your position rather than falsely accusing others of disloyalty.

That’s not what’s getting my goat. It’s when some call our minority leader an “asshole,” and the post stands. Or when others say our leaders “have no balls.” But what pisses me off most of all is the “just do something” crowd who can’t actually come up with a single original tactic. If these critics know so much better, they should fucking run for office and implement their brilliant plans. By the way, I’m not at all surprised that this is coming from the usual section of the tent, the “hold their feet to the fire” crowd who thought Gore was boring, Obama was a disappointment, and Hillary was as a warmonger. I just can’t take their bullshit seriously.

Get your hate on, then.

It strikes me that what annoys you is that many of the criticisms are right on target, and you know that they are. Gore was boring, Obama did disappoint, Clinton has been a hawk.

You cherry pick the words of a few anonymous bad actors and use them to smear every one with whom you have political disagreements. You are lumping everyone who disagrees with you together - "the usual section of the tent" - and damning them all.

No doubt someone somewhere at some time called the minority leader an “asshole,” or said that people in leadership “have no balls.” Most don't. There are probably some people somewhere who "can’t actually come up with a single original tactic." Many can and do, right here every day.

Put your goat out to pasture ad stop obsessing over this is my advice. It is really destructive, worse than anything the people in "the usual section of the tent" ever do.

I was excited for Gore and the great work he would have done for the environment. The only disappointment I have regarding Obama is in the moronic populace that took away the House when his massive first two year accomplishments just weren’t enough for them. Hillary a hawk? That’s total BS typical from that side of the tent that helped Trump win the first time. The same side that backed Nader. The same that sat out 2010. Don’t really give a shit what that crowd thinks honestly. All the policy ideas don’t mean shit if your political tactics constantly cause election losses.

Name one. And I trust Hillary's instincts. Kumbaya doesn't work. You think Putin gives a shit about peace? Grow up.

Closing the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
Public option for health care
Windfall tax on oil companies
Repeal the Bush tax cuts
The Employee Free Choice Act
Raise the minimum wage
Comprehensive immigration reform
Path to citizenship for undocumented workers
Restore Superfund programs
Annual ​“state of our energy future” address
Paid sick days and better family leave
Lifting the payroll tax cap
Foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists
Reduce oil consumption
Cut the cost of health insurance premiums by up to $2,500 a year
Negotiate health care reform in public sessions televised on C-SPAN
End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000
Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices

I see those as laws that were not passed by Congress. I don't know if you've noticed, but Presidents aren't supposed to be dictators. It's kind of a topical discussion right now. But yeah, sorry that in two short years he couldn't fulfill your every wish while he pulled us out of the Great Recession that Naderites helped bring us, and gave us a healthcare system that while far from perfect, was a great start that could have been built on. I'm sure you're glad that the public "held his feet to the fire" and gave the House back to Republicans for 8 years, and eventually the Senate back just in time to deny a 5-4 Liberal Majority and eventually enshrine a 6-3 MAGA Court.

her was inaugurated.

date back to that petulant betrayal. But gee at least they held his feet to the fire.

Now the loud echo of "Dem Leadership" bashing BS, replacing the old worn-out Establishment Elite insult for Democrats.

Even constructive criticism is considered bashing to some snowflakes on here.

Yeah that’s definitely how to make a party popular. Attack from all sides! Genius level strategy!

a sure fire way to make their party popular is to shit on the people who see the danger the sack of shit poses to us, we are the ones on the front lines. Elected Democrats will be fine. Showing decorum to that fat fuck is some real genius level strategy!

Today, and every day, we have the burden of protecting our Democracy, and in a Democracy, we each have an equal voice.

I agree we must build our unity, but that unification must be behind a position we all agree on.

Our representatives are just that, representatives of their constituents, and so they must hear, and listen to, the will of those constituents.

but some are just wired differently than others ...

You can defend people's right to do so. Down with that.
Also down with other voices calling it a load of crap.

...between calling out wrong positions and calling for better performance, and "tearing into".

(and perhaps unstrategic - to put it kindly) - to be flexing in that direction.

....it's very unstrategic time for our elected representatives to be pushing back against the will of the people.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Is there some flaming of Democrats going on somewhere?

👀

I wish I could rec this more than once.

That is why we can't have nice things.

of all sorts of imaginary sins listed in "Democrat-Bashing for Dummies": angry scolding about what they should or shouldn't do and assuming the worst, blaming them instead of Republicans, personal insults, threats.

Republicans will have a harder time next election so have to start early encouraging DemExit again. "I'm done with the Dems if they clap" sort of stupidity.

they may not be who they say they are.

Democrats can do nothing right, in their eyes

Nothing wrong with you spewing this,,,

BUT it has become obvious that a TON of Democratic voters
ARE INDEED EXTREMELY PISSED AT THE RELATIVELY MILD ACTIONS OF
WAY TOO MANY ELECTED DEMOCRATIC PARTY MEMBERS

Numerous high profile DEMs are speaking out LOUDLY AND FORCEFULLY

BE LIKE AOC ,,

Not the mild reaction of some misguided elected DEMs

But for you think it’s something wrong,,

ITS NOT WITH THE MILLIONS OF ANGRY DEMOCRATIC VOTERS,
THAT ARE WRONG!!

ITS TOO MANY ELECTED DEMS’ SEEM FROZEN ON WHAT TO DO

Just sit on your hands, like the Democratic leadership is right now. Don't worry. Don't criticize. Don't speak up.

We'll get 'im next time dagonnit. If the fascists haven't dismantled and corrupted the voting process by then. If they have....?

Don't worry. By then a very very very very strongly worded letter will be sent out immediately!!!

...it's essentially opposition to Democrats based on a lie.

What result is that intended to produce here?

Opposition to elected Democrats?

It's clear from the lie you posted that you can't be bothered to look to see what Democrats are doing. Can't even be bothered to look to see the efforts of the person you're talking to.

Why would you post this shit in front of people who know better?

I, for one, would like something more substantive from Democrats than fundraising requests and the solemn shaking of heads.

Curious that the people who fault the powerless constituency for failing to step up are the ones who defend our legislators for doing the same.

do whatever makes you happy. People post what they want within guidelines. People read what they want. No one is forcing you to treat anything in any way. I'm sorry - but I don't think any one of us on DU is that important - including you --- and me!

The Democratic Party Needs A Total Rebrand

— Adam Parkhomenko (@adamparkhomenko.bsky.social) 2025-03-03T23:44:20.537Z

I’ve been a Democrat my whole life and it’s not like I feel I’m without a party, but I’m very very frustrated with the lack of a solid message and organized front

— Mgpie (@mgpie14.bsky.social) 2025-03-04T15:54:12.347Z

Don't expect me to treat your anti-Democratic rantings like it's actual opposition to republicans.

...still not opposition to republicans.

The dissonance in that response reminds me of the people who would argue all the way down a thread that opposition to posters promoting things here Jill Stein said against Democrats was divisive.

Support our elected Democrats. A Democratic majority will be the ONLY substantive check against Trump and republicans, IF we can accomplish that in two years.

Let's not let carping at our incumbent Democrats instead of republicans fuck the next election up. That shit again.

As to what Democrats should actually do, the bashers have literally nothing. How do they spirit 218 house votes and 51 senate seats into existence? How do they force the right wing press to cover them? The party bashers are all talk with zero useful ideas.

There are a lot of intelligent and thoughtful members here

Don't forget, it's somewhat unusual this time around, in that the party must first sway its own base of reliable voters who didn't show up for Harris.

Like?

Last edited Tue Mar 4, 2025, 05:26 PM - Edit history (1)

Evidence of "literally nothing?"

Take your time

For how Dems should proceed. Can you name even one?

The fact that few will respond to you is evidence of the intelligence of DU members

You just want some red meat (like Medicare For All, or $25 an hr min wage, whatever) so you can knock it down

zzzzzzzz

Tim Walz is hosting town halls in places where republiQans refuse to. Every House and Senate member could host one of these.

There's one idea. Want some more?

What ideas have DUers come up with? Medicare for All, which I support, is not an idea for how Democrats should proceed as the opposition party, nor is it an idea any DUer invented. I’m fully supportive of praising Gov. Walz for his excellent idea, but don’t support trashing the party he belongs to.

This is about our leaders taking the ideas that are out there and USING them.
Of course you're going to say, "No, no, we can't talk about anything but ideas that only DUers have ever had." Right?

Every House and Senate member could use this town hall idea. And they should. But they aren't.

Our country is imploding. We need a strong voice of opposition. We don't have one.

Look, I'm just tired of all this "do something" crap being hurled at our recently-defeated party. If you can't define a single "something," then maybe bashing the party isn't the answer.

The whole point of this sub thread is that the bashers are constantly saying, “do something,” without a single concrete idea of what that something should be. Actual Democratic politicians are fighting back. The constant bashing here is unwarranted, especially given that four months is hardly enough time to rebuild a tattered brand that was just utterly crushed at the polls.

How about each of them does one?

Why fan the flames?

It is so destructive.

..six is nine stuff

Par for these days.

You flame your fellow Democrats here, day after day, accusing them of, wait for it....flaming Democrats. Talk about Orwellian.

You have political differences with other Democrats. Present your case and debate the issues. Defend your positions. Engage in good faith discussion.

Being a registered Democrat, I most certainly have the right and DUTY to criticize my party and party members.

How the fuck else do we inform our elected officials what we want them to do.

I really am sick of posters telling fellow posters to leave the poor elected Dem officials alone. It appears many many elected Democrats have their tail between their legs and hiding in the corner. On the other hand we have some Democrats and ONE Independent doing what ever they can to save or Democracy.

Stop giving (some) elected Democrats a pass and tell them to get off their behinds.

...that's what I come here for.

I'm not looking for opposition to our own party in the middle of a budget fight, for instance.

I would like to see folks promoting the issues these Democrats advocate for and against everyday.

I don't believe critics here who say things like you wrote are really interested in any of what Democrats are actually doing. It has no relationship at all to anything real.

It's projection which is easily disproved by anyone who is actually looking to see what they're doing and saying.

I really don't understand the doubling down on what's essentially prattle, especially in the face of ACTUAL ADVOCACY.

I don't agree with opposition politics practiced on a Democratic message board toward Democrats, especially opposition that comes with bullshit claiming they're not doing anything; or these performative expectations which are a pittance in comparison to these legislators' actual actions in committees and other hearings and negotiations and opposition in Congress. You know, where they work?

Funny/sad how people come on to me with this bullshit. It's either political rookie shit, or it's just shitstirring among Democrats.

board if posters couldn't express different ideas about how this crisis (and it is a crisis) should be handled. These are not "normal" times. I like to use three different strategies: 1) Praise Dems who are stepping up 2) Critique the media and their biased and/or lack of coverage of Dems and 2) Encourage and constructively criticize Dems who don't seem to be meeting the moment. I will continue to do so no matter how uncomfortable it makes some because more than one strategy is needed now.

In addition, I will not scold other DUers for posting in a way that makes me uncomfortable.

I’m all for an exchange of ideas. I find finger-waving like this especially unhelpful. Silence will not save us (to borrow from Audre Lorde…).

the Dem senate blocked reams of republican efforts, for one.

They also blocked a republican abortion restriction bill JUST THIS YEAR, one day after Trump was sworn in.

This shit complaining about a party out of power not being able to stop a party in control of ALL branches of government right now, including the republican accommodating Supreme Court, is for the rubes.

Most of the effective political action against republicans in this period will need to come from Americans not in office. The navelgazing attacks on Dems who can't do much more than talk and inform, along with votes against a republican majority, isn't at all a part of that necessary effort. It's antithetical and counterproductive to that challenge.

Truth is, we can do a much better job mobilizing and implementing opposition to trump — even as a party out of power. We don’t even have to clear it with the donor/fundraising class of the Democratic Party, either. How radical, huh?

...and it's not okay just because he says smart things about the economy or something else.

He, like most of the people who yell at Democrats to do this or that, doesn't seem to have looked at all to see what Dems are doing, and can't be bothered to promote them when they do things he says he likes.

Moreover, 'wake the fuck up' is just demagoguery directed at a party that can't schedule votes on their own, can't schedule hearings, can't bring votes to the floor, can't subpoena, can't impeach, can't even take over a standard hearing room in the Capitol on their own volition.

This shitstirring against Democrats for not doing more with the nothing voters gave them to work with is politically sophmoric, no matter what the economist's experience is.

That says it all. Thank you.

isn't that what you are doing in this post? Any self awareness in this post?

It sure has become nasty around here.

It is known that part of the Republicans “strategy” is to try to “blame the Democrats” and to cause disunity. It’s not going to work for me. I don’t know if some of the “blame Democrats” are Repubs on here playing tricks.

the need to kick a dog.

Democratic leaders and calling for new younger, more dynamic leadership. And I always thought that constructive criticism of Democrats was allowed.

Sounds like a plan for capitulation.