Ignoring the fertile ground

by | Mar 25, 2014 | 2014 Elections, Democrats, Editor's Blog, NC Politics, US Senate | 10 comments

When I was growing up, there was a joke about a priest, a hippie and then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in an airplane. The plane’s engines gave out but there were only two parachutes. Kissinger quickly said, “Well, I’m the smartest man in the world and the world needs me.” He grabbed a pack and jumped out of the plane. The priest looked at the hippie and said, “Go ahead, my son. I’ve already lived a long and good life.” The hippie replied, “No worries, Father. The smartest man in the world just jumped out of the plane wearing my backpack.”

That’s how I feel about the consultants who’ve decided the way to keep the Senate in Democratic hands is to try to wrap every Republican candidate around the Koch brothers. I’m just dismayed that candidates like Kay Hagan are following them and not finding real parachutes. If some group wants to take it on themselves to discredit the Kochs, fine but the guilt-by-association strategy seems so obviously flawed that watching the resources go into it is disheartening.

In North Carolina, we’ve built a cottage industry attacking Art Pope and wrapping Republican policies and candidates around him. So far, it’s succeeded in getting us the first Republican governor in 20 years and a Republican legislature with veto proof majorities. Now, the Washington Democrats are adopting the model.

Most voters don’t think about elections the same way political professionals or junkies do. They don’t see a great battle of ideas and ideologies playing out. Instead, they ask, “How does this affect me? Is this person going to help my bottom line, make better schools, protect my health, keep my family safe and secure? And by the way, what’s she running for again?” They don’t know the Popes or the Kochs or the Soros or the Brocks of the world.

The Democrats have taken a defensive posture with a reactive response. In essence, they’ve ceded the political agenda to the Koch Brothers and the Republicans. They should be attacking GOP policies and candidates, not GOP funders.

In North Carolina, they are nationalizing the election while ignoring fertile ground in the state. If they need to wrap Thom Tillis around something, wrap him around the legislature. Under his leadership, they’ve cut funding to public schools and universities, limited women’s access to health, tried to disenfranchise minorities and young people and raised taxes on our poorest workers. There are issues that will motivate the base and persuade the middle. Use them.

And consistently, Tillis has tried to be something that he’s not. When he’s talking to country clubbers, he’s a moderate. When he’s talking to Tea Partiers, he’s a conservative. He says he graduated from the University of Maryland, but he didn’t. He even says in his latest commercial that he was a “partner at IBM,” when IBM is a corporation not a law firm or accounting agency. And he doesn’t even mention serving as speaker of the house. He’s just another phony politician. Expose him, not the Kochs. He’s the one on the ballot.

Granted, the national environment is tough for Democrats. But they need to be making the case for what they’ve done right instead of basing their campaign on what they say some shady group of billionaires wants to do. Even if it’s true, it’s not very believable and, for voters, the leap of faith is a big one.

I don’t believe an incumbent U. S. Senator can win re-election without first making the case for herself. There is plenty of time to attack the GOP nominee. Right now, Democrats need to be making a full-throated defense of their record. If they’re going to lose, they should at least go down telling voters what they stand for.

10 Comments

  1. Whizzer

    “Limiting women’s access to health”? C’mon, Thomas, surely you’ve got better stuff than that with which to flog conservatives…don’t you?

  2. Eilene

    Actually, geek is right. Again, dang it. However he missed the fact that the right is outspending the left right now at a pretty good clip, but it won’t be on that list, because it is all being done through pac organizations. As for Kay Hagan, she is as exciting as undercooked wonder bread toast. Nobody around here is going to give her money, so she has to suck up to the Dem organization.

    • geek49203

      Eilene — go out to OpenSecrets.org and see for yourself. You’re kidding yourself if you think that the GOP / conservatives have all the big money, and your side is supported by retired hippies sending $10 donations from their organic egg sales.

      • Matt Phillippi

        Geek, and Eilene, you’re both right, but you’re talking about apples and oranges. Geek nice OpenSecrets research by the way, wish more people on both sides of the aisle would spend some time there, its quite revealing.

        Geek is talking about direct contributions from corporate donors and traditional PACs that have to disclose through standard FEC/SBOE reporting. Eilene is addressing the issue of ‘dark money’ groups; 501c3s and particularly 501c4s who don’t have to disclose donors. These groups participate through independent expenditures, and are technically nonpartisan. They skirt the law by running ‘educational’ ads with messages such as ‘Why is Kay Hagan trying to keep cancer patients from getting healthcare?’ or ‘Tell Thom Tillis that giving taxpayer money to corporations for euthanizing adorable puppies is wrong’. These are ridiculous examples, but you get the idea.

        Lets all just agree that there’s too much outside money in politics and push all of our legislators both Dem and Republican for a bill advocating for state funded campaigns, take the money out, level the playing field, and lets see who gets elected on their own merits, not just who raises the most money/has the most money spent on them.

        • geek49203

          Thank you for checking my work. I certainly am flattered you took the time. IT is my hope that, at the very least, partisans of both parties see “the game” as what it is — and your post certainly advances that idea.

          I don’t believe that the current Fed funding the Presidential campaign has rid it of money, or the influence of donors. I don’t think that adding more money would do anything more than make media outlets richer — and isn’t it media outlets that always advocate this kind of thing? One of the reasons I ended my “flirtation” with The Left is that they always had one answer for everything: A big expensive powerful program at the highest level of government, and certainly this seems to be another example.

          My thought — lower the size and cost and power of the thing. Most large donors view campaign contributions as something akin to marketing costs. If the prize is large, the marketing money goes up, right?

          One of the more outrageous examples of power / money influence in the 2008 cycle was that General Electric hoped to push a return to nuclear power as well as sell those new light bulbs. GE owned something called “NBC” and “MSNBC”, and used them both to push “Global warming” — including on Sunday Night Football. (AS an aside, can we all agree that there should be NO politics during football?) The connections between GE and the Obama administration are so numerous as to be incestuous. When it became clear (post tsunami) that nukes weren’t gonna return, GE sold off NBC and MSNBC, and stopped being the Obama shill that they once were.

  3. Mike

    Thanks geek. Why don’t you start own blog since have so much more to say than a comment. Plus I won’t have to scroll past anymore.

    • geek49203

      Yet another stunning example of what passes for discussion on the left or among Dems. Especially when you’re not standing face to face with the person.

  4. geek49203

    And according to Open Secrets, here is the current national election donor picture:

    Rank Contributor
    1   Democratic Governors Assn
    2   National Education Assn
    3   City of New York, NY
    4   Carpenters & Joiners Union
    5   American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees
    6   AFL-CIO
    7   Next Generation
    8   AT&T Inc
    9   Lockheed Martin
    10   Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
    11   Comcast Corp
    12   Operating Engineers Union
    13   Northrop Grumman
    14   Honeywell International
    15   Every Republican is Crucial PAC
    16   National Beer Wholesalers Assn
    17   Boeing Co
    18   Credit Union National Assn
    19   Goldman Sachs
    20   Plumbers/Pipefitters Union
    21   Laborers Union
    22   Deloitte LLP
    23   American Crystal Sugar
    24   General Electric
    25   Blue Cross/Blue Shield
    26   Contran Corp
    27   Perry Homes
    28   National Assn of Realtors
    29   Berkshire Hathaway
    30   American Bankers Assn
    31   American Assn for Justice
    32   Bank of America
    33   National Auto Dealers Assn
    34   Google Inc
    35   New York Life Insurance
    36   Raytheon Co
    37   Votesane PAC
    38   United Parcel Service
    39   Republican Governors Assn
    40   CSX Corp
    41   American Federation of Teachers
    42   National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn
    43   Cooperative of American Physicians
    44   Verizon Communications
    45   Koch Industries
    46   Home Depot
    47   Communications Workers of America
    48   International Assn of Fire Fighters
    49   Elliott Management
    50   Blackstone Group

    Of that, the following went 80% or more to Dems:
    1   Democratic Governors Assn
    2   National Education Assn
    3   City of New York, NY
    5   American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees
    6   AFL-CIO
    7   Next Generation
    10   Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
    20   Plumbers/Pipefitters Union
    21   Laborers Union
    31   American Assn for Justice
    41   American Federation of Teachers
    47   Communications Workers of America
    48   International Assn of Fire Fighters

    And for 80% or more GOP:
    15   Every Republican is Crucial PAC
    26   Contran Corp
    27   Perry Homes
    39   Republican Governors Assn
    45   Koch Industries
    46   Home Depot
    49   Elliott Management

    See a trend? And if you p*ss off party leadership in the DNC, guess who wouldn’t get the money?

  5. geek49203

    Here are the top donors in the last election cycle (nationally):

    Rank Organization
    1 ActBlue
    2 American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees
    3 National Education Assn
    4 AT&T Inc
    5 National Assn of Realtors
    6 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
    7 Goldman Sachs
    8 United Auto Workers
    9 Carpenters & Joiners Union
    10 Service Employees International Union
    11 Laborers Union
    12 American Federation of Teachers
    13 Teamsters Union
    14 Communications Workers of America
    15 JPMorgan Chase & Co
    16 United Food & Commercial Workers Union

    Of those, only AT&T, NAR, Goldman and JP Morgan have anything approximating a GOP/Dem even split. The rest are pretty much entirely DEM.

    So this is how Dem Senate and Congressional reps get their big money. Step out of line, p*ss off the leadership, and you can be sure you’re cut out.

  6. geek49203

    1. Both sides have their billionaires. Koch brothers, Trump, Adelson et al on one side, Soros, Steyer, Buffet et al on the other. While demonizing these guys fires up the base — it is said that the mention of the Koch brothers in a single email is good for a few million in DNC fundraising — most folks just don’t care. Honestly. Tom rightly points this out.

    2. Neither side is on the side of the “working person” or “poor” or “oppressed”. And neither side is on the side of the hard working small businessman. Politicians are like you and me — if someone lets us keep our job, or even get a promotion, then we’re all buddy buddy with that someone. So unless you bring a lot of money, or a big block of votes, or even a block of volunteers, to the table, politicians really don’t care about what we have to say or what our needs are.

    3. An extension to #2…. Kay hasn’t shown an interest in her constituents and her constituent services reflect that indifference.

    She has shown an interest in keeping Harry Reid happy, since Harry (and Nancy in the House) controls most of the DNC money.

    Did I mention that politicians don’t care unless you get them elected? Well, in the Democratic party system, the biggest bulk of the campaign money comes from unions, collections of donors, etc, that are controlled by the DNC. While the GOP does have its major donors, they don’t seem to be controlled by the GOP leadership nearly to the same extent.

    So that is Kay’s identity (back to a point that Tom made). Kay is doing as she’s told. She’s doing what is needed to keep that big DNC money flowing. Unless Kay wants to fund her entire campaign, she needs to do exactly as she’s told.

Related Posts

GET UPDATES

Get the latest posts from PoliticsNC delivered right to your inbox!

You have Successfully Subscribed!