I am so annoyed at Bush over this immigration issue that I have decided to plan the Democrat's congressional campaign for them. If they follow my plan to the letter, they could steamroll the demoralized Republicans. If they refuse to listen, they will likely walk into yet another Karl Rove sucker punch and spend the campaign defending why they want to surrender to terrorists.
The Republicans won an historic victory in 1994(was it really that long ago?) by nationalizing the mid-term congressional elections. Their vehicle was the Contract With America, and the driver was Newt Gingrich, a somewhat obscure Georgia congressman with bold ideas. By comparison, the Democrats of the day looked tired, corrupt and misguided. Sound familiar?
The Democrats today should propose their own Contract, but call it something different like maybe the Independence Initiative("II") The II would lay out a bold but realistic series of steps to free America from the need to import oil. For example, they could promise to enact legislation requiring all cars to be able to run on E85(85% ethanol). They could promise tax credits for building ethanol plants. They could promise to repeal the sugar subsidy to give us access to cheap caribbean sugar for ethanol distillation. They could promise to fast track nuclear power plant construction. They could make a few minor promises on health insurance, like prohibiting cancellation due to bad health and requiring portability of policies. The key is to have simple, popular bite-sized issues that convey a positive agenda. And talk about nothing else.
If the Democrats run on their Bush Is Hitler platform, they will once again scare away middle of the road voters. These voters are not interested in partisan wars. They want the attention of politicians who understand real world concerns, and frankly, they are ready to sacrifice some privacy to fight terrorism. Make that the battle ground and Republicans have the high ground.
The Republicans won an historic victory in 1994(was it really that long ago?) by nationalizing the mid-term congressional elections. Their vehicle was the Contract With America, and the driver was Newt Gingrich, a somewhat obscure Georgia congressman with bold ideas. By comparison, the Democrats of the day looked tired, corrupt and misguided. Sound familiar?
The Democrats today should propose their own Contract, but call it something different like maybe the Independence Initiative("II") The II would lay out a bold but realistic series of steps to free America from the need to import oil. For example, they could promise to enact legislation requiring all cars to be able to run on E85(85% ethanol). They could promise tax credits for building ethanol plants. They could promise to repeal the sugar subsidy to give us access to cheap caribbean sugar for ethanol distillation. They could promise to fast track nuclear power plant construction. They could make a few minor promises on health insurance, like prohibiting cancellation due to bad health and requiring portability of policies. The key is to have simple, popular bite-sized issues that convey a positive agenda. And talk about nothing else.
If the Democrats run on their Bush Is Hitler platform, they will once again scare away middle of the road voters. These voters are not interested in partisan wars. They want the attention of politicians who understand real world concerns, and frankly, they are ready to sacrifice some privacy to fight terrorism. Make that the battle ground and Republicans have the high ground.
