Take It Back : Our Party, Our Country, Our Future

Take It Back : Our Party, Our Country, Our Future James Carville & Paul Begala Date: 10 January, 2006   —   $15.60   —   Book product page Rating:

Tired of Republicans screwing up America? Take it back! Tired of lame-ass Democratic Party hacks who can't win an election to save their lives? Take it back! Carville and Begala's book is raw meat for everyone who is sick and tired of corrupt Republicans and annoyed by lame Democrats.

First, the authors destroy the theory that America has moved to the right, providing all kinds of data that show a majority of Americans would agree with the Democratic Party's position on everything from abortion to guns to gays to energy to foreign policy -- if only they knew what it was. Democrats have to get over the idea that the mainstream media will take care of disseminating our message, and take it directly to the people through our own media "echo chamber". We have a lot of catching up to do there.

Carville and Begala also point out that -- despite polls to the contrary -- voters love negative campaigning and they advocate getting down in the mud with Republicans. The theory is that if Democrats can't take the gloves off and defend themselves, then how can they defend America? Also, it's hard to talk about issues when the other guy's fist is in your face. Democrats need to knock Republicans off balance, all the while staying on message.

The authors also do a fantastic job of analyzing why Kerry lost in 2004 -- and why Bush won. Plain and simple, it's because Kerry ran on issues and Bush ran on a message. Kerry's campaign was based on a list of issues called J-HOS (pronounced Jay-Hose, for Christ's sake) which stands for Jobs, Healthcare, Oil, and Security.

They talked and talked, but voters weren't listening or, more accurately, couldn't hear any message in the laundry list of issues. Without a message, Democrats were, if you'll pardon the expression J-HOSED.

The Bush campaign, on the other hand, was based purely on the message: "Strong and certain versus weak, waffling, and weird." That's right, the Bush campaign never addressed issues at all. Or rather, whichever topic came up, it was spun to fit the message: "Strong and certain versus weak, waffling, and weird." Rather than accept the election as a national referendum on President Bush's performance, GOP strategists shrewdly shaped it into a choice between "Strong and certain versus weak, waffling, and weird."

I'm convinced Carville and Begala are right about how to win, but they provide few action items for their readers. The book seems directed more at Democratic candidates and campaign staffers than at voters (don't be afraid to talk about your faith, don't let special interests talk you into supporting partial birth abortion, etc), but still it's a fascinating expose of political campaigning.

Some liberal idealists may find the rough-and-tumble political strategies suggested offensive to their notion of fairness and the pure power of ideas, but none of that means squat if you keep getting your butt kicked. I like the tougher approach, and I hope more Democratic candidates take it to heart. If our ideas are so good, we should fight for them.

Speaking of messages, Newt Gingrich recently said if Democrats want to win this Fall, they should say nothing but, "Had enough?" which, probably not coincidentally, is the title of James Carville's last book which I highly recommend to everyone. It always reminds me how proud I am to be a Democrat.

tags: democrats  begala  carville