Jackson Free Press

Well folks, you've had a week to let it sink in. The results are back and statewide the Dems took what I'd call an old-fashioned butt whoopin'! Only Jim Hood made it out of the fray unscathed. From the top down we've bought ourselves four more years of the same old thing. Folks are comfortable with the same old thing especially when the "new" thing doesn't present any concrete plans.

For the past two or three years, just as they were poised to really make a power play, I've watched the Dems cower into a corner. At the exact time that they could have exercised some real stroke locally and nationally, they choked. They were always careful not to upset the GOP or their constituency, even when the opposing side never cared about the views and constituency of the Dems.

Instead of taking a firm stand, Dems have fallen into copycat mode, masking their beliefs in favor of a safer, more conservative approach to gaining voters. Thing is, Dems, those folks aren't going to vote for you, anyway. The majority of Americans would buy what the Dems were selling if they'd just commit to be being better salesmen. If the salesman couldn't tell you exactly what you'd be getting with your purchase, would you be confident in buying it? If you were looking for one thing and the salesman kept trying to sell you something totally irrelevant to your purchase, would you buy it? Probably not.

Instead of pushing issues that a larger group of folks could sink their teeth into—like the grocery tax—John Arthur Eaves chose to champion the "pie in the sky" issues of abortion and prayer in schools—a clear attempt to cater to this state's "redness." Now don't get me wrong; both are important issues. As a believer in a higher power, I know the benefits of prayer. As a father, I have my views on abortion. But neither of those have anything to do with real Mississippi issues. Praying before school is great, but what does it mean when a kid hasn't eaten the night before? An anti-abortion stance is cool, but what of the kids who are already here?

Folks want tangible solutions to tangible problems: How can I make money? How can I keep the money I make? How can I ensure my kids will have money? The Dems made the same mistakes that the Republicans did in not reaching out to the common faction. They did not use the available valuable resources to help get their platform known.

The Democratic Party needs some go-getters. It needs some political "gorillas" as we say in these streets! You need some folks with cantaloupes and a backbone! Not a Republican "wolf" disguised in Democratic "sheep's" clothing.

The Dems have virtually turned the state into a one-party system. They sat back and watched Haley Barbour pull a "Giuliani" using Katrina as his 9/11. With nothing more to hang his hat on, he trumpeted Katrina recovery and a Toyota plant (which isn't a Mississippi business) as his campaign foundation. The Dems will probably let him use Katrina for political fodder again in 2012. And it'll win again if the Dems don't get behind some viable candidates and start opening up the checkbooks like Republicans do for their candidates. (Except for one of their brightest stars, Mayor Yvonne Brown of Tchula).

Let this serve as my open letter to you, Mississippi Democrats. You got your lunch handed to you, and the bully will keep bullying you until you hit him back in the mouth. Drastic times obviously call for different measures. You've got four years to get your act together. You can make a comeback if you get out of the political ice age.

And that's the truth ... sho-nuff.

Previous Commentsshow

Feel free to forward to your favorite democrat(or the one closest to you). LOL.. They need to get the message pronto!

Kamikaze

Nov 14 2007

Thanks Kamikaze. A good column with good questions, observations and conclusions. Surely, I'm a faithless or growing short on faith old dog whose time has passed him by. I don't have much relevant to say no doubt here. If I were still relevant, had analytical abilities and had something to say, I would use three word, soft and lovely, sweet and kind, to give an overall description of this column, and they would be : crock, crap and bull, to some degree. For me to believe the Dems didn't try their best under the circumstances I would also have to believe the filelds and lakes caused the drought, and the heat caused the deep freeze at the North Pole? Smile. It goes without saying AGAIN that I'm old, senile and irrelevant, so please forgive me for disagreeing in some aspects, not all though. So, I'll take a seat on the old folks sidelines to see what the young and old folks alike, who are unlike me in opinion, can tell me about the claims made herein. Cheers, thanks for this column and sho ba do di dai! I hope this column is a hit so the Dems can finally come to the light on how their errors and omissions defaulted the country into this position and crisis while the other party apparently shares less responsiblity.

Ray Carter

Nov 14 2007

BTW, I give you back your Sho Nuff. I have replaced it with sho ba do di dai.

Ray Carter

Nov 14 2007

I'm just glad I'm back in a state where one gets one's "butt whooped." Thanks for the painful memories, Kaze. ;-) And I'm with you on the message. I like this: Let this serve as my open letter to you, Mississippi Democrats. You got your lunch handed to you, and the bully will keep bullying you until you hit him back in the mouth. Drastic times obviously call for different measures. You’ve got four years to get your act together. You can make a comeback if you get out of the political ice age. I don't think they have four years to get their act together. It needs to start now, or the Republicans are going to figure out how to fill that void. The GOP is historically fickle, and right now the "family values" thing is tired nationally. Evangelicals have moved onto the environment and human rights and poverty. And we get Jamie Franks yammering about gay marriage. That wedge issue is so last election. Wish they'd gotten the memo.

DonnaLadd

Nov 14 2007

I'm too weak and busy to fight anymore. After all, Mississippi is clearly a two party state from a state house and senate perspective. But, oh yeah, I'll accept the conclusions presented here when I see pigs flying over Mississippi. Shupe dupe a do.

Ray Carter

Nov 15 2007

Ray..Im not quite understanding your posts. and to prevent me from saying you're choosing a "victim" mantra here. Please clarify. Because it is clear that throughout this site, through its brief history, republicans have been rightfully called to task for their incompetence. They've been amply criticized and a bright light has been shined on their true selves. if you are saying that we as posters are not holding the republicans accountable for our sad state of affairs(the war included) I think you're being a tad whiny:-). we KNOW this is a two-party state. However, because the Dems have been rendered spineless it runs as if it isnt dig? to hold the republicans ONLY responsible would be irresponsible cuz the Democrats are just as inept. If it was the re-pubes that got us in this senseless war, it was the republicans who choked by not ending it when they had the chance but they were afraid to piss off the conservative war-mongering right. Its only fair to call em like it is. the republicans THE major reason America is screwed and not liked by the rest of the world but its the Dems fault for not putting them in time-out when they should have. they BOTH hold equal wrong in my eyes. Neither party is doing us, the people, a solid right now. Yes..its a two-party state, Ray but you cant tell by looking.

Kamikaze

Nov 15 2007

Question? Are you saying that the dems hold no fault in this state's conditions and that we should just continue to lay into the repubs because it makes us feel better about ourselves? A bully cant keep taking your milk money unless you let him.

Kamikaze

Nov 15 2007

What makes you think I understand them? My posts, that is? Carry on. Good post. I'll jump back in when I get a chance.

Ray Carter

Nov 15 2007

Kaze... Dems are working off an old formula that has lost its effectiveness. Mississippians that vote care about economic security, safety, and the old buzz word, conservative values. These just happen to be talking points that Republicans have mastered. Dems are so trapped in their historical stereotype as "the people's party" that when a democratic candidate comes along preaching these virtues, he does so with about as much percieved credibility as a lion telling a group zebras that he just wants count their stripes. Ask John Arthur Eaves! Dems need someone who isn't afraid to challenge the old formula and make tough decisions that may be counter to traditional democratic thinking, but make sense for Mississippi. Take the grocery tax issue that seemingly has clears lines of opposition. The Democratic position is that by shifting this tax to tobacco, you stretch the dollar for average consumers while passing the burden of funding tax revenue to other sectors, particular tobacco as the cases have been made. A sin tax, if you will. Forgive me for pointing out an obviously conflicting position. Years ago and continuing today, the state invested millions in tobacco prevention. Now if someone can explain to me how a state funds much-needed tax revenue from an industry that the state actively works against to cripple its growth, then I'll admit that what I learned about economic theories was all a farce. Despite the burden that grocery taxes place on us all, Mississippi needs that money and much more. Democrates, however, use such silly positions as the basis for their campaigns. Why? Because they are working off that old formula.

Alexander Jones

Nov 20 2007

The Democrats do need to do some revamping or strengtening. However, the formula they're working under isn't as old as the formula the republicans use down south in articular and elsewhere. There is a good instinctive reason so few blacks are in the republican party generally, and a more sinister reason most of the blacks who are in it, is there. A grater truism or moral objective is that the republican generally should get rid of its diseased or pathological formula, but it won't because they know it's money in the bank. Any capitalist know money in the bank is superior to everything else.

Ray Carter

Nov 20 2007