A First Pass at the Response Points

Here is a first pass at the Response Points to many of the popular statements made by conservatives these days. Thanks to Ben, Neil, Dave and everyone else who weighed in. Please feel free to send email tweaks and suggestions. I'll keep updating this original post.

1. Kerry is the 1st Most Liberal Senator in the US
Repsonse – This is not true. The rating that they are quoting only covers 2003, and only a small percentage of the senate votes. Of that small percentage, Kerry and Edwards missed most of them because they were campaigning. The actual report states all of this and even states that the data is misleading for this reason, but you don’t hear that part quoted by the Republicans.

2. Kerry is out of the mainstream
Response – He’s for workers rights, increased funding for schools, cheaper college tuition, a strong military, individual rights, universal healthcare and a rational pay-as-you-go economic policy. What part of this is out of the mainstream?

3. Kerry wants to raise taxes for all Americans
Response - Kerry has said he will roll back taxes on those making more than $200,000 per year, but will maintain tax cuts for the middle class, and perhaps reduce taxes further on the middle class by providing tax credits for college tuition and increasing the per child tax credit.

4. Kerry is actually NOT a war hero, and most of the people he served with are preparing to tell the true story about his service.
Response - This is just unsupported. Most of the guys he served with consider him a hero. Of the 6 people on his swift boat in Vietnam, 5 are actively supporting him and the other is dead. Overall, Bush has a slight lead in support from the military (54 vs. 40% as of June 4th) Download cbs_poll.doc

5. America is turning the corner (presumably both with terrorism and the economy)
Response – Again, this is simply unsupported. On the terror front, America is currently on its highest alert since 9/11. Afghanistan is being taken over again by the Taliban and Karzai’s government only controls Kabul. Jobs picked up slightly earlier this year but now seem to be trailing off again, and are still netting a loss against population growth. Furthermore, consumer spending, which is the ultimate driver of the entire economy, was at its lowest level in 3 years this past month. Here's the actual employment report for July.

6. Bush's No Child Left Behind program fixed the American education system.
Response - Ask anyone with school age children if they believe schools are adequately funded, and then remind them that the No Child Left Behind program was substantially underfunded (much less than what he promised in the State of the Union speech) to finance a war of choice that has proven unnecessary.

7. The Economy is Booming
Response – Again, the points from 5 are relevant. Furthermore, the economy ought to be booming. We’ve run up a completely unsustainable deficit. If you can’t invigorate the economy by spending $500b more than you have, then you really have a problem.

8. Deficits don't matter.
Response - Deficits increase interest rates, which puts a burden on those with adjusted rate mortgages. The federal government's debt also draws money away from private investment stifling capital markets. It took us 10 years of concerted effort to dig our way out of the deficits that Reagan built up during his presidency.

9. Democrats are weak on Defense.
Response – This is simply not true. World Wars I & II were fought and won under Democratic presidents. Many of the smart weapons that were used to win the wars with Afghanistan and Iraq were developed under President Bill Clinton, in an effort to enhance the efficiency of military spending which was criticized by many republicans at the time but is now widely considered quite prescient.

10. America is safer under Bush's foreign policy.
Response - The pictures from Abu Grhaib prison are a recruiting poster for Al Quaeda. Those would not exist if W hadn't decided to invade Iraq. More importantly, the US has become isolated from the world community by Bush’s policies. The war on terror is a global intelligence and police effort. Without the fullest cooperation of every country in the world, the war on terror is rendered less effective than it could be. Finally, Bush’s policies have pushed allies in the Arab/Islamic world towards extremism. This is one of the scarier ironies of the last 3 years. In an effort to keep Iraq from producing nuclear weapons that COULD end up in the hands of Islamic Fundamentalists, our policies so incited the fundamentalist population that Pakistan (which has the bomb) has seen its Congress go from having 2 Islamic Fundamentalist elected officials out of 271 in 2001, to 77 today.

11. America is so powerful that it doesn't need allies.
Response – It is true that the power gap between the American military and the rest of the world is unlike any in the history of civilization. However, as we are now finding out in both Iraq and Afghanistan, there is much more to waging war than simply winning the combat operations. To ensure long-term success, many years of rebuilding and police efforts are required and no single county can do this alone.

So, while I agree with Neil’s comment that Response Points alone are not enough, the fact is that many of these ideas are in circulation already…so let’s be prepared to address them. To Neil’s point, the initial PROGRESSIVE POINTS are going to be coming in the days ahead, but in the meantime, I’d like to get some feedback on the following platform pillars. As I’ve mentioned, I think that simplicity is the key, so here are the defining concepts of a progressive platform as I see them (with help from Dave Pollak – Thanks Dave.)

1. A teacher in every classroom
2. A cop on every street corner
3. Affordable healthcare for all
4. Full protection of individual rights
5. Sound economic policy driving growth today without sacrificing tomorrow.
6. A stable planet

Comment, suggest and criticize away.

Comments

[Ben Geyerhahn]

I like your ideas for a platform, but I view talking points as less policy than politics. I think we need to aim the talking points at Bush's deficiencies. I propose talking points that aim at Bush's reputation for a being a steadfast leader and either cast his position negatively or show this not to be the case. I also think we should attack his most popular policies. Here are just a few thoughts.

1. Bush's tax policy will bankrupt social security, which will disproportionately affect those in the middle and lower class, even though it disproportionately benefits those in the upper class.

2. Bush is the only modern president to go to war without asking the entire country to make any sacrifice toward that effort. The contrary, he tried to buy American favor with a tax cut. The wealthy benefit here, and the poor who fill the ranks of the military risk their lives.

3. Bush is all politics and no substance. No child left behind was passed, but never fully funded. That money was used for the Bush tax cut. I also don't believe Bush funded his worldwide AIDS prevention initiative. What happened to putting a man on mars, the great State of the Union promise? Has Bush done anything on his steroids initiative? The only policy issue he followed through on was a Gay Marriage Amendment, which is purely political.

4. When called by his country in Vietnam, Bush chose the Guard. Kerry could have avoided service, and he didn't. There is nothing inherently wrong with Bush's decision, but voters should consider what each of these men did at critical junctures in their lives.

5. Bush's war in Iraq is a terrorist recruiting tool. The pictures from the war of dying children and women and prisoner abuse are a recruiting tool, and have made America substantially less popular with other Arab nations. The lawlessness of the country creates place for terrorists to meet and train--Hussein had not allowed terrorists in his country he was largely a secular leader and he kept his borders tight.

These are my ideas generally. I think they could be sharpened a bit, but they are a start.

[Dan Jacobson]

While I think that your idea of presenting talking points is well-intentioned, I think it is dangerous. Giving people talking points denies them the impetus to derive their own ideas and conclusions. This both deprives them of the process of forming their own original thoughts, and it leaves them vulnerable to attack when they are not flexible enough with their knowledge base to understand and take one step further the concepts they claim to believe to rebut such attacks.

Incidentally, I feel the same way about relying too much on op-ed columns, and for that matter, all literary publication. It is one thing to use the facts presented in these columns to form unique opinions; it is another entirely to claim the opinions formed as one's own, simply quoting them and naming the author, to sound well-versed, only to fall flat once someone poses a challenge to the idea and the person quoting the columns is not capable of forming his or her own independent abstract thought on a matter. Furthermore, it is dangerous to quote an author's ideas and take them for one's own without taking into account an author's background, context and agenda.