|
|
|
|||||
|
Dear George, Players of the Japanese strategy game "GO" know that it is foolhardy to try to win every battle on the board. Successful players pick and choose their fights. The Democrats could make a like effort by concentrating their efforts outside the South, especially after failing to take states they should have won the last time around, such as Tennessee and Florida. However, the closeness of the Florida vote requires the Democrats to make a fight there because it is too big to lose and their only chance to balance a probable defeat in Texas. Voting registration figures in all Southern states likely will show the Democrats can win if they got the unregistered to the polls in sufficient numbers. Instead of worrying so much about message in the South, Democrats should concentrate their resources on getting their supporters registered. Time is running out. As for a message to defeat the Republicans, one approach might be to show the Republicans are not child-friendly. The Democrats need to stress that the resilient economy is being purchased by mortgaging the future of their children. Imagine an ad of children getting off a schoolbus with big debt balloons over their heads, indicating the practically trillions of dollars in bills the Republicans are sticking them with. Imagine an ad showing how Arnold's bond issues in California will mortgage children's futures. Imagine ads pointing to the hypocrisy of the "no child left behind" deceit, the stripping of health and insurance benefits from millions of families. Imagine ads that show the future of America's children plunged into needless wars for dishonest reasons. Imagine ads showing child victims of gun battles and snipers being rushed to hospitals. Imagine ads pointing out how New Yorkers were not told about the toxic atmosphere following 9/11, which produced thousands of cases of asthma and lung disease. Imagine ads pointing out how pollution requirements at energy plants all over the country are being relaxed, with commensurate pollution problems. Such ads are not pleasant and some might say they represent unfair tactics. But today's reality is far worse, and it has been engineered by a Republican Administration that is spending more recklessly than any government in history, up 23% since it took office. Sherwood Ross (electronic mail, December 5, 2003)
|
