T-Mac Is Right- Kaine Was a "Disgrace"

From the 6:40 mark of this video, T-Mac takes on Tim Kaine's leadership at the DNC in 2010. (hat tip BV):

Terry McAuliffe:  "I've said publicly, I thought the party in 2010 was a disgrace, we had no message... the idea that we lost 63 seats the most since 1948, shame on us.  If we don't have a message the Republicans will define it."

Right on Terry!

Comments

[NotMe]

Oh, Terry was there for Scott. For a moment I thought Terry was going to be on the ballot this year...

[DCCyclone]

Ben, the disgrace is you for libeling Kaine in your blog post heading. And yes it's libel, McAuliffe's comments in the video clearly are not about Kaine.

For anyone who doesn't have a moment to watch, McAuliffe talks broadly about "the party" failing on messaging last year. That Ben superimposes his hatred of Kaine on to McAuliffe's remarks is a baldfaced lie.

And what Ben doesn't seem to realize is that he's insulting and hurting McAuliffe as much as Kaine with that lie.

[Scott Surovell]

Terry said virtually the exact same thing at the FCDC Road to Richmond Breakfast back in January.

I think McAuliffe's point was that many 2010 Democratic congressional candidates abandoned the party's message and the accomplishments during the 2009-2010 session and they were punished at the polls because they let other side define the message in their races.

I've never heard him direct criticism at Tim Kaine for that and I don't think anyone took it that way.

Tim aggressively pushed the party line whenever I saw him on TV. He just didn't have much help from others.

[Noticed]

Here I thought you all lost 63 seats because of the message. In terms of messaging, be fair to Kaine. He couldn't hold a candle to Nancy Pelosi!

[Andrew]

First of all, the message wasn't at all unified and anyone who says otherwise must not have turned on a television in 2010. Eventually, you had Democratic candidates running against everything (and shooting themselves in the foot) from obscure 23% sales tax proposals, Nancy Pelosi and "San Francisco values", health reform, carbon caps or taxes, phantom Social Security reform proposals, the list goes on. Which of those were Dem ideas and which were GOP ideas? What was Rick Boucher running for or against? Were we supposed to vote for him because he lives in Abingdon and not Salem? What the hell did Glenn Nye even believe in? Who knows. Messaging was absolutely confusing.

Am I one of those people who believe that the Dems will win when they run as strong as possible on the values of the Progressive Caucus, no matter where it is? Hell no. Can they win on a message that is populist in nature while not copying Dennis Kucinich and staying away from the Heath Shulers of the world, all while maintaining a big tent? Have they not been at their most successful doing that before?

And "Nancy Pelosi" as a campaign prop might play well in culturally conservative areas that are predispositioned against scary "San Fran Values", but you can no more build a permanent governing majority on that platform than you can build one entirely on urban districts.

Kaine, from what I saw, was consistent, but politics/cat-herding being what it is, lazer-focused messaging is almost impossible. You have to run on broad principles as sound bites (yeah, I know we all want to run on bold proposals, but electoral politics is theater+gym+debate class, not a symposium) and trumpet them the way the right does.

[Andrew]

I will add that Kaine is much less convincing as a messaging guy than a Howard Dean or Terry McAuliffe, and that's never helpful. I'm pretty sure he was chosen for DNC chair strictly for the purpose of holding Virginia+North Carolina in 2012. Whether Debbie is that for Florida, I'm not yet sure. I like her enough to give it time.

[Levar Stoney]

Ben: Terry has been consistent on this topic for the last six months. Terry believes Democrats lacked a forceful message that defined the differences between the two parties in 2010.

Make no mistake, he has always believed that Governor Kaine was one of the few advocates that aggressively touted the successes of President Obama and our party. He just wishes more people would've joined him.

[Manassasinsider]

Hey Ben, who is he flipping the bird to in the audience? From about 7:20 to 7:24 he flips the bird to somebody with his left hand. Wish I knew who was on the recieving end of that one. :)

[Not Larry Sabato]

Manassas- looks like it was pointed at former Delegate Chuck Caputo!!!

Levar- zzzzzzzzzzz

[Morris Meyer]

Google for Kaine's "don't hand over the keys" slogan on The Daily Show to see what the messaging was for 2010.

"don't hand over the keys" was horrible on so many levels. Handing over car keys is an awful choice someone out of a job must face. Equating that backed in a corner terrible feeling with the slogan of the Democratic party was a decision that was essentially political malpractice.

"Dont hand the keys back" played out 30 % worse that a normal Democratic message among the electorate. See http://www.democracycorps.com/wp-content/files/Combined-Post-Election-Graphs-Final.pdf - page 24.

[PJ]

Weak, Levar, weak.

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

The Democrats didn't lose simply because they lacked a message. The problems go far deeper.

Whether true or not, the public perceived them as not following through on the promises on which they were elected - and that went for Obama too. Anybody who thinks that 2010 wasn't a referendum on Obama's performance at that point in time is refusing to face reality.

The base was depressed over all the compromises made to get health care reform passed and by the cavalier way that Rahm Emanuel and others in the administration dismissed them as "professional leftists." The public is still divided over the HCR, but nobody in the lamestream media cares to ask why or what the public dislikes.

Instead they are content to go with the Tea Party narrative. But how many in the public actually are disappointed that we didn't get a public option, which consistently polled as popular?

When Democrats stand up for Democratic values, and follow through when elected, they win. When they cave and sacrifice their real values on the altar to the false god of bi-partisan compromise with fanatics who refuse to actually compromise, they lose. That's because the public sees them breaking faith with their values and principles.

This is not hard to comprehend. Professional political hacks just don't want to recognize the truth.

[Big Country]

Tribbs,

I'm not sure if there's a method to your madness or not, but I'd like to believe that there is.
I am a very conservative Republican who happens to dislike George Allen for political, personal and professional reasons. I realize however, that he is the best shot for the GOP to win the seat back. Period.
So as a pretty partisan Democrat, why can't you arrive at the same conclusion about Tim Kaine? Is there actually a better candidate out there than Tim Kaine to hold this seat in the D-column? And please don't say "Bobby Scott." Unless you know something we don't, or are trying to get someone (T-Mac, maybe?) to jump into the race, why not just show a little pragmatism for a change and get behind Timmy?

[frankoanderson]

For me, the message is simple: Republicans don't give a damn about you, your job or your family. All they care about is their narrow social agenda and appeasing billionaires.

Democrats believe in protecting the middle class and working people, providing for the most needy in our society, balancing budgets, and caring for our natural resources rather than destroying the environment for short-term gain.

I know I'm painting with a broad brush here - there are some reasonable conservatives and some corporatist Democrats out there - but if you want a message that will resonate, you have to draw a sharp contrast.

[truthteller]

Ben, I think Scott and Levar have replied sufficiently to your characterization of TMacs comments that you need to revise and contextualize. You may have said ZZZZ but the reality is that given his position Levar has much more context and insight than you do as to what Terry McAuliffe was and was not criticizing....

[Not Bubby]

The hits just keep coming. This is another fine example of Ben's character. Only a clueless douchebag like NLS would attack Kaine while slobbering over a loser like T-Mac.

The biggest Democratic disgrace in Virginia occurred in 2009.

[Andrew]

Re: Anonymous is a Woman

"The base was depressed over all the compromises made to get health care reform passed and by the cavalier way that Rahm Emanuel and others in the administration dismissed them as "professional leftists." The public is still divided over the HCR, but nobody in the lamestream media cares to ask why or what the public dislikes."

I understand the desire for the base of the Democratic Party or "the left" or whatever to see their beliefs in practice, but I always cringe whenever I see any form of the "we lost because we weren't doctrinaire enough" argument. Conservatives don't lose elections because they weren't conservative enough, and liberals don't lose because they weren't liberal enough. Now, do groups lose because of disorganized messaging (whatever that is)? All the time. Because of the simple dynamics of the two-party pendulum? Guaranteed. To say that we could have a governing majority from the progressive base alone is something I'd like to believe, but the numbers aren't there, and it's pretty arrogant to say otherwise. You need a coalition, and if someone wants to identify as a Democrat, there's obviously some reason why they do. This isn't the days of the Solid South when it was a label only.

We need a broad base centered around protecting, and hopefully expanding, an idea of justice that can be found among all sorts of people who actually like their fellow man.

[Mr Bubbles]

If there is anyone that knows about disastrous DNC chairs, inept national democratic messaging, and disastrous election results its terry mcauliffe. I find it hilarious the architect of bush-lite in 2004 would now be criticizing the fact we had no message last year.

The logic behind this post is cynical and disingenuous at best (though not surprising coming from ben). When the democrats control the white house and both chambers of congress, its not the job of the DNC chair to take a lead on messaging. One would think a "long time democratic activist" like ben would be savy enough to know that. Considering the failure of the white house, the speaker, and senate majority leader to defend the legislation they authored or to articulate a vision of what they wanted to accomplish in the 112th congress its not surprising that moderate dems wouldnt want to be associated with democratic leadership or moderate and independent voters favoring republicans. People are going to choose a bad plan over no plan at all.

[Sam]

I cannot wait to see how Ben thinks his fundraising for a state senate race is going to work itself out if he keeps doing stuff like this.

[Hoya Boy]

Amen Big Country

[Morris Meyer]

To be fair to former chairman Kaine - the "don't hand the keys back" was somewhat close - if you'd add "to the crazies". This bi-partisan, lowering the temperature stuff is fine, but that should doesn't negate the party's and its officers responsibility to define a narrative and keep repeating it.

Obama's recent speech on deficit reduction and the Ryan plan had a really good start at this - What sort of country are we? What sort of country should we pass to the next generation?

A good narrative gets drilled in by continual repetition. IMHO the GOP has this figured out - see Luntz, et al.

Jeffry Feldman had a good article about this from last November (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-feldman/obamas-north-star-not-eno_b_793971.html)

"In reality, political gains are earned by building and establishing a broad narrative that explains how, why and to what end the economy has improved -- and then winning the battle every day to keep that narrative foremost in voters' minds."

[isaac]

Kaine sticks his neck out for two things: 1. the status quo, and 2. himself. He's always does what is safe, and not what will move the country, state or party forward.

[James Young]

That's certainly a more self-satisfying conclusion than "We had a message, and the voters roundly rejected it."

By all means, keep it up.

[truthteller]

James, the electorate is about to start roundly rejecting your side's brand of extremism. If you don't think your side is engaged in extremism and overreach then you are truly a man in glass houses casting stones