It’s The Bluntness, Stupid.
1 comment January 25th, 2007at 06:40pm Posted by Eli
E.J. Dionne gets it. Ryan Lizza doesn’t. What makes Webb great for the Democrats, and why they need more candidates like him, is not that he’s a macho alpha male – it’s that he says what he wants to say and doesn’t pull any punches. That is what American voters have been craving, and it may even explain their irrationally positive response to Republican trash talk.
As I say in the probably-unfortunately-named Multi Medium Manifesto (which I plan to update after I finish cleaning up the new blog):
Voters respect conviction, passion, and heart. Candidates like Hackett with firm convictions, who tell it like it is without pulling punches, who say things like “I said it, I meant it, I stand behind it” will gain the voters respect, even from voters who don’t agree with all their positions.
That is what Webb does, and that is what the Democrats need, and the sooner they recognize that, the better.
1 Comment
1. Multi Medium » Danc&hellip | February 17th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
[…] 4) Fuck civility. No, you probably shouldn’t actually swear, but neither should you worry about being likable or nice. Attack. Hit hard. Be outraged. Don’t apologize unless you’ve made a factual error. Don’t worry about alienating voters; if anything, their respect for you will grow if you aggressively defend yourself. Be more like Paul Hackett or Jim Webb. Look at yourself in the mirror each morning and say, “I said it, I meant it, I stand behind it” five times. […]