It's the character, stupid

Published November 1, 2013

by Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, October 31, 2013.

If Democrats want to come back in North Carolina, they need to avoid their usual mistake of thinking it’s all about the issues.

 

It’s in Democrats’ DNA to do that. We’re issues people. We care a lot about things like Medicaid expansion, Common Core curriculum, growth strategies and infrastructure.

 

It’s not that voters don’t care. But they easily figure out which party is with them on issues.

 

What swings swing voters is character. That’s why negative ads and mailers work. They raise questions about politicians’ character, credibility, judgment and honesty. Swing voters ultimately vote for the candidate they trust most – or against the candidate they trust least.

 

Democrats will not beat Governor McCrory on Medicaid expansion. They can beat him for saying one thing and doing another. Like promising to do away with cronyism, then setting up a political patronage system. Like promising to cut “waste and fraud” in Medicaid, then paying two 24-year-olds $87,000 to help run Medicaid.

 

That’s about character, integrity and trust.

 

You won’t beat Republican legislators on a particular issue, but you can beat them on being mean, vindictive and uncaring to teachers, women, minorities, young people and anybody who’s having hard economic times.

 

Some Democrats get it. Like President Obama. His campaign relentlessly portrayed Mitt Romney as an out-of-touch plutocrat with contempt for average folks.

 

Too many Democrats are like the fine candidate who had some serious image problems with voters, but just knew they’d come around when they heard his job-training ideas. Suffice it to say the voters were able to restrain their enthusiasm.

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November 1, 2013 at 11:27 am
Bob Wagner says:

You are right it is about Character! And someone that calls a person they disagree with STUPID, who actually believes Republicans do not care about teachers, women minorities or young people simply because they have different views on issues shows that their character needs to mature quite a bit.

Clean up your own character before you begin to blast another. Tearing another person down may get a politician elected but it's their action afterwards that define THEIR character.

It upsets me to think that someone would suggest that it is better to win by attacking someone elses character than by having solid plans to effectively address the issues that are important to the American people. You really think that is a good idea? Win by making the other person lose?

You are also out of touch with voters. They are tired of the mud slinging, name calling and personal attacks!! What they want are solutions and action for a better America. Something that seems to escape both parties.

Our politicians need to grow up and if the only way they can win is to run attack ads, it not only tells me that their ideas are not strong, neither is their character!

November 1, 2013 at 12:20 pm
TP Wohlford says:

Having said that, they held power for 100 years in spite of forced sterilizations, Jim Crow, a disastrous Civil War, a military coup, entanglements with the KKK, and a few other things.

Some of us think that it isn't good "character" to allow abortions until the child is in the birth canal, in clinics that lack proper medical standards.

I'm sure that some Dem will attempt to set me straight on all of that.