Subject: Re: Democrats during the speech
Generally, if you want voters to choose you because you're different than the other party on a given point, then you can't do the same things as the other party on that point. If you do the same things, then it undermines your argument to voters that the opposing party's failure to comply with those norms represents an atrocious breach.

I'm beginning to question whether that is a successful tactic. Clearly, a lot of voters don't care about the old norms. They care more about seeing their policies enacted.

The old adage about not wrestling with pigs because you both get dirty and the pigs like it isn't working. When your job is to wrestle pigs, you sometimes have to get into the mud with the pigs.

When your job is to stand up for your policies and fight to get them enacted, you have to actually fight.

One reason the British lost the revolutionary war was that they mostly fought by lining up and firing at the enemy. But their enemy (that's us revolutionaries) was willing to use guerilla tactics to hide and attack by stealth. It may be time for Democrats to stop using the old tactics and work for their policies in a new and different way.

--Peter