One thing I hope the Democrats are doing this August is extensive district polling on health care. The opponents of health care are more motivated to show up at town-halls and to write letters, so a congressperson could get a very distorted view of what their constituents want if they just go by their anecdotal experience and the flow of correspondence. The best way for the White House to counteract that is to provide congresspeople with detailed polling on their districts, and Senators polling on their states. It might be unnerving when your mail is running 9-1 against health care reform and your town hall meeting turns into an angry mob of teabaggers and birthers, but scientific data can help calm people’s nerves.
If the White House isn’t doing the polling, then the DNC or DSCC and DCCC should be doing it. National polling isn’t much help, members of Congress need to know whether their vote is going to put their career in jeopardy or not, and district polling is the best way to counteract the right’s strategy for killing reform.
It is also possible that many congress people want a distorted view of what their constituents want.
Usually the simplest answer is the one closest to the truth. Unless you believe that congress people are the dumbest people in America, they had to have known there would be wingnut stuff going on during the break.
It’s all kabuki.
nalbar
The Kabuki is aimed at giving congresspeople a distorted picture of the mood of the electorate. My advice is aimed at counteracting that.
That is NOT what I meant by kabuki.
For some congress people the kabuki might be that they want ‘pressure’, even fake pressure, so the can do their corporate over lords will, so they welcome the tea baggers input. The media’s description of the events as grass roots feeds this.
It is beyond me why Congress does not just lower the age requirement for medicare. I could write that law on a post card. If they REALLY wanted reform, it’s what they would do.
nalbar
sure, some Dems might not want to know the truth. I doubt that any of them would turn down free polling data though.