Posted on 10/02/2005 4:49:32 AM PDT by salenaz
Who will rock the youth vote?
By Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Most analysts will concede that the Democratic Party's decline began the day it lost the middle class. With that traditional voting bloc gone, so went its low-hanging fruit -- genetically engineered youth who vote as their parents do.
The Reagan Revolution was the bloodless coup credited with this middle class body-snatching.
Reagan spoke with a clarity of purpose that won the hearts of Middle America and her young people. To the 20-something voters of that era, he began a relationship with the conservative cause that became a seminal moment for the Republican Party.
Last year's Bush-Cheney ticket continued the Reagan legacy of embracing those 20-somethings. But Republicans do not own young voters, not by a long shot. In many ways, most of America still identifies young people with the Democratic Party.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
The youth vote is irrelevant in modern elections. Only the MSM and its desire to "relive its youth" is interested in the promotion of the youth vote.
The last 2 Presidential elections had the media, Hollywood (including music) and the Democrats all working hard to win the youth vote. In the end, it did little good.
Well, DINOs cannot be any worse than the current collection of RINOs we've elected to Congress....
I would not take that one to the bank. History has a nasty way of repeating itself, (think 1960's) Kids lack life experiences, making them easy marks for liberal claptrap, tend to align themselves with non-mainstream ideologies, and under the right condition the liberals can get lots of them to the polls.
What's completely ignored in that Article is the hard work that thousands and Thousands of Young Republicans did accross this nation last year.
Here in Minnesota we worked our tails off and have a decent seat at the power table.
What youth vote? How cares? They don't vote and if they do , they vote dims.
This article has shades of "the nation is moving to the left" that was repeated constantly before the last election showed them otherwise. This paper is just hoping that if it plants the seed people will believe it. Quite frankly, if these kids are squishy on the gay issue and not so pro-abortion, etc., odds are they are not going to vote Democrat for long unless the party, itself, changes.
Maybe the dems can drag out the rappers and hip hoppers again and go after the yoof vote.
This band of youth who intend to rock the vote are not the fringy Left; they are the ideological stepchildren of Zell Miller.
They are button-down types who walk that fine line of pro-business policy that does not step on the toes of their union heritage. They embrace government programs, as long as those are run responsibly. Smaller government and balanced budgets appeal to them; they are squishy on gay marriage and "life" issues.
Almost sounds Republican, doesn't it?
These hybrids are the Democratic Party's backbone in Pennsylvania.
Things could get interesting. If the Dems adopt just a handful of conservative issues, the Pubs could be out in the wilderness for another generation.
The Contract With America seems like ancient history and the Pubs have lost fiscal discipline. Of course, the Dems need to find some candidates that are not flaming idiots. That could take a while.
The youth vote is irrelevant in modern elections.
No vote is irrelevant in this country.
I was a right-wing 20's something Reagan supporter. Now, those one who will grab the youth vote include Rush Limbaugh, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Bush twins, Kidd Rock, Heather Locklear, "The Rock," Jason Sehorn, Curt Schilling and our brave troops defending our freedom worldwide.
Hoo-ah,
J. Scott Davis
Veteran: U.S. Navy & Persian Gulf War
I think you're going to find more young people becoming apolitical in the future. Think about the Democrats. How are old bags like Hillary and retreads like Ted Kennedy going to energise them? The best they have is Barak Obama - and I suspect that will be the next candidate to attract substantial numbers of young people. However, he will not be ready in 2008.
Regards, Ivan
"..the Democratic Party's decline began the day it lost the middle class. "
The Democrat party lost the middle class when it became the redoubt of all the failed God-less philosophies that of time and history. Even if many Dem's weren't particularly religious they DID live in a nation whose legal and social moralities were so informed.
The Democrat party has become something out of a horror movie and as a consequence we have a Republican party that is a lot like the old democrat party but not quite so horriffic.
Also, look at how many votes Kerry got last time out. There is a split but I wouldn't call it very one sided. There are STILL a lot of them out there.
Individual votes are important, but targeting something called 'the youth vote' has no bang for the buck.
The state of the decline in the Dem party is so severe that only fools will suffer their idiocy in any near term elections. They are in a downward death spiral of hatred and suicide.
The American public is not about to buy their lunatic silliness and they know it. Appeals to youth and goofy "bubble gum" strategies reek of desperation. Most youths are turned off by these desperate tactics and are likely to act responsibly at the voting place.
Don't DARE say that at Texas A&M University. My daughter was a freshman there last year and I'd bet the Bush/Cheney ticket got 90% of the youth vote.
I bet I could count the john/john bumper stickers on both hands. Most had Bush/Cheney stickers, and many had more than one.
OMG WTF LOLOLOLOL!!!111!!!!1!! 1
While I agreed with him that it was against the rules and should be covered or taken down, I explained we had no official capacity except as checkers and poll watchers and could only object.
Since the lines were long and the wait lengthy, I asked him if he had any family or friends who hadn't voted yet. He rattled off the names of a couple of his friends and his two sons. Only one of the friends had voted.
He was back two hours later with his boys and the other friend and his wife, thanked me and made sure they voted.
If you look at the red/blue map, you find that the Democrats win not only the inner city but also the toney suburbs near the city. Republicans win the suburbs and rural areas.Always stipulating that everything is really shades of purple . . .
The Democratic Party is the party of the rich and the poor, performing a pincer on the middle class. Rich Democrats patronize the middle class and the poor. Poor Democrats accept being patronized by rich Democrats, and take out their frustrations on the middle class, calling them "rich."
The middle class defends itself via the Republican Party. And if the Republican Party doesn't understand that - see the Kemp, Jack - it fails politically.
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