A Contrast In Styles
Lessons From A Pair Of Louisiana Democrats
"The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy."
Probably the most famous of a long series of famous quotes, Edwin Edwards - the former Governor of Louisiana - gave this quote the day before his third election victory in 1983. I've always hated the quote, and the mythologizing that comes around Edwards for it, but for some reason the hatred is waning.
The quote is clearly distasteful, and it really shouldn't be surprising that a gay man hates it - but somehow, it's not the quote from a Louisiana politician I hate the most. That comes from Mary Landrieu, who said that she was personally pro-gay marriage, but that the "people of Louisiana have made clear that marriage in our state is restricted to one man and one woman” and that, consequently, she “support[s] the outcome of Louisiana’s recent vote.” I'm reminded of both of these quotes on the day that the person who replaced Mary Landrieu made waves by changing his mind on the constitutional argument around impeaching a former President, but what I'm really reminded of is how Mary Landrieu took that stance and then lost by 12%.
Now, I'm not saying she was ever going to win the 2014 race she lost, but I am saying that a 12% loss - only getting 561210 votes - was a fairly pathetic result for an incumbent Senator. It was a bad result, and in all honesty, there was no real point to electing her, was there? Someone who would acquiesce their views on a question of fundamental morality - a question of love and marriage - to a mob, just in search of votes, deserve everything to go against them. In her attempt to keep her job, she lost all moral standing.
The Landrieu quote is somehow worse to me than the Edwin Edwards one, because the Edwards quote at least has the benefit of honesty. Edwin Edwards was a southern Democrat in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, yeah, that quote was true. It was distasteful as all hell, and he's a scumbag for saying it, but it was true. The Landrieu quote was entirely spurious, and in trying to pander to homophobes and bigots, accepted that their views on a question of equal protection mattered. The fucking point of equal protection is to stop the majority from imposing their views on the minority, but what's that matter when you need to try to win the votes of bigots. Oh, and the ultimate slap in the face, of course, is the fact that it failed miserably.
If Democrats are to win tough races in the future, they actually need more Edwin Edwards-style candidates - no, not homophobes, but blunt speakers. They need "tell it like it is" truth tellers, and that - more than the triangulation and uselessness of so many red state Democrats of recent vintage, is what gives us some non-zero chance in tough races. You could take or leave Edwards, but in reality, he was a real human being you could love or hate. He was authentically himself. Landrieu, by contrast, was the political equivalent of a puppy, overeager for love and attention. They don't care who you are, they just want a belly rub.
Landrieu's statement - my beliefs don't align with my voters, so I'm going to abandon my views for yours - worked with precisely nobody. It pissed off Democrats without gaining any independents or moderates, and it left her in the difficult position of having the only policy on marriage that managed to piss off everyone. I mean, you have to get some credit for uniqueness, I guess, but there are some who think this is the answer again. It isn't.
If you want to actually field a competitive fight in a red-but-theoretically-gettable district or state, don't run a moderate who will find rhetorical positions maximised to neither excite or offend. The wishy-washy nature of southern Democrats clearly no longer works, and yet, so many think that the answer is to run away from the left. I remember the day when Bernie Sanders endorsed Jon Ossoff and people thought that was a mistake. Ossoff clearly decided that he wanted the endorsement, and he's in the Senate now after running the best campaign of the Trump era. He won, in large part, by ditching the consultant-imposed rhetorical moderation and false civility, and this time went all in on himself. He was rewarded for it.
Given what has happened in recent years in the formerly Democratic south, it's time that we realize that there was something actually to the "dead girl or live boy" quote that wasn't just funny, but actually effective politically. It wasn't about the homophobic nature of the quote, it was about the willingness to say what he meant and mean what he said. If Democrats want to win, they would do well to learn from the ethos of Edwards' appeal - while giving the homophobia a pass, of course - and avoiding the landmine that Landrieu set for herself. There are going to be hard races in difficult, but winnable, terrain up and down the ballot in 2022, and the story of two Louisiana politicians provides the right, and wrong, lessons for those prospective candidates. Learn the right lessons, or lose your races. At some point, it's your own choice.