NEW YORK, NY June 22 (DPI) – The New York Times – which over the years has morphed into the house organ of the Democratic Party – yesterday posted the headline  “Our Brand Is Worse Than Trump” after a 30-year-old protege lost by only a few percentage points in a special election treated as a referendum on the party’s ability to challenge Donald Trump.

The shrill reaction of the mainstream media contrasted with thousands of reader comments – nearly 2400 on NYTimes.com alone – many of which were incisive and measured critiques of the Democrats’ continued inability to re-group after November’s shocking presidential election.

For one thing, while much criticism was directed at party leader Nancy Pelosi, readers largely recognized that the relatively narrow loss in the 6th Congressional District of Georgia was hardly the litmus test widely characterized by the media.  In fact, many readers pointed out that the result showed surprising Democratic strength in a conservative district that hasn’t come close to electing a Democrat in decades.

Among the most popular comments on NYTimes.com today:

Enough of the hand wringing, Democrats! You ran an untried 30-year-old against a veteran politician in a traditionally red district and thought that you might pull off an upset because liberals were upset about Trump! This was the same mistake that Hillary made — Democratic leadership needs to learn how to run candidates who actually can speak to the needs of the working class — and who can walk the walk. You don’t need to be an Ivy Leaguer to figure this one out.

Dear Dems:
Your message is not connecting because you HAVE no message. And I am a blue-as-it-gets voter.
The party needs to create a Democrat version of the “Contract With America”, circa 1994. Create a unified platform that candidates can rally around and get voters excited about. I don’t want to hear that you *can’t* get unified platform goals from your disparate constituencies. Until you make it happen, your candidates are going to continue to underperform.
“We’re the party that will oppose Trump” is not a platform and is not a strong sales pitch for most of America.

I have friends & family who live in Georgia’s 6th Congressional district. The voters here are unquestionably & defiantly conservative. The last time a Democrat held this seat was in 1979. The median age is under 38, half of its residents haven’t seen a Democrat win the office in their lifetime. It’s been 21 years since a Democratic candidate broke the 40 percent barrier. You have to be on crack to think the Democrats had a serious chance of winning here. Yes, Trump won this district by only 1.5 %, but incumbent Tom Price won by 24 points. This was a mind-boggling blunder even by Democratic standards, but to spend 25 million…inexcusable. Time to clean house from top to bottom. I realize that Nancy Pelosi is a beloved figure in the House. But since she became speaker in 2010 the Democrats have lost the Presidency, both Houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, the majority of state legislatures, governorships, & most important local offices. She has to resign, it isn’t working & it’s not going to work. The big takeaway from this election is the Republicans didn’t run against Ossoff they ran against Pelosi. They bought wall to wall TV & radio ads successfully painting Ossoff as a Pelosi acolyte. They will continue to do this in the mid-term elections because it works. Reality check. A Republican will never vote for Pelosi, no matter what Trump does. If the Democrats are serious about winning elections then they have to move to the center now. Please wake up, there’s still time.

As long as Democrats keep allowing Republicans to use Pelosi and/or Hillary as the face of the party, they are in big trouble. Change is needed now.