The Republicans are cynically attacking Biden for failing to control the pandemic they prolonged, its time Democrats helped the President by fighting back
Do we have a strong enough politician as head of the DNC to put a concerted, consistent punch-back message out there? Not saying we don’t, just haven’t seen anything from Jaime Harris. He seems a bit tame to me. Shouldn’t this job be filled by an ultra-smart and aggressive partisan with excellent organizing skills? (Paging Dan Pfeiffer…).
Many GOPers and media types are saying big Dem losses are an inevitable fact based on history is just stupid. Historic precedents hold true… until the day they don’t. Dan’s right that elections are multi-factored and complex events. But surely four of these factors hold the greatest weight, and we can control three of them: 1. The quality of the candidate; 2. The effectiveness of the message; 3. Money to get the message out over a long period of time, 4. And volunteers to power the grass roots. We can control items 2,3,4, correct?
The GOP should be made to answer for its killing of its own base for political advantage. Put them on the defensive. Call out their attempts to distract with Culture Wars (find on Youtube: JFK calling out the GOP for trying to kill Medicare with cultural nonsense. He was a very tough campaigner). After the candidate has briefly but effectively kicked the crap out of his opponent he or she can then turn to the ideas and issues he or she supports.
We can go so far as to point out that GOPers are happy to kill their own base, by discouraging vaccinations, in order to win power for shameless, corrupt politicians. Say it loud. They are just selfish, murderous, con artists.
And also: Insurrectionists or their collaborators. Tinfoil hat-level conspirators. Slick hacks who are able to paint a thin layer of intellectualism over their completely cynical “belief” in The Big Lie.
The problem I see with outright accusations of killing their own base, even if true, is it sounds so rhetorical that the people we're aiming the message at would find it too easy to dismiss.
But true. Twenty or thirty years from now, history books will probably come very close to using terms like that in describing the lying and gaslighting of the base by the likes of Abbott, DeSantis, Ivey, etc.
This isn’t about a few loutish senators , reps, or governors fighting against some inconsequential issue. This is about hack politicians extending the pandemic to hurt Biden politically. Prolonging the pandemic means death.
We shouldn't think of ourselves at messaging to their hard core base. For the moment, they are unreachable. But a majority in the country trust Dems more on the pandemic and some people who aren't hard core are reachable.
can you please explain why the dems cant seem to find expertise in messaging both their accomplishments, what passing their bills will actually do for people vs the huge effectiveness of the republicans demonization of everything??!! why cant they find young people who know how to message in a simple and effective and loud way???
My impression of Pres. Biden is he doesn't have aggressiveness in him; it's not his style on anything. So, he comes off old.
Punching back has long been needed on lots of issues. For example, when V. P. Harris was criticized for buying an expensive pot, there was no punching back (by, say, the party remembering Trump's gold toilets or whatever) to support her. Punching back doesn't always require a long debate, rather pithy dings, and collectively the dings create an aura of fighting-on-your-behalf.
Agree 100%. I'm hoping that he doesn't run again. He did well initially, but I think his frame of mind is 'I lost my first wife and child and then another and we will get thru this'...sorry Joe, but we will NOT get thru the lack of voting rights and supreme gerrymandering.
But I sometimes read that he works the phones to get things done in a very affective way. If so, great, but I agree wholeheartedly that he needs to make all that visible to is.
I wholeheartedly agree. I would also like to see GOP candidates asked what they would do to end the pandemic. I am guessing the answer would be to do nothing, since they are against vaccines and preventive measures. It would be great to point out that it is the unvaccinated that are dying and these are overwhelmingly their supporters.
The only politician I have been inspired by when talking about Covid was Raphael Warnock. I went to a private fundraiser on Zoom for him and Ossoff last December. He said that we did not talk enough about how disruptive COVID was to our lives and mental health, never mind trying to avoid disease. He thanked essential workers and small business owners and as a small business owner who barely got by due to a bad holiday season due to high case counts. It was the first time I felt seen and I needed that empathy more than policy. I cried for an hour after the event. He talked about things the government could do but never mentioned mandates. I think mandates are policy losers if you are worried about independent voters.
I am not sure if Warnock has given public remarks about COVID but he is a model for sure.
Do we have a strong enough politician as head of the DNC to put a concerted, consistent punch-back message out there? Not saying we don’t, just haven’t seen anything from Jaime Harris. He seems a bit tame to me. Shouldn’t this job be filled by an ultra-smart and aggressive partisan with excellent organizing skills? (Paging Dan Pfeiffer…).
Many GOPers and media types are saying big Dem losses are an inevitable fact based on history is just stupid. Historic precedents hold true… until the day they don’t. Dan’s right that elections are multi-factored and complex events. But surely four of these factors hold the greatest weight, and we can control three of them: 1. The quality of the candidate; 2. The effectiveness of the message; 3. Money to get the message out over a long period of time, 4. And volunteers to power the grass roots. We can control items 2,3,4, correct?
The GOP should be made to answer for its killing of its own base for political advantage. Put them on the defensive. Call out their attempts to distract with Culture Wars (find on Youtube: JFK calling out the GOP for trying to kill Medicare with cultural nonsense. He was a very tough campaigner). After the candidate has briefly but effectively kicked the crap out of his opponent he or she can then turn to the ideas and issues he or she supports.
At least let’s give it the greatest of tries.
We can go so far as to point out that GOPers are happy to kill their own base, by discouraging vaccinations, in order to win power for shameless, corrupt politicians. Say it loud. They are just selfish, murderous, con artists.
And also: Insurrectionists or their collaborators. Tinfoil hat-level conspirators. Slick hacks who are able to paint a thin layer of intellectualism over their completely cynical “belief” in The Big Lie.
The problem I see with outright accusations of killing their own base, even if true, is it sounds so rhetorical that the people we're aiming the message at would find it too easy to dismiss.
But true. Twenty or thirty years from now, history books will probably come very close to using terms like that in describing the lying and gaslighting of the base by the likes of Abbott, DeSantis, Ivey, etc.
This isn’t about a few loutish senators , reps, or governors fighting against some inconsequential issue. This is about hack politicians extending the pandemic to hurt Biden politically. Prolonging the pandemic means death.
We shouldn't think of ourselves at messaging to their hard core base. For the moment, they are unreachable. But a majority in the country trust Dems more on the pandemic and some people who aren't hard core are reachable.
can you please explain why the dems cant seem to find expertise in messaging both their accomplishments, what passing their bills will actually do for people vs the huge effectiveness of the republicans demonization of everything??!! why cant they find young people who know how to message in a simple and effective and loud way???
One does wonder.
My impression of Pres. Biden is he doesn't have aggressiveness in him; it's not his style on anything. So, he comes off old.
Punching back has long been needed on lots of issues. For example, when V. P. Harris was criticized for buying an expensive pot, there was no punching back (by, say, the party remembering Trump's gold toilets or whatever) to support her. Punching back doesn't always require a long debate, rather pithy dings, and collectively the dings create an aura of fighting-on-your-behalf.
Agree 100%. I'm hoping that he doesn't run again. He did well initially, but I think his frame of mind is 'I lost my first wife and child and then another and we will get thru this'...sorry Joe, but we will NOT get thru the lack of voting rights and supreme gerrymandering.
But I sometimes read that he works the phones to get things done in a very affective way. If so, great, but I agree wholeheartedly that he needs to make all that visible to is.
I wholeheartedly agree. I would also like to see GOP candidates asked what they would do to end the pandemic. I am guessing the answer would be to do nothing, since they are against vaccines and preventive measures. It would be great to point out that it is the unvaccinated that are dying and these are overwhelmingly their supporters.
Yup, politicize the hell out of it. I'm all for that MO.
The only politician I have been inspired by when talking about Covid was Raphael Warnock. I went to a private fundraiser on Zoom for him and Ossoff last December. He said that we did not talk enough about how disruptive COVID was to our lives and mental health, never mind trying to avoid disease. He thanked essential workers and small business owners and as a small business owner who barely got by due to a bad holiday season due to high case counts. It was the first time I felt seen and I needed that empathy more than policy. I cried for an hour after the event. He talked about things the government could do but never mentioned mandates. I think mandates are policy losers if you are worried about independent voters.
I am not sure if Warnock has given public remarks about COVID but he is a model for sure.
Dan, you are 100% correct.