The Democratic Party

[Snake Diggity 4622]

On 12/18/2020 at 12:31 PM, washparkhorn said:

New Branding Option for the Democratic Party:

Democrats Have a Problem. Workers, Wages, Weed May Be the Answer. (It's a light article and worth a read)

There appears to be no alternative to winning over a lot of Trump voters. And that means getting Republican-leaning non-college-educated voters to see the Democratic Party in a different light.

What centralizing messaging should entail is reaching internal consensus around a small number of policies that are:

• broadly popular,
• difficult if not impossible for Republicans to support,
• especially resonant with non-college-educated voters, and
• of high substantive value (since centering these policies in messaging will mean putting them toward the top of the governing agenda upon victory)

“Workers, Wages, Weed” seems like a solid fit for the Democrats’ branding needs as 

"Despite winning an unusually high share of the vote by modern standards, the Democratic Party may be incapable of governing in 2021, and is extremely likely to lose control of Congress after the 2022 midterms. After all, if the party lost (at least) nine House seats in a national environment that favored Democrats by 4.5 points, in a midterm environment (that almost always advantages the opposition party), it’s likely to lose more.

This is especially true in light of the party’s poor showing in state legislative races: Following the 2020 census, states across the country will be redrawing their House maps, and Republicans will now have far more say over redistricting than Democrats. Given advances in precision-gerrymandering technology and the growing geographic concentration of Democratic voters (which makes it even easier to dilute their influence through biased map-making), we can expect the House playing field to be even more tilted toward Republicans over the coming decade than it was in 2020."

  Reveal hidden contents

So, “Workers, Wages, Weed” seems like a solid fit for the Democrats’ branding needs. Though there are surely other policy combinations with similar — if not greater — potency, the impulse to pick a set of signature issues that can be condensed into a three-word slogan seems wise. And an alliterative one seems ideal. The goal is try to exercise some control over what words come into a voter’s mind when she thinks about Democrats. Just as “Acid, Amnesty, and Abortion” once worked against the party, so “Workers, Wages, Weed” could work in its favor.

Still, associating the party with a universal long-term care benefit for seniors might be even more electorally advantageous. And one could combine such a policy with Medicaid expansion, higher subsidies for the ACA marketplaces, and a child allowance under the rubric of “care” and run on “Care, Cannabis, Codetermination.”

Or, given the substantive imperative to prioritize climate policy, “Green Jobs, Ganja, Guaranteed Long-term Care.”

Or a “Public Option, Pot, Paid Family Leave.”

Whatever. Moderates and progressives can get together around a table, look at a list of popular policies and a thesaurus and let a thousand pitches bloom. They just need to achieve consensus, and then uniformly exert Bernie Sanders–esque levels of message discipline, such that any time any Democrat is interviewed on television, you know you’re going to hear at least once about, say, “Jobs, Joints, and Just Pay.”

It is not realistic (nor desirable) to have Democrats forswear discussion of all other issues. When a pandemic hits, you’re going to talk about public health; when a white cop tortures an unarmed Black man to death on video, you’re going to talk about race and police violence, and put forward policies for redressing the latter. But building party unity around an affirmative, non-polarizing agenda — and promoting that agenda incessantly, whenever the moment allows — is compatible with those imperatives.

To be sure, messaging around popular things is of limited use if you do not actually deliver them once in power. And just about all of the aforementioned policies are currently opposed by some Democrats in Washington (the president-elect is himself an opponent of marijuana legalization). What’s more, most policies with party-wide support will be impossible to pass unless a future Democratic Senate majority votes to abolish the filibuster. Which is to say: Moderate Democrats are arguably a bigger obstacle to the party positioning itself pragmatically than progressives are.

Pundits have put forward a lot of theories for why Trump retained his 2016 level of support among non-college-educated whites, and made big gains with working-class Latinos. But polls and reporting both suggest a big reason was the fact that he had presided over the tightest labor market in modern memory — and then, thanks to the CARES Act, the largest fiscal transfer in modern history. Good messaging wins some votes; good policy outcomes win more. If Democrats sweep the runoff elections in Georgia next month, they must use their lease on federal power for all it’s worth. “Full Employment, Family Leave, 420” may be a politically promising summary of what Democrats want to legislate; but come 2024, it would be even more potent as a list of what Democrats already delivered.

 

This is a good idea.  Although legal weed is no longer something they can counter GOP with as pretty much everybody is acting cool with it.  They need to be known as the party of the worker.

 

Dems need to continue to embrace universal healthcare, higher minimum wage, and increased access to capital for education and home ownership.

They need to drop the phrase “defund the police” and avoid gender issues.  For now.  Also they should avoid abortion talk as long as they have power.  Gun control should be a part of the platform but they need to be careful with their messaging; focus on increased background checks, not on buybacks or reductions in weapon types.

They need to add avoiding war to their platform.  This can be their counter to anti-globalization efforts from the right.

Lastly, and most importantly, they need to attack misinformation head on.  It’s an epidemic and for now they are the closest thing to the party of truth.  They’ve got to use the next 2 years to kill Trumpism and reverse the trend of rampant misinformation.

 

[wildcat09 29352]

9 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

 

To be honest, I didn't realize these were two separate things. I've never watched an inauguration or the made for TV nonsense afterwards. That's slightly less offensive.

I still stand by the point though. It's a bunch of white Hollywood elites, bar Bon Jovi who is fucking terrible anyway. Get some middle America in there. Get some minorities in there. You can get stuff that isn't considered Hollywood and still have the performers not be Trumpers. Call up Sturgill Simpson. Get some people of color. It's four white people, three that are Hollywood/Cali types, and one that sucks shit through a straw. It's terrible. It reads exactly like the list that a San Francisco marketing company that employs nothing but super-white millennials that go to brunch twice a week would come up with. Complete with them throwing a single minority in at the very bottom of the card because they called up Hanks, Timberlake, Bon Jovi, and Lovato and then realized "oops, we don't have any PoC - fuck, we gotta get one in there!". 

It's insulting to the people that put them in office. I know in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal, but it's microcosmic of the type of bullshit that cost Hillary the rust belt and gave us four years of Trump.

The number of people in this country besides you who care about this is probably under 100. I haven’t even seen leftist Twitter bitching about this and they’ll find any reason to bitch about Biden.

[BradInATX 9208]

10 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

The number of people in this country besides you who care about this is probably under 100. I haven’t even seen leftist Twitter bitching about this and they’ll find any reason to bitch about Biden.

This might be true. I really hate Bon Jovi.

[bad_teammate 13195]

22 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

The number of people in this country besides you who care about this is probably under 100. I haven’t even seen leftist Twitter bitching about this and they’ll find any reason to bitch about Biden.

The left, "Healthcare plz"

[Js1 85318]

Jaime Harrison is the new DNC chair. 

Great pick - a former state party chair who knows how important it is to keep state parties funded and focused on their state's unique political leanings. 

[Js1 85318]

45 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

The number of people in this country besides you who care about this is probably under 100. I haven’t even seen leftist Twitter bitching about this and they’ll find any reason to bitch about Biden.

This is a good point.

We are literally a week and a day past a fucking coup attempt, Donald Trump was just impeached again, 965,000 Americans are on unemployment (+190,000 from last week) and 385,000 Americans are dead of COVID-19 - Bon Jovi performing at a televised concert event on Jan 20 is so far down the god damn list of things to care about. 

Edited January 14, 2021 by Js1

[BradInATX 9208]

10 minutes ago, Js1 said:

This is a good point.

We are literally a week and a day past a fucking coup attempt, Donald Trump was just impeached again, 965,000 Americans are on unemployment (+190,000 from last week) and 385,000 Americans are dead of COVID-19 - Bon Jovi performing at a televised concert event on Jan 20 is so far down the god damn list of things to care about. 

Let's see how the last page of this thread ages when the Republicans successfully implement their plan of shifting their image to the party of the blue collar, including Hispanics, and take over that mantra while they (and the Democrats themselves) paint team blue into a corner of SJWs and woke elitists. Because that's what's probably going to happen and all of this fan fiction about Republicans being in trouble is probably going to unravel as soon as 2022.

[wildcat09 29352]

Yup, that's us, notoriously optimistic about Democratic messaging and bought in to the idea that the Republicans will destroy themselves as an electoral force.

[BradInATX 9208]

13 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

Yup, that's us, notoriously optimistic about Democratic messaging and bought in to the idea that the Republicans will destroy themselves as an electoral force.

You must not have been reading this board lately. The GOP is splitting in half and is done for at least a decade.

[StassneyHorn 6575]

Demi Lovato is half Mexican (her father) but let’s keep up the argument about white people playing at an inauguration ball.

[wildcat09 29352]

Dems are back on their Dem shit already:

 

There's substantial polling indicating that the promise of $2,000 checks won both Georgia Senate seats and they're already talking about breaking that promise for no reason. 

ETA: Shit like THIS is why the GOP will remain a potent political force, not some online inauguration concert.

 

Edited January 14, 2021 by wildcat09

[Js1 85318]

I actually always thought it was $1400 to make it $2000. You got your $600, but a Dem Senate was going to pass $1400 to get you to the $2k. 

After the $600 passed the first time, that was the proposal Mitch killed from Trump - to add $1400 to make it an even $2k. 

[wildcat09 29352]

18 minutes ago, Js1 said:

I actually always thought it was $1400 to make it $2000. You got your $600, but a Dem Senate was going to pass $1400 to get you to the $2k. 

After the $600 passed the first time, that was the proposal Mitch killed from Trump - to add $1400 to make it an even $2k. 

The promises sure didn't make that clear. People were promised $2,000 checks. In most people's minds they don't hear that and think "oh Biden's going to pay me $1,400 in addition to the $600 Trump check I already got." It's just the dumbest fucking thing to do this Democrat shit on. You made a very simple and clear promise and the more money you give people the more stimulus the economy gets! And you're going to break it out of some insanely fucking stupid attempt at looking bipartisan? A ton of GOP supported $2k checks two fucking weeks ago. Offer that and if they've changed their minds call them out on it!

I hate this shit. I hate it so fucking much.

[Hank Scorpio 17729]

How are they so bad at politics. Never too early to start handling Republican a sweep in the midterms. 

[Js1 85318]

The much championed CASH Act by the left darlings like AOC and passed the House and advocated by Sanders accomplished the exact same thing as Biden’s plan - $1400 more to add up to a $2000 stimulus. It’s a second portion of your second stimulus  

Now they suddenly want $2600. 

Do I think it’ll end up $2000 checks in the end? Probably, with enough pressure. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by Js1

[immamac 42843]

More trash legislation from trash legislators. 

[Js1 85318]

I will say, if $1400 + $15 minimum wage passes in the same bill, I think a lot of people would forgive the $1400/$2000 confusion 

[Hank Scorpio 17729]

[Biff Tannen 45678]

5 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Welp. There it is. JFC Dems. Please don’t fuck this up. 

[Hank Scorpio 17729]

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

12 hours ago, BradInATX said:

Let's see how the last page of this thread ages when the Republicans successfully implement their plan of shifting their image to the party of the blue collar, including Hispanics, and take over that mantra while they (and the Democrats themselves) paint team blue into a corner of SJWs and woke elitists. Because that's what's probably going to happen and all of this fan fiction about Republicans being in trouble is probably going to unravel as soon as 2022.

You forgot billionaires who vote Dem because they find Trump's version of the GOP tacky. That's the new Dem base -- humorless, self-righteous scolds and top-out-of-sight billionaires in places like the Hamptons and Malibu. 

This has been an actual plan since the late '70s. The Dems have cut ties with the working class in order to win over the suburbs and certain segments of the elite. It's shitty track record at the polls has not dissuaded DNC leadership from the idea that this is a terrible plan. There was no way Clinton could have won in '92 w/o Perot, Gore should have wiped the floor with Bush, just as Kerry should have done. And then Hillary managed to lose to Trump.

Obama is something of an exception but only in terms of what he campaigned for as opposed to what he accomplished. In other words he campaigned like an old-school Dem but governed like Bush I. 

[bad_teammate 13195]

9 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

How are they so bad at politics. Never too early to start handling Republican a sweep in the midterms. 

He hasn't even been inaugurated and he's already handed the GOP the House and Senate in 2 years.

It's breathtaking.

[Js1 85318]

Y’all are incredible. Never change. 

[bad_teammate 13195]

2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Y’all are incredible. Never change. 

I'm not sure personalizing this argument is a good idea.

[wildcat09 29352]

7 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Y’all are incredible. Never change. 

C'mon man. They repeatedly promised "$2,000 checks." Why break that promise?

[pyrohornIII 4814]

9 hours ago, Js1 said:

I will say, if $1400 + $15 minimum wage passes in the same bill, I think a lot of people would forgive the $1400/$2000 confusion 

I think there's a lot more to this bill than the $2000.  The stop eviction/foreclosure is big, and reduces a lot of stress on a lot of people.   The hiking of minimum wage is big too, though I disagree with it, since it's simply a pass through cost.  But in the short term it will make some difference.    I would expect the UE benefits will be higher and easier to obtain as well.   Not to mention the PPP system built for the small guy and locking out grifters.  

We should be talking about these things, not the $600 difference.  But it's easier to bitch that than extoll the other parts of the bill.   For messaging Biden needs to put together a checklist.  Put $2000/one time on one side, and a total of the average benefit this bill will make for those deeply affected.   Run those figures for 6 months, see which weighs out better.  

When you are worried about being put on the street because there is no work, or you are sick with Covid, or the aftereffects, then knowing your landlord isn't tossing you until you get back on your feet is huge.  Then you can use what you have to meet other necessities.   And the idea that mom and pop landlords are not going to bear the brunt of that expense shows they are looking out for all, not the slumlords like Kushner.   I do wonder if all these AirBnB entrepreneurs will be bailed out or not.  

 

[wildcat09 29352]

I agree it's a good bill and that the other shit outweighs $600, but why not do both? Why break the promise of $2,000 checks for no reason? What, are they afraid of sending the cost over $2 trillion? When Biden already said fuck the deficit scolds? In what's looking like it could become a depression?

It's the most Democrat shit ever to finally figure out that you should make some simple promises to people that you can actually come through on, and still find a way to fuck up the execution. It was such a goddamn simple and effective promise and they just can't help but find a way to shoot themselves in the dick, and for what? Some leftover residual PTSD from GOP deficit scolds? 

[Biff Tannen 45678]

3 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

I agree it's a good bill and that the other shit outweighs $600, but why not do both? Why break the promise of $2,000 checks for no reason? What, are they afraid of sending the cost over $2 trillion? When Biden already said fuck the deficit scolds? In what's looking like it could become a depression?

It's the most Democrat shit ever to finally figure out that you should make some simple promises to people that you can actually come through on, and still find a way to fuck up the execution. It was such a goddamn simple and effective promise and they just can't help but find a way to shoot themselves in the dick, and for what? Some leftover residual PTSD from GOP deficit scolds? 

This.  It's either an easy win or a stupid loss for the Dems.

[bad_teammate 13195]

Hey cool we're in "don't let great be the enemy of good" territory again where Democrats furiously and personally scolded everyone who dared question the leadership.

Luckily that strategy already lost us the states and the courts so we have less to lose when this strategy fails miserably yet again.

[Hank Scorpio 17729]

 

[Js1 85318]

 

[Biff Tannen 45678]

19 minutes ago, Js1 said:

 

That last one may be accurate, but it doesn't matter.  People were promised $2000 (whether they meant it or not) and that is what the Dems should step up and do.  They afraid they are going to make too many people happy or what?  I'm getting $0, so I don't give a fuck personally, but it just seems like a slam dunk political win.

[The Hot Dog Buffet 1291]

It doesn't matter if they cut the $1400 checks they have been trying to pass all along or bump it up to $2000. Stupid people with inferiority complexes are going to figure out a way to feel lied to and abused, regardless.

[bad_teammate 13195]

If I say a voter, "If you vote for me I'll get you a $2k check" and then I say, "I meant $1.4k the whole time, don't you follow the politics of Capitol Hill negotiations you idiot??"

How does that voter feel about me?

[bad_teammate 13195]

28 minutes ago, The Hot Dog Buffet said:

Stupid people with inferiority complexes ...

Just so everyone is clear, this right here is referring to Democratic voters who put all these people in office.

[Hank Scorpio 17729]

3 minutes ago, bad_teammate said:

If I say a voter, "If you vote for me I'll get you a $2k check" and then I say, "I meant $1.4k the whole time, don't you follow the politics of Capitol Hill negotiations you idiot??"

How does that voter feel about me?

Too fucking bad. What is that person going to do, not vote for a Democrat? 

[bad_teammate 13195]

3 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Too fucking bad. What is that person going to do, not vote for a Democrat? 

Love that they're still yelling at Left Twitter, which wasn't even relevant when Bernie was at his highest peak and is beyond irrelevant at this point.

Sweet Jesus

[henrygandorf 29190]

1 hour ago, bad_teammate said:

Love that they're still yelling at Left Twitter, which wasn't even relevant when Bernie was at his highest peak and is beyond irrelevant at this point.

Sweet Jesus

bernie who?

[bad_teammate 13195]

Just now, henrygandorf said:

bernie who?

I was going to make a joke about disrespecting Bernie Mac who had so recently passed but wasn't that actually like in 2009?

Time is warping and bending.

[hobbes2702 13032]

2 hours ago, The Hot Dog Buffet said:

It doesn't matter if they cut the $1400 checks they have been trying to pass all along or bump it up to $2000. Stupid people with inferiority complexes are going to figure out a way to feel lied to and abused, regardless.

I mean if you lie to people they will feel lied to. And I’m sure they appreciate the condescending view of themselves.

That said this is an incredible plan but one fuckup can ruin messaging around it, especially when you literally said “vote for us and we will give you $2k checks”

[hobbes2702 13032]

1 hour ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Too fucking bad. What is that person going to do, not vote for a Democrat? 

Stay home. Which is how we got here in the first place. 

[bad_teammate 13195]

This is how to message it.

Warren Gunnels on Twitter: "The original $908 billion plan had $0 in checks. We fought for $1,200 & ended up with $600, not enough. The House passed the CASH Act boosting it to $2,000. We fought like hell to get it done, the GOP blocked it. Now, Biden included it in his plan. Folks, that's a good start. 1/2" / Twitter

The immediate desire to start making angry personal attacks against people on your own side? That's bad messaging. Terrible politics. Huge sign of insecurity.

[pyrohornIII 4814]

Maybe we can work together as one party after all.  I hope so.

 

 

[burntorangebongos 10710]

Wait! What? Seems like the dems should have gotten more out of having Harris be the tie breaker. Damn.

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Never trust McConnell. Never.

[Dahobbs 17534]

31 minutes ago, burntorangebongos said:

Wait! What? Seems like the dems should have gotten more out of having Harris be the tie breaker. Damn.

 

Fucking pansies. 

[Post Oak 20213]

34 minutes ago, burntorangebongos said:

Wait! What? Seems like the dems should have gotten more out of having Harris be the tie breaker. Damn.

 

Fuckin Schumer.  What an embarrassment you turned out to be 

[washparkhorn 9939]

The headline is a bit misleading. 50-50 Senate = same number in committees. Committee chair determines whether the matter moves forward.  IIRC

[Js1 85318]

21 minutes ago, washparkhorn said:

The headline is a bit misleading. 50-50 Senate = same number in committees. Committee chair determines whether the matter moves forward.  IIRC

Yup. Technically no one has the “majority.” Harris is the presiding officer, not a vote on leader/rules. They had to power share in 2001 too with a 50/50 Senate. 

Chair sets the agenda. The issue will be advancing things out of committee with equal number of members, but there should be 5-6 normal GOP members to do that.  But last time, it allowed the majority leader to move the bill or nomination to the floor 

[Js1 85318]

Thread on why the power sharing isn’t really that bad for democrats. They’re functionally the majority because committee ties go to the Dems (no different than if they had 51/49 control in terms of advancing bills and nominations)