Eric Holder, former AG under Obama, recently articulated the change in mindset that Democrats need to adopt in order to (finally) effectively combat the nefarious subterfuge and treachery of the Republican Party and the Trumpists. It was exactly what has been needed to be said for far too long. He said, “The saying that goes When they go low, we go high, that’s no good anymore. When they go low, we kick them.” Finally! Someone dared to say out loud that Democrats need to fight. We’ve been responding to the Right’s dishonesty and destruction with high-minded hopes and benefits of the doubt for far too long. All it’s done is enable the Right’s manipulation of the electorate that is crucial to advancing their plutocratic agenda. We dont get down in the mud with the pigs, that would only get us muddy and lets the pigs have a merry old time. But we don’t appeal to their better angels either. Because those angels simply dont exist. Instead, we engage, personally, critically, each and every one of us, and get the fuck up and overwhelm these hijackers of our democracy. We vote. We evict. We secure these American ideals that are in such precarious limbo now.
We, well really the media, should just point out the lies when they make them. Do it again, and again. And call it what it is. A lie. Not misinformed, not a mis-speak. A lie.
No need to roll eyes, no need to look for opinions. A lie is a lie.
That would be a start.
The Dem’s really, really, really need to change their leadership at the top. Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Check Schumer, and even Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are not going to excite the swing vote. And that crew gives the republican’s an easy target to incite their base.
I think before 2016 democrats felt the public were informed and moral enough to not get suckered into the worst that the right has to offer (open racism, open support for authoritarianism, gross incompetence). Then Trump got elected, and Roy Moore almost did and the democrats realize that we aren’t very different at all from the rural whites who supported Jim Crow 100 years ago.
As someone who knows quite a few right wingers IRL, they want to be lied to. Pointing out that they’ve been lied to is pointless.
For them the narrative is paramount. Truth means nothing. They have a simple, black and white narrative that they are emotionally invested in and that is all that matters. Facts are to be ignored, cherry picked or invented to support the narrative.
It might affect a few swing voters, hopefully. And it might energize the democratic base. And it may make the more moderate republicans think twice. But the GOP base want to be lied to. And just because that is insulting doesn’t make it false.
Who would be good leadership?
Of them, I’m of the impression that Pelosi is actually a pretty effective leader.
I’d like it if the democrats had efficient leadership who are willing to fight dirty and efficiently, but I’m not sure who that would be.
I think what is needed is a combination of effectively energizing disillusioned, apathetic Democratic voters and peeling away as many sane Republican voters through a campaign of aggressive, repetitious exposure of the lies told by the Republicans. While the number of Republicans able to be convinced to flip may not be all that substantial, that number is no doubt higher that what has been achieved up until now. I don’t personally believe changing Dem leadership is a genuine issue. Pelosi is actually very good at what she does, that’s why the right vilifies her as much as they do. If it is shown to be a larger issue then changing that leadership would be part of what’s needed to energize apathetic Dems.
Republican voters really don’t care. Many if not most of their elected officials have openly and demonstrably lied and their apologists just dismissed fact checking as “liberal media bias”, as if there is anything biased about an overhead picture of the National Mall being notably uncrowded compared to images of other inaugurations, and it’s like a fucking blind spot with them. Mitch McConnell can hold back the confirmation hearing for a well-qualified Supreme Court nominee on the basis that the voters should get to decide on change of government prior confirming a new justice, and then two years later jam one through for a nominee under a cloud of conflict of interest and allegations of sexual assault right before elections.
Lying is now the Republican brand, which is unsurprising because the modern Republican party was formed by Barry Goldwater, Lee Atwater, and Newt Gingrich, all infamous distortionalists and fearmongers. They literally don’t care if you catch them in a lie; they just give you a look like the cat who ate the canary, and then hop onto the kitchen counter right in front of you and take a piss. They’re proud of their lies and the “leaders” who tell them. Everytime a Republican in Congress lies, Mitch McConnell gets a new chin fold.
I don’t think the answer is for Democrats to get down in the dirt with them, because then we just have both major parties filled with lying scum, and frankly the Democrats have had enough problems with corruption in the past. But they do need to stop playing nice or giving any benefit of the doubt to any Republican collegue who isn’t willing to extend a hand to support causes which ought to garner bipartisan support like the Zadroga Act or supporting open research on global climate change.
Stranger
You don’t need to change anything. All you need to do is get off your collective asses and vote.
But you’re not going to do that. You’re going to wear your pink pussy hats and protest and shout down the mean republicans and run them out of restaurants and otherwise piss them off so they go out and vote while you pat yourselves on your backs.
Trump appreciates your efforts. Carry on.
That doesn’t work. There are a lot of weak people out there who would rather believe a pleasant lie than an unpleasant truth. Trump and people like him use this.
66 million people voted for Hillary in 2016. People voted.
In midterms only about ~40 million people vote for each party. If democrats can get 45-50 million people to vote in the midterms (meaning 16-21 million Hillary voters stay home, as opposed to the usual 26 million), it’ll be a blowout election.
I think the Democrats need to drop all this morality crap, the ultra liberal wing is starting to become more tedious than the evangelicals that infiltrated the Republican party when I was young. I never thought I’d see the day when Democrats would be bigger sexual prudes than Republicans.
Oh? Care to elaborate? I’m assuming you’re not talking about the #MeToo movement, because that’d be really shitty of you (conflating “sexual puritanism” and “caring about rape and sexual assault”), but I’m kinda at a loss as to what you could mean.
I wonder how many people attended protests without bothering to ever call write a letter to their elected official to express their views?
Well I for one agree that it’s necessary for Democrats to stop being so nicety-nice all the time and turning the other cheek when Republicans stomp them.
It’s distressing that Democrats don’t lie nearly as much as Republicans.
Fortunately we’re making up ground on fundraising.
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The media needs to continue publishing the truth, and start calling Trump and his allies blatant liars. Trump can ban every media outlet in the country from his press conferences, except for Fox News, but the so called “fake news” outlets need to continue to call out the corruption and graft the learn about every day, even if a large percentage of the country isn’t listening.
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According to the NY Times, a media outlet that most Americans trust more than the Administration, Trump was involved in numerous tax schemes that stole money from the American people. Nothing has happened as a result of that revelation. This needs to be front page news so Republicans don’t forget they elected a crook that needs to be punished for his illegal activities.
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Democrats have to be willing to hit back every time the Republicans lie and distort the facts. When facts don’t matter we no longer live in a world of reality. As long as Republicans get away with telling lies, and their followers continue to support them, we veer further away from a true democracy.
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Democrats have to get out the vote so they can win back the House, and perhaps even the Senate, so that investigations into this corrupt administration can go forward. If the country knew everything that was going on in the White House the legislative branch would then be forced to impeach. Clearly Trump has made a deal with the Russians and perhaps the Saudis. We need to shine a bright light and see what Mueller knows so we can oust a corrupt administration, including Mike Pence and his cronies.
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The people of this country have to take back their government from the very rich who have a stranglehold on every branch of government, including the Supreme Court. If we need to impeach members of the Supreme Court so be it. Nobody is above the law. Nobody. The stock market may be up, which makes Republicans very happy (and rich), but for many people it doesn’t matter.
Yet the collective voter turnout was only 61.4 percent.
If the Democrats got their numbers up to 75% that would translate into 80 million votes.
So really, the only attitude that needs to change for you to win everything is apathy.
Your implication–that people who don’t vote are also the people going to protests–is really weird. Almost certainly the overwhelming majority of people who go to protests are also going to the polls.
My wife is sending postcards by the dozens to voters in Georgia, encouraging them to vote. She’s registering students every day.
I’m organizing teachers to vote en masse this weekend, and tonight I’ll get to sign up to stand at polling places with “Apple Cards”–the endorsements of our teachers association.
And a lot of folks I know are doing similar things.
Meanwhile, Republican activists are busy, too, finding new hurdles to throw up in front of voters, knowing every hurdle, however small, will keep a few more people from showing up to vote.
Will our efforts be enough? We’ll see–but the efforts consist of far more than wearing pink hats.
I’m talking about what you are doing right now. I have a general issue with the tone Democrats are adopting and you immediately enter into using terms such as “that is shitty of you”. I don’t like it when I see democrats using this rhetorical style, it dampens the enthusiasm I once had for the party.
I have no interest in getting into an argument about whether I am a good person or bad person for having this opinion. This is my opinion, it may be right or wrong, but I think it’s a bit of a leap to say it is shitty of me to have it.
In what way are Democrats prudes?