Vote GOP 2018!

The BBQ Pit
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This thread is about the three political campaign posters linked below. You really ought to save your comments until after you have viewed them. There is no nudity, profanity or blood in them, but nonetheless they may be NSFW if you work someplace sensitive to, oh, I dunno, controversy? We try not to talk politics where I work so I personally wouldn’t open these images there, but at previous workplaces I would have yukked it up. So, use your judgment.

Vote GOP 2018! Poster #1

Yah, sure, the style is a bit amateurish. I am not a professional artist. Who knows, maybe someone will come along and re-work it in an all-digital format, or guide me to some really good yet free software for this kind of thing. Anyway, one could criticize this one as hyperbolic or perhaps ham-fisted, but then again, every element is justified by historical events. For instance, did you know that more people were killed by police in 2017 than black people were lynched during the worst year of Jim Crow? cite. Yet the GOP seems to never to criticize the police, preferring to position themselves as “law and order”, a phrase which itself is a euphemism for the mass incarceration of black people. Such is the logic of these images.

Vote GOP 2018! Poster #2

It was hard to decide what to include in the list here, even though it is rather extensive. I’m open to suggestions- a Version 2 is definitely an option. But, has anyone else noticed that the GOP these days seems especially hateful while paradoxically being the party of evangelicals? Seems like they are referring to a different Jesus than the one I grew up with…

Vote GOP 2018! Poster #3

There really oughta be “Climate Change is a Hoax!” and “Tax Cuts Increase Tax Revenues!” headlines included in this one, but I did not think I would be able to recreate the mad-but-not-overwhelming blur. The primary concern is addressed though. Retiring Baby Boomers are selling their 401ks, putting downward pressure on the stock market. It seems to be at a peak- the tax stimulus seems the last thing to be done to goose it, and taxes will probably have to rise again pretty soon, which could serve to reverse recent gains. And the Fed is raising rates again- who knows where that stops? Look at the history of it. Today’s rates are not normal, and neither is it normal to be marching steadfastly towards $20 trillion in public debt. If rates rise to even 5% at that point, the American public will be on the hook for $1 trillion a year in bond interest. Since there will be so much downward pressure on the stock market, potentially long-term, thank goodness there is an alternative $1 trillion and growing sure-thing revenue source in the pipeline, or I’d really be worried about how the wealthy were going to become even wealthier.
I’ve read a lot on the board recently about how right-wingers are basically unreachable. Who knows, maybe they are, but then again no demographic is ever a monolithic bloc, no? Remember how Don Quixote was an unreachable nut job, right up until he wasn’t? Do you remember what finally got through to him?

mirrors

Maybe this approach of condensing contemporary history into imagery can have a similar effect. Or maybe you have a better idea?

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I like the second one best. Add ‘rule of law’, ‘fair elections’ and ‘free press’ to the list.

I don’t think there is any reaching across the isle anymore. The right has hated the left for decades, but the election of Trump, and the support of people like Roy moore has really unleashed a lot of hate on our side too.

So I guess at this point the biggest goal is increasing turnout among the left rather than winning over any conservatives. Will these posters help with that? The kinds of people who truly enjoy those posters will probably vote anyway. In general, 60-70 million democrats vote in presidential election years but only about 40 million show up in midterms.

We need to focus on the 20-30 million democrats who show up in presidential years, but stay home in midterms, and get them to vote in midterms.

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Could use a little focus on the Democrats who don’t show up in presidential years. But running not-Hillary will help with that next time.

Give me a day or two to put together your suggestion for #2.

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Those are fairly common turnout numbers for both parties. For both parties in recent times, about 60-70 million people vote in presidential elections, but only about 40 million show up in midterms.

The 2010 GOP blowout had 45 million GOP voters while the dems has about 39 million. That was enough to win them the federal house and about 700 seats in state legislatures. If the dems can get 45-55 million voters in 2018 vs about 40 million for the GOP, it’ll be a legendary blowout. The dems could gain 1000+ legislative seats on the state & federal level.

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In #2, “Welfare Queens” is pejorative, and thus not in keeping with the overall theme. Maybe change it to Welfare recipients?

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I seem to recall an article explaining that the only hope the dems have to defeat Trump is focussing on their own policies.
I thoroughly agree.
Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it: Trump and the GOP thrive when the discussion is about negatives.

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I can’t see the posters at the moment (stupid firewalls) but in a “Helping!” effort will point you to my own humble advertising campaign proposal.

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You need the press to be your advocate and a rock star candidate to bring out the vote. The middle class will appreciate the tax cuts.

I don’t think the Dem’s will run on who Trump slept with, a witch hunt to frame him, or the economy.

Roy Moore was a scumbag, but so were most of me too Hollywood types that helped " get out the vote "

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Sorry, I had to get over my laughter at the thread title long enough to post.

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More of a rant, even with the electoral backdrop. Moved from Elections to the Pit.

[/moderating]

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These are great posters. What grade are you in?

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I see it more as judo, using the energy of an opponent’s attack against them.

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I did click the first one. Thanks for the “may possibly might could be NSFW” warning before I looked at a poster with a big swastika and pictures of Black people hanging from nooses. (noosii?)

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Posters like this will make the Republicans feel like they’re under attack, which will make them more engaged and likely to get out and vote. I fear you might be doing more harm than good.

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Might as well make a sign that says, “republicans r racist, amiright?” (Seriously, there’s such a thing as trying waaaay too hard. You need to learn to be subtle)

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I did say I wouldn’t open it up at my own job. Not trying to cause you trouble. Thing is, there is a big swastika in poster 1 because the current leader of the GOP defends neo-Nazis, and the GOP congressional majorities in both houses have very little to say about that. There are people hanging from nooses because the police in America today kill more Americans than terrorists do, more Americans than enemy combatants kill our soldiers. Too often the people killed are unarmed black people. When that is the case, they may as well have been lynched. What’s the difference? I guess there isn’t a crowd of haters shouting epithets while it happens, but the result is the same for the victim. And, have you noticed that the GOP repeatedly rushes to the defense of the police rather than calling for reform? The leader of the GOP has in fact encouraged the police to be *rougher * with suspects, people who presumably have not even been found guilty yet. The root of the problem really isn’t disturbing imagery on your computer screen, it is that such a poster could be put together about one of our major political parties and every element is justified. Maybe if these kinds of reminders were in everyone’s faces, support for these trends would wane.

People seemed to like #2 better. No swastikas, no hanged people, though probably not any safer for work.

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Maybe. But guess what? YOU and ME are under attack. Can you explain the justification for $1 trillion deficits in the current economic climate? Yah, I know the GOP has their cockamamie theories about smaller government at any cost, but c’mon, it should be obvious that the GOP is doing the bidding of the wealthy at the expense of, well, pretty much 99% of the population, including their own supporters. Doesn’t this kind of corruption bother you? Does it not concern you that the American taxpayer, within just 5 years, could be on the hook for $1 trillion in bond interest, paid to the set that can afford $20 trillion in bonds? It is like one of those fantasy stories in which a coven of vampires captures people and imprisons them to suck their blood a little at a time- not enough to kill them- for the purpose of keeping them as a sort of herd of cattle they prey on. Only here in reality, the cattle are to be all of us. May want to make a little more noise, Chronos.

I have co-workers who have said things to the effect of, “If they take my Social Security away, I am going to be on the lawn of the White House throwing molotov cocktails.” Guess what? Taking Social Security away is one of the top goals of the GOP Speaker of the House, and the means to do it have already been passed into law. In these circumstances, are the feelings of Republicans really the top priority? If the “you are definitely a sucker” message reached every GOP voter, well, maybe it would just bounce of their carapaces, but maybe some would question why they are supporting such a general-population hating set of policies and Stop Doing It.

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If I had wanted to make that poster, don’t you think I would have? These posters don’t have quite so simple message. You are wrong to characterize them as calling the GOP out as racist- yes, they leverage racism when it can gain them some support, but the themes here are hatred and corruption. Also, people’s blindness to their own suckerdom.

Trying too hard? Oh, I don’t know. I like Michelle Obama a lot, but I also feel like, “When they go low, we go high” pretty much failed. And now the guys who want to destroy Social Security and Medicare are in power, following through on their mission to screw us all over. If in the future when you are retirement age I spot you in an alley somewhere eating a can of cat food with your bare, grubby fingers, you probably won’t appreciate my pointing out that moral superiority makes for a lousy meal and a nonexistent rent payment, and maybe we all should have tried a little harder when we had the chance. Maybe “When they go low, we kick them in the nuts” should have been given a hearing. We really need to act now, before it is too late. You are waaay too complacent.

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You know there’s a middle ground between “When they go low, we go high” (that was Hilary Clinton, BTW, not Michelle Obama) and ranting and raving, right?

Look up pictures from Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s big rally from a few years ago. People are more likely to pay attention when they think you actually have something rational and interesting to say.

Otherwise, they’ll think you’re just another nutjob.

Or watch Trevor Noah’s takedown of Tomi Lahren.

(Here’s an article explaining why it worked)

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Yes, I know that we’re under attack, which is why I don’t want to unnecessarily weaken our position.

So that’s what we need to be messaging. “Republicans have already passed a bill to kill Social Security and Medicare in the next decade[sup]footnote[/sup]. We need to elect Democrats to the House and Senate, so we can repeal it before it’s too late.” It’s cold and factual enough that it won’t rile up the Republicans against us, but those cold facts are exactly the ones that will swing a lot of voters.