The ONLY things Republicans have left to run on is BS culture war crap and lies and Democrats need to state that unequivocally. Their policies as far as they have them are hugely unpopular. Ignoring the lies and hatred or taking the high road is just not an option.
Call a lie a lie, not “nor true” or a “falsehood”, a lie. And usually they’re pretty stupid lies. Like the anti Talarico ad, it’s obviously a lie, they think you’re stupid and it’s creepy that they always want to talk about children’s genitalia.
No one is coming to help Dems make facts or the truth matter again. They need to confront Republicans and their henchmen head on. They should also be confronting the medias right wing bias head in but I digress.
The Democrats have never learned to fight like gladiators against the GOP raging bulls, but always react in a restrained and controlled anger. They are too "gentlemanly" and don't seem to have the heart, the will, or the killer-instinct to counterattack
Talarico is going to lose no matter what he does, because it’s TX, so he might as well use the opportunity to get the message out to the broader public about what the GOP has become. Notable that both you and Waldman wrote very similar columns today about how Dems need to fight back to start changing the perception of them as weak (I agree!).
How about AI images that show Paxton doing some of the gross things we know he did. Cheating on his wife, taking bribes or whatever. Not quite a lie to show images of things we know to be true but cant get images of.
Taking the high road and ignoring these disgusting attacks leaves a vacuum, which the Republicans rush to fill with the same repeated lies or more, different lies. And we all know that lies repeated over and over become truth. I think Democrats should use AI in Texas to show the truth about Paxton AND to call out the lies they’ve made about Talarico. Traditional attack ads don’t work because they’re “old style” politics. Fight fire with fire or at least with water. The worst thing Dems can do is ignore the lies. People decide their views emotionally and facts won’t change their minds. So counter with the fact that they lie and show how corrupt and part of the rot Paxton is.
Under the covers, the fight is between mind and emotions. Neither can win against the other, as they don't use the same "language."
The left has always been intellectual and nuanced, which communicates well with the mind.
Ideas are also from the mind.
As long as the right was discussing ideas and values, and reaching consensus, emotions were ignored, and emotion-based people felt dissed.
The current republican party is operating entirely from emotion, and these emotion-based people love it, connect with it, and feel empowered. Ideas and logos can't counter this approach.
The left must find a way to connect ideas to emotion. There's no other way, IMO, to stop this juggernaut.
A lifetime ago, decades, I went to a conference that was primarily filled with a lot of public defenders. For 3 days I wanted to be anywhere else. Rooms full of people with whom I shared similar ethics, but all of them had to be taught how to communicate on an emotional level. That is the same problem the democrats have, maybe we need a training program. I had forgotten/suppressed that experience until your comment. By the end of day 1, I wanted to leave, and by the end of day 2, I pretty much despised everyone there - hardcore visceral emotional response to their proximity to me at that point. I bet this is exactly the feeling that many republicans get when listening to many of our candidates. It is very difficult to work backwards from that day 2 emotion, so we had better pick different candidates or send them to training before they step on a stage.
Firstly, did it ever occur to you that those people spoke the way they did because given their job they could not be "emotional" day in and day out, least of all with each other? That the lack of it was an unwritten rule between them or in fact, unnecessary? They didn't have to convey certain ideas because everyone already knew and felt them too much?
Secondly, much of what you are speaking about isn't in fact authentic emotional speech, it is performative--and speaks to who gets cared about and how, a series of pantomimes, we all must care about--and if you are not the kind of person to get cast then your emotional expression isn't real.
Other people's pain and emotional expression gets treated a fake or phony, black people play the racism card, women cry rape when they just regret sex and most egregiously parents of murdered children were told that in fact those kids were just crisis actors.
That's not being better at emotional communication, that's not caring about others. Or truth. Or beauty. Or anything of emotional resonance.
Or to put it another way, you can't tell me you are better at communicating emotionally when you say that a kindergartner has to live in a fortress and do military style drills, so that you have the freedom to buy guns on a whim. That's not an emotional appeal. That's about power.
That is what they communicate and everyone even people like you pretend that in fact they are powerless, sentimentalists who just don't understand the eggheads. BS. BS. BS.
Ok so what did you actually mean then? Did you object to their discussing strategies and tactics to winning cases, or handling problems that came up in an intellectual way (which in fact does include my point)? In a work related conference?
And why do you think Republicans don't do this? Even on the political level they are pretty cold when it comes to other peoples lives. There is no emotional appeal let's say to what happens the ruined lives of women forced to give birth. Or the children killed in school shootings because of gun rights.
Or really any issue in which they get credit for being "emotional communicators". They aren't. They are performative communicators.
Along these lines, please see Paul Waldman’s post on Substack today , “They Think You’re Stupid.” Makes similar points about how Democrats spend no time defining Republicans (to be clear, the party and the policies, not the voters). They don’t have to get in the gutter to do it - just tell the truth. So hard for them, it seems.
And the press conveniently goes along with the strategy of flooding the zone with shit. Democrats have to contend not only with GOP lies, but also the entire media apparatus that repeats them unquestioningly.
Everyone has the answer to deal with this problem but they are fundamentally dishonest about the problem. If Talarico responded he would only elevate the conversation and get it repeated and stuck in people's minds. And when Dems step away from being careful they are slammed--forever.
Hillary and deplorables anyone. Never mind by saying only half of Trump supporters of the time were there for one of about 5-6 isms, she'd grossly, grossly underestimated the amount but she's yet to live it down.
When Biden called people spouting Nazi and white supremest ideology at a Madison Sq. Garden trash, the press went nuts on him.
When Obama said you can keep your doctor, instead of explaining the very detailed, complicated exceptions in which you can't, he was called a liar. When the republicans said Obama care had death panels they were not called liars.
And if any Dem actually calls something racist, homophobic, sexist etc. well then they are "relying on identity politics" and being too woke. Endlessly we are told we just have to return to our Blue Collar roots and deal with economic issues but the moment we get a President that does just that---somehow something else is important.
There is no way Talarico can have a winning strategy against this attack in this climate. It is up to the Press to deal the death blow and they won't.
Well said Brian. There must also be a way to begin mocking right wing media for their part in repeating and amplifying a vague hatred for democrats, without having to literally co-sign the lies.
What we’re seeing is a bit more complicated - sneer and smear by surrogates. The attacks are launched by what are ostensibly 3rd parties, often otherwise respected people. It means they can get down in the mud to dirty up the Democrat without getting it splashed on their candidate. The answer to that is fighting fire with fire. Democrats need dark money PACs too, to attack Republican candidates in explicitly personal, lizard brain terms too. And, those surrogates must be attacked. Name the funders and planners. In an alley fight, kicking the opponent when they’re down is required. The Marquis de Queensbury should not be our guide.
Just treat bullies, no matter how they are smearing you, like bullies. Fight back hard. Dems have built in, easy-as-you-go opportunities to stick it to the Republicans: Many members of the administration are headliners in the Epstein files, they have ALWAYS wanted to end Social Security, Medicare, and ANY benefits for working families, all the attacks on science and dealing with global warming, reproductive rights, I could go on! They can start with this piece of trash by Stephen Miller blaming poor people for driving up the debt with their "fraudulent" activities. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LT2CrmH0nos Cut it, edit, and send it out with testimony from white folks in Mississippi. Bingo!
Personally, I like reading Will Sommer at the Bulwark for the ethnography of the right wing stuff. I read Beutler for Beutler stuff!
The ONLY things Republicans have left to run on is BS culture war crap and lies and Democrats need to state that unequivocally. Their policies as far as they have them are hugely unpopular. Ignoring the lies and hatred or taking the high road is just not an option.
Call a lie a lie, not “nor true” or a “falsehood”, a lie. And usually they’re pretty stupid lies. Like the anti Talarico ad, it’s obviously a lie, they think you’re stupid and it’s creepy that they always want to talk about children’s genitalia.
No one is coming to help Dems make facts or the truth matter again. They need to confront Republicans and their henchmen head on. They should also be confronting the medias right wing bias head in but I digress.
Or even worse, say it’s “unsupported” or “without evidence”!
For some reason, the Democrats cage their word rather than, as you wrote, call a lie a lie. Yell, scream, make noise rather than remaining muted.
The Democrats have never learned to fight like gladiators against the GOP raging bulls, but always react in a restrained and controlled anger. They are too "gentlemanly" and don't seem to have the heart, the will, or the killer-instinct to counterattack
Thank you.
Jasmine Crocket did a great job defining MTG..."bleach blonde, bad-built, butch body".
Wouldn't she be a great communicator helping Talarico get elected? I suspect she will be a team player, and Paxton gives her so much material.
Republican rhetoric is powerful. People still believe in welfare queens driving around in Cadillacs.
It is because they tend to repeat a lot of their little ‘sound bites’ party wide and often, which is then parroted by a majority of the media.
If people hear something often enough and without much pushback it’s going to stick.
Even though Bill Clinton sent the Cadillac driving welfare queens back to work!
Talarico is going to lose no matter what he does, because it’s TX, so he might as well use the opportunity to get the message out to the broader public about what the GOP has become. Notable that both you and Waldman wrote very similar columns today about how Dems need to fight back to start changing the perception of them as weak (I agree!).
Texas can go fuck itself. Nazi clowns.
How about AI images that show Paxton doing some of the gross things we know he did. Cheating on his wife, taking bribes or whatever. Not quite a lie to show images of things we know to be true but cant get images of.
Show the known knowns. Convince voters that unknown unknowns are ready to be exposed.
Taking the high road and ignoring these disgusting attacks leaves a vacuum, which the Republicans rush to fill with the same repeated lies or more, different lies. And we all know that lies repeated over and over become truth. I think Democrats should use AI in Texas to show the truth about Paxton AND to call out the lies they’ve made about Talarico. Traditional attack ads don’t work because they’re “old style” politics. Fight fire with fire or at least with water. The worst thing Dems can do is ignore the lies. People decide their views emotionally and facts won’t change their minds. So counter with the fact that they lie and show how corrupt and part of the rot Paxton is.
Under the covers, the fight is between mind and emotions. Neither can win against the other, as they don't use the same "language."
The left has always been intellectual and nuanced, which communicates well with the mind.
Ideas are also from the mind.
As long as the right was discussing ideas and values, and reaching consensus, emotions were ignored, and emotion-based people felt dissed.
The current republican party is operating entirely from emotion, and these emotion-based people love it, connect with it, and feel empowered. Ideas and logos can't counter this approach.
The left must find a way to connect ideas to emotion. There's no other way, IMO, to stop this juggernaut.
A lifetime ago, decades, I went to a conference that was primarily filled with a lot of public defenders. For 3 days I wanted to be anywhere else. Rooms full of people with whom I shared similar ethics, but all of them had to be taught how to communicate on an emotional level. That is the same problem the democrats have, maybe we need a training program. I had forgotten/suppressed that experience until your comment. By the end of day 1, I wanted to leave, and by the end of day 2, I pretty much despised everyone there - hardcore visceral emotional response to their proximity to me at that point. I bet this is exactly the feeling that many republicans get when listening to many of our candidates. It is very difficult to work backwards from that day 2 emotion, so we had better pick different candidates or send them to training before they step on a stage.
Firstly, did it ever occur to you that those people spoke the way they did because given their job they could not be "emotional" day in and day out, least of all with each other? That the lack of it was an unwritten rule between them or in fact, unnecessary? They didn't have to convey certain ideas because everyone already knew and felt them too much?
Secondly, much of what you are speaking about isn't in fact authentic emotional speech, it is performative--and speaks to who gets cared about and how, a series of pantomimes, we all must care about--and if you are not the kind of person to get cast then your emotional expression isn't real.
Other people's pain and emotional expression gets treated a fake or phony, black people play the racism card, women cry rape when they just regret sex and most egregiously parents of murdered children were told that in fact those kids were just crisis actors.
That's not being better at emotional communication, that's not caring about others. Or truth. Or beauty. Or anything of emotional resonance.
Or to put it another way, you can't tell me you are better at communicating emotionally when you say that a kindergartner has to live in a fortress and do military style drills, so that you have the freedom to buy guns on a whim. That's not an emotional appeal. That's about power.
That is what they communicate and everyone even people like you pretend that in fact they are powerless, sentimentalists who just don't understand the eggheads. BS. BS. BS.
No it did not occur to me because that was not even close to the issue.
Ok so what did you actually mean then? Did you object to their discussing strategies and tactics to winning cases, or handling problems that came up in an intellectual way (which in fact does include my point)? In a work related conference?
And why do you think Republicans don't do this? Even on the political level they are pretty cold when it comes to other peoples lives. There is no emotional appeal let's say to what happens the ruined lives of women forced to give birth. Or the children killed in school shootings because of gun rights.
Or really any issue in which they get credit for being "emotional communicators". They aren't. They are performative communicators.
Along these lines, please see Paul Waldman’s post on Substack today , “They Think You’re Stupid.” Makes similar points about how Democrats spend no time defining Republicans (to be clear, the party and the policies, not the voters). They don’t have to get in the gutter to do it - just tell the truth. So hard for them, it seems.
And the press conveniently goes along with the strategy of flooding the zone with shit. Democrats have to contend not only with GOP lies, but also the entire media apparatus that repeats them unquestioningly.
Everyone has the answer to deal with this problem but they are fundamentally dishonest about the problem. If Talarico responded he would only elevate the conversation and get it repeated and stuck in people's minds. And when Dems step away from being careful they are slammed--forever.
Hillary and deplorables anyone. Never mind by saying only half of Trump supporters of the time were there for one of about 5-6 isms, she'd grossly, grossly underestimated the amount but she's yet to live it down.
When Biden called people spouting Nazi and white supremest ideology at a Madison Sq. Garden trash, the press went nuts on him.
When Obama said you can keep your doctor, instead of explaining the very detailed, complicated exceptions in which you can't, he was called a liar. When the republicans said Obama care had death panels they were not called liars.
And if any Dem actually calls something racist, homophobic, sexist etc. well then they are "relying on identity politics" and being too woke. Endlessly we are told we just have to return to our Blue Collar roots and deal with economic issues but the moment we get a President that does just that---somehow something else is important.
There is no way Talarico can have a winning strategy against this attack in this climate. It is up to the Press to deal the death blow and they won't.
The press lost its credibility eons ago.
The Dems should emulate National Enquirer techniques. Innuendo, and then....
Well said Brian. There must also be a way to begin mocking right wing media for their part in repeating and amplifying a vague hatred for democrats, without having to literally co-sign the lies.
What we’re seeing is a bit more complicated - sneer and smear by surrogates. The attacks are launched by what are ostensibly 3rd parties, often otherwise respected people. It means they can get down in the mud to dirty up the Democrat without getting it splashed on their candidate. The answer to that is fighting fire with fire. Democrats need dark money PACs too, to attack Republican candidates in explicitly personal, lizard brain terms too. And, those surrogates must be attacked. Name the funders and planners. In an alley fight, kicking the opponent when they’re down is required. The Marquis de Queensbury should not be our guide.
Just treat bullies, no matter how they are smearing you, like bullies. Fight back hard. Dems have built in, easy-as-you-go opportunities to stick it to the Republicans: Many members of the administration are headliners in the Epstein files, they have ALWAYS wanted to end Social Security, Medicare, and ANY benefits for working families, all the attacks on science and dealing with global warming, reproductive rights, I could go on! They can start with this piece of trash by Stephen Miller blaming poor people for driving up the debt with their "fraudulent" activities. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LT2CrmH0nos Cut it, edit, and send it out with testimony from white folks in Mississippi. Bingo!
If a republican is breathing they are lying and punching down. Degenerates.