Democratic (Party) Direction

Data for Progress has offered plenty of evidence. I'm not sure the success of moderate/centrist candidates is necessarily a sign that those policies aren't popular - plenty of left candidates have done well, too. Basically it seems to be a good time to not be a republican, for some mysterious reason.

centrists have done well because the anti-trump sentiment is so strong. the question is whether this is a good time to push further. the usual suspects will take their usual positions, we will have the same arguments we have had since forever, and we will do all this again in 10 years. politics is dumb

x-post: A lot of that evidence seems cherry picked, though. At least 65% of California voters support Medicare 4 All, yet Dianne Feinstein is opposed and still seems to be cruising through primaries.

That is not in itself sufficient evidence that people prefer centrist policies. Californians could elucidate more but it seems to me like Feinstein simply has too firm a grip/is twoo well-connected to be dislodged. (Possibly the same deal as Cuomo.)

Machine bosses like Feinstein and Cuomo are not going to be the first to go, no.

I'm not arguing it's unpopular - it should not be, it's great - I just can't see any evidence that it's 'a winner'. So far it doesn't seem to have won anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi6v4CYNSIQ

Fake "Gimme Shelter" score aside, this is a fantastic political ad that could work particularly well in a red state like Texas.

it's good. i saw that cook report has this district as "likely r" so itll be a longshot, but the important thing is a lot of vets from iraq and afghanistan are running as dems bc they know the gop is bad

Very slick, but even after 3.5 minutes of ad I have no idea what she stands for beyond women guards

Well “I got involved because women couldn’t get hired in my field and I found out first have that my tea party incumbent will literally only meet with his personal donors” probably shouldn’t be hand waived away by that meme you like but also her website should maybe include a policy position or two.

*first hand

Protect Families
Families come in all shapes and sizes, with people of all walks of life making wonderful, loving parents. Quality, affordable health care should be a basic right for every family, as should stronger parental leave for both moms and dads. A living minimum wage, job training opportunities, wage equity and supporting our educational system can be achieved without sacrificing small businesses.

I mean it's seems pretty clear at this point.

I'm not trying to hand-wave anything, just that it's a long ad that puts biography above all else. Which, maybe that'll work!

That said, "affordable" health care isn't at all a clear or bold position

Agreed it isn’t clear, but does it need to be bold ?

Personally I like it if you go to the candidate’s website and there is a distinct page/area for the policy positions
and not hidden/interspersed within the home page body.

does it need to be bold?

For me, the Democrats have played to the mushy middle so long and with such mushy results that reaching for "bold" seems like a smart gamble to me atm. It must be carefully framed, but most of all it must be simple, direct, and unmistakable.

"Medicare for all" seems like the simplest, most direct and least radical-sounding frame for the issue. It soothes current Medicare recipients by not threatening their care, references a popular current program most people already know about and accept as worthwhile, and seems like a relatively simple step to take to expand it. The explanation of how to pay for it should be equally simple, direct and popular. A financial transaction tax of a couple of cents per transaction seems best to me and most likely to gain popular momentum.

The party needs to agree to hammer this message home in every national race. Then no one candidate will be out on a limb alone and the chances are better that people would take it seriously as something they get to vote on and then make happen.

I hadn't realized two things: 1. how bold something as simple as 'medicare for all' is in the us political landscape, and 2. how different the ideas of 'affordable health care' and 'medicare for all'. So I thought she meant medicare for all and I thought it was pretty run of the mill. So yeah agreed 100% Aimless.

yeah - "affordable" is mushy enough that it can basically be the Republican promise too - "increased competition for drug prices will make health care affordable" or whatever. see also "affordable housing" which can mean quite a range of approaches, outcomes, and beneficiaries.

the other fave mushy term is "access"

In light of the trend of female veteran democratic candidates I have a slogan--

Democrats 2018: Empowered to Kill

It’d be really nice if we had the think tanks creating policy recommendations that candidates could cite. There are some, but they’re too few and not strong enough yet.

It’s a bigger deal for state legislature races, but saying “here is what I propose and the bill looks like this” with a link to the bullet points of a bill, including what policies it’d affect/modify seems like it’d be bold! Especially if the goal is to introduce a bill or push the party to introduce a bill your first day in office.

This seems too cut and dried, but there’s a stack of legislation that’s nearly identical across many states that has been pushed by Koch-funded groups and their cut-outs get this shit rammed through

Hegar's ad is decent. I feel like anyone saying it's "great" is probably assuming that the military appeal has the potential to win over a lot of republican-leaning voters. That assumption is incorrect and has been proven incorrect over and over for decades, but democratic consultants will not give up on it.

Her platform sounds very Clinton-esque, but she seems like a nice, likeable and down-to-earth person and that always helps. Based on turnout in the GOP vs Dem primary I'd say she's a longshot, as would be any dem even in this wave year.

Like really the swiftboating of John Kerry while he was running against a draft dodger should have been the nail in the coffin, but they just doubled down on it. Remember when everyone thought Trump was finally DONE because he "insulted a gold star family?" Sorry guys, "respect the troops" doesn't actually mean what it says, it means "we don't like insubordinate black people and queer freaks."

Yup. Repubs own the troop respecter vote, regardless of who you run.

It's not a perfect analogy but it reminds me of Republicans who think they can peel off lots of latino votes by running a Cuban candidate from an exiled resort millionaire family.

I still want Tammy Duckworth tho

Pretty much, man alive.

Who among you is willing to see the glorious blinding sun against the backdrop of a blood-drenched sky?

Heart pounding. Adrenaline taken beyond the max limits.

What I see is something else. Do you guys really not follow everything closely, and remember it? Even as it disappears within hours... I can't blame you if you don't catch it fast enough.

We were all born in interesting times. Way beyond this shit. Guess that's fun, right? There's strange fucking shit going on, no different than the history we love to study.

Who said history stopped? They were idiots!

what

What, you think we were spared the "interesting times" of history? Make the most of it, man.

Who said history stopped? They were idiots!

It was some prof in his mid-thirties who instantly became the darling of the Republicans during the first Bush administration. His name mercifully escapes me.

I'm just having a little fun here. But really, things feel fucking weird as shit right now, way beyond this stuff...

be more coherent please

The answer is, too much beer, and too much time on Twitter. I just like throwing joy and adventure to the air, the world's miserable enough, friend.

People take shit way too seriously.

there's a whole world out there just begging for you to impose some fun on it. why us?

No idea. That's the fun of the world, eh? Dunno what the fuck's going on, that's why I'm peacin' out of politics!

Too muuch Twitter is the answer here. Yeesh! Curiosity killed the cat.

https://img00.deviantart.net/a9db/i/2007/015/1/9/shit_zone_by_italianpimp.jpg

I really don't think it's an exaggeration to say @Ocasio2018's primary against Joe Crowley tomorrow has the potential to be as big or bigger as the 2014 Eric Cantor/Dave Brat race that remade the GOP

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) June 26, 2018

Only if she wins though, right? If she doesn’t it’ll be the next one down the line.

Well, if she loses, it'll be a fair sign there's still a ways to go.

What if she loses by a bare margin? The measure of 'how far we have to go' is the margin of victory or loss, as I understand these things.

Pelosi knows the odds are against her. She knows there may be nothing she can do to stop the Democrats from taking control of Congress. But she will keep fighting til the bitter end. pic.twitter.com/UPBXXdZR8C

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) June 26, 2018

The recent This American Life on Jeff Beals' campaign in NY-19 was done well, I thought it was sympathetic and fair to him while also doing a good job of explaining why the current system makes things difficult for candidates like him in ways that go beyond just the whims of the leadership of the party. He's not an AOC in terms of charisma and promise but he seems like a very smart guy and I like his politics.

Hearing that Team @JoeCrowleyNY is taking our campaign posters, affixing them to trees, and then reporting them to @NYCSanitation to fine us.

They are trying to ratchet us into 0k worth of fines.

If you see anyone affixing our posters illegally, STOP THEM and take a photo.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) June 26, 2018

She is kinda full of shit.

You sure about that, Fred?

better than being 100% full of shit like Fred

Here's an Ocasio volunteer personally reporting that there are Crowley flyers in place of all of the Ocasio flyers he hung:

https://www.facebook.com/eric.wimer?hc_ref=ARSQvBNVavymjZft0xliuSeHZVjpneUiAKILALkjSVJovFltO6PdG4Noizp-p3S8aSM&fref=nf

"Already today I’ve had Daniel Dromm lie to voters that Alexandria endorsed domestic abused Hiram Monserratte when there’s video of her saying the opposite, polling sites changed early in the morning, and team Joseph Crowley search for and rip down every poster I got up at 4:30am to tape up, replacing them with their own.

Keep it classy #TeamCrowley"

Megan Devir Did you see this in person..? Beyond disappointing to see someone like Councilmember Dromm endorse Crowley, let alone play dirty this way.
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Eric Wimer
Eric Wimer Sadly not but found mine gone and his in all the places where they were.