To Win Virginia: HOLD the TRAITORS ACCOUNTABLE

[Kid Berwyn]

Great political message because it’s TRUE, Tuesday and beyond. Democrats must make plain our priority: the restoration of JUSTICE by reversing the impacts of GQP insurrection in the Capitol, GQP criminal dereliction of duty, and GQP corruption in office. If we do, if we show WHY it most matters to vote Democratic, we will win Tuesday and next year, too.

[brooklynite]

1. Trump and the January 6 Insurrection are losing campaign issues...

…in a race for Governor of Virginia.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. Compared to what? BBB? CRT? Filibuster reform?

They’re important, but not the same as showing why Democrats are superior: We believe in the Constitution of the United States, the one where no one is above the law.

[Champp]

3. You tell him, Kid

Hold all Republican traitors accountable. Now.

[brooklynite]

4. None of those issues are useful either.

Healthcare IN VIRGINIA
Education IN VIRGINIA
Covid safety IN VIRGINIA
Jobs IN VIRGINIA
Gun violence IN VIRGINIA

You can't nationalize this election.

[Irish_Dem]

14. Does that leave us with racism and white supremacy as the only winning issues?

[brooklynite]

15. I just listed the issues we should be running on in Virginia.

[Irish_Dem]

16. The heading said that none of the issues were useful.

[brooklynite]

17. I said none of THOSE issues (listed in the prior post) were useful.

Compared to what? BBB? CRT? Filibuster reform?

[Kid Berwyn]

29. Education discussion seemed to center on CRT.

Repugs turned the issue into another racist dog whistle. Hard to discuss CRT and the other education issues when they monopolize the conversation.

My main idea is to differentiate McAuliffe and all qualified Democrats as the party for doing good things, as opposed to the self-dealing lowlife NAZI scum the repugs have become under Reagan, Bushes and Trump.

[AZProgressive]

5. Why did I hear about Trump so much from the race?

I also get a lot of emails from Terry and they spent a lot of time trying to portray their opponent as a Trump-like extremist.

[Kid Berwyn]

10. I saw a report sampling recent campaign appearances...

The clips showed our guy mentioning that name more than stating what he’d do. Making the case why he’s better is easy when reminding voters who really has integrity and who needs to be held accountable.

[11 Bravo]

13. HIs opponent IS a Trump-like extremist! He wears a fucking fleece vest ...

smiles sweetly for the camera, and refuses to cop to his anti-choice agenda.

[lagomorph777]

25. That's silly.

However, it is a bit late to bring an issue into the race.

[msongs]

6. the outlook might be much better had not saboteurs hijacked the biden agenda approved by

a 7 million vote majority

[Kid Berwyn]

7. They monopolized the media and the messaging.

The Big Money Behind the Big Lie

Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win at all costs.

By Jane Mayer
The New Yorker, August 2, 2021

Excerpt…

Many experts on democratic governance, however, believe that efforts to upend long-settled election practices are what truly threaten to rip the country apart. Chad Campbell, a Democrat who was the minority leader in the Arizona House of Representatives until 2014, when he left to become a consultant in Phoenix, has been shocked by the state’s anti-democratic turn. For several years, he sat next to Karen Fann when she was a member of the House, and in his view she’s gone from being a traditional Republican lawmaker to being a member of “Trump’s cult of personality.” He said, “I don’t know if she believes it or not, or which would be worse.” Arizona, he added, is in the midst of a “nonviolent overthrow in some ways—it’s subtle, and not in people’s face because it’s not happening with weapons. But it’s still a complete overthrow of democracy. They’re trying to disenfranchise everyone who is not older white guys.”

Arizona is hardly the only place where attacks on the electoral process are under way: a well-funded national movement has been exploiting Trump’s claims of fraud in order to promote alterations to the way that ballots are cast and counted in forty-nine states, eighteen of which have passed new voting laws in the past six months. Republican-dominated legislatures have also stripped secretaries of state and other independent election officials of their power. The chair of Arizona’s Republican Party, Kelli Ward, has referred to the state’s audit as a “domino,” and has expressed hope that it will inspire similar challenges elsewhere.

Ralph Neas has been involved in voting-rights battles since the nineteen-eighties, when, as a Republican, he served as the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. He has overseen a study of the Arizona audit for the nonpartisan Century Foundation, and he told me that, though the audit is a “farce,” it may nonetheless have “extraordinary consequences.” He said, “The Maricopa County audit exposes exactly what the Big Lie is all about. If they come up with an analysis that discredits the 2020 election results in Arizona, it will be replicated in other states, furthering more chaos. That will enable new legislation. Millions of Americans could be disenfranchised, helping Donald Trump to be elected again in 2024. That’s the bottom line. Maricopa County is the prism through which to view everything. It’s not so much about 2020—it’s about 2022 and 2024. This is a coördinated national effort to distort not just what happened in 2020 but to regain the House of Representatives and the Presidency.”

Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and one of the country’s foremost election-law experts, told me, “I’m scared shitless.” Referring to the array of new laws passed by Republican state legislatures since the 2020 election, he said, “It’s not just about voter suppression. What I’m really worried about is election subversion. Election officials are being put in place who will mess with the count.”

Continues…

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/the-big-money-behind-the-big-lie

[msongs]

8. determined to win at all costs vs willing to lose for the good cause nt

[Kid Berwyn]

9. A most uneven playing field.

Not only do they own the stadium and the Red Team, they also make out a check for the referee.

Still, we Fight the Good Fight.

[LymphocyteLover]

11. Yes, it has to be part of our message... but not the only thing

[Kid Berwyn]

18. Agree 100-percent.

There is a night and day difference between us and the pukes. However, the average person is overloaded with propaganda from advertisers and those who can most afford the microphone. And campaigns are pay-to-play, rather than publicly financed and regulated for fairness. We need to revise election law so the media don’t profit as much as cover the issues and candidates’ qualifications.

We’d never lose if the issues and people were made plain.

[LymphocyteLover]

20. indeed... it's hard for us to compete in the advertising and propaganda war

I don't know why our big money donor can't invest in media like the right does...

I know there have been some ventures that failed, not exactly clear why.

[Demsrule86]

12. I do not believe it is a voting issue for the midterms...might be in 24.

[Kid Berwyn]

19. The stink from a treasonous rat rubs off those it touches.

I like to remind people of who Putin supports and how it serves to accomplish what Stalin could not — divide Americans from one another.

[Demsrule86]

22. I just don't think it is a voting issue for most folks who are not hard core like us...they want

an improvement in their lives.

[FSogol]

21. To Win VA: SHOW UP AND VOTE

2020 Presidential race: 79% turnout (registered voters)
2107 Governor's race: 49% turnout (registered voters)

To win, we must show up. There is no way traitors can be held accountable between today and tomorrow and what makes that the job of VA's governor anyway?

[Kid Berwyn]

24. Excellent point. We need to GOTV.

Why the Virginia Governorship and other state offices matters: He or she signs or vetoes legislation. Seeing how GOP is dominated by fascists, it’d behoove America for Democratic office seekers to win elections.

[Hortensis]

23. That's actually not among the top concerns of either .

party’s voters.

Not saying it shouldn’t be. It really should.

But believing it IS is very unrealistic. This is the real world and those are real VA voters.

We’ll get to see what they decide soon.

[Kid Berwyn]

26. It probably is not the winning issue.

However, IMO, making plain which party upholds and defends the Constitution and which party would overturn elections and install fascists would make an impact on voting decisions by independents and might even attract younger voters. Also believe making clear the situation would drive Democratic turnout.

[Hortensis]

30. Yes, but you're missing that it's NOT POSSIBLE to

"make clear which party upholds and defends the constitution..." Etc.

That goes for both RWers who already know who're the good guys and bad and for those LWers who lack the stuff needed to believe in or care enough bestir themselves, even after everything that's happened. The vast majority of us are long baked into position, and a lot more than saying the same old things already said 1000 times would change it.

On the plus side for those inadequately understanding (!) or motivated by the principles of our liberal democracy, millions of people who feeling safe and hopeful about the future (NOT anxiously worrying about happens to them if things keep getting worse) will tend to lose interest in kicking over the national table to save it. This is a proven and (god, let's hope!) possible way to restore stability.

It doesn't require anyone to have ideological epiphanies or develop a civic conscience. As long as significantly more people are discussing which relatives to visit on vacation instead of roiling with fear and resentment as they wonder where they'll go if/when their jobs disappear.

Biden ran on saving the soul of our nation, but no coincidence that the biggest active focus is on restoring confidence in the future through major jobs-creating, climate-fighting, life-improving, hope-restoring, STABLIZING improvements.

Deep breaths as we wait for people to see us getting to it...

[Silent3]

27. If that were going to sway the election, the accountability would have had to start weeks ago

The Sunday two days ago when you posted this was way, way too late for anything to happen in the 1/6 accountability front that would sway this election.

[Kid Berwyn]

28. Likely true.

Just hoping someone would see it and remind Gov. McAuliffe to make the case in the campaign’s closing days.

From my perspective, our party does a poor job of messaging. When Bush and Rove smeared John Kerry as a coward in 2004, for example, we should have hit back and made clear to everyone in the country that it was a libel intended to smear a good man. Shame them publicly for the lowdown cheaters they are and hold them accountable in the courts of law and public opinion.

Perhaps, had we done so, Trump later would not have been in a position to label our candidates as “Pocahontas,” “SleepyCreepy Joe,” “Crazy Bernie” and “Snowman(woman)” Kobuchar. People seldom get past first impressions, especially when constant repetition makes the impression indelible.