Democrats Do Not Spend Enough Time Attacking Republicans - Sorry

[DanieRains]

Almost all Republicans are literally sabotaging America, to hurt Biden.

Just like they did Obama.

Sabotage.

Someone just say it please.

I will say it.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. This seems true to me too. I don't know if it is our nature to not attack our fellow person,

but sometimes I wish that we see a little more push back, as you say.

[Lunabell]

2. They bring flowers to a gun fight.

They don't even bring knives. It's frustrating.

[Demovictory9]

53. flowers with the thorns carefully removed

[whathehell]

3. True. They need to go on offense.

It's long overdue.

[certainot]

37. WE need to go on offense. we let 1500 radio stations take free potshots at our reps and ideas and

have response except to repeat their talking points about it being part of the free speech spectrum and what people want to hear....

it's s a protected monopoly that repeats lies to 50 mil a week and democrats have NO response

we even let 87 + universities support 260+ xLimbaugh stations - while they deny global warming and covid, excuse racism, and are now close to overturning Roe

every advertiser, ad co, university, and pro sports owners using RW radio should be targets for boycotts and protests that would be real offense aimed at the cons and at the kremlin, which has been feeding those radio stations too. it would move the country 10 pts left, make a lot of real reform finally possible, and pull the rug out from under cons like manchin who are enabled by those lie-based constituencies.

there is no way repubs could take back congress, senate if dems finally stop ignoring rw radio.

[whathehell]

54. I agree completely,

and you sound like you know what you're talking about, but when I made a case about matching the Repubs in radio time, a DUer here told me that "no one listens radio anymore"
Being an older Boomer, I didn't feel like I could argue with him, as I thought he might know more than me about what "kids today" were up to. That said,
I'm happy to hear your information. .

[certainot]

57. RW radio is well defended - with ignorance and trolling and 30 years

of talking points suggesting a few hundred racist asshole liars hiding behind call screeners and following a dipshit blowhard lung cancer victim who told millions for most of 30 years that smoking doesn't cause cancer are what 95% of Americans want to listen to

couple years ago a team at MIT prototyped using AI to automatically record, transcribe, and analyze billions of words from a bunch of talk radio stations. the UN did something similar in Uganda.

between the Dem party, media orgs, progressive orgs the lack of an effort to expand that to RW radio is truly and epically idiotic

[whathehell]

65. I understand your anger

but, no,.I don't believe "95% of Americans want to.listen" to that garbage..Were the percentage even nearly that great, we'd never have won the election.

[certainot]

66. it's basically a 20-1 monopoly and i've argued with a lot of Democrats who actually believe

it reflects the 'market demand' for the racism, sexism, lies, selfishness, cruelty and ignorance. that is the rw talking point sold for 30 years, as if the vast majority of americans, if given a choice, would choose that over truth, facts, and wisdom.

authoritarians do fear uncertainty and desire certainty more than liberals and the sex on the wrong brain theory of that being a heritable mostly old world mental disorder explains the appeal of limbaugh trump putin et al - as projectors of royal i'm-never-wrong certitude - and that would explain a fair bit of rw radio/limbaugh's appeal. but in this case it's also lot of people out there driving and working and doing chores and having no free easy alts when they want some politics and current events before going home to battle the family for the remote. they've been hearing a lot of clinton, obama, biden, dem, 'big govt', liberal hate and lies and it pushes MSM media in general a lot further than if progressive leaders and groups finally stopped giving rw radio a free speech free ride. there is a huge opportunity for game changing offense, especially now with global warming and assholes like trump, putin, and manchin.

[Budi]

4. Media shut that whole thing down in 2015.

Lemme know when Democrats are given that unbridled voice we deserve.

"Money & Media" rules the day.
Their agenda isn't our agenda.

Who hasn't noticed that??
Can't believe it even has to be said anymore.
🙄

[DanieRains]

5. But Democrats Need To Be Pounding The Republican Traitors Every Time They Are Interviewed

And they don't.

They think reasonableness will win mid-terms?

Gimmee a break.

Raw emotion is the only thing that counts.

I would walk 1,000 miles through burning forest fires to vote against republicans. Now we need 250 million more Americans to feel the same way.

[Budi]

6. Really? They don't? I hear it from our Dems every day.

Unfortunately we have to go to their source to read it.

Because you'll never see or hear it in MSM.
I honestly can't believe this has to be repeated.
Damned near everyday we're told of the Dems bringing a plush toy to a gunfight.

Lemme know when Media makes that shift from zip their lips, to telling the truth.

The only time Dem leaders' name is allowed spoken is a LBN pissy content driven negative Headline.

Democrats will have to buy their own network if we're ever to be allowed to be heard on the News Network.

[hadEnuf]

30. So why aren't we buying our own network then?

Seriously. That's the way it's been set up since the Fairness Doctrine was eliminated and Media Deregulation happened. We keep trying to piggyback on what is basically now a hostile right wing owned media to get our message out and they do nothing but stab us in the back and make fools out of us. It's really ludicrous to rely on the corporate conservative media for anything when you think about it.

Unless a policy for "media integrity" or something is enacted, which is a fantasy at this point, we will continue to have everything we say and do twisted into some sinister plan to steal patriotic American's freedoms. I'm actually surprised that Fox News hasn't started doing voiceovers when Democrats speak publicly so they can actually put words in their mouths.

[Budi]

34. We don't have access to billions in foreign corporate Media

Social media bots don't come cheap either!
Bot farms & voter data is the hottest commodity going as election year approaches.

Mass-messaging doesn't move itself, ya know.

[certainot]

41. rw radio is more responsible than any other medium - because dems ignore it

for fox and social media there are alts a click away, they are part of the free speech spectrum - rw radio is not. it its basically FREE for them.

30 yrs of that unchallenged repetition is what fox and the internet and social media trolling depend on. Q-anon piggybacked 10 months of 'liberal deep state' bullshit on 1500 radio stations. limbaugh and sons pounded that since 2017 inauguration and Q-anon first showed up in Nov 2017. the russians have been using and piggybacking rw radio since at least 2008 when limbaugh was used to force palin on mccain.

not only has ignoring rw radio been the biggest political mistake in history, it is extremely vulnerable and offers a game changing opportunity to destroy the GOP and russian influence. it could not survive if artificial intelligence was now used, like MIT researchers prototyped, to digitize and analyze large amounts of rw radio for patterns, lies, etc. media and political analysts would finally factor it in and few advertisers would use it.

[Budi]

46. Geezus yes. I recall when rural was a blue balance.

I believe back in the 60's when the RW extremist & Koch founded John Birch Society was sent underground, they splintered off into white supremist cells & re-emerged by keeping it local.
AM Radio, organizing at local levels & growing their following away from the eyes of mainstream, was a long game that worked for them.

AM Radio certainly has had a BIG contribuion to America's demise.

[iemanja]

38. Dems have the presidency as a bully pulpit

and the daily press briefings.

[Budi]

42. Which are all over Social media but get a blip on TV if they're lucky, followed by...

...being picked apart & spit out like road kill on a scorching one way highway.

Its not that Dems don't say enough, its what media does with it once it's said.

"Biden's a bowl of shit"
"Kamala's a mere seat filler"~quote
And MSM reinforces that intentional degrading chant every chance they get.

Not until MSM is buried with their contribution to the demise of this nation, will it ever be changed.

An expanded Fairness Doctrine was a promise by HRC, 2016. In fact she was the only candidatee vowing to enforce it.
Guess the Billion $$$ Corporate Global MEDIA sure saw to it that THAT was never going to hamper their future profits. Huh!

[BeyondGeography]

8. Weak

Get back to me when Biden and Pelosi start referring to Republicans as the traitors from across the aisle. Or are you saying the media wouldn’t cover that?

[Budi]

10. Mediia will cover it for a headline, followed by a week of slamming them for driving division,..

..followed by mulit-quotes from on air hosts using it to spin it as a Breaking News piece.

You know they aren't going to let this opportunity go by without their usual rallying viewers, #'s, & ratings by turning such statements by Biden or Pelosi into a barroom brawl between warring factions.

That's been Media's M.O. since 2015, for cripe sake.
MONEY & MEDIA!! ffs. What else would we expect from a Global Billion $$ Corporate Media Business?
They are a profit-driven content performance based Corporation. And their agenda isn't playing fair & equal.

[BeyondGeography]

14. In other words, we'd back down

Since when did the Republicans care about media criticism? It’s a badge of honor for them. We play by a different set of rules. We’ve become the janitorial party, cleaning up Republican messes and then shown the door as soon as the worst of it is over. And this time our parting favors will include rolling the clock back on voting rights and women’s rights.

You’d think we’d learn some new tricks by now.

[Budi]

22. What new 'tricks'?

I haven't heard the MSM give voice to Dems criticism of Repubs without a counter point for a LONG LONG time.

[OrangeJoe]

31. Got that right

I was talking to my wife and sister in law about those idiotic Christmas cards sent by Republicans glorifying guns. Mentioned that the media and Republicans would be repeatedly attacking Democrats (imagine the Ilhan Omar clan posing with guns) if they did something like this. They just said, "Oh we can't stoop to their level and play their game."

The problem with Democrats is that too many of them think everybody sees the world like they do, that people respond rationally and support policies that advance their own interests, that the deplorables would come around if they knew the facts, that we must not ever offend anybody, etc.

The fight in elections is for that squishy middle 1/3 of the country. The left is going to stick with us no matter what, the right is going to oppose us, so we have to dumb down and beef up the message to bring those undecideds into the fold. Patiently explaining that the Build Back Better has lots of goodies in it for them gets us nowhere. This crowd is too stupid and disengaged to understand legislative facts. We've got to hit them in the emotions.

Run ads highlighting prominent anti-vaxxers who croaked side by side with clips of Republicans downplaying the virus. Show video of the attack on Jan 6th with quotes from Rs calling them peaceful. Highlight how much money certain politicians saved with the tax cuts. Get tough.

[BeyondGeography]

35. To quote Steve Schmidt

“No one ever votes as a thank you for the things they just received.”

[progressoid]

18. Since 2015?

Since long before that.

Democrats need to stop playing by last century's rules.

I was just in a zoom meeting with local/state party leaders and everyone agrees that we are getting slammed by the right in the media and social media. They are winning this game. It's time to stop pussy-footing around and hit back hard.

[tirebiter]

7. In the words of Doc Holliday to Johnny Ringo

In Pace Requiescat.

[Hoyt]

9. Not sure bashing them over the past really helps us. Now, attacking them for opposing

current legislative efforts could be productive.

[Budi]

12. K & R

Media's not going to do us any favors. The value of their Dem leaadership worth will be the result of legislative policy change they hammer away at, while media mob chatters hard against them from the sidelines.


Media will never give Dems the value of their worth to this country.

[Budi]

24. MSM won't allow that if it casts RW in a negative light.

Never.

[Qutzupalotl]

11. Outrage is contagious.

Don’t just say the other side did something wrong. Get mad.

People who don’t follow politics much will take notice. Even if they don’t have context to follow the substance, they will hear the emotion in your voice and your words.

They’re destroying democracy. They’re rigging elections so our votes don’t count. If we say it calmly, people think we must be lying, because a normal person would have their hair on fire.

[Budi]

13. We said it loud as we could in 2016. Warned of the possible fated outcome.

Media ran over those words of warning like a dozer.
Who all jumped on that MEDIA driven train & rode it till the end?
Who bought every word of that 24/7 year long Media promo ad campaign for Democracy's Destruction?

Democracy was in solid standing when Obama left Office. Who didn't hear the alarm blaring throughout 2016?
And why the fk didn't they?

[Qutzupalotl]

29. Media wanted the tax cuts Trump promised.

But I’m not talking about the past. In general, we should show our anger at what the other side is doing.

On edit: By “we,” I mean the face of our party, elected Democrats and talking heads, not rank and file voters.

[Budi]

39. Media is in it for profit. They don't give 2 shits about Democrats nor Democracy.

They are driven by profits which exist in bullshit artists & activists shouting at each other like a sunday NFL game.

[Qutzupalotl]

48. Yes, Trump's tax cuts meant profits for them

due to their upper tax brackets.

[Budi]

49. Yup. Bottom line comes 1st & last.

[DownriverDem]

15. Does anyone know

why they don't attack more?

[groundloop]

36. IMO - Too busy running the country & fixing what GQP broke.

But hell, I totally agree that our side needs to spend much more time on offense if we don't want to allow the GQP to break the country even worse.

[Harker]

16. Eloi and Morlocks. n/t

[Harker]

45. Until they fight back. n/t

[BaronChocula]

17. Exactly!

Political messaging works by repeating what you want everyone to believe e.g. "Republicans are in a death spiral" but for some reason, Democrats have decided "messaging isn't what we do."

[LenaBaby61]

28. THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[brooklynite]

19. And what will your saying it accomplish.

I've share my concerns about message with the DNC and elected officials. Sharing it with people who agree with you on a blog won't accomplish much.

[Grasswire2]

56. what was the result of your meeting with DNC on messaging?

Did I miss a report of that?

[Cryptoad]

20. I gotta have a little sleep everyday or so......

[SunImp]

21. We really should do more of that instead of fighting each other

We should criticize others in our party from time to time so we don't end up like ass kissing Lindseys, but some with lots of emotional baggage feel the need to do it daily
and even take their bitterness to appreciation threads

[Budi]

23. We SHOULD maybe lay the blame right where it belongs. On our Corporate MEDIA.

When have they ever given voice to Democrats without spinking it backwards?

I'll wait....

[SunImp]

33. The media does play a big part in preventing Liberal voices from really being heard

but so do our leaders because of the established ways of doing things they feel the need to tone down their attacks to appear diplomatic. The Republicans unfortunately don't care about tradition or playing nice. We really can't do much about then or media, but we can focus on working together here and fight off constant conservative propaganda through organizing, brainstorming solutions, and keeping our moral strong against these attacks.

[Initech]

25. Screw taking the high road!

It hasn't worked before and it won't work again. It's time to start playing hardball with these assholes. They openly committed treason against the US, nearly got away with it, and now are about to install puppets who participated in said act of treason. When they go low, we need to go even lower. Time to hit them where it hurts.

[LenaBaby61]

26. THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[TheRealNorth]

27. Like I have said before

Every Democrat should be prepared with a line to smack down Republicans anytime a camera is stuck in their face.

[NewHendoLib]

32. It simply is not in our nature to attack. We misguidedly feel logic, reason and facts do the trick.

Silly us. How often do we have to get the shit kicked out of us to actually learn that today's game is different - and we are losing big time.

[Grasswire2]

40. DU member and MESSAGING EXPERT Thom Hartmann provides advice.

Months ago, he wrote that the most powerful word Dems can use against MAGATS and REPUBLICANS is

CORRUPTION.

Call them CORRUPT every time you mention them.

Label them with it, with repetition and urgency.

Why? People understand the term. And they despise the practice.

And it's a truth.

[Budi]

43. He's part of the problem we are where we are today

I have zero respect nor use for his messaging expertice.
He dropped that ball when it was all on the line.

Others may see it as they wish.

I certainly don't have to agree.

[Grasswire2]

51. didn't need to comment, either

I thought there was a rule against dissing other DU members.

[herding cats]

59. Not if they're a public figure like he is.

People are allowed their opinions on him and his history. He can manage it how he chooses. It's his career after all. He's not an average member and having staff post your screeds here is a horse of a different color than an average person making comments or posting their thoughts not for profit.

[Grasswire2]

60. I'm sorry?

Are you saying that Thom Hartmann has his "staff" post his articles here?

Dayum.

How would he profit, first? One only "pays" such a writer by subscribing to his/her substack or podcast these days.

And how would an unaffiliated writer afford staff?

Scratching my head.

You do know that people like him earn about $5 a month from each subscriber. It's hardly worth paying someone to go scrounging for chicken feed.

Ridiculous.

[Budi]

61. Rofl You mean Russia Today didn't pay him ?

[scarytomcat]

50. time to get the truth out

tired of being lied about

[Demovictory9]

52. dems don't go for blood

[whathehell]

55. They will need to..I once heard it said, "We have politics instead of war"

I think Dems need a sharper sense of that.

[betsuni]

58. But then they're accused of making excuses, being too partisan, divisive, being only the

"We're not as bad as Republicans" party.

[DemocraticPatriot]

62. Republicans have proven themselves to be completely unfit to hold public office,

or any other positions of public trust, from the US presidency all the way down to township trustee...

Their response to the covid crisis, which amounts to an alliance with the deadly disease, and their response to their 2020 election loss, which has now become a clear effort to steal all future elections, has proven their unfitness to serve beyond all doubt.

Republicans are simply criminal. Their party ought to be condemned as a terrorist organization, and outlawed.

[taxi]

63. So let me get this straight.

We should be more like the manly Republicans. The manly Republicans who beat up anyone they think of as a sissy? I don't get it. How can anyone think it shows more strength to bully the weak than it does to face the strong?

Can a maga open his mouth to tell his followers they are weaker than their opponent? No, that's why he goes after the weak.

We don't need to attack them.
They are fine.
Their followers are the ones who must attack them.

[MissMillie]

64. What you say is true

But I think a re-framing is in order. The GOP vs. Dem is getting really old to a lot of people.

GOP policies are BAD for American (and therefore America). These policies create a small number of "haves" and a tremendous amount of "have-nots." That scenario is bad for both economic growth and stability and it's bad for democracy.

I think we need to hammer it home that "trickle-down" is a fantasy, and that the ruling class is happy to keep us poor, dependent, and voiceless.