Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumHas Trump Rendered the Political Gaffe Obsolete? (5/3/2019)
'Intelligencer writers Ed Kilgore, Benjamin Hart, and Margaret Hartmann discuss whether campaign-trail slipups still matter in 2019.
Ben: The Atlantics Adam Serwer tweeted the following this week: I dont know if this is true but I wonder if Trump has so inured the public to verbal gaffes that Bidens weaknesses in that area are neutralized in a way they wouldnt be against a traditional candidate. Trump says like five things every day worse than the typical Bidenism.
This gets at something I think a lot of people have been wondering: Has President Trumps ascent rendered a lot of candidate behavior that would have once been deemed problematic as forgivable, or maybe not even newsworthy anymore? What has become of the political gaffe?
Margaret: In preparation for this chat, I looked up some of Bidens alleged gaffes.
Ben: I appreciate your research commitment.
Margaret: Most range from meh to kind of endearing when viewed through Trump-weary eyes. What is asking a paraplegic state senator to stand up so everyone can applaud him and quickly realizing the error when you have Trumps infamous mocking of a disabled reporter? So yeah, I think a lot of these things arent even going to register. But as we saw with Hillarys deplorables remark, if just one line catches on, it can make a dent. That was even true of Obama. The theme of the 2012 Republican National Convention was You didnt build that, which was a distortion of the point Obama was making.
Ed: Theres definitely some truth in what Serwer is saying, if only because Trump creates the crucial context for everything in U.S. politics right now. But I think we need to qualify the Nobody cares what Trump says planted axiom here. Democrats and both liberal media and the mainstream media endlessly document and talk about Trumps lies, excesses, high crimes and misdemeanors, etc., etc. Its Trump supporters who dont care, because for the most part they view him as a scourge for lashing their hated enemies. Every time he says or does something outrageous, hes owning the libs, not breaking time-honored norms.
At the moment, though, the main context for judging Joe Biden is the Democratic presidential nominating contest, and Democrats have not abandoned the old norms. So Bidens gaffes may bug them now, even though theyd stop caring in a general-election contest with Trump.
Margaret: Thats true, though I do think Democrats have limited capacity for being outraged, or its hard to get all Democrats to be outraged on the same point, unless were talking Trump.
Ben: Right now, the clear front-runner for the Democratic nomination Biden is someone well known for (among other things) getting off message, committing verbal miscues, and generally being undisciplined on the campaign trail. In 2008, he called Obama clean and articulate on the first day of his campaign, a remark that I think would land with even more of a thud today. But as Ed pointed out, they may view things through an Okay, its not perfect, but the guy can beat Trump lens in a way that contrasts with previous election cycles.
Margaret: Im sure people who already arent big Biden fans are going to latch onto any gaffes, but he already survived the unwanted-touching issue. I think theres the mystique around him, that hes the guy who might be able to beat Trump so we cant care about these comments that might have bothered us a few years ago. It takes a gaffe machine to fight a gaffe machine.'
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/has-trump-rendered-the-political-gaffe-obsolete.html
With Trump in office, do scandals matter anymore? (10/12/2017)
'Plagiarized speeches. Unpaid tax returns. Inflammatory rhetoric captured in an old newspaper clipping.
For decades, political operatives have embarrassed and discredited their opponents through the dark arts known as opposition research, the kind of provocative dirt-digging deemed essential to any winning campaign.
But as the 2018 midterm election begins, strategists from both parties are confronting a new, Donald Trump-affected reality: Revelations that would have once infuriated the public, even scuttled a campaign, now risk being greeted with indifferent shrugs.
The bar for disqualifying candidates is almost invisible at this point, its so high, said Tim Miller, once the executive director to America Rising, a GOP opposition research group. Especially given the fact Donald Trump is president and he committed at least two dozen gaffes and actions that would have crushed any other candidate.
Your old-school gotcha hypocrisy hits on a Senate or House candidate that might have made it onto CNN in 2010, he added, isnt going to break through anymore.
Pinpointing just how much the public attitude toward scandal has changed is, of course, impossible. Even in a political culture perpetually seized by outrage led by a president who only a year ago was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault and whose campaign is now under a grand jury investigation an ill-timed gaffe or startling revelation can still sink some candidacies and end some careers.'
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article178355531.html
Thank you for playing.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
empedocles
(15,751 posts)History has its benefits.
reaganhood, who robbed from the poor, to give to the rich . . . also
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Cha
(297,655 posts)I wouldn't call #45Impeached's diarrhea of the mouth "gaffes".. stupid utterings coming from the 666th circle of hell is more descriptive.. and in addition he's a treasonous ugly troll.
Fascinating graphic, Scurrilous.. Mahalo for the articles!
You're Welcome
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)The graphic is just randomness.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(297,655 posts)it fits.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)Someone started the recent spree with an apology request for Biden. And I can remember when we stopped doing that. Apologizing for every little thing to the delight and glee of the GOP.
I Apologize For This Article
'Of course, weve come a long way since thenso far that the original meaning of apology seems buried in antiquity. Even so, theres some evidence that Americans dont necessarily want of their politicians what they expect of themselves. Law professor Cass Sunstein polled several hundred people on four scenarios involving a public official who apologized for a former position, statement, or behavior. In each case, the percentage of people that were less likely to support the figure after the apology was greater than the percentage that was more likely. One reason, Sunstein suggests, is that an apology is like a confession. It makes wrongdoing more salient. Voters might also question how much of a leader someone is who keeps recanting previous positions because theyre no longer popular within his or her party. And, of course, this might explain why many voters support Donald Trump, who, as the Los Angeles Times points out, is loath to apologize.'
https://www.city-journal.org/apology-culture
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(297,655 posts)I think to apologize is a sign of strength.. learn from it and just move on.
Work on not doing anything you have to apologize for.. But not for something that is part of a smear campaign.. that is someone else's idea of what you should apologize for
Of course sociopathic hell creatures don't apologize.. but who wants to be them?
Did that make sense? It's late here and I really should be dreaming now.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
rampartc
(5,435 posts)biden is not.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)When you have a President who tweets insults daily, who insults people at his rallies, whose uncouth vulgar actions from before he became President are well known, and who lies nonstop, the bar for outrage is raised. The public has become inured. If you're going to come at someone, it better be spectacular. Gotcha ain't what it used to be.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
rampartc
(5,435 posts)there is no "bar" too low for hum.
that does not apply to ant democrat, as we are about to learn, again.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
blm
(113,091 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
thesquanderer
(11,992 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
BusyBeingBest
(8,059 posts)and his cult zombies would cheer that he's owning the libs. But I don't think the political gaffe is obsolete for anyone else. Might be less important now, and that would be a good thing.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided