Absolutely. It infuriates me that the Dems were so asleep during the talk radio takeover of the 90s and media conglomeration.

I don’t know how that’s recoverable

Didn’t say I was pleased about it, just acknowledging the reality of the psychology

I’ve been thinking about how the Dems conceded talk radio,and didn’t understand how impactful FoxNews was. They had Talking Points, which fostered their consistent messaging….

Just need more savvy and to get ahead.

Back to basics, I’d say. This is the time for a reinvention.

Probably. Pretty big tent, a super wide array of people to satisfy. Not an easy task.

Being completely shut out of power can be an opportunity for reinvention. I’d like to see them having lots of caucuses between centrists and progressives and really nailing down a savvy strategy.

A distinct push to re-regulate the media and break up conglomerates would be a winning proposal, I would bet.

I get the feeling Americans would welcome the re-establishment of calm order and integrity.

SELL that to voters, Dems!

A pissed off, cynical, angry GenX President would be very welcome, in my book! 😆

Yep. In theory, it’s an advantage that we KNOW what’s coming.

It’s frustrating that the DNC is so astonishingly bad at countering it.

Indeed. The first order of business is to actually have consistent, unified, good ideas to sell, which is debatable these days.

The Dems need to stop focusing on why the GOP is so bad, and more on why can’t they get their shit together to achieve any good.

Well yes, true, the Dem behavior and values are rather hard to sell to voters if they aren’t seen as particularly different from the GOP.

For example, after 5,000 years of societies experimenting, we absolutely KNOW how to run an optimum, sustainable economy, don’t we?

Math doesn’t change, it’s just us idiots wanting to pursue -isms and screw everything up.

Despite being on here and talking politics a lot, I really hate politics, and would greatly prefer a government that emphasized ruthlessly dispassionate efficiency, science and progress.

Politics is the art of convincing people that either X or Y suboptimal “solution” is the best way.

It’s an interesting thought experiment.

I’ve seen a lot of people discard their love of science when it became ideologically inconvenient.

Agreed. Question is…who?

We have elected so many reformers and fiery progressives in, over the years, and nobody seems to affect much change, many have “sold out”.

Only status quo centrist incrementalists seem to get into the power structure.

If science were to conclude some fact that directly opposed or discredited something that you ideologically believed to be noble and true…which do you go with?

Could you discard a core belief? Would you deny science as “wrong” based on your desire? Or would you somehow live with the dissonance?

Republicans: [unsavory tactics]

Media: Gosh, that’s some maneuvering.

Democrats: [punch back]

Media: We need to ask ourselves if this is the sign of a healthy democracy.

Heh. Well, I suppose convicted fraudsters and rapists are happy to be openly and accurately represented in government? 😆

Agreed.

But, the question remains: if the Dems want to be seen as ethically different and worthy of election, not only do they need to deliver on that (no more Swallwell embarrassments, etc), but they need to make that a central theme of their presentation.

Agreed, but I’ll argue that the 90 million furious non voters need to be MARKETED to that they are different, better and trustworthy.

Like yourself, a lot of people don’t see the Dems as a good option these last decades. Lots of insane missteps, no question.

They need fewer pottery majors and more hard headed, practical MBAs in the leadership.

Look at the genius of “MAGA”. Simple, memorable, looks iconic on a red hat or sticker.

No two people can agree on what the Dem platform is, right now. All over the place. Herding cats.

“Republicans are just wanting only Americans to vote!”

Yeah, ok, that makes sense as a general concept, but y’all are wanting to unilaterally “define” and determine WHO Americans are, and who gets denied documentation to be eligible.

Disingenuous arguments, as usual.

The Dems so bad at marketing.

They simply have to emphasize that they don’t HAVE to rig elections, because they can compete in the marketplace of ideas.

If GOP ideas were great, they should be excited to make sure EVERYONE can vote for them.

So, go register as a Republican:

- You won’t have to worry about targeting.

- You can royally jack up their primaries.

- Gerrymandering data chaos.

- Break the two party system, if everyone is the same.

Good for Virginia.

Been waiting for Dems to start fighting back for decades. Enough with the gentlemanly shit.

If you show the 90 million non-voters that you have a spine, maybe you can start WINNING elections.

Weird how we always prosecute and imprison the end users rather than the producers/dealers.

Not saying jailing possessors of drugs or CP is bad, just that it seems a bit off the point of what we are supposed to be achieving, isn’t it?

Wholeheartedly agree. We Dems get SO desperate for leadership and winning that we fall for the exact same blind spots we accuse the GOP of having.

I’m getting rather tired of being lectured on economic and social things by actors who “work” for a few months every three years, by athletes who get millions to goof off playing kids games and by politician/stockholder CEOs who have never worked a day in their lives.

And this bullshit was actually preferable to the GOP nightmare she ran against!

If we simply assume every leader, from the city, county, state and federal levels to have a loose understanding of legality and ethical behavior, it’s harder to be surprised anymore.

From misuse of Covid $, to corporate bribery, to extramarital affairs, to fraud…

There isn’t a single one left.