Highly performative tribal behaviors!

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2022

In search of more wins at the polls: We lost a chunk of time today, Plus, Election Day is finally upon us.

For those reasons, we're going to start with the same list we posted yesterday. It's Kevin Drum's list of seven ways we liberals are supposedly seen by one specific group of Others.

As you may recall, Kevin's list goes exactly like this:

Things centrist voters don't like about us:

1) They think we're too lax on crime.

2) They think we're constantly making up stupid new rules.

3) They think we want to let in too many illegal immigrants.

4) They think we want to spend money endlessly and drive up the debt.

5) They were appalled by the looting and rioting during the BLM protests of 2020 and think Democrats should have denounced it more vigorously.

6) They think wokeness is ridiculous. They want us to stop talking like academics from another galaxy.

7) They do not like being called racist.

In Kevin's view, those are seven perceptions—admittedly, perceptions among a group of Others—which help our tribe lose at the polls.

As we noted yesterday, we don't know what kinds of "new rules" are contemplated in item #2. Of the other six perceptions, our scorecard would go something like this:

At present, we'd say that one of those perceptions—but only one—is basically off the wall. We'd say there's at least a bit of merit to the other five—and we'd say that two of those perceptions are extremely well founded and help explain why it's hard for our tribe to win elections.

(Jon Lovitz, 34 years ago: "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy!")

In our view, the perceptions adumbrated by Drum are well worth discussing. That said, our tribe is routinely in love with the things we do, and we seem to have few plans to change.

Today could be a very bad day—or, of course, possibly not! Setting those known unknowns to the side, the basic question we're asking remains:

Why can't we win more at the polls? 


32 comments:


  1. "Things centrist voters [aka normal ordinary people] don't like about us:"

    Meh, he missed a few, dear Bob:
    - elitist cabal of warmongers,
    - actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms (or is the same "making up stupid new rules"?),
    - hostile to people of faith & spirituality,
    - weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents,
    - and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.

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    1. Putin is threatening nuclear war.

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    2. Dimbot "Mao" must REEEEEELY think this quote from Gabbard is the bee's knees. He has repeated it over and over the past week. And over. And over. But if you scratch beneath the surface even the teensiest bit, it's just a bunch of oversimplified, propagandistic, buzzwordy nonsense. Democrats are an "Elitist cabal of warmongers"?? Just ponder each part of this.  "Elitist"? Who is Gabbard talking about? The Bidens?  The Clintons? The Obamas? None of these people strike me as being particularly "elitist." Could you find a quote or two that would make them sound elitist? Of course. You could do that with most people (certainly with Trump . . . and Dimbot "Mao" with his condescending "dear" and "tsk" and his foreign expressions like "Nicht Wahr.") But that's just a quote or two. What about all their other quotes? And what about their actual conduct and policy positions? How are they elitist? Much of their adult lives have been spent working for the benefit of average people (for example, on healthcare policy). But for the sake of argument, let's assume for a moment that they are "elitist" in some negative sense -- like they think they're smarter or more righteous than other people. How important is that? Isn't what they DO much more important than any snooty attitude they might hold? Gabbard is just throwing this word in the mix in the hopes that it will create a vague negative impression in people's minds, but it's mostly just meaningless.  

      The same is true of "cabal." This is supposed to make it sound like Democrats are part of some spooky, string-pulling, conspiratorial group that pursues its own interests without consideration of the public interest. It reminds me of the way Jews are sometimes spoken of by anti-semites. Like they're controlling everything behind the scenes, and they're out to get you. It's silly, overblown nonsense. Once again, Gabbard uses the word just to try to create a negative image in people's minds, but it's mostly just a meaningless sort-of buzzword.  

      And finally, there's "warmonger."  This is a word that conjures up an image of someone who LIKES stirring up wars and does so often, irresponsibly, and without first exploring good-faith diplomatic solutions to threats of violence between nations. None of this applies to mainstream Democrats. Have they voted for certain wars? Of course. Does that make them "warmongers"? If you want to use the word to refer to ANY support for ANY war, then yes. But then the word loses all meaning, since nearly all of us advocate war at SOME point -- for example, to stop someone like Hitler. Dems are not war enthusiasts. They dislike war and only support it when they have good reasons to do so.

      Gabbard's other claims are similarly fatuous. Really?  Mainstream Dems are "hostile to people of faith and spirituality"? Please. Biden is a practicing Catholic. Obama and Hillary Clinton profess to be Christians.  But they believe in separation of church and state.  That's not being "hostile to people of faith and spirituality." Anyway, I've wasted enough time on this. Gabbard's claims about Dems are mostly nonsense, and she's a very minor public figure who in my opinion is just out for attention and to toot her own horn. She is having her "15 minutes" because the right finds her useful at the moment. 

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    3. Mao is following a script given to him by his handlers.

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    4. One more point about all this: for all practical purposes, there are only two political parties in the U.S., Dems and Repubs. Whatever legitimate flaws the Dems might have, they are infinitely better than the R's who at this point are just an absolute shit-show -- just parodies of themselves (but dangerous ones). And many of Gabbard's claims about Dems actually apply much more to R's -- e.g., warmongers, elitists (examples: DeSantis using immigrants as objects/political props, Trump referring to other countries as "shitholes"), and hostile to faith/spirituality other than Christianity -- the Muslim ban, for example.

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    5. The funny thing is, Mao thinks we are sad to see Tulsi go. LOL, let her go back to FOX and sit in Tucker's lap.

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  2. So, nothing about inflation or the price of gas.
    Interesting.

    Also, nothing about Wall Street. Quite curious.

    I do, however, appreciate finding out that the tiny slice of Centrist voters are the ones to care about the debt/ spending.
    I had been wondering who the corporate-owned, Right-wing media was referring to. I knew it couldn't be Republican or Democratic voters.

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  3. No big loss for Democrats.
    If those things really concern Centrist voters, surely they aren't voting for Republicans, either.
    The Democratic Party should instead focus on getting out Democratic voters, and leave the Centrists to stay home because they have no party.

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    Replies
    1. That is a fantastic strategy. To lose elections.

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    2. Do you think Centrist voters, who care about these issues, are going to vote for the Republican Party, which has no will or ideas to do anything about them?
      That's mighty condescending.

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  4. Are these the folks who hate to be criticized (i.e. cancel culture)?

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  5. The calls for de-funding the rioters back in 2020 came from citizens. Both parties ran away from that idea pretty quickly.

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    1. De-funding the rioters? Who was funding them?

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    2. No one. It's a Right-wing meme that Democrats want to de-fund them.

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  6. "and help explain why it's hard for our tribe to win elections"

    We won the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 elections and we currently hold the House, the Senate and the presidency. Who says it is hard for us to win elections?

    Hillary lost in 2016 because of Comey and Russia, not because she was unpopular. If we stop foreign countries from meddling in our elections, we will do better. That has nothing to do with being disliked.

    It is harder for us to win elections because of the electoral college and the wildly different distribution of population across the 50 states. That doesn't mean we don't win them, and it certainly doesn't mean no one likes us.

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    1. And She was unpopular because
      the “liberal media” kept insisting
      She was unpopular. And She still
      got the most votes.

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  7. Why doesn't Kevin Drum do something useful and make up a list of the reasons why no one likes the Republicans?

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    Replies
    1. Or what it is about Democrats Centrist voters DO like?

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    2. Drum doesn’t want to help the Republicans.

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  8. "Said Trump: “I don’t think he [Biden] runs. It is inconceivable.”

    I don't think that word means what he [Trump] thinks it means.

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  9. "Donald Trump warned that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) would “hurt himself” if he tried to run for president in 2024, the Wall Street Journal reports.

    Said Trump: “I don’t know that he’s running. I think if he runs he could hurt himself very badly.”

    He added: “I think he would be making a mistake. I think the base would not like it.”

    More: “If he runs, he runs. If he did run, I will tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering. I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign.”

    Is there any part of this quote that doesn't sound like a mob threat?

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    Replies
    1. Now stop picking on that poor man, he has mental health issues!!

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  10. What day are we supposed to vote?

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    1. It's not too late to simply vote by mail. Just gather the forms from your local FedEx store

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  11. Can you imagine The National Review,
    in an attempt to stop losing the popular
    vote in the Presidential elections,
    ran a “7 things people don’t like
    about conservatives” article?
    Me neither.

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    Replies
    1. Or the two things Republican voters like about the Republican Party.

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    2. Obviously, there’s not much people do like about the Republican Party.

      Biden’s numbers are low and prices are thru the roof. Aside for a few governors, Republicans were generally just neck-n-neck in the other polls for races.

      If Republicans can’t pul off a wave in these circumstances, even with negative press, there’s a problem.

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    3. Don't worry. The corporate-media will now run 4,000 pieces on the problem the Democratic Party has appeasing Republican voters.

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    4. Getting people elected is what pleases voters.

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  12. Bob, the NYT is here for you, as always.

    pic.twitter.com/WkF7ClDpyA

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  13. I think Bob already knows what the biggest obstacle is for Dems: dis- and misinformation. If all Independents understood politics the way Bob does, I have no doubt we would get a lot more votes for Democrats. And the problem is only getting worse because of the internet and the massive amounts of money that funds sources of dis- and misinformation. For god's sake, people think the Democrats operate a global pedophile ring.

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  14. 5 for 5 on protecting a woman's right to choose.
    Where's the jerk-off who comes here to call abortion "killing babies"?
    Turns out, the banning of baby-killing is the radical, extremist position in the USA.

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