Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

You are here: Home / Politics / America / The 2020 Elections Will Be Open Information Warfare

The 2020 Elections Will Be Open Information Warfare

by | 138 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , , , ,

We’ve now covered the insanity surrounding Congresswoman Omar extensively, from my initial post on Friday night through to Cole’s post this morning. I think, though, that there is something important that needs to be recognized and focused on here and it is, by and large, not Congresswoman Omar’s remarks last Thursday night at Busboys and Poets. Speaking of which, before I go further, in case anyone actually wants to see and hear what she actually had to say, here’s the actual video from Busboys and Poets Facebook page (because of how WordPress handles embeds, you’ll still likely have to click through):

TONIGHT: Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan, and Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar join us for a Progressive Issues Town Hall at #Busboys14th.

Posted by Busboys and Poets on Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Congresswoman Omar gives a very long and very detailed answer beginning at the 28:30 mark in the video that is, perhaps, one of the best assessments and critiques I’ve ever seen an elected or appointed American official make of US foreign policy, including the national security portions of it. She is clearly informed, she’s clearly given this a lot of thought, and what she’s saying is both accurate and something that needs to be heard. And you’ll notice that she references consulting with Secretary Albright! It is at the 45:30 mark that she lays down her first marker by stating that “you may want to see me as a Somali-American, but I am a member of Congress”. This establishes the foundation for her later remarks about allegiance. Omar’s remarks that have caused so much sturm and drang begin at 59:26 and follow Congresswoman Tlaib’s remarks for thanking Jewish allies for standing up and being supportive of both the broad call for human rights and the specific one regarding doing something to improve the current existence of the Palestinians. I recommend that everyone who has not actually watched the video to take a moment and watch at least Congresswoman Omar’s remarks that begin at 59:26 if not both of her extended remarks. She didn’t say anything anti-Semitic. In fact she goes out of her way to contextualize her remarks so that they aren’t. You’ll also notice that her colleagues Congresswoman Jayapal and Congressman Pocan aren’t reacting negatively in real time to her remarks. Congresswoman Omar also made it clear in her remarks that she was anticipating the response that she has received.

Why is this important, what does this have to do with the 2020 election? Here’s why:

The President just said the quiet parts out loud again: Jewish=Israeli. The President just made it perfectly clear that Jewish Americans allegiance is to Israel because he just equated Judaism, which is a religion, with Israel, which is a country where the majority are adherents of Judaism. And this is important because this is going to be one of five major themes that the Republicans have already rolled out for the 2020 presidential elections. They are:

  1. Appropriate oversight and investigation of the President is harassment and an attempt to overthrow the results of the 2016 election. This is being done to set the conditions to claim that any outcome of the 2020 election that does not see the President reelected is part of a coup undertaken by the Democrats, Special Counsel Mueller, the DOJ the FBI, and the US Intelligence Community. And despite the fact that there is an actual election involved!
  2. That the Democrats are seeking to overthrow America and establish socialism.
  3. That the Democrats want to legalize infanticide. This was initially going to be rolled out last month, using New York’s and Virginia’s attempts to revise their laws pertaining to third trimester therapeutic abortions of non-viable fetuses to preserve the health and life of the mother as a result of serious complications, and/or both. The roll out, however, got overtaken by Governor Northam’s blackface and Klan costume mess. It is now back in full force.
  4. Illegal immigrants are streaming into the US, are going to kill us all, and the Democrats want it to happen because they want those illegal immigrants to vote for Democratic candidates. This will be rolled into the first theme/line of attack.
  5. Democrats are anti-Semitic because some of the most junior members of the Democratic majority in the House are challenging the long standing US domestic politics that have prevented any evolution of US policies regarding the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, as well as the strategies to achieve them.

I also think there is likely to be a sixth prong to the Republican and conservative information warfare campaign: The President has to be reelected in order to keep the Supreme Court conservative and to continue to remake the Federal district and appellate courts as well.

Why do I know that these will be the five or six lines of attack of Republican and conservative information warfare as part of the 2020 presidential, congressional, state, and local elections? Because Republicans and conservatives have already begun deploying them. We saw it in the insanity of CPAC. We saw it in the initial, then paused, then turned back on responses to New York’s and Virginia’s attempts to legislatively revise the rules regarding third trimester therapeutic abortions. And we’ve seen it now with Congresswoman Omar. Here’s the White House Press Secretary’s statement from yesterday:

She got the first three in there. And, as noted above, the President came through this morning to pile on to the faux scandal being generated around Congresswoman Omar by actually doing what she is being accused of: equating Judaism with Israel.

This is all important because in order to be successful in 2020, the Democrats need to be clear about what they are actually facing. No matter what Speaker Pelosi does tomorrow or Thursday regarding the faux scandal being generated around Congresswoman Omar, as the reporting indicates she will, it will not put the matter to rest. Even if Congresswoman Omar never makes another public statement about Israel and/or the Palestinians. All that will happen is that a new line of attack will be opened up. The GOP and conservatives will just switch from screaming that Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership must denounce Congresswoman Omar’s remarks and anti-Semitism to calling for her to be stripped of her committee assignments. That will be followed with calls for her to be censured. There will be calls by the GOP minority in the House to revisit the House rules pertaining to wearing headgear in the House chambers to remove the exception that was created so she could wear her hijab. Finally, there will be calls for the Democrats to expel her from Congress to demonstrate their zero tolerance for anti-Semitism and show their support for Israel.

And all of this will go on as the GOP and conservatives try to gin up a religious war by equating palliative care for babies who are born in a terminal condition with infanticide. I cannot state this emphatically enough: the attempt to equate providing palliative care to terminally ill babies who are either born premature or full term with infanticide and then equate that with abortion is GOING TO GET PEOPLE KILLED!!!!!! Just as the insanity they’ve created in regard to immigrants in general and asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants in specific has already led to people getting killed. And the attempts to undermine the American electoral system in order to set the conditions to challenge electoral outcomes that don’t go the way that Republicans and conservatives want is also going to get people killed. All of this is related. All of them are lines of attack in a coordinated information war. And nothing, no action, no statement, nothing at all will mollify or placate Republicans and conservatives on any of these issues. This information war, as well as the entire 2020 election, is going to be fought. The question that has yet to be answered is whether it will be fought on the ground that the Republicans and conservatives choose or terrain of the Democrats, center left to left of center and liberals to progressives choose.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

138Comments

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    “The Democrats are not after the truth, they are after the President” – SS

    But Sarah, what if standing up for the truth means going after a constantly-lying president*? What if standing up for the rule of law means bringing a lawless, corrupt president* to justice? Because it does.

    Be proactive and be fierce and take no BS, Dem candidates. No milquetoasts need apply.

  3. 3.

    Gin & Tonic

    This place is getting unreadable. I want pictures of dogs, or at least of dogshit.

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    Good post.

    But what do our elected Democrats and Democratic candidates do about it?

    We decry “whatabout-ism”, but that seems to be part of the standard response to things like this.

    All the evidence is that things that rile up our lizard brains are (generally/often) more powerful than our intellectual brains. What can we do to combat these things? Short of cloning the Obamas…

    I dunno.

    But I hope thoughtful political operatives are thinking about these things. Having the House vote twice in three weeks on anti-semitism doesn’t seem like a good way for Democrats to push their legislative agenda and have accomplishments to run on in November 2020.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    Republicans can’t walk and chew gum and extend the handicap to everybody else. Thanks, Possum Queen.

    Great post, Adam. Keep eyes on the prize and get these bastards out of there!

  6. 6.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: They handle it inside the tent. They don’t form a circular firing squad to do the Republicans and conservatives bidding.

  8. 8.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I honestly wish Rep Omar would shut up about Israel. I don’t want 2020 to turn into a race about how anti semitic the Dems are like what’s happening with Labor in the UK. 2020 is too damn important for this kind of garbage.

  10. 10.

    Josie

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    The problem is, if Adam is correct, that her shutting up will not make the Republicans’ fear mongering go away. Democrats have to figure out a way to combat this insanity. I hope whoever we nominate has the brains and the ganas to figure out how.

  11. 11.

    ruemara

    I’d like Omar & the Democratic establishment to learn strategy from each other.

  12. 12.

    jacy

    Like I said in the comments last night: SOCIALISM, ABORTION, ANTI-ISRAEL. There is a reason it’s all you’re hearing about. Bonus that the right can use this trifecta against the new, young, female MOC. Double-bonus that one of them is Muslim!

    1) Omar didn’t do anything wrong.
    2) Omar is not the one keeping the story alive.
    3) ACORN ACORN ACORN ACORN ACORN.

    JFC, it’s like we never get any smarter.

  13. 13.

    Robert Bowsher

    I get Facebook memes for items #1-4 from a good friend, who I grew up with (I have a picture of us at my 4-year-old birthday party, and I’m too weak to tell him to go to hell). #5 hasn’t quite bubbled up from the fever swamp yet. The others’ frequency of appearance is roughly 4-3-1-2. “Taking my guns away” still makes an appearance.

    He’s still home in WV, and I know that illegal immigrants aren’t a big problem back home in Cabell County. The opiate addicts are far, far worse. But too much Facebook and Fox News has rotted his mind.

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    They seem nice!

  16. 16.

    PJ

    @jacy: Your forgot BENGHAZI!!! and HER EMAILS!!!

    @Mai Naem mobile: If Rep. Omar didn’t exist, they would take some other Democrat’s remarks out of context and accuse them of anti-semitism. Just as they took Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s election and set about making her the Boogey(wo)man of Socialism — if it weren’t for the GOP constantly attacking her, she would be just another first term Congressperson. We can’t stop Republicans and Fox from constantly making bullshit attacks, but, as Omar and Ocasio-Cortez are doing, we can counter each and every attack. The media is generally lazy and stupid when reporting on any of this and can be relied on to simply repeat any right wing attack, but that doesn’t mean that we should roll over for them.

  18. 18.

    eric

    @Timurid: and in what state would that hurt the dems? what GOPer is going to run and beat a democrat because jewish voters stay home. All the jewish voters i know HATE Trump. We are going nowhere. Jewish voters have long been stalwarts for civil rights; we may bitch about this person or that person, but we are not jumping ship for the GOP.

  19. 19.

    Luthe

    And here I thought this post would be about Russian information warfare. Not that there’s much difference between the GOP and Russians these days…

  22. 22.

    Timurid

    @eric:

    I’m pretty sure the plan for people like that would not be to vote Republican but to stay home or vote third party.
    Of course the results either way would be exactly the same…

  23. 23.

    Another Scott

    ImaSmartyPants at WaMo:

    The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates face a whole array of issues they’ll need to address during the campaign season. But overriding every one of them is the challenge Martin Longman and Paul Waldman wrote about on Monday. Here are the dynamics they both identified:

    1. Republicans have demonstrated their ongoing commitment to total obstruction of anything Democrats attempt to accomplish.
    2. Since Republicans made the use of the filibuster a requirement for passage of any major legislation, it is now assumed that for any bill to pass the Senate, it will need 60 votes.
    3. It is impossible to imagine a scenario where Democrats gain a 60 vote majority in the Senate anytime soon.

    As a result, all of the promises Democratic candidates are making will be impossible to achieve unless they have a plan for how to change those dynamics. This isn’t the first time Waldman has tackled this issue. Back in 2016 he wrote: “Please let 2016 end the bipartisanship BS.”

    […]

    Either because they are too busy with other things or are more at ease with a view that sees the world in binary black/white terms, a lot of voters aren’t really interested in understanding the intricacies of why Washington is so broken. They just want someone to break up the gridlock. That is precisely what led to the “burn it all down” cries on both the right and the left during the 2016 election. In other words, it is what brought us Donald Trump.

    The real dilemma for Democrats is: how do you talk to those voters about a world that is increasingly more complex and nuanced? In many ways, that is precisely what scares them and feeds the politics of anger and resentment, regardless of whether it’s directed at Wall Street or immigrants.

    […]

    It is possible that by getting rid of the filibuster in the Senate, Democrats can break down the major barrier that is producing gridlock in our politics. When it comes to the urgency of some of the issues we face around climate change, health care, and immigration, an excellent case can be made that doing so is the only alternative. That is precisely why Barack Obama eventually embraced his pen and phone strategy in the last two years of his second term. Given the positioning of the Republican Party, it was the only way to address some of the issues we were confronting as a nation.

    But let’s be very clear, there are two issues with going in that direction. The first, as we’ve seen with Obama’s pen and phone strategy, is that a Republican president and/or congressional majority can easily overturn any progress that is made. On a deeper level, it lets Americans off the hook when it comes to facing the nuances and complexities ingrained in our democratic process, which was designed to require dialogue, negotiation, and compromise. Until we grapple with that, we’ll remain vulnerable to ideologues and authoritarians who fulfill our desire for certainty.

    Yup. Read the whole thing. Nancy LeTourneau is almost always worth reading.

    We’ve got to fight them on the culture-wars stuff, and the generational-wars stuff, and the lizard-brain vs scientific-evidence stuff, but we’ve also got to address the structural issues that are preventing progress: The Cloture/Filibuster system in the Senate; the lack of uniform national standards for voting access; and all the rest.

    Times have changed. Our government needs to reflect more of the realities of our society and not accept that structures put in place 100+ years ago are the best we can do.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  24. 24.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’ll just leave this here. Clawson got so worked up he couldn’t keep his countries straight, but he’s calling for the Israelis to mount a false flag attack on a US submarine to make it look like the Iranians did it so that the US will go to war with Iran, which is what Israel wants. Clawson is one of the section directors at The Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy (WINEP/The Washington Institute), which is AIPAC’s research arm/think tank.

  25. 25.

    Mike in NC

    Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post covered Trump’s deranged histrionics at the CPAC cult gathering. Fat Bastard ranted nonstop for 2 hours and 20 minutes and it was a completely bonkers performance. People said he was wheezing and sweating uncontrollably. My guess is that Sarah Sanders wrote her nonsensical press release to include her unhinged master’s “Greatest Hits” and he was greatly pleased.

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    @eric: Florida. I give you Broward and Palm Beach Counties and parts of Miami-Dade County. There are enough Jewish American voters in those counties to swing Florida.

  28. 28.

    Timurid

    @Timurid:

    To be fair, most Jews won’t fall for that. But losing anybody is going to hurt. If I heard of a serious movement by Albanians or Uzbek-Americans to boycott 2020 I’d be terrified too, because the margin for error is going to be that damned tight…

  30. 30.

    MisterForkbeard

    the attempt to equate providing palliative care to terminally ill babies who are either born premature or full term with infanticide and then equate that with abortion is GOING TO GET PEOPLE KILLED!!!!!!

    I was wondering where the hell this comes from – the “you kill full term babies!” thing is all over social media in literally every post about Democratic hopefuls. That’s seriously it? What utter fuckwads.

  32. 32.

    PJ

    @Timurid: The only Uzbek-Americans I know (my barbers, who also happen to be Jewish) are, as far as I can tell, pretty solid Trump supporters. So based on that extensive sample, I think we can already write off their vote.

  33. 33.

    Peale

    @MisterForkbeard: Yep. We’ve gone from “Sluts are getting abortions so they can continue to be slutty” to “Doctors and feminists are executing unwanted children” and no one pitching this crap is questioning if that were the case, why did it take 50 years for the truth to come out!

  35. 35.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mai Naem mobile: No. Omar needs to double down on her criticism of the oddness of the US Israeli relationship. Omar sits down and shuts up, she is admitting she was just being a Jew Basher.

  36. 36.

    Humdog

    Adam, does anything change if Bibi is found guilty of the felonies he is charged with or if he loses reelection?

  37. 37.

    Millard Filmore

    @humboldtblue:

    According to a Wisconsin probate court judge, that fetus is now a human being with full human rights.

    Will that judge issue a restraining order in an ectopic pregnancy that will end in death to the woman? “The fetus must stay 25 feet away at all times …”

  39. 39.

    tobie

    Does anyone know much about Elliot Engel? As far as I can tell, he’s on a war path with Ilhan Omar. Why is he in charge of the House Foreign Affairs Committee? He doesn’t seem to have the temperament for the chairmanship.

  40. 40.

    Soprano2

    I listened to an interview on “Morning Edition” this morning where Rachel Martin interviewed freshman Rep. Madeleine Dean about the Judiciary Committee request for information about Trump’s “inner circle”. Martin seemed incredulous several times that they were doing this, and how wide-ranging it is. I figure the idea that it’s “too late” to impeach Trump, because the election is less than 2 years away, to catch on pretty quickly from reporters like her. I wanted to scream at the radio “Were you questioning the 5 different Benghazi “investigations” like this, or the multiple investigations of Hillary’s e-mails”? It makes me so, so angry! Republicans did nothing about any of this for 2 years, and now I guess in order to be “nice” the Nice Polite Republicans think Democrats should just roll over for Trump. Rep. Dean comported herself quite well in the interview – we have a great class of freshman reps on the Democratic side.

    As for anti-Semitism, Pelosi should throw in condemnation of all the anti-Semitic stuff Republicans have been doing, too, just to make them twist in the wind. Every member who is asked about Rep. Omar should ask the reporter if he/she has asked Republicans about their member’s tweet where he replaced the “s” in Steyer’s name with a dollar sign.

  41. 41.

    CarolDuhart2

    @MisterForkbeard: It’s as if Democrats don’t have kids. Its also because people who undergo such grief don’t want to talk about it-and understandably so. Its an admission that they have lost the abortion argument regarding early abortion (0-16) weeks and birth control in general. Also that the numbers just aren’t there anymore for the rest of the cultural agenda. Gay marriage is ho-hum, pot is legal just about anywhere (and will be national law if the Dems take back the Senate and Presidency). There’s also the growing younger generation of “nones” who equate the Church with the bigotry of Falwell et al, and who are more socially liberal than previous generations.

    This is a panic election for the Right. They see their hegemony failing quickly to Time. Those who believe in the Rapture are being overtaken by younger people who want a future on earth. Racists are being threatened by a culture that is more diverse and open. Their rural base is shrinking due to death and departure towards the cities. And the people who they used to cow aren’t scared anymore-AOC and Omar and the rest don’t give a rat’s toss about Southern rural feelings anymore.

  42. 42.

    Brachiator

    @MisterForkbeard:

    I was wondering where the hell this comes from – the “you kill full term babies!” thing is all over social media in literally every post about Democratic hopefuls. That’s seriously it? What utter fuckwads.

    Trump, King of Fake News, knows that this nonsense will work with his base, and is hoping that it will confuse enough other people to give the Republicans an edge in 2020.

    It’s part of the Litany of Lies Campaign 2020. The Democrats will take away your hamburgers and kill your babies while forcing you to take a train to Hawaii.

  45. 45.

    CarolDuhart2

    Also, its getting clearer and clear that Trump is a massive crook. Even if Congress doesn’t move for impeachment, that immunity of sorts is only good for Trump. Everybody else is just another citizen who can be fined and jailed. And that what we are seeing is the tip of the iceburg here. It could well be that #ETTD is very real, and that dozens of Republicans are going down eventually for corruption to the point that Democrats are the only party left like in California. At that point, either a new Republican Party arises or a new secondary party composed of right-leaning Democrats emerge.

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    @Mike in NC:

    Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post covered Trump’s deranged histrionics at the CPAC cult gathering. Fat Bastard ranted nonstop for 2 hours and 20 minutes and it was a completely bonkers performance. People said he was wheezing and sweating uncontrollably.

    His audience loved it.

  50. 50.

    MomSense

    I agree with much of what Omar said hit I don’t think we should be doing anything to take attention away from Trump, babies in cages, and all the other GOP horrors. The media have proved time and time again that they lack the maturity and integrity to cover these issues, especially in an election year. This morning MSNBC was running with is Ilhan Omar the Steve King of the Democratic Party?
    It doesn’t make sense to stray from the message discipline we need to win the election for an issue about which there is nothing we can do while trump is in the White House and true GOP hold the Senate. We need to keep our eyes on the motherfucking prize and win the 2020 elections first. You can’t solve the Israel/Palestine mess if you don’t win first.

    Yes, Democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time. The media cannot and about half the electorate can’t do one of those two things separately. I exaggerate slightly.

  51. 51.

    Matt McIrvin

    A large part of the point is to get us to fight each other. Notice how pro- and anti-Omar Democrats are both busy bashing either the party or “liberals” right now. Our instinct is always to hit inward.

  53. 53.

    Matt

    Anyone who falls for the “Dems are the REAL anti-semites!” garbage while the GOP proudly and openly harbors actual, literal fucken Nazis is either a fool or a fascist.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Humdog: No. He is most likely going to be reelected. If he isn’t, he’ll likely do what he did the last time a decade ago and break the law, usurp the right of the actual winner of the election to try to form a government, form a government, and dare anyone to do anything about it. And as was the case in 2009 when he did this to Tzipi Livni, no one will do anything about it. He’s already made it perfectly clear that electoral results are not something he is bound by.

  55. 55.

    Lapassionara

    I am not technically astute, so I can’t link, but the most recent Quinnipiac poll has some unhappy numbers for Trump.

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MomSense:

    This morning MSNBC was running with is Ilhan Omar the Steve King of the Democratic Party?

    That’s based on the fact that WaPo’s editorial page editor gave some wingnut from a conservative think tank aligned with The Federalist Society who regularly writes for The National Review space to make that argument yesterday.

  60. 60.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Appropriate oversight and investigation of the President is harassment and an attempt to overthrow the results of the 2016 election. This is being done to set the conditions to claim that any outcome of the 2020 election that does not see the President reelected is part of a coup undertaken by the Democrats, Special Counsel Mueller, the DOJ the FBI, and the US Intelligence Community. And despite the fact that there is an actual election involved!

    The problem with this is it’s back to Trump is the Colossus with the feat of clay. Trump is president and yet can’t stop a coup from inside his own government. All that stuff is only going to play with The Base and even then it’s iffy because it makes Trump look weak.

  62. 62.

    chopper

    @Jeffro:

    “The Democrats are not after the truth, they are after the President” – SS

    big thanks to jethrene for reminding us that ‘trump’ and ‘truth’ are opposites.

  64. 64.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    And all of this will go on as the GOP and conservatives try to gin up a religious war by equating palliative care for babies who are born in a terminal condition with infanticide. I cannot state this emphatically enough: the attempt to equate providing palliative care to terminally ill babies who are either born premature or full term with infanticide and then equate that with abortion is GOING TO GET PEOPLE KILLED!!!!!!

    The lack of repudiation for the statement “abortion is murder” is going to get, and has gotten, people killed. This is, and has been for a long time, the elephant in the room of abortion politics. Soi disant “pro-life” people loves them the rage-gasm for saying abortion is murder, but you can’t have a society function where a large block of them believe they’re living among murderers. What I find hilarious if the GOP was expected to have *any* consistency at all is the “oh, no, women are the VICTIM in the murder of their babies; they only went to the doctor, listed to some BS propaganda, chose to have the procedure, but they are THE VICTIM because putting them in jail polls *terribly*, and, of course, we ignore polls, but… WHY AREN’T WE INVESTIGATING CROOKED HILLARY’S E-MAILS?”

  65. 65.

    Ladyraxterinok

    See YouTube videos of JimBakker show the last several days. They are pushing Democrats being anti babies and legalizing the killing of new-borns.

    The Religous is working to get Evangelicals out to vote to ‘protect the babies’!!

    Trunp has been chosen by God to stop the baby-killing!!

    God will destroy the US because of its acceptance of abortion and LGBT people unless Trump is permitted to lead the US back to god!

    The Evangelicals have been alerted and must follow God’s ‘chosen one!’

  66. 66.

    Another Scott

    Kinda relatedly, Robert Waldmann on DeLong’s ‘Passing the Baton’ interview in Vox:

    Robert Waldmann said…
    This sure has gotten a lot of attention. I was over at the Plum Line and read about a Democratic centrist passing the baton and thought “ge that reminds me of something I read at Brad’s blog (or twitter feed) a week ago” and the centrist was you. Also Krugman on Twitter said he’s been there for a while.

    One thing I remember from a week ago which seems to be missing here is that the Rubinit Obamians didn’t manage enough policy successes to build an enthusiastic following.

    I think that the key word is “enthusiastic” or how about “movement” or maybe “kids actually voting”. Something which I got from your earlier baton passing is that technocracy can’t be a mass movement (tautologically). My understanding of your thought is that the careful consideration of costs and benefits might be OK if one is seeking to compromise and build a coalition of center-left center-right and centrist elites, but it is a piss poor way to win elections (H Clinton showed that).

    People don’t get excited by “both sides have a point”. They unite so that we can defeat them. In other words, the way to win US elections in the 21st century is to mobilise the base not move to the center. This is not an original argument, but it is an excellent reason to pass the baton to Alexandria Ocasio Cortez et al.

    OK down here where no one will be reading. Come on Brad, you were never a centrist (although you did sincerely hate the Glass-Steagal act).

    You fought for a payroll tax financed Clinton Care not pretend it is just forcing people to buy insurance and the subsidize some. IIRC back when Dukakis was attempting health care reform in Massachusetts Larry Summers (who was a student of Martin Fieldstein not a student of Larry Summers as we are) was going around trying to find someone who had some argument why an employer mandate was better than single payer. The nerds have long recognized the superiority of single payer and then decided to compromise with interest groups and with politicians determined to disguise taxes as something else.

    Fiscal v monetary policy is only read as left vs right because of the huge stature of Milton Friedman.

    I can’t recall you ever supporting insurance and exchanges. There is no link between private for profit development of hearing aids and private for profit health insurance that is plausible enough to interest someone as smart as you.

    I think you are using a mythical past Brad as a straw man. In any case, I never met that guy.

    To which DeLong replied, “:-)”

    Hehe.

    Seriously, that’s how you do it. Give the press a bit “famous guy/gal changes their mind” click-bait, and use it to actually argue for things that you’ve supported all along while appearing to say that you failed. Genius!

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  67. 67.

    Lapassionara

    @Matt McIrvin: This. We should be talking about the positive impact democratic policies have had and will have (if enacted) on people’s lives. We should not be just reacting to what the Republicans say.

  70. 70.

    jl

    Dems need to tell corporate media talking heads to go stuff it. Warren (currently my fav candidate) will always be Pocahontas, and people like Chuck Todd will know, somehow, the voters are not satisfied. HRC will always have email problems unless she is bashing other Democrats. Omar will always have an anti-Semitic problem. The obvious and very plainly biracial Jamaican-South Asian Harris will always have an African-American authenticity problem (because…. why?) even when running against Warren, Klobuchar, Sanders and probably Biden. And Biden will always have his Bidengaffes, even when he is just saying stuff you are not supposed to say (though, you know, it’s Biden so he will make real gaffes).

    Time’s come to just tell them to shove it someplace.

  73. 73.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @MisterForkbeard: If you can stand it, watch a few minutes of a recent YouTube video of the JimBaker show. They’ve been crying about Democrats killing babies 24/7.

    Brucegerecser has a recent post about this at his blog. He was an Independent Fundamentalist Baptis preacher for yrs, but now both he as nd his wife are no longer Christian. He writes a lot about the mind-set cultivated in such churches and the long-term damage it does to individuals and families.

  74. 74.

    A Ghost To Most

    Thanks, Adam. Judaism is FAR down my list of religions I take issue with. If Israel didn’t treat Palestinians like they do, I wouldn’t even be anti-Israel.

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    God will destroy the US because of its acceptance of abortion and LGBT people

    No one tell them what Israeli law says about this stuff…

  77. 77.

    germy

    Open Thread, Popular Culture, etc.

    This thread is curious. It compares Melania’s work experience to actual… working models:

    I keep thinking about Melania's zed card. If you aren't near the modeling business, a zed card or a comp card is the modeling equivalent of a headshot. It's slightly different, because their stats will be on it and headshots are mostly of the actor's, well, head.— Quinn Cummings (@quinncy) March 3, 2019

    We’re told she was a working model but… it doesn’t add up. I don’t see the “genius” in the Genius Visa.

    Also, her early photos are interesting. I wouldn’t have recognized her.

  80. 80.

    LivinginExile

    @Adam L Silverman: I saw Wolf Blitzer on Celebrity Jeopardy a few years ago. My god he is one dumb bastard. He was so far in the hole by the time they got to final jeopardy he was done. I think they dumb down the questions for the celebrity version, and it didn’t help Wolf any.

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: This is the real interesting part. And if she was doing adult oriented work, whether photoshoots, video, or both for non US and UK and the big French companies, you’d never be able to track her down. Or you’d be able to, but you’d have to peruse and/or watch so much porn your eyes would burn out.

  84. 84.

    Matt McIrvin

    @jl: Months ago I was marveling that I already knew the one-sentence attack line against every major contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. I don’t think we can get around that by choosing some unknown, either, they’ll just find a new angle (and get a bunch of Democrats to repeat it before we notice what’s happening).

  86. 86.

    Immanentize

    So I just read the draft resolution over at Charlie Pierce’s place. It names no one and I think Rep. Omar definitely agrees with it and maybe should co-sponsor it, but include a few more targeted groups like Muslims, LGBTQ, Blacks, Hispanics, etc.

  87. 87.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Miss Bianca: Lies told by people who hate Trump and hate America!! Don’t fall for fake news!!

    Also…. you are spreading Satan’s lies!!

  90. 90.

    Princess

    @germy: She wasn’t a model. She was a high-priced call girl. She was 26 when she moved to the US. Not the age to break into modeling. That story has always been obviously false.

  91. 91.

    mad citizen

    A great post Adam, very clearly laid out, will be a good reference in the future. When I saw trump laying out the baby killing thing, I could not believe how stupid it was. Who could buy it? Stupid dumbasses, that’s who.

    I honestly think the Dems should simply make it a stupid/smart argument, and write off the stupids (deplorables is another term) and work on getting all the Smarts they can to the polls. It’s the only way.

    Another talking point would be democracy/autocracy.

    Repudiate the Idiocracy!

  92. 92.

    germy

    @Adam L Silverman: The story we’ve been sold is that she was a hardworking fashion industry model. A talented entrepreneur deserving of an Einstein Visa who happened to fall in love with a brilliant real estate developer.

    But as the thread delicately explains, there’s no evidence of any conventional modeling career. And the early photos are laughably amateurish. (Although they prove she was a normal-looking person at one time)

  96. 96.

    catclub

    @PJ:

    While the messenger may be a sinner, he is the Lord’s instrument,

    The RWNJ’s are happy to thank Jesus for making Trump president. Funny how they never thanked Jesus for making Obama president.

  98. 98.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Adam L Silverman: From what I’ve seen, they wouldn’t believe you. The Jews are ‘God’s chosen people’ so of course they wouldn’t go against His will like that!!

    Or….It may be some Jews who will be horribly destroyed during the Rapture because they refuse to become Christians!

  99. 99.

    patrick II

    The Green New Deal can be under democratic socialism, but that new deal and climate change denial in general has enough juice among republicans that it should have its own category of irrational republican attack.

  100. 100.

    glory b

    @germy: Fashion industry model? I don’t recall seeing any pictures of her that involved the actual wearing of clothes.

    (Goes back to join schrodinger’s cat and Princess at the mean girls’ table. eric, you can come too).

  103. 103.

    Chris Johnson

    @germy: Ya know, I was saying she was the russian-asset-minder at least a year ago, and I didn’t know about ANY of this. For all I knew, she was a legit for-reals model and hooked up with Trump in relatively normal ways.

    If the entire model story is fake and there’s a decade she can’t account for, I think I can guess what she is, where she was, and what she was doing.

    Melania has some respect from me. Now that’s a spook’s spook. Being Trump’s minder is a hell of a job, especially when he is doomed to a terrible fate and nothing she can say or do will change that. She may also be doomed but she’s no doubt taking it with more class and stoicism. Tough tough job, with no retirement plan.

  104. 104.

    EthylEster

    This is all important because in order to be successful in 2020, the Democrats need to be clear about what they are actually facing.

    Well, then we’re screwed.
    Thanks for posting such an unequivocal statement.

  105. 105.

    Adam Geffen

    I’m traveling for work today DTW->DEN. I’ve had far too much airport club wine to comment coherently. I’ll just agree wholeheartedly with the premise of the title.

    PS: I’m a long-time lurker/avid reader just starting to dip my toes into commenting. I’m still not sure how people keep up with the comments on this blog and actually get any work done.

  106. 106.

    BobS

    @Adam L Silverman: Echoes of the USS Liberty.
    @tobie: Engel joined Trump in supporting Israel making Jerusalem it’s capital. He also supported a House resolution condemning a UN resolution that condemned settlement building in the West Bank. I’m sensing a pattern here.

  111. 111.

    Barb 2

    Republicans are using — Emotional triggers that require no thinking, common sense or logic.

    We are at war.

    The Evangelicals are end of time fanatics. War must be triggered in the Middle East before their sky God can return. Then all Jews must convert or be killed. They must win – using any method and any lie. They believe Trump will trigger the end times.

    I grew up in this evangelical world and since I walked away from this cult their message has become even more radical. As Americas becomes less religious the shrinking remainders (true believers) are becoming more desperate as they see the end of times myth slipping away.

    The loud mouths like Sarah Sanders really don’t care about the people who happen to be Jewish. According to Daniel and Revelations — blood must flow in the middle East. That blood will be Jewish. Evangelical preachers hit this theme frequently in their sermons.

    Now I’m going to watch some cat and puppy YouTube videos.

  112. 112.

    lumpkin

    Doesn’t matter that Omar is right. You have to operate in the real world in which you live. This is an own goal by which Omar has put the entire party on the defensive. And it won’t move the ball forward one inch as far as helping the Palestinians. This is a project that requires deft and a long term plan, not blunt force.

  113. 113.

    germy

    Bloomberg will not run for president, NYT reports. Intsead, he intends to put his energy and fortune into efforts to thwart Trump and his agenda. Bloomberg expects to be heavily involved in the general election, organizing and funding opposition to Trump. https://t.co/XN4MJOuVZb— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 5, 2019

  116. 116.

    The Moar You Know

    Wow. You’re the first guy I’ve ever heard suggest that could even happen.

    @EthylEster: I’ve done Scientific Experiments (with capital letters so you know they’re good ones). Adam lies. It can’t happen.

  117. 117.

    Brachiator

    @lumpkin:

    Doesn’t matter that Omar is right. You have to operate in the real world in which you live. This is an own goal by which Omar has put the entire party on the defensive.

    Then I guess the party is going to have to stop being so chickenshit,

    This is a project that requires deft and a long term plan, not blunt force.

    If simple, precise,honest language is “blunt force,” then we got big problems.

  118. 118.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @germy: Maybe while he’s at it he can toss a few more million to our mutual alma mater so they won’t come begging the rest of us alums for cash to fatten their >$1B endowment. (Aaaah, who am I kidding? They’ll get some pathetic-sounding sophomore coed to call & whine They’re cutting our scholarships! – or maybe a jock to snarl Give us all your dough or the lacrosse program gets canned!)

  119. 119.

    Jeffro

    @Adam Geffen:

    I’m still not sure how people keep up with the comments on this blog and actually get any work done.

    Well, it helps if you’re getting a SorosCheck instead of working, as many if not most of us do.

    Failing that, being retired helps and I think a fair number of BJ folks are retired.

    Failing THAT, just read fast and type even faster!

  121. 121.

    Wapiti

    @Jeffro: Soros has some sort of arrangement with the Deep State so he can send me my monthly SorosCheck disguised as a federal pension. They do withhold taxes, which one has to expect from the Deep State.

  123. 123.

    Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog

    @MomSense:

    This morning MSNBC was running with is Ilhan Omar the Steve King of the Democratic Party?

    Oh, imagine if she were! It’s 2035, and she’s held this office for 16 years plus. She’s been making comments much stronger than these throughout her eight terms, and the Democratic leadership has not only disregarded them but elevated her to the chair of the subcommittee on the Constitution and civil justice.

    And yet, Our Great Nation’s Finest Journalists have only now begun to notice that she exists.

    Well, if she’s Steve King, “notice” in the sense of rolling over and glancing with one barely-open bleary eye in her general direction … before farting, pulling the My Pillow back over their heads, and going back to sleep.

    Our great media, folks, give ’em a big hand!

    Or at least an upraised middle finger.

    Your call.

  126. 126.

    Renie

    I hope this thread isn’t dead cuz after reading what Adam wrote, I’m wondering who exactly is the person or group that comes up with these issues the GOP will use to go after Democrats. It’s obviously a coordinated attack but where or who is the originating source? trump’s people seem too stupid to come up with a plan, so where is this coming from?

  127. 127.

    Jeffro

    @Wapiti: I thought we only withheld taxes from good, god-fearin’, hard workin’ conservatives? So that we libs could double-mooch off the fruits of their labors?

  128. 128.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Adam Geffen:

    I’m still not sure how people keep up with the comments on this blog and actually get any work done.

    Who the hell gets any work done?

  129. 129.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Renie: There are conservative groups that interface with the RNC and the congressional Republican leadership to coordinate talking points. They then circulate them on a regular basis. Every so often a set leak out.

  130. 130.

    Just One More Canuck

    @trollhattan: in association with the Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn to do Other Stuff Good Too

  131. 131.

    Sebastian

    @PJ:

    Very correct. It’s frustrating to see our own not recognize this change in strategy on our end. In the past our side would ignore certain attacks because it was above them or they didnmt want to engage and escalate. So much good has it done, hasn’t it?

    The new generation responds to every attack. And quite skillfully and elegant I might add. It’s a beauty to watch even if they fall flat from time to time. I do think they are starting to crack the code. But maybe that’s just me.

  132. 132.

    Baron Elmo

    This is what happens when we allow Repubs to set the boundaries of what is offensive and what isn’t.

    Another great example: if a liberal or Democrat says anything that could be construed as harsh or critical about small-town America, it’s seen as an assault on decency itself. Look at the buckets of right-wing venom cast at Obama for his “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion” remark.

    Meanwhile, viciously insulting big cities is practically a conservative rite of passage, and they never have to apologize for it.

  134. 134.

    whippybear

    Pelosi and a whole bunch of Dems got played by the right in cahoots with AIPAC. At least Pelosi has the excuse senile since she hasn’t learned how the right wing works by now and it’s way past time she got put out of our misery.

    If Democrats don’t stand with each other against the right wing no matter what insane thing they accuse us of, that Dem needs to go.

  135. 135.

    Dan B

    @Renie: I’ll second what Adam said about conservative groups that develop strategic talking points. A lot of them operate as “Think Tanks” like AEI, Heartland Institute, and Cato Institut. They keep some liberal fellows on staff to provide cover but they’re primarily working to saturate media. Most have full TV and radio studios where they train spokespeople to look and sound reasonable. Combined with the influence of FOX News and Sinclair, plus dozens of extreme right wing outfits, we’re swimming in an ocean of right wing propaganda. There isn’t anything similar on the left in scale. Think Progress is an attempt but they’re not digging into the impact of corporate power because of their funding streams.

  136. 136.

    J R in WV

    @whippybear:

    Yet another ‘nym no one has ever seen here before, a poster who claims to think Speaker Pelosi is senile, and can’t really speak English very well.

    Fuck you very much, don’t stay and play, don’t come again!

Comments are closed.