Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In after Baud. Damn.

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

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

You are here: Home / Elections / 2022 Elections / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Excellent Speech, Subpar Media Response

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Excellent Speech, Subpar Media Response

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Congratulations, postcard writers — you have given Erick Erickson a big mad:


Another big Repub mad — Sparklepants Lowry:

Reader Interactions

128Comments

  3. 3.

    syphonblue

    LOL that postcard is real….I sent it.

    Well, not that literal one, but I sent postcards with that message on it out this year.

    Me and my wife both commented on how the wording was weird and vaguely threatening too lol

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I saw tamara’s happiness post and watched the Otto trailer. All I can say is, “Blech.”

  6. 6.

    Kay

    I can’t figure out if youth turnout is up or down. Political reporting is a mess now. It’s ridiculous – a cacophony of contradictory information. They can no longer answer the simplest questions. Useless.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Yeah, I saw something that said it was down, and I was disappointed.  Hope it’s all wrong.

    I’m looking to see what women, especially white women, and young people do this year.

    Re: Reminder. It’ll probably take several weeks to get any reliably accurate information about who turned out.

  9. 9.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    According to the reporting, it’s either up or down. I’m rooting for Gen Z to come out- they take a beating from cranky, Right leaning Gen X-ers :)

  10. 10.

    Suzanne

    The irony for me is that I literally YESTERDAY received a piece of mail from whatever the official board of elections is for the Commonwealth with my voting record in PA all shown there in table format, and it contained that exact sentence. “Who you vote for us private, but whether you vote is public record.” I guess it’s scarier to Erick Son of Erick when neatly printed on a postcard by Patty?

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    However, Zhao said he “did not know for sure” what Musk’s plans were regarding job reductions but he trusted that “he will do the right thing for the organisation”……………. “I trust him by reputation for sure. He’s a strong entrepreneur,” said Zhao, adding that he works with many people he has never met.

    How to say, “I may be intelligent, but I’m not very smart.” without saying, “I may be intelligent, but I’m not very smart.”

  13. 13.

    Kay

    Rich Lowry
    @RichLowry
    So Biden is not going to mention that the Paul Pelosi attacker was seriously mentally ill, and instead connect his heinous act to January 6?
    How tawdry and dishonest, although not unexpected.

    The liberal argument, Biden’s argument, is that Republicans cheering on violence will resonate with people who are already unstable. The January 6th insurgents arrived in DC primed for violence – self selecting as more likely to be nuts- and Trump fed it and urged them to act on it.
    Republicans can continue to pretend they don’t understand this very simple concept but yelling “mental illness!” every time there’s domestic terrorism is not responsive to the liberal argument.

  15. 15.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay:

    Political reporting is a mess now. It’s ridiculous – a cacophony of contradictory information. They can no longer answer the simplest questions. Useless. 

    QFT

  17. 17.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I’ve heard racist right wing talk show hosts tie every black criminal to Dems.  They know what they’re doing.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    How do we know that January 6th Trump supporters came prepared for violence and are unstable people? Because of what they brought. The zip ties and bear spray and weapons didn’t magically appear in the hands of people who came to peaceably assemble- they brought tools.  We heard testimony on this- they didn’t go thru metal detectors because they couldn’t – they were armed. Which Republicans knew.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    Funny reddit comment.

    Elon Musk ain’t ever going to be ready. He fell outta his momma with everything he is currently bringing to the table.

  22. 22.

    Princess

    Can’t believe no one replying to that Erickson tweet went for the obvious “Blaine? His name is Blaine? That’s not a name it’s a major appliance!”

  25. 25.

    randy khan

    I believe the “whether you voted is public” bit was first used by the Republican Party.  It’s definitely legal and, as the OP notes, research has proven that it’s effective.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I don’t think their members are going to reward Biden, at least in the construction and manufacturing unions. The unions for service/degreed workers will come out for Democrats, but they always do.

    It’s a shame. Biden is unequivocally the best labor President of my lifetime. It’s a tragically dumb move by members and to makes me not want to support them if they can’t figure that out. This is their pocketbooks. Its wages and benefits and safety – their abilty to earn. Idiots.

    They’re fucking booming too, in Ohio and Michigan. My middle son made 100k year last year as a 2nd year electrician. He has more overtime than he can do. He pays someone to cut his lawn because he doesn’t have time and he’s single with no children. He doesn’t even have a cat.

    They’ll be 45% or better GOP in Ohio despite the FACT that they’re all working and all making money.

  28. 28.

    p.a.

    The fact that A Mitchell is still employed after ‘both sides’-ing tRumpturd attacks on Chaney and Zingsinger (sp?) tells all we need to know about mainline US news media in 2022.

    Not that we didn’t know already.

  29. 29.

    YY_Sima Qian

    So, it looks like Netanyahu is set to return to power in Israel…

    Here is the pattern I am starting to see:

    1. A period of extremely right wing rule causes a reaction that brings the center left or centrists back to power – Biden after Trump, Gantz/Bennet after Netanyahu, & Lula after Balsonaro
    2. However, the center left return on much narrower margins than should be the case, indicating an increasing percentage of the population are conditioned to tolerate the ever more reactionary extremism, the shifting Overton Window, becoming ever more radicalized
    3. Current & future economic conditions around the world will be increasingly tough in the coming years, due to both structural (increasing protectionism, trade wars, polycrises in much of the Global South, the developing Sino-US technological decoupling that drive the world toward 2 blocks) & cyclic forces (such as the recession in the consumer electronics & semiconductor industries)
    4. Under such tough economic macro environment, when nativism, paranoia, & over-securitization of everything are already increasingly evident everywhere, the center left currently in power faces strong headwinds in the coming elections
    5. When the right wing return to power, they are more extremist than the previous iteration, because there is no peak-wing nut or peak-reactionary
    6. The EU unity over Russian invasion of Ukraine is masking, for now, the rising reactionary right wing that will put it under severe stress going forward, such increasingly illiberal forces are already in power in Hungary, Poland, Italy & Sweden, & gaining momentum in Germany & France

    The nativist/nationalist trend are there in autocracies, too, only w/o the speed bumps served by elections.

    This is not to suggest giving up. If you live in a democracy, what else can you do but to organize to fight back, leading up to elections & between elections, one battle at at time? However, the macro-dynamic is depressing, & the Sino-US Cold War will only reinforce the militarist reactionaries in both countries, & the other countries that choose to join.

    Perhaps the UK will show us the path out of this cycle, having suffered under right wing mis-rule for so long, & for a few years longer.

    My 2 cents, for what it’s worth.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @Kay: Like I said with regard to young people, it’s a credibility issue.  I’ll always vote my values, but I’m not going to care about people more than they care about themselves.

    (And, obviously, none of these groups are monoliths, so it’s hard to write them off categorically).

  33. 33.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    The gallows for Pence and the pipe bombs

    And, they knew where the PRIVATE offices were

    They would have easily killed Pence, Pelosi and others, if they had found them😡

  39. 39.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: You see that here, too. For many of the white union members their racism overcomes their concern about their pocketbooks. They figure their pocketbook will be protected either way, so they vote for the party that strokes their grievances.

  40. 40.

    Barney

    @randy khan: I’d love to see if the research also tested messages that weren’t quite so scolding. Whether I vote in the UK is not in the public record, and my immediate reaction to anyone sending a message like that is “if I find out who you are, then fuck you, I’m not voting for your candidate”. I can think of a message a lot more welcoming than that for first time voters.

  42. 42.

    trnc

    How is Biden supposed to move past the poison of Trumpism when republicans embrace it more strongly with every passing day?

  43. 43.

    rikyrah

    That sermon Bryant did on Walker left scorched Earth marks👏🏾👏🏾

    Did BJ point out his sermon on Walker? It was blistering. And wonderful

    Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) tweeted at 7:09 PM on Wed, Nov 02, 2022:
    “White evangelicals have been very prominent as to who it is that they push and why. But when the Black church clears its throat, then we hear, ‘what is the demarcation between church and state,’” @jamalhbryant
    https://t.co/oiDNsUJo1g
    (https://twitter.com/Eugene_Scott/status/1587960104611368960?t=yBuLluigiBbea15Gq0xmmg&s=03)

  44. 44.

    Booger

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Also, Musk operates in a tech-adjacent area, so many people are willing to provide greater deference to his opinions. People still don’t get technology two generations into the PC revolution.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    @trnc:

    It’s classic propaganda.

    1. Dem tries to heal nation.
    2. GOP rejects Dem efforts.
    3. Media blames Dem for failing to heal nation.

    They did the same thing with Obama.

  47. 47.

    Eyeroller

    @Barney: ​
     I saw that message promoted at BJ earlier and also had an immediate negative reaction to it. “Scolding” is probably a better description than “threatening.” But it’s very negative. I think it’s the postcards that have been shown to be effective; it’s unclear how much that particular message was tested.

  48. 48.

    MazeDancer

    While giving out PostCard addresses, I get “attached” to the candidates. Last night, Wiley Nickel of NC was on with Lawrence O’Donnell.

    When I saw the tweet promoting his upcoming appearance, I squealed “Wiley!” outloud, like I was his mother.

    For those of you who missed PostCard-ing, consider text-banking. Anonymous, uses words.

    PostCardPatriots.com has links to all 21 of the close races’ websites so you can join their phone, text, or canvas efforts, Also links to national groups with the same for every race. Just click my nym.

    Hold the House!

  50. 50.

    Kropacetic

    @Rich Lowry: So Biden is not going to mention that the Paul Pelosi attacker was seriously mentally ill

    So says the mental virus

  52. 52.

    Qrop Non Sequitur

    @Rich Lowry: So Biden is not going to mention that the Paul Pelosi attacker was seriously mentally ill

    So sayeth the mental contagion

  53. 53.

    Qrop Non Sequitur

    @Rich Lowry: So Biden is not going to mention that the Paul Pelosi attacker was seriously mentally ill

    So sayeth the mental contagion.

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: I don’t think their members are going to reward Biden, at least in the construction and manufacturing unions.
    …………………………
    It’s a tragically dumb move by members and to makes me not want to support them if they can’t figure that out. This is their pocketbooks. Its wages and benefits and safety – their abilty to earn. Idiots.

    Same as it ever was Kay. I knocked heads with a number of them and could not make them see their idiocy.

  57. 57.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: The white working class in MA votes D and I think the reason is organized labor. Which has been strong in New England compared to the rest of the country. When I lived in Maine for example most of the degreed types were independents prided themselves that they voted for Olympia Snowe but the most avid Ds I met were WW men who used to work in the shop repairing stuff that we needed for labs etc. They knew that Rs were poison for unions. This was early aughts.

  59. 59.

    Paul in KY

    @Princess: Blaine is the name of an AI controlled train in Mr. King’s Gunslinger Series. You would not like to take a trip on that train.

  62. 62.

    Ohio Mom

    @syphonblue: Ohio Son also got a postcard with similar wording. I think it’s because he voted for Hillary and skipped the last election (take it from me, you shouldn’t bother to try deciphering an autistic mind).

  64. 64.

    E.

    @YY_Sima Qian: Climate change will dramatically amplify every mechanism you listed. As resources become more scarce everyone’s anxiety will increase, and some parts of the world will radicalize very quickly if people are not given the information and power needed to adapt.

  66. 66.

    Soprano2

    I just listened to Biden’s speech from last night, and I can’t figure out what part Ronna Romney McDaniel thinks “attacked all Americans”. Do you think any reporter will actually ask her to point to the part of the speech that did that? Yeah, me neither.

  68. 68.

    Ohio Mom

    @YY_Sima Qian: My unsubstantiated belief (though I bet this is googeable) about Israel is that the country has a terrible brain drain of educated and sophisticated voters. Why stay there if you can emigrate to a relatively sane industrialized Democracy?

    The people left behind are more religious and more reactionary. This is different than what’s happening here in the US, we don’t have that level of emigration.

    I think the same dynamic is true to some extent of Palestinians. Doesn’t bode well for the future of the area.

  70. 70.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

     It’s like the inverse of “if you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich.” Musk is rich. Ergo, he is smart.

    That Tevye fellow had a few words about that:

    The most important men in town would come to fawn on me
    They would ask me to advise them
    Like a Solomon the Wise
    “If you please, Reb Tevye…”
    “Pardon me, Reb Tevye…”
    Posing problems that would cross a rabbi’s eyes
    Ya-da-dee-da-da, Ya-da-dee-da
    And it won’t make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong
    When you’re rich, they think you really know

  72. 72.

    trucmat

    I admit to not liking Twitter from the start and have never had an account. For a long time embedded tweets didn’t even show for me in my browser. Probably because of AdBlock.

    Starting with the war in Ukraine I began reading a few tweeters such as Hertling and Rubin and even Galeev. I’ll open embeds on a few others now but with the purchase by Musk I’m back to ignoring tweets where you need to go to Twitter for context. If the embed doesn’t make sense then your post may not either. If you are depending mostly on embeds to make your point be aware there’s some quantity of readers who’ll just fly right on by without getting the point.

    FWIW from one reader

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    @YY_Sima Qian: The election result in Israel was very disappointing, and did show the extremism you speak of. The radical, racist National Religious party more  than doubled its representation in the Knesset, from 6 to 14. Before the election, a former IDF Chief of Staff warned that putting their ideas into practice would lead to civil war.

    This was a high turnout election, but not really a landslide for the Right. The Arab party Balad and the liberal party Meretz both polled just under the 3.25% threshold required to win four seats, and were blanked. Balad fell out with the other parties in the Arab Joint list and ran separately, while Labor Party chief Merav Michaeli rebuffed her Meretz counterpart’s plea to run a joint slate.

    This fracturing of the leftwing vote let the 4-party bloc led by Netanyahu’s win 65 seats in the 120 member Knesset. The 6%+ of the votes won by Balad and Meretz meant that the anti-Netanyahu bloc left 4 or 5 MKs on the table. One preliminary analysis I read in the Jerusalem Post said that the anti-Bibi coalition polled fewer than 10,000 votes less than Netanyahu’s bloc.

  74. 74.

    Ken

    @Soprano2:  I can’t figure out what part Ronna Romney McDaniel thinks “attacked all Americans”.

    Maybe she meant to use the usual Republican phrase, “all real Americans”, and misspoke. That works, since Republicans are now defining real Americans as those who want to overthrow democracy to install Republicans in power forever, and Biden’s speech definitely attacked them.

  76. 76.

    Eunicecycle

    Our local paper had a story from USA Today that talked to early voters in Ohio. If the pattern holds true JD Vance is toast. People really like Tim Ryan and don’t like Vance. It also says DeWine will get another term. Sigh. I would link to the story but it’s paywalled and the paper doesn’t do the guest link thingee.

  77. 77.

    John S.

    @Baud:

    Don’t forget the rebound steps.

    1. GOP tries to destroy nation.
    2. Dem rejects GOP efforts.
    3. Media blames Dem for failing to heal nation. Both sides!
  78. 78.

    President Johnny Gentle (Famous Crooner)

    The difference is that Republicans are actually destroying democracy and many/most of our voters don’t really believe it, can’t see it everyday and therefore aren’t terribly motivated to vote on that basis.

    Meanwhile, Decmorats treasure democracy and have done nothing to hurt it, but republican voters believe the opposite with all their heart and are highly motivated to vote on that basis.

    They live in a permanent state of crisis, fear and hatred, which, frankly, is what makes people vote. “Those people are evil” or “Those people are coming for your children” are better motivators than “protect are institutions.”

  80. 80.

    lee

    Not to steal Adam’s thunder but it looks like the invaders have left Kherson.

    I think my initial comment got tangled up in moderation because it had to raw twitter links in it.

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    In case anyone was wondering how voting is going in South Florida:

    Miami-Dade Holds Off on Allowing Former Proud Boy to Serve as Poll Worker UPDATED

    Update published October 31, 2022 3:25 p.m.: After publication of this story, the Miami-Dade County Elections Department issued a statement saying that Gabriel Garcia is on the county’s volunteer standby list and is not currently assigned to a polling location.

    “Gabriel Garcia appears in the Miami-Dade County Elections Department’s poll worker database as scheduled to work on Election Day because he attended poll worker training. On October 11, 2022, the Supervisor of Elections learned about Mr. Garcia’s indictment and made the decision not to assign him to work on Election Day,” the elections department said.

    Miami-Dade County requires that poll volunteers during elections pledge to be “respectful of all voters” and to “remain nonpartisan,” but at least one high-profile volunteer has cast some doubt on his desire to follow those rules.

    “That’s right, you heard it right, I’m working the poll. Cry some more, liberals. Enjoy your day,” said ex-Vice City Proud Boys leader Gabriel Garcia while wearing a “Fuck Biden” hat in a video shared on the “Floridians FIRST” Telegram channel…

    Garcia isn’t the only person associated with the Proud Boys who will be checking in voters on election day next week.

    Two other men who were at one time affiliated with the Vice City Proud Boys — a Miami-based splinter sect of the group that’s now been disavowed by national leadership, according to members of the Villain City Proud Boys — will also be working the polls. Both men, along with Garcia, are members of the Miami-Dade GOP Executive Committee.

    Garcia, a former U.S. Army captain, currently faces six federal charges for his alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021 insurrection, when a group of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building to interrupt the certification of votes for the 2020 election of President Joe Biden.

    The other two are good to go since they aren’t charged with felonies, I guess. This is all fine! [imagine dog in burning building meme here] But seriously, I wonder how many insurrectionist creeps are running polls elsewhere in the state — places like where I live, where there isn’t a strong, independent local press to ferret them out.

  82. 82.

    Warren Senders

    I did several hundred postcards in 2020 with essentially that same text.  It’s a straightforward statement of fact.  In what universe is this “threatening”?

  83. 83.

    Jackie

    @rikyrah: Daily Beast covered that speech a few days after you first posted it. I’m surprised I haven’t seen it discussed on msnbc.

  85. 85.

    Tony G

    @Baud: That’s certainly true of this Democrat.  Whenever I write a Postcard to Voter it takes me a long time to write each postcard because it’s difficult for me to write legibly.

  87. 87.

    Eyeroller

    @Warren Senders: What RSA said upthread.  “Please vote.  We know your name and your address and can find out whether you voted or not.”  To me it sounds vaguely threatening, like at least I would get a scolding letter if I didn’t vote.​

  90. 90.

    JMS

    @Suzanne: we also got that (1 each for husband and me) with identical wording and table but from 2 different named orgs, neither of which we’d heard of. It was creepy and ill-advised.

    Also I haven’t paid much attention to the postcards but have people really been writing that on postcards???? Not good.

  92. 92.

    RaflW

    QFT:

    @HeadAsploding 14h

    Don’t have high expectations for Rich. He’s got to pay his bills just like a prostitute does.

  94. 94.

    Barney

    @Warren Senders: It implies the writer/shadowy organization to which the belong will be checking up, and sending a “why didn’t you vote??? I’m disappointed you don’t care about democracy” follow-up. It’s like Trump’s “why haven’t you sent me you money???” fundraising scams.

    If you think it’s just a straightforward statement of fact, then you’ve never realised that psychology comes into politics.

  97. 97.

    H.E.Wolf

    @JMS: ​
    “@Suzanne: we also got that (1 each for husband and me) with identical wording and table but from 2 different named orgs, neither of which we’d heard of. It was creepy and ill-advised.

    Also I haven’t paid much attention to the postcards but have people really been writing that on postcards???? Not good.”

    It’s probably well-intentioned… but among the other things it doesn’t take into account, it ignores the negative impact it may have on Black communities, whose history includes a lot of voter suppression via intimidation. (See also: armed right-wing vigilantes at polling/ballot drop-off locations.)

    PostcardsToVoters.org has had some illuminating social media posts over the years, explaining why they don’t use that type of message in their talking points for postcard writers. They are very clear that it’s not part of their “fun, friendly” approach to GOTV.​

  98. 98.

    Anyway

    I don’t follow Twitter much but enjoy and appreciate ALaurie’s posts with embedded tweets — it gives me a flavor of the larger conversation outside B-J. Sometimes it needs a little “connect the dots” but I am up for the challenge.

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    @trucmat: When you say “post” are you referring to a front-page post or to when someone posts a comment with a tweet, without explaining context?

    I assumed the latter, but then a comment below made me wonder what you actually meant. :-)

  100. 100.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Geminid: Vote counting in the Israeli election will be completed today. With most of the votes counted the total stood at a little over 4.5 million. Meretz, with 142,854 (3.17%) and Balad, with 133,313 (2.97%) both did not reach the 3.25% threshold and won no Knesset seats.

    Thirty other parties finished well below the threshold, including Fiery Youth, whose social media campaign emphasizing housing affordability attracted 8,022 voters. The Pirate Party finished with 1,535 votes, Me and You won 1259 votes, and There’s a Direction won 1,104.

    The Power to Influence party came in last with 138 votes.

  101. 101.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Eyeroller:

    @Barney:

    @randy khan:

    There is research on specific messaging, some focused on “norm consistency” messages vs “social pressure” messages, but iirc effectiveness of messages were context dependent.

    I got one of the “social pressure” postcards asserting that i voted less than my neighbors, which i would have been sure wasn’t true even if i didn’t have the county board of elections data with individual turnout records that gave me specific numbers. couldn’t tell who had sent the post card or why; or whether they made stuff up or made a mistake.

    @HE Wolf, Suzanne, JMS

    reading haphazardly, didn’t mean to exclude anyone commenting on this or anyone else…

  102. 102.

    Eyeroller

    @BlueGuitarist: OMG, they have no idea when sending postcards to names randomly selected whether the person responds negatively or positively to social pressure.  I am one who responds very negatively.  It’s also possible to phrase it better, maybe something like “voter records show that people around you are voting!  Join them!”

  104. 104.

    Jackie

    @Cant remember: And then there’s this study:

    ”Young voters aren’t apathetic — they’re anxious.
    Stress over where, how and for whom to vote — and wondering if their vote even matters — plays an overwhelming role in young peoples’ electoral participation.
    Numbers-wise, these uncertainties aren’t preventing young voters from showing up. This midterm season, 18- to 29-year-olds are projected to keep up their record-breaking turnout at polling places around the country, continuing the upward trend in electoral participation seen in recent years.”
    “First, young people, oft accused of being apathetic, are showing up on Election Day. In 2016, only 39 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds cast a ballot, compared to 50 percent in 2020 — still the lowest compared to older age groups, though by a much closer margin than in the past. In November, the number of young people at the polls is expected to match that of the 2018 midterms, which was a historic high.”

    ”And second, young people are not a monolith. By 2025, 50 percent of 14- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. will be non-white. Approximately 14 percent live in rural areas. Those under 30 years old are more disaffiliated from organized religion than ever before. And the number of young immigrant voters — or those who come from immigrant families — is greaterthan ever and continues to grow.”

    “….And at the top of young voters’ minds this November: abortion rights, environmental concerns and issues centered on policing and crime.”

    “Cynicism doesn’t necessarily lead young voters to disengage,” Medina said. “The more that young people say that they are cynical, the more likely they are actually to vote. Just because they’re disillusioned with the politicians, doesn’t mean they’re necessarily disillusioned about their own power.”

    Much more information at the link. I’m hopeful we’ll be seeing a huge youth vote turnout!

    https://www.grid.news/story/politics/2022/10/21/young-people-are-more-anxious-about-politics-than-ever-is-that-why-theyre-turning-out-to-vote-in-2022/

  105. 105.

    TheTruffle

    @Eyeroller: For one organization, we were told to provide positive, non-partisan messages to emphasize the importance of voting. I wrote about voting for the first time and feeling like I was part of history. I figured positive reinforcement without being pushy would work.

  106. 106.

    Eunicecycle

    @Eyeroller: I know I would respond negatively to either the message of “We know if you voted or not” or “You neighbors are voting more than you.” Both have a Big Brother vibe that I would find off-putting.

  107. 107.

    Jackie

    I got put into moderation – probably too many links embedded into the article itself. This article is an in-depth study re youth voters.

    Link

  108. 108.

    Geminid

    @TheTruffle: Yes, when I think of it that “we’ll know if you voted” message seems unneccessary and somewhat creepy. I wonder, what organizations are propagating these cards?

  109. 109.

    Served

    They’re escalating

    The Donut Hole in Tulsa, Oklahoma was firebombed after it hosted a drag show. This is the inevitable outcome of the stochastic terror incited by Tucker Carlson, Libs of Tiktok, Christopher Rufo, and Matt Walsh. Stirring moral panics for political points has violent outcomes.

    Link

  112. 112.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ohio Mom:

    My unsubstantiated belief (though I bet this is googeable) about Israel

    Israel was founded in racist and theocratic principles and actively, aggressively courts immigrants who like a racist and theocratic message.  I say this as a Jew with two siblings who fell for it.  It’s a mild and positively phrased version of such a message, but it is still racist and theocratic:  “Move to a country run by Jews, for Jews!  A Jewish homeland, the dream of Judaism!  Next Year In Jerusalem could be this year!”

    You’re going to get a big extra bump of right-wing population in a country like that.  The immigrants will be a mix, of course, but right-wing Jews love that message.

  113. 113.

    Mimi haha

    @rikyrah: The gallows for Pence were a joke. Not that they thought so, but if they really wanted to use that piece of crap to kill anyone, they’d have to beat them over the head with it.

  114. 114.

    Alice

    I got a mailer with that message from some generic named PAC and was also creeped out by the “we’re watching you” vibe. To make it even more unsettling, I couldn’t quite tell if it was pressuring me to vote or to not vote. I think it could easily discourage infrequent voters or people worried about voting blue in a red area.

  119. 119.

    James E Powell

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Now, I get slammed sometimes because it sounds like typical “Democrats are doing it wrong” but something exactly like that video should have been edited into a one minute ad that ran constantly during sporting events over the last month. Like the Republican “Democrats voted to open the border so drugs & murders could get in” ads did.

    Haven’t seen any ads that make the case FOR Democrats – as a party – in my lifetime.

  120. 120.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Eyeroller:

    Not hip to the nuances of the parlance of the researchers but guessing they would consider

    “voter records show that people around you are voting! Join them!” as a “norm consistency” message rather than “social pressure”

    iirc the group Sister District studied postcard rigorously from an activist perspective and rather than an academic one. Have to look that up after next week, or put it on the long list of things i’ve put off until after next week.

  121. 121.

    James E Powell

    @Eyeroller:

    I would prefer a completely positive message that made no reference to private or public information. Something like “Vote! You’ll be proud that you did!”

  123. 123.

    BlueGuitarist

    @James E Powell:

    “Vote! You’ll be proud that you did!”

    I like it. Some groups must use non-partisan messages.

    Not a wordsmith, but maybe for those that can send partisan messages:

    “Vote for Democrats up & down the ballot! You’ll be proud you did your part to save democracy”

    “Vote for Democrats up & down the ballot! You’ll be proud you did your part to keep the Republic, as Benjamin Franklin hoped”

  124. 124.

    Geminid

    @Frankensteinbeck: You could also say this country also was founded on theocracy and racism. Israel’s history is more compressed to be sure, but I wonder if the prevalence of these qualities is that much more in Israel than in the US, which is itself the biggest and most successful “colonial/settler project” ever. Also, I think both countries were founded on additional principles, good and bad, besides the two you cite

    I would differ with you on one issue regarding immigration. Israel actively encourages any and all Jews to immigrate, and I’ve not heard of any special effort by the state to recruit on the basis of racism or theocracy. Immigrants self select and on that basis may be more racist and theocratic, and groups in Israel may target appeals. But there are plenty of immigrants who are secular and are not attracted by the prospect of having people of another race to push around.

    Many Israeli immigrants are motivated by the belief that they and their children will not be safe in their native countries. The incidence of anti-semitic incitement and violence has risen in Europe  and the US, especially the last few years. I’m not directly threatened, but I can see how people who are might be alarmed.

    I remember reading about a poll of Jewish Americans. One question was, “Do you believe that another Holocaust is possible?” A majority answered in the affirmative. The poll was taken twenty years ago, but I wonder how different the answers would be today.

  125. 125.

    TheTruffle

    @BlueGuitarist: When I sent postcards, I would often say, “Thank you for being a voter!” It is odd to see Erickson’s bot followers sniping about postcards.

    It all depends on what the particular group wants. If it’s for a specific candidate, then yes, I’d put in partisan messages. But last week, I sent postcards with a generic message: “Thank you for being a voter! Election Day is coming up! Please remind your loved ones to vote!”

    Personally, I love sending postcards to voters. I find people are annoyed by calls and texts much of the time. But I figured a cute postcard with a helpful message could be effective.

  126. 126.

    trucmat

    @WaterGirl:

    Any comment, post, or article. For example an embed often is making a clever or sarcastic reply to some other tweet or article. But you have to go to Twitter to see to what they are responding. If the embed is clear and stands on its own then I have no complaint.

  128. 128.

    jayne

    Honestly, I’ve never been convinced that passive-aggressive junk mail is a great motivator. It’s definitely less obnoxious than the never ending stream of robo-calls and spam texts from people pretending to be celebrities.

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