Mary Sisney's Blog - Posts Tagged "julian-castro"
Democrats, If You're Listening: Winning in 2020
I briefly watched "The View" last week to hear the ladies' perspective on what I call the Jussie Smollett mess. As too often happens when I listen to talking heads opining on issues, I became annoyed with most of the ladies' lack of critical thinking skills and seeming unawareness of what really happened--what Jussie actually said versus what it was leaked by the police that he said, for instance. Before I turned them off, I listened to the discussion of what Joe Biden should do about the Anita Hill mess (he should apologize for the "high-tech lynching" of a black man, using alleged sexual misconduct) and found myself agreeing more with conservatives Ana and Meghan than with liberal Sunny. Ana said she was sick of Democrats apologizing. Amen, Ana, and they also need to stop resigning (see 2/17/19). In fact, the only candidates who should apologize are those who forced Al Franken out of his Senate seat (as well as his seat on the judiciary committee and place as an apparent frontrunner for the 2020 nomination) using fake stories about alleged sexual misconduct. Meghan warned the Democrats not to cannibalize each other. Amen, Meghan! Democrats should take the stance I believe Ronald Reagan took: Say nothing bad about a member of their party. In other words, the Democrats should take Bernie Sanders down for being an Independent trying to win the nomination of a party to which he does not belong and which he damaged at a crucial time (the convention) during the 2016 election. They should spend the rest of their ammunition on the insane, illegitimate President and his cultists. Here is some other advice for the 2020 candidates and the Democratic National Committee if they're listening:
1) Let everyone who has entered the race and is a registered Democrat (I assume that would be everyone except Bernie) debate. If MSNBC has to schedule three debates with eight candidates each in June, they should do it. The only requirements for being in the debate might be when they decided to run (maybe make the deadline for being in the first debate a month before the debate) and how long they've been a registered Democrat (since at least the last election). In 2016, only two (O'Malley and Clinton) of the five original candidates had been Democrats throughout their political careers. The party which is for taking money out of politics and who got screwed by internet hacking and the Russian trolls' disinformation campaign should not be using fundraising and online activity as screening tools. LET JULIAN CASTRO DEBATE IN JUNE!
2) During those debates, the candidates should resist any attempt by the moderators to persuade them to attack not only each other but any former Democratic President (Obama, Clinton, Carter) or candidate (H. Clinton, Kerry, Gore). Instead they should criticize the Republicans and/or the media. For instance, if the moderators ask a question about what Hillary did wrong during the 2016 campaign or about Obama's response to Russian intervention during that campaign, they should point out that despite nearly thirty years of demonization by the media, Russian intervention, voter suppression in key states, and Comey's last minute interference,
Hillary beat Trump by nearly three million votes (this will be a good time to attack the racist electoral college) while Trump destroyed all of those supposedly legitimate Republican candidates. He beat Rubio in Florida. Kasich could win only Ohio. Walker left before the voting began. When the moderators try to blame Obama for not doing more about Russia's attack on our election before November, 2016, debaters should mention what McConnell did and then attack the media for using the hacked e-mails against Hillary instead of discussing who hacked them and why. When they're on MSNBC, they should say, "We wouldn't be in this mess if NBC had fired Trump for his racist birther lies the way they fired Matt Lauer for whatever he did and Megyn Kelly for her politically incorrect comments." Candidates, check Newt Gingrich's takedown of a CNN reporter during the 2012 campaign for how to push back against the media.
2) In addition to the other important issues (racism, immigration, economic inequality, education, climate change, healthcare), the candidates need to focus on voting rights. They need to make the case strongly that our country is not a democracy right now. They need to talk not only about 2016 but also about the 2000 election. They should work in some digs at the Supreme Court (see my 7/22/18 post). Only one of the five current conservative justices (Biden's 1991 target the despicable Thomas) was appointed by a President who won a clear majority of the popular vote. Remind everyone how Bush won in 2000 (he also barely won in 2004 when it was raining in Ohio, and Democrats were forced to stand in long lines because they had fewer polling places) and then remind them what his appointees, along with three of the justices, including the appointed-by-Bush's father, despicable Thomas, who appointed him in 2000, did to our electoral system, gutting the Voting Rights Act and bringing more money back into politics with the Citizens United decision.
3) The candidates need to emphasize that Democrats are the party of progress and benefits. We move forward, not back, and we are responsible for the benefits that most Americans appreciate-- Social Security, Medicare, and the ACA, aka Obamacare. The Republicans want to eliminate or reduce all of those programs.
4) 2020 candidates need to show that we are the party that takes care of the working and middle class while they are the party who gives tax cuts to the rich while cutting programs (including educational ones) that mostly affect the middle class and poor. Point out that most rich people send their children to private schools. Also, point out (especially if there are not any born-rich 2020 candidates) that the last three Republican Presidents were born rich while the last three Democrats were not. Maybe not coincidentally, the Democrats are usually better at taking care of the economy. Use Obama and Clinton versus the two Bushes and Trump to show which party's President was more likely to increase the deficit and take us into a recession and which was more likely to shrink the deficit and pull us out of the recession.
5) The debaters should show by comparing Obama to all of the Republicans since Eisenhower which party is more corrupt. There were no indictments or convictions during his eight-year reign. There wasn't even a sex scandal as there was during Clinton's reign. We can contrast Clinton's scandal to what's going on now and what went on during the Reagan-Bush I, Bush II, and Nixon years. And weren't fewer people indicted during Clinton's years than during the Republicans' reigns? 2020 candidates could also make the point that when Republicans have the power in Congress and Democrats are in the White House, they chase phantom scandals and waste valuable time and resources investigating them. They should mention Whitewater and Benghazi and add, when there are real scandals in Republican administrations, the Congressional Republicans look the other way, or worse, try to help those administrations cover up their crimes.
6) I don't have a good slogan yet, but the Democrats should present themselves as the party of heart and head. We care about children and wouldn't put them in cages. We care about the elderly and wouldn't take away their benefits. We care about the mentally ill, the homeless, and the disabled (we wouldn't cut funding for the Special Olympics). But we also believe in science and want everyone to be educated.
7) Candidates should take the B-boy (Beto, Booker, etc.) approach of being more positive than negative. When criticizing the Republicans, they should use humor as often as possible and avoid anger. They should talk about our bright future.
8) The DNC should use a truth squad (to combat the GOP lies), a Trumpsplaining group of Democrats who are not running in 2020 to do the dirty work, bashing the GOP in the media. We should also send some white men to Fox (they can be nicer than the truth squad) to make our case to the "deplorables." The Fox audience will not be converted by a black woman. They see new liberal Fox commentator Donna Brazile as the enemy, as what they hate about the Democrats. Notice that the letter sent by the White House targeting his critics as people who shouldn't be on television did not include Maxine Waters or Elijah Cummings. Why not? They're chairs of major House committees, and no one bashes Trump more ferociously than Aunt Maxine. Obviously, the letter was meant for Fox. The white men they targeted could possibly change some Fox viewers' minds. If those white men are banned from Fox, find new ones--Martin O'Malley, who was such a great Obama surrogate in 2012 that he was initially my 2016 candidate, Mitch Landrieu, who is as personable as Martin but with a more pronounced southern accent, Sherrod Brown, who won in Ohio. The Democrats shouldn't debate on Fox if Republicans didn't debate on MSNBC in 2012 when they were the only candidates because we had an incumbent, but they should send articulate, calm, preferably good looking white men (you know, Obama without the pigmentation) to Fox to woo their sensible (if there are any left) viewers.
9) Although Ana and Meghan had some good advice for the Democrats last week, generally Democrats should ignore Republicans' advice or do the opposite of what they advise. We certainly shouldn't let the anti-Trump Republicans tell us what candidate to pick so that they will vote for him or her. When they say we should move to the center to get their votes, the candidates or their surrogates should ask politely, "So are you saying that if we pick a too far left candidate, you will vote for Trump, not vote, or vote for Mickey Mouse after what you have seen during Trump's first term? If you care about this country and the world, you will vote for the sane candidate who can beat Trump and who is not a Russian puppet. That will be the Democrat."
10) The DNC, the 2020 candidates, and all Democrats should use one of the reality television star's most effective strategies: Show more than tell. Use campaign commercials to highlight Trump's lies, hypocrisy, racism, and insanity. Don't just say he's a Putin puppet; show him bowing and scraping to his favorite dictator. Also show his flip flops (the Indivisible activists are good with visual aids; remember the Swamp creature last week, the flip flops outside Lindsey's office). Show him calling "Little Kim" "Little Rocket Man" and then praising him later. Show what he said about Comey before he fired him and after he fired him. Show what he said about Michael Cohen before Cohen turned on him and what he said after Cohen became a "rat." Do a whole wall montage, showing the different lies he's told about building a wall on the southern border. Use data and statistics to reveal his lies. Show the lie about his inaugural crowd and then show the crowd. Use some of the Republicans' public criticisms--what his new buddies Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz said during the 2016 campaign, what former Senators Flake and Corker said--against him. Show the pictures of immigrant children in cages. Use polls to show how Trump has destroyed our reputation around the world. Whenever possible, use polls and data to show how much better Obama did (with our reputation around the world, with the stock market, with the unemployment numbers, etc.) during his administration than Trump has done. Relentlessly repeat these pictures and statistics until only the craziest Trump cultists will be able to deny them.
Trump won the first time because we didn't think he could win. This time we know he can win, so we should be able to beat him soundly. We will lose only if we beat ourselves with help from the media and the unpatriotic, cultist Republicans. We need to be smart and focused so that we can beat Trump and Putin in 2020!
1) Let everyone who has entered the race and is a registered Democrat (I assume that would be everyone except Bernie) debate. If MSNBC has to schedule three debates with eight candidates each in June, they should do it. The only requirements for being in the debate might be when they decided to run (maybe make the deadline for being in the first debate a month before the debate) and how long they've been a registered Democrat (since at least the last election). In 2016, only two (O'Malley and Clinton) of the five original candidates had been Democrats throughout their political careers. The party which is for taking money out of politics and who got screwed by internet hacking and the Russian trolls' disinformation campaign should not be using fundraising and online activity as screening tools. LET JULIAN CASTRO DEBATE IN JUNE!
2) During those debates, the candidates should resist any attempt by the moderators to persuade them to attack not only each other but any former Democratic President (Obama, Clinton, Carter) or candidate (H. Clinton, Kerry, Gore). Instead they should criticize the Republicans and/or the media. For instance, if the moderators ask a question about what Hillary did wrong during the 2016 campaign or about Obama's response to Russian intervention during that campaign, they should point out that despite nearly thirty years of demonization by the media, Russian intervention, voter suppression in key states, and Comey's last minute interference,
Hillary beat Trump by nearly three million votes (this will be a good time to attack the racist electoral college) while Trump destroyed all of those supposedly legitimate Republican candidates. He beat Rubio in Florida. Kasich could win only Ohio. Walker left before the voting began. When the moderators try to blame Obama for not doing more about Russia's attack on our election before November, 2016, debaters should mention what McConnell did and then attack the media for using the hacked e-mails against Hillary instead of discussing who hacked them and why. When they're on MSNBC, they should say, "We wouldn't be in this mess if NBC had fired Trump for his racist birther lies the way they fired Matt Lauer for whatever he did and Megyn Kelly for her politically incorrect comments." Candidates, check Newt Gingrich's takedown of a CNN reporter during the 2012 campaign for how to push back against the media.
2) In addition to the other important issues (racism, immigration, economic inequality, education, climate change, healthcare), the candidates need to focus on voting rights. They need to make the case strongly that our country is not a democracy right now. They need to talk not only about 2016 but also about the 2000 election. They should work in some digs at the Supreme Court (see my 7/22/18 post). Only one of the five current conservative justices (Biden's 1991 target the despicable Thomas) was appointed by a President who won a clear majority of the popular vote. Remind everyone how Bush won in 2000 (he also barely won in 2004 when it was raining in Ohio, and Democrats were forced to stand in long lines because they had fewer polling places) and then remind them what his appointees, along with three of the justices, including the appointed-by-Bush's father, despicable Thomas, who appointed him in 2000, did to our electoral system, gutting the Voting Rights Act and bringing more money back into politics with the Citizens United decision.
3) The candidates need to emphasize that Democrats are the party of progress and benefits. We move forward, not back, and we are responsible for the benefits that most Americans appreciate-- Social Security, Medicare, and the ACA, aka Obamacare. The Republicans want to eliminate or reduce all of those programs.
4) 2020 candidates need to show that we are the party that takes care of the working and middle class while they are the party who gives tax cuts to the rich while cutting programs (including educational ones) that mostly affect the middle class and poor. Point out that most rich people send their children to private schools. Also, point out (especially if there are not any born-rich 2020 candidates) that the last three Republican Presidents were born rich while the last three Democrats were not. Maybe not coincidentally, the Democrats are usually better at taking care of the economy. Use Obama and Clinton versus the two Bushes and Trump to show which party's President was more likely to increase the deficit and take us into a recession and which was more likely to shrink the deficit and pull us out of the recession.
5) The debaters should show by comparing Obama to all of the Republicans since Eisenhower which party is more corrupt. There were no indictments or convictions during his eight-year reign. There wasn't even a sex scandal as there was during Clinton's reign. We can contrast Clinton's scandal to what's going on now and what went on during the Reagan-Bush I, Bush II, and Nixon years. And weren't fewer people indicted during Clinton's years than during the Republicans' reigns? 2020 candidates could also make the point that when Republicans have the power in Congress and Democrats are in the White House, they chase phantom scandals and waste valuable time and resources investigating them. They should mention Whitewater and Benghazi and add, when there are real scandals in Republican administrations, the Congressional Republicans look the other way, or worse, try to help those administrations cover up their crimes.
6) I don't have a good slogan yet, but the Democrats should present themselves as the party of heart and head. We care about children and wouldn't put them in cages. We care about the elderly and wouldn't take away their benefits. We care about the mentally ill, the homeless, and the disabled (we wouldn't cut funding for the Special Olympics). But we also believe in science and want everyone to be educated.
7) Candidates should take the B-boy (Beto, Booker, etc.) approach of being more positive than negative. When criticizing the Republicans, they should use humor as often as possible and avoid anger. They should talk about our bright future.
8) The DNC should use a truth squad (to combat the GOP lies), a Trumpsplaining group of Democrats who are not running in 2020 to do the dirty work, bashing the GOP in the media. We should also send some white men to Fox (they can be nicer than the truth squad) to make our case to the "deplorables." The Fox audience will not be converted by a black woman. They see new liberal Fox commentator Donna Brazile as the enemy, as what they hate about the Democrats. Notice that the letter sent by the White House targeting his critics as people who shouldn't be on television did not include Maxine Waters or Elijah Cummings. Why not? They're chairs of major House committees, and no one bashes Trump more ferociously than Aunt Maxine. Obviously, the letter was meant for Fox. The white men they targeted could possibly change some Fox viewers' minds. If those white men are banned from Fox, find new ones--Martin O'Malley, who was such a great Obama surrogate in 2012 that he was initially my 2016 candidate, Mitch Landrieu, who is as personable as Martin but with a more pronounced southern accent, Sherrod Brown, who won in Ohio. The Democrats shouldn't debate on Fox if Republicans didn't debate on MSNBC in 2012 when they were the only candidates because we had an incumbent, but they should send articulate, calm, preferably good looking white men (you know, Obama without the pigmentation) to Fox to woo their sensible (if there are any left) viewers.
9) Although Ana and Meghan had some good advice for the Democrats last week, generally Democrats should ignore Republicans' advice or do the opposite of what they advise. We certainly shouldn't let the anti-Trump Republicans tell us what candidate to pick so that they will vote for him or her. When they say we should move to the center to get their votes, the candidates or their surrogates should ask politely, "So are you saying that if we pick a too far left candidate, you will vote for Trump, not vote, or vote for Mickey Mouse after what you have seen during Trump's first term? If you care about this country and the world, you will vote for the sane candidate who can beat Trump and who is not a Russian puppet. That will be the Democrat."
10) The DNC, the 2020 candidates, and all Democrats should use one of the reality television star's most effective strategies: Show more than tell. Use campaign commercials to highlight Trump's lies, hypocrisy, racism, and insanity. Don't just say he's a Putin puppet; show him bowing and scraping to his favorite dictator. Also show his flip flops (the Indivisible activists are good with visual aids; remember the Swamp creature last week, the flip flops outside Lindsey's office). Show him calling "Little Kim" "Little Rocket Man" and then praising him later. Show what he said about Comey before he fired him and after he fired him. Show what he said about Michael Cohen before Cohen turned on him and what he said after Cohen became a "rat." Do a whole wall montage, showing the different lies he's told about building a wall on the southern border. Use data and statistics to reveal his lies. Show the lie about his inaugural crowd and then show the crowd. Use some of the Republicans' public criticisms--what his new buddies Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz said during the 2016 campaign, what former Senators Flake and Corker said--against him. Show the pictures of immigrant children in cages. Use polls to show how Trump has destroyed our reputation around the world. Whenever possible, use polls and data to show how much better Obama did (with our reputation around the world, with the stock market, with the unemployment numbers, etc.) during his administration than Trump has done. Relentlessly repeat these pictures and statistics until only the craziest Trump cultists will be able to deny them.
Trump won the first time because we didn't think he could win. This time we know he can win, so we should be able to beat him soundly. We will lose only if we beat ourselves with help from the media and the unpatriotic, cultist Republicans. We need to be smart and focused so that we can beat Trump and Putin in 2020!
