● It's funny to me how the MSM never learns their own lessons. When they tried to destroy Ronald Reagan with Oliver North, they made the mistake of using camera angles that made him look heroic and the public really took to him. Yet, almost every image I see of this biased FBI agent Peter Strzok has him snarling or looking incredibly haughty. These are not looks that win people over or make the target a hero.
● The Democrats are feuding over what message to use. Some want to attack Kavanaugh as the destroyer of Obamacare. Some want to use him as the destroyer of abortion. Some want to attack him as a danger to the Russia investigation no one cares about. Some want to use every message they can think of. And the red state Democrats are panicking that all the attacks will hurt them. There are already a great many hand-wringing articles about this.● So, a month ago, the Democrats were crowing about Wisconsin proving that the Republicans were in trouble. It seemed spurious at the time, but who knows. Well, this weekend, there was an article at Politico about the Democrats being in a panic that Wisconsin is getting away from them. At the same time, I've seen several articles saying that the polls suggest the Democrats cannot take back the Senate because they will lose as many red state seats as they might hope to gain.
● The Washington Post article on Kavanaugh's debt has already tripped Democrats up as it was clearly a dirty trick. The Post suggested that Kavanaugh has a problem because he took on a lot of credit card debt buying baseball tickets and remodeling his home. Here's the problem: First, most Americans are in a similar position, especially when it comes to remodeling, so this line of attack just makes him relatable and it insults the public. Secondly, it contradicts their attack that he's some rich white guy (the latest version is that he's biased by his too-strong education yo). Third, it turns out that he didn't actually have "debt" as people understand it because he paid it off... so the story was a total lie. Fourth, the baseball ticket thing turned out to be that he bought tickets for a group and the others paid him back. That the Post sold this as a scandal has blown up on them and all the leftists who mindlessly repeated this.
● Something has struck me about the Democratic attack. They never once considered whether or not he is a good candidate. Instead, they went straight to "we will do what we need to do to defeat him." This utter lack of any genuine consideration feels dishonest... disingenuous. It feels like a dereliction of duty, like politics of destruction over Senate duties. It feels like people whose goal is to destroy rather than to govern. Between that, the smears, and the hard, hard left messages, I see this blowing up on the Democrats in the midterms, especially if they act like jackasses in the hearings.
I can't get over Agent Strozk's attitude towards Congress...I also can't get over his girlfriend refusing an order to appear before them...hell, I can't get over the Dims...they are coming apart at the seams. I'm seeing an awful lot of socialist talk from some of them...I think it's an attempt to get a few more votes..Lord, they're pitiful.
ReplyDeleteCritch, They are running wild right now. Proclaiming themselves socialists. Spewing intense hate at Trump and his family. Chasing government officials out of restaurants. Screaming about abortion as if it were a religious thing. Screaming about shutting down ICE.
ReplyDeleteAll of that is horrible PR.
1) I confess I missed the hearings but I can't imagine a scenario where they could make a difference in the current political climate.
ReplyDelete*Shrugs* Its possible some meme or something might arise from the hearings and push the public one way or the other.
2) The Democrats have clearly been unable to find anything derogatory about Kavanaugh. Still, he is a guy who will make one of the most powerful institutions in the country more conservative so most Dems will have to oppose him.
I don't think they can stop him, but if one wants to rise higher in a party one does so by opposing the other party, not accommodating them. That has been the case since at least the mid 90's.
3) Qualifications can be either a shield or a sword, but they are never the real reason attacks or defenses of judicial nominees happen. Its what positions a judge is likely to take that determine who their enemies and friends are.
4) I see North Korea followed up their cold shouldering and insulting of the secretary of state with a letter buttering up Trump. I literally laughed out loud when I read the text (they repeatedly call Trump 'your excellency'). They have his number.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/12/trump-tweets-very-nice-note-from-north-koreas-kim-jong-un.html
President Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted a letter to him from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un heralding "epochal progress" in U.S.-North Korea relations, despite signs that path-finding diplomacy between the adversaries is running into problems.
Trump described the letter as a "very nice note" and said, "Great progress being made!"
------
The secretary of state did not meet Kim as he had on his previous two trips to Pyongyang this year, and after his departure, the North's foreign ministry accused the U.S. of making "gangster-like" demands that it unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons.
I have to laugh. The British left was doing all these things with the idea of insulting Trump "because he's so think skinned." Like the giant baby balloon they floated over London.
ReplyDeleteSo Trump skipped London... and he gave an interview in which he ripped apart British leaders.
And now the Brits are incensed at how "rude" he is LOLOLOLOLOLOL! Whiny bastards!
Anthony, You've missed the points. The points are (1) that the Democrats are feuding over how to attack Kavanaugh, and some of them think it will end their political careers, and (2) the Democrats have been utterly brazen that they intend to fight him without ever asking if he would be a good candidate -- which actually is bad faith and a violation of their oath of office -- and without thought to the consequence. That won't play well with a public who doesn't care much for political conflict from either side.
ReplyDeleteI caught your points, I just slightly disagreed with some of them.
ReplyDelete1) Opposing Kavanaugh is a bad move for Red State Dems, who need to make the case they won't oppose Trump on all things. It is a great move for blue and even purple state Dems who need to demonstrate purity if they hope to rise (nods towards Obama and Trump).
2) Like I said, nobody actually cares about qualifications, they care about positions. Look at people celebrating Kavanaugh, they aren't happy about his credentials (At long last a graduate of Yale makes it to the SC!) they are happy about his positions. Ditto for his opponents.
As for how it plays with the public, I doubt the hearings will mean much. Most of the public doesn't watch entire hearings, they just watch snippets, and those snippets will be presented to them by their news source of choice (the one who tells them what they want to hear).
3) Regarding England Trump's criticism of Teresa Mays, it seems to me it was motivated more by her vacillating about Brexit than it was by the vociferous protests. Blaming Mays for the protests would be stupid because while England isn't the US it has a pretty strong tradition of free speech.
Mays has tried to position herself as an ally of Trump, but her weakness on Brexit has made her an enemy of England's populists (one of whom recently resigned from her cabinet) and thus apparently of Trump.
Andrew, I remember the left being all about optics. Not that I don't think they still are, but I think they're in a bind when it comes to making themselves look good.
ReplyDelete---
The Strzok photos are amazing! Now, maybe the guy is just hard to get a good photo of. However, we all know the press captures about a bazillion photos of every press conference and hearing and then a clutch of people pour over them looking for the ones that best suit the story they want to tell.
I can only think of two explanation for the terrible optics on Strzok:
1) Confirmation Bias: The press believes that Strzok really "got them" with his testimony and so didn't see anything wrong with photos that look the way that they feel.
2) A Pivot Point: The press is making Strzok into the fall guy. This again leads to two more possibilities: a) Allowing the Russia narrative to die, -or- b) Putting the FBI into the collusion mix. As of this morning, I've seen op-eds to either effect.
---
On Kavanaugh, it's obvious that Democrats would to oppose him to appeal to their base. But they need to appeal outside of their base in the Senate. What is telling is that Dems have so quickly burned through "he'll overturn Roe v. Wade" and "he'll tilt the court -OMG- conservative!" Those are the Dems' two best arguments and, apparently, they're not playing well. Keep in mind, Kavanaugh's hearing isn't even scheduled yet. This is the trial period for what justifications can actually work for Democrats seeking reelection. My guess is that those arguments lose points in the purple states, but not opposing Kav loses points in the blue states. They're in a bind.
FWIW, credentials can also be an Achilles heel. The thing I keep hearing about Kavanaugh is that his paper trail is very long, which tends to serve as a liability. Yet it apparently hasn't yielded any gotchas.
---
I'm also amazed at how the Democrat party has so readily gone full socialist. There was a time when the Dems would distance themselves from the likes of Ocasio-Cortez and turn their efforts toward a write-in campaign for their preferred candidate. I think in part they are bound by their own identity politics; it wouldn't look good to oppose a proud Latina. And maybe the party leaders think that they can appeal to immigrants by embracing the political system many of them fled?