Tag Archive: Democrats

President Biden handles the debt ceiling brilliantly

Written on June 2, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

President Biden may have just saved the country

With the U.S. House of Representatives having passed a bill on Wednesday night to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling, and the U.S. Senate passing the bill late last night, it is now all but certain that a historic Republican-caused default on the U.S. debt has been averted. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill at any time, and to address the nation this evening. While there is plenty of credit to go around, President Biden deserves the most praise for the extreme competence, professionalism and political savvy with which he has handled the issue.

Here is Biden’s statement after Wednesday’sj House vote, with emphasis added:

Tonight, the House took a critical step forward to prevent a first-ever default and protect our country’s hard-earned and historic economic recovery. This budget agreement is a bipartisan compromise. Neither side got everything it wanted. That’s the responsibility of governing. I want to thank Speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith, as well as Leader Jeffries for his leadership.
This agreement is good news for the American people and the American economy. It protects key priorities and accomplishments from the past two years, including historic investments that are creating good jobs across the country. And, it honors my commitment to safeguard Americans’ health care and protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It protects critical programs that millions of hardworking families, students, and veterans count on.

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We’re headed for the Republican Default

Written on May 25, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

America is quickly running out of this

The United States government may default on its debt obligations as soon as next Thursday, June 1, unless Congress agrees to legislation raising the debt ceiling, at least temporarily, before then. Today, however, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is sending House lawmakers home early for a long Memorial Day recess, seemingly uncaring about the debt ceiling crisis. That comes after Republicans, “led” (and we use the term loosely) by Speaker McCarthy, took America hostage by demanding that, in return for even talking about raising the debt ceiling so that we can pay for past spending, the government make huge cuts in veterans’ benefits, environmental protection, student loan forgiveness and other crucial areas in future spending. If a default happens, therefore, it is squarely the fault of Congressional Republicans.

The future spending that Republicans are trying to cut with a chainsaw is known as the budget, and is something that gets debated every year in a separate process. However, Republicans have tried to conflate the debt ceiling with the budget, and are now walking away from paying America’s bills, both literally by walking out of talks last week and now leaving Washington, and figuratively by making such extreme demands that cannot possibly be met. It appears at this point that Republicans want to blow up America’s (and possibly the world’s) economy, our stock market, our job market, our ability to pay Social Security and interest on Treasury bonds, and more. If so, the Republicans’ goal seems to be to create chaos and blame President Joe Biden, in a desperate attempt that they hope might lead to their reelection (see the book The Shock Doctrine for a discussion of this strategy).

Imagine trying to do this in your own life. Try telling American Express or MasterCard that you refuse to pay your credit card bills for past spending until you and your family can come up with a solution for controlling your household’s future spending. Try telling that to your mortgage company, or your utility company, or your phone or cable TV company.

Nevertheless, President Biden has bent over backwards to meet with Republicans and hold negotiations over the debt ceiling, discussing their extreme proposals, even though America’s debt is a solemn obligation over which he should not have to bargain. President Biden has made offers (to the consternation of many Democrats) to bridge the gap with Republicans, including tightening work requirements for individuals receiving federal aid. Thus far, however, the Republicans have shown no real movement in these talks, and indeed, some Republicans appear to be urging McCarthy not to compromise with the Democrats at all.

Make no mistake, therefore: any default by the United States at this time will be a Republican Default, and they must be made to own the political consequences.

Photo by Ervins Strauhmanis, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/rjPYTl

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Attention Florida voters!

Written on May 23, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging, Republican Myths

Florida voters, renew your mail-in voting status

If you’re a Florida voter, and you vote by mail, there’s an action item you need to take: Last January, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill passed by Florida’s Republican majority legislature to make it harder to vote. Specifically, the new law cancels automatic mail-in voting status for those who voted by mail in 2020 or 2022, and requires such voters to contact their county Board of Elections and make a new request for a mail-in ballot for the 2024 elections. The new Florida law also reduces the number of ballot drop boxes and implements stricter voter identification requirements.

The intent behind these voting restrictions, sadly, is to make it harder for many voters, especially likely Democratic voters, to cast their votes. Republicans across the country know that their policies are less popular with the voters, thus they can only win by cheating, stealing elections, and/or suppressing votes. Moreover, Republicans think (maybe erroneously) that in recent elections, they typically hold the lead as to in-person votes on Election Day, but when mail-in votes are counted (often after the polls close), Democrats pull in more votes and often end up winning. This has led to conspiracy theories by Republicans that somehow such elections are “stolen,” which is silly given that, in addition to the complete lack of evidence to support the charge, in Florida and many other states the relevant statewide offices (Governor, Secretary of State, etc.), and therefore the elections themselves, are controlled by Republicans.

Accordingly, if you are a Democratic voter in Florida, please call your county Board of Elections (the contact information should be easy to find online) to make sure your voter registration is up to date and to request mail-in voting status for 2024 if desired. Likewise, remind your Democratic friends and family members in Florida to do so too. Make a plan for the 2024 elections (including presidential primaries and the general election) to make sure your vote is properly cast and received on time. If you are a Republican voter, feel free to ignore all of this as “fake news.”

Photo by Tony Webster, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/kxQ2vq

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President Biden vs. Republicans: debt ceiling PR battle forming

Written on May 17, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Debt ceiling D-Day is June 1

We’ve been following the looming debt ceiling crisis since January. At that time, the U.S. federal debt ceiling, limited by law, was reached, and the government began to take so-called “extraordinary measures” to keep things running as is without going into default. However, the problem has not been solved, and it is rapidly coming to a head. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says that if Congress doesn’t pass a law extending the debt limit by June 1, the “extraordinary measures” will run out and we will begin to go into default. That could cause catastrophic economic results, including a deep recession, a stock market crash, a spike in interest rates, and the government’s inability to send out Social Security checks, or make interest payments on Treasury bonds.

Some people say the Republicans want to blow up the U.S. economy this way. The theory is that the Republicans, who number in the minority, can only take back the White House and full control of Congress via this big gamble of (1) crashing the economy and (2) blaming President Joe Biden and the Democrats for the crash. To that end, Republicans are holding the debt ceiling, which is the bill that must be paid for past spending, hostage to budget demands for massive cuts in future spending for veterans, the environment, renewable energy, student loan forgiveness and other crucial items, even though these are two completely separate legislative processes. Republicans may think they can get away with such hostage-taking in part because the mainstream media notoriously play the “both sides at fault” game, or even worse, may be more inclined falsely to blame President Biden for the current crisis and its possible consequences.

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Don’t give up on fighting gun violence

Written on May 9, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

Good Democratic messaging here

The gun violence situation looks very bad in America right now. We’re averaging more than one mass shooting every day. One of the latest such shootings took place in Allen, Texas last Saturday, where a gunman wearing a tactical vest with an “RWDS” (“Right Wing Death Squad”) patch opened fire with an AR-15-style assault weapon at a shopping mall, killing at least eight people, including two young children, and injuring approximately nine others. Meanwhile, Republican-run states are going the wrong way on guns, with Florida passing a law allowing residents to carry concealed guns without a permit, and a 2015 tweet from Texas Governor Greg Abbott resurfacing again this week, in which he complains that Texas lags behind California in gun purchases, and that Texans therefore need to buy more guns. To top it off, Republican Megyn Kelly, who should know better about toxic harmful behavior, tweeted the following last Saturday:

Serious q for gun control advocates: you’ve failed to effect change. Pls face it. You can’t do it, thx to the 2A. We’re all well aware you don’t like that fact, but fact it is. What’s next? Must we just stay here sad, concerned, lamenting? Could we possibly talk OTHER SOLUTIONS?

Then, after being reprimanded for her tweet, she doubled down with the following:

No YOU F off. I am sick and tired of nothing changing after mass shootings bc we get mired EVERY TIME IN THE DAMN GUN DEBATE. You have LOST. It’s DONE. For the love of God what else can be done? You are ruining any chance at change by not admitting that the gun debate is lost.

But giving up on fighting gun violence is the last thing we should do. First of all, let’s take a lesson from the Republicans, as we suggested back in 2011, and go on offense. Specifically, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that the Constitution provides for the right to an abortion, did the anti-choice Republicans give up? Quite the opposite! They embarked on an effort lasting nearly 50 years to fight that ruling, and they made steady progress at the federal level and in various states (waiting periods, parental consent, protests, closing clinics, late-term abortion bans, etc.), until, with the right combination of Republicans in the White House and the U.S. Senate to confirm enough right-wing justices, the Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson ruling. Along the way, outlawing abortion became one of the Republicans’ chief unifying issues and rallying cries.

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CNN is hosting Donald Trump, and people are freaking out

Written on May 3, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch

CNN covering 2019 Democratic Presidential debate

This week, CNN announced that it will host Donald Trump for a “town hall” event on May 10 in New Hampshire. This is a format that CNN likes to use with presidential candidates, and is essentially a one-on-one conversation with a CNN anchor or correspondent, on stage in front of an audience (some of whom get to ask questions as well), and televised live. Sometimes CNN interviews several candidates, one after the other, at the same event, and other times they hold a shorter event with just one candidate.

A number of Democrats, however, are reacting very badly to CNN’s announcement regarding the Donald Trump town hall. For example, in perusing various websites and social media platforms, statements and comments like these can be seen:

CNN is so desperate to boost its ratings, it will provide more free publicity for Trump.

Sure, have fascist insurrectionist town hall meetings air on cable news as if he hasn’t just been indicted and have 14 other investigations taking place in to his criminal activity, is just run of the mill normal. Nothing to be alarmed about, just another day in America.

It’s preposterous that CNN would invite someone to hold a purely political event who is currently being probed for his efforts to steal an election and stage a violent coup against the government of the United States.

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President Joe Biden makes “freedom” his reelection theme

Written on April 26, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

President Joe Biden, running for reelection

President Joe Biden announced his reelection campaign for 2024 in a video yesterday, that was remarkable for its theme of freedom. As we have written about repeatedly, “freedom” is a word and an idea that Republicans have tried to claim for themselves. Since it is such a bedrock American concept, we have been saying since 2013 that it would be a great idea if Democrats took “freedom” back from the Republicans. We were very heartened last year when President Biden and a number of Democrats did exactly that, running or supporting Democratic 2022 midterm election campaigns by stating that “freedom is on the ballot,” and mentioning “freedom from gun violence,” “freedom of health care choices” (including, of course, abortion) and “freedom to vote” as three specific examples.

Likewise, President Biden’s new ad (which includes Vice President Kamala Harris) starts off with “freedom” as the very first word, and continues, largely in Biden’s own voice, to talk about “personal freedom” being “fundamental to who we are as Americans.” The ad goes on to explain that “MAGA Republicans” are threatening our freedoms, by attempting to cut our Social Security, “dictating what health care decisions women can make (again, an obvious reference to abortion), banning books, and telling people who they can love, all while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote.” The ad asks voters to support President Biden so that he can “finish the job” of protecting these fundamental freedoms.

The ad is very effective, not only in flipping the script on the Republicans over “freedom,” but also grabbing the theme of patriotism, and attacking Republican hypocrisy over their claims of being for “smaller government” as they try to invade Americans’ doctor offices, bedrooms and bathrooms, in Florida and elsewhere.

All in all, President Biden’s campaign announcement ad is a welcome opening salvo in what promises to be a major battle of ideologies between the pro-freedom Democrats and the pro-fascism Republicans for 2024.

Photo by Maryland GovPics, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/Jpa2HA

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Ron DeSantis is crashing: does that help or hurt Democrats?

Written on April 21, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

Ron DeSantis (center), riding higher in 2021

Florida Governor and would-be 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has had a very bad week. First, on Monday, DeSantis continued his war against The Walt Disney Company, threatening to build a state prison or competing theme park next to Walt Disney World. Thus far, DeSantis has been on the losing end of his fight against the very well-lawyered Disney, which began when the gay-friendly Disney criticized DeSantis’ new “Don’t Say Gay” law. And this latest statement by DeSantis seems petty, as well as possibly unconstitutional.

Then, on Tuesday, DeSantis traveled to Washington, D.C. to gain support from Republican members of Congress for his all-but-announced presidential campaign. But instead, three Florida Congressmen took the opportunity to endorse DeSantis’ main rival, Donald Trump. Moreover, in one especially embarrassing instance, Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas literally walked out of a meeting with DeSantis and announced that he is endorsing Trump for President.

Given that DeSantis and Trump are the two clear front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination (with Trump ahead and gaining in the polls), there is little doubt that DeSantis’ troubles benefit Trump. Indeed, Trump piled on DeSantis on Tuesday by attacking his incompetence in the Disney matter, writing, with either typical name-calling or a typical Trump spelling mistake, “DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney.”

The question is, do these DeSantis failures help or hurt the Democrats for the 2024 presidential election?

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Republican overreaching may hurt them in 2024 elections

Written on April 14, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging

Younger activists, a major Republican fear

Republicans have a predictable pattern: even with government nearly evenly divided, they get drunk with power, use their votes to overreach with extreme policies, and wind up alienating voters in the next election. In June 2022, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court, with three new right wing Republican justices courtesy of Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell, voted along party lines to take away the right to abortion that had been established in the Court’s Roe v. Wade decision nearly 50 years earlier. This decision set off a firestorm among voters, especially younger voters, who showed up to the voting booths in droves five months later and gave the Democrats considerably better results (retaining control and actually winning a one-seat majority in the U.S, Senate, barely losing control of the House, and gaining state governorships and state legislature majorities) in an off-year election where the party in power usually does much worse.

Republicans, however, did not learn the lesson from the 2022 elections, i.e., that their extremism scared away voters. Instead, the GOP has charged ahead with even more extremist actions that could hurt them in 2024. These include:

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The Republican myth of “politicizing gun violence”

Written on March 29, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Fox "News" Watch, Good Government, Republican Messaging, Republican Myths

Political process in action

Once again, the cycle continues of a mass shooting in America, followed by a public outcry to do something, followed by Republican charges that Democrats are “politicizing gun violence.” It happened again this week, in the aftermath of the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, which involved an AR-style assault weapon and an AR-style pistol, and claimed the lives of three young school children and three adults. Reaction to the shooting included one mother who took over a Fox “News” live stream following a press conference at the scene, saying that she and her son had survived the shooting, and that:

How is this still happening? How are our children still dying and why are we failing them?

These shootings… will continue to happen until our lawmakers step up and pass gun safety legislation.

Democrats support and propose such gun safety legislation, and indeed, President Joe Biden and other Democrats called for a renewed Assault Weapons Ban after Monday’s Nashville school shooting. But the only response to the shooting from Republicans is to avoid talking about guns. On Monday, for example, Republican U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan postponed a committee meeting at which he and his Republican colleagues planned to nullify a recent rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives which defined firearms with stabilizing braces (allowing firing from the shoulder) as “rifles” subject to registration and other requirements. In postponing their action, Jordan stated that “Democrats were going to turn this tragic event into a political thing.” That charge is another Republican myth, and we will show why.

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