The Language of Politics | Messaging Matters

Larry Elder California photo op goes horribly wrong

Written on September 10, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Good Government, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Venice Beach, CA, where fools and conservatives are not suffered gladly

As we mentioned several weeks ago, there’s a phony Republican effort to recall California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, that garnered enough signatures to become a real special election on September 14. One of the Republican candidates vying to unseat Gov. Newsom is conservative radio talk show host and conspiracy theorist Larry Elder, who, because of his celebrity (can you say Arnold Schwarzenegger?), is considered the front-runner among the Republican candidates. However, it seems that either Elder’s political instincts or his campaign staff were not ready for prime time on Wednesday, when Elder, who showed up for a staged photo op at a homeless encampment on Venice Beach to criticize Gov. Newsom, instead quickly had to be hustled away from the scene, as the crowd yelled and cursed at him, and one person even threw an egg at Elder. Here is a tweet from ABC7 TV in Los Angeles, containing video footage of the incident:

#HappeningNow – the homeless who live on Hampton and 3rd Ave in #venice don’t seem happy to see @larryelder – some are shouting at him to leave and now following him as he tours an encampment @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/CLMVwKskES

— Josh Haskell (@abc7JoshHaskell) September 8, 2021

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Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Gavin Newsom, homeless, Larry Elder, recall election, Twitter, Venice

Prominent right wingers being silenced by COVID

Written on September 1, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Anti-vaccine/anti-mask protester, August 2021

Three right wing radio hosts who railed against COVID vaccinations and masks have died of COVID just in the past month. They are Phil Valentine, Dick Farrel and Marc Bernier. They are joined by other prominent right wingers, including Caleb Wallace, a self-described anti-mask “freedom fighter” who treated himself with the livestock deworming medicine Ivermectin and died of COVID last Saturday at age 30, and H. Scott Apley, a Texas Republican Official who criticized and mocked COVID vaccinations, and who died of COVID in early August at age 45. It is unknown how many others these conservatives in the spotlight caused to die by influencing their followers not to get vaccinated and/or wear masks in public places.

Examples of the diatribes of these dead conservatives include Marc Bernier’s last tweet (his Twitter account has now been deleted), in which Bernier, referring to Democratic government officials who exhort Americans to get vaccinated, wrote:”Now the US Government is acting like Nazi’s” [sic]. Likewise, as to Phil Valentine, according to WTVF NewsChannel 5, Nashville, TN:

In December of 2020 he tweeted “I have a very low risk of A) Getting COVID and B) dying of it if I do. Why would I risk getting a heart attack or paralysis by getting the vaccine?”

He even recorded a parody song – Vaxman – mocking the vaccine.

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Tags: Caleb Wallace, COVID, Dick Farrel, Donald Trump, Facebook, H. Scott Apley, Herman Cain, Ivermectin, Marc Bernier, mask, Phil Valentine, Twitter, vaccine

On Afghanistan coverage, the pushback begins

Written on August 25, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Messaging Maxims, Republican Messaging

U.S. Air National Guard members welcome Afghan evacuees in Kuwait

Often, the initial “news” coverage of a story is not the final word. Rather, events prove the original coverage wrong, and a strong counter-narrative develops and takes hold. For example, when the website to sign up for Affordable Care Act (ACA) healthcare coverage first went online in late 2013, it had technical problems for a short time. That’s not so unusual, given that the ACA and its website were (a) brand new, and (b) massive in scope. Nevertheless, the media, swayed by Republicans desperate to criticize President Barack Obama, went into a feeding frenzy, which not only covered all the problems with the new ACA website ad nauseam, but implied that the underlying ACA itself (and even Barack Obama’s presidency) therefore must be problematic, which was not the case. Thus, while the initial criticism was damaging to the ACA and President Obama, the website was soon fixed, millions of people signed up for healthcare coverage, and the popularity of this Obama cornerstone grew steadily and has remained high ever since.

Something similar now appears to be happening in Afghanistan. Many in the “news” media (in quotes because it’s more opinion than news) seem to be forgetting that it was Donald Trump who cozied up to the Taliban, first offering to invite them to the Camp David presidential retreat, then signing the agreement to let 5,000 of them out of prison and to pull U.S. troops out. Instead, the media, again fed by the same old dishonest Republican attacks, have been hammering President Joe Biden for the “calamity” and “disaster” of the Taliban taking over control of Afghanistan again, even though Biden had little or no room to prevent that outcome after the deal that Donald “The Art of the Deal” Trump struck. Moreover, it’s not just right wing media who are attacking President Biden. Here, for example, is CNN‘s Chief International Correspondent, Clarissa Ward, expressing feelings rather than investigating facts just a few days ago:

CNN’s @clarissaward in Kabul: “I'm sitting here for 12 hours in the airport, 8 hours on the airfield and I haven't seen a single US plane take off. How on Earth are you going to evacuate 50,000 people in the next two weeks? It just, it can’t happen.”

— Kate Sullivan (@KateSullivanDC) August 20, 2021

As can be seen after the jump, however, the pushback against these false narratives is beginning to take shape.

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Tags: ACA, Adam Kinzinger, Affordable Care Act, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, CNN, Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, John Harwood, President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Ronald Klain, Taliban

Send postcards to stop the Republican recall of California Governor Newsom

Written on August 18, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

California Governor Gavin Newsom

Republican ideas are not very popular, as is reflected in GOP election losses at the presidential level, in control of the U.S. Congress, and in a number of states. Nowhere is this more apparent than in California, where the voters routinely choose Democrats for virtually every statewide office. Rather than coming up with better policies and trying to sell them to voters, however, California Republicans instead have tried to circumvent the regular election process by commencing recall petition drives against California Governors. Backed by Republican millionaires, these recall petitions, which can get on the ballot as special elections, attempt to throw out the Democratic Governor and replace him with a Republican. The last time the Republicans tried this in California — against Governor Gray Davis in 2003 — it worked, and the result was the disastrous era of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now, the Republicans are at it again, and have forced a special election on September 14 to determine whether Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom should be recalled (and, hopefully for the GOP, replaced by a Republican).

However, Governor Newsom and the Democrats are not standing by idly. They have launched various “Vote No” campaigns, including personal appearances by Newsom and others. Even President Joe Biden is lending his support:

Gov. @GavinNewsom is leading California through unprecedented crises—he's a key partner in fighting the pandemic and helping build our economy back better. To keep him on the job, registered voters should vote no on the recall election by 9/14 and keep California moving forward.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 13, 2021

Part of this Democratic campaign is a large effort to get out the vote by sending hand-written postcards to California Democratic voters. We have a bunch of postcards on the way here to be written, and are really looking forward to joining this grassroots effort. The following are some resources to be part of this nationwide postcard writing campaign to save Governor Newsom’s duly won seat:

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Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Delta Variant, Democrats, Donald Trump, Florida, Gavin Newsom, GOP, Larry Elder, Louis DeJoy, President Joe Biden, recall election, Republicans, Texas, Twitter, USPS

In ironic twist, Republicans lose Big Business over COVID

Written on August 10, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Popular Political Phrases, Republican Messaging

Norwegian Cruise Line, fighting Republican COVID inaction

Last week, we reported that, by standing in the way of COVID vaccinations and precautions even as the delta variant ravages the U.S. population, Republicans are increasingly “out of touch with the current reality, and way behind the curve of events.” At the time, there was a small but growing number of big corporations and organizations (e.g. Walmart, Target, Tyson Foods, McDonald’s) that were ignoring Republican anti-safety ideology to some degree and taking precautions of their own, such as vaccination and masking requirements. Now, the list of such companies is growing rapidly, and includes, for example, Google, Facebook, United Airlines, and Frontier Airlines. Other companies, such as Delta Airlines, require the Coronavirus vaccine for new employees, and formally encourage vaccination for existing workers. At this point, therefore, an increasing percentage of U.S. workers is under some kind of COVID mandate from their employers, again in contrast to the unhealthy rhetoric from the GOP. It is also reasonable to think that many small businesses look to these larger companies for guidance, and will soon, if they do not already, require similar protections for their employees.

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Tags: Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Delta Variant, Democrats, Florida, NewsMax, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Republicans, Ron DeSantis

Republicans are losing the COVID war

Written on August 3, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Fox "News" Watch, Republican Messaging

Oregon National Guard soldier receiving COVID vaccine

On Monday, President Joe Biden‘s White House COVID-19 Data Director, Dr. Cyrus Shapar, reported that the United States had reached a long-sought milestone in vaccinations:

Milestone Monday just in: Today we hit 70% of adults w/ at least one dose! +468K doses reported administered, incl. 320K newly vaccinated (vs. 257K last Monday). 7-day average of newly vaccinated highest since July 4. Let's continue working to get more eligible vaccinated! 🇺🇸

— Dr. Cyrus Shahpar (@cyrusshahpar46) August 2, 2021

Perhaps not surprisingly, however, red states have been of little or no help in reaching this COVID vaccination milestone:

We have managed hit the 70 percent national average and with not one state carried by Donald Trump has reaching it -really says it all at this point. Keep plugging away and making progress I guess …

— Richard Sharpe (@Sharpe222) August 2, 2021

Nevertheless, despite the efforts of many Republicans, including those on Fox “News,” to raise doubts about and opposition to COVID vaccines and other precautions such as mask-wearing, things are starting to change. If these Republicans are waging a very sick war that keeps COVID alive and kills many Americans, it appears they are losing allies.

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Tags: CDC, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Florida, Hillary Clinton, masks, McDonald's, President Joe Biden, Ron DeSantis, vaccination, vaccine

The story is COVID. Drive the story.

Written on July 28, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

Everyone should be masking in public

If you subscribe to the right news services or social media accounts and look through the headlines, you will find out that right now, America and the world are facing a new COVID emergency. The problem, largely based on the “Delta variant,” is bad enough that organizations from the California State University System to the Washington Post are starting to require proof of COVID vaccination for those who show up in person, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.) announced Monday that it would mandate coronavirus vaccines for its front-line workers. Likewise, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) just announced that all people, including those fully vaccinated, should wear masks indoors again in areas with “high” or “substantial” COVID transmission.

However, U.S. Republicans, whose anti-vaccine, anti-mask diatribes and protests are largely responsible for the new COVID emergency, don’t want to talk about the new COVID surge (except, cynically, to try to blame President Joe Biden, who has made extraordinary strides and numerous public calls for full vaccination). Rather, Republicans want to distract by cosplaying about immigration, attacking the imaginary “Critical Race Theory,” fretting about trans people and their bathroom use, or just about anything else that is part of their 24/7 Culture War.

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Tags: 2022 elections, 2024 elections, Ashley Moody, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Critical Race Theory, culture war, Delta Variant, Democrats, Florida, immigration, LBGTQ, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Ron DeSantis, Texas, vaccination, vaccine

How to persuade Republicans to take the COVID vaccine

Written on July 20, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Fox "News" Watch

COVID vaccinations, increasingly received by Democrats

Right now, the Republican anti-science, anti-facts cult that previously enveloped climate change and the 2020 presidential election results has spread to the COVID vaccine. Indeed, Republican anti-COVID vaccine (and anti-mask) sentiment is directly intertwined with their Big Lie regarding the 2020 presidential election (that Donald Trump really beat Joe Biden, but Trump’s reelection was stolen by voter fraud), as reflected by the bizarre statement by Trump last Sunday that “people are refusing to take the Vaccine because they don’t trust his Administration, they don’t trust the Election results, and they certainly don’t trust the Fake News, which is refusing to tell the Truth.” Not surprisingly, the results in the red states have been especially deadly. After the jump, we’ll give what is perhaps the best suggestion to get more Republicans vaccinated and get us closer to a point of safety from COVID in America.

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Tags: 2020 Elections, 2022 elections, 2024 elections, CDC, climate change, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Democrats, Donald Trump, Fox News, Jared Kushner, Joe Biden, Rachelle Wolensky, Repubicans, vaccination, vaccine

Watch the Republicans’ language vs. President Biden’s

Written on June 28, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Fox "News" Watch, Republican Messaging

The Republicans’ 2021 political strategy

The Republicans’ Culture War is in high gear. That means Republicans attacking their favorite bogeymen. Here are some of the things Republicans have been saying lately, instead of helping to govern our country:

—“Antifa” (to the extent that’s even a real thing) and Black Lives Matter were responsible for the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capital, even though the FBI keeps rounding up one right wing extremist after another for the attack, many of whom were caught red-handed on video. Not surprisingly, Republicans are now attacking the FBI.

–Companies and others are destroying the country by acting “woke,” a substitute for the older “politically incorrect,” and meant to be a disparagement of perceived liberalism.

–Similarly, according to Republicans, liberals (especially in the media) are guilty of “cancel culture,” which seems to mean doing things like suspending Donald Trump from Twitter and Facebook for inciting violence in the January 6 attacks. Apparently, however, Republicans have no problem canceling things and people they don’t like, such as stripping Congresswoman Liz Cheney of her House leadership post for criticizing Trump, defunding ACORN and Planned Parenthood, or, as Trump recently suggested, banning Twitter and Facebook altogether.

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Tags: ACORN, American Jobs Plan, Antifa, Congress, COVID, Critical Race Theory, Democrats, Donald Trump, FBI, Fox News, Liz Cheney, Mark Milley, Planned Parenthood, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Tucker Carlson, woke

The January 6 Commission Democratic pivot

Written on May 28, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Uncategorized

The January 6 terrorist attack instigated by you know who

News headlines right now are proclaiming what has been obvious all along: that Congressional Republicans are desperately trying to block the creation of a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the deadly January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol. Given that the proposed commission would be created by legislation, and the Republican U.S. Senate minority can therefore filibuster such legislation, the commission is probably not going to happen. But who says there has to be a “bipartisan” commission regarding the January 6 attacks? The Democratic majorities of both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives have a perfectly good alternative:

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Tags: 2020 Election, 9/11 Commission, Condoleeza Rice, Democrats, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, insurrection, January 6, Pearl Harbor, Republicans, September 11, terrorism, U.S. Capitol, U.S. House, U.S. Senate