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Dr. Oz Senate campaign implosion reaches comical levels

Written on August 25, 2022 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman

The 2022 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race between television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz on the Republican side and Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman is capturing tons of national media attention, but not for the reasons Dr. Oz would prefer. The Oz campaign has been especially tone-deaf, making one mistake after another, and Fetterman and his campaign have been quick to capitalize on each one.

Essentially, the Oz-Fetterman race has turned into a Culture War, to the great disadvantage of Dr. Oz. Usually, it’s the Republicans who try to run on Culture War issues, whether it’s abortion, attacking LGBTQ people and their rights, book banning, guns, etc., mostly as a distraction, because Republicans are extremely unpopular on economic and other issues of importance to most Americans. In Pennsylvania, however, Fetterman has turned the tables on Republicans regarding cultural issues.

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Tags: 2022 elections, Chef José Andrés, Congress, Democrats, Dr. Oz, food prices, healthcare, inflation, John Fetterman, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Republicans, Twitter, U.S. Senate, veterans

President Biden to celebrate Inflation Reduction Act in road show

Written on August 16, 2022 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Good Government

President Joe Biden, about to take his show on the road

Bloomberg News reported yesterday that President Joe Biden will hold a celebration event for the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) on September 6 at the White House, followed by a tour across the country to tout the IRA’s benefits. Here is the tweet from Bloomberg White House reporter Jenny Leonard showing the memo from White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain which outlines the plans for the IRA celebration:

Per new WH memo: Biden will host a celebration event for the Inflation Reduction Act at the White House on September 6 and travel across the country to highlight its benefits. @POTUS will also attend the groundbreaking of @intel’s Ohio semiconductor fab. pic.twitter.com/SCXDZjWul9

— Jenny Leonard (@jendeben) August 15, 2022

The U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act on August 7. The U.S. House passed it last Friday. In both cases, the IRA received no Republican votes. Vice President Kamala Harris had to cast the tie-breaking 51st vote for the IRA in the Senate. President Biden is expected to sign the IRA later today.

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Tags: Bloomberg News, Congress, Democrats, Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare, prescription drugs, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Twitter, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris, White House

Democrats co-opt Republican meme as “Dark Brandon” goes viral

Written on August 3, 2022 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

The attack that turned into a compliment

In an amazing flipping of the script, Democrats have taken back a Republican phrase used to denigrate President Joe Biden.

It all started last October, at the Sparks 300 NASCAR race at Talladega Motor Speedway in Alabama. During winner Brandon Brown‘s post-race interview, some in the crowd began chanting “Fu*k Joe Biden!” The interviewer instead claimed, either unknowingly or deliberately, that the crowd was chanting “Let’s Go Brandon!”

Soon, Republicans started saying “Let’s Go Brandon!” as a euphemism for the epithet against President Biden. Even a number of leading Republican politicians began uttering the phrase, wearing t-shirts and masks displaying the phrase, and referring to the Biden administration as “the Brandon administration.” The “Brandon” saying was going strong as recently as this past weekend, at Donald Trump‘s Saudi-sponsored golf tournament:

https://twitter.com/magatalker/status/1554112313887805441

However, over the past week or so, Democrats have suddenly taken the “Brandon” epithet back, and have turned it into an instant smash hit for President Biden.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Brandon, COVID, Dark Brandon, Democrats, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Twitter

Growing Twitter army touts Biden, Democratic accomplishments

Written on July 28, 2022 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch

Twitter activism is a click away

It’s no secret that Democratic Party has been slow to come up with a unifying theme for the 2022 midterm elections. We recently suggested that President Joe Biden, Congressman Eric Swalwell and others may have hit upon the unofficial theme “Freedom is on the Ballot” in November. That’s pretty good, and it should be spread far and wide. But the other part that is needed, especially when defending the last two years of Democrats in control of the White House and the U.S. House (control of the Senate is more tenuous with a 50-50 tie), is a strong recital of the Democrats’ record of accomplishments during this time.

Here’s where Twitter comes in. President Biden in particular has been very good about touting his administration’s achievements. For example, Biden is correctly taking credit for actions (such as releasing millions of barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve) that have led to a summer of falling gasoline prices:

A new report says my Administration’s actions have played a large part in making gas prices lower. And now those prices are coming down fast. pic.twitter.com/KxJzVLwfR5

— President Biden (@POTUS) July 26, 2022

Likewise, Biden White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain likes to get in on the action:

Gas prices are down EVERY day this summer so far — consumers are spending about $2 billion less on gas this week than they were in early June.

Why?https://t.co/eEhYs2t5tl

— Jeff Zients (@WHCOS) July 26, 2022

But in addition to these government officials, there is a growing army of citizens on Twitter who are spreading good news about President Biden’s and the Democrats’ accomplishments far and wide. Some of the prominent accounts in this Twitter army, including their Twitter page description and sample tweets, are:

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Tags: 2022 elections, Congress, Democrats, gasoline prices, President Joe Biden, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Republicans, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Twitter

Donald Trump impeached for third time

Written on June 23, 2022 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch

Next stop for Donald Trump?

Those who followed last Tuesday’s fourth hearing held by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol were treated to a stunning play-by-play of Donald Trump‘s criminal behavior in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The Committee impeached Trump’s character in every way.

Most devastating to Trump were the recordings of various telephone calls he, often accompanied by others such as Rudolph Giuliani, made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Arizona Speaker of the House Russell Bowers, pleading with them to entertain false claims of voter fraud, replace electors for Joe Biden with fake electors for Donald Trump, or “find votes” for Trump, all with the intent of overturning Biden’s election victories over Trump in those states. On such calls, Trump also made threats to these officials, such as threats of prosecution, for failing to follow through on Trump’s wishes.

While Raffensperger, Bowers and other state officials stood up to Trump, these calls by Trump were a big mistake, as he failed to insulate himself from criminal liability the way a Mafia don usually does, by letting others do his dirty work. As a result, Donald Trump faces a criminal investigation in Georgia, and members of the January 6 Committee say they have enough evidence to refer a criminal indictment against Trump to the U.S. Department of Justice. At minimum, Trump’s calls to Raffensperger and Bowers were as bad as his July 2019 phone call to Ukraine‘s President Vlodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump demanded that Zelensky investigate Joe Biden’s son Hunter to help Trump in his 2020 election efforts, in return for the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine so it could defend itself against Russia. That call to Zelensky led to Trump’s first impeachment.

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Tags: 2020 Election, ABC News, Brad Raffensperger, Congress, Democrats, Department of Justice, Donald Trump, Georgia, impeachment, January 6, Joe Biden, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, Russia, Twitter, U.S. Capitol, Ukraine

How will Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover affect Democrats?

Written on April 26, 2022 by Messaging Matters in Media Watch

Arbiter of free speech?

Yesterday, it was reported that Elon Musk will be buying Twitter for approximately $44 billion, and taking the company private. While Musk claims to value “free speech,” Democrats in particular are worried that Musk’s takeover of Twitter will mean the unbanning and unleashing of right wing violent hate speech. First and foremost on the minds of many such Democrats is the potential reinstatement of Donald Trump, who was permanently suspended from Twitter in January 2020 “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after Trump inspired, and allegedly instigated, the January 6, 2021 right wing terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol. Of course, nothing is permanent when Twitter is about to change hands. And speaking of hands, Elon Musk has tipped his repeatedly by using Republican code words, such as saying that “woke mind virus” and “wokeness” are threats to civilization.

Donald Trump claims that he will continue to stay off of Twitter, in favor of his “Truth Social“ platform. However, Truth Social has been an abject failure, and access to the many millions of Twitter users would be a temptation for any public figure, even one who wasn’t already a congenital liar like Trump.

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Tags: Democrats, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, George Takei, January 6, Mark Hamill, Republicans, Sci-Fi, Truth Social, Twitter, U.S. Capitol

Arnold Schwarzenegger releases stunning video for Russian citizens and soldiers

Written on March 18, 2022 by Messaging Matters in Media Watch

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Yesterday, Arnold Schwarzenegger took to his social media to release a striking 9-minute video intended for the people of Russia, and the soldiers of the Russian armed forces. The video can be viewed here on Arnold’s Twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/Schwarzenegger/status/1504426844199669762

The Atlantic published the transcript of the video here. The premise of Schwarzenegger’s video is that the Russian people are not being told the truth about Vladimir Putin‘s war on Ukraine.

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Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nazi, Russia, Twitter, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, World War 2

Sarah Palin loses gun scope court case as Republican shoots at Gabby Giffords’ husband in ad

Written on February 17, 2022 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

The Palin/violence connection runs deep

As we have mentioned on multiple occasions, one of the lowest points in Republican Death Culture politics was Sarah Palin‘s 2010 ad which placed gun scope crosshairs on nearly a score of U.S. Congressional districts, one of which was Arizona’s 8th district, then served by Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords. Palin introduced the ad to her Twitter followers with the gun analogy “Don’t retreat, instead- RELOAD!” Several months later, Rep. Giffords was shot in the head, six others were killed, and another 12 were wounded at Giffords’ outdoor political event in Tuscon.

While it has not been proven that the Arizona shooter was directly prompted by Palin’s gun scope ad, many people made this connection, and felt that the shooting was a natural result of Palin’s ad. Of the numerous pieces written about this, one was a New York Times editorial which stated that “the link … was clear” between Palin’s gun scope ad and the subsequent shooting of Giffords. Palin sued the New York Times for defamation over the editorial, but on Tuesday, she lost her court case. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the Times after the judge in the case ruled that Palin had failed to prove that the Times had acted with the required element of “actual malice” towards her.

At the same time, however, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon, who is running this year in Arizona against Gabby Giffords’ husband, Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, has been airing an ugly, violent TV and social media ad. The ad features Lamon shooting at lookalike actors portraying President Joe Biden, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Kelly. The dangers here are obvious and almost too ominous to think about.

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Tags: Arizona, Bill Clinton, elections, Gabby Giffords, gun control, gun violence, guns, Jim Lamon, Joe Biden, Mark Kelly, Nancy Pelosi, New York Times, Oklahoma City, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Twitter

Internet finally blows up over January 6 U.S. Capitol attack

Written on December 16, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch

Scene of the Trump crime

Republican Mark Meadows is in the lead to be this week’s Villain of the Week, although he has competition from cohorts such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham of Fox “News,” and as always, Donald Trump. That’s because, after many months of the mainstream media ignoring or downplaying the January 6, 2021 terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol that sought to overturn the election of Joe Biden as President, regular folks finally got fed up enough to light up the airwaves and share incriminating information about the Republicans.

In particular, word got around very quickly on Tuesday, by a vote of 222-208, the U.S. House of Representatives held Meadows in criminal Contempt of Congress. The vote took place after Meadows, a former Republican Congressman and White House Chief of Staff to Trump, who had originally cooperated with the House Committee, suddenly stopped cooperating, defying a subpoena to appear for a deposition, and indeed sued the committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attempting to defeat the subpoena for both his deposition and phone records. Before that happened, Meadows had turned over to the Committee a Republican PowerPoint presentation recommending Trump to declare a “National Security Emergency” in order to remain in the presidency rather than turn over power to Biden on Inauguration Day. Meadows had also given the committee text messages he received on January 6 while serving as Trump’s Chief of Staff, including ones from Hannity, Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade of Fox, and several from Donald Trump, Jr. These texts all had the same desperate tone, begging Meadows to get Donald Trump to stop the insurrection at the Capitol. For example, one of Ingraham’s texts read:

Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.

Likewise, Hannity’s January 6 text to Meadows, talking about Trump, was:

Can he make a statement? … Ask people to leave the Capitol.

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Tags: Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, Fox News, January 6, Laura Ingraham, Mark Meadows, Nancy Pelosi, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Sean Hannity, Twitter, U.S. Capitol, U.S. House

It’s a Biden Boom: share the news

Written on December 10, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Good Government, Media Watch

The Biden Boom

One of the most important stories of 2021 is one that does not get told enough: the Biden Economic Boom. Specifically, in less than 11 months, following the Trump Recession in which millions of jobs were lost, President Joe Biden has presided over a historic economic and jobs recovery. This includes:

–Extraordinary economic growth, estimated to be 7.8 percent this year.

–Income, wage and salary growth all way above the figures for 2018 and 2019.

–Unemployment falling from 6.3 percent in January 2021 (Donald Trump‘s last month in office) to just 4.2 percent last month, a historic drop in such a short time. And jobless claims just hit a new 52-year low.

Indeed, The Hill calls this “the fastest economic recovery in history.”

Moreover, the Biden Boom is no accident, but rather, a result of the Biden administration’s phenomenal efforts to vaccinate Americans against COVID; the American Rescue Plan which put money in the pockets of many Americans; and now the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (which may soon be followed by the Build Back Better Act). It turns out that Americans really do like competence in government, or what we call Good Government, and that is part of the Democratic Party’s brand.

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Tags: American Rescue Plan, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Democrats, Donald Trump, economy, infrastructure, jobs, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Twitter, unemployment, Zoom