2016 Postmortem

2016-12-13T0:46:48+00:00

The deeply negative campaign the party ran this cycle was self-defeating. It's one thing to mention the opponent's failings so you can contrast against them. It's another thing entirely to take your opportunity to speak to the electorate and toss it out to make room for a bunch of whining. Here's a post-convention speech that's practically all-negative: Her next event, days later, actually struck a mostly positive note. She laid out a lot of policy and discussed unification. (audio track has a bunch of noise, sorry, but it's a good speech and the best quality I could find) Which speech got all the attention from the party? The red meat one by far. Around the same time there were two by Kaine: Kaine talked about policy and contrasted against the GOP. (ignore the bogus video title, it's actually a really good discussion, especially at 27:25) Kaine also discussed policy at another rally a few days later. Started OK, but the last 2/3 were pretty much all about Trump. Which speech got all the attention from the party? The red meat one by far. Check out the campaign ads put out in the same time frame: "Everything" "Hat" Clinton spent a few million to talk about Trump and not about her or the future. My point is that the Hillary campaign clearly had the capacity to put out a sound message, but they chose to drive a hard negative campaign instead. As far as I can tell, the week I chose was the second most positive week between the convention and the election. The rest of the campaign until November seemed to be a steady slide toward nothing but complaints about Trump. It's no wonder voters were left wondering what the hell she stands for--that message was completely drowned out. The campaign went a whole lot more positive & policy-centric in the final week, but by then it was way too late. It's the equivalent of trying to use an all-nighter to make up for a semester of partying. Also, by the end of the race, the negativity had become so extreme that we reached the point of democrats attacking voters who voted for Trump, didn't vote against Trump the "right" way, or simply failed to sufficiently hate Trump and therefore might be sympathizers or something. It's no surprise that such behavior failed to win them over to our side or buttress turnout. To contrast that with Bernie, people still remember his message months after the primary. Why? Because his campaign was nearly all positive and used its air time to drive his message. The only attention they gave to Clinton was for the sake of contrast, to emphasize his message. I think this is as negative as he got, and it still gets around to driving his message. Most of his ads were super-positive with no negativity at all. Archive here: https://newrepublic.com/political-ad-database The party needs to strike a better balance next time. Leave the pig sty to the pigs.

Post removed Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:46 PM Dec 2016

Post removed

20 replies

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Post removed (Original Post) Post removed Dec 2016 OP

I am JUST ABOUT FUCKING TIRED OF THIS ANTI DEMOCRATS BULLSHIT FROM YOU KNOW WHO bravenak Dec 2016 #1

Sing it, sister! mcar Dec 2016 #5

It is not a relative measurement. hellofromreddit Dec 2016 #8

That is straight up bullshit bravenak Dec 2016 #13

No, there would have been posts here treestar Dec 2016 #2

Yeah, you'll always get complaints both ways. hellofromreddit Dec 2016 #10

Please go back to Reddit redstateblues Dec 2016 #3

YES bravenak Dec 2016 #4

I refuse. hellofromreddit Dec 2016 #11

My thoughts exactly. Squinch Dec 2016 #20

Why don't you take this bullshit ... NanceGreggs Dec 2016 #6

If I could put your bullshit elsewhere I would. hellofromreddit Dec 2016 #14

But you can't, can you? NanceGreggs Dec 2016 #17

You're all negative. What's your point? We babylonsister Dec 2016 #7

Discussion boards are for discussions. hellofromreddit Dec 2016 #12

Looks like some people don't understand pintobean Dec 2016 #9

Leave not going on offense to the WEAKLINGS! Great that she beat the SHIT out of him! But, RBInMaine Dec 2016 #15

I get the gist of your subject line. PLEASE take your own advice. George II Dec 2016 #16

... NanceGreggs Dec 2016 #18

Somewhere a sty is missing its pig. betsuni Dec 2016 #19

bravenak

(34,648 posts)

1. I am JUST ABOUT FUCKING TIRED OF THIS ANTI DEMOCRATS BULLSHIT FROM YOU KNOW WHO

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:49 PM

Dec 2016

Fuck this attck on democrats bullshit where you call us negative while Trump was talking about LOCKING UP MUSLIMS, DEPORTING MEXICANS, BLACK PEOPLE ARE LAZY ON HELL STREET... But you CALL DEMOCRATS THE NEGATIVE ONES??? FUCK THAT GARBAGE!

mcar

(42,334 posts)

5. Sing it, sister!

Reply to bravenak (Reply #1)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:55 PM

Dec 2016

I am right there with you. So sick of this nonsense.

And here, again, is me.

hellofromreddit

(1,182 posts)

8. It is not a relative measurement.

Reply to bravenak (Reply #1)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:59 PM

Dec 2016

Yeah, Trump's bad.

However, the campaign put on by the democrats was a failure due in part to a munged message. So I'm talking about how that happened. It's not my goal to hurt your feelings, but it's also not my goal to dance around them and let the party run headlong into the same giant screwup again.

bravenak

(34,648 posts)

13. That is straight up bullshit

Reply to hellofromreddit (Reply #8)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 09:03 PM

Dec 2016

treestar

(82,383 posts)

2. No, there would have been posts here

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:51 PM

Dec 2016

saying she was not going tough enough, why is she not mentioning this or that and so on.

hellofromreddit

(1,182 posts)

10. Yeah, you'll always get complaints both ways.

Reply to treestar (Reply #2)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 09:00 PM

Dec 2016

That's why I provided examples to show that my concern isn't just shooting from the hip or word-of-mouth bullshit.

redstateblues

(10,565 posts)

3. Please go back to Reddit

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:53 PM

Dec 2016

bravenak

(34,648 posts)

4. YES

Reply to redstateblues (Reply #3)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:54 PM

Dec 2016

hellofromreddit

(1,182 posts)

11. I refuse.

Reply to redstateblues (Reply #3)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 09:02 PM

Dec 2016

Squinch

(50,955 posts)

20. My thoughts exactly.

Reply to redstateblues (Reply #3)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 09:23 PM

Dec 2016

NanceGreggs

(27,815 posts)

6. Why don't you take this bullshit ...

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:58 PM

Dec 2016

... to a site where it will be - uh, "appreciated"? Ya know, a place where people who think like you can be enlightened by this same kind of bullshit they've been spewing for decades?

A quick Google search can point you in the "right" direction.

hellofromreddit

(1,182 posts)

14. If I could put your bullshit elsewhere I would.

Reply to NanceGreggs (Reply #6)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 09:05 PM

Dec 2016

(insert Kaine "believe me" shtick)

NanceGreggs

(27,815 posts)

17. But you can't, can you?

Reply to hellofromreddit (Reply #14)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 09:12 PM

Dec 2016

Insert: "I am being waaaay too obvious, and yet I can't believe people are on to me."

babylonsister

(171,072 posts)

7. You're all negative. What's your point? We

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:58 PM

Dec 2016

have this monster of a prez-elect, and this is what you're wasting your time on?

hellofromreddit

(1,182 posts)

12. Discussion boards are for discussions.

Reply to babylonsister (Reply #7)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 09:03 PM

Dec 2016

pintobean

(18,101 posts)

9. Looks like some people don't understand

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 08:59 PM

Dec 2016

the meaning of postmortem.

RBInMaine

(13,570 posts)

15. Leave not going on offense to the WEAKLINGS! Great that she beat the SHIT out of him! But,

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon Dec 12, 2016, 09:08 PM

Dec 2016

she also needed a clearer and more compelling economic message and needed to SHOW UP in areas she didn't.

But if you don't go on offense and hit your opponent HARD, you don't belong in politics.