Democrats Fear the Party's Kavanaugh Obsession Could Backfire
Sensing a bump for Republicans, some strategists want to pivot if he’s confirmed. Problem is the base may not be so ready to let it go.
Lachlan Markay, Asawin Suebsaeng, Gideon Resnick, Sam Stein
10.04.18 4:49 PM ET
With Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court looking more likely, some top strategists in the Democratic Party have begun warning members to quickly move off the nomination after it comes up for a vote.
Accusations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a woman in both high school and college have galvanized progressives and led to a growth of online donations to Democratic candidates. But there are growing fears among Democrats that the epicenter of the national political conversation has moved away from more friendly terrain and that Republicans have become mobilized by the Kavanaugh fight in even more dramatic ways.
“The truth is that in nationalized elections—most of which are presidential but some of which can be midterms—if the dominant issue terrain is around the cultural sphere, Democrats lose,” said Kenneth Baer, a former Obama administration official and founder of Crosscut Strategies, LLC. “I cannot think of any election in the postwar period where Democrats have won when that was the case.”
For the first time since the Kavanaugh accusations surfaced, a fissure has become apparent within the Democratic ranks over what the best political strategy is moving forward. While Baer said he was heartened that Democrats were still running their campaigns on economic issues, he and others expressed fear that the party was becoming too consumed by the Supreme Court fight. Others argued that Kavanaugh's nomination had cemented a portrayal of Republicans as acutely anti-women.
“This has been a profound insult,” Washington Gov. and Democratic Governors’ Association chair Jay Inslee told The Daily Beast in an interview this week. “It is not a surprise. Kavanaugh is the perfect embodiment of Trump. It’s almost like he went out and looked for somebody who meets his own qualifications of disrespect and incivility. So I guess we shouldn’t be shocked.”
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/democrats-fear-the-partys-kavanaugh-obsession-could-backfire?ref=home
= new reply since forum marked as read
yada yada yada. No matter what happens, it's the Democrats fault, blah blah blah
All I'm saying here is that it serves no good purpose for people to continually wallow in negativity. It only spreads, diminishes our resolve, and eventually causes division and weakness within the party... and that only benefits the GOP.
But that is a natural state, I suppose? 
