Democrats Have Some of The Best Communicators In The U.S. It Was Never About Communication

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Thu Nov 18, 2021, 10:59 AM - Edit history (1)

- U.S. Rep. Katie Porter lambasts big pharma over cancer drug price hike using whiteboard calculations, Oct. 1, 2020. Porter grilled former Celgene CEO Mark Alles over the connection between the significant price hike for Revlimid - a common cancer drug - and his personal bonus. U.S. House of Representatives.
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- Daily Kos, Nov. 17, 2021. - Ed.

This is just so frustrating. For my entire life (not just adult) there has been this constant refrain the Democrats do not know how to communicate. And I am sixty years old. Over and over it is said that people don’t know the good thing Democrats do and this is a big communication problem. There is actually a diary heading the trending stories list decrying Democrats inability to communicate.

You know what? I might take it more seriously if it wasn’t the same god damned story I have been reading for more than a half a century. For 10 years, maybe so. The Democrats are lost in the desert (anybody remember that one). For 20 years, well… maybe. The Democrats simply do not understand how to work the systems which is “wired” for Republicans. Possibly, but unlikely that the Democratic party would fail to adapt. More than half a century?

Maybe something else is going on. What makes this especially hard to swallow is that I think objectively the Democrat have some people who understand communication in the 21st century better than most. AOC is excellent in using social media. Cori Bush has an extraordinary flair for political theater (sleep in the steps of the capital). Katie Porter’s use of charts is..well...of the charts. These are only a few of the people who should be ruling the roost on communication. Are you going to tell me that the ugly and despised Mitch McConnell shuffling out and mumbling some misinformation about the “democrat” party is a better communication strategy. Or Donald Trump, who would have no social media presence if the media did not parrot everything he says — in honesty I think Trump is a social media idiot.

So what’s going on? If it was not apparent before it certainly is now, mass communication, that is mass media, is a bought and paid for phenomenon. It is controlled by oligarchs and their paid servants in the media. Let me ask you something, how can Politico, Punch Bowl news and Axios all exist and have incredible amounst of money as the same time, making their founders rich. They all do exactly the same thing, print close to exactly the same thing. At least one of them probably should have never come into existence in a normal communication landscape. How are so many people making money off of their substack newsletters? There are not that many people with that amount of extra money each month to have 10s if not 100s of substack subscriptions.
How come so many “journalists” have these high paying book deals all of a sudden.. I am old enough to remember when a book was the apogee of a journalist’s career, usually coming at the end.. Now I can’t turn on a news channel without somebody using it as a platform to hawk their book.

It has nothing to do with Democrats being bad communicators. It has to do with communication channels being shut to Democrats. Because there is no money in that. Until we start recognizing this and doing something about this, well…...we had a good run as a country. - More, Comments BELOW:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/11/17/2064789/-The-Democrats-have-some-of-the-best-communicators-in-the-U-S-It-was-never-about-communication

- Rep. Alan Grayson, FL. Raw Video: If You Get Sick, 'Die Quickly' Sept. 30, 2009.
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* Select Comments of 293 *

- Couldn’t agree more. I found the trending diary cringeworthy as a rallying cry for better communication without addressing the circumstances of how communication and media works in today’s U.S. It’s basically a nobody telling a bunch of people whose lives are devoted to this shit that they NEED TO PLAY BETTER CHESS, and ignoring the fact that the opposing side has more pieces.
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- i don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. . . we can’t break through the media curtain from the MSM without some kind of coordinated attack from all sides and without a coordinated message to overwhelm the corporate media
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I argued with a friend about this last night. He moved to California about 5 or 6 years ago, but before that worked in the senate for a democratic senator. He has this beltway mentality that if we just pass good legislation that will fix everything, and the issue isn’t what we say to American’s. I kept pointing out that vast majority of people never look at, read, or check what a bill actually does, so, just like we saw with the ACA, all that matters it what voters think the bill is.

He kept coming back to,” but this infrastructure bill is a big deal and we legislate better than republicans”, and I kept pointing out that that is what he cares about, not everyday Americans. All they care about is what they feel/believe legislation/administrations do, as Trump proved. He tried to tell me Republicans got nothing done under Trump, and I had to remind him, they almost overthrew our government just a year ago.
But, this is the same person, when Trump was first running kept telling me I was wrong he could and has high chance of winning. I kept again pointing out most voters care far more about how they feel than any reality based policy or discussion around it, and Trump knows how to message better than anyone to that American zeitgeist. He swore over and over I was wrong and deluded.

He clearly still doesn’t get that he is right about legislation being critical, but he is, like most the people in this party and base, missing the more important side. How is the rhetoric we are creating, using, and planting in the electorates mind affecting how they feel about our party and what we are trying to do?

We need to learn from the GOP, who has completely separated their messaging from their actual policies for the most part, and win because of it. How many years have I seen them run on platforms that are the completely opposite of what they do and Americans fall for it. I’m not saying we lie like they do though. I’m saying we need to worry more about the message when it comes to elections, and worry about policy when we win with a winning message. This also requires address the completely lopsided playing field both in more traditional media and within new digital social platforms. If we don’t have bigger or competing loud speaker, it won’t matter how good we get at messaging.
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- I mostly agree with you. But it’s not about bigger and louder. It’s about targeted to building support in rural areas with a message tailored to them in their language. A messenger who is effective at communicating with people in red states and rural areas. Trump did that extremely well. Hillary and especially Robby Mook never did.
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- Hillary got bashed from here to kingdom come and still got millions more votes.
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- He (Trump) resonated w/ their racism and their misogyny.
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And there it is. They never have any useful ideas that aren’t already employed. Democrats do simple messages, they are called stupid or condescending. Democrats do complex messages, they aren’t reaching the “common man”. No only do democrats have the best messengers politically, they by far have the best messengers in the culture. Left wing messaging is everywhere in music, TV, movies, books, etc. The freaking New Testament is giant treatise on left wing ideology.
Its not a messaging problem. Its that a lot of people like the Republican message of unearned, natural superiority and subsequent victimization by lesser people. It is a cheat code to the darkest parts of human psychology, one used by fascists millennia before they were called that. Its not something easily overcome. Even calling it by its name is a giant nono for pulling fence sitters back.

[CrispyQ]

1. Interesting that the three examples given of good communicators are all younger women.

Cori Bush, AOC, & Katie Porter.

Maybe it's the old guard that's the problem.

[BeyondGeography]

2. +1

[appalachiablue]

4. I noticed that about the women too, interesting point.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse also uses a whiteboard sometimes. Many of these demonstrations are given during House sessions and aired on C-Span which few average Americans follow.

[BeyondGeography]

6. I'll take age over gender as the key differentiator

Raskin, Buttigieg, Swalwell, the current edition of Tim Ryan eg…

[appalachiablue]

7. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse- rocks, highly effective.

- Sen. Whitehouse Remarks on Dark Money & Court Capture in Judiciary Hearing on Abortion Rights. Sept. 29, 2021. Hearing on Texas's abortion ban and reproductive rights.

[JudyM]

11. Yes, absolutely. Whitehouse rocks, he's one of our best.

An understated heavy-hitter.

[House of Roberts]

3. If we have such great communicators

how come the ones that go on TV are mostly the ones who can't articulate their way out of a sandwich baggie?

[Walleye]

5. People want to do the easy thing. Easier to lie and make stuff up then to find out the actual truth

[Wicked Blue]

8. As a retired journalist, I completely agree with this

I wish some wealthy liberals would pool their money and buy a newspaper, tv station, etc.

[2naSalit]

9. +1

[appalachiablue]

10. You said it, there's definitely money there.

Thom Steyer for one, several years ago Thom Hartmann said he wished he'd buy a media station.

And we could use a standard print publication since not everyone relies on the internet, something available in stores or by subscription. A 'Time magazine' that's not too wonky and explains issues clearly.

What a shame this isn't happening. For want of a nail... a battle was lost.

[JudyM]

12. We have some excellent communicators, but IMO, we need pithy catchphrases used repeatedly.

We need to repeatedly articulate what we stand for, what we are doing, in a handful of phrases that have a hook so folks on the street can talk about it. We can’t get through the RW noise without phrases that can stick in people’s minds. That plays a hand in how trump’s party has won, at least since Reagan. They have phrases that their followers can sneer at, from “welfare mothers” to “woke,” and we aren’t arming our people on the street with compelling counter-phrases. So a lot of folks just nod along. With or without mass media on our side, we need neurolinguists and marketing stars teaming up with our leadership to roll out some phrases that will both capture our message and capture minds.