October 27, 2021

"As is often noted, the essence of the modern Republican Party has been boiled down to: Own the libs. The impulse on the other side is not parallel."

"Democrats try to mobilize their voters with promises to enact popular policies — paid family leave, expanded Medicare coverage, cheaper prescription drugs, universal pre-K and so on. Democratic voters were desperate to send Mr. Trump packing. But beyond that, what many, many blue-staters want isn’t to own red-state America so much as to return to ignoring it altogether.... [W]hile the non-MAGA electorate may be rightly exhausted, Democrats should beware of letting their voters get comfy or complacent just because Mr. Trump is currently cooling his heels in Florida. That is exactly what his Republican Party is counting on in Virginia — and everywhere else."

From "Why the Virginia Election Is Freaking Democrats Out" by Michelle Cottle (NYT).

I think both parties rely on emotional politics, and I laugh at the assertion that Democrats are mainly only soberly serving up rational policy proposals. Cottle is fretting that the voters Democrats are hoping to motivate are more tired that the ones Republicans are keeping warmed up. Her idea seems to be to stir up the Democratic-Party-oriented people about the way Republican-Party-oriented people are more stirred up: Political emotion is scary, so get politically emotional. Ironically, that's what's so damned tiresome. 

47 comments:

gilbar said...

Democrats try to mobilize their voters with promises to enact popular policies — paid family leave, expanded Medicare coverage, cheaper prescription drugs, universal pre-K and so on.

Republicans realize, that with MOST voters, policies such as paid family leave, expanded Medicare coverage, cheaper prescription drugs, universal pre-K and so on; are Literally, the Opposite of popular... and so on meaning CRT and chix with dicks raping young girls

Seriously, if your platform is:
We're not just going to Allow men to rape your daughters; we're going to Encourage it.
Maybe, just maybe, The dogs won't like your dogfood?

holdfast said...

While campaigning for Terry McAuliffe in Virginia, Joe Biden’s reanimated corpse mentioned Donald Trump 24 times I one speech.

It is my understanding that Donald Trump is not on the election ballot in Virginia next month.

I guess that “orange man bad” is all that Virginia Democrats have. They certainly don’t want to run on their education policies right now.

Real American said...

as if Democrats don't spend every election cycle telling voters that those nasty hate-filled bigoted Republicans want to murder them.

rhhardin said...

The left is soap opera - feelings are what matter and let us stir some up for you.

The right is ridicule of what the left is saying and doing. Traditionally it's in the form of amusement, but has changed to outrage, that is, the same as the left. Feelings are what matter and let us stir some up for you.

The change is a business decision. You need viewers and clicks. It's not a change for the better. It's women on both sides now, and they praise themselves for it.

Nobody's doing structure, the concern for which is what keeps systems from failing.

Amusement at least marked some thought process.

Joe said...

If blue-staters really want to ignore red-state America altogether, the sensible course would be for blue-state citizens to enact their preferred policies in blue states. The desire to nationalize every issue seems like the exact opposite of ignoring the red states.

I could see an argument that the blue-state proposals on climate change necessitate a national program. But family leave and universal pre-K don’t. Every blue state can set up any program it wants within its borders, no?

Iman said...

What a load of crap. Democrats aren’t genetically coded to mind their own business, they have to tell others how to run their lives (they’ll use force, if necessary) and they must feel like they’re heroic when doing it.

It’s their way or the highway, every alternative is racist… that’s how deep and intelligent they are.

Václav Patrik Šulik said...

I think both parties rely on emotional politics, and I laugh at the assertion that Democrats are mainly only soberly serving up rational policy proposals... Ironically, that's what's so damned tiresome.

Yes, this is so damn frustrating. On one hand, the Dems are rightfully pointing out that the GOP-candidates must toe the line with regard to Trumps vote fraud claims, yet Terry Mc is well known for his claims of voter fraud in the 2000 and 2004 elections - and then he brings in Stacy Abrams to make her claims that her election was stolen.

Last night, Joe Biden, who famously said that Mitt Romney would put African-Americans back in chains was last night saying Youngkin (who is more like Romney or Larry Hogan) was a January 6 extremist.

Krumhorn said...

what many, many blue-staters want isn’t to own red-state America so much as to return to ignoring it altogether

This is, of course, the biggest bag of dicks lie. The lefties will not rest until the rest of us are safely off to the re-edukation kamps.

- Krumhorn

Bilwick said...

What is "liberal" (i. e., statist) politics but appeal to emotion? Basically every "liberal" argument I see or hear is variation on the Appeal to Pity fallacy, usually dumbed down to "Need = Right." And of course there's the traditional leftist envy-stoking. And undergirding it all is Hatred--hatred of Liberty.

JPS said...

"many blue-staters want isn’t to own red-state America so much as to return to ignoring it altogether."

That would be wonderful news for America if true. But it isn't.

By and large, Republicans hear of policies they disagree with in deep blue states, shake their heads at the poor fools, and are glad they don't live there.

Democrats want to nationalize every state-level policy dispute. Georgia's election law. Texas' heartbeat law. Florida's approach to the pandemic.

Not suggesting there aren't some totalitarian-inclined assholes on the right, but there really is a huge imbalance in which political side would happy to ignore the other, and which one considers the other's existence an act of aggression against it.

Karen said...

After re-reading 1984 a few years ago, I was left with the (somewhat terrifying) notion that somehow we are all being played.
The game seems to be to always find an enemy, and the enemy changes every few years but the hate and the capacity to stir up everyone's emotions remains the same.

Joe Smith said...

Republicans are suckers...Charlie Brown personified.

Youngkin will lose, wither legitimately or via fraud.

Dems fight to win, and consolidate those wins.

They never stop stepping on the necks of their opponents.

Rs are too stupid to adapt those winning tactics...

wendybar said...

What a bunch of bull shit. We want America back. We hate the division and hate that Progressives give us. There is no tolerance unless you are 100% on board. Ask Kirsten Sinema. Progressives are Cloward and Pivening us to death. They want Socialism. They want Government to own us, tell us what to do, and pay for it. The rest of us want to be left alone. Why don't Progressives move to Cuba or Venezuela. They would be much happier, as would the rest of us. We want law and order...something that is missing in action since Obama was President. We want a Vice President who isn't helping to bail out rioters and looters who burned down cities. We want an active police force. We want boys to stay in boys locker rooms and girls to stay in girls locker rooms. We want you to follow SCIENCE. Not just when it suits your agenda...but always. I could go on and on. These people are nuts.

gahrie said...

Which side appeals to logic and reason, and which side appeals to emotion and fear?

Sebastian said...

"mobilize their voters with promises to enact popular policies"

Translation: vote for us, and we'll give you more of other people's money.

Even that is BS: they mobilized their voters in 2020, and Joe just tried to mobilize voters in VA, with TrumpTrumpTrump.

BoatSchool said...

I’m a Northern Virginia resident. Voters here are fired up over the Loudon County and Fairfax County school boards ‘indoctrination programs and their covering up of student-on-student assaults - both sexual and non-sexual. This is an issue that is non-partisan.

In his ham-handed responses to the issue Terry McAwful continues to ignore the First Law of Holes, thereby considerably worsening his position with little time available to recover prior to Election Day.

This is why Dems are freaking out.

In the past few days McAwful’s campaign has rolled in Obama, Harris, and yesterday Biden to try to shore up heretofore at reliable Dems.

Obama threw minor amounts of gas on the McAwful dumpster fire by saying the student sexual assault charges were “trumped up” by right wing media to “juice their ratings.” That hasn’t gone over well with the soccer moms - D or R.

Harris was heckled in a Dem friendly setting.

Yesterday “Joey B” (hat tip to the long retire and deceased AMTRAK conductor who tracks Joe’s frequent traveler miles on the train) came and told more than a few well-documented lies. I know it’s hard to believe he told lies because you had his “…word on it as a Biden.” No joke. C’mon man.

Achilles said...

People are noticing that rape, criminality, and poverty are the results of democrat policies.

Democrats wouldn't clear 40% in an election with ID, paper ballots, and purple thumbs.

Their only recourse is mail in "voting."

boatbuilder said...

Little bit of projection going on there...

Assistant Village Idiot said...

They really believe this. Sure, there are some who would use the concept instrumentally, just because they think it will work, but most liberals think it is actually true.

That is actually the center of the problem. Liberals understand everything but themselves, and it ruins all.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

according to a September survey by Lake Research and Emerson College Polling

Kind of unfair to Palmer, isn't it?

Temujin said...

As has been stated by much better people than I:

When a Republican does something wrong, that's the story. When a Democrat does something wrong, the story is Republicans reaction.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Her idea seems to be to stir up the Democratic-Party-oriented people about the way Republican-Party-oriented people are more stirred up...

As Jim Treacher says; when the Republicans screw up the story is about the Republicans screwing up, but when the Dems screw up the story is about the Republican reaction to the Dem's screw up.

tim maguire said...

Reminds me of...not so long ago, when complaining about the Republican attack machine was the go-to weapon for the Democratic attack machine.

Lurker21 said...

If you want more government, your focus is on getting more government. If you don't, your focus is on stopping that. That can be characterized as "owning the libs," but that's a biased assessment. The idea that since Trump, Republicans have been narrowly focused on "owning the libs" is a staple of "principled conservative" NeverTrumpers. I think they're forgetting that politics is always a matter of partisanship. The GOP and the "principled conservatives" in the media were pretty fixated on "owning the libs" before Trump even showed up. Their retreat into "civility bullshit" covers a lot of sins.

But beyond that, what many, many blue-staters want isn’t to own red-state America so much as to return to ignoring it altogether....

Then why are the Democrats imposing their policies nationally? If you've noticed, they need a focus for their animosity, just like other people active in politics. It was Reagan, then Bush, then Romney, then Trump, now DeSantis. Democrats, liberals, and progressives do their own share of rabble rousing and agitation against enemies. Why else the talk about deplorables and bitter clingers? Why all the January 6th and white supremacy rhetoric? Obviously, they need enemies too and relish attacking them.

Aggie said...

The 'chief problem relates to their incessant lying. Their concerns are real; the things that Republicans keep warning about, keep coming to pass, conferring instant credibility every time it happens. This is not 'owning' the Libs. This is accurately predicting outcomes based on past behaviors. What a concept, being held accountable! Scary new ground for the Establishment types.

john mosby said...

The Dems want to ignore red state America? Hardly. Their program consists of nationwide laws that treat Hootin Holler Pennsatucky the same as the Bronx or East LA: gun laws, voting procedures, the lot.

Red staters could be mollified into silence by a grand bargain that let each type of state do its own thing.

But the D’s can’t bear the thought that somebody, somewhere, might be free.

And the’re worried about the red counties in blue states…

JSM

Mike Sylwester said...

I don't understand how such a muddled thinker and writer can become an editor at The New York Times.

Nancy said...

Hippo in spanx? Who is this idiot?

Tom T. said...

Cottle's comment is especially silly right now. I doubt that one in a hundred Democratic voters could identify what's in the Biden administration's $3.5 trillion bill with any specificity. The argument has always been nothing more than, "support this bill for the sake of our team."

Michael K said...

The Democrats run as moderates like Slow Joe used to be but, once in office, out come the trannies and the critical race theories and the other Halloween stuff.

Then there is the subtle stuff like spending trillions we don't have knowing it will never be repaid. I used to have videos of Maxine Waters and Barney Frank telling us how the mortgage crisis was n o big deal in 2006 after the Dims took Congress. Somehow those you-tube videos disappeared later.

Iman said...

“Kind of unfair to Palmer, isn't it?”

It is, but then again, Carl is the only one of the three up and residing on the sunny side of the turf!

Jim at said...

But beyond that, what many, many blue-staters want isn’t to own red-state America so much as to return to ignoring it altogether...

Then why don't you?

Amadeus 48 said...

Shorter Cottle: Obamaphones? You ain’t seen nothing yet. We got truckloads of free stuff! Vote for us!

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Democrats arguing the issues: "They're gonna put you all back in chains!"


"As is often noted, the essence of the modern Republican Party has been boiled down to: Own the libs. The impulse on the other side is not parallel."

That's true, the Left wants to own everybody, not just "conservatives"

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Václav Patrik Šulik said...
On one hand, the Dems are rightfully pointing out that the GOP-candidates must toe the line with regard to Trumps vote fraud claims, yet Terry Mc is well known for his claims of voter fraud in the 2000 and 2004 elections - and then he brings in Stacy Abrams to make her claims that her election was stolen.

So Václav, do you know anything at all about vote counting?

Please explain to us why a honest vote counter would stop counting votes on election night, where they still have votes in their possession to count. And tell us when and where was the last time this was done before 2020.

Please explain to us why honest vote counters would block poll watchers from doing their job?

If you can't explain those two things to us, please explain to us how you can think there was an honest election, when the vote counters in the places that flipped to Biden were clearly being dishonest?

Thank you

Clyde said...

No, "the impulse on the other side is not parallel." It's not "Own the cons," it's "Destroy the country."

KellyM said...

The Dems and Republicans (GOPe/Never-Trumpers) are two sides of the same coin. Those on the right are merely there to act as gatekeepers for those red-state rubes, inclined to vote for their more "conservative" position on issues. In reality, the GOPe are fully on board with everything the Dems propose; their purpose is to just slow the freight train down enough to make it palatable to their constituency. They play the role of being the gracious loser, with “gee whiz, we did everything we could!” as their excuse for folding like a wet paper bag.

But for many average people the scales have fallen from their eyes and are only now processing how great the extent to which the game is being played on a rigged field. It’s worse than Lucy snatching the football back when Charlie Brown is in full kick extension. It’s also him hitting the ground and then being pig-piled by rest of the neighborhood kids – and Snoopy to boot.

M said...

“ what many, many blue-staters want isn’t to own red-state America so much as to return to ignoring it altogether”

This is such bullshit. Democrats are mad because conservatives voters actually woke up to their Long March Through the Institutions and are starting to push back. They want Red voters to go back to not noticing the Left are predatorily grooming our children and stealing our wealth to fund their boondoggles and “non profit” slush funds. Dems don’t want to have to “own the Right”. They want to walk all over them without even noticing the lowly conservative peasants as they have done for thirty years. Most conservatives could happily live their lives with never confronting another leftist if the left wasn’t trying to take everything, including our children, country and culture, from us.

Leland said...

The NYT is trying to claim that Democrats are the populist now?

I do love the part that Democrats just want to win Virginia then ignore the Republican parts. They are such uniters.

I'm Not Sure said...

Lurker21 said...

"Then why are the Democrats imposing their policies nationally?"

Because when they do, and their policies turn things to shit (like they will), there won't be that inconvenient conservative state somewhere, with *their* policies clearly demonstrating that the progressives are lying, ignorant asshats.

Bottom line...
Conservative: "Leave me alone."
Progressive: "No."

Original Mike said...

"Why the Virginia Election Is Freaking Democrats Out" by Michelle Cottle (NYT)."

The fact that the prospect of losing an election is 'freaking you out' suggests you aren't the sober rationalist you claim to be.

Wince said...

Democrats try to mobilize their voters with promises to enact popular policies...

But like the "Billionaire's Tax," promises never quite delivered to keep the struggle going, while quietly enacting whatever is truly near and dear to themselves.

As Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed it by that much."

RMc said...

I think both parties rely on emotional politics, and I laugh at the assertion that Democrats are mainly only soberly serving up rational policy proposals.

My side is full of caring, clear-eyed centrists.
Your side has nothing but crazed, murderous lunatics.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Nothing crazy about defunding police.
nothing crazy about allowing Antifa and BLM to do what they want.
Nothing crazy about open borders.
nothing crazy about woke insanity.
Nothing crazy about CNN, NYTimes and WaPo and the democrat party dictating medicine.

Scott said...

Ann - this column is so bonkers it is scary. The NYT is so gone.

Bilwick said...

I'm curious: why isn't the usual gang of State-fellators weighing in on this?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

So Václav Patrik Šulik, what I see you saying is that you can't explain to us why honest vote counters would block poll watchers from doing their job, but your'e not going to think about what that entails.

Sad