Let's talk about the difference between "message" and "messaging."
We have a lot of discussions about this, but many of our arguments result from failing to make the distinction between these two VERY different concepts. Messaging is NOT the message.
The media is fond of saying Democrats have no message other than "not Trump." This is bullshit. It's right wing dishonesty. The Democrats have well established policies and clear areas of action that they consistently work to support and advance. I have listed some of these policies in other threads like this one: https://upload.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10230876
The Democrats' message, then, is well-established, broad and deep, ethical and democratic. In almost every domain that it touches, it outlines the course of action that is "just the right thing to do." I love the Democrats' message. It is why I am a Democrat.
HOWEVER, I still maintain that Democrats suck at messaging. Messaging is NOT the message. Messaging is how we get that message into the brains of the average American.
Some things that are proof that we suck at messaging:
1) The average American still believes the lie that the republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility. The truth is that the republicans blow up the economy EVERY TIME they come into office, and the stock market does much better under Democratic presidents.
2) The average American does not understand that republicans are coming after their medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
3) The average American's mind, when it hears the word "Trump" does not automatically think: "self confessed sex offender."
4) The average American does not understand that republicans routinely abuse active service people and veterans by opposing laws to improve their pay or passing laws to cut their benefits.
5) The average American believed that Benghazi was unprecedented (there were over 200 embassy attacks in the Bush administration, 60 resulting deaths) and it was Hillary's fault. The average American believed Hillary did something wrong with emails.
6) The average American never even knew that Stormy Daniels was a thing.
I could go on and on.
Republicans are good at messaging. When news comes out that is bad for them, they are disciplined in devising a message to squash it, and they are relentless in spreading that message. They all do their part. Every one of them makes sure they get their talking point into every interview. They repeat and repeat until the message they are repeating becomes accepted as truth even when it is a provable lie.
We must learn to match the republican talent for messaging. We cannot continue to let them mislead the average American about who we are and what we do. Our MESSAGE is too important to be drowned out by a lack of good MESSAGING.
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Yes they do. Sometimes more than one.
n. A statement made or read before a gathering: a retiring coach's farewell message.
Serious question. Is this the type of messaging we need: strongly worded, direct, take no prisoners, forget being polite?
Or is what CT doing the opposite of what we should be telling the country? It seems to me that most of the R's messaging is made to counter our message or making our people look bad. Most of what they say is in the form of an attack.
There are two ways to look at this: 1) We need results to save our country. A proven way to win the messaging war is to go on the offensive and attack. Too bad that Americans fall for this sort of crap, but we have to do it. 2) Our message should comprise more than an attack. Hell, we have a damned good message that is all about social and economic justice; let the messaging reflect our core values.
