Democrats' post-election 'family meeting' descends into chaos

[Klaralven]

Moderate House Democrats lashed out at their liberal colleagues on Thursday, using a marathon caucus-wide conference call to bash progressives for advancing an agenda that, the centrists said, cost the party a number of seats in Tuesday’s elections.

An impassioned Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who squeaked to victory in central Virginia, took liberals to task for promoting the policy of defunding the police, an idea that took off following the death of George Floyd in May — and that Republicans used on the campaign trail to hammer Democrats with charges of nurturing crime.

Spanberger called the Democrats’ campaign strategy “a failure.”

“I do disagree, Abigail, that it was a failure,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) interjected. “We won the House.”

Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) delivered a similar condemnation, lamenting that the far left’s approach to several issues — including defunding the police and banning fracking — had given ammunition to GOP attack ads. Veasey said he had watched GOP “commercial after commercial” using video footage of Democrats uttering the words, “defund the police,” to great effect.

Liberals immediately pushed back on the moderates’ narrative.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/524690-democrats-post-election-family-meeting-descends-into-chaos

[nycbos]

1. Defined the police is a incredibly stupid slogan.

Everyone thought we were actually gain seats in the house.

[bigtree]

23. it was never a Democratic slogan

...and even those decrying the political implications of that phrase managed to conflate the slogan, falsely, with the party.

They either allowed themselves to get drawn into the right wing canard, or they deliberately employed this complaint because they thought it gave them some political advantage, or used the distancing to define their 'centrism.'

The real mistake here was allowing the label to stick to the party, pure and simple. Those who played along and pretended it was some Democratic thing for them to denounce suffered, nonetheless.

[struggle4progress]

66. +

[comradebillyboy]

69. AOC isn't a Democrat?

https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a32849383/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-defund-the-police/

[moose65]

2. My question for them

Which Democrats, specifically, ran on a platform of “Defunding the Police”? 🙄

[chriscan64]

14. Nobody ran on that platform.

Every Democratic candidate in Texas had to explain that they didn't want to defund the police. Once the phrase entered the lexicon, the republicans hit every Democratic candidate with it.

[trc]

24. In texas they ran ads with cowboy hat wearing

law enforcement folks saying the democrats want to defund the police, all while showing violent protests. The optics were terrible. Defund the police is what you talk about once you have control of congress and the presidency. Not while you are trying to get there. And no candidate ran on that idea, we just got painted with it.

[Doremus]

32. If we run away fom terms that enter the lexicon, we'd have to remove the words "liberal,"

"Democratic," and "progressive" from our vocabularies. Hell, just get rid of the word "Democrat" all together because repukes have turned it into an epithet.

I have a better idea. How about our party learns how to control the message and frame it BEFORE the repukes have finished their slicing and dicing.

Also, a little self assurance and positivity go a long way to projecting a confident front. Time for Dems to stop running away in terror from the big mean repukes.

[Klaralven]

22. Congressional Candidate Kennedy supports Defunding of Police

Democrat candidate for Congress, Amy Kennedy, has now endorsed the defunding of police. The announcement came during an online interview conducted by a member of the Atlantic City NAACP.

Amy Kennedy says: “There’s a lot of merit to what we’re hearing around the country when we talk about how we should be reallocating funds to make healthy communities”.

https://brigantinenow.com/congressional-candidate-kennedy-supports-defunding-of-police/

Video of interview at the link.

[bigtree]

38. this is flat-out a republican hit site, not a news source

and you don't have a quote from the candidate saying 'defund the police.'

What you have is her republican opponent claiming she's advocating that, and YOU have managed to perpetuate that dubious charge here.

What the fuck is this anyway? Basically highlighting campaigning against a Democratic candidate for the sake of making this dubious point of yours of 'Democrats in Disarray."

[Klaralven]

40. Did you watch the video? She says "reallocating funds to make healthy communities"

That is understood by everyone to be the euphemism candidates employed to avoid actually saying "defund the police" verbatim.

[bigtree]

41. that interpretation is part and parcel of the right wing lexicon

...and here you are accusing this candidate of something antithetical to the party.

Your interpretation of her statement is flat out garbage.

[bigtree]

44. that same article also claims this Democratic candidate supports a criminal

...how is that not a hit piece on a Democratic candidate??

Delete that shit.

[Klaralven]

48. Craig Calloway went on to work for Jeff Van Drew

GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew is working again with a controversial Democratic mail ballot operative

Craig Callaway, the controversial Atlantic City political organizer, was paid another $60,000 by the re-election campaign of Congressman Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

According to the Oct. 27 filing, Callaway’s G.O.Y.V. company at 500 Wabash Ave. in Atlantic City was paid $10,000 and $50,000 on Oct. 1 for get-out-the-vote efforts.

A previous report showed Van Drew’s campaign had paid him $50,000, so the total is now $110,000.

Callaway had worked for Van Drew challenger Amy Kennedy, of Brigantine, during the primary election. She defeated four other Democrats for the right to go up against Van Drew.

...

“I’m a consultant,” Callaway, a former Atlantic City Council president who served time in federal prison on bribery and related charges, said in a phone interview this week. “I’m a businessperson. I’m supportive of Democratic candidates. But I have a sense of independence.”

The Atlantic City Democratic Committee, which is headed by Callaway’s sister Gwen Lewis and backed Kennedy in the primary, still supports the Democratic nominee.

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/new-jersey/jeff-van-drew-new-jersey-congressional-race-craig-callaway-20201027.html

South Jersey politics is another world.

[bigtree]

51. it's still a hit piece using right wing memes against this Democratic candidate

...who at NO TIME said she's in favor of 'defunding the police.'

[bigtree]

58. there's even a highlighted hit from the NRCC in it's own bloc on the page

NRCC Comment: “Amy Kennedy’s support for the radical ‘Defund the Police’ movement puts South Jersey law enforcement and communities at risk and proves she can’t be trusted to keep voters safe.” – NRCC Spokesman Michael McAdams

How is this not a RW hit piece that YOU have posted here?

[kansasobama]

3. AOC should be careful about being the face of the Party

Also, remember, Bernie, just 3 days before the election, acted like a renegade and said "Democrats are coastal party" or something to that effect. They have to learn, present a moderate face but legislate slightly left.

[phylny]

57. I live in rural Virginia, and her face and her words, along with "Radical

Liberal Agenda!" were used by the Republican running for the House (and the Republican won, although that's not a surprise here).

[kurtcagle]

4. Pretty sure that DTP was something the Rs pushed

That seemed to come out of nowhere, and I noticed that most Ds did not take that stance.

However, also note the source - The Hill is hardly nonpartisan in this matter.

[comradebillyboy]

68. "Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among the proponents of

the call to defund the police."

https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a32849383/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-defund-the-police/

[Autumn]

5. Not to nitpick but we had the House before George Floyed was brutally murdered.

It was during the protests over his murder and a few other killings that defund the police came about.

[essaynnc]

6. I disagree too.

If it wasn't police or fracking, it would be something else.

You want healthcare? Socialism!
You want access to abortion? Baby Killers!
You want social security? You taker!!
You want gun control? You're against the constitution!!

If it wasn't police or fracking that the republican echo machine decided on, it would be something else. From the messaging point of view, they're a very well oiled machine that the Dems don't have an answer to. This is something we have to figure out if we're going to expand our reach in the future.......

[hatrack]

13. This. Precisely this.

.

[Autumn]

19. THIS POST

Thank you.

[kurtcagle]

26. The Problem

is not so much in the messages as it is in the messengers. Dems are not perfect on the exaggeration standpoint, but they are usually pretty factual. The Republicans can say anything, truthful or not, and be believed. It gives them an overwhelming advantage in the short term but usually backfires when their castles collapse for lack of substance.

[Guilded Lilly]

27. Don't discount that Dem voters have diverse, accepting, broad minds and...

Republicans are frenzied, psycho, laser brained freaks.

(Just a thought)

[judesedit]

33. Agreed. We have to become better liars and loudmouths.

[JudyM]

61. Precisely. We need behavioral/cognitive linguistics experts to help craft compelling messaging.

Too many folks aren’t paying enough attention or don’t have the bandwidth for critical thinking, so we need to use emotional cognitive shortcuts to get concepts through to them.

[msongs]

7. some truth here - dems had a very bad day downticket from biden in general nt

[alarimer]

8. The old, dead wood at the top has to go.

Time for new blood and fresh ideas. They couldn't even manage to beat the QAnon candidates. The one in Georgia ran unopposed because the Democrat dropped out because of death threats and no support from the party. That should have been a slam dunk.

Appealing to Republicans is a waste of time. And what exactly is wrong with wanting to rein in the police? Do they need military equipment? No they do not. They also are ill-equipped to deal with certain situations; situation in which other kinds of professions might be more helpful. They might end up killing less people.

I'm so sick of milquetoast, middle-of-the-roaders. Too cautious by half.

[Laelth]

9. Nice to see Nancy defending her members on the left.

That said, backing “defund the police” (as a slogan) was a mistake. I agree.

Other than that, I don’t see that the left wing did significant damage to the party’s prospects, and I suspect that this is just The Hill trying to divide Democrats again.

Ignore.

-Laelth

[BComplex]

15. The Hill pushing republican propaganda AGAIN!

And always.

[crickets]

50. THIS!

I suspect that this is just The Hill trying to divide Democrats again.

Exactly. The Hill is not our friend.

[brush]

10. Defund the police was about the dumbest slogan ever.

Smarter progressives have to come to the fore to take leadership in messaging or we will lose the House in 2022.

As it is now we will only have a 16 seat advantage in the new Congress whereas before, in the current Congress, Dems have a 35 seat advantage, which will soon be gone.

One can be progressive and smart at the same time.

[moose65]

59. Question:

What Democrat used that as a slogan? Who, specifically, ran on a platform of defunding the police??

Answer: much like calling everything under the sun “socialist,” the deplorables seized on that slogan and painted Dems with it. It was never a Democratic slogan.

[brush]

60. Repugs used it in attack ads and it was very effective as...

we lost several House seat. I guess you know the slogan originated from some protestors repeatedly voicing it during the protests in the summer. It was voiced here even.

It would've been good if nationally prominent progressives had gotten in front of that to tamp that sentiment down as it was poorly worded and damaging.

"Key Democrats said the GOP attacks against them as wild-eyed “socialists” are damaging, as are some of the party's most liberal proposals.

They cited the “defund the police” movement that calls for shifting law enforcement resources to social workers and other ways of revolving conflicts. It gained prominence last summer after the police killing of Black people, including George Floyd, sparked a nationwide reckoning on racial injustice."

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/11/05/house-democrats-blame-losses-on-polls-message-even-trump/24677903/

[moose65]

62. Republicans say lots of things in ads

It doesn’t matter what WE do - they are going to come up with the most outrageous shit they can think of. There’s no way really to get out in front of it.

[relayerbob]

11. The regular circular firing squad has alreay started

This is the real reason we never make progress.

[BComplex]

21. I agree.

[hatrack]

12. "DEMS IN DISARRAY!!" - and it only took 48 hours!

[SidDithers]

25. +1...nt

Sid

[mopinko]

45. + 1,000,000

[Spazito]

16. I knew before even opening the thread this had to be from the Hill...

fostering division and acrimony as usual.

[MerryBlooms]

20. Yes, exactly.

[mopinko]

46. yup.

[hatrack]

55. Politico is the cloud of flies - The Hill is the pile of shit that it orbits

.

[Spazito]

56. lol, too true!n/t

[NYC Liberal]

17. The Hill pushing the right-wing "Dems in disarray" meme again.

What they described doesn't seem like "chaos." Democrats had a private meeting in which members expressed their opinions. There is no evidence that the discussion was anything but civil, but The Hill uses words/phrases like:

- "bash"
- "jumped into the fray"
- "clash"
- "high levels of frustration"

[Azathoth]

18. It's going to take a lot of time to unpack this election

Everyone will immediately try to pin this on their pet grievance with the party (too woke, too anti-fracking, not pro-single payer, etc.), but the truth is we underperformed across multiple regions and multiple diverse sections of the electorate.

There is only one issue that cuts across all those demographics: the pandemic and the lockdowns. I think Dems need to make that a major focus of their post-mortem.

[kurtcagle]

39. If there is much consolidation out of this:

It's that the Republicans got butt-hurt worse. We needed Trump out, period. The judiciary, the lack of coordinated action, the gaslighting, these were all taking an enormous toll. We kept the House, we have a better Senate map in 2022 than we did this year, and we put a halt to the slide towards authoritarian fascism. This also makes it possible for Dems to concentrate the spotlight on the Senate, rather than on Trump, and quite frankly, it weakens McConnell's power considerably, because we can run on executive orders for a while, and we can investigate the Senate.

I also think that there will be an open movement to secede by certain red states, which may very well change the dynamics dramatically.

[lunatica]

28. If they're stupid enough to split the Democratic Party like this

I’m going with the Progressives. I’m tired of all the fear about social inroads into health care for all and so much more. It’s not like we’re inventing anything or starting Democracy as a modern way of governing. There are plenty of very successful Social Democracies in the world.

[Ishoutandscream2]

29. I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.

Will Rogers

[lunatica]

30. Something by Will Rogers I copied from another DUer

Maybe it was you.

“When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”

― Will Rogers

[Ishoutandscream2]

34. LOL, that wasn't me, but that's hilarious!!

My grandpa, a poor dirt farmer from Oklahoma born in 1910, absolutely loved Rogers. He was always quoting him.

[lunatica]

36. The only people as smart as the great wits

are those who understand them!

[BlueTsunami2018]

31. Defund the Police is an incredibly stupid slogan.

The Republicans couldn’t have written it better themselves.

We’re really bad at marketing.

[bigtree]

53. funny complaining about 'marketing'

...while blithely misrepresenting who's slogan it is and who has actually used the phrase.

No Democratic legislators or prominent candidates have ever supported the slogan or the notion of defunding police, and it's beyond sophistry to suggest they have.

[BlueTsunami2018]

65. I know this. You know this.

But average Joe, who doesn’t follow any of this closely at all, does not know this.

It’s a bad slogan that stuck to our people whether they said it or not. And it had the double whammy of being hard to explain while also alienating the people on the left who really believe in it by having to deny it.

What’s that old Johnson saying about donkey fucking? “I know he doesn’t fuck donkeys but make him deny it!”

Something like that.

[Kaleva]

35. After awhile here, members learn that The Hill likes to sensationalize.

I didn't see anything in the article itself that even remotely supports the title.

Article does contain interesting and important info but IMHO, it's best to ignore the author's spin.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

37. Do...do the moderates not realize that we have the house, might get a tie in the Senate, and will

win the presidency by millions of votes?

[OnDoutside]

47. She's probably pissed that some of her colleagues lost their seats when they need not have, when

those at the other end of the spectrum who have grand safe seats, didn't give a shit about them. Have we not heard over the last couple of years, that there is an antagonism towards those centrists ? It's purity politics unfortunately, and most regrettable. If this had an effect at Senate level too, then it has resulted in all the changes everyone has been crying out for, dead on arrival at McConnell's door.

[NurseJackie]

42. Marc Veasey is absolutely correct. Abigail Spanberger is absolutely correct.

Nancy Pelosi is very good at being diplomatic. That's one of the things I admire about her.

Liberals immediately pushed back on the moderates’ narrative.

This serves no good purpose.

[Kid Berwyn]

43. What Democratic candidates favored that?

Biden didn’t. Harris didn’t.

Only time it really got airtime was when a Drumpf brought it up to pin on Democrats.

[underpants]

49. The protests and BLM scared the hell out of a lot of people

Though no one that I know of really said “defund” that message was hammered into a lot of heads by the media.

Abigail’s District is always close even in primaries.

[Yeehah]

52. Dafuq is this "the hill" crapola?

Sounds like a bunch of BS to me.

[DeminPennswoods]

54. The "centrists" don't recognize there was a blue

tsumani, but it was nearly matched by Trump cultists and Rs in general crawling out from under every rock, inside every crevice and out of every hole to vote for their leader. They were remarkable for voting for every other R on the ballot, too.

They need to think of this election like Gettysburg, the high water mark of Confederate penetration into the North that was met and defeated.

[AmericanCanuck]

63. Defunding the police scares the hell out of me - a manifest progressive

Reform the police would have been a much better alternative and we lost the senate because of that slogan championed by ultra-progressive Democrats in safe districts.

Not everyone runs in a safe district or a solid blue state. There are Democrats out there who run in red states and swing districts -- "defund the police" was a major problem for them.

[bigtree]

67. show me one "ultra-progressive Democrat"

...who advocated 'defund the police.'

I assume you mean legislators, because anyone else can say anything, but it doesn't mean the Democratic party supports it.

Where is this ultra-progressive legislator supporting defunding police?

[brooklynite]

64. Stop WHINING about THE HILL's reporting...

It’s not their job to unify the Democratic Party; it’s their job to report political news.

There WAS a contentious call among Democratic Caucus members, and there WAS criticism of progressive policy demands that moderate candidates were tarred with.

If it makes you feel better, the WASHINGTON POST was listening in as well and will likely be reporting on this call tomorrow.