Democrats try to punch through with message, but Trump scandals get in the way

[DonViejo]

By David Weigel and Ed O'Keefe May 16 at 7:48 PM

The Democratic Party’s brightest stars spent Tuesday at a bustling “ideas conference,” sponsored by the Center for American Progress to brainstorm an agenda for the Trump era.

Done right, it could break through what CAP President Neera Tanden called the “twenty-four-second news cycle” and remind swing voters what the party stands for.

Easier said than done. As Democrats took the stage of the Four Seasons’s basement ballroom in Washington, phones buzzed with the latest updates on the president’s having divulged classified information to the Russians and about Republicans still condemning the firing of James B. Comey as FBI director.

“I was prepared to lay out a case today for how President Trump is routinely betraying the working-class voters he pledged to fight for, from his budget to his tax plan to his health-care plan and more,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), an oft-mentioned potential presidential candidate in 2020. “But last night’s reporting has taken us to a whole new level of abnormal. This is not business as usual. This president is creating chaos that doesn’t create a single job or make us safer.”

As the White House tumbles from scandal to scandal, and as the president’s approval rating has sunk below 40 percent, Democrats have been handed a paradox. Trump’s actions halt the GOP’s political momentum and divide Republicans who are otherwise united on a conservative policy agenda. But in the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s defeat, Democrats remember umpteen moments when it seemed that Trump would collapse — and they remember voters who thought Clinton focused on her opponent’s miscues at the expense of a message to nonvoters and the white working class.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/democrats-try-to-punch-through-with-message-but-trump-scandals-get-in-the-way/2017/05/16/79d3395e-3a66-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html

[Turbineguy]

1. A 4 month long

reality TV show marathon.

Higher watch ratings than ever.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. The conundrum

..."they remember voters who thought Clinton focused on her opponent’s miscues at the expense of a message to nonvoters and the white working class."

You see the divide right here on DU - those (like me) who say "the ads write themselves" when it comes to the complete FAIL of the current administration vs those who say - "Keep pounding the Democratic platform message out there".

Problem is - WE don't control the "media". We don't own it. We don't staff it (as we're seeing right now with M$NBC) and we don't control it.

I say - wealthy Democrats must buy the media outlets to put the message out. This nonsense of blaming the party for what ABC/NBC/CBS/Faux/CNN/M$NBC "reports", which of course is going to be whatever the ratings blockbuster is at the moment and NOT (in their opinion) "boring partisan policies", is ridiculous.

[world wide wally]

3. Think of how they could staff a progressive news channel if they were willing to invest the $$$

Keith Olberman, Lawrence O'Donnell, Bill Marher, Roger Moore, Rachel Maddow.
The list goes on. Maybe even the Barack Obama Hour.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. It has been tried

between Air America and Current TV. The *problem* is that they MUST be willing to "take a loss" for quite a long time (which the RW did for years as a "donation" towards their cause) in order to keep the message out there continually. And it needs to be included on hundreds of low-power AM stations that people laugh at but are often the only type of "broadcast" that reaches those elusive rural areas with respect to news and current events (outside of print media).

[world wide wally]

5. They never staffed either of those ventures with shows that would draw a built in fan base like

the people I mentioned would.
Like I said, they have to be willing to invest the money or it won't work. How many climate change shows can someone watch every day?

[BumRushDaShow]

6. At the time

Rachael had a show on Air America before she went to M$NBC (thanks to Keith), and they also had Tom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, Al Franken (since he was a creator), Mike Malloy, etc - most of them now on the SiriusXM Progress channel.

The problem was getting local stations (notably in cities like mine here in Philly) to even carry the programming (since "we" didn't own those stations and those stations opted for 2nd tier RW syndicated bullshit).