James Carville is trying to talk some sense to the democratic party.... He's wasting his breath.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/12/politics/woke-green-new-deal-defund-the-police/index.html
(CNN) - As Democrats begin the uphill climb to hold their majorities in the House and Senate next November, politicians and party strategists are admitting that their biggest challenge comes from within: "Woke" liberals demanding adherence to policies on crime, the environment and government spending that are simply not shared by a majority of the country.
"How do Democrats win in places like North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona and Georgia?" asked former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges (D). "Focusing on how lives have improved since January of 2021. COVID rates are down and jobs are up. People are generally free to visit family and friends without restriction. The circus has left Washington and Biden has already cleaned up the mess. I'm not sure why Democratic candidates would stray from that message -- particularly in purple states."
Hodges' comments are reflective of a broader acknowledgment -- and concern -- that talking about things like defunding the police or the "Green New Deal" or ending the detention of people coming across our southern border illegally are a recipe for political disaster in the 2022 midterm elections.
The current concern is perhaps best reflected in an essay by Kevin Drum, a former staffer for Washington Monthly magazine. Noting that liberals have been aggressively stoking the culture wars in recent years, Drum writes:
"Despite endless hopeful invocations of 'but polls show that people like our positions,' the truth is that the Democratic Party has been pulled far enough left that even lots of non-crazy people find us just plain scary -- something that Fox News takes vigorous advantage of. From an electoral point of view, the story here is consistent: Democrats have stoked the culture wars by getting more extreme on social issues and Republicans have used this to successfully cleave away a segment of both the non-college white vote and, more recently, the non-college nonwhite vote."
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/12/politics/woke-green-new-deal-defund-the-police/index.html
(CNN) - As Democrats begin the uphill climb to hold their majorities in the House and Senate next November, politicians and party strategists are admitting that their biggest challenge comes from within: "Woke" liberals demanding adherence to policies on crime, the environment and government spending that are simply not shared by a majority of the country.
"How do Democrats win in places like North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona and Georgia?" asked former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges (D). "Focusing on how lives have improved since January of 2021. COVID rates are down and jobs are up. People are generally free to visit family and friends without restriction. The circus has left Washington and Biden has already cleaned up the mess. I'm not sure why Democratic candidates would stray from that message -- particularly in purple states."
Hodges' comments are reflective of a broader acknowledgment -- and concern -- that talking about things like defunding the police or the "Green New Deal" or ending the detention of people coming across our southern border illegally are a recipe for political disaster in the 2022 midterm elections.
The current concern is perhaps best reflected in an essay by Kevin Drum, a former staffer for Washington Monthly magazine. Noting that liberals have been aggressively stoking the culture wars in recent years, Drum writes:
"Despite endless hopeful invocations of 'but polls show that people like our positions,' the truth is that the Democratic Party has been pulled far enough left that even lots of non-crazy people find us just plain scary -- something that Fox News takes vigorous advantage of. From an electoral point of view, the story here is consistent: Democrats have stoked the culture wars by getting more extreme on social issues and Republicans have used this to successfully cleave away a segment of both the non-college white vote and, more recently, the non-college nonwhite vote."
