I've read all of the political analysis about the 2020 election explaining why Democrats were less successful in some winnable Senate and House races than they were in gaining back the White House. A lot of Republican voters turned out to cast a ballot against Trump, and also voted for their party's candidates for Congress. That's still hard to grasp in these politically polarized times but there's no question that Trump's inept incompetence, failure, lack of common sense and good judgement and depraved moral character combined to give him higher unfavorable ratings than any other candidate in history, and was the reason he was defeated. January 6th was the nail that sealed any possibility of a Trump candidacy in 2024 in its coffin.
The first ten months of the Biden Presidency have been more than we could have hoped for. The economy is roaring back to life, more than half the country got vaccinated against COVID and legislative progress was made. You wouldn't be able to discern that from media reports, with the possible exception of MSNBC and Pacifica, but the facts are there to see, though I don't understand why anyone should have to go looking for them. But experience is one thing, what people are talking about can be quite something else.
I watched Chuck Todd on Meet the Press this morning, and that raised some real questions. Here's an NBC news journalist who was acting more like a FOX news propagandist as he was almost giddy in pronoucning the end of the Biden administration. Based on Joe Manchin's appearance on FOX news yesterday, declaring that he's a "No" vote on Build Back Better, the hour was a defeatist disappointment, especially given that he had four guests lined up--Democrats--who he was able to lead and string along to his narrative, even though a couple of them tried to get out of the loop they were in.
Even though he has been a Trump critic, and lets on like he disdains the GOP at times, taking this position is misleading and extreme. Yeah, it's about viewers and ratings, which is a darn shame because that takes away from what should be a balanced journalistic approach. Compared to any previous administration this century, or the last half of the previous one, Biden's first year is evidence of the leadership of a seasoned, accomplished politician who is thriving in the Presidency and under whom the country is measurably better off. Focusing on what hasn't even become a legislative failure yet is the kind of sensationalism published in the New York Post, and is a disgrace to NBC's credibility.
Mixed Messages But There Are Still Wake-up Calls
Maybe the mainstream media is engaging in a strategy that is aimed at motivating Democrats and moderate independents, finding ways to make sure that they don't stay home next Novermber. If that's the case, there are multiple reasons to start thinking in terms of what has to be done to win a large enough majority to support the last two years of this Biden term, and make sure Republicans can't stop elections with bogus claims of fraud.
To me, it seems that there is far too much widespread acceptance of the status quo, that the party in power in the White House loses seats in the mid-term elections. First of all, that's a defeatist attitude that limits vision and progress and forces deadlines that wind up costing progress. That happened with the Affordable Care Act under President Obama, a potential paradigm shift in health care reform that got whittled down and limited by Republican stonewalling and the fear of a mid-term election disaster, which, in spite of the fear, happened anyway. Now we're seeing the same pattern with President Biden's signature legislation, something that is clearly favored by a majority of Americans across the board.
I don't get it. Last year, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won an eight-million vote majority in the 2020 election. In spite of sputtering results elsewhere among Democrats, including disappointments in Maine and North Carolina, they gained a senate seat in Arizona and two in Georgia, pulling even. They embarassed the GOP in repelling the effort to recall California governor Gavin Newsom, put a Democrat back in the state house in New Jersey for the first time after Democrats claimed the White House the prior November, and made progressive gains in big city mayor's contests.
But there's the loss of the statewide offices and state house in Virginia, due to "lack of enthusiasm" among Democratic voters. The margin of victory for the GOP was slimmer than slim, something that a few days of door to door precinct work might have resolved, but the party has let the media make this the centerpiece of their narrative. But it was a wake-up call for Democrats, though I think the responsibility for the lack of enthusiasm there rests on Terry McAulliffe.
The fact that two Democratic senators, Manchin and Sinema, have succumbed to a rush of right wing money that has come with finding themselves as necessary votes to Democratic party success in the senate is also a wake up call. Gee, what a surprise that someone who got into the senate as a Democrat is willing to undermine the party platform to feather their own nest with political contributions. Sinema is discovering that the Democrats in her state have a little more power than she does, but Manchin has bowed to corporate interests in his state. Neither of them are really a "wake up call" since they got word to the media shortly after the election and made their potential "resistance" to a more progressive Democratic agenda known in order to start reaping early benefits from it. But it gives Democrats the ability to know what they're up against and time to figure out how to neutralize it.
Gifts on Silver Platters
It's far too early to start setting up explanations about losing seats in 2022. The January 6 investigation, which is the gift that keeps on giving, is moving forward nicely and represents what I think is one of the best opportunities Democrats have to expose Republican hypocrisy and duplicity, and achieve a unity of spirit that will win lots of new seats in 2022 for the party, not only in Congress, but in state houses and even in local elections. Handle the messaging and the narrative well, and do this right, which means we get to watch Trump, Trump Jr, Eric and possibly Ivanka and Jared, along with Bannon, Meadows, Stone, Flynn and the whole gang get marched off to prison, preferably where someone can't break them out, like Guantanamo, and that will bring the kind of turnout among Democrats and independents that will swamp GOP efforts to gain control of Congress.
Then there's COVID-I9. Aren't you glad, with this crazy virus mutating and continuing to spike, because stupid idiots have made it political and won't get vaccinated, that Joe Biden is in the White House and not Donald Trump or some other denialist Republican idiot? Don't count on enough unvaccinated Republicans dying to make a difference in the ballot count, though that could well be a factor in places like Florida, where the numbers of deaths are larger than Republican margins of victory in 2020. Count on the continued scientific expertise of the people the White House has put in charge of managing this pandemic to achieve success. And as that occurs, can we count on the media to accurately report and reflect the people's response?
Count on Me
I continue to remain supportive and willing to do what is necessary to make sure that Democrats win across the board in 2022. I contribute, having calculated the maximum amount I can give each month, and make sure that goes to the place where it will do the most good. My senator and congressman, both Democrats, appear to be in good shape, though I keep a close eye on it, but that allows me to donate to those who are in places where they need a little more support. As it gets closer to the next election, I will give time on weekends to walk streets and knock doors in precincts across the state line in Wisconsin, where the races tend to run closer. The two precincts where my friends and I worked last year saw a I5% increase in Democratic voter turnout and we like to think we helped with that.
This blog continues to support Democrats and Democratic causes, and I work to get it into circulation as much as possible. Readers can help by sharing it to their social media accounts. The stats show that we are averaging about I,500 hits a month, and while that's not "viral," of course. If you cite or quote, just say you got it from The Signal Press, and link the url. I'm not doing this for money or fame, but for a good and worthy cause.
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