General Discussion

DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Thu Jul 5, 2018, 08:28 AM Jul 2018

Democrats in Disarray? No, That's the Myopic Media.

Democrats have made substantial gains ahead of November, but that hasn’t stopped the media from cherry-picking evidence suggesting the party is in disarray.

MICHAEL TOMASKY
07.05.18 5:24 AM ET

One genre political reporters never tire of is your classic #demsindisarray story. You know the kind. One Democrat says A, another says Not A, and sometimes a third one says, well, actually, B, and suddenly the party is a mess and falling to pieces.

The genre dates back to the 1980s, when the Democratic Leadership Council was formed to take the party back from the liberals, and Democratic ideological feuds came out into the open. In the 2000s it was again at the forefront when George W. Bush was president and the Dems post-9/11 were intimidated into voting for a war they obviously didn’t believe in.

There’s always a little truth to these stories. But they always ignore the fuller context that explains why the Democrats are a cantankerous lot and the Republicans aren’t. And they always cherry-pick for the evidence that suits the thesis, ignoring the evidence that doesn’t.

And so it was that last weekend, on Saturday and Sunday respectively, The New York Times and The Washington Post gave us different variations on that theme. The general idea here was that a) the Democrats are weak because they can’t block President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee and b) the primary election victory of one self-avowed socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, means that the left is taking over. Yes, those things happened—Democrats can’t block the nominee, and a socialist did win a congressional race.

But you know what else happened last week? The generic ballot widened in favor of the Democrats, according to FiveThirtyEight—from about six-and-a-half points to about eight. And over the past month or so, the change in the Democrats’ direction has been more substantial. On Memorial Day weekend, it was down to four points. So it’s doubled. And in case you’re wondering how the Republicans were doing on generic ballots at this point in 2010, the year they wiped out the Democrats, the answer is, less well.

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/democrats-in-disarray-no-thats-the-myopic-media?ref=home

5 replies

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Highlight:

Democrats in Disarray? No, That's the Myopic Media. (Original Post) DonViejo Jul 2018 OP

This is what Democracy looks like. raging moderate Jul 2018 #1

Finally someone is telling the truth about us. Squinch Jul 2018 #2

Thank you - excellent analysis Freddie Jul 2018 #3

We don't have billions of dollars keeping a narrow demographic in stupid, mean lockstep. Orsino Jul 2018 #4

The MSM is also not seeing the local, on-the-ground work. . . DinahMoeHum Jul 2018 #5

raging moderate

(4,311 posts)

1. This is what Democracy looks like.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Thu Jul 5, 2018, 08:34 AM

Jul 2018

People disagree sometimes. It's better to argue it out honestly, than to have some crass bully strong-arm everybody into lockstep.

Maybe some of the American people are beginning to understand it.

Squinch

(51,026 posts)

2. Finally someone is telling the truth about us.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Thu Jul 5, 2018, 08:43 AM

Jul 2018

Freddie

(9,275 posts)

3. Thank you - excellent analysis

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Thu Jul 5, 2018, 08:46 AM

Jul 2018

Our party is more diverse on every way and there is room for diversity of opinion as well. ANY Democratic candidate is better than ANY Repug. Even if you don't agree with them about every issue.

Orsino

(37,428 posts)

4. We don't have billions of dollars keeping a narrow demographic in stupid, mean lockstep.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Thu Jul 5, 2018, 08:46 AM

Jul 2018

Whatever disarray we're in is what democracy is supposed to look like.

Media should be asking why Republicans can't find any issues of substance to disagree on, or even address.

DinahMoeHum

(21,812 posts)

5. The MSM is also not seeing the local, on-the-ground work. . .

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Thu Jul 5, 2018, 09:05 AM

Jul 2018

. . .in countless communities and districts until it smacks them in the face come election time, since November 2017.

They are not seeing the countless numbers of people new to the process, who have joined their local Democratic Party clubs/committees, and, together with reinforcements from groups such as Indivisible, Up2Us, Sister District, Flippable, etc., are canvassing the neighborhoods urging people to vote.

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