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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 09:13 AM Aug 2017

Charlottesville fallout divides Democrats

The party is wrestling with how much to focus on Confederate statues, or racially tinged issues at all.

By ELANA SCHOR and GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI 08/29/2017 04:55 AM EDT

Democrats can't agree on whether they’re laying a trap for the GOP over President Donald Trump's response to the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia — or about to step in a Republican-designed one themselves.

Democrats are pushing for votes on fighting domestic terrorism and hate crimes as well as other moves aimed at pressuring Republicans to repudiate Trump. But some strategists warn Democrats should be careful about how deeply they wade into a fraught debate over identity politics — particularly one focused on Confederate statues that risks dividing the electorate.

Republicans, they say, may be trying to goad Democrats into talking about hot-button issues that fire up the GOP base more than they energize liberal voters. These Democratic pollsters and message crafters say that staying focused on Trump's claim that "many sides" were at fault in Charlottesville is more productive than lingering on the question of whether to take down Confederate monuments, in most cases.

Then there's former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, who says his opponents lose any time they focus on racial politics.

The question of how to address Confederate monuments in the Capitol appeared to initially split the two top congressional Democrats. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California made a full-throated call for removing them, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York downplayed the issue while accusing Trump and Bannon of “trying to divert attention away from” their own stances on white supremacist groups.

more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/29/charlottesville-democrats-race-confederate-statues-242109?lo=ap_a1

19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Orrex

(63,212 posts)
5. Oh, you and your pesky "treat people like people" agenda
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 09:18 AM
Aug 2017

Where will we get with thinking like that?

FSogol

(45,485 posts)
2. LOL, Politico loves nothing more than writing about how Democrats are divided.
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 09:15 AM
Aug 2017

Also, the day we start taking advice from Bannon?

ProfessorGAC

(65,042 posts)
17. You're Right!!
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 11:57 AM
Aug 2017

Who's divided on this? It's a pretty broad statement with little to actually support this is a party wide issue.

DonCoquixote

(13,616 posts)
3. sigh
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 09:16 AM
Aug 2017

These Democratic pollsters and message crafters say that staying focused on Trump's claim that "many sides" were at fault in Charlottesville is more productive than lingering on the question of whether to take down Confederate monuments, in most cases.

In other words, leave our good ol boys alone and then they might vote for you js' like dey usually do, except that they dont.

 

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)
4. Confederate statues are a distraction.
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 09:18 AM
Aug 2017

Civil rights are not.

Black bloc thugs are still black bloc thugs, regardless of branding.

yallerdawg

(16,104 posts)
7. There's a right side and a wrong side on this issue of honoring racist traitors.
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 09:23 AM
Aug 2017

I'm happy the Democratic Party stands on the right side of this issue.

If this riles up Republicans, good. Some people think both parties are the same. They're not.

Another good reason to get off our asses and vote!

Bettie

(16,109 posts)
12. "Racial Issues" are actually issues of CIVIL RIGHTS
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 10:57 AM
Aug 2017

which are much more important than any statues.

However, if taking down the statues pisses off Nazis and KKK members as much as it appears to, then it must be a good thing.

Yeah, we'll squabble among ourselves, which is fine, as long as, in the end, we vote for the best interest of our nation and the human people* who call it home.

*As opposed to 'corporate persons'.

 

Expecting Rain

(811 posts)
13. Standing for civil rights is a core Democratic value.
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 11:09 AM
Aug 2017

Standing with black-clad folks with violence on their minds is a betrayal of our values.

We Democrats should always stand on the right side of the issues.

Embracing Antifa violence is a mistake and, in the words of Noan Chompsky, is "a major gift to the right."

So this Democrat is divided from those on the left who cheer on or attempt to rationalize Antifa violence.

FSogol

(45,485 posts)
18. Setting up straw men? Name one Democratic elected official that has come out as pro-antifa violence.
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 11:59 AM
Aug 2017
 

Expecting Rain

(811 posts)
19. None, I'm aware of. You are making my point for me.
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 12:19 PM
Aug 2017

But I've seen plenty of folks who claim to be leftists offering up excuses and even endorsements of Antifa violence.

The issue divides them from we Democrats.

leftstreet

(36,108 posts)
16. Bannon is lying
Tue Aug 29, 2017, 11:46 AM
Aug 2017

or stupid

No one used 'identity politics' more than Trump and his campaign. They did everything they could to appeal to a white, racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic 'demographic.' And occasionally threw in rants about coal jobs.



Whatever he says is bullshit

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