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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCharlottesville 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 theyre 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
boston bean
(36,221 posts)Orrex
(63,212 posts)Where will we get with thinking like that?
FSogol
(45,485 posts)Also, the day we start taking advice from Bannon?
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,986 posts)They love writing the Democrats in disarray story. LOL
uponit7771
(90,339 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,042 posts)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)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)Civil rights are not.
Black bloc thugs are still black bloc thugs, regardless of branding.
yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)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!
world wide wally
(21,743 posts)Except in big AA destricts
spanone
(135,832 posts)judesedit
(4,438 posts)JonLP24
(29,322 posts)If anything should unite.
Bettie
(16,109 posts)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)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)Expecting Rain
(811 posts)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)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