Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts
You might remember the name Rachel Bitecofer. She’s the political scientist who got her 15 minutes in the spotlight when she nailed the blue wave House elections in 2018 – she predicted a 42-seat pickup for Democrats, double the consensus, and they flipped 41. She then called Trump’s loss a year out, before Biden was even the Democratic nominee, based on the theory of negative partisanship.
This theory argues that voters are increasingly motivated by dislike, hate, and fear of the other party, so each party’s success depends on shifts in voter turnout based on these negative feelings. The “turnout swing” comes not from voters deciding between candidates but whether to vote at all.
Since leaving academia Bitecofer has become a strategist for hire, and she just published a book, “Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts,” preaching her gospel. This Salon interview gives a good gloss on the book and lays out the strategy she thinks Democrats should follow: Hammer away at the negative impact of Republican governance. Abortion is the prime example – she notes that the end of Roe has swung almost every election since by 8 points – but that’s only part of it.
We have to get people talking about fascism. And this idea that we shouldn’t use the word “fascism” because people don’t know what fascism is? Well, no one knows what socialism is. But when we poll people and ask them, what’s the first word that pops into your mind when you hear the word “Democrat,” guess what the plurality response is? “Socialist”! It’s not a liability when people don’t know what it is — it’s an asset, because then they define whatever the scary thing is into a customized fear category.
The whole interview is well worth the 10 minutes it takes to read. If that’s too long, here’s her closing quote:
Our electioneering foundation has been built on a flawed assumption. The American people are plenty smart when it comes to IQ. That doesn’t mean they’re civically smart. The reason is disinterest. People don’t follow politics because they don’t care, and I show [it] in survey data: Not only do they not care, they’re kind of proud about not caring. We have to meet the clay, the rough clay, where it is. If we’re dealing with an electorate that knows nothing, then we have to make sure it at least learns one thing: The modern Republican Party is a fascist cult that’s coming to steal your health, your wealth, your freedom and your safety.
Yep. Message discipline. The R’s have it, the D’s rarely do.
‘Fascism’. Say it every day in every way.
Agreed. The Ds don’t have any discipline and have played with moral relativism far too long. Surprisingly, people do want to live in a country that has standards and believes in its own sovereignty. Decades of cultural Marxism have eroded our civic identity and given the real fascists a foothold. I hope you all are happy.
Please define or describe ‘cultural Marxism’.
Thank you.
Forget it, Jake. It’s Trumptown.
Cultural marxism is the child of classical economic marxism- material analysis applied to cultural institutions. It is fundamentally intertwined with intersectional progressive politics and uses the same underlying framework that Marx applied to capitalism to critique social constructs.
But you knew that already. Let’s stick to the topic at hand. I think it’s ironic that progressives talk about the failure of civic institutions when they spent 5 decades tearing them down instead of doing the real work
of building them up. Kids in the street dance around a toppled statue of Columbus and then go home and buy their BLM t-shirt on Amazon.
In short, there is a strain of nihilism that pervades the progressive movement. No one should be surprised when a belief in something, anything (even facism) gains a foothold.
From SPLC: “Cultural Marxism,” described as a conspiratorial attempt to wreck American culture and morality, is the newest intellectual bugaboo on the radical right [this was written 20 years ago]. Surprisingly, there are signs that this bizarre theory is catching on in the mainstream.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2003/cultural-marxism-catching
Dearest Chrissy,
I’m happy as can be that people like you are in an ever dwindling minority (must be Mother-Nature culling the herd of subhuman stupids). I’m ecstatic that actual “relativism” will benefit from the extinction of those cultists that you embrace and represent. I’m giddy, ecstatic and overjoyed that your “civic identity” is being eroded and hope the waves of compassion, humanity and honesty will wash the residue out to sea forever.
Rep. John Kowalko
GROUPIES OF PUTIN (GOP)
I don’t see how hammering on Trump (and the GOP) being wholly owned and directed by Putin fails to payoff for Democrats.
In fact, from a PR perspective, I wish Volodymyr Zelenskyy had made the war into a war against Putin, nit against Russia. It isn’t too late for Biden to make it that if they had the will to do it.
Complete agreement: Say the “F” word Fascism all day and every day, for that is what the right has become. Bitecofer states the obvious: Hit ’em where it hurts, even if Chris Coons has to cry himself to sleep because of it.
LOL. “moral relativism”
That doesn’t describe Trump, an adjudicated rapist, at all.
I have a comment in moderation for some reason. GOP = Groupies of Putin