Dems are struggling in the polls, and need to get a cogent messaging strategy in the next [[glances at watch] five minutes.

Thursday, November 3, 2022
BY JULIA CLAIRE & CROOKED MEDIA

- Tucker Carlson ([link removed]) , playground semantics champion

The Democratic Party is struggling in polls, contributing to a low-level panic ahead of Tuesday’s midterms.

* President Biden is ramping up his last leg of the campaign, and the tactical defense he’s charting reflects Democratic nerves. Biden will spend most of his time campaigning for incumbents in the coming days ([link removed]) , showing just how close races are even for seats Democrats already hold, and perhaps how limited the president’s political caché is with voters outside of states he didn’t win in 2020. Many political analysts and experts agree that Democratic hopes for gains in either chamber don’t look realistic anymore, which has shifted the party’s calculus to focusing on holding on to what it already has. The president’s party typically loses seats in midterm elections, but after opening a narrow lead this summer in a blaze of policy achievements and backlash to the Republican-backed Dobbs decision Dems have been
caught flat-footed in the past few weeks by persistent inflation and an all-out propaganda blitz from Republicans.

* It’s not over till it’s over, but voters on both sides of the aisle should be aware of what’s coming if Republicans take back one or both chambers ([link removed]) . Naturally, one of GOP’s first priorities is to repeal many of Biden’s policies and many are even eyeing dramatic spending cuts to wildly popular social safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare. The saving grace is that Biden will veto any such legislation, but a GOP-controlled Congress would also take must-pass legislation hostage in an effort to extort concessions out of Democrats, completely kneecap Biden’s own agenda, and (if Republicans take the Senate) hinder or completely block Biden’s judicial nominees.

* Even where Dems had been exercising an effective strategy, unexpected difficulties emerged. The Democrats’ Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman had been conducting a masterclass in messaging, but his GOP opponent, TV’s Dr. Oz, exploited the stroke Fetterman suffered back in May in a way that seems to be resonating with undecided Pennsylvania voters. Now, the margin between Fetterman and Oz is razor-thin. Fetterman is still in the lead, but according to a new Emerson College poll, half of voters say that last week’s televised debate adversely affected their view of him ([link removed]) . The majority of Pennsylvania voters polled also now expect Oz to win, regardless of whom they personally support.

In the ecosystem of QAnon and other right-wing conspiracy theories, and when more than half of GOP midterm candidates are election deniers ([link removed]) , the Democratic Party and its campaign arms need to find better ways to combat Republican lies.

* In the week since the horrific attack on Paul Pelosi by a MAGA extremist, Dems largely held fire allowing Republicans to frame the story in ludicrous, degenerate ways. The right-wing ran away with the story, creating a wholly fictional narrative that seems to be gaining more traction by the day ([link removed]) . They claim that Paul Pelosi was drunk at the time of the breach of his home (he was in bed asleep) that he allowed his attacker in to the house (security camera footage shows the break-in) and that the attacker David DePape was a former lover of Paul Pelosi from a sex cult (do I even have to entertain this one, the man is 82). Obviously the Democrats are juggling a lot of messaging priorities at the moment, but it isn’t hard to imagine how Republicans would exploit it if a Biden supporter broke into Mitch McConnell’s house and bashed his wife’s head with a hammer. They would do everything in their power to make it
the only story on every news network.

* The degree to which the far-right has been able to control the narrative is especially troubling considering not only is there video evidence to disprove these ludicrous claims, but they also contradict DePape’s own statements to the police. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins confirmed Tuesday that DePape planned to target a number of other prominent Democratic politicians and their relatives. DePape, by his own admission, was there to break House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps, and brought a bag of zip ties to restrain her. That hasn’t stopped people like Donald Trump, Jr., Twitter CEO Elon Musk ([link removed]) , and Rep. Clay Higgins ([link removed]) (R-LA) from spreading these lies to millions of followers on social media. Always ready for a psychotic sound bite, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blamed the Biden administration
and Democrats ([link removed]) for the overtly political, right-wing attack on the Speaker’s husband which left him with a fractured skull requiring emergency surgery. Blaming “soft on crime” Democrats was also an immediate and lasting talking point on Fox News.

In the final days before we head to the polls, it’s clear that the Democratic Party needs a messaging intervention. Time after time, they place bets that the facts being on their side will be sufficient to sway the hearts and minds of the electorate. They should know better by now.

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On Tuesday as the nation (hopefully!!!) heads to the polls, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in what could be one of the most consequential health care cases in SCOTUS history. The challengers in Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County v. Talevski are asking the nine justices to fundamentally overhaul Medicaid ([link removed]) , a federal-state program which provides health care to over 76 million low-income Americans. That’s about one-in-four people in the U.S. I first wrote about this case back in September, but it very much bears a second look! The challengers allege that an Indiana health system operated by local government officials and a private nursing-home management company violated their relative’s federal rights as a Medicaid patient. Currently, those who believe patient rights have been violated under federal Medicaid law can file private lawsuits
seeking justice. But the litigants want the Supreme Court to strip Medicaid patients of their ability to bring lawsuits against governments and private companies, which would make much of federal Medicaid law virtually unenforceable. It’s as-yet unclear how the justices will vote, but the fact that they even took the case is troubling. The conservative majority could ruin the program, consistent with the right-wing view that low-income and poor people shouldn’t have benefits and protections under the law.

The FBI’s Newark, NJ, field office said today that it has received “credible information of a broad threat to synagogues in New Jersey.” ([link removed])


The White House confirmed that U.S. Embassy officials in Russia have met with imprisoned WNBA star Brittney Griner ([link removed]) following a Russian court’s rejection of her appeal last week.


Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid conceded to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after winning this week’s election ([link removed]) . Netanyahu’s government will be the most right-wing in the country’s history when he retakes power. I don’t love the precedent set by a former far-right tyrant regaining his seat at the top of a major world power, to be honest!


The CDC softened guidelines for American doctors prescribing oxycodone and other opioid painkillers today ([link removed]) to ensure pain patients can get “compassionate pain management care.” Whatever you say!


A new United Nations report shows that the world is falling short at finding the money and political will to help struggling nations adapt to increasingly dangerous impacts of climate change ([link removed]) .


The Indianapolis OB-GYN who provided an abortion to a 10 year-old rape victim from Ohio, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, is suing Attorney General Todd Rokita (R-IN) for baselessly launching investigations into physicians in the state who provide abortion care ([link removed]) including subpoenaing confidential patient medical records.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is still seeking an apology from Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving after he tweeted a link to an antisemitic film, but Irving won’t give one ([link removed]) . It’s not totally surprising that a player who was allowed to remain unvaccinated and continue playing isn’t apologizing for a dangerous stance!

On the evening of October 29, more than 150 people died in a “crowd crush” while celebrating Halloween in one of Seoul, South Korea’s most popular nightlife districts ([link removed]) . South Korean authorities have opened an investigation into the tragedy, which happened on a night when over 100,000 (mostly young) people poured into the narrow streets of the Itaewon neighborhood. A crowd crush can occur when too many people are pushed into a confined area, where they can get squeezed or trampled to such an extent that they can no longer inflate their lungs. Often fatalities occur in crowd crushes when people are pushed against a wall, and in this case the crowd was walled-in on two sides. Crowd behavior experts say that “overcrowding, unmanaged crowds, and wide paths filtering into narrow paths” are a perfect storm for crowd crushes, and all three factors were present
in Seoul that night. More information about the victims continues to be released, and the mayor of Seoul made a tearful televised apology for the tragedy.
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A 10 year-old Ukrainian girl was forced to leave her cat behind when her family fled the country, but they were recently reunited in California ([link removed]) . A heartwarming story that involves a child AND a cat??? Are you kidding me?!


The EPA announced today that it will award 132 new grants totaling over $53 million for new air-quality monitoring projects ([link removed]) across the U.S.


Singer Harry Styles has registered over 55,000 U.S. voters in the course of his stadium tour ([link removed]) through a partnership with HeadCount. Thank you, Mr. Styles, for mobilizing the girlies.

Colorado could become the second state to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use ([link removed]) .
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