What could go Right ? [1]

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Monday November 08, 2021 · 8:20 AM PST

2021/11/08 · 08:20

November 8, 2022, is election day.

Now, in politics anything can go wrong in a year – even in one race, let alone a thousand races. Let’s ask another question, though, Let’s ask what could go right for Democrats over the next year.

As most things that go right politically are done right by a political actor, I’m going to divide this into: <1> things where dKos readers as simple citizens can participate in making them happen, [Posted today.] <2> things which Democratic campaigns can do later, and <3> things which we have to just hope Republicans get wrong.

Where we help. <1a> The general contrasts. Democrats are about governing; Republicans are about dividing people. Democrats try to persuade; Republicans threaten. Democrats fight Covid-19 (and climate change); Republicans surrender to them.

1b> Negatives. Some people think of negative campaigning as a task for the campaign of the opponent. Ideally, it isn’t. If you live in the district, you are entitled to your opinion of the incumbent; When something happens in government share that opinion: “People I talk to think that we need pre-kindergarten in this state. Middleclass children benefit, and many children from poor families have no other chance to break the cycle of poverty. Polls show that the majority of the state agrees with us. Senator Smith voted against that, though. Instead of listening to our state, he takes orders from Mitch McConnell.”

(The components of BBB are more popular than the bill itself. So, the incumbent didn’t vote against the bill; he voted against one popular component. Which component? You choose, taking account of your own interests and what’s particularly popular in your area.)

There are 2 kinds of Republicans in Congress, those who will vote against BBB and those who will vote against BBB and have already voted against the bipartisan bill. I don’t propose giving the 13 a pass, but you probably should wait until the bad vote to attack them. If you live in the district of one of the 200, OTOH, this is a great time for the first LTE attacking him.

1c> Congressional positives. A slight majority of Americans, and – I would guess – a much larger majority of dKos readers, live in districts with a Democratic representative. If your D rep. voted yes, this might be a good time to send a public praise outlining what we are getting with the bill – and with his vote.

1d> OTOH, this might be the time to note that Biden accomplished in his first year what TFG promised for 4 years but was unable to accomplish. Or something like: “Are the Democrats in array? I’ve been reading for months now that the Democrats were in disarray because they couldn’t bring their two infrastructure bills to a vote. Well, they passed the first one with a comfortable margin and bipartisan support. What is the antonym for “disarray”?

1e> Gov. and some local. I don’t want to impose my opinions on you, especially on local issues, but I can’t avoid thinking that Covid-19 is a winning issue for Democrats practically everywhere. One datapoint is that in early August, when mandates were rare and only by private employers, 70% of voting-age Americans were vaccinated. That’s a national figure, but it’s one hell of a lot more than Biden’s share. Anywhere you have a Republican governor (or state government) with a worse record than the national one, that is a talking point; Anywhere you have a Democratic governor (or state government) with a better record than the national one, that is a talking point. When you have split government, that probably calls for comparison with another particular state.

I’ve sometimes written this as though a LTE were the only response. While they probably are most effective, posts on social media and on the response areas of broadcast media are also available. Take your choice, but get the word out.

LTE published

Frank Palmer

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Wednesday October 20, 2021 · 8:15 AM PDT

2021/10/20 · 08:15

A Letter To the Editor that I sent was published recently in The Chicago Sun Times.

I feel that any contrasts which can be drawn between the results of sensible Democratic governance on Covid and idiotic Republican misgovernment on it should be drawn. I might prefer to say, “DeSantis is an idiot,” than “Pritzker acted sensibly,” but the latter is more relevant in a Chicago newspaper.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/10/17/22727550/public-employee-pensions-illinois-policy-institute-letters-school-mask-mandate-j-b-pritzker

(The second LTE)

Remember that when you send a LTE, even if it is not printed, it is read by the staff of the paper, often by several of them.

Frank Palmer

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Saturday March 13, 2021 · 7:28 AM PST

2021/03/13 · 07:28

I think it’s only on-line, but I sent a letter to USA Today, and they posted it.

Biden COVID-19 plan 'wishful thinking' or real policy? Readers sound off (usatoday.com)

The punch line is:

For the next four years, though, either Biden succeeds, or America fails. Republicans fighting to keep Biden from succeeding are opposing the interests of their constituents.

If it does get into print, and somebody sees it, I would appreciate your telling me.

LTE posted

I think it’s only on-line, but I sent a letter to USA Today, and they posted it.

Biden COVID-19 plan 'wishful thinking' or real policy? Readers sound off (usatoday.com)

The punch line is:

For the next four years, though, either Biden succeeds, or America fails. Republicans fighting to keep Biden from succeeding are opposing the interests of their constituents.

If it does get into print, and somebody sees it, I would appreciate your telling me.

Impeachment LTEs

Frank Palmer

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Tuesday February 16, 2021 · 5:50 AM PST

2021/02/16 · 05:50

Okay, the Senate vote has been taken. Nobody ever expected it to reach 67, anyway. Now, it’s time to deal with the electorate. Others have better access to the electorate than we do, but each of us has a voice that can be heard. Collectively, we have some influence. I emphasize Letters to the Editor because they are the most effective, but many news sources provide blogs for their readers or listeners. There is always one’s own FB or other social media.

It’s probably not the time for armchair strategists to second-guess the House managers, but all sorts of other points can be made. I have some below, but your own ideas are better.

One can either point to the 7 Republican senators or the 43.

On the one hand:

Three presidents have had trials of impeachment in the Senate. (Nixon never did.) Only Trump has had senators of his own party vote against him.

58% of Americans polled thought that Trump should have been convicted. 57% of senators agreed with them.

On the on the other hand:

When Trump sent an armed band into the Capitol to overturn the results of an election, he put the lives of everyone in the Capitol in danger. Forty-three Republican senators voted that their danger had been justified by that goal.

Several previous impeachments – including the very first, while many authors of the Constitution were still alive – occurred after the defendant had left office; the Republicans said that the Senate wasn’t bound by precedent because it wrote its own rules. The Senate voted that the power of impeachment applied to people who had left office; 43 Republican senators decided that it didn’t because the defendant was a Republican.

In 2019, the (then Republican-controlled) Senate decided to not hear any witnesses. In 2020, Senate Republicans declared that Trump’s guilt hadn’t been established because what everybody knew – even wat they had seen themselves -- had not been established by the testimony of witnesses.

Most Republican senators decided that Trump’s response to losing an election wasn’t far enough from standard Republican practice to be punished. When Republicans lose an election by the rules, they change the rules to win the next election. When Trump lost an election by the rules. he sent an armed mob to change the rules so that he had won this one.

= o =

There are other points.

Seven Republican senators voted to convict because the evidence proved that Trump was guilty. In every case, their state party scolded them that following the evidence is not the Republican way. (I’m not sure that it was EVERY case. Check it out. If you are in the state of one of the seven, check out your state, and use only that.)

The defense argued that Trumps speech was no more inflammatory than Senator Warren’s saying “fight.” Does that mean that Republican audiences are much more prone to violence than Democratic audiences?

I’m not Jewish and have no standing to write to a Jewish publication. I do guess, however, that some Jews would feel uncomfortable with guy who had a supporter wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt fighting for him.

Bending the Buzz, February – A

Frank Palmer for Bending the Buzz

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Thursday February 04, 2021 · 7:07 AM PST

2021/02/04 · 07:07

Usually, I post on possible letters to the editor about what I consider the issue of the day.

This month, there are too many critical issues calling for our – and the press’s -- attention. I’m going to deal with them in a series of posts. Remember that, while letters to the editor probably get the biggest bang for the buck, social media posts for your immediate circle and posts responding to TV and radio stories contribute as well.

Today, I’m going to suggest themes dealing with the relief package (and “bipartisanship”).

The issue is, “What do American families need to keep from going broke while we keep the country healthy until enough of us are vaccinated?” The administration has asked that question. Asking what percentage of that should we spend is like asking how much of a parachute we should use.

It’s all very well for the Republican senators to work for the Democratic administration to fail. The problem is that failure would ruin the country, as well.

When polls show that a strong majority of the country agrees that strong Covid relief measures are needed, Republican senators say, “It’s not a real unity unless we are included.” And, since they disagree with the majority of their constituents, they expect the rest of us to do it their way. The problem comes when media pundits agree with them.

When he thought Republicans would have a majority in the Senate, McConnell said that they would not even consider any Biden appointment for cabinet and subcabinet positions. Now he demands that Republicans be given a veto on all policies in the name of “Unity.”

Answering Trump

Frank Palmer

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Monday November 02, 2020 · 5:30 AM PST

2020/11/02 · 05:30

Many have suggested that Trump is going to lead early in election-day votes that are counted first. He is expected to use that lead to claim victory. IF that happens, we should respond early and multiple times, so he is an object of ridicule. We don’t need to wait for his followers to echo him.

Here are some suggestions. Paraphrase, people. Hope that someone else is aiming at the same news outlet that you are; you don’t want them to be seeing the same words. Your own idea is even better. Letters to the editor are best, but many radio and TV stations give opportunities for their readers to respond to stories. Then, too, this is something for social media, as well.

Suggestions:

Trump is winning in the first inning; so, he thinks we should end the game.

Donald Trump voted early in Florida. Mike Pence voted early in Indiana. Now they think that early votes shouldn’t be counted.

Trump began his term in office proclaiming great crowds at his inauguration that nobody else could see. He’s ending it claiming that the long lines waiting to early-vote are some sort of Democratic hoax.

I waited two [or however many] hours in line to vote early. Now, President Trump has decided that my vote shouldn’t be counted.

Special for Nevada:

The Trump campaign went to court to prevent mail ballots from Clark County being counted as they were received. Now, he has awarded himself the Nevada electoral college on the claim that there isn’t time to count the mail ballots.

In case the Florida results look final enough to call (and what I have written in any of these about the election is true):

Joe Biden won’t claim victory until the votes in every state have been counted. We, however, can say that President Trump never had a path to victory that didn’t include Florida. Now that Florida is in Biden’s column, so is the White House.

Just before the election, Biden was leading Trump by two points in the poll average. Together with the states that went for Clinton in 2016 where the Trump campaign stopped advertising because they had given up, Florida gets Biden to 253 electoral votes. He needs 17 more, and there are six battleground states which got a greater lead in the poll average. Any two of them could give him more than 17 electoral votes.

Bounty LTE

Frank Palmer

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Monday July 06, 2020 · 9:11 AM PDT

2020/07/06 · 09:11

Normally, I don’t mention my own LTEs unless they are printed. This one that I submitted to the , though, illustrates how we can keep the bounty issue in front of people,

Statues of dead Confederate generals who fought against this country? Trump is moving swiftly to protect them.

Living American soldiers who are fighting for our country in Afghanistan right now? Protecting them takes more study; the administration has only known about the bounty since February.

Bountygate, like so many Trump scandals, is old news. It relates to more recent events, though.

Keep this on the screen

Frank Palmer

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Tuesday June 30, 2020 · 2:28 AM PDT

2020/06/30 · 02:28

The Russian bounty on American (and allied) servicemen and Trump’s silence on this is the most important political story I’ve seen this year. I’ll go W a y out on a limb and say that Trump can’t do anything worse for his chances.

We want as many people talking about this as long as possible. The lower ranks of the military include a good many people related to chunks of the population which consumes relatively little news. So, we should each write a letter to the editor to each news organization which we can relating to this story in some way. Editors may not print every LTE they receive, but they read every one. If they don’t print yours, they will put it in their heads as evidence of interest in the story.

Each run through a spellchecker, each different in structure.[deleted a late addition which was based on my misreading of a headline.]

Keeping the Sessions story alive

Frank Palmer

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Friday March 03, 2017 · 11:23 AM PST

2017/03/03 · 11:23

The more press that the story of Sessions contact with the Russian ambassador and his lying to Congress the better for us. I have reasons for that after the jump, if you haven't already thought of your own.

There are three things each one of us can do to help the story keep its legs.

1) Very simply, every day when you get on the Internet Google "Sessions Russia," or "Sessions scandal," or something similar. Then click on a good niumber of those stories.

Not only does Google rank search terms in its suggestion box, but news organizations decide what stories to pursue -- in part -- because of what generates clicks.

I like to go to every story on the first page I haven't clicked on before, and then go the third page. Clicking on those bring them up, and those papers need some encouragement about printing those stories.

2) Write a Letter to the Editor about one of those stories. Again, editors judge coverage based -- in part -- by what sparks readers' interest. The number of LTEs are a rough measure of readers' interest.

Be brief, succinct, grammatical, and correctly spelled. Cover one point, not the entire mess. Those are the general rules for LTEs. This time, though, you're not trying to get published. You're trying to give the story more legs.

Thus, making a single point will suffice. I have a list of points after the jump, but those respond to yesterday's story, and I want you to respond to tomorrow's (and next week's) story. Still, it's better to use one of those than not to write.

3) Repost one story, where there is a button for it, on Facebook or other social media.

My Facebook friends, with one exception, are Democrats or further left. Still, even in the echo chamber, it's nice to hear the news.

If all the readers of dKos do only the first, this story will be big until Sessions resigns.

Reasons:
Clearly any bad news for Trump is good news for us, but there are other reasons this specific story matters particularly.
1) The Trump voters signed on to some of the worst things that Trump has done. They did not sign on to the Russian connection.
3) Sessions is, by himself and apart from being a Trump stooge, a horrible human being and a horrible choice for enforcing Civil-Rights laws.
4) Aside from the Russian thing, one of the greatest weaknesses of the Trump administration is they are horrible and management. Having another cabinet appointment blow up on them advertises that fact. (This probably doesn't matter to the Trumpistas, but it does matter to the R elite which is currently holding its nose and going along with Trump.)
5) The man can't stand criticism, but it only gets under his skin when he hears it.
6) The more criticism a paper (or show) prints about Trump, the easier it is for them to print criticism about Trump.

LTE
Note that our goal is to encourage coverage, not necessarily to get printed. So NYT and WaPo are great targets for LTEs. Still, if your local paper covers the issue, they are the first target.
1) Sessions said he hadn't talked with Russian officials. He spoke twice to the Russian ambassador. Whether this is perjury is for a jury to decide.
2) Sessions now says that when he swore that he hadn't talked to Russian officials, he meant he hadn't talked to them about the campaign. We're supposed to believe that, when he spoke to the Russian ambassador at the Republican National Convention, the campaign didn't come up.
3) Sessions says that he didn't mention his two meetings with the Russian ambassador because that was so standard for a member of the Senate Armed Forces committee, but no other member of that committee had such meetings.
4) (Only in specific cases) Senator Jones voted to confirm Sessions after he'd sworn that he hadn't met with Russian officials. What does Senator Jones say about how he would vote now if he could. (That's only good for your local paper if it covers the story and you have a Republican senator.)
5) Sessions volunteered the statement that he hadn't met with Russian officials in response to Senator Franken's question. If he meant that he hadn't discussed the campaign with them, he could have said so.

Trump Whitehouse an Overflowing Cesspool

LOrion

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Saturday February 25, 2017 · 7:43 AM PST

2017/02/25 · 07:43

Screen_Shot_2017-02-01_at_2.51.10_PM.png

TRUMP and his entire kakistocracy cesspool is Very Bad for Americas Image …and American Business interests:

SEE DailyKos Mexico BOYCOTTS DJT: He is 'Bad for American Business'

ALSO Mexicans protest Trump with massive boycott of U.S. companies Walmart, McDonalds, Coke, Starbucks...

The whole world can SMELL the SHIT spilling out of the cesspool of the Trump kakistocracy (e.g. Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens) … IT spills out with his Vicious Bullying, Racism, Misogyny, and Lies, and Harmful, Hateful ACTS to everyone around him and now onto us …. They especially can SMELL the STENCH from #NAZI #SteveBannon and his #Breitbart propaganda site of #fascist NONNews AlternateNews

They can smell the STENCH from #RexTillerson’s #ExxonMobil career of despoiling our lands and waters and air ... and DENYINING it.

They can SMELL the STENCH from #Sessions career of TOTAL INJUSTICE..

and NOW They openly can smell #DHS #Kelly's GUTTER GOON SQUADS of #ICE and #BP, the meanest LE agency in the country.

More Shit STENCH is floods out daily, even by the house .. and it is stinking up 1500 PENN AVE ...spills out too to ALL FEDERAL AGENCIES .. except so far, the #USMilitary, but if todays horrible news from the #UKRAINE is true (that Putin has invaded AGAIN, and #democracy is not upheld by @CENTCOM @NATO @USNATO @USArmy ...the stench will cover all of them, even the @USMC DOD Secretary #GenMattis and Jt Chiefs Chair.

The STENCH stinks up all his lying #sycophants ... #KellyanneConway #SeanSpicer. #MikePence Carries his own LIFELONG STENCH but is covered in TRUMPs now too.

And it Royally SPILLS on ‘the peoples Representatives’ .. #PaulRyan and #MitchMcConnell AND ALL MEMBERs OF CONGRESS who don’t do their duty to our Republic..…DID YOU SEE them illegally confirm TWO Cabinet members today? WE DID.. and it stunk. and and now #GORSUCH will spread his filth to #SCOTUS

It is spreading over even those who can’t or won’t smell it, or don't care ..

On Charles and David #KOCH Who have always spread their SHIT secretly via #ALEC, the #Teaparty, the #RedStatehouses and #legislatures. Their #AntiVotingRights #AntiImmigration Rights for any #NonWhite #NonWASP is as PUTRID as is their own brand of Public #OBAMAhate and #HILLARYhate ...and all are a direct inheritance from their father FRED G KOCH’s isolationist antiSemitic #AmericaFirsters or #MEFIRSTERS, who among other things, turned away THOUSANDS of #Jewish refugees from the #Holocaust

DID YOU SEE ON #RemembranceDay?

DID you know that last ship in 1939 carried 5 yo #IrvingBerlin

He wrote lots of songs, this is a catchy one: #GodBlessAmerica

And it spills on #RudyGiuliani, and #JamesComey and #MichaelTFlynn and @Reince Priebus and all other #GOP and #Republican leadership and members who say they can’t smell it. Murdoch’s @FoxNews, @FOXLA, @FoxSports etc has always been charge of Selling this SHIT labeled as #Perfume. ….. Many if not most of the #MSM are still covered in it from the Campaign.

#Women have smelled it all his life (especially family members) … AND 4,000,000 women marched in 673 locations around the world, including Antarctica to let him know we still smell it. THE #Resistance smells it, most Progressive Democrats can smell it easily. NOW IN #WashingtonDC, we see @AFSCME and #FederalEmployees smell it too.

Screen_Shot_2017-02-01_at_3.25.39_PM.png

NOW, the first country, #MEXICO, but not last I fervently hope, OPENLY CONDEMNS its befouling STENCH and is REACTING spontaneously in a #DontBuyAmerican #BOYCOTT and protests..

Don’t buy @Walmart, @McDonalds @Starbucks @Coke etc etc etc.

ALL AMERICAN BUSINESSES are befouled by it as long as DJT is not impeached or better yet arrested for Treason.

SO DON’T BE SURPRISED that the Entire World now knows what we who have to smell him know…

DJT and his entire #kakistocracy of liars, sycophants and traitors is stinking up our America.

Senate campaign '18 begins today

Frank Palmer

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Friday February 24, 2017 · 11:42 AM PST

2017/02/24 · 11:42

In their hurry to repeal Obamacare, the Republicans have assumed that you and I will do nothing to exploit their blunder.

We have always known that most parts of the ACA were more popular than the entirety. Democratic senators have done their part; they have introduced amendments to shield one part after another from the repeal; most Republicans have voted against those amendments.

Now is the time to do your part. If you have a Republican senator, pick one of the amendments; check how your senator voted; write a letter to the editor of your local paper denouncing his vote.

LTEs aren't the only means we have available (though they are probably the most effective). Many papers and (I think) all broadcast networks have blogs. Facebook and other social media reach a lot of people in your neighborhood. You can even talk one-to-one to your neighbors and friends. Know anyone between 18 and 26? Know anyone who has children of those ages? Those kids are about to lose their insurance due to the vote in the Senate.

Embarrassment of riches

Frank Palmer

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday August 04, 2016 · 4:43 PM PDT

2016/08/04 · 16:43

Mrs. Clinton is as fully prepared to be president as anyone can be. The Democrats have a better record since 1900 in the office than Republicans have. (Follow my sig to the recent economic side of that.)

Neither of these, however, will be what tis election is about.

Trump has given us an embarrassment of riches in support of the claim that he should never get into the oval office even on a visitor pass.

Even the Khan imbroglio tells us: The nuclear launch codes are designed so that they can be sent as rapidly as a tweet.
The Republicans who are saying, "Once he gets into office, we can control him," are delusional. Ever since Trumps first comment, every political advisor has been telling him to drop the subject. We know, because that's what any half-way sane political advisor would be telling him. They haven't convinced him yet.
He blames others for his own mistakes. Trump has been asking why the Khan speech is still in the news when the mother of the diplomat who blamed Clinton was only a one-night blip. Well, the reason, as everybody else knows and all the press-savvy or politically savvy would have predicted, it's because he keeps it in the news.
That doesn't begin to cover the moral side of picking a fight with a grieving gold-star mother.

Pick the issue where you have credibility.
Veterans on the slander of Captain Khan or the statements that he'll issue orders contrary to law and the Geneva treaty.
Businessmen on his shoddy business practices.
People with labor credentials on his treatment of workers or his outsourcing. Women on his treatment of women.

Or switch back and forth.

Everyone should write something at least once a week, a letter to the editor, a comment on a news blog, just a Facebook posting.

Poll

7 votes Show Results

The last time you wrote a letter to the editor was?

7 votes Vote Now!

The last time you wrote a letter to the editor was?

This week

1 vote

This month

0 votes

Last month

0 votes

This year

0 votes

Last year

1 vote

Long ago

3 votes

Never

2 votes

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