Commentary: This boilerplate Democratic campaign strategy would be fine — perhaps even compelling – if deployed against a vanilla Republican candidate. Trump is, however, no Republican cast in the same mold as George W. Bush, John McCain, or Mitt Romney. In fact, as Team Clinton was revealing its intention to attack Trump for his proposal to ease the tax burden on the rich, the news cycle was already dominated by Trump’s decision to buck Republican orthodoxy on taxes in an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd.
In that “Meet the Press” interview, Trump signaled his willingness to surrender his opening bid in the coming fight over tax code reform (well before negotiations had even begun) by insisting that his cuts on the highest marginal rates will likely be pared back by congressional Democrats. “I have a feeling we pay some more,” Trump said of his fellows in the top tax bracket. “I am willing to pay more, and you know what, wealthy are willing to pay more. We’ve had a very good run.”
Despite Trump warning the Clintons for weeks that he intends to borrow heavily from self-described socialist Senator Bernie Sanders’ playbook, Team Clinton was unable, or unwilling, to preemptively reform their message and tailor it to Trump’s populist progressivism. Nor could they adapt and respond to a news cycle dominated by Trump’s remarks on taxes and the stunning departure they represent from typical Republican economic philosophy. If Democrats fear that Clinton’s team has ossified and grown complacent, this episode should confirm those suspicions.
29 comments:
The conventional wisdom is a misnomer since it is certainly not wise. My thoughts on both candidates is well known. But, it is clear both parties have become completely and totally boilerplate. They are absolutely and totally clueless on how to deal w/ a candidate that is not. I am convinced that Trump should beat Rodham. The Dems are stupid. Sanders would stand a better chance against Trump.
I will vote for Trump if Sanders is the opponent as well. But Trump is still a fucking idiot.
No, he's not. He's probably smarter than most of the people he's opposing.
Hillary is running a standard Alinsky campaign because that's all she knows. Hide behind her twat and call the other guy the party of the Rich.
Trump goes after her on what are supposed to be her strong points. He's killing PC as he kills what standard campaigning is supposed to be.
Last night, Cruz had a chance to get back in the game, if only as a spoiler. I have a feeling the word went out to drum up the troops, but he couldn't muster even 20% of the vote. What looked like the end of everything a month ago was flipped on its head by Trump and the Most Brilliant Guy in the History of Whatever (next to Black Narcissus, of course) was knocked off by nd's fucking idiot.
Conjure with that.
Gentlemen, I suggest chilling with some strong beverages and directing your fire down towards the target?
Fine by me, but I regard this as a discussion of Poli Sci, no more. nd can take whatever tack he wants.
But here's something to consider. WV has had special significance since it assured Jack Kennedy the nomination in '60. Last night, because she backed the Choom Gang's assault on coal and lost to Bernie as 2/3 of her support in '08 abandoned her.
Perhaps more worrisome for the Demos, 33% of Democrats say they will vote for Donald Trump in November, while only 44% of Dems say they’ll vote Clinton.
Granted, it's early, but her inability to put away Bernie and to get even a handle on Trump is showing.
I'll put it you like this. If Trump is willing to negotiate a higher marginal tax rate for the top earners, but can drop the rate for the massive majority of income by the lower, middle, and upper middle class, then I'd go for that. I can see what Trump is doing, he's basically honey potting them. There is no way he would reveal his hand like this as a men as an opening bid. He's going to bait and switch them, once he believes he become president. If he ends up beating HRC by a decent margin 5% or more, then he'll see it as a mandate and then drop the hammer on them.
He's going to do to them what they've been doing to us for so long. Fucking us over by hanging their bullshit onto the GOPe to where they cave. That's my idea.
PS Another MOE poll Trump within 1% of Cacklepants. Al-Reuters, but thay had him slipping a couple of weeks ago.
Meth, Good analysis. You are a critical thinker. The Trumpaholics want everyone to worship their guy. Saying you'll vote for him is not enough. No analysis. Just compliance. Not unlike the liberals we despise.
If Hillary is having a hard time with her own people....
Lem said...
If Hillary is having a hard time with her own people...
To ask the question is to answer it.
She will soon be the meat in the fish taco.
Fucking us over by hanging their bullshit onto the GOPe to where they cave.
That took me a moment to process. I thought it meant the locations, the issues they cave. It means, so extreme, so outflanked, they cave.
I think I saw something like this in on the Colorado Channel. It was the point where I thought, man Colorado gop, you are totally fucked up. The Democrat opposition makes the most sense here.
A Republican representative said this: Growers are using dangerous chemicals. They need to be tested. Everything must be tested. Not every greenhouse, not every batch, every single plant. And he really pushed hard for it pointing out all the dangers of cross contamination and careless growing practices. He is hard assed.
It took a sensible soft spoken Democrat to speak sense to the congress pointing out the complete impossibility of 1) doing that 2) state resources to check if it's being done.
The Republican wanted more state regulation, more state resources to tag every single marijuana plant in the state. He thought that would be good use of State resources.
The Democrat said, no way, (Stupid), that's too much regulation. That would be overregulation. (!) From a Democrat. I liked that guy better on the spot. And I disliked that Republican guy on the spot, by hanging their bullshit on ... us. Sorry. I guess this wasn't an example after all. It was supposed to be hang it on them. Wait, he did, the Republican behaved like a Democrat so ridiculously the Democrat had to behave as Republican (or libertarian or just regular sensible person) in order for reason to prevail in the session.
Notice at the protest Zombie covered it was the two wild ass antagonists who were the ones who reversed course in appearance (but not in reality) and swooped in to settle matters with the more extreme flag burning anarchist, "It makes us all look bad."
Certain conservative sibboleths have been upended by the Trump campaign. Open borders for low cost workers for the Chamber of Commerce. Unending wars to nation build and make the world in the image of the neocons wet dreams. Tax cuts for the elite. These are the things people like Paul Ryan and William Kristol and Jonah Goldberg and the NRO crowd all stand for. It is their rice bowl. They sell it to the masses that the despise and get elected. Once they do nothing happens. It is never enough. First they needed the House. Then the Senate. Then the Presidency.
Trump is offering a different approach. I don't agree with him on a lot of stuff. I wish he was a true social conservative who would protect traditional values. I don't think he is. I do think he knows when something is over the line and would work to stop it. And when not to draw a line in the sand. Sometimes you can't fix it. So you do the best you can to make the situation less disastrous. I know he is criticized for not having an overarching conservative philosophy to cover every contingency like Ted Cruz or Mark Levin. I think he will work in an ad hoc case by case basis using common sense instead of the secret playbook of the conservative Illuminati.
To be a Trump fan is not to worship him. Although some do of course but that is par for the course in a political campaign. Some people worship Hillary or Bernie or Little Marco or even that stiff Paul Ryan. That is what the losers have to say because they can't believe that guys lost so pitifully. Sour grapes. Most people like Trump because of what he has to say. What he says he is going to do. Will he do it? Who knows? It is a crap shoot. The thing is Hillary is a crapfest. You know what you get with Hillary. Most of the Trump people want a big change from business as usual. There are no guaranties. Just a reasonable expectation that things will be done differently.
Trooper York said...
Certain conservative sibboleths have been upended by the Trump campaign. Open borders for low cost workers for the Chamber of Commerce. Unending wars to nation build and make the world in the image of the neocons wet dreams. Tax cuts for the elite
Those are hardly Conservative.
I don't remember Eisenhower or Herbert Hoover being for open borders (the opposite, really).
And Conservatism was about picking our fights. Willie and the Hildabeast gave us Bosnia, Syria, Labia, and Desert Fox - largely to distract from domestic matters.
And tax cuts for the wealthy are neither Conservative nor Leftist.
The whole social Conservatism thing is another issue*. The One True Ted wants to Federalize the bathroom thing (as Santorum did with the Terri Schiavo case), Trump counts the cost of it. You want to change the culture, the government really can't do it. That's the people refusing to go along with what the Lefty establishment pushes.
The Prez can appoint judges who aren't the dictators in black dresses who legalize same sex marriage, marijuana, porn, and homosexuality because people will let them get away with it, but the rest is in the laps of the people.
And maybe a guy who counts the cost may turn out to be a better agent for the culture than we think.
PS Funny we haven't heard much out of the Cruzzers since the news came out about Daddy Cruz' first choice for VP was Marco or that all his donors have gone over for Hillary.
One suspects it's like looking at what was left of Germany or Japan in '45 and realizing the All-Seeing, All-Powerful really wasn't.
* Never forget Reagan talked a great game on opposing abortion, but did nothing.
Ed as usual you misunderstand where I am coming from. Those "conservative" principals are all the things Paul Ryan stands for. The things he demands that Trump acquiesce to or forfeit his support. The neocons and the supply-siders have set the debate as those things the bedrock of Conservatism. Be for that or be drummed out of the party. Also don't offend Muslims, illegal immigrants or other protected classes because you will get called out by the press and pc police and won't get invited to Georgetown Cocktail parties. You what Trump says about that?
Who gives a shit?
But ed did nail on thing right on the head. That is what conservatism has become. Talk a good game. Say all the right things. Never accomplish anything.
Sometimes you can feed a party on half a loaf. Just saying.
Allen, Not all Trump voters are Trumpaholics. I'm now a Trump voter. Trumpaholics will not accept any critical thinking. They will not accept anything but the straight and very narrow. I had an exchange on Twitter. A guy wrote a tweet comparing Trump to Reagan. It's a pretty lame comparison and as is the wont of those on Twitter, someone posted tweets, quite measured and civil, rebutting the comparison intelligently. The Trumpaholic suspended the 1st Amendment and said no one should respond to his tweets unless he asks for opinion. I shit you not.
There's someone here who consistently calls Trump a douche bag. But, he is a Trumpaholic so it's OK. I call Trump an idiot and I get shit. I haven't drunk the Kool-Aid. I'm not on the reservation. I won't STFU and get w/ the program. Are you a Trumpaholic? I'm don't know, Allen. Can I criticize Trump w/o you thinking I'm wrong for doing so? I'm not saying if you consider my criticism wrong, but do you consider me wrong for having the temerity to criticize. Some folks think these posts, threads, mean something. That they will have some bearing on the election. Shit, this is just a blog w/ a bunch of people shooting the shit. Ain't it?? It's worth "a bucket of warm spit."
See, I don't think Conservatism has become that. It's a dodge, a label that some, like Beck or Ryan, try to hide behind.
Like the Demos still try to con people they're the party that cares about them. that died in '65.
True Conservatism is about values (much as true Liberalism is). People trying to read someone out of the Conservative movement because they didn't support the One True Ted (or anybody else) has nothing to do with the values of Conservatism and is therefore meaningless (especially when the reading is done by Libertarians).
That's why nobody is rallying to Ryan's standard, because they know it's all phony.
Let me say one other thing about the neocons. When they had their heyday during Dubya's Administration, it was about doing what would protect the country. Boxing in Iran made sense geopolitically. Trying to establish representative government there seemed an idea worth trying (and, in truth, we can't say it failed because Pissy threw it away). What they were trying to do grew out of a sincere belief on their side.
Syria and Labia are other cases, I think, having to do with Pissy's Moslem agenda and Hillary's need for a resume at State.
YMMV
Nation building is like "community policing." It is civilized society trying to impose their values and behaviors on savages and animals. You have to make a cost benefit analysis. If it is worth it you put boots on the ground and grind down the animals. At a cost. If you lose the will to maintain the effort you don't hang your troops out to die. In a squad car in Brooklyn or an Embassy in Benghazi.
Sometimes you pull back and let the animals cavort in the natural state in their own habitat. A habitat that lacks humanity. That's Detroit. Baltimore. Baghdad. Mosul. The pressure to get oil is off because of the fracking revolution. We don't need to but into their countries affairs. Let them stew in their own juices. End immigration from these hellholes. Unless it is Christians or Jews or other religious minorities facing persecution and death from Muslims murderers. If they are "Moderate Muslims" don't let them migrate. Otherwise they go on your subways like in Germany and stab people shouting "Allahu akbar." Let them fix their own own countries. Just as we need to fix our own.
James Comey was interviewed today. As those of you familiar w/ Rodham know, her propagandists have been using the term "security inquiry" claiming the FBI is not investigating Lady Macbeth, but merely conducting a "security inquiry." Comey shoved that up their stupid fucking asses by calmly replying, "I'm not familiar w/ the term security inquiry, we are conducting an investigation. The word investigation is in our name."
I detest bullshit, spin, propaganda. All people who have investigating in their blood do.
James Comey will show us what he is made of if they don't prosecute Hillary if the FBI recommends that they do so and have a case. He needs to resign in protest. If he doesn't then everything is indeed bullshit and propaganda.
Unless of course Hillary is innocent of wrong doing.
Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!
I agree.
Will he protect his bean bowl?
Trooper York said...
Nation building is like "community policing." It is civilized society trying to impose their values and behaviors on savages and animals.
In '45, nation building seemed like the longest of shots.
Thing is, it's the long game. And you can't do it with the duplicitous press stabbing you in the back.
You want Trump to do something as a true social Conservative protecting traditional values, let him start with the media.
(and I'll bet he could do things with the bully pulpit that would drive the J school types berzerk)
Hey he might start with Ed Henry of FOX. Heard he had a stripper/hooker/cocaine situation going on.
Funny enough April's favorite media source came up with that story. The National Enquirer. Imagine that.
Speaking of which, anybody want to place any bets when the One True Ted runs for re-election he's going to have to 'splain that Ashley Madison account and the half mil check to Fiorina and the Goldman Sachs loan and Amanda Carpenter?
As far as I can tell Ryan's so-called conservatism just consists of:
-trying to pass Amnesty
-Supporting open borders
-Tax cuts for the Rich
-Bad trade deals
-cutting social security
-agreeing to Obama's budget
-being Politically correct.
IOW, doing everything his billionaire donor want him to do.
edutcher said...
Speaking of which, anybody want to place any bets when the One True Ted runs for re-election he's going to have to 'splain that Ashley Madison account and the half mil check to Fiorina and the Goldman Sachs loan and Amanda Carpenter?
Short memory syndrome on local/state races. I'll be surprised if he loses.
I won't.
Post a Comment