Also For The Win
Both The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post this week violated Timothy Snyder’s Rule No. 1 for opposing tyranny: Do not obey in advance. Both papers declined to issue a presidential endorsement. Many of The Post’s opinion writers objected vigorously. Whatever the papers’ ostensible explanations, we know the real reason. The owners are chicken shits.
The Philadelphia Inquirer? Not so much:
America deserves much more than an aspiring autocrat who ignores the law, is running to stay out of prison, and doesn’t care about anyone but himself.
The better angels of our nature demand it.
There is only one candidate — Kamala Harris — who will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States from foreign and domestic enemies.
So help us, God.
Confronted as we are with what not to do, Anand Giridharadas at The Ink asks “our go-to messaging expert,” Anat Shenker-Osorio, to advise readers on how to fight the good fight. I’ll just list the bullets (with some light comments).
- Do: Run like you’re leading the winning team
- Don’t: Act like underdogs
- Do: Call out what you’re against
- Don’t: Feed what you’re fighting
This cuts across the grain of progressives who insist on proving to everyone how smart they are by refuting (with facts) whatever lies our opposition tells. It doesn’t work. It leaves Democrats fighting on the GOP’s turf and arguing they are GOP-lite. To soften up Trump’s support ASO suggests, “You have to run against your opposition and not against the people that your opposition reviles.”
- Do: Tell the bigger story on gender
- Don’t: Accept received wisdom on male voters
- Do: Sell the brownie, not the recipe
We’ve been on brownies plenty of times.
- Don’t: Forget the job of campaigning
Don’t forget that political races are not just contests of ideas, but contests of skills. Go hone your skills with campaigns where you are. See if your county committee has “game.” (Many don’t.) They want and need you.
I recorded an abbreviated For The Win webinar on Tuesday for Illinois county chairs. “But they’re not a swing state,” a friend said. Why bother? Because they’re not a swing state. See all that red? How often do those less-populated rural counties covered in soybeans, corn, and wheat in not-a-swing-state see a presidential race set up shop there and show ’em how it’s done? Wanna guess?
- Do: Be the change candidate again