''...I'm not here to be likeable. I'm here to fix this sh*t."

[Soph0571]

Link to tweet

Every single woman running for president in 2020 should announce by saying: "My name is [@KamalaHarris/@SenWarren/@amyklobuchar], and I'm not here to be likable. I'm here to fix this sh*t."

Perfectly this.

[Ohiogal]

1. Why even bring it up

unless asked.

Republicans are the definition of hypocrisy because they elected the most vile, repulsive, unlikeable, human being on the whole planet. And I am being kind, here.

[dalton99a]

4. +1

[niyad]

30. because the likability crap is already here.

[Power 2 the People]

44. +1

[Guppy]

2. Castor oil is good for you. n/t

[ehrnst]

6. So, women candidates are as horribly distasteful and unlikeable as castor oil? Really? (nt)

[Guppy]

8. It is all about messaging

Do you honestly think a message like that would win? Look at our history of electing presidents. A message like that never wins. Man or Women. Think of Dukakis and competence. God that was awful. We might not like Frank Luntz but he is often right on words and messaging.

Also, think of Obama and hope.

Luntz has made liberal toxic.

This would fall flat in a general election.

[ehrnst]

11. You're saying that "Castor oil is good for you" is a good message?

And yes, many many unllikeable male candidates have won with the "I'm going to go there and shake things up, and fix Washington."

What do you think has been made "toxic" about liberals? Or is it just female candidates you find "librarian-like" and bad "sales people."

I see bad "salesmen" become popular liberal politicians.

[aggiesal]

15. I believe Guppy was saying ...

that Luntz made the word "LIBERAL" toxic.
Not that liberals are toxic or that female candidates made liberals toxic.

Also, that "Castor oil is good for you" is really bad messaging.

I'm sure Guppy will correct me if I interpreted that incorrectly.
I certainly don't want to put words in Guppy's message,
but just wanted to clarify.

[Guppy]

22. You have it right

messaging is important. Luntz made the word liberal toxic. I still prefer Liberal as it has a great history. Like I am stating.

Hope- Obama makes people feel good.

Fix this shit- awful and depressing.

[watoos]

49. So what's your point?

The corporate controlled M$M, who you designate Luntz as, also made the mention of the name Nancy Pelosi toxic. So what? There is a reason the right made the name Pelosi toxic, because they fear her.

Liberal has a totally different meaning with the rest of the world, in the rest of the world a liberal is a Libertarian.

When the right demonizes someone or something without actually making an argument why, that tells me the right fears that thing or person.

[NewJeffCT]

23. the more charismatic/likable candidate almost always wins

We may despise Trump, but his base loves him and the media loves him, and that allowed him to drive the narrative. The daily scandals of his corruption, incompetence and being a horrible person were balanced by the media with Hillary's emails so that they were 50-50. Heck, in the NY Times, Hillary's emails were a bigger scandal than anything Trump related.

Obama won because he was more charismatic and likable than Romney and McCain.

Bush Jr won because he was the "regular guy" that Chris Matthews wanted to have a beer with, while Gore and Kerry were stiff and out of touch elitists.

Bill Clinton was the likable and charismatic guy compared to Dole and Bush Sr.

However, Bush Sr was more likable that the epically bland Dukakis.

Same with Reagan - likable and charismatic, especially compared to Mondale and the indecisive Carter.

[thesquanderer]

34. Exactly right. Likability is not a female/misogynistic thing.

Hillary, Gore, and Kerry were all somewhat unlikable. Stiff, unrelatable to many people.

Obama was so likable that he could be elected despite being black, which in this country is obviously still a huge strike against you (I think more so than being a woman)... and McCain and Romney were not even terrible candidates, as Republicans go.

I think Warren is pretty likable. On the other side, so is Nikki Haley.

[thesquanderer]

24. re: "many many unllikeable male candidates have won"

Who? And specifically, in the age of television, when would you say an unlikable candidate has won against a candidate who was more likable?

[DBoon]

27. Ted Cruz

I'm sure I can come up with many more.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Ted Cruz, whom nobody likes, vs. Beto O'Rourke, who is about as likable as you can get.

But that was Texas.

[thesquanderer]

32. Okay, I have to give you that one. ;-)

But yeah, it was Texas... and also, he was an incumbent. I wonder how likable his first opponent was?

Anyway, I was really talking about national elections, which tend to factor out the regional extremes. Presidentially, it's a pretty safe bet that New York will vote for the Dem and Utah will vote for the Republican, no matter how likable or unlikable either candidate is.

[ehrnst]

33. Moving the goal posts to 'national elections?' Richard Nixon, Donald J. Trump

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

36. Nobody liked Nixon; Humphrey was much more personally likable,

but the controversy over the Vietnam war, divisions within the Democratic party, and 3rd party candidate George Wallace skewed the whole thing. And the popular vote was very close; Nixon won that by less than 1%.

[ehrnst]

37. And in 1972? (nt)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

40. The war was still a huge issue.

McGovern's antiwar position was unpopular with a lot of the general public, and Nixon's campaign managed to paint him as weak. Nixon's unlikability was spun as strength, and McGovern's association with the antiwar movement and all those nasty hippies did him in. He was the first presidential candidate I voted for.

[ehrnst]

42. McGovern was way more likeable. He lost by a landslide. No one ever asked him to apologize for it.

[thesquanderer]

55. I don't think McGovern ever recovered from the Eagleton problem. (n/t)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

58. He didn't handle that very well at all, and it certainly did hurt him.

I clearly remember that whole mess, and I cringed a bit even at the time.

[thesquanderer]

39. Point taken, but we'd still benefit from a charismatic candidate in 2020, regardless of gender. (nt)

[ehrnst]

43. The "charisma" bar is set very differently for femaile candidates. That's the point. (nt)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

56. Very true. Women have to figure out how to be interesting and passionate without seeming

"aggressive" or "shrill," sexist descriptions that women with charisma often get stuck with.

[thesquanderer]

57. That seems like conjecture, and hard to substantiate with fact.

I think Warren is more charismatic than Kerry, for example. They're from the same area of the country, and of the same generation, and if anything, to the extent that physical attractiveness matters, Kerry is probably more "classically" attractive than Warren is. But Warren is personally engaging in a way that Kerry is not.

[ehrnst]

31. Newt Gingrich, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Richard Nixon, Mitch McConnell, Chris Christie, Ron Paul,

Rudy Giulianni, David Vitter, Trey Gowdy.

[Soph0571]

59. Trump

Heh

[aggiesal]

17. Responded to your message with #15. n/t

[onit2day]

47. And JFK made it something to aspire to. FoulMouthRepublicans is all they got

[MrsCoffee]

46. Disrupted poorly.

[Farmer-Rick]

3. I want a woman president.

It's about time. AND just think how the Traitor Trump would feel...if he has feelings...being sandwiched in by an amazing black man (who got elected twice) and an amazing woman.

I do not want another rich old white man. As a middle class old white man, I'm tired of supporting the uber rich white investors and the American/Russian mob. A woman probably doesn't have those invested interests. A minority woman has
an even a better chance of not being in with those criminals.

[ehrnst]

7. There are many progressive women who are more than qualified.

But there are those who find them as distasteful as "castor oil."

[Guppy]

9. I never said they weren't qualified

I said it would fall flat as a general campaign message. The first thing in sales is never come across in a course fashion. This is a sales job. When you go out and buy a car do you like the sales person to knock the competition or do you find it distasteful. Most people like to feel good about their choice.

[ehrnst]

10. You just think that they are distasteful like castor oil.

Who is "knocking the competition" in your metaphor?

And who is being "coarse?"

[Guppy]

12. I said that message stated like that is a loser

It is not a slight on women. It is a slight on stating a message like that. It would be disastrous for either gender.

Can you see Amy Klobacher saying that. It would be so against her persona. It is just a cringeworthy message.

[Guppy]

14. I agree with you

Castor oil is a terrible message. That is exactly my point. Think of Obama and hope. That was a great message. It was uplifting. fixing this shit and I am not her to be liked is awful.

[ehrnst]

21. As I said - that messaging has worked for men, and rather unlikeable men. (nt)

[Pepsidog]

5. Good campaign slogan "I'm here to fix this shit".

[VOX]

13. Ironically, if they actually said that, they'd be instantly likeable.

Because every American who still thinks freely, appreciates democracy, and hates what’s happening to this country would be overjoyed.

[PatSeg]

16. Yes

As long as you smile a lot, don't raise your voice too often, dress nicely, and don't gain any weight.

Actually, over the years I could tell when Hillary was being over managed and poorly advised by political consultants. You could hear someone in the background telling her to be stronger, but not too aggressive or laugh more to come across as likable. The Hillary of the early nineties was refreshingly open and spontaneous. In 2007-08, she had advisers pulling and pushing her in all directions, until she was barely recognizable as the very effective senator from New York. So without realizing it, they were succeeding in making her appear inauthentic.

I can see the same thing happening to other women running for higher office, if they allow political consultants dictate their every word, gesture, and body language. And I am assuming much of this advise is coming from male consultants!

It won't be easy for any woman who decides to run. Hopefully, they can stay true to themselves and tune out a lot of really bad advice and criticism, especially from the television pundits!

[elleng]

18. Delete the profanity and I'm ok with it,

but there's too much vulgarity these days. They behave that way, but we don't have to articulate it so often, do we?

[llmart]

20. Well, Gretchen Whitmer won Governor of Michigan...

with the slogan "fix the damned roads". People loved that ad.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

41. When she called them "damned roads", she was being kind.

Those of us who have to drive on them have much more colorful and profane adjectives.

[IronLionZion]

19. Trump is pretty disgusting and unlikeable

Any Dem woman would be better liked by me at least, and would fix this shit.

[thesquanderer]

26. Trump has a certain kind of charisma/likability, unfortunately.

It worked for him on The Apprentice. TV is not kind to people who lack these traits.

[greenman3610]

25. remember when George Dubya was

'The guy you'd like to have a beer with" while Gore was all wonky and
smart, and well informed. How boring, when you're a stupid journalist, and
drinking beer is what you do best.

[Ferrets are Cool]

29. I just can't get behind this message. nt

[TwistOneUp]

35. This! Yes! nt

[treestar]

38. That is a fail, because you have to work with the other branches

That's basically the Orange Dolt's attitude.

[watoos]

50. Now, I apologize,

but that one made me laugh out loud.

Yeah, that's the message, Democrats need to work with Republicans, Republicans who have vowed to vote against anything that Democrats propose even if it benefits the country.

Until Republicans stop making everything political, stop putting party over country, they deserve condemnation, they deserve to be called out. Frankly we need more Maxine Waters not less.

[treestar]

54. But you are not going to fix any shit

but stay at a stalemate. At least, in the Senate. So it is still a dumb thing to say. For anyone in government, it's not what you want on your own that will happen.

[Honeycombe8]

45. Being liked by voters is a component of getting elected.

Review the list of Presidents and consider how many of them in recent decades were not liked by voters in their party.

It can be overcome by other assets (like being an incumbent from the White House...or having an extraordinary military background when elected in war time, or being especially adept in debates, etc.), but generally, people who are elected President have been well liked by their party voters.

There are other components. Being in denial of the characteristics that voters vote for doesn't mean those characteristics don't exist.

Being liked vs not liked isn't an either-or proposition. There's a range. But it is a characteristic that is important to voters. They care about issues, too. But most of the candidates in a party will agree on the major issues. Once you get passed that, the individual's characteristics and qualifications come into play.

[Bucky]

48. I love Elizabeth Warren. She's like Bernie Sanders for grown ups

[watoos]

51. I must say, that is a right wing talking point.

Why do Democrats eat our own?

[Bucky]

52. I implied no insult to any Democrat in that post

[defacto7]

53. It's a great slogan to banter around on an Internet forum

but it's not a good idea for a campaign. It would alienate people and cause the same division we can see right here in this thread.

[wroberts189]

60. Want to get more men votes?

Hillary just came across to me as my evil aunt... even though I am not superficial...

I know men that are ....

Warren does not come off that way ...but I know some others do..

Just sayin...

I used to vote for the ideal candidate... but now I have to look at elect-ability because of Electoral college...and watched too many elections.

We have to run someone with broad mass appeal.

[AndJusticeForSome]

61. Every single Dem running for or holding any office

ought to have that as their mantra! And mean it. And do it.