Al Franken (on the Hacks on Tap podcast): "Defund the Police was a terrible bumper sticker"

[brooklynite]

"There's been a backlash because crime has gone up"

Al is apparently moving to NYC: "Not a New York voter yet..."

https://www.hacksontap.com/episodes/texas-hold-em-with-al-franken

[dalton99a]

1. Whoever popularized that stupid slogan was not a friend of Democrats.

It hurt Democrats big time in Texas.

That and the "Open Borders" label

[Treefrog]

3. This.

[comradebillyboy]

5. We do know which Democratic Members of Congress

pushed this nonsense. One of them is often touted as the "future of the Democratic Party".

[ChrisF1961]

8. It was a Black Lives Matters slogan

As far as the Open Borders stuff, that was Fox.

[Amishman]

37. the problem is there were enough on our side pushing for extremes that was easy to stick

the best lies have a kernel of truth.

Defund the Police
Abolish ICE

both were terrible slogans backed by ideas that were out of step with public opinion, and absolute gifts to the Right.

[betsuni]

38. +1

[uponit7771]

42. No there wasn't, I don't see how we're still falling for this right-wing talking point

.. at most it looks like there is three or four out of hundreds of candidates on the Democratic side to say anything about the fund the police

The Republicans spent tons of money on wrapping Democrats in the slogan of the oppressed and the Democrats been very little time addressing the number one issue planet-wide during the election

I wish dens would stop blaming the slogans of the oppressed and look at our lackluster inadequate messaging infrastructure

[Amishman]

56. melodramatic slogans and the accompanying lack of message control are real problems

call it a right wing talking point if you don't like it, it doesn't change the underlying reality that there is no emerging progressive supermajority. These dramatic (and unfortunately catchy) slogans put us out of step with the overall electorate.

Even with four years of Trump's stupidity weighing on their brand, the Republicans gain seats in the House. Our only pickups were open seat races. They beat incumbents in not only red states with voter suppression, but made significant gains in blue states that had relatively well run elections - 3 in CA, 2 in NY, 1 in MN, 1 in NM.

Inadequate messaging infrastructure? perhaps, but not in the way that you probably intend. When one of ours oversteps the party's core stances, they need to be quickly publicly rebuked to prevent the media from making a fringe statement into a leading story. AOC's direct statement that 'It’s time to abolish ice' let the media create a headline, and then let them lump politicians with more reasonable and nuanced opinions on ICE in the same cateogry - such as Kamala Harris (“I think there’s no question that we’ve got to critically re-examine ICE and its role and the way that it is being administered and the work it is doing,”)

Fringe and unpopular statements make it really easy for not just the right, but the media as well, to portray us as a group as radicals. Why does the media play along? because they are not our friend and above all else, they want controversy as it drives ratings and revenue.

Our message isn't the problem, Joe proved this by kicking Trump's ass with a clear message that resonated across the electorate. The problem is message control, where we get undesirable fringe statements made into ready made attack ads to be used against us. I do think the party has learned, as there seems to be a lot more cohesiveness this year.

[ChrisF1961]

47. Enough?

There were a handful at most and they all won their races. Too many are blaming the loss of their candidate on what another candidate in a different district or different state supported. It’s lazy thinking that ignores the real factors which contributed to the loss.

[The Magistrate]

2. Indeed, Sir --- Irremedially Stupid

'Police the police!' captures the sentiment that actually brought crowds out into the streets.

If left activists and academics had the slightest competence at mass-marketing, our politics and our country would be quite different.

[krawhitham]

4. So he's coming for Kirsten Gillibrand's job

GOOD

[ChrisF1961]

6. She's not up for re-election until 24

Maybe he’s thinking of running for Governor.

[OnDoutside]

7. It would be nice to think so but probably not. That said, one would have to imagine that he would be

very popular amongst NY Democratic primary voters.

[brooklynite]

25. I KNEW someone would fantasize about this...

He won't because he's smart enough to know he wouldn't beat her.

The anger of the political blogosphere isn't reflected in the New York Democratic electorate.

[ChrisF1961]

27. Plus isn't really hard

to primary an incumbent in New York?

[leftstreet]

9. I thought Defund was a BLM thing, not a Dem party thing

Of course it wouldn't be the first time in history a grassroots movement got gobbled up by one of the political parties

[Spider Jerusalem]

10. Good thing no Democrat actually ran on "defund the police" then

however, centrists won't shut the fuck up about it because they like having a club to beat leftists with.

[BlueLucy]

11. Who are the "centrist" you're talking about?

[brooklynite]

12. "Mayoral candidate Dianne Morales wants to defund the police, pledges housing for all"

Mayoral candidate Dianne Morales is pledging to provide housing for all New Yorkers and to overhaul

Morales, unlike most of her opponents in the Democratic primary, supports the “defund the police” movement, pledging to cut $3 billion from the NYPD budget.

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2021/04/27/mayoral-candidate-dianne-morales-wants-to-defund-the-police--pledges-housing-for-all

[Dorian Gray]

39. She did lose

pretty big....

[brooklynite]

13. "Ilhan Omar defends idea of dismantling Minneapolis Police Department"

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the Minneapolis City Council's decision to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department as it currently exists does not mean that nothing will take its place to ensure the community is kept safe and crimes are investigated.

Why it matters: Critics of the idea of defunding or abolishing police departments, including President Trump, have characterized the move as radical and dangerous. Omar argues that coverage of Minneapolis' decision has been misleading, and that the city's policing infrastructure must be reinvented "because you can't really reform a department that is rotten to the root."



https://www.axios.com/ilhan-omar-minneapolis-police-department-7d0c6cf5-6179-4077-ba03-1ebc909f6bbe.html

[The Magistrate]

34. That Department, Sir, Does Seem To Need, Shall We Say, An Attitude Adjustment

Given who the rank and file votes in for union leadership, a solid majority of them need to find other work, which for many probably ought to be in a prison yard.

[brooklynite]

15. "Rashida Tlaib calls for 'no more police' following Daunte Wright shooting"

The White House distanced itself from calls of "Squad" member Rashida Tlaib for "no more" policing and incarceration following the shooting of Daunte Wright.

The Democratic congresswoman from Michigan said the shooting by Minneapolis officer Kim Potter "wasn’t an accident" and that policing in the United States was "inherently and intentionally racist".

"Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence. I am done with those who condone government funded murder," she said in a tweet.

https://news.yahoo.com/rashida-tlaib-calls-no-more-221355507.html

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. That's from 2021; please find something with more relevance to the November 2020 elections.

Unless you want to accuse these people of time travel, as well, that is.

[uponit7771]

43. The right wing talking point that Democrats supported DTP party-wide needs to stop

[FBaggins]

20. From June 2020

“When we say #DefundPolice, what we mean is people are dying and we need to invest in people’s livelihoods instead,” Tlaib wrote on June 4. “EXAMPLE: Detroit spent $294 million on police last year, and $9 million on health.”

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/06/16/fact-check-detroits-police-vs-health-spending-gap/3194086001/

[brooklynite]

22. Cori Bush (MO-01)...

Link to tweet

The fact that Democrats in safe seat are still using this slogan makes the situation worse.

[Spider Jerusalem]

32. In other words, the only candidates who made any mention of it...won?

I fail to see how that supports the claim that it's the issue centrists say it is.

[brooklynite]

33. No, the only candidate I could find in the 10 minutes I had to search.

[The Magistrate]

35. There's No Question It Was Used To Effect Against Democrats Nationwide, Sir

It does no good to try and blink that away.

Always best to confess error, reconsider, regroup, and take some other more promising line of attack.


"An attack which fails should never be repeated on the same line. Reinforcement does not constitute a new line."

[Dorian Gray]

40. Not in NYC

for mayor....

[uponit7771]

44. That's 2021 and 2020 the sentiment was different

[Dorian Gray]

57. You didn't specify

The year. You just said people who ran on it won. If you didn’t meant that was a winning slogan I was confused by how you phrased it. Sorry.

[LiberatedUSA]

53. No more police would make it hard to enforce other laws...

...like for instance gun control.

Based on reading posts in various threads from mass shootings and police shootings, as well as some politician responses, there is a want of a fictional perfect cop.

One that will totally ignore low level crime for those who are considered protected classes, while still punishing white people for the same crime. This fictional officer must both not be judge, jury and executioner by not engaging or getting violent in anyway with what would be considered Democratic voters, while killing on sight any gunner open carrying legally; and by extension any gunner protesting legally even when distasteful. So this perfect cop both somehow is unarmed so as not to trigger anyone and knows when someone is a liberal and should be given a pass for whatever crime they are doing, yet knows when to crank it up to 11 and go Rambo on someone we find personally distasteful.

[FBaggins]

23. Have you reviewed the "Breathe Act"?

Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib sponsored it along with about 45 cosponsors.

[ChrisF1961]

28. True

Elections are complex. Blaming a candidate in another district for the loss of your candidate seems like an excuse which ignores the real causes.

[uponit7771]

45. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾 My peeve is people are blaming DTP versus overwhelming data that dem message was

... inadequate down ballot

[budkin]

52. THIS

Nobody ever ran on “defund the police.” It was a Fox News construct made from reallocating police budgets to social workers and then amplified to the Nth degree.

[JHB]

16. I don't think the activists who coined it cared about bumper stickers

Neither did the RW outrage machine, which will pluck from nowhere and instantly use anything that will will give their audience much-enjoyed hit of apoplexy smack.

[leftstreet]

21. In fairness, half the eligible voters don't vote

I think the poster's point is valid

Not everyone motivated to activism and protest is worried about how the messaging might look

My favorite gif is the burning MN police precinct, but I wouldn't expect to find it on a politician's campaign site

[brooklynite]

24. You think there's something good about burning down a police station?

[leftstreet]

30. It wouldn't be good for politicians to use n/t

[Dorian Gray]

41. But is it good?

It's your favorite gif. Do you think it was a good thing, outside of a politician using it?

[RandiFan1290]

31. 'Boogaloo Boi' charged in fire of Minneapolis police precinct during George Floyd protest

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/23/texas-boogaloo-boi-minneapolis-police-building-george-floyd

Ivan Harrison Hunter, a Texas rightwing extremist, bragged about helping to set the fire then was seen shooting 13 rounds at the building

...

Later, he privately messaged Steven Carrillo, another alleged “Boogaloo Boi” in California, urging him to “go for police buildings”, according to the federal criminal complaint.

“I did better, lol,” Carrillo allegedly replied.

Hours before Carrillo sent that message, according to the complaint, federal prosecutors say Carrillo had driven to Oakland with an accomplice, and, as protesters were demonstrating blocks away, shot two officers guarding a federal courthouse in downtown Oakland, killing one, David Patrick Underwood.

[tonedevil]

58. From now on you can go out in the streets...

when people are protesting and you make up the chants so they will be good politics.

[TlalocW]

26. Demilitarize the Police

Would have been better.

TlalocW

[ChrisF1961]

29. Or Reform the police

[sir pball]

36. Reimagine Policing nt

[uponit7771]

46. No it wouldn't, Republicans would have told America dems hate puppies and when...

.... We didn't respond like in 20 most of Democrats would have believed it fight they believed that Democrats party started defund the police

[betsuni]

54. Different when there are Democrats quoted saying "I hate puppies."

Like a Democrat called "the face of the Democratic Party" saying "Defunding police means defunding police" and others supporting Defund the Police. It happened.

[betsuni]

48. Yes. He mentions Miami, how since they've changed things the rate of people killed by police

has plummeted. They know what to do, it's a matter of doing it although incredibly difficult.

Ditch the pledge-allegiance-to-the-slogans-or-you-aren't-progressive-you-centrist-purity-test, keep the solutions.

[Lemon Lyman]

49. Al's Moving To NY?

Reminds me of a joke I heard Al tell on Conan 20 years ago.

A tourist who's not wearing a watch goes up a native NY'er and asks, "Excuse me. Could you tell me the time or should I just go f*ck myself?"

[Rhiannon12866]

50. Al Franken previously lived in NYC, he broadcast his radio show from there

That's how I already knew Rep. Jerrold Nadler, he was Al's Rep and he often had him on his show...

[tonedevil]

51. I never saw that bumper sticker. /nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

55. Crime has not gone up, but okay, Al.