One of the most consistent things about Democrats is their lemming instinct. Time and time again they merrily throw themselves off political cliffs. 1972, 1984, and 2016 are but three examples of Dem presidential campaigns that made intentional choices that led to serious defeats. In 1994 and 2010 Democrats jumped off congressional cliffs.
Not that Republicans don’t do it too. The Mastriano campaign in Pennsylvania is a current example of a Republican campaign destined for a trip over a ledge come November. In doing so they discount the sage counsel of WFB, who advised Republicans to nominate the most electable conservative.
In this article we’re going to mainly look at two instances where Democrats could have made better political choices and chose not to for the sake of ego, stupidity, and ideology. We’re also going to note how two men, Bill Clinton and Jim Carville, tried and are trying to save them from their folly, to no avail. First, the aforementioned 2016 and then 2022.
Going into a presidential race in 2016 where both nominees had massive unfavorable image numbers, you’d think Dems would note that and try to decidedly humanize, maybe even bring some believable humility, to Hillary. Nothing doing. And when the little effort was made in that direction, to paraphrase Fight Club, she “looked like the way a skeleton would look if you made it smile and walk around a party being extra nice to everybody.”
Thus, a barely post adolescent campaign leadership out of Brooklyn gave her enough rope to hang herself and encouraged her arrogance and hubris. They even told her to ignore policy and focus on Trump. Why? Because they liked that message. They forgot, as many inbred campaigns tend to, that you don’t win by impressing yourselves. You win by impressing voters.
Bill Clinton tried to advise his wife to concentrate on the traditional Dem constituency of the white working class, especially in the upper Midwest like Michigan and Wisconsin. But both whites and the working class were out of fashion in Brooklyn. They thought they could put together a winning coalition of young women, minorities, and urbanites. Bad move because those groups are highly concentrated in liberal states. That strategy may get you big margins in California and New York. But all that accomplishes is running up the numbers in states you’ve already won. Not smart when you’re trying to win the Electoral College
Again, Bill Clinton tried to warn them of just that. However, who takes advice from old white guys, huh? Like him or not, Clinton was and is a great political analyst and strategist. But Brooklyn blew him off. They paid the price.
Today, the same thing is happening and Clinton’s best field general, Jim Carville, is trying to warn Dems to stop talking about pronouns and political veganism, as politics is a game for carnivores. But the PC hordes within the Democrat Party are ignoring him just as they did his former boss in 2016. Not to mention the Dems are just plain dumb.
In an energy crisis they restrict oil production. In a crime surge they side with BLM against law enforcement. As inflation hits forty year highs they make excuses and change the subject. As the border explodes with illegal immigrants they actually try and make it easier for the flood to continue. Like lemmings before them they have their wacky ideological reasons. But like in 1994 and 2010, they will find the landing off the cliff quite hard upon impact.