Zakaria: The Democratic Party Has ‘Created Great Distance Between Itself’ and Much of Middle America

[rangerrebew]

Zakaria: The Democratic Party Has ‘Created Great Distance Between Itself’ and Much of Middle America
by Josh Feldman | 2:35 pm, July 2nd, 2017
 

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria said this morning that the Democratic party has to come to terms with the reasons they lost to Donald Trump.

It’s not just an economic message, he argued, there’s also serious social and cultural factors to consider (i.e. “fears of cultural displacement”).

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/zakaria-the-democratic-party-has-created-great-distance-between-itself-and-much-of-middle-america/

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Zakaria doesn't understand his own party.  Most Democrats know there is a cultural divide -- they relish it.  And they believe there is no need for them to try to close that divide because the numbers favor them long-term anyway.

The last thing they want to do is moderate their beliefs so as to attract votes from people whose votes they don't think they'll need anyway.  They consider it a sign of virtue to attack/mock those on the other side of the culture war, and they're not giving up their sanctimony that easily.

[Wingnut]

I can't stand watching that smug, arrogant asshat Fareed. 

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Heh -- I've never watched one of his shows.  The promos alone are enough to keep me away.  And reading this articles just confirms that I'm likely not missing any great insights.

[skeeter]

Zakaria doesn't understand his own party.  Most Democrats know there is a cultural divide -- they relish it.  And they believe there is no need for them to try to close that divide because the numbers favor them long-term anyway.

The last thing they want to do is moderate their beliefs so as to attract votes from people whose votes they don't think they'll need anyway.  They consider it a sign of virtue to attack/mock those on the other side of the culture war, and they're not giving up their sanctimony that easily.

The democrats believe demographics are destiny, but demographic trends can change.

Perhaps they've jumped the gun on certain demographic assumptions. They've taken a gamble, time will tell if they are correct.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

The democrats believe demographics are destiny, but demographic trends can change.

Perhaps they've jumped the gun on certain demographic assumptions. They've taken a gamble, time will tell if they are correct.

Agreed.  I'm just mocking Zakaria for thinking he came up with some great insight that there is a culture gap.

[Hondo69]

Imagine how shocked the Democrat leaders must be to discover not that many people want to assassinate President Trump, kill all white people, think little old Tea Party ladies are Nazis, consider military vets terrorists, or want to give billions in tax dollars to Muslim countries.

[Night Hides Not]

Imagine how shocked the Democrat leaders must be to discover not that many people want to assassinate President Trump, kill all white people, think little old Tea Party ladies are Nazis, consider military vets terrorists, or want to give billions in tax dollars to Muslim countries.

The 'burb I live in is Ted Cruz country, even though whites are no longer in the majority. And you should have seen the melting pot of people at Lake Grapevine yesterday. Texas suburbs more than outvote the cities, and that's not going to change anytime soon.

[the_doc]

Zakaria doesn't understand his own party.  Most Democrats know there is a cultural divide -- they relish it.  And they believe there is no need for them to try to close that divide because the numbers favor them long-term anyway.

The last thing they want to do is moderate their beliefs so as to attract votes from people whose votes they don't think they'll need anyway.  They consider it a sign of virtue to attack/mock those on the other side of the culture war, and they're not giving up their sanctimony that easily.

Great post.  The DNC specifically believe that immigration, whether legal or illegal, will swell their numbers and flip Red States to Blue forever--as seems to be the case with California, which voted 2 to 1 for Hillary over Trump.  (Twenty-seven percent of California residents were not born in the U.S.)

The Dems are even expecting the flipping of Texas in the foreseeable future.

[Free Vulcan]

He is correct, but like said above the Dems believe ythat political destiny is demographics and are playing the long game.

Which changes nothing. The Republicans are in charge of their own destiny. Healthcare, budget, voter, tax, regulation and immgration reform will undercut the Dems demographic hopes and deny their best laid plans.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

He is correct, but like said above the Dems believe ythat political destiny is demographics and are playing the long game.

Which changes nothing. The Republicans are in charge of their own destiny. Healthcare, budget, voter, tax, regulation and immgration reform will undercut the Dems demographic hopes and deny their best laid plans.

I certainly hope so.  But the energy in the Democratic party is on the left, and aggressive moral sanctimony is their stock in trade.  They simply will not support anyone who tries to bridge the cultural gap as Zakaria urges.  Rightly or wrongly, that's where they've dug in.

That at least gives us some hope that they may be overplaying that hand.  If we can succeed on some of the economic issues you identify, the Democrats may help us out by alienating swing voters.

[Free Vulcan]

I certainly hope so.  But the energy in the Democratic party is on the left, and aggressive moral sanctimony is their stock in trade.  They simply will not support anyone who tries to bridge the cultural gap as Zakaria urges.  Rightly or wrongly, that's where they've dug in.

That at least gives us some hope that they may be overplaying that hand.  If we can succeed on some of the economic issues you identify, the Democrats may help us out by alienating swing voters.

They are overplaying their own hand. The GOP needs to use their Marxist agitation against them. We are winning at the state level, we can do it at the national level.

What's really stopping the GOP is the skittish milquetoast moderates.

[the_doc]

What's really stopping the GOP is the skittish milquetoast moderates.

I suspect that about half of our GOP Senators and Representatives are being blackmailed RE: sex, maybe even pedophilia. 

(Blackmail is one the Alinskyites' chief political weapons.  It would explain the craziness in our federal-level GOP.  Even Denny Hastert, while Speaker, was a child molester.  [Hmmm...Is the Speaker even more powerful and important to the Republic than Chief Justice Roberts?]  I was appalled when Hastert lost his nerve and inexplicably broke his public promise to investigate obvious voting fraud in the 2000 election, certainly including the Gore/Daley attempt to steal Florida's electoral votes.

By the way, do you remember what the Clintons did as soon as they got into the White House?  They got the confidential FBI dossiers on every Republican in Congress.  Even now, the Clinton Foundation is rumored to be behind the D.C. sex trafficking ring.)

[Hondo69]

Let's see, Middle America.

There are many ways to define that term, here's one.  Middle America are those who believe in law and order.  Everyone else, not so much.

[Smokin Joe]

The Democrat Party hasn't created distance between itself and Middle America, it left the planet long ago.

[Free Vulcan]

The Democrat Party hasn't created distance between itself and Middle America, it left the planet long ago.

They are pretty much the Archipelago Party right now. Urban islands of voters spread out all over the country, but mostly on the coasts.

[Hondo69]

Some of us know what Rocky Mountain Oysters are and many of us have wrestled pretty damned hard to produce them.  We also know what type of chicken makes a chicken fried steak, the same type that makes cow patties that can also double as a pretty darned good frisbee in the summer time.  I could go on and on about the differences between those of us in Flyover Country and the Coasties, but you get the idea.

The problem is the Coasties are good at making rules for other people to follow and we just don't cotton to that much at all.