Biden's speech gives more "signs of the times"
Big swing with 20% of the electorate
Yesterday, I wrote a newsletter about at least one sign (school lockdowns that led to children’s learning loss) that Democrats and special interest groups are bracing themselves for a Republican congress after these midterm elections. This newsletter is a continuation of that theme inspired by President Biden’s primetime address last night.
Q - Why would President Biden spend the coveted airtime spot in primetime to talk about threats to democracy, election integrity and the attack on Paul Pelosi1?
A - My answer to my own question is… white suburban women.
20% of voters swing 27% points
Yesterday morning was like any other. Just another day on Twitter. Observing people bicker about kids, education, and if the FED would really raise interest rates. The biggest news of this day was going to be the FED news conference about interest rates scheduled at 2 pm (ET).
Then, around 9:41 am (ET), the White House announces this primetime speech to be held later in the evening at Union Station?
This surprised everyone. Twitter was grateful to be bickering about something different. What would the speech be about and what could have prompted this?
A shocking WSJ article released its latest poll findings at 5:30 am (ET) that explains the sudden change in White House plans.
According to the survey, rising prices were the top issue motivating these voters, with 34% putting that as their number priority, followed by 28% citing threats to democracy and 16% choosing the Supreme Court overturning Roe. White suburban women trusted Republicans over Democrats to handle the economy and inflation.
A total of 85% of these voters said they were very motivated to vote, making them among the most-motivated groups of those surveyed.
Biden’s gamble
President Biden decides that the raging against the light would have to turn from the economy to the threats to democracy. If white suburban women could just understand that the threats to the democracy (28% priority) were more important than money in their pockets (34% priority) then the Democrats have a fighting chance to keep the red wave from becoming a tsunami.
Biden’s gamble is to leave the economy messaging and to try and tie political violence to the memories of President Trump in some way. For the media and Democrats, Trump has become like Harry Potter’s Voldemort someone who “You-Know-Who” or “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” because saying Trump’s name out loud might make him physically appear.
Therefore, President Biden does not use Trump’s name in his speech, but invokes his presence through “You-Know-Who” phrases like -
“the mob” who “stormed the United States Capitol on January the 6th” and
“the Big Lie, that the election of 2020 had been stolen” and
“the defeated president”
The idea is to scare white suburban women into believing that every day could be January 6th if MAGA comes back into power. Here is one part of Biden’s speech about the threat of MAGA Republicans -
It’s estimated that there are more than 300 election deniers on the ballot all across America this year. We can’t ignore the impact this is having on our country. It’s damaging, it’s corrosive and it’s destructive.
Democrats Give Money to MAGA Republicans
What is difficult and disingenuous about the above statement is that President Biden’s Democratic party spent a lot of money helping “MAGA Republicans” win their primaries.
Why would Democrats give money to people they claim will destroy democracy?
The Democratic leaders are now in fear of their own plan backfiring on them. Here are some of the people they promoted and gave money to help win their primaries -
Arizona2 - Kari Lake (R) for Governor
Michigan - John Gibbs (R) for Congress
Maryland - Dan Cox (R) for Governor
New Hampshire - Donald Bolduc (R) for Congress
Pennsylvania - Doug Mastriano (R) for Governor
Not all Democrats thought this was a good idea. There were 35 former Democratic elected officials from around the country who did write a letter to the Democratic leaders denouncing this tactic -
As former members of Congress and the Cabinet, we oppose any practice that intentionally elevates election deniers. And as members of the Democratic Party, we are dismayed by the recent practice of Democratic organizations intervening in Republican primaries to promote candidates who deny the outcome of the last presidential election.
If Wonder Women 1984 is our guide… long speeches are dumb
I have to say… I really disliked Wonder Woman 1984 despite the fact that I really liked the actors in the movie. What really tanked that movie for me was the horrible speech at the end. You see… what saves humankind is a really long moral speech. Not an insanely awesome gold armor suit or Greek God-like superpowers. But, it is speaking into a tv camera projected to all the world and (I am guessing) perfectly translated into the viewers’ native tongue. A speech so powerful that people automatically think and behave different from that moment on.
I have no doubt that men became so good at apologizing because they just want to make the talking stop. Our “talks” can be so long and boring that the audience might contemplate anything just to make it end, like admitting guilt.
So… will this latest “rage against the dying of the light” to believe political threats (that Democrats helped finance) are more important than economic stability work?
I say “no” because long speeches are dumb.
Sincerely,
Me
Paul Pelosi is the husband of House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Paul was attacked by David DePape, in a home invasion on Friday, October 28th. “Neighbors described DePape as a homeless addict with a politics that was, until recently, left-wing, but of secondary importance to his psychotic and paranoid behavior.”
Technically, Democrats did not spend money to help Kari Lake’s campaign, but they did mettle in the primary by targeting her opponent in other ways.
I agree, long speeches are the worst.  I also think it’s very disingenuous and cynical to see how certain campaigns have been financed, then complained about!