Study: Hillary Clinton’s TV ads were almost entirely policy-free

Padawanbater2

Padawanbater2

Well-Known Member
"Hillary Clinton’s campaign ran TV ads that had less to do with policy than any other presidential candidate in the past four presidential races, according to a new study published on Monday by the Wesleyan Media Project.

Clinton’s team spent a whopping $1 billion on the election in all — about twice what Donald Trump’s campaign spent. Clinton spent $72 million on television ads in the final weeks alone.

But only 25 percent of advertising supporting her campaign went after Trump on policy grounds, the researchers found. By comparison, every other presidential candidate going back to at least 2000 devoted more than 40 percent of his or her advertising to policy-based attacks. None spent nearly as much time going after an opponent’s personality as Clinton’s ads did."

"In stark contrast to any prior presidential cycle for which we have Kantar Media/CMAG data, the Clinton campaign overwhelmingly chose to focus on Trump’s personality and fitness for office (in a sense, doubling down on the news media’s focus), leaving very little room for discussion in advertising of the reasons why Clinton herself was the better choice."

Full article from Vox

Link to the study


So this information begs the question: Why did the Clinton campaign focus so heavily on personal attacks instead of her own policy positions?

My guess would be because the policy positions that liberals and progressives actually support are incompatible with her campaigns establishment donors interests. Support for the TPP, universal college, legalizing recreational marijuana, reinstating strict regulations for the financial industry, etc., are all positions corporate America and Wall Street do not want.

Platitudes, empty rhetoric, identity politics, and demonization of Trump and his supporters was the only card her campaign had to play. The same thing applies to every establishment Democrat who accepts corporate funding in the future. Unless this changes, Democrats will continue to lose elections because they have nothing of actual substance to offer their base of voters except "TRUMP BAD!". The Democratic leadership currently has no vision and they are continuing to double down on the exact same mistakes that lost them the election.
 
Padawanbater2

Padawanbater2

Well-Known Member
The Party's Over

For the past few months, I’ve been attacked for coming out against the corruption that I see in our party, starting with “Please-Ignore-the-Fact-That-I’m-Under-Criminal-Investigation” Sen. Harry Reid. But despite what the Lie Factory at the top may want you to believe, I love the Democratic Party. I just hate what these Mafia accountants with Napoleonic complexes have done to it. In fact, it’s because I love the party that I so much hate what they have done.

I have listened to so many Democratic activists, as you have reached out to express your anger, your frustration, and your worries. You have felt ignored, belittled, and betrayed. So have I.

The disenfranchisement of Democratic voters in choosing our candidates has been largely ignored by the complicit national media. Leaders have been replaced or squelched by corporate bag men. We have been directed to sit down, shut up and do what we are told. Or, as Archie Bunker used to say to Edith, “Stifle!”

Up for grabs, right now, is the very notion that candidates matter, that programs matter, that government matters, and that democracy even exists. Any candidate who shows the slightest commitment to Democratic principles is condemned by the party overlords and their media stenographers as “unelectable,” or “ideological,” or “unrealistic.” In fact, the one last thing that the Democratic Politburo is good at is defeating progressive Democratic candidates. Lord knows that they don’t have a clue about how to beat Republicans. In Florida, a very purple state, party bosses have delivered the nomination in statewide races to right-wing Democrats virtually every time this century. And we have lost 14 of those 15 races.

I cannot with good conscience stand by and watch our party abandon the progressive principles and grassroots activists who have built the party we know and love today. I cannot stand by and watch our party recruit and promote candidates who betray the very people our party is supposed to serve, by eschewing the progressive values that working families so desperately need.

Once upon a time, our party was about so much more than the color blue. This party was about recognizing that many working families and seniors are struggling, and about making things better for them. It was about recognizing the injustice and inequality in our society, and then DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

When I was growing up, my parents were Democrats, not because it was trendy, but because they counted on the Democratic Party to improve their lives. They counted on the Democrats to fight for the healthcare benefits I needed to stay alive as a sick child. They counted on the Democrats to fight for the public housing we lived in, instead of the slum my father grew up in. They counted on the Democrats to protect their right to organize, and fair compensation to them as public employees.

What our corrupt, decrepit, and power-mad Democratic Establishment seems to have forgotten is the people like my parents today, the people who would like to vote for Democrats, feel that way because they need our help. Every time our self-appointed “leaders” ram through the nomination of a sellout corporate Democrat, another angel in heaven dies, and (perhaps more importantly) another 100,000 more Democrats flee the un-Democratic Party. Yes, the lobbyists are pleased, and they will keep those PAC checks coming, but our soul is gone. As Walt Kelly used to say in Pogo, “we have met the enemy, and he is us.”

I’m trying to change that. I’m trying to remind our party that we don’t have to be Republican to beat a Republican - that never works — and that we can still be champions for the People. But there’s only so much I can do alone.

Despite what our party Politburo may think, there’s a lot more at stake this year than which party gets to kowtow best to the 1 percent. This election season, we will decide what kind of party we want to be from here on out. We’re fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party. I hope you’ll join us.

Courage,

Rep. Alan Grayson
 
Padawanbater2

Padawanbater2

Well-Known Member
Can anyone explain what the Democratic party currently stands for? Policy positions, not empty rhetoric and platitudes.

Or explain why they still support accepting corporate bribes when Bernie Sanders ran a campaign funded by small donors who supported his policies and almost won the Democratic primary, while Hillary Clinton outraised/outspent Donald Trump by almost 2 to 1 and still lost the general election? Explain how the Barney Frank strategy of accepting corporate bribes will energize or excite the progressive base?
 
Padawanbater2

Padawanbater2

Well-Known Member
Here's one answer from Scott Peters, Rep. from San Diego, during a recent town hall meeting where a woman asked the same question

Woman: "I walked precincts for Hillary Clinton and for Barack Obama. When I walked the precincts, I walked the same ones each year, and the people I walked were working people. Two and three jobs, even the ones who said they were voting Democratic couldn't tell me what the Democrats stood for. So I'm here to ask you in front of God and everybody, what the heck does a Democrat stand for?"

Peters: "What do the Democrats stand for? Well, standing up for what's right and the notion that everyone gets a chance and everyone gets to be treated fairly. That's one thing, and I think the other side of that is an opportunity. Democrats stand for everyone getting that same opportunity to get the American dream, uhh, if they work hard and they're not making excuses, but everyone deserves that opportunity."

:shock:

No policy, no solutions, no explanation. That's an example of the current establishment response to an actual constituent and these people think they're going to win..


Clinton received more than 3 times the coverage of Sanders, but your excuse didn't matter during the primary when we told you the same thing. You said there's no way to determine that the extra coverage by the media affected the outcome of the primary, now you're claiming the exact opposite about the coverage Trump received.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
As long as the Democratic Party Establishment keeps sucking corporate cock for campaign finding, we can expect that the needs of the 'other' 90% of Americans will continue to be ignored.

This is why we need a progressive version of the Tea Party.

The Justice Democrats are just another distraction, and worse they're completely created from whole cloth by corporate interests.
 
Padawanbater2

Padawanbater2

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
As long as the Democratic Party Establishment keeps sucking corporate cock for campaign finding, we can expect that the needs of the 'other' 90% of Americans will continue to be ignored.

This is why we need a progressive version of the Tea Party.

The Justice Democrats are just another distraction, and worse they're completely created from whole cloth by corporate interests.
Click to expand...
What corporate interests are you referring to in regards to Justice Democrats?
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Padawanbater2 said:
What corporate interests are you referring to in regards to Justice Democrats?
Click to expand...
TYT, Cenk Uygur proposed it on MSNBC. They discussed everything but campaign finance reform, in my mind the root of the current evil afflicting our political system.

We can play whack a mole with symptoms or we can cut out the heart of the problem. The Justice Democrats would have us play whack a mole circle jerk games forever.
 
SneekyNinja

SneekyNinja

Well-Known Member
Padawanbater2 said:
The Party's Over

For the past few months, I’ve been attacked for coming out against the corruption that I see in our party, starting with “Please-Ignore-the-Fact-That-I’m-Under-Criminal-Investigation” Sen. Harry Reid. But despite what the Lie Factory at the top may want you to believe, I love the Democratic Party. I just hate what these Mafia accountants with Napoleonic complexes have done to it. In fact, it’s because I love the party that I so much hate what they have done.

I have listened to so many Democratic activists, as you have reached out to express your anger, your frustration, and your worries. You have felt ignored, belittled, and betrayed. So have I.

The disenfranchisement of Democratic voters in choosing our candidates has been largely ignored by the complicit national media. Leaders have been replaced or squelched by corporate bag men. We have been directed to sit down, shut up and do what we are told. Or, as Archie Bunker used to say to Edith, “Stifle!”

Up for grabs, right now, is the very notion that candidates matter, that programs matter, that government matters, and that democracy even exists. Any candidate who shows the slightest commitment to Democratic principles is condemned by the party overlords and their media stenographers as “unelectable,” or “ideological,” or “unrealistic.” In fact, the one last thing that the Democratic Politburo is good at is defeating progressive Democratic candidates. Lord knows that they don’t have a clue about how to beat Republicans. In Florida, a very purple state, party bosses have delivered the nomination in statewide races to right-wing Democrats virtually every time this century. And we have lost 14 of those 15 races.

I cannot with good conscience stand by and watch our party abandon the progressive principles and grassroots activists who have built the party we know and love today. I cannot stand by and watch our party recruit and promote candidates who betray the very people our party is supposed to serve, by eschewing the progressive values that working families so desperately need.

Once upon a time, our party was about so much more than the color blue. This party was about recognizing that many working families and seniors are struggling, and about making things better for them. It was about recognizing the injustice and inequality in our society, and then DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

When I was growing up, my parents were Democrats, not because it was trendy, but because they counted on the Democratic Party to improve their lives. They counted on the Democrats to fight for the healthcare benefits I needed to stay alive as a sick child. They counted on the Democrats to fight for the public housing we lived in, instead of the slum my father grew up in. They counted on the Democrats to protect their right to organize, and fair compensation to them as public employees.

What our corrupt, decrepit, and power-mad Democratic Establishment seems to have forgotten is the people like my parents today, the people who would like to vote for Democrats, feel that way because they need our help. Every time our self-appointed “leaders” ram through the nomination of a sellout corporate Democrat, another angel in heaven dies, and (perhaps more importantly) another 100,000 more Democrats flee the un-Democratic Party. Yes, the lobbyists are pleased, and they will keep those PAC checks coming, but our soul is gone. As Walt Kelly used to say in Pogo, “we have met the enemy, and he is us.”

I’m trying to change that. I’m trying to remind our party that we don’t have to be Republican to beat a Republican - that never works — and that we can still be champions for the People. But there’s only so much I can do alone.

Despite what our party Politburo may think, there’s a lot more at stake this year than which party gets to kowtow best to the 1 percent. This election season, we will decide what kind of party we want to be from here on out. We’re fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party. I hope you’ll join us.

Courage,

Rep. Alan Grayson
Click to expand...
Fake news.

(Like a filthy Republican)
 
Padawanbater2

Padawanbater2

Well-Known Member
Your Democratic "leadership"

This is what stands in the way of a 2020 Trump reelection... Let that sink in for a minute...



Jake Tapper: "I want to ask you, president Trump at CPAC on Friday said the Republican party, from now on, will be the party of the American worker and in November, president Trump carried white voters without a college degree, working class voters, by a staggering 37 percentage points. What is your plan to win these voters back into the Democratic fold?"

Tom Perez: "We lead with our values and we lead with our actions. We talk to them about how literally hours into the Trump administration, he was a fraud. He made it harder for first-time homeowners to buy a home. He made it harder to save for retirement. He nominated a judge for the Supreme Court who wants to eviscerate collective bargaining. If you want good jobs, elect a Democrat. That's the message that we have to communicate, it's a message that is true, it resonates in every zip code and that's what you're going to be doing all over the nation. The fact is that the Democrats grow the middle-class, Democrats protect economic security and we need to do a better job of communicating that message everywhere."

Tapper: "I know you're probably reluctant to criticize Hillary Clinton, but are you of the opinion that her campaign did not talk about those economic values sufficiently, instead focusing on the perceived character flaws of the current president?"

Perez: "Well certainly we have to do a better job as a Democratic party of messaging what we stand for, we have to make sure that we're out there every week talking about how we're the party of middle-class security, we're the party of inclusion, we believe diversity is our greatest strength. Because when we lead with these values, I believe that's when we succeed. Because those are the values of the American people. That's why you see millions of people out there marching in the aftermath of January 20th, saying "Donald Trump, you don't stand for our values". That's why you see for instance, yesterday, in Delaware, there was a big election for a state senate seat and it was the seat that held the state senate in balance, and it was a great example of that activism we've seen, Jake, coming into fruition. Our Revolution, the DNC, grassroots activists came in to help elect Stephanie Hanson by a whopping 16%. This is the definition of the DNC and the Democratic party. Coming together to make sure we help elect candidates from the state house to the senate to the school board, and I am so excited about what happened there yesterday in Delaware. We've got opportunities right here in Atlanta where I sit today, Congressional 6th which is Cobb county, uhh, we're gonna take the fight there and people ask me all the time, Jake, "How do you translate the energy out there, Tom, into action and results?" we did exactly that in Delaware yesterday and we're gonna work like heck to do that here in Georgia and elsewhere. It's very exciting to see the energy!"


 
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