Has Name-Calling Ever Worked? I Don't Think So.

[MineralMan]

Right now, we need a consensus of Democrats in the US Senate. Without a consensus, the Senate cannot pass a damned thing.

We have two Democratic Senators who aren't joining the Democratic consensus. If they do not, we won't pass the important bills that need to be passed. So, what do we do?

Well, what we have been doing, to an alarming degree, is calling those two Democratic Senators names.

And what is the response of people when you call them names? Generally, name-calling causes people to retreat from those who are doing that name-calling.

There are 50 Senators who are either Democrats or Independents who vote with Democrats. We need every last one of those 50 votes. If we cause two Senators to retreat and harden their minds against what is needed, we will not have all 50 votes we need.

I suggest we try a different approach on Manchin and Sinema. The one we've been using is working poorly or not at all. They are being insulted and called names, so they don't want to play on our team. We need to get them back in the game. We need them to work with us, rather than against us.

Unless we get them back on the team, we're not going to pass those measures.

Stop calling them names. Instead, call on them to pitch in and get the rewards that come from passing important bills.

[grumpyduck]

1. I agree with your basic point, but

I don't believe for a micro-second that either Manchin or Sinema listen to what we "ordinary people" say about them or give a rat's ass about it. They live in their own world (like everyone else in Congress), listen only to insiders, and will do what they want to do or what their mega-donors and PACs want them to do.

[MineralMan]

3. We're not helping. We're adding fuel to the fire, it seems to me.

There are only 50 Democrats in the Senate. In many ways, those 50 people are the most important people in the nation right now. They talk to each other. They listen to each other. I am not privy to what other Democratic Senators are saying to the two holdouts. I am privy to what Democrats are saying in other places, though. That matters, too, even if not directly.

[grumpyduck]

6. I would like to agree with you, but

I totally believe that these people don't give a rat's ass what "we" say about them. For one thing, they probably never hear about it anyway. They read the papers and get briefings and such, but they are isolated from "the masses."

[CrispyQ]

2. Whose been calling them names?

Dem politicians? Journalists? Political pundits? DUers?

[MineralMan]

4. All of those.

[CrispyQ]

10. Can you provide names of the democratic politicians who have called them names? -nt

[MineralMan]

11. Here's a Google search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=democratic+attacks+on+Manchin

[bluewater]

12. Those are links to criticism of Manchin, where are the links to just "name calling"?

[CrispyQ]

15. Good grief. Someone called him the new Mitch McConnell.

[bluewater]

5. No one in the national spotlight.

In the media that actually reaches a large audience, people have criticized his policies and that's about it.

This seems like another effort to silence vocal Manchin critics here on DU, which Manchin doesn't even knows exists.

[CentralMass]

7. Well said.

[ColinC]

8. "I'm going to let millions of people continue to live in poverty and deny them a safety net because

...i was called a selfish, egotistical coal baron!"

Sounds fair

[unblock]

9. I'm not advocating it, but name-calling certainly can be highly effective

Just take one look at the Republican Party. Name-calling is a core value for them. Mostly they do it to the people outside their party, but they also use it to corral their own.

Party members dare not stray from the party line lest they be accused of being called socialists or traitors or tax and spenders or soft on crime or whatever. It's very effective for them.

Of course, they have an entirely different value system then the Democratic Party has. We value independent thought and a free exchange of ideas and merit and argumentation and evidence and all that.

So name-calling isn't usually effective on the democratic side. At least not when it's done as blatantly and tactlessly as when republicans do it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Yes, it works on people who can feel shame.

And, in general, Democrats are in that group (unlike, say, Republicans), so it is a possible way of getting Sinema and Manchin to shape up and start acting like party members.

It's not realistic to think that those two don't currently realise "the rewards that come from passing important bills"; they know them, but they both know the monetary reward of listening to rich donors is more important to them.

If we really want something that works, I suggest someone bribe them, carefully and subtly. I think that is the best chance of getting through to them. Or make it legal and open - "a super PAC will donate even more than you've been offered, if you'll enact President Biden's agenda".

[bluewater]

14. I believe both Manchin and Sinema are reachable and capable of change.

Pointing out where they are being wrong headed is both valid and productive in the long run.

[PortTack]

16. Excellent points!