Do you agree with Paul Begala, Our leaders are fine... we are dropping the ball somewhere else.

[cinematicdiversions]

Link to tweet

[Orrex]

1. It's not the heat, it's the humidity

[Budi]

2. Its not the leaders nor the supporters. Its the billion $$$ Global Corporate Media, Paul..

Social & Corporate Media runs a propaganda filled IV-tube 24/7 that protects their unreguated bottm line.
Paul, you haven't noticed??

"We will tell you how to think"~joseph goebbels on media as a tool for propaganda

[Cha]

10. You would think he would

know that.. being in the media and all.

[Budi]

12. Well, from the brief snipped video one would have to wonder.

I'll have to watch the entire thing tho, to get his whole point.

[L. Coyote]

13. They know to read the lines, take the paycheck, and never ask who wrote the script.

[elleng]

3. 'Bad' followers?

I don't know what was begala's role when he was part of the political consulting team Carville and Begala, seemed to me Carville knew a LOT.

[DFW]

11. I think I get what he's alluding to

In a time when Republicans are tearing themselves apart, trying to show who is the cruelest, the greediest, the phoniest, and the most insane among them, instead of providing a unified front for the Biden-Harris team to steamroll over them, we instead mimic the Republicans with our "Justice," our "Squad," our Manchin, our Sanders, our Sinema, and all the others who think their causes are more important than taking a back seat (for just once!) in order to have a substantial victory for the country as a whole. You can't win a race if your own teammates shoot you in the knee at the starting line.

Emmanuel Macron must be telling Joe Biden in secret, "now you know how I feel!" Macron named his movement "en marche!" or "forward!" France being France, all the "lookit me!" crowd have stymied him at almost every attempt at reforms. America being a country helped into being in no small part by France, it sometimes seems to me that we act just like the French do. We are all Astérix's little village, just on a larger scale.

[elleng]

14. 'Thanks,' DFW, I guess.

I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.

Will Rogers

[DFW]

19. I know, I know

I didn't paint a rosy picture of optimism, did I?

[elleng]

20. No you didn't; you're rational.

[Budi]

15. This is it. Thanks.

"Macron named his movement "en marche!" or "forward!" France being France, all the "lookit me!" crowd have stymied him at almost every attempt at reforms"

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. It kind of reminds me though of what I was taught in

the business world. You don't ever bring up a proposal in a meeting when you haven't reached out to key people before hand to make sure you will have their support.

[DFW]

24. I think Schumer has milked that one for every drop there was to give.

The key people HAVE been reached out to. It gets dicier when the proposal is of vital interest, and the key people have said "no way" in advance after having been reached out to. Wiggling room has been reduced beyond a bare minimum by now.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

29. Sure get that. I'm talking about even

before the idea/bill is even formulated. Guess the question is do you propose anything that there is a strong likelihood it won't pass? Obviously the answer at this point in time is yes.

Perhaps it is due to the state we are in... No compromise, input, or flexibility from the other side at all? What's missing is common interest. A long time ago, both sides might have believed in helping the homeless, for example. And all you had to debate about was how much $ to spend.

[W_HAMILTON]

4. Anyone have the full, not abruptly edited video?

[Budi]

6. That might help.

[W_HAMILTON]

8. I found it myself:

Here is a direct link from Mediate: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/paul-begala-says-democratic-party-has-bad-followers/

I thought this tweet was unusual, given that Mediate's problem is usually that they post videos that are TOO long; so, the fact that they cut this off so abruptly made me question what they were trying to cut off.

If you watch Begala's full comments, he is right and I agree with him.

[Budi]

9. Pays to fact check. Thanks

Begala isn't known for simple one liners, leaving his point open for "interpretation".

[msfiddlestix]

28. Right. Begala follows that statement with "everyone needs to get in the game" (paraphrasing)

He points out that LBJ said to MLK when pressed for the voting rights act, that he spent all his capitol on the civill rights act. people on the ground, (churches., organizations etc) worked to pressure Congress to get the bill passed.

Not a huge fan of Begala, but that headline does not serve the reader well. a huge distortion.

[CentralMass]

5. Bad dynamic duo.

[captain queeg]

7. One thing I think about, and I suppose it's tied to the voting rights, but not entirely.

We need to get everyone to vote. To pay attention and realize it matters. I’m sure there are people being excluded right now, but we’d have all the support we needed with existing people if they’d get out and vote. Even in states with standard mail In voting who can register when they renew their license (and I assume state ID) we don’t even get 80% participation. The rethugs know if everyone voted they’d never win an election so they try to make it more difficult. But even places where it’s not difficult many do not vote.

[TreasonousBastard]

16. When I was ringing doorbells last year I was amazed at how many Democrats...

told me they were just sick of the whole thing and just would not vote. Their vote was seen as totally irrelevant to what was happening.

I attribute this attitude to many things, much, not all of them, Dem reluctance, but I did note that we had a local street fair the year before and the most popular booth was the Trump booth with all the usual propaganda and bullshit, even though he wasn't running. That year we lost everything we had to lose. This time we had almost nothing left to lose, but we lost it anyway.

Our energy sucks, and that is on us. But, our message sucks even worse, though, and that is the leadership.

[elleng]

21. ;-(

[RobinA]

30. Any Democrat

in the face of Trump and Trumpism who doesn't vote because they are "sick of the whole thing" is just hopeless. If they don't think there is anything wrong with Trump, even leaving actual political opinions (of which he has few) aside, they are the same as Republicans who don't think there is anything wrong with Trump. Basic lack of morality and understanding of the simplest underpinnings of our system.

It's like discovering that your beloved cousin is a Trumper. So cousin, it's OK for a guy to mock a disabled person from a podium in front of cameras during said guy's presidential campaign? You realize you never knew this cousin in the 50 some years you have been acquainted with him.

[Act_of_Reparation]

31. And yet we need them.

So it is incumbent upon those campaigning to motivate them, however shitty a situation it may be.

[TreasonousBastard]

17. When I was ringing doorbells last year I was amazed at how many Democrats...

told me they were just sick of the whole thing and just would not vote. Their vote was seen as totally irrelevant to what was happening.

I attribute this attitude to many things, much, not all of them, Dem reluctance, but I did note that we had a local street fair the year before and the most popular booth was the Trump booth with all the usual propaganda and bullshit, even though he wasn't running. That year we lost everything we had to lose. This time we had almost nothing left to lose, but we lost it anyway.

Our energy sucks, and that is on us. But, our message sucks even worse, though, and that is the leadership.

[betsuni]

18. Agree. Same thing as during the Obama administration.

Magical perfect leadership savior is not coming. People need to grow up, use their brains. Ugh.

[lame54]

23. Yes- all this would change if the non-voters would register

[Sherman A1]

25. Sorry Paul

You are ringing up No Sale with those remarks. Try for something else to fill the airtime between ads for drugs we never knew we needed on Cable Noise Infotainment Drama TV.

[JHB]

26. Maybe the leaders have bad strategists, like, say, consultants who get on camera and say stuff like

Maybe Democrats need to hire people who will think strategically about how to get people to turn out and elect Democrats, not an incestuous circle of fawning courtiers who blame anyone but their patrons -- and/or themselves for their own bad advice.

And what was "strategic" about ignoring the growing extremism of the Republican Party and conservative media? Strategically, those are the sort of things you'd want to counter.

It's a pretty big part of leadership to get people to follow and support you. If you don't understand that, retire and get a hobby. That sort of top-down disconnection is part of the problem.

[kwolf68]

27. Here comes the "Blame the Voters" tour

Preemptively blaming the voters, the media, Susan Surandon, anyone, anything other than our candidates or message.