Stacey Abram's unforced error - Georgia is not the worst state

[exboyfil]

Last edited Tue May 24, 2022, 04:26 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-seizes-on-stacey-abrams-calling-georgia-worst-state-disqualify-her/ar-AAXCUOe?ocid=uxbndlbing

"I am tired of hearing about how we're the best state in the country to do business when we are the worst state in the country to live," she said. "Let me contextualize. When you're number 48 for mental health, when we're number one for maternal mortality, when you have an incarceration rate that is on the rise and wages are on the decline, then you are not the number one place to live," she said.

That state would be Mississippi or Louisiana actually. Georgia has its problems, but it has a brighter future than those two states as an example.

Couldn't she have qualified her statement a bit more? It has become red meat for the GOP and a rallying cry.

Does somebody have more information on this quote (perhaps a full transcript)? I don't see her making an error like this normally.

[Gore1FL]

1. I am trying to understand the error.

"Let me contextualize. When you're number 48 for mental health, when we're number one for maternal mortality, when you have an incarceration rate that is on the rise and wages are on the decline, then you are not the number one place to live," sounds spot-on to me.

The GOP wanting to pretend that 48th, and 50th are the same as being first seems to be the unforced error.

[exboyfil]

3. Would be better - "We are state with many great people, institutions, and businesses

but we do not meet the needs of all our citizens satisfactorily. In many areas we are near the bottom of the country especially in ....."


Worst state is an absolute statement. Might work in a closed group of individuals if you can silo the quote, but does not play well for the rest of the state especially those middle class fence sitters.

[Celerity]

21. that was not the part the Rethugs are melting down on

this is part:

Stacey Abrams called Georgia “the worst state in the country to live” citing issues like incarceration, mental health. Via
@ReporterBlayne

Abrams: “I am tired of hearing about being the best state in the country to do business when we are the worst state in the country to live.“

Link to tweet

[BlackSkimmer]

2. Yeah, I was surprised at her saying that.

People don't want to hear they're living in "the worst state."

[XanaDUer2]

4. My immediate thought was

Worse than LA or MS or AL?

[Solomon]

5. Oh FFS. This is not an error.

Nobody nitpicks like democrats.

[AleksS]

6. Agreed. So many gop smears

Would fade away if democrats didn’t race each other to gobble them up and amplify them.

[Mister Ed]

10. Not an error at all. Such statments are SOP for GOP politiicans.

Republicans can always be relied on to portray anything governed by Democrats as a dystopian hellscape. Think of Trump, for example, exclaiming "This American carnage stops here and now!"

So when a Democrat accurately points out how badly Republicans are running the State of Georgia, it's an "unforced error", a "gaffe"?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

12. +1

[CurtEastPoint]

18. NO SHIT. Just stop. She said what she meant. Stop being a GD Repube

[Caliman73]

7. We have to be ABSOLUTELY PERFECT in our messaging, not because of the GOP because of us.

Let Abrams deal with her statement. We know that the GOP will attack. So what? She can articulate her position.

We navel gaze way too much.

[agingdem]

9. oh do we!

Perdue is out there spewing his hate garbage..go back where you came from...that's kind gotten front and center...Stacy isn't stupid..she knew exactly what she was saying..she didn't backtrack...and she's right...when Hillary referred to Trump's deplorables the press hit her hard but she was right..

[Caliman73]

17. Oh do we!, what? Navel gaze? Yes.

Have to be absolutely perfect in our messaging? No.

We need to calm the hell down and let our people do their work. If this were some other Democrat with a history of mealy mouth messaging, I might feel different.

This is Stacey Abrams, who came close last time when her opponent was the Secretary of State who controlled the voting apparatus, and she gave him a run.

I am confident in Abrams. People need to calm down about perceived "errors".

[agingdem]

19. every time one of our guys tell the truth

we go into Chicken Little mode...Biden is president, we control both Houses, Dems approval numbers are ticking up, the J6 committee hearings are set to begin in 16 days..the sky isn't falling...yet..

[Caliman73]

20. True.

It does a disservice to people who want real change.

They know that they are suffering. The right wing has no compunction about lying to people and pointing to anyone but themselves as the cause of the suffering.

We as Democrats need to say things simply. Republicans support the wealthy. They bring along racists, sexists, and religious fundamentalists because there aren't enough wealthy people to win election. Republicans care NOTHING about the average person. They are happy to use the average person to maintain power, but they don't care whether you live or die.

Democrats are the only major party that actually tries to help EVERYONE.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

8. If I ever heard a repub politician or voter here in Illinois fail to say how shitty Illinois is...

...I think I'd faint dead away. What Abrams said is constructively critical by comparison.

[brush]

11. So being third or second worst is so much better? Come on, she's making a larger...

and more important point that needs to be made.

[Celerity]

16. it's my understanding that most of the Rethug political/sociocultural hate in IL is directed at

the Greater Chicago area, and especially the city itself

I recall someone here calling much of 'downstate Illinois' as Mississippi/Alabama with soybeans, corn, and a Midwest accent

[Gidney N Cloyd]

24. I didn't say they hate Il, they say it's gone all to hell. They blame Chicago's (and Democrats')...

...influence in Springfield for most of the state's financial troubles and "high" taxes, of course, but the point is they're not hesitant to say what a mess things are in statewide.

[Celerity]

26. Oh, I am sure they do not hate THEIR downstate parts overall.

I was just saying I was under the impression that they looked at Chicago as the main example of what they dislike, or the reason for 90+% of what they see wrong with the State.

I am so not an expert on downstate Illinois, so my knowledge is of a limited nature. Of that I fully admit to.

[tritsofme]

22. Republicans also hold zero statewide offices in Illinois.

So make of that what you will.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

28. Sure, now.

But it's only been one term each since we had Gov Rauner and Sen Kirk. The kvetching goes back a long time.

[tritsofme]

31. Aberrations over the last 20 years. Republicans don't like Illinois

And Illinois doesn’t like them back.

Not a model I would recommend for a politician that is actually trying to win.

[Buckeyeblue]

13. If it wasn't for ATL Georgia would be Mississippi

[BlackSkimmer]

15. Nah, you might want to visit Savannah sometime.

Or Jekyll Island, St. Simon's Island.

Georgia is not my favorite state, but it's not Mississippi.

I'd pick Georgia over a helluva lot of states if I had to choose for some reason.

[Celerity]

23. Yes, but I think what the poster is saying is that remove Atlanta and

regardless of some smaller nice areas, most of the state and the state overall) would be a RW hellhole. Like SC perhaps (Charleston is nice, though)

Savannah is nice, we took a sidetrip there when we visited my my sister in Atlanta whilst she was living there for a spell (then Miami Beach) with one of her numerous boyfriends (the only American (he was actually Jamaican American) one ever that I know of, he convinced her to leave London, where they met, but that ended in a trainwreck, lolol).

[BlackSkimmer]

27. Ohio is a rw hellhole, and so is PA.

There's some other hellholes that I could mention, but nah.

SC also has Hilton Head, Pawleys, Murrells Inlet, numerous other lovely places. Clyburn seems to like it there.

I know it's just so cool to pick on the south here, but that is simply not where all the rw assholes live. And even the rw assholes are generally friendly in a general neighborly way. Recently a friend's dogs got out of her yard...she's a Facebook person and utilized that resource. I was gobsmacked at how the entire town and neighboring towns rallied to find her babies. Even the cops were helping. People are still calling her to see if she found them. (She did).

I live in NC, near a very blue city. There are many blue cities here and we have a Dam governor. I live in a red area, but it's a lovely small town with many Dems living here. I love my little town where I can walk around no matter the time of day or night feeling completely safe. I have good neighbors. I don't know all their political stances, nor do I care.

The only neighbors I know who were tfg supporters back during that time are my black neighbors up the street. Go figure.

[Celerity]

32. There are places in some Southern states I would love before most

of the Midwest. Especially rural Midwest.

I would live in Atlanta, especially if we finally perma Blue the state, before any Midwest city, Chicago included. Zero desire to live in OH, IN, PA, MI, IL, IA, WI, MO, WV, NE, OK, KA, ND, SD.

Parts of NC and VA are nice, especially if we also permanently turn both Blue as well.

AZ, NC, GA, and VA perma Blue would be glorious. Then slowly, if possible, do to SC what we did with GA. Plus cement NV, NH, and ME-2.

Do all that and look what we could lose and still win POTUS:



Crazy hypothetical (the West States I will now add to permanently Blue are so small in population that emptying half the Dems of just Chicago and some other smaller Midwest cites and funding thier moves and jobs would flip them all Blue, and we could then lose even IL in the process and still win):

[exboyfil]

34. Utah only if the Christofascists finally figure out Latter Day Saints

are not Christians but heretics. Then that whole Jefferson separation of church and state might look like a pretty good thing.

[Buckeyeblue]

38. I meant economically

ATL drives Georgia. You have big 3 pro sports, one of the best airports in the country. You get big time college sports. A number of corporations have a big presence.

Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas don't have any of that.

Ohio is right wing but with Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo they have/get a lot of opportunity that other states don't.

[BannonsLiver]

14. Imagine being upset by this.

[Aristus]

25. Republicans get elected all the time complaining how rotten everything is.

Why shouldn't Stacy Abrams give it a shot?

[Vinca]

29. Guess facts are hard for people to accept, but maybe should take it back and correct her error.

It is, after all, 3 from the bottom.

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. Worst in maternal mortality is not "3 from the bottom"

Jeez, even Democrats are eager to take things out of context and then blame a Democrat.

Standard electioneering, for literally thousands of years, is "if the other guy is already in charge, say things are awful". How can people not know this?

[Vinca]

40. Guess I should have included the sarcasm smiley.

[muriel_volestrangler]

41. OK; the OP is not, I think, sarcasm

so I wasn't in the frame of mind to look for it.

[SoonerPride]

30. What the fuck is this?

Stop parsing words.

Fuck.

[48656c6c6f20]

33. I would much rather her

Just tell Republicans to fuck right the hell off, than explain to them any context. They do not deserve context.

[867-5309.]

35. "...we are the worst state in the country to live..."

I don't think that's going to give many Georgians positive vibes. And pretty clearly it's not accurate.

[muriel_volestrangler]

37. It's Stacey Abrams, not Stacy Abram

though I suppose making it less likely to find Democrats bashing her, by misspelling her name, might be a silver lining.

There's more written here:

She went on to say: “Georgia is capable of greatness, but we need greatness to be in our governor’s office. We need someone who actually believes in bringing all of us in there together.”

https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/stacey-abrams-georgia-worst-state-rcna30087

and this link to audio, but it's blocked in Europe. https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/stacey-abrams-remarks-at-gwinnett-democats-bluetopia-gala/audio_1356db08-d98b-11ec-837c-1f9da3657c0d.html

[exboyfil]

39. Corrected and sorry for the mistake

She actually went to the same high school I did but ten years later (we were both on the debate team). We both moved to Gulfport about the same time - she attended elementary and I attended the high school. Didn't know her or her family then. Only figured this out after reading biographical information about her.

I really like her, and I am financially supporting her for her run for Gov. Thanks for the additional quotes from her. As I indicated there had to be more context.

It isn't how I feel. It is what these demagogues do with everything. With just a bit more care in how she phrased her statement, she would have communicated her point without generating a soundbite. Also absolutist statements are usually bad. I know she feels Georgia is a great state. I have never lived there, but it seems like a great state to me (better than Mississippi where I went to high school).